The Fire Saga (The Club)

by Katherine Rhodes

  “I’m ready now.” He glanced at Liam in the bed. “He’ll be okay?”

  Tally nodded. “He’s going to be fine. The tracer did cauterize a lot of the wound as it ripped through, so that blood at the cottage was not nearly as much as we all thought it was. Cheeky ass rolled around in the little that was there.”

  Preston clapped him on the back. “Let’s gear up.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The puddle of blood was still by the door, but Austin and Preston stepped over it. They had the entire docket of the case in hand—which was pretty amazing considering the girls had gone missing just three hours before. Austin wondered how powerful the Mak family really was in Karim. He was grateful for that because in most cases, anyone with a PI would have to wait for days to get the information he already had in hand.

  “How are you feeling?” Preston peered into the living room as they walked in.

  “Like shit. I got GHB and naloxone fighting it out in my system, and eight stitches in my arm.”

  “At least they knew from Bits what was going on.”

  Austin grunted noncommittally. He didn’t want to find any positive to this situation. The naloxone was a hell of a kick at first and they wanted him awake to get his story, but it was really fucking with his head in combination with the GHB.

  He wasn’t going to go lie down, though. He had to find Dana and Lola. Ryan wasn’t interested in winning her back; he wanted her back to keep his house, and fuck at his convenience. By having Lola in his grasp, he guaranteed she wouldn’t run. It was that straightforward with him; he wasn’t a devious, complicated kidnapper.

  “So, where do we start?”

  Preston looked around. “Well. Our resident druggist said GHB sets in within a few minutes and lasts at least four hours at the highest street dose. I’m guessing that’s what he did, since the drug was still in the glass.”

  “If we assume he was carrying Dana, and dragging Lola, he can’t have gone far. He won’t be able to go very far for at least another hour because Dana is out.”

  “Right.” Preston nodded. “So we have to figure out where the asshole’s been hiding.”

  “It has to be somewhere he could watch them, and where he could get good information on them, and yet never really be seen.” Austin thought for a long minute. “Where did he get the GHB?”

  Preston nodded and then tapped his nose. “Dead-on. We have to find the source of the drugs.”

  “I’ll put a dollar on Bits knowing some of the goings on. I’ll bet she has to deal with these assholes all the time.” Austin looked at his watch. “I think she works overnights.”

  “One way to find out.”

  The emergency room was quiet at the moment. The rest of the bars in Karim still had close to two hours before closing. The woman at the reception desk was another face Austin had seen at the club. He started to wonder how many people in this little town were into kink. It seemed like he couldn’t go anywhere without seeing someone. But, she also recognized him and paged Bits to the waiting area.

  Bits walked up to them in colorful scrubs, and her smile disappeared as she saw they both wore dour expressions. “What’s up, guys?”

  “Had another GHB incident.” Austin was quiet and straightforward.

  Bits motioned them to follow her out of the waiting room back outside. “If you two are here, this is serious. Mistress Tally doesn’t send you out for nothing.”

  Austin nodded. “Liam is hurt badly, and his daughter and Dana are missing. I got slammed with the GHB too, which is how he got Dana.”

  “Shit. And you’re here...?”

  “You are the best link we have to the GHB,” Preston said. “Here, and your incident. Do you know anything about the drug networks in the town?”

  Bits chewed her lip. “Yeah. You hear things here.” She turned so the woman at the intake desk couldn’t see her. “I mean, there’s always the heroin and coke rings. Those guys make enough they don’t have to cross over. And meth...no one wants to mess with those guys. But the weed guys, they tend to wander down into other merchandise. Some of them end up with script pills. There are three major dealers in town I can think of, and only one of those has date rape drugs on hand. She would be the one whowould pedal the wares.”

  “Where can we find her?”

  Bits raised an eyebrow. “Four floor, room four oh six one. She was shot this afternoon.”

  Austin glanced over at Preston. “Was it a tracer?”

  Bits jerked a little. “Yeah, it was.”

  Shaking his head in disbelief, Austin said, “Liam is in room two oh two three. Shot with a tracer at Dana’s house tonight.”

  It was quiet for a moment, then Bits leaned up and let her hair fall over her face, staring down at her toes. “She talked to Detective Sampson. Under surveillance. Go around the side of the building and wait for me. I’ll get you a copy of the conversation.” She tossed her hair back and smiled. “I’ll see you later.”

  The promised conversation was delivered less than ten minutes later. Bits cracked the door and slipped an envelope out. With the words, ‘thumb drive’ whispered softly, she closed the door after Austin had a firm grip. He trotted back to the car.

  Preston pulled up to Austin’s apartment where he set up the thumb drive to play the interview. It was a sound file only, but they didn’t really need much more than that.

  “State your name for the record.”

  “Jennifer Sanders.”

  “You understand you’re under arrest and this is being recorded for admission in court. You’ve agreed to plead guilty without the aid of a lawyer in exchange for your testimony.”

  “Yes.”

  “Tell me what happened tonight. Start with the background.”

  “I went out for a delivery…” She cleared her throat. “I was bringing a delivery of marijuana to one of my dealers. It wasn’t a money deal; he was making GHB for me and I was bringing him some chemicals he wanted for something. I don’t know what. The shipment hadn’t come in yet, but I needed to get the GHB because I had customers asking for it.”

  “What chemicals?”

  “Acetic anhydride and o-toluidine. I hadn’t gotten the acetic anhydride in yet. I handed over the o-toluidine and explained the other delivery would be in tomorrow. Instead, he shot me in the leg, grabbed my phone, and walked away. His neighbor saw me on the porch, bleeding out.”

  “And you’re telling me all of this of your own free will?”

  “Yes. I want out. I’m done. I’ll take my punishment.”

  Austin clicked pause and changed the browser tab to search. The search of the two chemicals mentioned brought up the usual: Wikipedia, CDC, EPA. Nothing connected to a drug—until he reached the bottom with related searches. “Why do you need to synthesize this stuff?” Austin asked, pointing to the link. Clicking on it, the next page came up and there were pages and pages of information on synthesis—and dozens of drugs were listed. “We need Gianna, don’t we?”

  Preston pulled out his phone and dialed hers. She picked up a moment later, and Preston explained what was going on while on speaker phone.

  “Give me a picture of the screen you’re looking at, and I’ll text you back with what you’re looking for. And can I tell you it sucks that I’m the druggie go-to?”

  “It’s good, Gianna. We’re glad you’re on our side. You could be dangerous if you weren’t, Heisenberg.”

  “Ha ha. Send me the picture, jackass.”

  Preston snapped a picture of the screen and sent it to her. It was less than thirty seconds before she called back. “You got a huge problem. You need to find Dana now. Like now-now.”

  “What? What’s wrong?” Austin asked.

  “He’s making quaaludes. Leg spreaders. She’ll do anything he says. They make you extremely susceptible to suggestion and you lose concept of space and time, as well as impairing memory.”

  “Shit.” Austin grimaced. “Shit, what do we do?”

  “Look, most of these gu
ys who are dosing women and using them for sex are macho machismo types. He’ll want to show off his ability to keep her under control. And if this guy is as big of a jerk as you’re all making him out to be, he may want to punish her for being with someone else.”

  “Humiliation.” Preston offered, looking at Austin. “Humiliation, public shaming. Gianna, will the quaaludes keep her from feeling shame at a situation?”

  “No, not at all. It drops your level of anxiety, but if you don’t like something it’s not going to change your basic perceptions.”

  Austin put a hand to his forehead. “Goddamn it. He took her somewhere he could humiliate her. He found us in Black Mariah, so he’s going to shame her for showing herself.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Gianna mumbled. “Where would he do that at four in the morning?”

  “Not four in the morning,” Preston said. “Seven in the morning. When the sun comes up.”

  “Fuck,” Austin said. “The clock.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  The car skidded down the street, screaming to a halt in front of the Old Post Office Square Market. Built in the pioneer days of the little city, it had a clock tower that the railway had paid for at the start of the standard railway times. The post office had long since moved to the other side of town, and the building now served as a market for the little store fronts for local merchants. A quaint, small town market.

  Except for tonight.

  Preston hauled out the spotlight and directed the beam at the building. This was one of the most public places in Karim; nearly everyone in town passed through here one way or another at some point in their day. The clock tower had been restored and chimed the hour with three real bells from sunrise to nine at night, and then a quiet set of chimes for overnight.

  The chimes were ringing the quarter hour when Preston pulled the light back and aimed it up the tower.

  Austin’s worst nightmare was in the light.

  Dana was chained upright to the concrete banister, hanging over the edge that ran around the outside of the tower. She was completely naked, and the chains were in a bizarre pattern Austin a moment to realize was a shibari pattern.

  “Shit,” Preston said. “Humiliation.” He pulled the light up higher.

  Scrawled on the wall behind her were the words ‘harlot’ and ‘whore’.

  “Fuck.” Austin looked around. “We have to get her down. We have to find Lola.”

  “We have to be careful.” Preston swept the light over the building again. “If he kidnapped her to humiliate her and not keep her as his toy, then who the fuck knows what he did with the little girl.”

  “Can we get up there to get her down?”

  Without hesitation, Preston nodded. “We can. But only if we treat this like we’re back outside of Kabul. Get me?”

  Austin gave him a brief, sharp nod. Turning off the light, Preston stowed it in the bed of the truck and flipped open the locked steel case. There was a small collection of weapons there, along with the proper ammunition, and several other accoutrements one would need in a survival situation: machete, rope, duck tape, switch blade, MREs. “Choose wisely.”

  It didn’t take him a moment to decide when he saw the matte black frame of a SIG P210 9mm sitting in a comfortable, custom foam bed. He hefted it in his hand and nodded. “This’ll do.”

  “Let’s take the direct route,” Preston said. “There’s no way to know what he’s done or is doing, and we’re better off with a straight run, I think.”

  “I agree.”

  Slamming the back of the truck shut, Austin and Preston headed for the front door of the old post office. There was no sign of anyone waiting in the shadows, and the door was pried open. There was no alarm on the main entrance, just a regular door lock, since each of the stores had their own locks and alarms. The main lights were down, but there was enough ambient light from the stores they didn’t need the flashlights. Austin had to let go of the urge to check every nook and cranny—their immediate goal was to get Dana off the tower before sunrise, before someone else saw her hanging there naked.

  The clock tower door was cracked off the hinges and hung by the handle. The door was pushed out, which meant that Ryan had come back out of the tower and wasn’t up there anymore. He didn’t think Ryan was smart enough—or sane enough at this point—to set up an elaborate trap like that. Preston nodded in an unspoken agreement with his assessment, and the two of them barreled up the stairs.

  There was no sign of booby traps or deception, and they were able to get to the door at the top.

  That was locked.

  “Do you want to bother trying to open this?” Preston asked.

  In response, Austin raised his gun and shot the lock. The knob crumbled out and the door creaked open. “No.”

  “Jesus Christ, Pepperdine.” Preston cleaned out his ears with his finger. “Warn me.”

  Austin yanked the door open and tumbled out onto the balcony, racing around to the front of the building. He leaned over where Dana was chained, to find her sobbing hysterically. He leaned further and put his hand on her cheek. “Dana! I’m here. Dana?”

  She managed to look up at him. “Oh, God, Austin. Please, get me out of here. Please.” She was glassy-eyed and her cheek sported a huge bruise. By the way she could barely keep her head up, Austin could tell she was completely doped up on quaaludes, and she could barely see him.

  Austin looked at the chains. Ryan had used a padlock to secure them. Preston pulled the lock away from the railings and held it out and away from them. He opted to shoot it off as well.

  “Hold her,” Preston directed. Austin leaned over again and grabbed her outstretched arms to pin Dana to the wall while Preston untangled the chains. Dana was sobbing so hard and all he wanted to do was pull her into his arms. The chains jangled and jingled while he unwound them from the railing and from around Dana.

  The red dot danced across her skin, to his arm and up to his shoulder.

  “Fuck me. Preston! Laser sight!”

  Grabbing all the chains he had unwound, Preston pulled her tight. “Get back!”

  Austin flopped to the floor of the balcony just as the bullet ricocheted off the cement. He looked at Preston, who shook his head. “We have to get back over, but I need more time to get the chains off.”

  “I don’t even know where the shot came from.” Austin looked through the balustrades, to see if he could find the source of the bullet. “I have an idea.” He pulled the flashlight off of Preston’s belt, and standing up, he presented a target. Half a heartbeat later, the red bead appeared and moved across his shoulders from right to left, and at an upward angle.

  Flicking on the flashlight, the guessed the trajectory and shone the five hundred thousand candle flashlight in that direction. The red dot jumped away after a scan to the left with light. “Got him,” Austin said and stepped to the railing. “Dana, I need you to trust me. I am not going to let you fall, but I have to keep the flashlight in Ryan’s face. I want you to wrap your arm around mine, tightly.” She didn’t answer him. Instead, there was a strong, desperate grip on his forearm. Austin responded with his own death grip on her. “Stevens, make it fast! I only have about a minute before he finds a fresh shot.”

  Preston leapt forward. “Sorry, Dana. This isn’t going to be pleasant.” He tossed all the chains he had through the holes in the balustrade and they all jerked down on her. From behind the railings, Preston yanked and pulled all the chains down her body and Austin felt the moment the chains found gravity and started unwinding themselves.

  “Pulling up!” Austin threw the light to the ground behind him and with his now free hand, grabbed onto Dana’s other arm and pulled her backward and up, both glad and upset that she was too stoned to feel the cement scraping on her back.

  Just as she hit the tipping point to come back over with him, the hot sensation of a bullet sliced through his shoulder and knocked him back, yanking Dana back to land on top of him.

  Preston had his shirt off a
nd was wrapping it around Dana as Austin looked at the wound he’d just received. “Fuck me, that hurts.”

  “Where’s my daughter?” Dana was mumbling from the ground, her head tossing back and forth.

  Austin moved to the edge again and yelled in the direction he knew the shot had come from. “Where’s Lola?”

  “Fat chance, asshole!” Ryan’s voice echoed through the plaza below. “You should have left her up there! It’s all the bitch deserves.”

  “Fucking crucified with chains,” Preston grumbled.

  “Where’s Lola?” Austin yelled again, peering through the railing.

  “Put the bitch back up there, and I’ll leave the kid alone.”

  “Austin…” Preston shook his head. “He raped Dana. It’s all over her. He beat and raped her. We have to get her to the hospital.”

  “Don’t care,” Dana breathed. “Where’s Lola…”

  Austin’s head swam. Dana had to go to the hospital, but there was no way he could leave knowing this asshole had Lola somewhere. He’d broken the girl’s arm once, who knew what he would do this time. His own arm throbbed, and he knew he had to go back to the hospital as well. But the only word that punctuated his thoughts was ‘revenge’. He dropped his head to the cool cement and took a few cleansing breaths. “Grab her, we’re going for the car. She has to go. Let’s get away from being a target up here.”

  Scooping up Dana, who was now almost completely incoherent, Preston ran around to the stairs and started down. Austin ripped the sleeve off his shirt and as he ran after Preston down the stairs, tied it around the wound in his arm. The pain seemed to keep his head on straight keeping him focused on what needed to happen.

  If he stopped to think, he might lose control.

  Before he knew it they were at the doors to leave the building, and he pulled Preston to stop—with his bad arm. Shaking it off, he glanced out at the street. “I’m pretty sure he’s off to the left, and not trying to hide. He’s riding on the idea that the dark is enough to conceal him. I need the spotlight so I can flush him out. I want you to get into the truck with Dana and get the fuck out of here.”