by Bev Dulson
Tango walked into the kitchen. ‘Hey Magenta, how are you doing?’
Without opening her eyes, she couldn’t bear to look at him, she responded. ‘Shit.’
‘Looks like you’re in good hands there.’
‘Have the police been in touch? Are we any closer to locating Jax?’
Tango didn’t reply, Magenta opened her eyes, he was just looking at her. ‘Tango, Jax is responsible for this,’ the anger in her voice was directed at him, but he wouldn’t know that, yet. ‘Find him and we find Hunter.’
Tango nodded. ‘You’re right, I’ll get onto the police now and find out the latest. Don’t worry Magenta, you can rely on me.’
‘Thanks Tango, I won’t forget what you’ve done, when this is over I will find a way to give you what you deserve.’
‘No thanks needed Magenta, just doing my job.’
He left the kitchen, oblivious to the daggers Magenta was shooting him.
Juke whispered in her ear. ‘I’ll thank him for you, I could give him a very personal thank you.’
‘Don’t worry mate, I have something in mind.’
Her phone beeped. ‘Thanks for the massage, I just need to take this in private.’
Juke gave a little bow. ‘I’m always at your service, y’all just shout whenever you need me.’
‘Thanks, Juke and again I’m sorry for shouting.’
He shrugged. ‘No need to apologise, I’m just trying to look out for y’all.’ Again, that quick flick of his eyes to her tummy. She turned away, opening the message on her phone. She opened up WhatsApp and saw a new group. ‘Operation Hunter’. She opened the group, Trine, Johnny and Romeo had also been added. She started typing.
OK guys, hit me with some ideas, how can we get inside Tango’s head and get Hunter back safely?’
Trine is typing…
Trine, Johnny and Romeo were back in the Knickerbocker hotel, Romeo felt it was the safest place to talk and to keep their distance from Tango. Trine had just opened a message of Magenta, she could see the lads were reading it too.
‘OK, boys. What do we do?’ She began typing a message. Just with Johnny and Romeo now, we’re having a brainstorm and get back to you asap xx
‘This is just crazy, can’t get my head around this, thought Tango was supposed to be protecting Magenta?’
‘He is, it’s Hunter that was his target, so far Magenta appears to be safe,’ Romeo said.
‘Do you think she’s in danger, I’m worried about not telling the police.’
‘She’s safe for now, she’s right in trying to keep this secret, she isn’t in danger whilst Tango thinks he holds all the cards and I suspect Hunter is still OK, just tied up somewhere. I think we need to try and work out where Tango has him.’
Johnny shrugged. ‘Easier said than done.’
‘Not so much, Tango doesn’t know New York, he’d need a place he knows.’
Trine grabbed a piece of hotel note paper and a pen and began writing a list of all the places they’d been since they’d been in the city.
‘The studio for the James Corden show?’
Romeo shook his head. ‘Too public, along with the theatre for the Broken Arrow gig that first night.’
‘The Dylan Hotel, the night of her arrest? He’d have had plenty of time to scope that out.’
‘Again, too public and too risky, a member of staff could discover what he was up to.’
‘If you were going to kidnap someone where would you take them?’ Johnny asked the bodyguard.
‘Not that I’ve ever had too, but it would have to be somewhere quiet, somewhere I wouldn’t be disturbed…where did Magenta and Hunter go after she was released from the police?’
‘They went to the brownstone, they didn’t think anyone would find them there.’
Romeo smiled slowly. ‘Tango would’ve had plenty of time to look around as assess its suitability to his plan. It’s empty right?’
Trine nodded. ‘Yes, there were cleaners going in, but since the Erika situation the cleaners have been cancelled and Magenta’s put it on the market.’
‘My money would be on the brownstone, the basements in those buildings are huge and he’d be able to pop in and out freely, neighbours would be used to seeing cleaners going in, all he has to do is dress as one and carry cleaning materials, no one bats an eyelid. Possible issue with potential buyers, Trina can you put a call into the realtors?’
She did as Romeo asked and was surprised to discover that any viewings had been cancelled until further notice by Ms Valentina’s PA. ‘Bingo,’ she said as she put the phone down. ‘If we’re right and Hunter’s in there can’t we just call the police and get Hunter?’
‘We could, but then Tango is still a threat we need to catch him at the brownstone, take him out and release Hunter.’
Johnny swallowed hard. ‘When you say ‘we’…’
‘Obviously, I mean me. This isn’t a situation for either of you two. I need to know when Tango has left Logan’s he keeps disappearing for short periods of time, that’s my window of opportunity.’
Trine picked up her phone and opened up a message.
Magenta hadn’t had her phone out of her hand. She’d spent the majority of the afternoon in bed. She’d told Tango she needed to sleep, she knew he’d give her some privacy then. Although she’d told Trina she wanted to act normally around him, she was finding it extremely difficult, she wanted to smash his face in. She knew that wasn’t the answer. Her phone beeped.
Trine: We think we Hunter is at the brownstone
Romeo: I need to know when Tango does one of his disappearing acts, I will head over to the brownstone and deal with both him and get Hunter back.
Magenta: I’ll come with you.
Romeo is typing…
Trine is Typing…
Romeo: NO
Trine: NO
Magenta: I can’t sit by and do nothing
Johnny: For once in your life Valentina, do as you’re fuckin’ told xx
Romeo: You will be doing something, you’ll be letting me know when Tango has left Logan’s. Trust me Ms Valentina, I know what I’m doing.
Magenta: You are asking me to trust you with my whole world.
Magenta rolled off the bed and went in search of Tango, he was in Logan’s study.
‘Ah, there you are, I was just about to check on you, hope you got some sleep.’
She feigned a yawn. ‘A little bit, think my body is finally taking over and making me sleep.’
He smiled. It made her skin crawl. Just you wait till Hunter’s back, you little shit, no one messes with us.
‘What did the police say about Jax?’
‘Not much, they’re useless. I’ve been questioning Roxie to see if she remembers anything from the night he was last seen at the hotel, but she can’t give me any new information.’
‘I just don’t understand what Jax would want with Hunter.’
He leaned back in the office chair. ‘I’ve been thinking the same myself. All I can think of is that Max and Jax wanted to ruin you so much that when their plan to use Roxie to do that failed they had to go to desperate measures, they couldn’t ruin your career so they decided to take the most important person in your life away from you.’
She shrugged. ‘S’pose that makes sense, it’s just not Max’s usual style, he’s all about devious plans and being master of his own universe, this is different. Have we tried to speak to Max?’
‘Who knows what we’d do when we’re pushed to our limits? And no, Max also seems to have gone AWOL. All very convenient if you ask me. Both Max and Jax – which sounds like the worst boyband on the planet,’ he paused as if he was expecting her to smile, she didn’t. He carried on. ‘Yeah, so they just disappear at the same time as Hunter goes missing. My guess is they are both responsible, it would take at least two men to take Hunter somewhere under duress.’
She shook her head. ‘Unbelievable.’
‘I know, the audacity. Don’t worry, we just nee
d to work out where they have him, then I can go in there and get your guy back.’
‘Shouldn’t we let the police know our suspicions, they have more man power.’
‘Trust me Magenta,’ he looked at his watch. ‘You are right though, I should inform the police of any updates, we should get them to check on Max’s movements and see if he’s in New York, that’ll confirm our suspicions then. I’ll just go along down to the precinct and have a quick chat. Don’t leave the apartment, OK? I know you’ll be OK with Logan and Juke for half an hour or so.’
She just nodded, she didn’t trust herself to say what she really wanted to say. She watched him leave. She got out her phone.
Magenta: he just left.
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
Hunter had successfully managed to get out of the ropes that tied his wrists together, he had then easily undone the ones at his ankles. He’d anticipated that Travis would be back around dusk, he would want to come and go as undetected as possible and as he’d already been to the brownstone that day in the daylight he wouldn’t want to risk being seen twice in one day and he also wouldn’t leave it too late when any excuse to leave Mags at night would raise suspicion. With that in mind as soon as he’d freed himself he was up, stretching, getting the blood flow around his body again, the last thing he wanted when he made his attack was to have his body let him down with cramp.
‘So, now you’re out of the ropes are you gonna untie us and we’ll get out of this joint?’
‘Nope?’
‘What?’
‘Long game Max, if I untie you two, you become uncontrollable variables. Tied up, I know where you are and I can keep you safe, I can’t have you running around if there is the potential for guns going off. That reminds me, where’s your gun?’
‘I’m only going to give it to you if you untie me. Why the hell would we sit around here and wait for that mad man to come back and kill us?’
‘If he comes back here and we’re gone, he goes after Magenta and I can’t guarantee that I can get to her before he does so I need to take him out first.’
Max narrowed his eyes, he’s seen this cold, clinical side of Hunter before, the night that he’d been shot by a blank and nearly been killed. Hunter had saved his life but had left him in no doubt that he would kill him if he’d been behind the plan to assassinate Magenta. He swallowed hard, he’d still been trying to mess with Magenta’s life nearly two years later, what if Hunter wasn’t planning to save him too, what if he decided it was two birds with one shot.
‘If I give you the gun, you promise you’ll get me out of this? I’ll leave Magenta alone from now on, I’m done with trying to take her down.’
Hunter’s steely blue eyes were on him. ‘Too right you’re done,’ he took a step closer. ‘And you don’t need to give me the gun, I can just take it.’ Hunter bent down, frisking Max who could do nothing about it as he was bound by the ropes. He located the gun, took it from Max, checked it was loaded, turned the safety cap back on and put it at the waistband of his jeans. He stood up. ‘Max, you and Jax will make it out of here OK. I have no interest in making you pay for all the shit you’ve caused, your own conscience will catch you up one day. You are right about one thing though, you will leave Magenta and I alone, this ends now. I’m giving you a second chance – yet again. Don’t waste it this time on petty revenge otherwise you’ll end up like the guy who tied you up. Go back to L.A. and live your fuckin’ life. You’re not the great Max Maxwell anymore, I doubt you were actually as great as you thought you were in the first place, just go and be Max.’
‘So, err, what’s the plan then?’ Max could say no more.
‘The plan is, I sit back down, I’ll readjust the ropes so I still look tied up, don’t worry, I’ve done this before, he’ll never know. I need you to get him to come over to you so his back is towards me, then I can jump up and take the fucker out.’
‘You’ve done this before?’
‘More times than you need to know about Maxi.’
Max pulled a face, he hated being called that. ‘What should I say to him to distract him?’
‘Just tell him you need a drink.’
‘What do I do?’
‘Just sit tight, Jax, the less drama going on the better.’
Hunter sat back down, all he needed to do now was wait. I’m coming back to you Mags, just stay strong, la.
Romeo stood up as soon as the message came through from Magenta. ‘Right, that’s my cue to leave.’ He’d spent all afternoon on the laptop researching the property and the surrounding area so that he’d be able to find the fastest route. Magenta had had the keys to the property couriered over to the hotel earlier in the afternoon, he was going to go in through the back, the kitchen had the closest access to the basement, he needed to get in there as quickly and quietly as possible for maximum effective. He checked his gun in his holster.
‘What do we do?’
He smiled. ‘You’ll be safe without me, we know who the threat is and I’ll go and deal with him. Just stay in the hotel room. I’m sure you two will find something to occupy yourself with whilst I’m gone.’
Trine blushed. ‘Well, err, thanks for doing this, Where will you take Hunter?’
‘Back to Ms Valentina of course,’ he took a step towards the door and stopped. ‘Don’t thank me until it’s over.’
Johnny grabbed her hand and squeezed it as Romeo left the hotel room.
‘Do not even think about sex at a time like this.’
‘What can I say, it relaxes me and I could do with feeling relaxed right now.’
‘Johnny Kidd, what am I gonna do with you?’
‘Throw me on that bed and ride me into the sunset.’
‘Err, no. My best friend is probably right now as we speak pacing the floor waiting for news on Hunter and you think we should just have sex? Maybe we should go over to Logan’s and keep her company.’
‘You heard what the big man said, we can’t leave this room, so we need to find something to take our minds off the situation.’
Before she could respond, he was kissing her, his fingertips running down her bare arms, an image popped in her mind, it was the first time she’d seen him on stage and she was almost hypnotised by how he held the guitar and how his fingertips expertly toyed with the strings, she didn’t know it at the time but it must’ve had an effect on her as right now she felt like she was that guitar as he expertly bought her body to life and played to a different tune.
‘Johnny,’ she pulled away from his kiss, her voice landing on his lips.
‘Yes, Scouse?’
‘You do know we’re going to hell for this?’
‘No one else I’d wanna take that trip with, now be quiet woman while I kiss you and you take off my clothes.’
She pushed his t-shirt over his head, she didn’t need asking again, but this was really bad. She wasn’t quite sure who this new Trina was, all she knew she didn’t want to push her back into the shadows.
Hunter could tell by the lack of light coming through the slats in the window that is was getting darker. He was nicely tied back up, or at least appeared to be. Travis wouldn’t be expecting him to not be. All he needed to do was be patient, which was something Max was struggling with.
‘We shoulda just busted out of this joint, you’d have had plenty of time to be the hero and get to Magenta.’
‘Max, will you shut up, I know what I’m doing.’
‘I just think that…’
‘Sssh…listen…’ There were footsteps upstairs. ‘Showtime.’
‘Shit, you’re actually enjoying this aren’t you?’
Hunter shrugged. ‘Don’t know any different mate, when it’s fight or flight I always fight.’
The door opened at the top of the stairs and the sound of Travis and his boots could be heard before he appeared. ‘Knew I could trust you guys to stay put.’
Hunter couldn’t wait to wipe that smile off his face.
Logan and Juke had been about
to order some food to the apartment and were going to check with Magenta and Tango to see what they wanted when they realised the apartment was unusually quiet. Fly and Roxie had left earlier in the day and gone back to her hotel room. Logan wasn’t sure how he felt about his hottest new star hooking up with one of the bad boys of rock, sometimes he felt he was more baby sitter than music manager. Juke went off in search of Magenta, he checked in the study first expecting to find Tango, no sign of him. He checked Magenta’s room to see if she was asleep, it was empty. Fear welled up in the pit of his stomach as he quickly checked the other rooms, including the balcony. He couldn’t find either of them. Shit.
‘Logan!’
He came running out of the living room. ‘What?’
‘They’re both gone.’
‘Fuck!’ he pulled his phone out. ‘I’ll call Tango.’
‘So, what should I do with the three of you? I think I need to put Magenta out of her misery, stop her pining for you. The quicker she realises you’re not coming back the quicker I can console her. She is definitely an added bonus to my plan, I get my revenge and I get the girl.’
‘Told you this before Travis, no chance on either option.’ Hunter looked at Max, willing him to cause the distraction he needed to get this shit over with.
Max opened his mouth but before he could speak Tango’s phone rang. He looked at the screen frowning.
‘Tango speaking.’
Hunter noticed he didn’t mention who the caller was, he strained his ears trying to see if he could hear who it was.
‘No, I haven’t seen her, I’ll be back at the apartment soon.’
Max, thinking there was an opportunity to alert someone of their incarceration began shouting. ‘HELP, we’re locked in the basement of the brownstone.’
‘Shut the fuck up,’ A gun was on Max. ‘Carry on shouting and you’re dead. He turned to Hunter. ‘It would appear our Miss Valentina has gone walkabouts,’ he paused and looked upwards, they could all hear footsteps. ‘I hope that’s not her upstairs, I’d hate for her to be collateral damage. Back in a bit.’ He turned to go back up the stairs. As soon as he was out of sight Hunter was up, gun out of his waistband and heading towards the stairs.
