Tim pushed himself up, the layers of wrapped fabric falling about his feet. He spotted the ambulance, lights still flashing, engine still running. He turned to Avi crouched over Kissy’s still form.
“How do you feel about grand theft auto?”
Fourteen
Kissy snuggled in closer to the warmth. She buried her cold nose into the solid flesh blanketing her. This was nice. Strong arms wrapped around her, rubbing her numb arms. She inhaled the musky scent of guy and tried to reach up and brush the wet hair from her face. Her hands were trapped. Even as she pulled at them, she felt muscles tighten around her fingers, holding them against warm wet fur. She blinked her eyes open, recognizing the unmistakable scent of garlic.
She was burying her nose into Tim’s naked chest. In fact, she could feel Tim’s bare flesh pressing against her bare flesh all the way down to her toes.
Kissy yanked her hands from his armpits and pushed him away. She was suddenly assaulted by bright flashing lights and a wailing siren as well as painfully cold air. Reflexively she jerked back against Tim’s body and under the silver blanket that covered them both.
Her fingers tingled painfully. She rubbed them against each other and Tim’s tight, warm abs. Her hands jerked away of their own accord when they felt the wrap of wet fabric at his waist. Looking down, she saw with relief that he was still wearing his underwear as was she. Her bra was gone though and she quickly wrapped her arms around her chest and backed away again.
The second blast of cold air brought her fully to her senses and she remembered.
“Turn around!” she screamed.
Tim wrapped the blanket around her shoulders. “We’ve got to get you warm.”
She slapped his hands away. “I’ll be fine. Turn around!”
Kissy looked into the cab of the ambulance. Avi was driving and she could see the hospital entrance approaching rapidly.
“Turn! Around!” She struggled to get her feet under her to climb up to the cab and physically turn the vehicle around herself. But her toes caught on the blanket and she would have fallen backwards if Tim hadn’t caught her.
Avi looked over his shoulder. She saw him glance at the ugly bandage on her neck before he caught her eyes.
“You’re sure?” he asked.
Kissy nodded, catching her breath now. She saw her sweater on a pile of clothes and reached for it, dropping the turtleneck when it squished in her hand.
“We need to get you to the hospital,” Tim argued, holding her up as Avi spun the ambulance into a turn.
Kissy leaned past Tim and rifled through the drawers and cabinets. She shook out a thick gray hoodie she found crumpled in a bottom drawer and pulled it on. Tim tried to get her attention as she kept looking for dry pants.
Avi called from the front, “Where am I going?”
Kissy yelled back, “Dock nine.”
Tim grabbed her by her shoulders and forced her to look at him. “Stop. Kissy, we need to take care of you.”
Kissy stopped looking for pants, coming another level closer to full consciousness. “Timothy, the clock is ticking. It’s freezing cold out there on the docks and there are people who need us. I’m okay.”
“You’re not okay,” Avi called from the driver’s seat.
“You’re not okay.” Tim echoed. “You went into the water.”
Kissy looked up at Avi. Despite his objection, he was still driving them back to the docks. She spotted a pair of rubber rain boots tucked under the drivers seat and holding the blanket around her waist crawled over to pull them out. Tim snorted in exasperation.
She took a deep breath and tried to focus on Tim’s fearful face. His beautiful gray eyes sparked and a shiver ran through his sexy, warm, inviting body. Kissy pulled the blanket from her lap and tucked it around his shoulders. He fought to give it back to her but she held it tight, her fists against his chest.
“I am okay.” She growled. “Randall Crella threw me into the water, Timothy, to keep me from breaking open Dock Storage Unit 933 and freeing the women inside.”
“What?!” The ambulance swerved roughly as Avi leaned into the turn onto the dead docks.
Kissy spoke up. “His big secret, guys, what he’s got hidden in that very special storage unit, is women. He’s selling women.” She thought about what she knew and what she was guessing. “Or something. I don’t know. But there are women freezing in that container so I’ll let you take care of me when they’re okay. Okay?”
Tim nodded silently as Kissy pulled on the ugly boots.
Fifteen
As Avi parked the ambulance beside his little white sports car, Tim duck walked over to the stack of wet clothes that had ended up on top of his satchel. He shoved the clothes aside and was about to dig through his bag when he noticed the plastic bin bolted to the wall beside the defib machine. He stood and grabbed the stack of paperwork sticking up. He opened the top folder and found a paperclip which he attached to the leg of his boxer briefs.
Kissy was crouched on the floor, stomping her foot into a boot. Tim reached over her to open a drawer she’d dismissed earlier in her search for clothes. He pulled out a couple of pre-loaded syringes and dropped them into a side pocket of his satchel. He pulled the strap of the satchel over his head and settled the bag across his chest as Avi opened the doors from the outside.
Tim leaped out and turned to help Kissy. Crouching as she was, Kissy looked a bit like a gnome in the green rain boots and overlarge hoodie. Tim found himself grinning until Kissy caught him.
“Really?” She asked looking him up and down.
Tim realized he was wearing red boxer-briefs, a taupe canvas satchel, and fifteen yards of blue circus silks.
“If only we had a phone booth,” he said.
“And some superhero costumes,” she replied.
Avi turned from where he was opening his car. “I’ve got a cop uniform.”
Tim lit up. “Hey, really? Could I borrow the pants?”
Kissy fell over laughing. She rolled on the floor inside the ambulance. Avi gave Tim a pitying look and popped his trunk. “I think wrapping that fabric around you like a sari makes more sense than you in my pants.”
Looking up at the man, Tim considered the giant might have a point.
Avi straightened from the trunk and buckled on his uniform belt. He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and retrieved his badge. He pinned it on the deep blue sweater vest he wore over a striped dress shirt. He was dressed that nicely when he’d just been hanging out, hoping to see Kissy. Tim didn’t dress that nicely on a first date. Tim never dressed that nicely.
“What’s with the badge?” he asked.
Avi glanced up from checking the tools on his belt. Tim noted the gun holster was empty.
“I’m going to arrest Crella.”
“No.” Tim shook his head widely. “I’m going to kill Crella.”
Avi reached into the spare tire well and pulled out a lockbox. “Women locked in a storage container seem like definite proof of wrongdoing.”
Tim tugged the thirteen yards of fabric trailing him out of the ambulance. “Crella has good lawyers and an in with the commissioner. I don’t see any charges sticking.
That stopped Avi. He turned on Tim. “What makes you think he has an in with the commissioner?”
“Call it a hunch.”
“Boys. Boys. You’re both pretty.” Kissy interrupted from her perch in the back of the ambulance “What say we go get the women somewhere warm and dry and safe and then you can decide what to do with Randall Crella?”
Avi stepped back so Tim did as well. He went back to work trying to release the silks’ stranglehold on his waist.
The big man drummed a finger on his gun lockbox and looked up at the dark sky. “If I call it in, we’d have some help taking care of them.”
Tim nodded, eyes on his work. “I hear you there. But we don’t know their story. What if they’re illegals or working girls?”
“Or terrorists?” Avi added.
“They spoke English?” Avi asked.
She thawed at his obvious concern. “At least one of them did.”
Tim threw the fabric and yelled in frustration, “Could someone find a pair of scissors we can use to cut this thing off?”
“Can’t you just untie it?”
Tim shot Kissy a murderous glare and then tried again, digging at the knot with his fingers. The long piece of fabric was folded in half and looped around a metal rigging piece giving it two tails. One tail was firmly wrapped about his waist. He’d tied a solid bowline and the water had sealed it tight. It wasn’t coming undone and it wasn’t going to slip over his hips or his chest.
He took the free tail and draped it over his shoulder letting the rigging with its attached chain and carabiner sit on the ground.
Kissy hopped out of the ambulance. “Here. I’ll cut it off.”
“No!” Tim backed away from her unfolded knife. “Julia would kill me.”
“You can buy her a new one.”
“Let me just work on it a bit more.” Tim examined the twisted fabric and glanced back up at Kissy who was fixing her hair. “Can I have one of those bobby pins?” he asked.
Kissy pulled one out and handed it to him with a hand on one hip and doubt in her eyes. “This I have to see.”
Tim hooked the pin onto his shorts beside the paperclip and went back to work on the knot.
“How does that help you get the pretty blue belt off?” She asked after a minute of watching him struggle.
Tim looked up, confused. “It doesn’t.”
“Then what do you need it for?” She threw her hands up in frustration.
“To pick the locks.”
“Avi, does he make any sense to you?” Kissy asked hopping up to grab the blankets from the bay’s storage locker.
But Avi put a hand up. “Shh.”
Tim looked up. Then he shoved Kissy back and slammed the ambulance door just as three figures ran out of the darkness.
Sixteen
Tim was ready to negotiate if the strangers wanted to talk, but he saw a tall, blond guy raising a pair of bolt cutters over his head and aiming for Avi. He would have cried out a warning but Avi clearly didn’t need one. The big man pulled a katana from his trunk and holding the sheathed blade, bashed the unexpected attacker with the hilt before flipping it around.
Tim would have watched what looked like it was going to be a good fight but he didn’t have time. A second blond guy sporting a ponytail dove at him. Tim leaped and pushed off the ambulance. He kicked the guy in the chest with both feet. The third guy, wearing a Mariners ball cap and a fistful of brass knuckles went down when his friend fell into him.
Tim grabbed both tails of the silks in one hand and swung the metal rigging around as he spun to face the woman who thought she was sneaking around the side of the ambulance. He aimed and struck her in the temple. But even though her head jerked to the side and blood spattered the white truck, the woman kept driving forward.
He yanked the fabric back for another strike, flashing his eyes over the two men sorting themselves out behind him. Caught between the two fronts he prepped for a multi-pronged response.
Then the rear door of the ambulance was flung open and bashed the woman full in the face. Her long braid whipped behind her as she fell flat. Kissy leaped from the doorway with a defibrillator paddle in each hand. Tim watched in awe as she descended on the blond fighting with Avi and shocked his heart with a paddle to each cheek.
Watching the man convulse on the ground, Tim realized he had his own blond to deal with and spun to find the guy had also been distracted by Kissy. He turned and faced with Tim’s makeshift bola, the man scrambled to his feet and ran away. Tim reached into his satchel and turned for the final attacker.
The Mariners fan was bent over the trunk. He came up with Avi’s service revolver and swung it around as Tim ran to him. He was too slow. He squeezed off a shot but Tim was already plunging one of his stolen syringes into the thug’s armpit.
The man gasped for breath, his eyes wide. His hand dropped and the gun clunked on the cement. The fan followed. Avi ran to his side and tried to brace him against the convulsing. When he fell limp, Avi searched his neck for a pulse. Finding one, he looked up to Tim for help.
“What did you give him?”
Tim shrugged, tossing the business end of his silks over his shoulder. “I have no idea.”
“Why in the armpit?” Avi asked, pulling the syringe out.
Tim gestured vaguely at his torso. “All those ribs in the chest just get in the way.”
He took stock of their situation. The woman was out cold beside the ambulance. Avi’s blond was twitching at Kissy’s feet on the far side of the car. The ponytail guy was nowhere in sight. To be sure, Tim turned in a circle, checking the perimeter in case there was more danger he didn’t see or expect. It was dark and he was working in low minimums as far as visibility was concerned. But as far as he could see or hear, they were clear.
Tim turned to look down at Avi but before he could find any words, Kissy said exactly what he was feeling.
“What the hell is going on?”
“My guess is someone’s doing something illegal.” Avi stood, securing the safety on his gun and seating it in the holster. “And I’d like to arrest him for it.”
“Can we at least talk to the women first?” Kissy implored.
“You said there are three locks on the unit, Avi.” Tim pointed out. “I think a little patience and you could arrest three people.”
Avi looked around at the three semi-conscious thugs. “I’ll secure these suspects. You two go see if you can get the women out. Just keep in mind,” he added, “someone heard that gunshot. Whether I call or not, the cops are on their way.”
Tim ran. He heard Kissy follow.
Seventeen
Kissy pounded on the side of container thirty-three with one hand as they ran down the metal alley. She was holding the blonds’ bolt cutters in her other.
“I’m back! Are you there?”
There was no response. Tim stopped running and caught her as she ran into him. He pressed an ear to the corrugated side. Raindrops started tapping on the containers making it hard to hear.
“Maybe he moved them?” Kissy whispered.
“Shh,” Tim focused on listening. “I can hear something.”
Kissy spotted a roll up door she hadn’t seen the first time she’d been here. She fell to her knees and tried to open it. The door wouldn’t budge. She pounded her fists on the thinner metal in frustration, rain pouring down around her now.
“Please tell me you’re still in there!” She begged.
Silence. And then, a quiet voice cried out. “Yes. We are in here.”
Kissy cheered and leapt to her feet. She picked up the bolt cutters and ran for the front again, but Tim caught her.
“Wait. If the women are still here, Crella probably is too.” He said. “I’d bet those were his thugs. You wait here. Let me draw his attention.”
“Are you trying to protect me, Timothy Goodenuff?” Kissy demanded.
Tim paused for only a second before he answered firmly, “Yes.”
His bare honesty threw her. She’d been ready to harangue him for treating her like a helpless female but when his eyes flicked from her eyes to her throat, Kissy stepped back. Her fingers felt for the scar but found the bandage was still wrapped around her neck. For the first time since she’d woken in the hospital to find she’d nearly been killed by that evil bitch Vanessa, she’d forgotten about it. And she was quickly distracted from it again as the key dangling from her wrist bounced on her breastbone.
“I had this hidden in my bra.” She remembered.
Tim blushed. “Yeah. Nice job. I tied it back on your wrist while you were out.”
“You took off my bra.” She stated, glowering.
&n
bsp; Tim held up a finger to make a point and then tapped it on the side of the container. “Women? Trapped in a shipping yard?” he said hopefully.
She held up the bolt cutters. “These might help.”
“It’ll be faster if I just pick the padlocks,” he said, turning away.
“With what?” She asked. “Thirteen yards of silk and your charm?”
Tim turned back and shook his head at her. “Nope.” He reached down and pulled a piece of silver off of his underwear leg. “This straightened paperclip and your bobby pin.”
She was caught by his eyes. He looked like he was about to turn away again and run to the padlocks but he didn’t. His chest heaved as he took in a deep breath. She opened her mouth to say something snarky and suddenly Tim was kissing her. His lips warmed her from tip to toe, some places got warmer than others. She leaned into the kiss, forgetting about the women, and the rain, and Avi.
Avi. She pulled back and looked back down the space between the containers where she could just see the rear end of her boyfriend’s white two-door. Tim released her and her skin felt particularly cold where his arms had been.
“Now, if Crella is still here, I expect you to come save me. Right?”
She turned back. “Right.”
Tim ran. The silks slid along the ground after him.
Kissy set down Avi’s clippers and peered around the edges of the roll up door to see if she could find a reason it wouldn’t open. The alley brightened when Tim dragged the bare bulb lamp and its insanely long extension cord around the side and left it.
“I’m sure you’ve heard, ladies,” he announced loudly, knocking on the container, “I work better in the dark.”
Kissy sighed and dragged the lamp down to her door. She had to untangle the end of the circus fabric from where Tim had got it caught in the cord. While she pulled it off, it was dragged away from her a little. Tim pulled a few yards his way. She couldn’t imagine what for.
When she got the lamp to the roll up entrance, she tilted it down. Beside the base of the door was a steel latch plate which matched up with a latch plate on the door itself. The holes in the plates were lined up but had no padlock locking them together. No, the door would have still wiggled a little if it was just latched shut. Kissy looked further and saw that the door was welded shut all along the base. She found strips of welding on both sides of the door as well.
Killer on Call 6 Book Bundle (Books 1-6) Page 23
