by Kacey Mark
“Public intoxication is illegal.” Squalinski’s pen light snapped on and he waved the bright beacon in her face. “How much you had to drink tonight?”
“None!”
“Really. Because your eyes are telling me something different.” He angled his head. “Follow this light please.”
“Nice try.” Shauna marched forward. “You know, this game is getting old. And you still haven’t figured out how it’s played. You don’t have anything on me. You can’t touch me.” She looked both ways, ready to cross the street. “Rumors of an abduction here would be bad for business. And something tells me, the guys in there? They don’t like cops hanging around their establishment anyway. So maybe you better step aside before you blow your own cover.”
She took two marching steps into the crosswalk. Then three. Four. Her nerve endings tingled with high alert for the moment the agent would charge from behind and grab her.
But nothing came.
Nothing!
Had she been right? The bluff paid off?
A hurried clip of spiked heels carried her forward as she chanced a quick look behind.
Gone? Not exactly, still skulking in the shadows, but the slime ball didn’t venture a step into the open. From what she said? Or because of her destination?
A sporadic shift near the hobby shop snared Shauna’s attention. Panic vised her heart. Several dark figures in the entryway ballooned to one side, then the other before settling into some sort of queue. She paused. Five? Twenty? She couldn’t determine how many were there, but one thing was certain, this had to be the place.
Shauna started forward again with tentative steps. She eyed the shapeless ripple as it parted again and the shop’s door swung open. She half-expected the pleasant jingle of entry bells above the door, the kind that plagued every Maw-and-Paw shop on this street.
But no. Not a sound.
A violet-blue light from within, arched into the entry, and then snuffed-out by a surge of eager bodies.
Her mind whirred to catch every detail as the darkness filled in. One, two…six. Pretty sure there were at least six heads. She expected some music, maybe a collective moan of disappointment from those who didn’t get in. Anything but this intimidating silence.
As she neared the crowd, the closer outliers appeared to turn in her direction. Even the air around them seemed to pause in watchful curiosity. The hammering in her chest battled to overpower the steady pace of her clipping heels. She tried to quiet her approach with tiptoe steps. More of a courtesy really, it’s not as though the entire place hadn’t already seen her coming.
Perfume and the sharp tang of leather wafted from the building. Shauna clutched the phone in her pocket. Could she reach someone in time if she got in trouble here? With a following this tight? The image of scurrying shadows and grabbing hands flashed through her mind. They’d have her surrounded and silenced before she ever hit send.
A sudden spasm of fear shot through her. Inside the trench coat pocket, warm vibrations danced against her hand. It took a moment to register the phone’s sensation. She wasn’t used to putting the thing on silent. But again, Kimmy insisted.
Shauna kept marching as she pressed the phone to her ear, and used her other hand to shield its offensive glow.
“Hello?” she whispered.
Kimmy’s voice projected through the phone. “You there already? ’Cause if you get caught with your phone, they’ll take it.”
Shauna turned from the crowd and cupped the lower end of the phone, hoping to dampen the sound. “You couldn’t have told me sooner?”
Shauna could just picture the careless brush of Kimmy’s hand. “It’s no biggie. Once you’re in, I’ll have you on webcam. If you feel a vibe in your pocket, get out. If anyone asks, you’re from the Seattle group. Oh, and one more thing. I think the safe word is still ‘button nose’ so if you get into trouble, work that into the conversation and you’ll be left alone.”
Shauna’s attention flew to the eaves of the building and the corners of the upper floor window. “Safe word? You’re kidding, right? And you’re watching this whole thing?”
“Well…Yeah.” Her tone smoothed with haughty assurance. “It’s more fun watching you. As a member of Nightingale’s soaring high club, it’s old hat for me.”
“Soaring high club?”
“Well,” Kimmy scoffed. “Of course that was years ago.”
“Gee, glad I could be of service. Since when did I become your cheap entertainment?”
“Since…always. Now get in there and give me video feed. I need to feed!”
On any normal day, Shauna would tell her to go fly a kite but at present…hell, why not? Let Kimmy take in the show. She didn’t care. Shauna didn’t have a care in the world. Something about tonight blanketed her in a perfect concoction of blissful indifference. “If you want to feed that bad, maybe you should soar your lazy butt down here yourself? What happened to you anyway? Why is it that I’m here, and you’re there?”
A pause of unsettling silence stretched through the phone.
Apparently, that blissful indifference came with a splash of saucy-bitch and a mouth that couldn’t quit. This is what the world got when a sex-deprived Shauna went on parade.
“I know you’re stressed—” Kimmy began.
“Stressed?” Was she supposed to be stressed?
“Maybe a little nervous,” Kimmy corrected.
Shauna looked skyward in contemplation. Nope. Not that either. Not anymore. But she could have sworn that only a moment ago…
Kimmy’s words picked up speed. “There’s nothing to worry about. Promise. You’re going to have fun. What’s the worst that can happen?”
The worst? The entire building going up in flames—with her in it. Not to mention how many others she’d take down with her. Why didn’t that bother her all of the sudden? Tonight, it felt more like a great chance to roast marshmallows. Or s’mores. Shauna slid her tongue over the roof of her mouth to savor the tinge of chocolate that remained. She twisted to her pocket in search of another candy.
A scamper of heels over wood erupted at the building’s entrance. A disconcerted mumble of irritation came as the ripple of bodies shifted in all directions.
One woman’s voice carried over the rest. “If you think, after I come all this way—” Her words lost their clarity, smothered to muffled grunts of outrage as a large man shoved through the commotion. He hoisted the woman against his chest with one hand clamped tight over her mouth.
The buxom woman kicked and reared. Her occluded cries became longer and more urgent the closer they came to the street. The bouncer bobbed his head to the left once, then again, to avoid her flailing arms.
The glittery, head-to-toe spandex the woman wore looked ready to explode—what was left of it anyway. The strategic holes cut from the fabric stretched and thinned like melting Swiss as the woman continued her spasms. Her doughy flesh bulged through a large hole at her thigh. One patent-leather heel clattered to the cement. The bouncer took lumbering steps toward the curb, and a faint grunt sounded as one of the woman’s arms connected with his temple.
The bouncer stopped. He dropped the woman on her feet, and snatched her up again. One large arm banded her limbs down while the other clamped her mouth again, the woman’s movements reduced to little more than a writhing caterpillar in her hole-eaten chrysalis.
A white limousine loomed into focus beneath the streetlight, like a shark through murky water. The engine purred at a leisurely few miles per hour until it reached the struggling pair. The passenger door opened by unseen hands, and the bouncer tossed the woman inside.
The woman managed a few curses of indignation before the door snapped shut, and the vehicle puttered away again at the same pace.
Creepy.
Shauna readjusted the phone to her ear as Kimmy’s warning cut through. “Anonymity is everything here. Anyone seen dressing for attention outside won’t get past the gate. Keep your goods covered till you’re in. But for God
’s sake, get in soon. You’re running out of time.”
“Right, then it’s all out and exposed. Got it. Anything else, puppet master?”
Shauna watched the bouncer stoop to retrieve the abandoned shoe and turn toward the building. Eyes forward and mechanical, he didn’t even glance her way. Probably paid not to.
Shauna’s phone buzzed against her ear.
“Don’t answer that,” Kimmy barked.
The urgency in Kimmy’s voice grew distant as Shauna held the phone away. “Don’t need to shout.” She frowned at the unlisted number bannered on the phone’s screen. “And the puppet thing was a joke. You can stop telling me what to do now.”
“It’s 11:02. Get moving.” A digital beep sounded, and Kimmy was gone.
Only the incessant vibrations of the incoming call remained.
She looked to the entrance as the door opened. It arched wider this time and more bodies filed in. The skulking shadows under the canopy diminished and her view of the bouncer’s vantage point became clear. Shauna had a feeling if she stayed on the street much longer, jabbering on her phone, she’d end up the next contender on The Quiet Ride Game.
She looked to the phone just as it went dark. The unlisted number vanished.
Just as well.
Chapter Seven
She slid the phone back into her coat pocket, but after just a few steps, the phone buzzed to life again.
Shauna pushed out a sigh of frustration. She couldn’t get past the bouncer like this. Couldn’t kill the phone either, it served as her only tether to the outside world. But with it dancing away in her pocket…she retrieved the phone once more and jabbed at the call with her index finger. “Go away. I’m busy.”
“Where are you?”
Her lungs seized. The odds told her it would be Richard. What were the chances she’d hear the potent depth of Adrian Sands instead?
Pretty darn good, apparently. Looked like Shauna won the lottery.
“Are you in trouble?” he demanded.
She could hear the manual shift of his car as Adrian accelerated. Probably racing off to another chemistry convention.
“Trouble? Why Adrian, you sound concerned. You really must have the wrong number.”
Wow. That saucy-bitch sauce has quite a kick.
“How did you get my number anyway?” Who was stalking whom here?
Shauna caught her breath the moment she recognized its hollow sound playing back through the phone.
Why wasn’t he talking? Could he be evaluating her again? Shauna could picture that unnerving glare of his. The tiny creases that played near his eyes as he performed his microscopic calibration.
His tone remained even. Low, but even. “Your voice is slurred.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Clearly you’re outside.”
Yep, evaluating. She offered a congratulatory nod. “Excellent work, Sherlock.”
“So, where are you?”
Perfect opportunity to add a little “dummy” to the sauce. “Umm, I’m standing upright. Is that bad? Should I be on my back?” The giddy warmth of excitement had returned again. Oh, this was too much fun. Shauna could play this game all night. “Because I wouldn’t mind finding myself in that position right now.”
She’d had her doubts when she first arrived. Would her spine be strong enough to go through with it, or would she melt into a quivering puddle of cowardly muck?
Now she had her answer. She’d march in with a cast-iron spine and Adrian’s frown of disapproval fueling her pace.
Adrian’s words paused amid distraction. As if the numbers in his head, if only for a moment, didn’t compute. “Look. Sorry I couldn’t help you before. But you need to tell me where you are.”
“If you hadn’t kicked me out, I’d be with you. Maybe even…on my back.” Shauna waited for a response. “Legs spread…wet and achy….you know the drill.”
Nothing.
“Or maybe even wrapped around your waist? I guess it would have been your business then,” she continued. “But it’s not now.”
The accelerating roar of Adrian’s motor served as his only reply. Could it be? Did Shauna’s words actually have an impact on him? She didn’t bother to hold back the grin as she marched for the entrance. The mouth that wouldn’t quit was about to take a joy ride. She neared the entrance, and the bouncer motioned her to the front.
Shauna smiled in greeting to the pair of long-coated women. One frizzy head shook in disapproval, and then her attention fixed to Shauna’s phone.
Shauna’s mouth moved to silently frame the words “I know.” Her eye’s widened and rolled heavenward and she made a talking gesture with her other hand. “He won’t shut up!” It was a furtive ploy for sympathy.
Based on the synchronous scowl from the women, it didn’t work. They turned to each other with lips pursed in annoyance.
Shauna seized the momentary diversion and slipped ahead. She shrugged to a lanky man in a flannel shirt and windbreaker vest as she passed him too. Not an ounce of skin showing on anyone.
When Shauna approached, the bouncer frowned and held out one hand.
Shauna looked to the card in one hand, the phone in the other. No question. She handed him the card. He swiped it away and his hand jutted out again. “The phone too,” he growled.
Shauna held up one finger. A nice one, thank God. At this rate, she didn’t know who had control of this woman. Not Kimmy, Certainly not Adrian, and she had serious doubts about herself either.
The bouncer’s jaw tightened in irritation before turning away with her card.
Shauna returned her attention to the phone. “Besides, Adrian, you’ve already helped me out even more than you know.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because I’m eating the chocolate I stole from you. It tastes really good.” Shauna moaned the last two words.
“You can’t have that here, ya know,” crowed one of long-coats. Which one, Shauna wasn’t sure. They still wore identical looks of disdain.
The frizzy-haired one turned to the bouncer. “What makes her so special?”
“Not a darn thing,” Shauna replied. She returned to the phone. “Look, I’ve got to go.”
The screech of tires tore through the fabric of silence on the street.
“What on earth?” The ornery women turned; their eyes wide with shock and Shauna long forgotten.
A sleek, cobalt-blue Camaro drifted sideways around the corner. It straightened with a jerk and raced straight for the front entrance.
Was that Adrian? Did those tires echo through the phone?
“It’s gonna ram us,” one woman squawked. She grabbed her friend, but neither of them moved apart from a few jittery hops of suspense.
The distant sound of Adrian’s voice came through the phone. “You’re teasing me with a little harmless chocolate?”
Shauna’s jaw fell slack. As the Camaro raced into focus, her mind whirred to measure every discernible detail behind the Camaro’s tinted windshield. It couldn’t be. The Adrian she knew probably drove a Volvo, a sedan of some sort. Not. That.
The silhouette of broad shoulders and close-cropped hair made her stomach leap for safety.
She cleared her throat to force the shakiness away. “It…It’s an aphrodisiac, you know.” Shauna had to keep him talking, just long enough to know for sure.
A sharp screech of brakes seemed to come right at her feet, and her blanket of fearlessness billowed around her. The crazed jitter-squirrel that hid beneath threatened to seize the opportunity and dive under the velvet rope, shove through the door, and lose him in the crowd.
The bouncer stood facing the nearby wall, his large hands still cradling her card. He nursed it back and forth, under a wall-mounted black light. A sloth could out-pace the guy. The attempted assault by vehicle didn’t seem to faze the bouncer, as if he’d seen it a million times. Shauna craned her neck to catch a glimpse of a faint inscription that glowed to life along the bottom edge of the paper, and inched closer to t
he door. Speed-reading. Not one of his strong points.
Shauna stole another glance behind.
Adrian’s left shoulder dipped, as he shoved open the car door.
“Shit,” Shauna peeped. The phone slipped from her hand as she made a panicked effort to end the call. She juggled the glossy plastic on its way to the ground. She managed to swipe it mere inches from crashing to the floor.
Shauna up-righted from her crouched stance inch-for-inch as Adrian unfolded himself from the car and straightened, only Adrian had several inches to spare—each one power and determination. His intense gaze of forewarning pierced through the handful of irritated patrons and hit her dead center.
He started forward.
Milliseconds ticking, Shauna spun back to the bouncer.
“Your phone?” It wasn’t a question.
“Billy,” Adrian called. A sharp jingle of metal sounded as Adrian tossed his keys to the bouncer.
Billy reached, and Shauna ducked under his arm. She finished-lined the velvet rope and the metal posts on either side crashed to the floor.
“Hey!” the frizzy one cried.
The bouncer rushed to quiet the toppling metal as Shauna stumbled over the clutter and body-slammed through the swinging door.
She blinked to take in her new surroundings and started moving.
No time to hesitate, but which way?
There’s no clear direction, no exit.
The store corralled her in each direction with countless card racks, shelves, and aged display cases. A landmine for broken hips in the daylight, for sure.
Her only greeter perched four feet above, in a haze of swirling dust and smoke. With wild, round eyes, the plastic owl looked about as startled as Shauna. But something much bigger hunted her.
Her focus darted from one wall to another as she picked her way deeper into the store. The stale warmth closed in as she wound from one aisle to the next. Each row stood about four and a half feet high. It wouldn’t take long for him to find her. Shauna’s ears tensed on the commotion behind, waiting for the firm plod of footsteps to cross the threshold and begin their pursuit.
Nothing looked odd, out of place, or even a slight sketchy. Where the hell was her portal to this so-called sexual underworld?
