She’d been worried that Kendra might get her feelings crushed or be taken advantage of financially. Now she only hoped that was what happened. There were other, more hideous, things that could happen to a young, naïve girl. Until now, she hadn’t considered them.
“I don’t like the looks of this place,” Malcolm grumbled beside her.
“Neither do I.” She looked down at the response to the text message she’d sent on her BlackBerry. “The listing company said the ad only ran for a week and wasn’t renewed. They did verify that this was the address listed on the ad, though.”
“Then let me go in and check it out.”
Skylar glanced down at her four-inch heels and short, straight skirt. Not exactly the best outfit for clomping around in an old abandoned building. She shot a look at Malcolm’s attire. Though his shirt and pants were nice, his shoes were sensible. Since time was of the most import, she nodded. He could check things out much quicker without her.
“I’ll stay here. If you see anything suspicious at all, call me on my cell and I’ll call the police.”
His expression was more grim than she’d seen it in years, and that ominous feeling inside her grew larger. Placing her hand on his arm, she said, “Wait. Let me call the police first.”
“And tell them what?”
“That a friend of mine has disappeared and I’m at the last place she was seen.”
“And the minute you tell them who it is, they’ll assume she’s taken off again.” He shot another grim look at the building. “Give me a minute. I’m just going to have a quick look around.”
Already recognizing the stubborn set of his jaw, Skylar nodded and put her finger on the key, ready to call 911 in an instant. Malcolm wouldn’t change his mind, but if they needed help, she’d do her best to make sure they had it as quickly as possible.
Malcolm Marshall didn’t like the situation one bit. If he had a brain in his head, he’d tell his “far too compassionate for her own good” charge that Kendra Carson didn’t deserve the concern Skylar was constantly giving her. The young woman had caused nothing but problems for her. Everything Skylar did, Kendra never appeared to appreciate and just seemed to expect more.
Pulling out his gun, he approached the front of the building warily. His years of experience as a bodyguard and security specialist had taught him to listen with his gut. Something was definitely not right. Putting Skylar at risk wasn’t something he took lightly. Not only was she his responsibility, he’d been in love with her from the moment he met her. Just like most men who took one look at her were. Not that he, or anyone else for that matter, would ever be able to do anything about it.
Skylar thought of him as her employee and had a tendency to try to take care of him instead of the other way around. Not exactly the best setup for a romantic relationship. Besides, there were other, bigger issues. One being that he, along with her parents and several of her father’s closest advisors, were keeping extraordinary secrets from her. If she ever discovered the truth, there would be hell to pay for all of them. No less than they deserved.
Skylar’s worried gaze burned a hole in his back as he pushed open the door and stepped into the building. He probably should have told her to stay in the car. But he didn’t really expect any trouble or he would’ve waited for backup. Putting Skylar in danger was the last thing he wanted.
He stopped in the middle of the bare lobby. At one time, the building had housed some kind of fabric business. There were still scraps of dusty cloth and a few rusted pieces of machinery lying about. But based upon the broken windows and filth on the floor, it’d been years since anything legitimate had happened here.
That giant pit in his stomach just grew larger, thicker, darker. Hell!
Malcolm turned around and started running. He was at the front entrance of the building when he heard Skylar scream. Gun at the ready, he dashed out the door. His heart went through his throat. A man was dragging Skylar to a car. Shouting “Stop!” Malcolm ran toward them.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a movement. Before he could react, a searing pain hit his chest. His arm. His head. And then there was nothing.
four
A hard hand bit into her shoulder and pulled her up. “Sit up so we can take this hood off. We know you’re awake.”
Her heart pounding, her body shuddered as much from shock as it did from fear. Skylar felt the tug on the hood over her head. Seconds ago, she’d woken to darkness and a throbbing headache. She’d kept as quiet as possible, hoping whoever had her would believe she was still unconscious and talk freely. Apparently she wasn’t very good at pretending unconsciousness.
The hood disappeared and Skylar found herself looking up at two young men … about Kendra’s age. One had long blond hair and wore glasses. The other was clean-cut and looked like he’d just gotten out of prep school. They both scared the hell out of her.
The long-haired one shot at glance at his companion. “Damn, Aaron. She’s about the best-looking one we ever caught.”
Instead of answering, Aaron grabbed a handful of her hair and jerked her face up to the light. “Hell, Joey … don’t she look familiar to you?”
Joey took off his glasses and bent down to inspect her closer. Skylar pulled as far away from him as she could get. With her hands tied behind her back and the pain from the man tugging on her hair, she barely moved more than an inch or so.
“I don’t know. I guess she kind of looks familiar. Who do you think she is?”
“She looks like that rich bitch that’s always in the magazines and on television. My sister’s always talking about wanting to look like her.” He raised horrified eyes to Joey. “We’re in deep shit.”
“Hell, we didn’t have a choice. Styx told us to clean up and get rid of any evidence. There’s no way we could’ve known this bitch and her bodyguard would’ve been there.”
Malcolm. Memory slammed into Skylar and she let out a whimper. He was dead. They’d shot him three times…. The last bullet had hit him between his eyes. Dear God, Malcolm was dead.
Fury overwhelmed fear. In one swift movement, Skylar shot up from the floor and butted Joey in the gut with her head. With her hands tied behind her, it was the best she could do.
Breath whooshed from Joey as he fell backward. Her legs wobbly and weak, she was unable to keep her balance and collapsed on top of him.
“She’s a live one, isn’t she?” Aaron chortled behind them.
“Get her off me!” Joey shouted.
Skylar rolled over, onto the floor. Sobs built up in her chest, but she couldn’t release them. “You’re going to pay for this. Both of you.”
Aaron grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her to her feet. “Don’t do that again.”
Still on the floor, Joey snarled, “I don’t care who the bitch is, she’s going to pay for that.”
“We need to wait and see what Styx says.”
Joey pulled himself up to stand. His pale face was mottled with red blotches, and his eyes gleamed behind his glasses. “Hold her for me.”
“Back off, Joey. We can’t sell or ransom a dead bitch.”
“I’m not going to kill her. I’m just going to show her who’s boss.”
With a long-suffering sigh, Aaron wrapped his arms around her chest and held her tight. Using his arms as leverage, Skylar picked up her feet and kicked behind her. She’d lost her shoes at some point, but her bare heels made a nice, hard thud as they hit both of his shins.
Aaron shook her hard. “Stop it, bitch. Or I’ll let him really hurt you. You earned this punishment. So stand still.”
Twisting and jerking against the arms that held her, she shouted at the man coming toward her, “You lowlife sleaze, you lay one hand on me and I’ll—”
Pain exploded in her left jaw as Joey backhanded her. Her legs crumbling beneath her, Skylar slumped.
A hand yanked her hair. She slammed against Aaron’s shoulder again as he held her tighter. “Okay. One more and that’s it, Joey. Bette
r make it count.”
“No,” she whispered.
Her eyes swimming with tears, she saw Joey’s grinning face waver before her and then pain exploded in her face again. Agony and darkness swirled as she slumped into the arms that held her. Despite the intense desire to just let go and lose herself in unconsciousness, Skylar took long, controlled breaths, fighting it. She would not let these bastards defeat her. Kendra might be somewhere around here. She needed to find out as much as she could.
“That’ll teach her a lesson she won’t soon forget.”
Joey’s smug comment brought her head up again. One eye already swelling and the other filled with tears, she could barely make out his shadowed image. Everything within her told her to give him the response he deserved, but she held on to that anger. If she said anything, he’d hit her again and she doubted she’d be able to stay conscious. Let him think he’d won. She’d soon show him what she was made of.
Aaron chuckled as he threw her in the corner. “Guess you learned who’s boss.”
Skylar raised her head and glared. She might not say anything to them, but damned if she’d cower in the corner. She heard a rip and watched as Aaron tore a piece of duct tape off a roll.
He dropped to his knees in front of her and pulled her to sit up. Pressing the tape to her mouth, he offered her some advice. “Better be careful. Joey’s got a nasty temper. You say anything else and there won’t be much left of you.” He twisted around and grabbed the hood they’d dropped on the floor. “Let’s cover that face up, too. You’re not that good-looking anymore.”
Her head once more covered, Skylar leaned against the wall and waited. She would stay still and listen. At some point, one of them would say something that would help her figure out how to find Kendra and get them both out of this mess alive.
The distant sound of a door opening and closing caught her attention. She tensed as heavy footsteps clomped closer.
“That’s Styx. We’ll let him decide what we need to do with her.”
Joey snorted. “I already know what my vote will be. I vote we fuck her and kill her.”
Ice went through her veins as she waited for Aaron’s response.
“Hell, Joey. That don’t get us any money. You can grab a fuck from one of the other girls.”
Before Joey could answer, a door opened and a cold, emotionless voice said, “Who’s in the corner?”
“We picked up some trouble when we went back to clean up. Shot a man and grabbed this bitch.”
“You killed someone?” Styx’s tone stayed flat; the emotionless way he talked about killing made Skylar shiver.
“We cleaned it up. Dumped him where nobody’ll ever find him. Dropped his car off at a chop shop. That’s one bastard no one will ever hear from again.”
Skylar choked back a sob. Oh, Malcolm, I’m so sorry.
“What were they doing there?”
“Don’t know. Didn’t have time to ask questions. We figured they were there looking for the girl.”
Her ears perked up; she held her breath. Were they talking about Kendra?
Footsteps drew closer to where she sat. All the muscles in her body froze.
“Is this one as good-looking as the others?”
“Better … or at least she used to be,” Aaron said.
“Whaddya mean?”
“Joey got a little carried away.”
“Hey,” Joey’s defensive voice broke in, “I couldn’t let her get away with what she did. Bitch needed to learn a lesson.”
“One day that temper’s going to get you in real trouble, Joey,” Styx said. “She too messed up to sell?”
“No, she’ll heal.” There was an audible swallow. “We got a bigger problem.”
“What?”
“The bitch is famous.”
“Whaddya mean, she’s famous?”
“That James bitch that’s always in the news.”
“Skylar James?” For the first time, Styx’s voice changed tone. He sounded both incredulous and intrigued.
“Yeah.”
“Hell, we can’t sell her like the others. There’ll be cops everywhere looking for her. She ain’t like the other girls.”
“Yeah, that’s what we were thinking,” Aaron said. “You got any ideas about what we can do with her?”
“I got an idea.” Joey’s slimy voice made no secret as to what he wanted to do.
“Maybe,” Styx said. “Let me make a call.”
“While you do that, we’re going to play a little more.”
Aaron’s voice. Funny, she’d figured he was the least of her worries. Two shadowed figures approached her; Skylar readied herself. They thought she couldn’t fight them, but she’d show them.
Instead of picking her up, she felt a sting in her neck. The tape over her mouth muffled her terrified scream. Drugs! She jerked away.
“Settle down, baby,” Aaron said. “We’re not killing you. Just want you a little more docile.”
Using her tied hands behind her, she pushed herself to her feet and started to run. She didn’t know where she was going … couldn’t see anything in front of her, but she had to get away from them. No one tried to stop her. Laughter, wild, uninhibited, and evil, followed behind her. With the suddenness of a dropping hammer, lethargy swamped her and she felt herself falling. Someone caught her and held her upright.
Skylar swayed as her mind blurred and spun. She could not lose consciousness. She had to find Kendra.
“Let’s play catch.”
Her mind muddled with terror and what ever they’d given her, she no longer recognized their voices. Hands threw her from one man to the other. She hit, bounced, and then was pushed again. Sobs built inside her with no place to go. Her legs were weak, but every time she felt herself falling, she was caught and then thrown again.
Bile rushed up her esophagus and she gagged.
“Hell, she’s puking.”
Someone ripped off the hood and tore the tape from her mouth. Unable to control it, Skylar spewed vomit all over the man who held her. He cursed and let her go.
“Damn, she puked all over me.”
As she swayed on her feet, a smile formed on her wet, swollen lips. Joey. She hoped the bastard smelled like sour vomit into eternity.
A vicious hand pushed her again, shoving her toward the corner. Unable to catch herself, she fell face-first onto the floor. Pain exploded in her forehead … her shoulder … dull and distant … almost as if it happened to someone else.
A door opened and closed again. “Shit. What’s that smell?”
“She puked.”
“Clean her up. We got a buyer and I ain’t taking her like that.”
“You ransomed her?”
“Hell no. The bitch is too hot for that. I called somebody who handles stuff like this. He’s paying us a hundred thousand.”
“Bet we’d get a million times more if we ransomed her ourselves.”
“That ain’t our job, Aaron. Shit like that takes time and will bring us attention we can’t afford. The man pays us to get girls. Not kidnap them for ransom. He’ll be pissed if he finds out about this. With his connections, he might even know the bitch.”
An explosive sigh. “I guess you’re right.” Hands picked her up again. “Come here, baby. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Skylar felt herself being lifted. She sat up and looked around her. Three men were looking at her. Though she had only one good eye and her brain could barely function, she stared hard and committed their faces to memory. These men would pay for what they had done. But she still needed to know about Kendra.
She waited until Aaron brought a clean wet cloth and wiped at her face. Though it stung, the cold dampness woke her a little. Swallowing past the vile taste in her mouth, she whispered, “What did you do with Kendra?”
Aaron stopped abruptly. “Huh?”
“Kendra. The girl you took a few days ago. What did you do with her?”
The cloth covered her face again. “Stop asking
questions.”
“Please, tell me—”
A dry towel replaced the wet cloth as he wiped the moisture from her face. Before she could ask anything else, he slapped a fresh piece of tape on her mouth. “I told you to stop asking questions. The bitch is spoken for. Might as well forget her. She’s got a sweet setup … hell of a lot better than most of them get.”
Unable to give up, she tried to form words beneath the tape. Only muffled sounds escaped.
Standing behind Aaron, Joey guffawed as he wiped vomit off his shirt. “I wish I could get a picture of that. It’d probably sell for a million on its own.”
“No,” Styx said. “We can’t have any evidence that we were involved in this.” He paused for a second and peered down at her. “She ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Stand back. I always wanted to hit a rich bitch.”
Aaron backed away and Styx stood in front of her. Skylar saw the ham-sized fist headed toward her face and jerked her head to dodge it. Pain slammed through her and darkness descended once more.
five
The Florida Keys
Gabe Maddox jerked awake. Breath wheezed, coming in desperate pants; his heart pounded with a too familiar panic and dread. In one fluid movement, he grabbed his gun and sprang to his knees. His eyes roamed the room, searched for a threat. Saw nothing wrong. Nothing out of place. No unusual sounds. No smothering darkness, chains, or bars. The light he’d left on in the bathroom still shone brightly. The small oak bureau in the corner still had one drawer slightly open from the day before when he’d been searching for a clean pair of pants.
Daylight was just now coming through skylight over the bed, telling him it was around five-thirty. About his usual time to wake up. It’d just been his semiweekly nightmare. Nothing more. Thankfully, he had woken before the grim climax.
Yawning widely, Gabe dropped his feet to the floor, stood, and gave an all over body stretch. He winced. Damn, he was sounding more like a Rice Krispies commercial every day—the snap, crackle, and pop a reminder of a body that’d seen too much abuse.
He padded barefoot to the bathroom, and as he performed his morning routine, he reviewed the day ahead of him. He’d been putting it off for too long. His boss, Noah McCall, wasn’t going to like it, because it meant he’d be out of the circuit for a few days, but it was hell and damn past time to get this over and done with. Time to move on and allow Skye to do the same. He owed her that; she owed him that, too. This time he was going to see her and damn well going to convince her. He didn’t care whose ass he had to kick to get to her. He would not be put off again.
No Chance Page 5
