by Lexi Blake
“Then I apologize. You’re in just deep enough.”
He could happily drown if she would just keep smiling his way.
* * * *
Karina stepped into the hallway that led to the locker room. She kind of hated Kink. Loved the word. Hated the club because it didn’t take itself seriously. There was a long corridor that led to the only private place in the club. There were two doors that opened off but she wasn’t sure where they led. It was stupid, but she felt a little vulnerable as she passed them.
They didn’t open. She walked on. The lights flickered above her, casting shadows on the hallway. She turned and she could see Liam standing at the beginning of the hall. He’d been at the front door, but she was certain Derek had called him over.
If she let him, she was sure Derek would charge into the bathroom and stand guard over her.
She pushed through the door that led to the women’s locker room. At least it was well lit. It closed behind her and she was alone. She let out a deep breath. She hadn’t been alone in days. Even when they were here at the club, they tended to leave when it closed so all the subs were changing at the same time. It was deserted now. Peaceful. Quiet.
What the hell was she going to do about Derek?
She heard a shower turn on. So much for being alone. In and out. She would change clothes and get right back to Derek. She would run his way. Maybe they could keep up this sweet peace they had found between them. She could forgive his stupidity. He was bruised, damaged by what had happened to him. She could understand that. He’d been sweet since the moment he’d realized he was wrong. Karina believed in second chances.
He accepted her silence. She had no doubt he would take her home and make love to her and hold her. So why was there a lump in her throat?
It was probably because she knew her time with him was almost up. A few weeks. Nothing more. They would solve the case or dissolve the task force. They wouldn’t let him stay forever.
He wouldn’t let himself stay forever. He would go looking for his sweet sub who would never question him. She shouldn’t. She should be smarter than Karina. Derek did right. He only ever veered off the path for someone he cared about. When he loved someone, he would do anything to protect her.
She didn’t deserve that.
Her heels clacked along the floor as she made her way to the line of lockers. What was she doing? She wanted Derek. She couldn’t imagine going forward without him, but she was holding back. He’d been so sweet all afternoon. He’d given in on everything. He’d told her she could have her way and perversely it made her want to open up to him.
She found her locker and opened it with a sigh. She needed to go to a meeting. She needed to sit and drink craptastic coffee and tell her story. She needed to walk in there and know she would be accepted for exactly who she was. She needed to know she could walk on her own two feet with her head held high. No one was ever waiting for her. Kevin thought she should do it alone to be strong.
Would Derek wait for her? She kind of thought that if Derek could accept her, he would sit outside the meeting. If he was her husband, he would escort her to and from and hold her hand. He would tell her to do what she needed and that when she was done, he would be there. It was a part of who he was.
It wasn’t a betrayal. It was just a difference. She’d needed Kevin. She’d needed exactly what he’d given her at the time. She hadn’t been ready for the kind of real intimacy she’d found with Derek. She’d needed the boundaries Kevin had given her. He’d loved her in his way. He’d shown her a lifestyle that helped her and given her the kind of distant affection she’d been able to accept at the time. If he’d been as attentive as Derek, she likely would have been wary, would have run away again.
Now she needed to tease Derek and lie in bed with him like a lazy slug and have him bring her coffee. She needed to laugh when he tickled her and she needed to wake him up when his dreams got bad.
She needed to love Derek. She needed to be loved by him.
God, what would she do if he walked away?
There was a sound from the showers that caught her attention. She turned, worried suddenly.
Master Will walked out of the showers, his face pale, his hands reaching for her. “Karina.”
He shouldn’t be here. Oh, fuck. She stepped back. She wasn’t carrying, but she could still handle herself. “You stay back.”
She noticed there was a smear of dirty reddish brown on the doorway as he lumbered through. She could see the blood he’d left where he’d placed his hand.
“Karina…” He stomped toward her, but there was something wrong with him. He moved without grace, as though forcing himself along. “Run, Karina.”
She didn’t need any more prompting. She started to turn and that was when she felt something sharp against her shoulder. There was a burning sensation and she swatted her hand back, but her vision was already odd.
Slow. She was slowing down.
Starr stood in front of her, a needle in her hand. “I am going to be so glad when I don’t have to come to these places anymore. You’re all sick, you know. Terry, we should hurry. Are you sure the bin is big enough?”
“I’m sure, baby doll. I got this planned out down to the last detail. You just trust me.” The last thing she saw before the darkness closed in on her was her brother-in-law’s face sneering down.
Derek was going to be so mad at her…
Chapter Eleven
Derek looked down the hallway, staring where Karina had disappeared. The men’s locker room was on the opposite side of the building, but he’d left Liam watching her while he’d picked up his stuff and changed into street clothes. She was taking her sweet time. As long as he was waiting, it might be good to do some damage control. “How’s it going, O’Donnell?”
The Irishman’s brows rose. “Careful there, Brighton. I might think you’re being friendly.”
“I’m sorry, man.” He was about to go into a major explanation because O’Donnell was Karina’s friend and he needed to start playing nicely with Karina’s friends. “I can only…”
O’Donnell held a hand up. “I’ve met your ex-wife. I understand. Just treat Karina well and we’ll be all right, you and me. You talked to Sean? He told you what we found out about Terry Mills?”
“I’d like to know what doctor he’s seeing.” He couldn’t get his mind off the brother-in-law. Something had been off about him earlier.
“I’ll have Adam try to get his medical records. Do you think he’s faking the broken arm? Why would he do that? Is he trying to get sympathy from Karina?”
Derek could think of only a couple of reasons, but his mind was working overtime. “I need to get her to talk to me about her marriage. I’m not trying to pry, but I don’t like the fact that her brother-in-law walked in just as Karina is being threatened. Do you know anything? Were they close? Would he want revenge on her for some reason?”
O’Donnell whistled. “Damn me. You think he’s the one who’s after her. He’s been in town longer than he admitted to Karina. He’s lying about that. Who knows what else he could be lying about?”
“I don’t know, but he’s a ship captain. He’s going to be good with ropes.” His mind turned. Plug and play. Take a suspect and answer the questions. He had the who and how and the when. This was tricky because there didn’t seem to be a why, but money was always bubbling right under the surface. “Did the brother have any property of value? Karina obviously didn’t keep it. The mother died before Karina’s husband. Was the will left in probate? Sometimes it can take years.” Maybe Terry didn’t think Karina deserved anything. Or maybe there was something else he was missing.
He needed to figure out what was in that box.
“No idea, but I’ll find out. Adam can run a search on the whole family. Karina’s husband was killed in a drug related shootout. As far as I can tell, he was a good cop. There was nothing dirty about him. He was posthumously honored as a hero, but things aren’t always as they seem.” Li
am looked down the hallway.
“Have you been here the whole time?” He didn’t like how long Karina was taking.
“I’ve been standing here the whole time. The only person who’s moved around back there was someone taking out the laundry. She pushed one of those carts out the back door. I went back there, but Karina was in the shower. I told her to hurry it up.”
His heart started pounding and he turned and started down the hall. He’d told Karina to skip the shower, but Liam didn’t know that. Karina wouldn’t disobey him. Shit. Shit. Shit. It made sense. It would be an easy way to get her out. “How long ago?”
Liam was running beside him. “Five minutes tops. I called out to her in the locker room, but the shower was on. She’s fine, Derek.”
But he had the sudden feeling that she wasn’t. “You didn’t see her.”
“I can’t walk into the ladies’ dressing room.”
Derek hit the dressing room running. Nothing. It was quiet with the singular exception of a shower running somewhere in the back.
Please please please please be there. Please be there.
Liam stopped in front of the lockers. “Shit, is that blood?”
Sure enough, there was a smear of fresh blood on the doorway leading to the lockers.
“Karina!” He didn’t give a shit who freaked out that he was in there. He barreled into the shower area and ripped open the plastic curtain.
Nothing but an empty stall.
“Fuck me.” Liam pulled his cell. “Sean, get out to the parking lot. He has Karina. He took her out in a laundry bin.”
Derek stood there staring at the place where the water hit the tile. She was gone. Taken by a person who had already killed four times. Gone. Right out from under his nose. He was supposed to protect her, defend her, and he’d been changing into jeans while she fought for her life. Panic slowed him, made time seem to stop.
“Lieutenant?”
Who? Where would he take her? Where the hell was she? She should have been safe in his arms, but he’d been arrogant. He’d promised to protect her.
“Lieutenant!” O’Donnell whirled him around. “Snap out of it. I know you’re terrified, but she doesn’t need her lover right now. She needs the cop. You shove everything you’re feeling down and concentrate on the case. Now.”
Derek nodded. Li was right. He had to get it together. There were clues and they might, just might lead him to Karina if he could stop freaking out and concentrate.
But first he called an APB in on Karina, Terry Mills, and Will Daley. He didn’t give a flying fuck that he was rolling the dice, and if he was wrong they could fire him. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was finding Karina before…
Finding Karina. He was going to find Karina.
“You said it was a woman.” Liam had seen the person pushing the laundry cart. He’d called that person a she.
“I was standing a good twenty-five feet away, but she was small. I couldn’t see her hair, but there was no way that frame was male. She had breasts. I would bet they were fake. I can tell a fake set from a mile away.”
The doctor’s sub had fake breasts.
“Secure this room. No one gets in or out. I mean no one. This is a crime scene. I’ll have a forensic team here in fifteen minutes.” He started for the door that led to the hallway. He couldn’t be so far behind.
“All right, Lieutenant. Where are you going?”
“I’m going to find out how she took Karina out of here.” He was minutes behind her. The question was had the killer been waiting outside? He rather thought not. He would bet his life that the killer had been in the locker room, too. If Starr was in on it, then there was no way she took down Karina on her own. Even if she managed to drug her, that little stick creature couldn’t pick her up, couldn’t get her into a laundry bin.
How many people had been in that bin? At the very least Karina and the killer had been rolled out.
He turned right and saw the door that led to the loading dock. Using his boot, he kicked it open. He wasn’t about to add his fingerprints. The crime scene would already be a nightmare.
Fresh air hit his lungs as he stepped on the dock. There was a ramp that moved down toward the lot. There were four light posts, none of them with working illumination. Most of the visitors parked in the front lot. No one was out here. He turned to his left and there was the damn laundry bin.
Fuck, if she died, he would lie down beside her and never get up. Nothing would matter if he failed her.
He jogged around, looking for anything, anyone. He was in the middle of the city, but it was quiet. Too damn quiet. He could hear the freeway in the distance. He looked around for security cameras, anything that would tell him what car she’d been dumped in. Nothing. They’d placed cameras in front to catch people coming in and out. Because the victims had been at more than one club, they assumed they needed to check members, not employees, so the employee entrances had been left alone. Big mistake.
He pulled his cell and called it in, requesting a forensic team. It was time to come out of the darkness. He had to get everyone he could on finding her before it was too late.
If the killer followed his pattern, he would take her somewhere quiet, play with her for a while. The previous victims had been tied up prior to death. The patterns were intricate, requiring time and space.
He hated the thought of Karina being tortured, but he would take it over her being dead.
He heard a quiet cursing and then the slamming of a door.
Moving as quietly as he could, he turned the corner into the lot on the side of the building.
And then he remembered the doc’s car. On the second night they’d been at the club, he’d followed Master Will out to get a look at his ride. The doctor drove a bright red vintage Mustang. He’d thought it was a sweet ride at the time, and now that fucker stuck out like a sore thumb.
And so did the woman who was trying to get the trunk closed.
“Damn it. Damn it.” She sniffled, obviously panicking. Even in the low light, he could see it was Starr. She had changed. She was wearing a bland uniform, her hair in a baseball cap. She stood at the back of the car, trying to shove the trunk down. “Stupid old car.”
He stopped. Was Karina still in the trunk? Was she even alive?
The trunk lid popped open again and Starr bit back a cry. She shoved it down as far as it would stay and began to reach into her purse.
In the background, he could see Sean starting around the corner.
“Cut her off!” Derek yelled and then sprinted for the suspect.
Starr screamed. He could see her startled eyes and then she turned to run, but he was on her. Derek didn’t give a flying fuck that he might hurt her. He tackled her, sending her right to the pavement.
“Check that trunk,” Derek called out.
“Let me go!” Starr struggled underneath him. “Let me go. He made me do it. He was going to kill me if I didn’t do it. Let me go!”
“What the fuck is going on?” Sean asked as he jogged to the car. The trunk had popped back open.
“Karina’s gone.”
“Yeah, I got that from Li. You think she did it?” Sean asked as he pulled the trunk fully open.
“I don’t have her.” The woman under him gasped and her words were spat out as she cried. “He took her. I was just supposed to drive his car. Please don’t hurt me. If you just let me up, you can have some of the money. We can work this out.”
“It’s not Karina, Derek,” Sean said. “It’s Will Daley and he’s alive. Unconscious, but alive.”
Because they would need the patsy alive. They would need someone to pin the murders on.
And just like that he figured it out. Four women had died as nothing but a smoke screen for the one the killer really wanted. Terry Mills was damn good at deflection.
“I know where Karina is.”
* * * *
Karina fought her way back to consciousness. The sedative he’d given her made her head throb
. She came to, shivering and unable to move her arms. Damn. She could feel the ropes against her skin. He’d been working for a while, it seemed. Cool air hit her flesh and nausea rolled. Naked. She was naked and trussed up in a not pleasant way.
Through the aching in her head, she tried to remember what had happened. Someone had drugged her. Starr. She was going to get so much hell from the guys for letting that happen. She’d been distracted. Will had shown up. He’d told her to run and then she’d seen Terry.
Terry was the monster. Terry was the one who had tied her up. If she didn’t get out of here, Terry would be the one who killed her.
How much time had passed?
“Don’t even try to move, bitch.” His voice was hard, deeper than she remembered, but then he’d hidden a lot from her.
“What are you doing?” She stayed as still as she could, but she could feel ropes around her wrists. He’d bound them tight. Too tight. She couldn’t feel her hands. Her shoulders were pulled and twisted. It was a perversion of what Derek did to her. Derek wrapped her up like a work of art. Derek made her feel safe and beautiful, as though it was his arms around her. This had been done to restrict her, to hurt her, to hold her down for the kill. How far had he gotten?
She forced her eyes open. The world was still blurry. Lights. She could see them, but they were like halos, making the rest of the world fuzzy. Stay calm. Beyond her head throbbing, she didn’t feel a ton of pain.
“What am I doing? I’m dealing with a problem, Karina. You always were a problem.” He came into view, his face frowning down at her.
“I don’t understand.” Her voice was a little slurred, but she was sure of one thing. She had to keep him talking. She had to take stock. Her hands were tied behind her back, but it felt like her legs were still free. From mid-thigh down she seemed to have some movement. She could use that. She just needed to get a little more control back.
Where the hell was she?
“You don’t understand that you corrupted my whole family?” He reached down and slapped her across the face. “Wake up, bitch, because I have a few things to say to you before I put you down.”
