Chapter Twenty-Eight – Luke

 

With the curtains in the kitchen drawn and the blinds closed, I disassembled and began to clean my sidearm at the small table where I’d earlier spilled tea like some wet-behind-the-ears greenhorn.

Meanwhile, Molly was in Heidi’s room, going through her roommate’s row upon row of dresses and piles of shoes to find just the right outfit for her bizarre job interview.

Or whatever this was. Audition, maybe?

I shook my head as I returned my focus to the work in front of me, my hands running over the oiled metal and composites, my fingers and hands moving with the smoothness of years of discipline and practice as I tried to put my thoughts in order.

Molly was going to go meet Chuck wherever this so-called modeling agency operated. A small, wealthy neighborhood, from the address he’d given her. From there, she’d come back here to freshen up and wait for the driver to arrive. Meanwhile, I’d park my rental around the corner, so as not to arouse any suspicion. Driver gets here, I take him out. We tie him up, get the password from him, and we head up there on our own. After that, we were going to have to wing getting in to find Dominic and his secret lair, and then work on getting Heidi free.

It was the worst plan I’d ever come up with.

Unfortunately, it was the best one we had.

Because if we didn’t do this tonight, chances are they’d be fishing Heidi’s lifeless body out of a storm drain somewhere, just like they had the previous four kidnapped women.

As I worked, I tried to shove all the negative thoughts to the back of my mind, to the dark corners where I hardly trod.

Thoughts about how badly this could go wrong. About how Molly and I could misstep with this, and somehow alert the zmeu to the fact that we were coming. Because what if they realized Molly was trying to get up there for some other reason, or they thought she was doing something suspicious, and they notified the people who operated Illuminati House?

What if, when we did get in there, she was unable to find Dominic, or he found her first? What if I was detained somehow as soon as we got there, or security was so tight I had to shoot my way in? Or turn into my lion form, just to scare the guests away?

Because, quite frankly, I was going to be flying blind. No way to contact her, and no way for her to contact me if the shit hit the fan while I wasn’t around.

I gritted my teeth as I ran the metal rod with its little slip of cloth down the barrel, cleaning its inside. I held it up to the light, checking to make sure I could eat off the inside if I needed to. Satisfied, but still scowling, I put the pieces back together and set it back on the little square of cloth.

None of this was a good idea.

None of it.

Molly cleared her throat from the entrance to the hallway, getting my attention. “Luke?”

I sucked in a breath as I saw her in her little black dress, the hem so short it showed off plenty of stocking-sheathed thighs. Her delicate shoulders were a rich tan, and the front scooped down low to reveal just slightly more than the morally correct amount of skin. Her hair was piled on her head like some death-defying architectural wonder, highlighting her long, graceful neck and jawline, as well as the diamond studded earrings she’d put in her ears. Her ruby red lips topped it all off like a cherry on the most beautiful sundae I’d ever seen.

Not for the first time, I marveled at how lucky I was to have met Molly. Something about her was just intoxicating, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off her whenever she was in the room.

“Luke?” she asked again, snapping her red-nailed fingers.

I shook my head. “Yeah. Sorry. What’s wrong?”

She turned around and pointed to her back, to the zipper she couldn’t quite reach. “Little help?”

“Oh. Right. Yeah, sure.” I pushed the chair back and crossed over to her. She met me halfway, spinning on the tips of her feet to present her back. Her lacy black strapless bra was visible through the unzipped space, and I swallowed hard as I reached up to help her finish dressing.

“Like the perfume?” she asked.

I sniffed deeply. Delicate, with a very mellow hint of vanilla that seemed to blend well with the citrus spice of her soap. “Yeah,” I said. “Smells good.”

“Good. It’s one of Heidi’s, just like the rest of this getup.”

“You look beautiful, by the way.”

“Really?” she asked, blushing a little. “Honestly, I just think I look like a slut or something.”

“What?” I asked, shaking my head as I put my hands on her hips. “No, you look stunning.”

She smiled as I pulled her closer. “Stunning, huh?” She turned her face a little away from me, highlighting her high cheekbones as she arched one eyebrow at me. “Stunning enough to get me through the front door?”

I grinned. “Well, I know I’d spend my whole paycheck on a woman as pretty as you.”

Molly rolled her eyes. “Well, I guess that inspires confidence.”

I leaned in for a kiss, but she pulled back before my lips could touch hers. “Makeup, Luke. Know how long it took to put my war paint on?”

“Fair enough.”

She was already out of my arms again, gliding back down the hall with an exaggerated shake of her hips. Whatever she might think, she at least had the walk down.

Molly ducked inside Heidi’s room, returning a moment later with a small evening bag clutched in her hand.

“Have everything?” I asked as she came back down the hallway, moving like a vision.

“Not much for me to take, is there? Just my cell phone and my makeup.”

“Mace, maybe?”

She shook her head. “What if Chuck’s people check my bag?”

I grumbled as I looked her up and down again.

“What?” she asked as she stepped into the kitchen.

“Nothing.”

“Clearly, it’s something.”

“Wondering if you could hide some kind of personal deterrent under there,” I replied as I came around and leaned against the kitchen wall. “Not much left for the imagination. Let alone weaponry.”

“I’ll be fine, far as the normal people are concerned. You said so yourself, Luke,” she replied, glancing at the time. “Besides, I’m just going to meet Heidi’s bosses, not go straight up there. These people are just running a business.”

I sighed. “Yeah, I know. But still…”

“Look, I just need to meet with them, then I’ll come straight back here, and we can wait for my driver to show up. Heidi never left anywhere close to this early for the party. We’ve got hours still.”

“True,” I said. I still didn’t like it, though, sending her out to meet these people. Or that we were going to use her as bait later.

She must have caught the look on my face. “Stop worrying,” she said. “You’re just making me more nervous.”

“Well, you should be nervous. This is dangerous.”

She crossed the couple feet over to me, putting a hand on my chest. “Luke, believe me. I know this is dangerous. They have my best friend, remember? There’s no doubt in my mind that this is the scariest thing I’ve ever done.”

“Not too late to pull out, you know.”

She sighed. “Yeah. I know. But, even though Heidi getting taken wasn’t my fault, like you said, she’s still my friend. Wouldn’t you do anything for your friend if they were taken?”

I nodded. When I spoke, my voice was quiet. “Yes. Yes, I would. I just want you to be careful, though. These people might be running a business, but they’re still criminals. They’re capable of more than you think. If you get hurt, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

“Then,” she said, moving a step closer to me, “I’ll just have to be careful. And, besides, you’re going to be just down the street from the house, right?” She put her arms around my waist, pulling me closer to her.

“Of course I am,” I said, encircling her in my arms again as I leaned down to her lips, war paint be damned. “Anything happens, I’ll be able to hear it, and I’ll come running at the first sign.”

“Exactly,” she whispered, her eyes closing.

“What about your lipstick?”

“Screw my lipstick,” she muttered. “I’ll worry about it when I get there.”