Deadly Connection

by Lenora Worth

  She rounded a corner and came close to where they’d found Joaquin in the old shed. Her heart pumped with fear for her brother as she flashed back to that night. Emmett had been right there with her.

  Emmett.

  He’d been with her through this whole ordeal and he’d come to her rescue over and over. But she’d acted like an ungrateful brat today.

  She couldn’t say that with others listening in.

  “I’m not giving up,” she said to anyone who could hear. “I mean it.”

  “I’m not, either,” Emmett replied.

  Had they just made their peace?

  Before she could relax on that thought, Justice bristled.

  Then a flash exploded, and smoke shot out everywhere. Belle’s eyes filled with the thick, cloying gray fog, burning so she couldn’t see. Her throat clogged with the stench of chemicals, mainly sulfur. Justice barked and snarled. A smoke bomb!

  Jackson called out behind her. “Belle?”

  Someone grabbed her and forced the leash out of her hand.

  “You’re mine now. It’s good to have you in my arms again, Belle.”

  Percy.

  Belle tried to squirm away, but he put something over her face and she passed out.

  Her last thought was of Justice and Emmett. Her two protectors. Would they be able to save her this time?

  * * *

  Emmett heard a man’s voice over the static of the radio. “Something’s wrong.” He tore away from Lani and took off toward the smoke rising across the park. He figured it was a smoke bomb before he saw the cylinder-style container lying on the sidewalk.

  Lani reported their status and hurried after him, Snapper leading the way.

  Jackson sprinted across the park, calling the location as he ran. Smokey barked and hustled along with him. “I was a few yards behind her. He took her.”

  Emmett stopped where the smoke still hung heavy in the air, the heavy fog settling into his lungs.

  “She’s gone,” he said, glancing around to find Justice’s leash lying on the broken sidewalk near the shed where they’d found Joaquin a few days ago. “They took her and Justice.”

  He couldn’t believe he’d let her do this—put herself out there like this—knowing these two men wanted her dead.

  He’d never forgive himself if he couldn’t find her.

  Lani came back from the old storage shed and touched his arm. “Think, Emmett. She’s not in the shed but the dogs are restless. Whoever took Belle might still have her nearby.”

  “You’re right,” he said. Then he heard a dog barking.

  “Justice.”

  They took off past where Jackson still worked the shed, searching inside and all around. “Nothing here to help,” he said, following them.

  They found Justice hidden behind an old oak with what looked like a fishing net thrown over him. Someone had tied him to the tree. Justice struggled to get loose. Emmett quickly freed the big dog, glad he wasn’t harmed.

  Lani took over. “Justice, find.”

  Justice knew what to do. He took off into the bramble and the saplings, his barks loud and anxious.

  Emmett and Lani followed while Jackson stayed behind to alert the first responders.

  “The house,” Emmett said as they sprinted into the weeds and underbrush. “The abandoned house. They must have taken her there.” He shouted out the address again.

  Someone responded. “We’ve got movement inside the house.”

  “Justice must be taking us there,” Lani replied, her blond bun bouncing as they jogged.

  Thankful for her long legs, Emmett kept up with her while they searched the surrounding houses. But Justice kept trotting, glancing back to make sure they were following.

  Emmett prayed the dog had the right scent.

  He had to find Belle before it was too late.

  * * *

  Belle woke, disoriented and groggy, sick and nauseated.

  Blinking, she looked around the dank, stifling room and wondered where she was. Then it all came back. The park, the smoke bomb, Percy drugging her, knocking her out.

  She tried to move and realized her left hand had been cuffed to a flimsy chair back.

  Struggling to sit up, Belle tried to get her bearings. She reached for her radio. Gone. Her phone. Also gone. Her weapons had been removed from her uniform.

  “Hello?” she called, her pulse drumming heavily against her temple, her breath coming in great huffs while she tried to think, to find a way out.

  The windows were covered with tan paper—the kind used to wrap boxes for mailing. The scents of body odor and stale food assaulted her, along with the smell of decaying wood and old leaves and moist dirt. Sweat moved like a clawing hand down her back and across her shoulders.

  “I have to get out of here,” she whispered.

  “I don’t think so.”

  Lance Johnson walked through some old tattered curtains from another room. “You’re hard to kill, Officer Montera. But now I have you right where I want you.”

  “Where’s Percy?” she asked, knowing this would not go well.

  “Oh, so you do miss your ex? He told me all about you two.”

  Johnson knelt by where she sat on the old mattress. “He said you like to put strong men in their place. Made him feel less than with all your bluster and bragging. I know how that feels since you wrongfully sent me to prison.”

  “You were guilty,” Belle pointed out. “I caught you beating up your girlfriend.”

  “My ex-girlfriend now,” he said, grabbing Belle by the arm. “I swore I’d get even with you when she broke up with me and left the city.”

  “Well, you’ve certainly made a mess of that,” Belle retorted, her need to survive overcoming her anxieties. She knew her team members would show up and she certainly knew that Emmett would be with them. Justice would find her.

  Her prayers held tight, surrounding her, filling her head.

  We do not live in a spirit of fear.

  Johnson shoved her against the back of the chair, causing her neck to snap and her head to hit hard against the old wood. “Percy is going to pay me a big amount of money for helping him to find you. He wants to talk to you, so he’ll be here soon.”

  Bile rose in Belle’s throat. Percy would want revenge, too.

  “Tell him I’ll be waiting,” she said, spitting each word out in a rage that left her breathless.

  Johnson laughed and whirled to leave.

  “Wait,” Belle called. “Was that you on the motorcycle?”

  “Yes. But it’s long gone. Turned into scrap.”

  “So you used a stolen motorcycle to spy on me and you followed me to the park that day?”

  His smug grin showed malice. “Easy to do. Just watch and wait.”

  “And you waited at the precinct later that night and tried to run me down on that same bike?”

  “Maybe.”

  He didn’t lie very well.

  “I have to get out of here,” he said. “Percy made it clear he wanted me gone before he comes back.”

  Belle watched him go, then took in her surroundings and went to work on getting herself free. The old high-back chair didn’t have the strength to hold her, so she managed to twist around enough to start poking at one of the skinny posts. They’d cuffed her with enough of a chain to give her a little movement, so she used that to her advantage by standing in a stooped position. Each kick and jab seared her cuffed wrist, the digging pain shooting all the way up her neck to make her wince. But she would not die here in this desolate place.

  * * *

  Emmett’s heart pounded with all the intensity of bullets hitting concrete. He had to find Belle. The images in his head weren’t good ones. He’d dealt with enough deranged, vengeful men to know how things could go. Carolo and Johnson would taunt he
r and then kill her.

  Dear God, help us all now.

  They moved through woods and yards and stomped through messy drainage areas, but Justice didn’t stop. The big dog seemed honed in on one scent, one thing, one way.

  All around, Emmett heard others roaming through the dusk, shadows deepening, voices carrying, people shouting. Neighbors staring at them and calling out. The SWAT unit pulled up around the corner, ready to roll.

  He kept going, focusing on the steps, putting the horrible thoughts out of his head. Wishing he’d told Belle how he felt about her, wishing he’d said so many things to so many people.

  But he had to find Belle and be honest with her. He wanted to stay around her, spend time with her. Love her.

  Yes, he could admit that he’d fallen and hard. Never saw that coming and not so quickly, either. They still had so much between them, but he was willing to wade his way through all of it for her.

  Emmett stumbled over a broken crack in the sidewalk.

  Then he looked up and found Justice standing alert, his head up, his ears pitched forward, his gaze on the old abandoned house on the corner, back from the street. The address Joaquin had given him.

  Emmett held up his hand to those all around. Then he pointed to the dog and the house.

  Shouts came over the radio. Locations. Positions. “Move in the SWAT team. Get here ASAP.”

  Please, get here fast. That thought echoed in Emmett’s head as he slowly made his way toward the boarded-up, beaten-down house.

  NINETEEN

  Belle heard a noise in the other room. Quickly, she positioned herself on the chair, willing her heart to settle. Her bruised wrist throbbed against the cuff.

  But she was ready now.

  The curtains curled back, crackling with age and mold.

  “Well, well, it’s been a long time, hasn’t it, sweet Belle?”

  Percy stood there in jeans and a dark T-shirt, his black eyes burning with hatred and rage, his inky ebony hair long and rakish. “I know you must have missed me a little bit.”

  “Not all that much,” she retorted, so ready to end this even while her heart rate accelerated. “And by the way, chasing me, threatening me and hiring some lowlife to try to kill me didn’t make me any fonder of you, Percy.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Yes, you do,” Belle said as he inched closer, the smell of his cheap aftershave making her gag. “You put the envelope underneath my door, didn’t you? Because you kept a copy of the key I gave you, right?”

  “Well, I did help you install the security system years ago, and I figured you’d changed the code and the lock. But I sent Johnson to do the job. Slipped right in after your brother opened the front door and jogged right on upstairs without a clue.”

  “We do have a new key code now,” she retorted. “And better security. I’m a different woman. Stronger, more secure, a lot smarter.”

  “You might think you’re smart,” he said through a hiss as he yanked her up and shook her shoulders. “But you’re the one cuffed to that chair, aren’t you?”

  Belle waited until he was leaning over her and then she lifted her now uncuffed hand away from the broken chair spindle she’d managed to stick back up against the old backing. “Not anymore, Percy.”

  Then she grabbed the spindle and hit him hard against the head. She knew she hadn’t done too much damage but it was enough get him away so she could squirm up and run. Running as fast as she could, she almost made it to the front door.

  Then barking outside and a commotion stopped her. Justice!

  Belle screamed out, her hand on the doorknob. If she could open it, Justice would be able to help. Her adrenaline high, she called out in hope. “Justice, Attack.”

  But Percy tackled her, and her hand slipped away from the locked door.

  * * *

  Emmett heard a faint scream and then watched as Justice leaped into the air and put a bite-hold on the man trying to sneak around the corner of the house.

  Lance Johnson cried out in pain, screaming and begging Justice to let him go.

  Jackson hurried by, headed toward the dog and the man writhing in pain on the ground. “I got this, Marshal Gage. Go in and find Belle.”

  Confused, Emmett realized Belle wanted Justice to come into the house. But the K-9 had done his job out here. He’d captured Lance Johnson. So that meant someone else had Belle inside the house.

  The grim weight of that hit Emmett in his gut. Percy Carolo would enjoy tormenting Belle, especially if he knew her entire unit was right outside.

  Emmett was headed up the cracked steps when he heard a voice through one of the broken window panes where stained paper hung tattered and shredded, leaving partial views into the house. “Don’t come any closer or I’ll kill her.”

  Emmett saw the silhouette in the waning shadows. A man holding a woman against his chest, a gun pressed against her rib cage.

  Belle.

  “What do you want?” Emmett called out, holding a hand behind him to warn the others. “Just tell me.”

  Percy Carolo chuckled hard and fast. “I want my Belle back.”

  “I don’t want you,” Belle said to Percy, her eyes on Emmett. She spoke firmly, a cut on her lip, blood seeping down her face. “Percy, you need to let me go or things will only get worse for you.”

  “Worse?” Percy yanked her closer, one hand pressed across her chest. “How much worse could it get? I hired an inept stooge to help me get to you, and he failed at every attempt. He couldn’t even kill you in the park before I met him.”

  Emmett inched closer, not daring to take his eyes off them. But darkness was settling like a moldy blanket all around this house. He couldn’t let this man take Belle away.

  Behind him, Lance Johnson cried out. “Carolo made me do all of it. Hired me to harass her and kill the dog, talked her brother into helping. I told him I tried to get rid of her in the park, but he wants her all to himself before he does the job.”

  “Shut up,” Jackson told the bleeding man as he hauled him toward where an ambulance waited. “You can spill your guts in court.”

  Emmett called out again. “What do you really need right now, Carolo? Time’s wasting out here.”

  “I got what I want.”

  Emmett gritted his teeth at that comment. But he pulled himself together. “Then I’ll stay right here because we have you surrounded, Carolo. And your buddy Lance is squealing like a pig.”

  Carolo shoved Belle toward the window, then stood behind her, his weapon pointed at her. “I told you, I’ll kill her if you do anything more than breathe.”

  “I’m not doing anything,” Emmett said, praying Belle’s unit members had things under control. “But I can’t speak for the Brooklyn K-9 Unit and the SWAT team moving in now. You see, I’m a US marshal and I’m trained to bring in people who break the law.” He paused, let out a sigh. “And we all plan to bring you in for assault and battery on an officer, attempted murder and kidnapping. That’s just the first page.”

  “So you’ll bring me in—and you don’t care if I shoot her first?” Percy cursed and shouted, “You tell all of them to back off and let me alone. I need to think. I mean it. If anyone comes close to this house, it’s over. If I die, so does she.”

  Emmett held his breath, his mind whirling. He knew Justice was standing guard behind him. But how did he get the K-9 into the house?

  “I’m backing away, Carolo,” he called. “But I’ll be nearby. Everyone else has moved away.”

  “Keep them back,” Carolo called. “I have to come up with a new plan.”

  Emmett had to do the same. Come up with a new plan.

  How did he save the woman he’d fallen in love with from a madman who only wanted to make her suffer before he killed her?

  * * *

  Belle clung to the
sure knowledge that Emmett was on the other side of that door. She’d been so close to escaping when Percy had grabbed her and hauled her back, slapping her hard for daring to try.

  Now he held her there by the window as a shield while he watched the night shadows outside, threatening anything that moved. It hurt so much to know people she cared about were close and she couldn’t reach them. But she wasn’t going to sit here all night with a man who’d gone from bitter to irrational.

  Where was Emmett?

  “Your new man is out there,” Percy said, as if reading her very thoughts. “I don’t get you, Belle. I thought we had something special.” He rubbed his dark hair and gave her a perplexed stare. “When I saw you with him going through a storage unit, I went berserk all over again. Right there under my nose but as it turned out, a perfect coincidence.”

  “So you called your new friend and my enemy, Lance Johnson, to help you take out both of us?”

  “I knew Johnson would leap on that,” Percy said. “But he’s an idiot. Can’t shoot anything but his own foot.” Then he changed, his voice whining and soft. “We could fix all of this if you’ll just go away with me.”

  Belle gave him a look of disbelief. “Percy, you were abusive to me and you hated that I got a promotion. We had nothing special.” Then she raised her voice. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  He leaned down and stared in her face, waving his gun in the air where he forced her to sit in a chair centered in the window. He could pace in front of her knowing the sharpshooters wouldn’t shoot through her. “You’re wrong. We had everything until you left me. Lance told me you did the same thing to him, caused his girl to leave him.”

  “He beat her. You came close to that with me, remember? Women don’t put up with that stuff these days.”

  “No, no. We just had a little spat. Baby, you know I love you. I’ll always love you.”

  Belle didn’t respond to that. The man was seriously deranged. But she did watch his every step and she counted how many steps she’d need to jump through that shattered window and get away. If she just gave him time to move to the other side of the room, she thought she could make it.