Killer on Call 6 Book Bundle (Books 1-6)

by Gwendolyn Druyor

“There’s no rush,” he went on. “There probably isn’t even a bomb.”

  He’d barely finished the sentence when Avi saw a nearly imperceptible sneer scrunch Vanessa’s eyes. Tim must have seen it too because he reversed himself.

  “Okay. There’s a bomb.” He looked over his shoulder at Avi and Kissy. “Is it time to call in the cavalry?”

  “He’s not the cavalry.” Kissy sounded insulted. “He’s just plan B.”

  Tim raised his eyebrows, waiting for an answer.

  She looked at the door and down at the floor. Then she reluctantly nodded. “Yeah, plan B.”

  “Avi?” Tim asked.

  Avi had to consider. In the past, Plan B would have been his preferred choice. But this woman had slipped through the long fingers of the law often. And she’d killed so many people. She’d killed his brother. He wanted her dead.

  But if the Killer with a Conscience was voting to let her live.

  He retraced his steps to the bathroom and pulled the phone from his jacket pocket. Back in the main room he looked to Tim and Kissy for confirmation. They each nodded. He sent a text.

  “If you want to know where the bomb is,” Vanessa broke the silence with her singsong tone, “you’ll have to let me go.”

  “Well hold off on Plan B then.” Kissy perked up. She headed over to hand off Tim’s satchel and then crouched down just out of reach of Vanessa’s sharp heels. She laid one arm casually over Killer’s back. “So your deal is you’ll tell us where the bomb is if we let you go?”

  “Let me go and I will tell you where the bomb is.”

  “The bomb that’s in this club. Right now,” Kissy clarified. “Because we don’t so much give a shit about any bombs you might have hanging around whatever rathole you sleep in.”

  “Yes,” Vanessa purred. “The bomb in this club.”

  Kissy scratched Killer’s ears. She stood and turned her back on the bitch. “This is a win-win,” she declared. “I say screw Plan B, let’s let her go.”

  Avi wondered if they could pull it off. He worried how much damage Vanessa could do before the tetrodotoxin killed her. He shrugged, looking to Tim who would have a better idea how long it would take for the poison to run through her system. It had already been at least twenty minutes since she’d injected it.

  Tim appeared to be thinking hard. When he looked up, the twinkle that drove Avi mad lit up his eyes and he grinned at Kissy before turning to face Vanessa with an expression of defeat. “Fine. It’s better than involving Plan B. Kissy, untie her.” Tim handed her a sharp knife from his satchel. “Vanessa, my love, where’s the bomb?”

  “When she’s done,” Vanessa insisted.

  “Kissy, hurry.” Vanessa’s eyes widened at his urging and Tim added, “I’ve better things to do than wait around for my club to blow up.”

  Avi wished he had a gun on him. Or a projectile weapon of any sort. He didn’t trust this woman.

  Kissy hurried. She tugged off one red glove and tried to untie the knots first, holding the knife ready to protect herself. But the knots were well and truly cinched tight. Avi could see the frustration in her face. She took the knife and began sawing at the thick blue climbing rope.

  She was almost through when Vanessa's body jerked in a spasm. Her mouth dropped open and she gasped for breath through a rapidly swelling esophagus.

  Without much hope, Avi quickly said, “Okay, you’re free now. Where’s the bomb?”

  “Noooooo!” Vanessa growled the word as she screamed. “You’ll give me the antidote too.”

  Kissy stopped sawing. “Damn.”

  Avi could see that only a thin fiber held the ends of the rope together. If the poison had just lain dormant for thirty more seconds Kissy’s plan would have worked.

  Vanessa flailed against the weakened rope. She threw herself at Kissy who scrambled away from the blue-haired crazy. Vanessa lunged again, snapping her teeth at Kissy and the fiber broke. Her hands were still bound together behind her but they came away from the wall. The woman crashed forward onto her face. She screamed in triumph and pain and paid little heed to the blood streaming from her nose. She rolled to the side and got her feet under her to find Killer’s teeth bared and blocking her way. She flipped directions and pushed off to race for the kitchen.

  But before she could stand Avi leaped for her. He and Tim reached the bitch at the same time and Tim literally sat on her while Avi grabbed hold of the rope binding her wrists and yanked her arms back. Killer leaned his head down to a level with hers and continued to growl, baring his teeth whenever she turned his face her way.

  Kissy grabbed the end of the rope from the wall and yanked it through the ratchet pulley. She handed the free end to Avi and continued to pull the line slack for him. He laced the rope between Vanessa’s wrists with difficulty as she was jerking every which way, trying to get out from under Tim and keep her face away from Killer’s chompers. But Tim held her body firm and then Killer laid his massive chest on the back of Vanessa’s head.

  Avi tied the rope to itself in a bowline close to her wrists. He yanked on the knot to test its integrity. Vanessa yelped at the pain in her joints when he did this. So he did it again. Ashamed of himself, he backed away and nodded at Kissy to hold the ratchet open.

  “Get off.” He shoved Killer back.

  Tim rolled off Vanessa’s butt and both men pushed the woman’s body to help Kissy drag her back to the wall. They flipped the little woman over and soon enough had her restrained painfully against the wall with her own rope and ratchet again. Avi collapsed on the floor, just out of reach of her stilettos. Tim rewarded Killer with ear scratches from where he lie half done beside Avi. Kissy remained standing, knife in hand, but she needed the wall to hold her up.

  They all breathed, looking to each other for confirmation that no one had been injured. Vanessa doubled over, or tried to double over, in a coughing fit, gasping through her swollen windpipe. The bass from the club below leveled out and the storm outside picked up. Thunder rumbled beyond the glass block window.

  Followed by a sharp knock at the front door.

  Nineteen

  “Hello?” Mayor Rory Sutton cracked the door and peeked in the loft. “Avi?”

  The mayor was a white man of many freckles, average height, and few words. His most outstanding feature remained his thick black hair shot through with white.

  Tim watched as the man slipped through the door and shut it carefully behind himself. Killer abandoned his post to bound with his giant paws flying everywhere over to his one-day dad. The mayor bent to kiss the dog on his head. The dog slobbered one lick across his face and skittered back to his post glowering at Vanessa.

  The mayor straightened. He glanced at the mess around the bathroom to his right and up at the ropes and pulleys in the rafters. Without comment he crossed the room to Kissy, his hand held out.

  “Ms. Kiersten. That was a lovely performance you gave at my concession party last week. My wife was awfully impressed with you.”

  Kissy shook his hand and then straightened her dress. “Thanks. Congratulations again on . . . losing.” She lost steam as she got to the end of her sentence.

  The mayor smoothly turned and offered Tim a hand up. Avi had leaped to his feet when the man entered the room.

  “So Mr. Kee’s text was from you—“

  “KC,” Tim stopped him before the man said any of his names. “You can just call me KC.”

  The mayor rotated his entire body to take in first Avi and then Kissy. “It’s a bit late. Should I have called you all KC?”

  “No, sir,” Avi clarified. “Just . . . “ He pointed at Tim.

  “You, sir,” held a hand out to Avi, “are just full of surprises.”

  Avi shook the man’s hand. “I’m sorry we had to involve you, sir.”

  The mayor smiled lightly. “I’m not. Now. Where are we?”

  Tim recovered his MacGyver bag from where it had fallen and secured it across his chest. “Vanessa has been caught on camera abductin
g Avi and Kissy, torturing Avi and I, and poisoning me. She has confessed to creating and distributing extabee and other drugs, setting bombs at the warehouse, the projects, and the gazebo, and clearly stated her intention to murder a public servant.”

  “Suspended,” Avi footnoted.

  “Nevertheless,” Tim argued.

  The mayor held up a hand to quiet them both. “These confessions were recorded?”

  Tim nodded. “Audio and video.”

  “And how far did you get in the plan?”

  “He knows . . . , “Avi began.

  “Yes,” Tim confirmed.

  Avi swiveled back to the mayor. “Step seventeen.”

  “Eighteen,” Kissy corrected.

  “Seventeen,” Avi insisted. “She’s secured.”

  “And I released her. Eighteen.”

  “You didn’t release her. She broke free. We just didn’t move fast enough to complete step eighteen.”

  Tim cleared his throat. “Seventeen and a half.”

  The mayor checked in with the others to see if they agreed with Tim’s declaration. He gazed off into the middle distance for a minute and then turned to their prisoner.

  Vanessa was fighting to breathe. She’d given up struggling against the rope, instead putting all of her energy into sitting up as tall as possible to open her lungs. Every breath sounded like Darth Vader.

  The mayor watched her. He waited until he’d captured her attention. She pretended to ignore him, face tilted to the floor. But her eyes had flicked up at him and that was all the indication he needed.

  “Now, Mrs. Elian,” the man paused, giving Vanessa time to hide her shock.

  Tim covered his own shock with apparent amusement at her reaction. He hadn’t known Vanessa was married to Mr. E, Edgar Elian. Outside, the mayor had behaved as though he didn’t recognize the unconscious woman in Avi’s arms. But now he knew her last name?

  The mayor continued. “There is no known antidote for the poison you have injected into your bloodstream. But this,” he held up a glass vial he slipped from his coat pocket, “has been shown to be effective on certain large animals. No primates, but it is, we believe, your best option. Oh,” he interrupted himself to inspect her sweating face. “How are you feeling? This is best administered before initial paralysis of the extremities occurs. Are you feeling any tingling in your fingers? Toes?”

  He stepped in closer and signaled Killer to heel. The dog immediately walked backwards and put his butt down on the folded end of the carpet beside the mayor. He rolled his eyes up for approval and then focused again on Vanessa, no longer baring his teeth.

  Tim caught Kissy’s eye. He jogged over to collect her ukulele case from the tangled sheets of the Murphy bed. Avi and Kissy both joined him on the far side of the couch. They could hear the mayor’s side of the conversation but Vanessa was unable to speak above a raspy whisper. The trio kept their voices down so the mayor could hear her.

  Tim handed over the sparkly red case. “We’ll need to clear the club. I won’t trust anything she says about how she’s rigged the bomb.”

  “Absolutely,” Kissy agreed. “We have to assume it’s going to explode. I’ll text Jessica. Tell her to shut down the bar and turn on the lights.”

  “Won’t she want to know why?” Tim asked.

  Kissy scoffed at him. “She owes me a cuz I said so.”

  “Okay.” Tim rifled through his bag for a smoke bomb. “We’ll still need a reason why the club is shutting down.”

  The sound of laughter interrupted them. The mayor and Vanessa appeared to be in agreement on something.

  Avi pulled his eyes from the mayor and the bomber. “Let’s call the fire marshal and report a code violation.”

  “He didn’t like the electrical work in the Disco,” Tim recalled. “Tell him you’re a patron and you saw sparks over the dance floor.”

  “Got it.” Avi pulled his phone out and started dialing. He turned to Kissy while the number rang, “Where did you stash Julia? I’ll get her out and then open all the exit doors.”

  Tim flushed, embarrassed he hadn’t been the one to ask about his sister. “Is she safe?”

  Kissy glanced up from her phone. “She’s safe. Probably pretty sick.” She shot Tim a look full of daggers. “But she’s safe.”

  “Sure, but where—“ Avi turned away to speak into his phone, raising the pitch of his distinctive voice. “I’m at Killer’s Cross, the new club downtown. Look, there are sparks on the dance floor.” While he listened to whatever the person on the other end was saying he poked Tim to get his attention and point out the mayor had joined them.

  Tim looked up from his bag. “What’s up? Is she unbreakable?”

  Avi grunted at his phone, “No. No it’s not just—“

  “Don’t worry.” The mayor laid a hand on Tim’s shoulder. “I’ve got the information you need.”

  Tim’s focused. “The location?”

  “Where is Julia?” Avi asked Kissy again, a thumb over the phone’s mic. He was called back to the phone before she could answer. “No, it’s not just glow sticks. The, oh my god, that light is on fire! Let’s get out of here!” He hit end.

  “Yes,” the mayor assured Tim. “And the bomb is motion activated so we’re good on time.”

  “But we have to be careful about approaching,” Tim deducted.

  Avi took a step over toward their conversation. “The club is filled with motion. And how can we be careful approaching if we don’t know where it is?” he asked.

  Kissy hit send on her text and shoved the phone back into her bag. She half listened to the boys, staring over at Vanessa, still gasping on the floor.

  The mayor smiled reassuringly at his bodyguard. “The bomb won’t be anywhere near people until eleven. Everyone is safe.”

  “Good.” Avi nodded and reached out to Kissy, “Where’s Julia?”

  His girlfriend pulled her gaze from the woman who slashed her throat. “Julia’s under the stage in the Theater.”

  Tim chuckled to himself. Of course that’s where Kissy stashed his sister. He was relieved that everything was working out, not quite to plan, but it was working out. He turned his focus back to the mayor. “So where’s the bomb?”

  “She says the bomb is under the stage,” he whispered, “in the Theater.”

  Twenty

  Tim didn’t feel the steps beneath his feet as he flew down the secret stairway to the Theater. Kissy followed him, hot on his heels while Avi left to start clearing the club before the fire department showed up and started a panic. The mayor stayed in the loft to finalize his arrangements with Vanessa. Tim’s deal with him had been that if the KC couldn’t kill her conscientiously the mayor would get to pump her for all the underworld information she had on the city. She wouldn’t die. And he’d probably have to promise her freedom to get any actionable information. But she’d be out of action for a while.

  The KC never abandoned a contract. He had been contracted by Avi and Kissy and his own conscience to kill Vanessa Elian. So no matter what bargain he made with the mayor for tonight, he would keep his eyes open and he would end Vanessa if she ever crossed his path again.

  His nose was assaulted by paint fumes as he burst through the hidden door at the back of the small Theater which was supposed to be opening in fifteen minutes. Weaving his way around the tables, chairs, and couches that were haphazardly awaiting the guests whom he could hear chattering away on the other side of the locked doors to the Lounge.

  Kissy dashed along the left wall and arrived at the stage in the same instant Tim did.

  “That side!” she yelled. “Near the ladies’ room.”

  Tim lifted the fabric drape along the front of the stage hiding the construction and storage underneath. An odor wafted out, so rank it overpowered the paint fumes from the wet stage directly under his nose. He bent and peered in anyway. Then he reached into his satchel for a flashlight as Kissy dropped to her belly and wormed her way into the crawlspace.

  “Sh
e was right here!”

  The sound of retching redirected their search toward center stage and farther back.

  “Julia?” Tim asked.

  “Jewels!”

  “Kiester? Timanear?” Julia called to them. “I think your fog machine is broken, bro.”

  Kissy wriggled out and clambered over to where Tim ripped the apron from its staples. Several feet back, under the stage platforms Julia huddled in the fetal position.

  “What’s that Julia?” Tim asked, trying to sound calm.

  “There’s a machine,” she dry heaved, waited a moment, and then went on, “under here that’s ticking.”

  Kissy didn’t even slow her roll. She army crawled her way past support beams and over sawdusty cables to her friend.

  “Jewels, it’s time to come out. Okay?” Kissy’s voice hovered right on the edge of panic. “We’re gonna take you home and make you feel better. I’m so sorry I abandoned you. But come on. Crawl out with me, okay?”

  “I can’t move. I don’t know what was in those brownies that bitch gave me.”

  Kissy looked back at Tim and grabbed onto her friend’s legs. “Okay. Don’t worry. I’m gonna pull you out. Help if you can.” And she began slowly dragging her friend as she crawled backwards in her less sparkly red beaded flapper dress.

  Tim yanked more of the modesty curtain from the stage. He propped the flashlight on some spare lengths of wood so Kissy could see Julia and ran backstage to grab more lights. As he was searching the cabinets for spare flashlights or spotlights or par cans, it occurred to him that he couldn’t crawl under the stage. He was a skinny guy but there was no way he would fit. Kissy could fit, clearly. But she knew nothing about bombs compared to the very little that he knew. So if they were going to get the bomb disarmed without endangering everyone by dragging it out, they were going to have to take the stage apart.

  He grabbed a crowbar, a chisel, and a hammer. Nothing else close to hand seemed helpful. There were miles of extra curtain fabric, a stack of to-be-repaired cabaret chairs, and screwdrivers of every style and size. He knew he owned a drill but didn’t see it on the tool shelf. As a last thought he grabbed a skein of rope on the general principle that rope, like duct tape, always came in handy.