“No. Like you said, it has to be locked up when the building’s empty. And you want to show it to Grenville first.”
“Thanks, Les.”
“Watch it,” said Lesley with a grin that was at least half relief at the return of normality. “Don’t stay too late.”
“I won’t. See you in the morning.”
“’Night.”
Half an hour later, with a sense of satisfaction, she slapped one last file to the pile on her desk.
“Get out of that, you bastard,” she challenged, then picked up her bag and jacket and headed for the door.
As she walked down the empty corridor, she was very conscious of the drumming of her heart. She knew she should walk straight out of the building without pause. She shouldn’t even consider her hallucination, fantasy, whatever it was.
And what if it never was hallucination? What if, against all the odds, Joe is real? You can’t just leave him there alone…
I can’t feed this madness anymore!
Shouldn’t you just check one more time? Confirm that it was just fantasy and move on?
The door to the basement stairs began to loom on her left.
Keep walking, Anna. You don’t need this…
But her heart was thundering in her ears now, drowning out the sane, if half-hearted voice. Did she really want to believe in this fantasy? It didn’t matter. She couldn’t pass by anyone who needed help, and Joe wasn’t just anyone.
If he existed.
Shite!
Inevitably, she pushed open the door on her left and went downstairs.
The basement was quiet as the grave. Clearly, the technicians had all gone home. Anna rummaged in her bag with slightly unsteady hands, and before she could think about it anymore, dragged out the keys, selected the correct one and pushed it into the storeroom lock.
She heard the movement before she even flung down the light switch.
Joe stood directly opposite her, in overalls, only a foot away. He was breathing rapidly, as if he’d just made a huge effort to stand. His splendid body was slightly bent. He stared at her, blinking and screwing up his eyes in the sudden light.
“Joe,” she whispered helplessly.
Although there was no blood now that she could see, the pain clouding his face was unbearable. As he gazed at her, a puzzled expression crossed his eyes, drew his brows together in a frown. With an effort she could only imagine, he took a step nearer her and reached out with one hand to touch her cheek. Only when his thumb brushed the wetness there did she realize she was crying.
“Tears,” he said with such flat amazement that her heart broke. Closing the space between them, she put her arms around him, laid her cheek on his chest.
“I thought you’d gone,” she whispered into the overall. She could smell his body, a faint, earthy odour of spicy male and clean sweat, peculiarly Joe. She closed her eyes. “I thought you were dead, at peace… I never meant to do this to you again…”
There was a pause, as if he didn’t know what to say or do. “It’s passing,” he said at last. Very slowly, his arms came up to hold her. Even then it was if she was some delicate porcelain that might break. But his voice was strong now, brisk with urgency. “I was coming to find you. I need to warn you.”
“Warn me? Joe…” Lifting her head, she stared up at him helplessly. Turmoil boiled in his eyes, causing her heart to leap. His arms tightened, drawing her closer into his hard body. She could feel his erection growing against her, and caught at her breath as desire rose swiftly without permission.
Slowly, he bent his head and took her mouth. This wasn’t the rough conquest of last time. It was slow and thorough and tender, turning her mouth over in his as if he wanted to learn every tiny corner and crevice. She knew no hesitation as she opened to him, accepting his tongue with delight, dancing with it as it twisted around hers and drew it into his own mouth. The butterflies took over her stomach, spreading heat and pleasure lower and lower.
She gasped as he released her mouth. His arms fell away from her and he stood back.
“I wanted that. Just once. Now, we have to talk. I have to talk and you have to listen.”
Bewildered by this sudden change, she could only stand still and wait. He’d turned away from her, so that she couldn’t see his face, but after only a second, as if forcing himself, he turned back. He stood quite straight now and his hard, cold eyes looked directly into hers.
“I told you I’m not a good person. For some reason—perhaps because you are—you feel responsible for me. You even like me. Well, I’m about to change all that. Want to know what I do for a living? What I did before I died? I’m a hit man.”
Anna blinked. “A what?”
“A hit man,” he repeated impatiently. “An assassin. Whatever you want to call it, I murder, for money.”
Anna swallowed. “Oh dear,” she said faintly. It was a concept so far beyond her experience that she had no idea what to say or even think. Oh well, popped into her mind, at least it isn’t random violence without rhyme or reason… She licked her suddenly dry lips. “Are you good at it?” she blurted.
A breath of what might have been laughter hissed between his teeth. “Very good. Or at least I was until I came to Scotland and died myself before I could do the hit.”
“Are—are you sorry you failed?”
Some emotion she couldn’t read flashed across his harsh face. He muttered, “No. God knows I’m not sorry for that. Look, I’m not telling you this as some kind of confession for my already well-damned soul. I’m warning you. My…”
“It makes no difference,” she interrupted, because in truth it didn’t, not to her.
He blinked. “What?”
“I don’t care what you’ve done before. It doesn’t matter to me. What matters is this thing happening now to you—we have to find a way to stop it.”
For an instant the hard eyes softened. There might have been pain there, or regret. Then, as if making an effort, his lashes came down, and when they lifted, his expression was again harsh, his voice curt and blunt.
“You were my hit.”
She blinked, frowned her incomprehension. “I—I don’t understand.”
“I was paid to kill you,” he said brutally. “That’s how I knew your name and face, how I recognized you. I’d been following you for two days. When I died I was on my way to phone you, to arrange a meeting with you that night to discuss your research. I knew what would make you come. But you would never have gotten there. I would have killed you by crashing my car into yours en route. And walked away.”
Blood drained from her head, making her ears sing. To stop herself from falling, she sank to her knees, trying desperately to think.
“That’s silly. You couldn’t…”
“I could. I read your papers. I knew where to hit you.” His expression was pitiless now as he stared down at her, striking her with the brutal truth. “I kill people for money. And I’m pretty rich.”
“I got that bit,” she said with a hint of impatience that brought a gleam of surprised amusement to his eyes. “I mean it’s silly because no one would pay an assassin to kill me! Who the hell am I? I’m not rich, I have no connection with anyone who is, with any criminal stuff. I’m just a struggling, underpaid researcher. I’m not important enough for anyone to need to kill me!”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Unexpectedly, he crouched down beside her, the movement fluid and graceful, and took her hand in a hard grip. “Zeitek needs you out of the way. You’re threatening their profits.”
“You don’t kill people for that!”
“You don’t. Mason Grenville does.”
“Grenville…” Her hand twisted in his, grasping his fingers. “Grenville paid you to kill me?”
He nodded. “I tried to tell you last night, but the sleep was dragging me down too fast and I couldn’t speak. I owe you, Anna, so I’m warning you. Get out of his way.”
“You mean…he’ll keep trying? But he’s coming he
re tomorrow…”
“He won’t hurt you himself,” Joe interrupted. “He’ll pay someone else once he realizes something’s gone wrong. But we have one advantage. He doesn’t know I’m dead. And he’s afraid of me. You only have to tell him once, that the Assassin will come after him if he touches you. And then keep out of his way.”
Anna said doubtfully, “He’ll believe me?”
Joe shrugged. “He’ll think we’re lovers. My reputation will be shot and no one will ever employ me again. Fortunately, I’m not in a position to care.”
Anna dropped her head into her hands, and since one of them was still holding his, she rubbed her cheek on his thumb.
He said urgently, “Will you do that, Anna?”
“I’ll say it, if you think it will help.” She glanced up at him and her voice hardened. “But I won’t back down on Zeitek.”
His lips twisted. His fingers, still held against her face, moved in what might have been a caress. It made her shiver. “I wish I was still alive to look after you. From a distance, of course.”
She smiled. “Where would be the fun in that?”
There was a pause. Then: “I believe assassins don’t make very comfortable companions.”
“You make me comfortable.” The words came unbidden, and once she’d said them, she flushed. But she wouldn’t take them back, or even laugh them off because against all the odds they were true. His gaze remained steadily on hers, searching but unreadable. “Maybe you were sent back to warn me, and now you can be at peace.”
“I don’t feel at peace.”
“Because you think I’m in danger?”
“Yes. And—other things.”
From the ceiling above them came a dull thud. Joe moved so fast she barely saw him. Like a silently springing cat, he got himself to the half-open storeroom door and pressed into the wall as he scanned the corridor outside.
Slightly bewildered, Anna followed him. “It’s the cleaners,” she said quietly. Confirming it, a burst of muffled female laughter drifted downward. The unmistakable sound of a vacuum cleaner started up. “They come in on a Thursday evening.”
“Will they come down here?”
“Only on Tuesdays.”
“Shut the door,” he said.
Anna licked her lips. Obeying, she said uneasily, “Are you afraid of Grenville’s new assassin?”
He shrugged. “Too quick. He’s probably still gnawing his own hand off because I haven’t contacted him. I’m just careful.”
Reaching over her, he tested the door. She could feel the heat from his body, felt the faint brush of his arm across her breasts like an electric shock. His eyes dropped to hers and she forgot to breathe. For several heartbeats neither of them stirred. Then, quite deliberately, he moved his body across hers, flattening her against the door, fitting his erection over her pubic bone.
Heat flooded her. He lifted one big hand to cup her cheek, the side of her head.
He said, “I wish it was different. I wish I knew what to do with a woman like you.”
“You don’t strike me as an inexperienced man.” Her voice shook. From pure instinct, her hips arched upwards into his, seeking closer contact with the massive cock pressing against her.
“My women are whores and gangsters, bitches who let me take what I want for their own gain. And would then knife me as soon as not.”
“How do you know I won’t?”
“That’s the thing. I don’t care if you do. Even if I wasn’t dead already, I wouldn’t care.” His hand moved across her face, his thumb caressed the corner of her mouth. “You’re beyond my knowledge, Anna Baird, like a different species…”
Gasping, she moved between him and the door, deliberately stroking him with her body. “We’re all sisters under the skin,” she whispered. His mouth was tantalizingly close. She could feel his breath on her parted lips.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, take what you want, I’m willing.”
His breath caught. His thumb stilled on her parted lips. His mouth inched closer. His tongue flickered out, touching her upper lip, then vanished. “But what do you want, Dr. Baird? A quick fuck on the storeroom floor?”
He really expected her to say no. Despite his crotch grinding into hers, he expected her to be shocked and push him away.
“I want you,” she whispered, overcome by heat. The sound of her own ragged, desperate breathing filled her ears. “Any way and anywhere you like…”
“Here, now, up against the door?”
“Oh yes…yes please…” Opening her mouth further, she reached up for his, and found it, hot and arousing. His tongue thrust deliberately in, playing with hers. He tugged her jacket, shrugging it off her shoulders. She made a tiny, inarticulate sound of anticipation, knowing her shirt would be next. But he didn’t trouble to remove it. Unexpectedly, his hand slid inside it, under her bra, over the contours of her naked breast, freeing it from its coverings even as he tenderly thumbed the straining nipple, caressing the soft underside with his palm.
Anna moaned into his mouth. Her own fingers found their way inside his overall and at last she could run her hands over his broad, thick shoulders, down over his hard, muscled chest.
Joe’s hands were on her hips now, pulling up the fabric of her skirt and slipping under across the naked skin of her thighs. A low growl came from his throat as he discovered the stocking tops and suspenders, her own secret sexiness. As if he couldn’t wait any longer, he thrust his hand between her legs and groaned when he found the soaking wisp of her panties.
He tore his mouth free. “Christ, you’re so wet. You really want this.”
“I really want this,” she whispered, and reached blindly back for his mouth. He gave it, helping her to shrug his overall away. Without even stepping out of them, he shoved the fabric of her panties aside and in one fluid movement, slid his finger across her wet folds and straight inside her body. Without permission, her pussy contracted around him, and she gasped aloud, breaking the suction of the kiss.
“Joe…oh Joe, I can’t wait…” she whispered.
A fierce, triumphant smile lit his clouded eyes. “Let me help you there,” he said, low. Deliberately, he raised her hips between his hands, nudged his cock between her thighs and pushed it long and slowly inside her body.
She was so wet that it slid all the way home immediately, making her sob with the astounding pleasure. It was hot and huge within her, filling her, impaling her, and she had never known joy like it. With his first thrust, she began to come, but it seemed he was as desperate as she, for from then on, it was hard and fast, a furious, desperate straining for completion.
Fortunately, the storeroom door was secure steel, and didn’t protest as he drove her into it. Even through her shattering climax, she was aware of his burning, avid eyes boring into her as he continued to hammer her, pushing fiercely for his own release.
It seemed to hit him with the power of an explosion. He seized her mouth, muffling the deep, powerful sounds of his pleasure in a devouring, almost savage kiss. Hot seed shot up inside her, filling her with devastating new sensations while his whole body rocked and shuddered. He rested one forearm on the wall above her to support himself; only his body pinning her to the door kept her upright as the convulsions continued to shake her.
Gradually, the trembling in his body subsided. She held on to him tightly, waiting with still-thundering heart as he slowly released her mouth and lifted his head. Behind the satisfaction in his face was a hint of anxiety that faded as he gazed down into hers. He moved slightly, so that he could cup her naked breast, caressing it with slow tenderness while he took her mouth again in a long, deep kiss.
Instinctively, she began to circle with her hips, catching the last aftershocks of orgasm, glorying in the feel of him still hard inside her. Releasing her mouth, he spoke against her lips. “Tell me you liked it and you want more.”
Fresh heat swept through her, causing her to contract involuntarily around him. His breath his
sed between his teeth, and she smiled breathlessly. She felt wanton and brazen and had never been so happy in her life.
“I loved it. And I want lots more. If you can still stand up.”
“I can do anything.” His hands slid down over her buttock and lifted her clean off the ground. Smiling, she swung her legs around his hips and gasped at the feel of him moving inside her as he began to walk across the floor. With one hand, he pulled the protective suits on to the floor, kicked them into a bundle and then knelt down, depositing her among them.
Slowly now, he unbuttoned her shirt, easing it off her shoulders and arms. Without assistance, he unhooked her bra, drew it off and cast it aside. Just feeling his hot gaze on her breasts made her so excited she thought she would orgasm again without any further action on his part. But he paused to pull the skirt up and over her head and then she saw his gaze travel lower, to where he entered her.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this to you here, now.” He thrust once, almost sending her over the edge again, and seeing it, his eyes grew fierce once more. “Wait for it,” he said softly, and bent, covering one breast with his hand while he set his mouth to the other and began to suck.
“Oh God! Just don’t stop,” she pleaded.
“Not for a long time,” he agreed, circling her long, stiff nipple with his tongue and pushing languorously inside her at the same time. “Not for a long, long time…”
Chapter Five
“Why do you keep looking at me like that?” asked Darren.
Daren was the name of the young policeman. It didn’t really suit him, but she had to call him something, and as he pointed out Pig or Filth just didn’t make him feel that it was his night off.
Helen sighed and glanced around the bar. Since it was early on a Thursday evening, Deacon Brodie’s was still fairly quiet, and their table was pleasantly secluded.
She said honestly, “I’ve been trying to work out whether to talk to you about something.”
“You’d better or it’ll get quite dull after a while. With just the strange looks. What’s on your mind?”
Killing Joe Page 5
