Chapter 10
Rebel watched in terror as Saul raced toward the jeep, making hand signals.
The jeep backed up and headed toward the other side of the parking lot. As if the stalkers understood they would get pinned in, the car sped up. But the jeep had more power under the hood and jumped forward into the car’s path. They just barely avoided a collision as the car hit the brakes and squealed to a stop.
But the driver hit Reverse immediately and backed up fast to put as much space between him and the jeep as he could.
She couldn’t see everything that was happening, and all she could think of was them getting run over in the dark. The air filled with danger. She desperately wanted to leave her vehicle. The confined space was suffocating. What if someone saw her? Instead she followed instructions—for the second time in a row tonight, yet the first time in a long time—and stayed put. The headlights were going crazy on the far side. Someone raced in her direction on foot. It was too dark to see who it was.
She waited until he got closer. As he run past her car, he turned right in between the vehicle she was in and the car next to hers. She unlocked her passenger door, choosing her time well, and threw open the door right into his body, slamming him hard. She was out and on him in an instant. She pinned him to the ground and landed one fist against his chin, the second against his nose. She would take care of this asshole before he took care of anybody else.
Only she was not an even match for this asshole on the ground. He flipped her off his chest. But she hung on. It was awkward, still prone on the concrete parking lot, confined between two vehicles. She couldn’t get any decent blows in, and she couldn’t get her legs to work properly. Pissed but exhausted, the shocks kept coming as she resorted to hitting him, blindly kicking, slamming anything she could to knock this man back down and keep him down. Suddenly hands grasped around her ribs and lifted her.
“Take it easy, Rebel,” Saul said. “Take it easy. It’s all right. We’ve got him.”
Slowly she let her body relax in his arms as she realized several other men had grabbed the man, hauling him to his feet out from between the vehicles.
“Thank God,” she whispered.
He held her back against his chest, her arms and hands still clutched in his arms crisscrossed about her body. She watched them cuff the man’s hands behind him and zip-tied his feet, then propped the man up against her car. Flashlights on, they moved so she could look at his face. Although battered and bleeding, his features were quite distinctive. And unfortunately they were also completely foreign to her.
“I have no idea who he is,” she said. She pushed away from Saul to see the stranger better. “What the hell are you doing following us?”
He glared at her. “We weren’t following you. Why the hell did you try to beat the crap out of me?”
She sneered. “So you can tell your buddies you were beaten up by a girl.”
“No, I’ll tell them I was attacked by psychobitch.”
She laughed. “If I find out you had anything to do with Tammy’s disappearance, asshole, I’ll make sure you’re this psychobitch’s victim.”
He struggled to free himself, but Saul slammed him back against the car.
She glanced over at the other men. “What about the other person in the car? Or was this asshole alone?”
“We got him. He’s unconscious.” Merk motioned to the side.
She turned to see the massive hulk of Stone carrying another man by his right arm alone, his hand gripping the belt around her stalker’s waist. She stared at the man, his feet dragging on the ground, and shook her head. Under her breath she whispered, “Jesus.” She stared up at Stone, but he gave her a bland look. She shuddered and stepped closer to Saul.
He chuckled. “Stone never hurts anyone who doesn’t need it.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” She stared again at the asshole in front of her. “Did you have anything to do with Tammy’s disappearance?”
The man sneered but kept his mouth shut.
“You want me to set Stone on you?” she asked, her voice rising.
“You guys can’t touch me. You’re all about that law-abiding-citizen bullshit.”
She sneered right back. “Maybe they are, but I’m not.” She did a hop-jump kick and caught him in the gut.
He bent over double, his face turning white.
She slammed her hands against his shoulders to hold him upright again. “Asshole.”
He gasped for air. “You’re a fucking bitch. You’ll pay for that.”
She was just going to let that slide, turning to walk away. Instead she took two steps, turned and, with her left foot, shot out and kicked him across the jaw. That surprise quieted him for a bit. “Yeah, a sneak attack with your crew would be your style to take on one woman,” she snapped. “You wouldn’t come at me in the dark without a bunch of idiot muscle beside you. Is that what you fucking did to Tammy?” When he remained silent—glaring, but silent—she shook her head, grabbed him by the ear and twisted hard. When he yelped, she shoved her face into his and said, “Tell me about Tammy.”
“I didn’t touch her.” He saw her pull her leg back and yelled, “No wait. I know the guys who snatched her.”
Rebel straightened and leaned forward. “Where is she?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know where they took her.”
“Who took her?” Saul asked.
The man shook his head. “Look, I was just told to keep an eye on you guys and on the bitch.”
“Why?”
“The boss said so, that’s why.”
“Who’s the boss, and what was he looking for?”
“I’m not saying who my boss is. But he said, if she came out with anything in her hand, to grab her.”
“Is that what you were doing tonight?” Saul asked.
He nodded. “She came out with a bag in her hand. I don’t know if it’s what the boss wanted or not.”
She stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest. She had more ideas about how to get the information she wanted out of him. Before she could start in on the man again, Saul grabbed the stooge by the back of the neck and said quietly, “I suggest you start being a little more forthcoming.”
“Hey, look, I just told you something.”
“What about Daniel?” Stone asked.
The man shook his head. “The same person who took Tammy took Daniel.”
“And what about the man whose throat was cut,” Merk said, his voice hard.
The man stared from one face to the other.
When his eyes landed on Rebel, she beamed a big smile at him. “You better talk,” she said, “or else …”
He glared at her. “You can’t just beat me up. That’s brutality.”
“I’m not a cop. But I am the woman whose apartment was totally trashed, and you just admitted to knowing about the kidnapping of two people and likely sliced that poor man’s throat, all on your own.”
“I did not,” he yelled. He motioned at the guy Stone still carried around. “Carney here did that.”
“Interesting.” She turned to look at the unconscious man. “Don’t let go of that asshole.”
Stone opened his hand. The man dropped to the ground, and Stone put his foot on the man’s back. He crossed his arms and stared at their conscious prisoner. “Who took Daniel and Tammy?”
The prisoner shrugged but was quick to look at the ground. “I don’t know. I didn’t have nothing to do with any of it.”
“What are you? Just the lookout?”
The man nodded. “Something like that. I screwed up another job, so I was downgraded to keep watch.”
“And vandalizing my property?”
He faced her. “Rich bitch like you probably got insurance anyway.”
She snorted. “Like that makes a difference.”
“You have any idea what your boss is looking for?” Stone asked.
He shook his head. “Not a clue.”
“So then why did they take Tammy?” Saul asked.
“She had something that didn’t belong to her.”
“Oh, no you don’t,” Rebel snapped. “Don’t you dare make her out to be a bad guy.”
“She got it at her job. I don’t know any more than that.”
Rebel stepped back. “Saul, maybe you are right then.”
He nodded slowly. “What about Daniel?”
“No idea, but he was marked for quite a while. They were just waiting for him to complete something, see if he had any further use. Like everything else they do, when they’re done, they take out the garbage.”
“Are Daniel and Tammy alive?” Merk asked.
The prisoner looked at Merk hesitantly. And then nodded. “I think so. But I can’t be too sure.”
“How will we find them?”
He motioned to the unconscious man on the ground. “Through him. I don’t know where they are.”
Rebel studied his face, the smirk slipping in and out of his features. “I’m not sure I believe you.”
“I don’t have any reason to lie,” he protested.
She snorted. “Anything to save your sorry ass.”
He shrugged. “I don’t want to get into trouble, but I’m already in trouble. The thing is, I didn’t have anything to do with that guy’s death, and I didn’t have anything to do with the kidnappings.”
“But you did know about them, so that makes you just as guilty in the eyes of the law,” Merk said.
“No, I only knew about them afterward. I didn’t have anything to do with it myself. I only heard when Carney here was bragging about it today.”
“Why would they have kept Daniel and Tammy alive?” she asked quietly. That bugged her. There had to be a reason. Because otherwise they would’ve killed them right away.
“Because the kidnappers needed their help to be sure they could access the information they stole.”
“Both of them?”
He shrugged. “Leverage for the other.”
Rebel gasped. “Now that sounds like the truth.” She glared at him, took a step toward him, her fist already forming. She reached back only to have Saul grab her hand.
He whispered to her, “As much as you might want to, and he might deserve it, we don’t want added trouble. The cops are on the way. We’ll let them handle it.”
“And if the cops are involved?”
Saul sent her a hard look. “We will believe the cops are not involved, thank you.”
She shrugged off his restraining arm. “Fine. But it’s not my fault if he accidentally trips on the way to the cop car.” She shot the prisoner a hard look and stepped back.
Saul was right, but she hated to admit it. It was one thing to beat up the man to get the information they needed. But now that he was cooperating, she didn’t have too much justification for pounding his face into the concrete. No matter how much she wanted to.
Unfortunately.
*
Saul liked these new developments. He stared at the man flat out on the parking lot. In typical Stone fashion, he’d knocked out this guy so he wouldn’t get in the way while they caught the second man. But that also meant the asshole wouldn’t wake up anytime soon.
And that was too bad. “We need to talk to the unconscious man.”
“Not happening.” Rebel groaned. “Unless you have cold water to throw in his face.”
Saul looked from one man to the other. Then he leaned over and squeezed a spot on the man’s neck.
Almost instantly the man groaned.
Saul gave a thin smile.
From beside him, Rebel said in a low tone, “Cool trick. I need to learn that one.”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t always work, so it’s not something you can count on.”
She nodded. “Still I’m grateful for it right now.”
When the man opened his eyes, he stared up at Rebel and the circle of men surrounding him, confused, shocked and then angry.
“Glad to see you’re back with us,” Saul said calmly. “Now we’ll get some answers from you.”
“I’m not saying nothing.”
“It doesn’t matter if you do or not, your cohort already has,” Rebel said.
The man glared at Rebel, then twisted to see if his buddy was still around. Saul stepped in front of the one man so they couldn’t see each other. “You won’t be talking to him anytime soon.”
“I’m not talking to anybody.” He closed his eyes and lay on the ground. “I’ll have my lawyer sue you for assaulting me.”
“We’ll see how that works in the courts. Where the hell is Tammy?”
“And Daniel,” Stone said, his voice hard. He nudged the man with his foot. “I packed you over here. I’m quite happy to pack you over to that bridge beside us and drop you off the edge.”
The man’s eyes snapped open. He glared as if deliberating whether Stone was serious or not. But the look on Stone’s face made him say, “I don’t know anything.”
“You’re lying,” Saul said quietly. “We already know you picked up Tammy and Daniel.”
The man’s face twisted in disgust. “You don’t believe that snitch, do you? The boss kicked him down a peg because he was such a screw-up.”
“Well, in this case, he’ll probably get kicked down another peg for tattling on you.”
“They’ll kill him for screwing up again.”
“That’s the thing, you see? He’d do anything to save his ass.”
“What will you say to save yours?” Rebel snapped.
He glared at her. “I’m not talking to you at all, bitch.”
“Were you part of that mess in my apartment?”
Understanding whispered across his face, then he sneered. “I was looking for something.”
“Yeah, did you find it?”
His face turned suspicious. “No. But, if you have it, that might be a good bargaining tool for you.”
Saul glanced at Stone, then to Merk and Dakota. He knew what they were all thinking. It would be a bargaining chip. Too bad they didn’t have it.
The trouble was, Rebel had a mind of her own.
“And if I do, do I get Tammy back?”
“And Daniel,” Stone added.
She shrugged. “Okay, him too.”
The man on the ground gave a bark of laughter. “Nice to see you don’t like him either.”
“I care about Tammy. They care about Daniel. Between us, we want the pair of them back,” she snapped. She reached out and kicked him in the foot. “Now talk.”
He shook his head. “Nope, I want to see the key first.”
“Why would I show you anything? So you can get a message to the rest of your cohorts? So they can come after me?”
“They will anyway.”
She shoved her hands deeper into her pockets as if hiding something and surreptitiously studied him watching her.
Saul understood what she was doing, but she was playing a dangerous game. He walked around to stand behind her, giving her the show of their support.
The man’s gaze rose to study the hard faces surrounding him, and he shrugged. “All I can do is tell the boss you have it. He might arrange a barter.”
“This is a risky business you’re in.”
“No, not me. You got in the middle of something you aren’t sure about. Chances are you won’t all walk away from this with your lives. Think carefully before you take this step.”
“Or we could just torture you to get the information out of you.” Rebel looked at Stone. “Did you happen to take his ID and everything else off him before you dropped him?” Stone reached into his pocket and pulled out the man’s wallet. She held out her hand. “Let’s see who he is, where he lives. We can probably run down all the places he’s been to the last week quite easily.”
“If you start playing games, they will shoot you before they ever take care of anything. They can take the key off a dead body just as easily as off a live one. Actually easier.”
The other prisoner made a strangled sound.
Seeing the understanding in their eyes, Saul realized, in their minds, this would likely only have one outcome. “We can play hardball too.”
“But all we want is Tammy and Daniel back safe and sound and to be left alone,” Rebel jumped in.
“Then you better have the goddamn key, and it better have the information on it the boss needs.”
“I have no idea what’s on it. I haven’t looked.” Rebel stood casually. She answered like a pro.
Saul admired her, but, at the same time, he was worried that she had more guts than brains.
“You have to let us go so I can arrange a meeting.”
Merk snorted. “Call your boss and arrange a meeting right now.”
Stone held out the man’s phone. “Make the call.”
He slowly sat up, reached for the phone, hit Contacts, pushed on a name and made a call. “They want to make a bargain. The two hostages for the key.”
At something the other man said, he looked up. “There are five of them here. They got the two of us surrounded.”
Saul wished the damn thing was on Speakerphone. And he wanted the contact information off that asshole’s phone. Stone had been slow to bring the man over, so Saul didn’t know if Stone got what he could off of it. It hadn’t been on the top of their priority list, considering they still needed to grab the second man.
“One hour. Okay, we can do that.” The man tucked his phone into his pocket defiantly until Stone retrieved it. “He says one hour, back where you were earlier.”
“At the warehouse where you slit the poor man’s throat?” Rebel snapped. “Why the hell would I go back there with you?”
“He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Besides, he was messing in something that wasn’t his business.”
“You mean, Tammy’s locket of course.”
At that comment he was oddly silent. The man glared at her. “You know too fucking much, bitch.”
She shrugged. Obviously she had hit a nerve. Maybe he would be demoted now for leaving behind evidence of Tammy that connected her to that warehouse. “Maybe. Maybe I just don’t know enough yet. That’s all right. I’ll keep digging until I do.”
“You’ll find a bullet between your eyes for all your troubles.” He shook his head and hopped to his feet. Instantly the men tensed. “We have to get down there. Otherwise our boss won’t show.”
He turned and looked around the parking lot. “Where the fuck is my car?”
Merk motioned to the other side. “It’s back there.”
“If we’re not there on time, we’re all getting a bullet.”
No doubting the man’s sincerity this time.
“We can’t just let him leave,” Rebel said. “Can you at least blow his kneecaps apart or something? So that he doesn’t take off on us?”
The man spun. “You watch it. That might just be you next time. When a deal happens, a deal happens. This is either done properly, or it doesn’t go down. You guys can follow me back to the warehouse. But, in the meantime, I’m getting into my car and driving to the rendezvous.” He glanced over at his buddy and said, “Pete, come on. Let’s get the hell out of here. You know the boss will take care of this.”
As the two men left, Saul turned to stare at the others, then asked, “She’s right. What the hell are we doing here?”
“Going to a meeting apparently,” Rebel said tiredly.
“They have Tammy and Daniel, so we can’t just let him go,” Saul reminded her.
She nodded. “Okay. I’ll do whatever we can to bring her back.” She rolled her eyes at Stone. “Yes, Daniel too. I still don’t like the idea of them heading off alone,” she muttered.
“I put a tracker on the vehicle,” Stone said. “We can find them wherever.”
“Really?” She brightened. “Did you copy his phone contacts?” she asked hopefully.
He shook his head. But then he grinned. “I took pictures of them all instead.”
For the first time, her smile was genuine.