Chapter 27
Mackenna emerged from a foggy stupor in slow degrees. Her eyes felt as gritty as sandpaper, her tongue swollen and her mouth parched. She tried to wet her lips but she had no saliva. Muted piano music filled the room and she blinked at the unfamiliar surroundings. Two windows on a pale blue wall looked out over a lake. She lay on a bed with her right arm stretched over her head.
When she attempted to sit up, cold metal cut into her wrist and she wrenched her head backward searching for the cause. What the hell? Silver handcuffs kept her arm locked to the post of a metal headboard. Using her left hand she propped herself up into a sitting position. The room was empty except for a wooden chair and folding table in one corner. A lighted bedside lamp glowed from atop the table.
She scanned the floor for her purse and felt her pockets for her phone, finding neither.
Mackenna shook her head to clear her vision and tried to recall how she got here. The last thing she remembered was the highway rest area. She strained to identify any sounds outside the room. Dead silence.
“Hello?”
Shuffling sounds from beyond the door drew her attention. “Hello? Is someone there?”
The door swung open and a giant of a man poked his head inside. “Hang on, lady. I’ll get my boss.” Sweet Jesus! It was the behemoth who spied on her weeks ago at the discount store. Her pulse spiked and her mind raced. That giant had been with Jake’s friend, Vincent. Was Jake here? Why would he hold her captive like this?
Footsteps sounded from the hallway and then Vincent entered the room. Gone was the polite air he’d assumed in the grocery store and the superior attitude she’d witnessed when he spoke to her and Jake from his back seat in the mall parking lot. He stormed toward her and she cowered in fear but not before he punched her on the side of the face, blurring her vision and drawing blood when her lip smashed against her teeth.
Tears pooled in her eyes and she raised her free hand to her cheek.
“That’s so you know who the boss is, Miss McElroy. It isn’t my plan to hurt you but I will if I have to. What can you tell me about your boyfriend?”
Still stunned from the slap, she shook her head. “I-I don’t know who you mean.”
The right side of his mouth curled up into a sneer. “No? You choose to play dumb with me?” His eyes raked over her body and she drew her knees up to her chest, causing Vincent to laugh.
“You think that will stop me? I can have you naked and spread eagle in a matter of minutes if I have a mind to fuck you.”
Fear seized her insides. “Is that what this is about? You brought me here to rape me?”
Vincent sneered. “I hadn’t thought about it but it would sure piss off Jake and right now, that’s my goal. To get him here and angry enough that he doesn’t think straight.”
With one hand he slicked back his coal-black hair. Her eyes followed his movements and the notion that he colored his hair flashed through her mind. “Be smart, Miss McElroy. Save yourself from my attentions and tell me what you know about him. What does he do for a living?”
She’d asked the same question more than once and she still wasn’t certain. But she doubted Vincent would appreciate that response.
“He’s a security guard. I don’t know where but he works the night shift. That’s all I know. Why do you want to know? What’s Jake’s occupation have to do with abducting me?”
Vincent’s forehead creased when he laughed. “Is that what he told you? Maybe he’s not what I think he is if that’s what he’s telling you. I hate to break it to you, lady, but your boyfriend is no security guard. He spends just about every night with me, so what kind of night shift do you think he works?”
“You?”
Now his right eyebrow arched at the same time the corner of his mouth rose, as if the eyebrow tugged it upward. “Me and my women. Jake’s a real party boy. Didn’t you know that?”
She shook her head, dumbfounded. Lies. All the words he’d whispered to her when she lay in his arms, when they stood in the kitchen and he murmured against her lips, every time he spoke he’d lied. She’d been such a fool.
Unchecked tears made their way down her cheeks.
Vincent sneered. “The look on your face could make me believe he played us both. But you could simply be a good actress. Tell me, what were you doing on the turnpike? My men said you were headed for the state line. Where were you going? To some pre-arranged meet with Jake? I’d think right about now he’d be getting out of town if he wanted that phony arrest to look real.”
Phony arrest? She’d seen him handcuffed on TV, escorted by the FBI, his name listed among the suspects in the City Hall swindle. Perhaps she was still groggy from whatever his men had drugged her with but she didn’t understand Vincent’s meaning and she told him so, adding that the news had shown Jake being arrested. He ignored that and repeated his question.
“New York. I decided to take a couple days’ vacation and visit my cousin.” She dropped her gaze to her lap remembering Jake’s observation that she was a terrible liar. But that truly had been her plan.
“Your boyfriend gets arrested and you leave town to visit your cousin? You expect me to believe that?”
“He’s not my boyfriend. He never really was but we’re not . . .” What was the correct word? Dating? Sleeping together? “. . . with each other anymore. All he did was lie to me. I know that now. I had enough. I wanted to get away from him.”
Vincent eyed her again as if she didn’t have a stitch of clothing on. “Sorry, cara mia, but I don’t believe you.” He retrieved her cell phone from his back jeans pocket and held the face of it toward her. “He’s been calling you. You have at least ten missed calls. That doesn’t sound like someone you’re not seeing anymore.”
Mackenna’s heart leapt to her throat. Jake hadn’t given up trying to reach her. For what purpose, she was unsure, but at the moment, it didn’t matter. He wasn’t letting her go. And she didn’t want him to.
Just then a man hollered from beyond the door, “Boss, you gotta see this. You ain’t gonna believe it. Come here, boss. Quick.”
Vinny grinned and pointed his index finger at her. “Don’t go anywhere.”
Vincent jogged out of the room leaving the door ajar and her mind spinning. Weren’t he and Jake business partners? That’s what Jake had said. Why doesn’t he know what Jake does for a living if they work together? It made no sense. Neither did kidnapping her. He might be the biggest jerk in the universe but Jake would never abduct her. He’d never hurt her. On that she’d bet her life. What had Vincent said? He wanted Jake here and not thinking clearly. What did that mean?
Despite her confusion, her spirits lifted. He’d been calling her. After everything that’d happened, that shouldn’t make a difference but it did. Jake would save her. She knew it.
Vincent strolled back into the room wearing an ear-to-ear grin. His head bobbed as if he’d learned a wonderful secret. “I gotta hand it to Jake, he’s no dummy. A bank teller robbing her own banks. It’s ingenious, I’ll say that.”
Mackenna narrowed her eyes. “What?”
“So you were high-tailing it out of town and I bet Jake planned to meet you somewhere. Am I right? Do you have the money with you? I’ll have my boys search your bags just in case. That’d be a sweet surprise.”
She didn’t comprehend his words and simply shook her head.
“C’mon, honey, your face is all over the news. I bet if I walked into the post office right now I’d see your mug on a wanted poster.” His head dropped back and he laughed. “It’s brilliant. If we hadn’t stopped you, you’d be out of state right now. No wonder Jake was hesitant about meeting me tonight. He never planned to show.”
“You’re wrong, Vincent. I’m not a bank robber and there is no plan between me and Jake. It’s true the FBI questioned me about the robberies and I think they think I’m in on it but I’m not. I was running away from everyone, especially Jake. I-I thought he believed me but he treated me just like the police.”
His head tilted. “The FBI questioned you? Oh, that’s good. Was it Jake asking the questions?”
Her eyebrows knitted. “What? What are you talking about?”
“So now, Miss McElroy, you have to ask yourself if all those sweet words he whispered when he was fucking you were true or a ruse? And then you have to ask if Jake was running away with you to live happily ever after on the thousands of dollars you stole or if he planned to arrest you and make a name for himself? You’d be quite a feather in his cap.” He grinned. “Plus you’re a notch on his bedpost too. I have to admire the man.”
Mackenna stared at him, the meaning of his words beyond her comprehension. “You make no sense. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Somehow I doubt that. But it’s of no matter now.” He extended her cell phone toward her. “I want you to call Jake and tell him I’m in the picture now and I’m changing the plans. Tell him you need his help. When he answers, I’ll give you the location where he can meet you.”
Whatever they’d drugged her with manifested a major headache, one that threatened her stomach’s stability. This was worse than a bad dream. What did Vincent mean? What plans?
Vincent’s raised voice filled the room. “Punch in your damn code and unlock this phone so you can call him. Or it won’t be only me on top of you in this bed, it’ll be every man in this house.”
Her hand trembled so violently she had to tap the numbers twice to type the pass code. Vincent scrolled through her contacts until he came to Jake’s number and touched the call button. Then he switched the call to speaker mode and she listened to it ringing. He placed the phone near her ear. “Tell him you need help.”
After five rings, the call dropped into his voice mailbox. His message was quick. “You know the drill.” But hearing Jake speak those four words filled her with a sense of calm. It might be the last time she ever heard his voice. Vincent pressed the phone toward her mouth. “Leave the message.”
Mackenna could barely speak. This call would lure Jake into a trap. Even though she hated Jake and never wanted to see him again, she didn’t wish anything bad to happen to him. Well, she didn’t exactly hate him. God, she thought she loved him. At the same time, she was handcuffed to a bed and Jake might to be her only way out.
She stuttered. “Ja-Jake, it’s Mackenna. I need your help.”
Vincent yanked the phone away. “We had a dinner date tonight, Jake, and you’re late. I gotta tell you she looks mighty tempting on this bed, so I suggest you cease your little undercover game and make it your business to get here.” Vincent reached for her blouse and ripped it with a rending tear, and Mackenna screamed. Vincent grinned and disconnected the call. He eyed her heaving breasts. “That was the perfect sound effect, Miss McElroy. If that doesn’t get him here we’ll take it to the next level.”
He turned to leave and she called, “Wait. Please. I need to use the bathroom. And I’d like some water, please.”
She couldn’t sit here helpless. If she could get out of this bed into another room, maybe she could lock herself in. Or climb out a window. Anything to get away.
“This isn’t a spa, honey.” The door slammed behind him and the lock clicked.
Panic gripped her and she yanked at the handcuff, straining to squeeze her wrist through it and, when that failed twisting to distort its shape and slip her hand out that way. It didn’t work. Her efforts resulted in a bruised and bleeding wrist.
The lock turned and Mackenna drew her shirt closed. The behemoth entered with a bottle of water. He strode to a door on the right wall and kicked it open, revealing a bathroom. Then he advanced on Mackenna, grabbed her wrist, and unlocked the handcuff.
“Five minutes, lady.” He posted himself in front of the door.
The bottled water was cold and she relished its taste, drinking half of it before taking a breath. It hadn’t dawned on Mackenna that her shoes were missing until her bare feet touched the floor. No sign of them either. She stood on unsteady legs and limped to the bathroom. The oblong window near the ceiling was meant solely for ventilation and not escape. Her head would barely fit through it. She used the toilet then frantically searched the vanity, finding each drawer empty except for a box of condoms. She caught her reflection in the mirror and gasped. Her lip had swollen and her cheek displayed the purple and blue outline of a fist. The raccoon eyes from her smeared mascara and disheveled hair didn’t help.
For one brief second, she thought about overpowering the behemoth when he tried to handcuff her again. But that would likely earn her another punch. And if she ran out the door, what would she run into? A house full of Vincent’s men? Men he’d implied would hurt her if permitted. No. That’s wasn’t the solution. She’d have to bide her time and wait for a better opportunity.
When she opened the bathroom door, he studied her, making her skin crawl. She walked at a snail’s pace toward the bed, searching the room with her eyes. Nothing that would help her escape. Dejected, she perched on the edge.
She jumped when he barked, “Feet off the floor.”
She raised her legs and edged up to the headboard. He descended upon her with a quickness that belied his size, then snatched her wrist from her side and snapped it into the handcuff. Then he left without a word, locking the door behind him.
Mackenna’s head dropped back against the metal frame. What the hell was this about? What did Jake have to do with it? She recalled the times she’d seen Jake and Vincent together. At the grocery story, when Vincent’s attentions obviously perturbed Jake. In the mall parking lot when Jake ordered Vincent to leave her alone. He’d said they weren’t friends, more like business acquaintances. But Vincent didn’t act as if he knew what Jake’s occupation was. And Jake had described Vincent as a shady businessman.
What type of business were they in together? Had Jake lied to her about where he went every night? Had he ever honestly said? Vincent said they partied nightly with women. Was that why she’d never seen Jake in a security guard’s uniform? Had he ever confirmed he was a guard or did she assume that? She replayed their conversation in the coffee shop after the first robbery. She’d been an emotional wreck and he appeared out of nowhere, like a guardian angel. The newscast showing Jake under arrest at City Hall resurfaced.
He was no guard. But what was he? A business associate of Vincent’s who planned to double cross him? Why else would Vincent be looking for him?
But if Vincent and Jake were business partners, why did Vincent need Mackenna to summon Jake here? If his men were able to track her and accost her off the highway, surely they could locate Jake. The message she left on Jake’s phone only relayed that she needed help. She hadn’t given a location because she had no idea where she was. A house of some kind. It must be Vincent’s business headquarters for Jake to be familiar with it otherwise how would he find her? If he knew this location, then she could assume he was in business with Vincent, making Jake a shady businessman also.
None of it jived.
Her eyes closed. Thinking about Vincent and Jake magnified her headache. She needed to focus on one or the other and she knew more about Jake, didn’t she? What had he said that day? “You’re a smart woman. Think it through.”