Wanted

by Minx Hardbringer

  In the limo, he starts trying to paw at me. I push him away.

  "What's wrong, Lilith? Let's get this party started. Unless you've changed your mind."

  "I haven't. I just don't want my first time to be in a car." I say and open the mini fridge. There's a bottle of Champagne. Yes.

  "Your first time? Seriously?" He says as I open the Champagne.

  "Yes. Do you want a glass of this to celebrate?" I say and pour two glasses without waiting for his answer.

  "Jackpot." Is all he says. How I ever found this disgusting excuse of a man attractive, I'll never know.

  I slip the sedative into his drink while his attention is focused on my butt. I had to bend over to put the Champagne back in the fridge, and I use the distraction to my advantage.

  I hand him the glass, and he drinks it down in two gulps "Jackpot." I say and wink at him. He has no idea why.

  I try to move the conversation towards the deal without making it obvious that I know about it, but it doesn't work. Tom is starting to get loopy, so I try asking him questions about where he stores important things. I tell him I have something precious and very sensitive that I need to store securely, but he's already showing signs of the drugs. He just makes a bunch of dirty jokes about storing something sensitive inside me, and I want to punch him in his stupid face.

  The limo pulls up in front of his building, and I have to half carry him to the elevator. I slip his key out of his pocket, and he tries to grope me again. I almost drop him on the floor, but he might hit his head. If I have to call an ambulance, I'll end up getting nothing out of this night.

  The elevator ride up to his penthouse takes forever. It's right after dinner time, so lots of his neighbors are coming and going. Most of them just smile and laugh at him. Some people give us the side eye. I just hope we get to the top quickly because he's almost unconscious and is quite heavy. The elevator dings, the doors slide open, and I'm finally able to drag him into his apartment.

  The place is so big that I don't know if I can pull him far enough to put him in bed or even on the couch. He's totally out now, just like Adam said, and completely dead weight. So, I just drop him on the foyer floor. Ooops.

  I ride the elevator back down and get Adam from the lobby. Tom is still out cold when we get back into his apartment.

  "Showtime," I say.

  Where do we begin?

  “I’ll start down here. You take a look around upstairs.” Adam says and nods towards the staircase leading up to the second floor of the penthouse.

  We’re lucky that Tom’s domestic staff has gone home for the day, so we have free access to his apartment. I don’t know what we would have done if he had a live-in housekeeper, but we don’t have to worry about that. Upstairs I find the master bedroom and several smaller bedrooms too. There is also a gym and a door that is locked. I’m not sure I want to know what’s in there, but I’m going to have to find out. Maybe I’ll send Adam into that room.

  Chapter Eleven

  Lilith

  I search the guest bedrooms first because I figure that's the least likely place that we'll find anything, but I want to leave no stone unturned. Next, I search Tom's bedroom and master bathroom. I see a few things in his drawers and closets that I'll never be able to unsee. I'll leave it all to your imagination, though.

  His bathroom is clean and orderly. There's also nothing in there. The last door, other than the locked room, is his home office. It takes me quite a while to go through all of his drawers and cabinets, but there's nothing. I do find the code to his wall safe. I have to take down every picture in his office to find it. He's really not that bright leaving the code in his desk drawer. It makes me wonder how he's been able to keep the hard drive's location so secure. I get the wall safe open. It's full of money, jewelry, and a fifty caliber Desert Eagle that I'm sure he can't fire.

  "This gun would put you on your ass," I whisper to myself.

  I hold it for a moment feeling it's weight and cold metal. The only reason I know what kind of gun I'm holding is that my Grandpa owned one. He could fire it. Grandpa was big and vigorous even for an older man.

  "I'll take that," Adam says and plucks the gun from my hands.

  "You're going to steal it?" I say, but I don't know why I'm shocked.

  "This dude is going to steal a billion dollars from his investors. I don't feel bad about taking his gun. Besides, he's going to hurt himself with it." He checks the clip." Yep, it's loaded and a round in chambered."

  "You're right. He'll end up shooting his foot off or killing the housekeeper. Take it."

  Adam takes the round out of the chamber and then slips the gun into his waistband. He's pretty smart about guns. I guess he had training because of his job. "You should never put a gun in your waistband like this. I just don't have anywhere else to put it right now." It's as if he can read my thoughts.

  "At least you unchambered the first round. Just don't forget you did that if you need to use the gun." I say and wink at him.

  "Anything in here?" He asks.

  "Nope. Nothing upstairs so far. There's a room that's locked. I don't want to go in. Here." I say and hand him Tom's keyring. "You check it out."

  Adam takes the keys, finds the one that fits, and goes into the room while I wait in the hallway. When he comes out, he looks a little green.

  "Your boss is into some kinky stuff."

  "What do you mean?" I say and wonder if I want to know.

  "You know that book with the purple pain room or whatever?" He asks, and I laugh.

  "Yeah, I've heard of it."

  "That's what's in there." He says and rolls his eyes.

  "Not your thing, huh?" I say and bite my bottom lip. It makes me nervous talking like this with Adam.

  "I have a lot of things, Peaches. None of them are in there." He says and winks.

  I feel a blush heat my face, but he's already headed back downstairs so he doesn't see it. There was nothing downstairs either, and Tom's unconscious. We can't get any more information out of him, but I have a feeling he's not going to part with the information willingly.

  "I'm going to torture it out of him," Adam says matter of factly. "This has to end now. Find something to tie him up with." He says and I can feel all of the color drain out of my face.

  "You can't torture him."

  "I have to, Peaches. You don't have to watch, but I need the information. There is a lot more at stake than you know, and we're done wasting time."

  That's when I see the picture of Tom and his parents at a villa, and something in my memory snaps.

  "The villa is where he feels safe." I murmur.

  "What?" Adam says and cocks his head to the side.

  "I thought he said the villa is where he feels safe, but that's not what he said."

  "What are you talking about, Peaches?"

  "On one of our dates. Tom said something about feeling safe at a villa he owns with his parents. I was nervous so I misheard him, but I remember now. It wasn't that he feels safe at the villa with his family. His family safe is at the villa. I bet that's where the hard drive is." I say and jump up and down with excitement.

  "Are you sure?" Adam says seriously.

  "It's the only thing we've got right now. And, you can't torture Tom. Not yet." I know I'll have no choice but to step back and let him do it his way if this doesn't work out.

  "Do you remember where the villa is, Lilith?" He says my name, and there is a sharpness to it that sends chills down my spine.

  "No, but I bet Becks can find it."

  "Let's get back to her now. We've got to make it look like you and Tom here did the deed. I'm sure he's already nervous about the situation with the dead Italian."

  "He's going out of town tomorrow morning. Surprise trip."

  "Do you know where?"

  "Shanghai. I booked the flight for him. He's going to the Chinese." I say, and the familiar feeling of dread creeps into my stomach.

  "We've got to get to the villa and get the driv
e soon. He won't take it with him. It's too risky. The Chinese Mafia could just kill him and take it once he's on their turf. But, we're running out of time. He'll probably move it soon if we arouse too much suspicion. Then, we'll have to start all over again." Adam says and grabs Tom by the shoulders.

  I help him carry him upstairs. I wait in the hallway again while Adam strips him down. Once he's naked and under the covers, I smear some of my lipstick all over his pillows. We find a condom in the drawer, take it out, crumple it up, and throw it in the bathroom trash. I doubt he'll check to see if it's really used. Ew.

  Before we go, we wipe my prints off the safe door and put all the pictures back. We don't have time to clean the whole place down, but that doesn't matter. If we do it right, this will all be over before Tom has a chance to get suspicious.

  Adam's got his bike, so I hop on, and we speed back to the church. When we get there, a big, black SUV is parked in the alley.

  "Stay out here." He instructs, and I nod my head yes. Just then, a big man get's out of the SUV and starts to walk towards us. "Never mind. You're better off coming in with me." He says and grabs my hand.

  Adam pulls me through the church's back door and locks it behind us. He chambers a round in the Desert Eagle, and I'm glad he took it. I don't know where his other gun is, but this one is big, scary looking, and it makes me feel a little safer.

  Downstairs we find Rebecca tied to a chair. A man is standing over her holding a gun to her head, while another large man stands nearby.

  "Ah, it's Adam the Sinner. Just the man I was looking for." The man says in a voice that carries just a hint of a Russian accent.

  "Vladimir. What are you doing here?" Adam says through clenched teeth.

  "I'm here for the hard drive. Do you have it yet?" The man asks and then hit’s Becks on the side of the head with the gun. I hear a sickening pop when the metal makes contact with her cheek. She yelps and touches her hand to her face.

  "Not yet, but we're getting close." Adam answers.

  "It doesn't look like you've had any trouble spending the advance," Vladimir says and waves his gun around to indicate the electronics equipment and the church.

  "I had to have a place to work. It's not like I bought a yacht. I'll have it for you soon. I swear." Adam says and squeezes my hand tight.

  "I don't like this answer. I want the drive now. My intelligence tells me that Tom Hunt is about to sell to the Chinese since you thwarted his sale to the Italians. You have three days. After that, I start sending Sophie back to you in pieces. As an extra incentive, she only has one more day's worth of medication left in her little pill bottle. You should work fast. Tick Tock Mr. Reid." Vladimir says and then walks out with the big man trailing behind him.

  Adam collapses into a chair and puts his head into his hands. He's trying to breathe deeply, but I can tell he's starting to panic. I've never seen him fall apart, and it's frightening. What could be so bad that's it's shaken him this much?

  I run to the kitchen and get a bag of frozen corn for Beck’s cheek. She presses the cold bag to her face. “I don’t think it’s broken. It sounded worse than it is.” Beck’s says and half smiles at me. “Do you guys have any more information?”

  “We do, but it can wait,” I say.

  “No, it can’t. I’ll pop a couple of Extra Strength Tylenol, and work on whatever you found. So, spill and stop looking at me like that.” Becks says in much better spirits than I expect.

  I tell her about the villa, and how I don’t know where it is. She rolls her chair back over to her computer and starts clacking away at the keyboard with one hand while the other holds the corn to her face.

  “I’ll go get you the pain meds. Where are they?”

  “In the bathroom upstairs. Can you bring me a diet soda too?”

  “Sure, be right back.”

  I find the pills and grab her a cold soda. I take them to her, and she swallows them. After she hands me the corn, she says, “I need both hands to work this out.”

  I take the corn back to the freezer, and when I get back, Adam is still sitting in the chair with his head in his hands. “You can’t fall apart right now. You have to stay strong for a while longer. We can do this.” I say and take his hand.

  “You’re right. While Becks is locating the villa, it’s time for me to tell you everything." He says and laces his fingers through mine again.

  Finally.

  Chapter Twelve

  Adam

  Her hand on mine helps me slow my breathing. The thought of Sophie being cut up makes me feel like I'm going to vomit all over my shoes. My baby sister is about to die, and I'm sitting here in an abandoned church crying like a baby.

  I shouldn't beat myself up. I have to wait for Becks to find the villa, and then I'm going to get Sophie back. I'll spend the rest of my life making this up to her if she'll let me. I'd understand if she hated me. It's my fault we're in this mess. If I'd found a way to get by without getting involved with the mob, she'd be safe at home right now.

  Our apartment. I realize I'm going to have to deal with that soon enough. The goons completely wrecked the place when they took Sophie. And they didn't just break stuff. I'm going to have to call in forensic cleaners to remove the animal blood and other secretions they smeared all over the walls and carpet. They really wanted to send a message. Thankfully, they only wanted to send a message to me, so they left Sophie's room alone. I was able to get in there and get all of her most valuable possessions out. I've got them stored here at the church for when I've got her back.

  "Adam, please tell me everything. I can handle it. I swear." Lilith says as she lifts my chin to look in my eyes.

  "Okay. The reason I came back here after my accident was that I'd worked for Vladimir in the past. It was when I was young. I got Sophie and me away from him and fled to California. But, after my career as a stuntman ended, I needed money badly. I thought Vladimir had forgiven me, but it was a trap. He took Sophie, hostage, and he's holding her prisoner until I get Tom's hard drive. I lied to you about why I was doing all this, and I'm sorry." I say and hang my head in shame.

  "Who is Sophie?"

  "She's my little sister. Our parents died when we were kids, and then our foster parents died by the time I was sixteen. The new family was horrible, so I took Sophie and ran."

  I tell her all of it. I explain about the garage, then working for Vlad because no one would hire me after the shop burned down, and then about running to California when I didn't want to work for Vladimir anymore.

  Lilith listens as I tell her about Sophie's heart condition, and tell her the story of our life with the Morgans was like before they passed away. "They were the only real family I had besides Sophie. I lost them; we lost them, way too soon. Sophie doesn't remember our biological mom and dad at all, and I barely remember them. In my mind, they were decent people, but I don't know if that's real memories or just the wishful thinking of a child."

  “And the Morgans passed when you were sixteen?” Lilith asks softly.

  “Yes, Mr. Morgan got pancreatic cancer. He died three weeks after being diagnosed. Mrs. Morgan said it’s good that Mr. Morgan went quickly. At least he had three weeks left to tell us goodbye. I wanted more time with him because he was the only father I ever had, but I’m glad he didn’t suffer for very long. The last few days were the worst, but nurses managed his pain as much as they could. He passed in his sleep one evening with all of us around him. Mrs. Morgan tried to stay strong for us, but she’d lost her best friend and love of her life. There had to have been a hundred people who were their foster children who showed up for the funeral. The Morgans had been taking in children for fifty years. They never had any kids of their own. Wait, I shouldn’t say that. They would both hate that. They never had any biological children, but they had a hundred kids. I had met quite a few of them in the eight years we lived with the Morgans, but they really came out of the woodwork for the funeral. So many of them had spread out all over the world. It was one of the
most amazing things I’d ever seen. A few of them stuck around for several weeks after and helped out around the house.”

  “But, Mrs. Morgan didn’t make it?”

  “She was a strong lady, but she wasn’t stronger than an aneurysm. For a long time, I thought she died of a broken heart. One day she went to sleep and didn’t wake up. It was like living in a nightmare, but now I just hold on to the good times. Mrs. Morgan didn’t die of a broken heart. She had survived fifty years of those being a foster mother for the Church. It was just a cruel coincidence. At least she didn’t have to live long without her husband. They’re together now.”

  “Oh, my,” Lilith says and wipes a tear from my cheek.

  “I don’t cry often, but the Morgans were my world when I was a scared little boy who’d lost his mom and dad. And, the way they took care of Sophie, no one could have done better for my little sister. That’s why it was so horrible when the Church transferred our case to state foster care. The new foster parents were a nightmare, Lilith. There wasn’t much they could do to me because, at sixteen, I was the size of a grown man, but Sophie was going to get hurt living in that place. I could tell the first day. So, I took her and we ran.”

  “That’s how you ended up working for Vladimir?”

  “No, that’s the worst part. At first, I had a job working in an auto shop. The owner paid me in cash, and I kept us under the radar. I provided for us. Even if it wasn’t entirely legal for him to pay me under the table, I was doing honest work. Then the place got torched. No one else would hire me, and that’s when I ended up working for Vladimir. Sophie ran out of medicine, and I was desperate. Looking back now, I can see how wrong I was. I should have found another way. Getting involved with the Mafia was the worst choice I’ve ever made.” I say and grind my back teeth.

  “You did the best you could with what you had, Adam,” Lilith says and smiles at me.

  “But, did I? Did I really do the best thing? Or, if I hadn’t panicked, would my sister be with us here instead of in Vladimir’s prison?”