The Evan Buckley Thrillers: Books 1 - 4 (Evan Buckley Thrillers Boxsets)

by James, Harper

  ‘Slow down, will you, Eddy,’ the guy coming down backwards said, ‘I can’t see where I’m going.’

  ‘Quit your whining, Jimmy, you pussy,’ Eddy said, ‘we haven’t got all night. The cops will probably be here any minute.’

  If anything, it looked to Jesse like he speeded up, just to piss him off. Jimmy gave Eddy a look but didn’t say anything else. He reached the bottom step and stepped off onto a discarded beer bottle. His foot rolled off the bottle and he let out a yelp of surprise as he lost his balance. Watching the scene, Jesse would have thought he’d let go of the legs of the guy he was carrying and grab the handrail in an effort to keep upright, but he didn’t. He fell backwards pulling the body they were carrying and Eddy after him.

  ‘Whoa,’ Eddy cried out and half ran, half stumbled down the last few steps.

  They all collapsed in a heap on the floor, Jimmy on the bottom, then the body, and finally Eddy on top.

  Jesse pressed himself harder into the back of the alcove and held his breath. In any other circumstances he’d have been amused by the tangled pile of bodies on the ground in front of him. He could have reached out and touched them. He suppressed an urge to jump on top of the lot of them, bounce up and down a few times and then run for it.

  ‘You stupid prick,’ the one called Eddy said, ‘why didn’t you look where you were going?’

  ‘Get offa me, you fat bastard,’ Jimmy shouted, wheezing under the weight of the two bodies crushing him. ‘Get off.’

  Eddy pushed himself up off the other two and dusted himself down. Jimmy grunted and swore at him, then heaved the limp body off him and onto the ground. The body flopped onto its back like an oversize rag doll, no more than a couple of feet away from Jesse’s feet. Without moving his head Jesse dropped his eyes to get a look at the guy’s face and did a double take.

  Jesus H. Christ, it was Evan.

  He let out a gasp and clamped his hand to his mouth. Too late. The two goons both looked straight at him where he stood cowering in the alcove. It took them a moment to register what they were looking at.

  ‘What the hell?’ Jimmy said, still on the ground.

  ‘I reckon it’s the same guy they caught here the other night,’ Eddy said. ‘What are you? Stupid?’ he said to Jesse.

  Jesse didn’t bother answering. He got a sudden, massive injection of pure cowardice straight into his bloodstream. It worked even better than adrenalin. He pushed himself off the wall and darted out of the alcove. In his panic he caught his foot and tripped over Jimmy lying on the ground just as Eddy made a grab for him. Eddy’s hands crossed in mid-air over Jesse’s head as Jesse fell hard onto his hands and knees. He got his feet under him again and pushed off the ground butting the guy called Eddy in the stomach, knocking all the wind out of him and sending him flying.

  Jesse straightened up ready to run but Jimmy grabbed his ankle with both hands and pulled. It was like an iron manacle had been clamped around his leg. Jesse kicked him in the side of the head with his free foot and nearly lost his balance in the process. The kick caught the guy right in the ear. He grunted in pain but the bastard was too stupid to let go. Next to him Evan groaned but wasn’t even close to coming around. Jesse stamped furiously on Jimmy’s wrists with the sharp edge of his heel, managing to knock one hand loose. He yanked his leg violently out of the guy’s other hand and caught hold of the fire escape just in time to stop himself toppling over. Jimmy’s arms stretched along the ground towards him. Jesse stepped in and stomped his foot down on Jimmy’s elbow. He didn’t get the sound he’d been after, so he did it again, harder. This time he got the satisfying crack of bone followed by a piercing shriek.

  Beside him, Eddy, the one he’d butted, had straightened up and grabbed his shirt front. Then Jesse did something he’d always wanted to do but had been scared he’d mess up and hurt himself more—he butted Eddy hard on the bridge of his nose. Another sweet crack of bone and Eddy grunted and staggered backwards, his hands covering his nose, blood dripping onto the ground.

  Jesse ran for dear life. Jimmy, game to the end, stood up holding his ruined elbow and set off after him. Despite his injury he was a lot fitter than Jesse and quickly gained ground. Jesse glanced back and saw him right behind him. He wouldn’t even make it out of the parking lot. He stopped abruptly and launched his shoulder backwards into Jimmy’s chest, the impact bouncing them apart. Jimmy lost his grip on his elbow and howled as his arm swung free. Jesse took a step forward and drove his fist into his shattered elbow with all his might. Jimmy screamed and backed off a pace.

  ‘Leave him, Jimmy,’ Eddy shouted, ‘we’ve got to get this guy out of here.’

  Jesse laughed out loud. Him leave me? You got that wrong.

  Jimmy stood facing Jesse, breathing heavily through his nostrils and nursing his arm. The guy had rocks for hands, and eyes you didn’t ordinarily want to catch. But now there was fear and maybe some respect in there as well. It energized Jesse and he took another step towards him.

  ‘We’ll get you for this, don’t you worry,’ Jimmy snarled through clenched teeth, then turned and loped back.

  Jesse set off running again.

  Jimmy watched with his arm held tight to his body as Eddy picked Evan up, dripping blood all over his shirt, and threw him unceremoniously in the back of the van parked by the door. They both jumped in the front and Eddy floored it. Ahead of them, Jesse had reached the end of the parking lot. He heard the van right behind him. He dived to his right into the shadows and slumped against the wall of the building next door, his chest heaving as he tried to get some air into his lungs. The van shot out of the lot and took the corner on two wheels, righted itself and burned rubber all the way down the road. Jesse rolled onto his back and stared up at the night sky, gulping in one huge great lungful of air after another. Jesus Christ, that was too damned close.

  If he saw the blue and white Dodge Ram pickup that pulled out of the driveway opposite and took off after the two goons in the van, he certainly didn’t pay any attention to it. He was far too busy thinking about himself to worry about Evan and his captors. He was reliving that perfect head butt.

  Chapter 58

  OUT FRONT, ANGEL WAS getting equally impatient. He should have heard from Destiny by now. If they waited too long Evan would be too drunk to be any use, never mind the drugs. He’d give it another five minutes and then they’d go in regardless.

  The guy next to him nudged him. ‘Sir,’ he said and nodded down the street.

  Angel looked and saw Destiny running barefoot down the street, her shoes in her hand. He jogged towards her.

  ‘What’s going on?’ he said as he got up to her.

  She dropped her shoes and bent double and rested her hands on her knees, her breath coming in ragged gasps.

  ‘Why didn’t you ring like we arranged?’

  ‘They’ve drugged him,’ she gasped and started coughing. ‘They switched the drugs and gave him the real stuff. I’m so sorry.’

  Angel took her by the shoulders and pulled her upright. Her eyes were wild with panic, and she looked like she was about to cry. Her face was flushed from running around the block, sweat plastering her hair to her forehead.

  ‘It’s okay,’ he said gently, putting a hand on her cheek, calming her down a little. ‘Where is he now?’

  She took a couple of deep breaths. What he really wanted to do was shake her, but he knew it would be counter-productive. They were losing vital seconds. He thought she was meant to be fit from all that dancing.

  ‘We took him upstairs to a private room.’

  Another fit of dry, wheezing coughing shook her body before she was able to get any words out. ‘Samantha said they’d take it from there. There was nothing I could do.’

  ‘What kind of state is he in?’

  ‘Completely out of it.’ She shook his head, a helpless gesture. ‘They must have given him a double dose …’

  ‘What?’

  He did shake her this time. Only gently, but it still made
her head flop from side to side. Her face had now lost all its color, despite the exertion of the run. It was almost as if she was going into shock. It made him wonder if they’d slipped something into her drink as well.

  ‘Destiny. What is it?’

  Her gaze was unfocussed. She wasn’t seeing him. ‘They’re not going to do what they normally do. You’ve got to get in there.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘Get in there ...’

  He squeezed her shoulders until she gasped. Her eyes came back into focus.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ he said again, a little too harshly.

  She cocked his head like she couldn’t understand how he was being so dumb. ‘They’re not going to take any photos. They’re going to do something awful to him.’

  ‘What, Destiny? What are they going to do?’ His voice was rising. ‘How do you know?’

  ‘I thought it was odd,’ she said, pulling herself together. ‘There was nobody else up there. No other girls. Then I saw these two guys go up.’

  ‘What guys?’

  ‘You know,’ she said squaring her shoulders and expanding her chest, ‘thugs. I’ve seen one of them around. I think they work for D’Amato.’

  Angel squeezed her shoulders, but gently this time. ‘I need you to show me the way.’ He dropped his hands and turned to the men who had jogged up behind him.

  ‘Let’s go.’

  ***

  IT DIDN’T TAKE THEM long to find out that Evan was already gone. Destiny took them upstairs and showed them the private room. It was empty, as they expected. Angel came out of the room and looked up and down the hallway. At the far end there was a fire exit sign. He walked down to where the door was standing ajar. He pushed it open and walked out onto the fire escape. The parking lot was laid out below him but there was nobody in sight.

  ‘They must have come this way,’ he said.

  Destiny followed him out and leaned on the railing and looked down. The cold metal against her arms felt good. She’d recovered most of her composure by now.

  ‘Easier than bringing him back downstairs through the club,’ she said. ‘Too many witnesses.’

  Angel snorted. ‘You see a witness around here, you point them out to me.’

  She looked out across the parking lot at the line of dumpsters along the side wall. She was sure someone had been watching her—he’d probably been hiding behind them. Some local pervert hanging around the back door in the hope of eyeballing some titties for free. She knew some of the girls smoked outside the back door. Angel caught her staring at the dumpsters. He followed her gaze and then looked back at her.

  ‘What is it?’

  She pursed her lips. ‘That’s the way I just came out.’

  She pointed down at the back door and then traced her path across the parking lot. ‘I’m sure somebody was watching me. He must have been hiding behind those dumpsters.’

  He nodded slowly. ‘He might have seen something. If he exists.’

  Destiny looked up sharply, ready to fight her corner but he was smiling.

  ‘I’ll get someone to check it out.’

  They went back downstairs and he called one of his men over and sent him to check out the dumpsters.

  Destiny walked over to the table where they’d been sitting. Their glasses and the champagne bottle had been cleared away. The table top looked like it had been scrubbed with a wire brush and Dettol. Maybe even re-varnished.

  It brought everything flooding back. The noise in the room seemed to fade into the background as she remembered every detail of Samantha’s hand as it tipped the white powder out of the smooth brown envelope and into Evan’s drink, see it dissolving to nothing, and feel again that awful feeling of trepidation that something was terribly wrong and then, the utter dismay when the truth finally hit home.

  She jumped as Angel touched her elbow.

  ‘That’s a very clean table,’ he said. ‘Good to see hygiene’s up to scratch.’

  ‘Samantha,’ Destiny said quietly. ‘She’s cleaned everything up.’

  He shook his head. ‘I don’t think we’re going to find much here. Tell me what happened.’

  He pinched the skin between his eyes and the bridge of his nose and Destiny couldn’t make out his expression. She didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing.

  ‘They switched the drugs again.’

  ‘How?’

  She told him about the little production they’d put on for her benefit in the ladies’ restroom. He had a taut smile fixed to his face as she told the story. Maybe he thought it made him look non-judgemental. He needed to work on it.

  ‘I can’t believe I was so stupid,’ she said.

  She wanted to kick the table over. Better still, shove it up Samantha’s ass. She looked around. Where was she anyway?

  ‘It’s okay,’ he was saying, ‘it’s easy to be wise after the event. No one’s blaming you.’

  Except perhaps Evan if he ever remembers.

  ‘That must be when they took my phone as well.’

  He was quiet for a moment. When he spoke again there was the resignation—and dented pride—in his voice that comes from the knowledge that you’ve been outsmarted. Outsmarted by someone you underestimated. Which almost makes it your own fault.

  ‘It sounds like they were expecting us.’

  They looked at each other and something passed between them. Not a very nice something. It wasn’t exactly rocket science either.

  ‘Gina,’ she said in a voice barely above a whisper.

  He nodded.

  ‘Has to be.’

  They were both silent, each wrapped in their own thoughts about what Gina must have gone through before giving them the information they wanted. She could only imagine the worst, but he’d been around the block enough times to know exactly the sort of cruelty people chose to inflict on each other.

  ‘Poor Gina,’ Destiny said.

  They were interrupted by a shout from the back of the club.

  ‘Sir, out back,’ one of Angel’s men called, ‘we’ve caught someone.’

  Chapter 59

  ANGEL RAN THROUGH THE club and out into the parking lot. Destiny followed him at a leisurely pace more suited to her footwear. A couple of Angel’s men had a loose grip on a man standing between them. He kept shifting from foot to foot like he needed to use the bathroom.

  ‘His name’s Jesse Springer,’ one of them, a grizzled, older guy nearing retirement called Butler, said. ‘We found him lying on the ground over there.’ He pointed to the edge of the lot. ‘Called us a bunch of inbred retards.’

  Angel and Destiny stared at each other open mouthed and then turned to stare at Jesse.

  ‘You called me a pervert,’ Jesse said, turning his head to meet Butler’s glare.

  Butler shrugged. ‘Who else hides behind the dumpsters outside a strip joint.’

  The guy holding Jesse’s other arm nodded in agreement. ‘I wasn’t hiding—’

  ‘Look, son—’

  ‘And don’t call me that. I’m not anybody’s son.’

  ‘Much to your father’s relief,’ Angel said.

  They both turned to look at him and Butler smiled.

  ‘What?’ Jesse said.

  ‘You can let him go,’ Angel said to Butler, ‘we know who this dickhead is.’ He pushed his face into Jesse’s personal space. ‘I’m almost hoping he runs away so I can personally hunt him down and shoot him.’ He shouted the shoot him into Jesse’s face.

  Jesse jumped and backed away. ‘What?’ he said again like the idiot he clearly was.

  Angel grabbed hold of his shirt front and pulled him closer. ‘I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. God knows why, now that I have.’

  Jesse slapped his hand away. ‘Let go of me.’

  ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ Angel said, sticking his face into Jesse’s again. ‘Last we heard, you’d run back home leaving Evan to clear up your mess.’

  Jesse shifted uncomfor
tably and looked at his feet. ‘Yeah, well, I came back,’ he said lamely.

  He wasn’t about to admit to them that he’d been sent back by his wife. He was pretty sure if women tried that kind of stuff down here, they’d get a slap.

  Angel rested his fists on his hips. Destiny watched him as he stared into Jesse’s eyes and sensed a capacity for violence in him that scared her. ‘No shit? What I want to know is why? To cause more trouble?’

  Jesse felt the same thing, the only difference being he was the one likely to be on the receiving end of it. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘Last time you were here,’ Angel said, jabbing a finger into Jesse’s chest, ‘your stupidity ended up getting Gina into the trouble she’s in now.’

  Jesse shook his head. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said again.

  Angel looked down and rubbed his palm over the back of his head. Destiny watched his chest rising and falling. She guessed his eyes were closed. When he looked back at Jesse, Jesse saw something in his eyes that made a nervous tic start up in his cheek. He blinked rapidly a couple of times before looking away.

  ‘There’s a good chance she’s dead as a result of you.’

  The dead came out as a scream.

  Jesse stared at him in horror. He kept moving his mouth but nothing came out. He licked his lips. ‘No,’ he managed to say eventually, ‘you can’t put that on me. I’m just trying to help.’

  Angel tensed and felt a firm grip on his arm as one of his men held it down to stop him from slapping Jesse. The man’s arm shook from the effort and Angel relaxed. He nodded and the guy let go. Suddenly he lunged at Jesse, but stopped short. Jesse let out a yelp and jumped backwards, his head darting back and forth like a cornered animal searching for a way out.

  ‘I don’t think you know what the word means,’ Angel said, his voice tinged with bile. ‘What are you doing here this time?’