by Nora Snowdon
Staying crouched, Lu ran as stealthily as possible along the edges of the shelves. She kept expecting someone to see her and yell something, but so far there only seemed to be the two men on the premises. And hopefully Susan was here somewhere.
When she reached the end of the rows of plants, Lu was faced with a decision. A hallway led away to the right. Or there were a series of unmarked doors on the left. A clock ticked loudly from the wall. You’d think the moisture would’ve killed it long ago.
Lu went for the door furthest to the left and gently twisted the door knob. It was locked. She ducked down and slid her purse around to the front. Digging in, she retrieved a loyalty card from the main bookstore in Springfield and her nail file. She’d watched a documentary about an ex-burglar, now home security advisor, as he’d shown how easy regular locks were to open. With any luck these guys hadn’t seen it and upgraded.
The card warped from the heat still emanating from her fingers but she edged the straight side of it into the doorway at the latch then angled it against the door frame. The nail file followed on the inside to find any nicks or dents in the bolt. A little abrasion to the dent to give better traction and slowly force the bolt back into the door. Use the card to slide under the edge of the bolt to secure any gained ground. And continue to shift with file and card. She bent closer to the floor when she heard the door front slam. Sweat slid from her hair line, but she couldn’t remove either hand from her job to wipe away the liquid stinging her eyes. Concentrate.
The bolt jumped back into the door and Lu winced in response to the loud click. No one else seemed to react. She turned the door knob. Her throat was bone dry as she tried to imagine what she’d say if someone was inside the locked room. “Cleaning lady?” “Can I put you down for five boxes of Girl Guide Cookies?”
The room was dark so she slid inside and closed the door most of the way behind her. Hell if she was going to accidently lock herself in. Turning on the light, Lu had to stop herself from reacting to the sight of a person slumped on a chair. Despite the pillowcase thrown over her head, Lu recognized Susan’s bright colored shirt and tight jeans. At first she wondered if she was already dead, she was so still, held up only by the ropes binding her to the wooden kitchen chair.
Lu ran to the chair, removed the pillowcase from Susan’s head and held the back of her hand under her nose. Yes! She’s breathing. Thank God. She worked on the knots tying Susan’s wrists behind the chair. Lu switched to untying Susan’s ankles. She looked particularly vulnerable wearing only one gaudy high heeled sandal. The coarse rope bit into Lu’s fingers as she tried to force the damned stuff back through the knot. There ought to be a law against Boy Scouts if this was the stupid kind of skills they’re teaching.
With a quiet grunt, she got Susan’s feet free and went back to her wrists. Lu heard a muffled moan. Maybe Susan was coming to. At least with the gag still in her mouth, she wouldn’t make too much noise. The last of the rope slithered to the floor.
Since she didn’t know if both of the men she’d seen earlier had returned to the house, or where they’d be hanging out, she figured her best bet was still to make a run for the back door. God, this was nuts! Lu knelt down in front of Susan’s chair and pulled on her arm until Susan’s stomach was across her shoulder. Lu locked her arm under the back of Susan’s knees and stood up. Nothing like a good fireman’s lift.
Okay, now or never. She cracked opened the door and peeked. No one was there. She was so pumped with adrenaline and fear, Lu hardly even noticed the extra weight she was carrying as she walked quickly down the hallway. More plants were in the room to the right. There was a loud humming noise from either the lights or fans. Lu took a sharp left into a filthy kitchen littered with half-eaten takeout containers and cigarette butts. She heard footsteps and suddenly a stocky man with a shocked expression screeched to a halt right in front of her.
Without thinking, Lu swung around sharply aiming Susan’s one spiked heel at the man’s face. There was a sickening crunch as it connected and the man fell to his knees clutching his head and screaming. Lu ran for the back door, not worrying now about any noise she might make. She made it outside slamming the door behind her and ran to the side of the house. She screamed as she ran into the solid figure of a man.
CHAPTER 19
“Reynolds, what are you—?” Lu asked, gasping for breath. She suddenly noticed the awkwardness of standing with a semi-comatose woman draped over her shoulder.
“We got a message that you were here and in danger. Let me use your phone to call the chief.”
Lu inclined her head to indicate her back pocket. Reynolds retrieved the phone and punched in a few numbers. “Yup, she’s here. And safe … okay … will do.” He flipped her phone shut and slipped it into his own pocket.
“Where’s Byron and the rest of the team? We’ll need an ambulance, too. I might’ve blinded a guy.”
“I’m supposed to take you and … uh, her,” he looked vaguely at Susan, “to headquarters. They’re coming in for the arrests and don’t want any collateral damage.” Reynolds steered her quickly toward his Lexus and opened the back door. “Put her in here.” He helped lay Susan down on the seat.
“But if you don’t know—” Lu’s head began to spin. “Wait … Give me my phone. I’ve got to call—”
“There’s no time. Get in the car,” he hissed, as he closed the door on Susan and pushed Lu to the front passenger seat.
“No!” Lu spun away. Something was off. Reynolds wouldn’t have been sent by himself to find her; there’d be police back-up. Her heart leapt with relief when she saw Byron’s little black car barreling toward them. So Reynolds was telling the truth. Reynolds followed her gaze.
He turned her quickly to face him and something hard dug into her abdomen. His face was uglier than she’d ever seen on him before. “If you don’t do what I say, I’ll shoot you and then the second shot will be right through Morgan’s head. Understand?”
“Uh-huh.” Oh fuck! She watched as Byron parked and started to walk toward them.
“Throw your arms around my neck and kiss me like you mean it.” Reynolds jammed his revolver into her stomach a little harder to punctuate his demand. Lu put her hands on his shoulders and leaned in to kiss Reynolds. His free hand grabbed her butt and held her against his body as he opened his mouth against hers. “Make it passionate and real looking, because if Morgan comes over to say anything, I’ll gladly blow that bastard in two.”
Her mind was racing in so many directions while trying to ignore the lips urgently pressed against her own. If there was some way she could signal Byron—but she couldn’t risk Reynolds shooting him. Reynolds ground himself against her and she realized he had a fucking hard-on. The man was turned on by this! Her disgust turned to fear as she glimpsed Byron’s shocked expression, then furious glare as he turned and strode back to his car.
No! God, Byron couldn’t believe she would actually cheat on him with Reynolds, could he? Reynolds lips turned up in a satisfied smile. He’d obviously seen Byron’s expression, too. Lu tried to push out of the embrace but Reynolds held her in a vice grip.
“Not so fast,” he murmured. “We both know you like it, so why fight me, Lu?” He shoved her against his car then slid his hand up under her shirt. His tongue slithered into her mouth again and she stopped herself from gagging. Could she wrestle his gun from him now that Byron was out of danger? She moved her hands down his chest and he immediately pressed the gun deeper into her flesh.
“Don’t even think it. I want you, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid.” He watched Byron’s car until it turned the corner, then he dropped his hand to the passenger door and opened it. “Get in.”
At her hesitation, he added, “Of course, you could just desert your friend in my car …” His icy smile sent a cold chill down her back. How could this be the same man she’d worked with all these months? Lu lowered herself into the car seat. Was he planning to take her somewhere to kill her? Now that she knew he was cro
oked, he couldn’t let her live. But even if Byron thought she was involved with Reynolds, he would still wonder if she disappeared. Wouldn’t he?
Reynolds eased into the driver’s seat, his normal friendly smile on his face. “I’m glad you’re seeing things my way now, Lu. It will make it much easier.”
What? Make what much easier, she wanted to scream. She took a deep breath. Keep calm and ready for action. Now that she was getting better at directing her fires she was tempted to set his car ablaze. But then they might all die. Not her best option …
“Where are we going?” Lu asked nonchalantly.
“You’ll see.”
“I don’t want to be out too late. I do have work tomorrow,” Lu said with a sidelong look at Reynolds.
“I think you might’ve already called in sick.” He smiled at her and seemed almost normal. “You’ve become so unreliable since that accident while you were working for Morgan.”
“What about Susan? She doesn’t know anything. Can’t you just let her go?”
“No. That would make me have to watch you closer.” He merged onto the highway, his car barely rumbling as he overtook the car beside him. If she was lucky, he’d get pulled over for speeding.
“Can I take her gag off?” Lu asked turning to look at Susan still passed out in the back seat. She mostly wanted to keep the conversation flowing. Then maybe when it came time to kill her, he might hesitate. Wow. Weird thinking that Reynolds might be psycho enough to kill her, but what were his other options?
“No.” Reynolds slowed down to the same speed as the cars around him. Damn.
“If you let us both go …” Lu tried to think quickly. “I don’t actually have any proof that you’re involved, and it’s not as though Byron would believe anything I say now—”
Reynolds laughed. “And then we’ll all pretend this never happened, right? Nice try.” He took an exit and she glanced quickly at the signs. She’d need to know where she was if she got away. God, Reynolds was right, she should’ve gotten to know the Seattle area better.
“You know—”
“Shut up.” Reynolds shot her a withering glance. Maybe he’d guessed her strategy.
Lu looked out the window. Now what? She sure as hell didn’t want to think about Byron. How could he have been fooled by seeing her kiss Reynolds? But the look on his face had been pretty definite. So now she was going to die and he was going to think she’d cheated on him.
Not that she’d care after she was dead, but still … Lu’s eyes filled up with tears. It was so unfair. Three years with the jerk Paul, and she only got a couple of months with Byron. Still, if he’d really loved her he would’ve trusted her. She wiped a tear away trying to keep Reynolds from seeing.
Reynolds turned onto a smaller street. The trees in this neighborhood were much bigger and the lot sizes were more impressive too. He drove over a speed bump and Lu looked back in time to see Susan slide onto the floor behind the front seats. Oww, that would hurt. A hand-made street sign proclaimed, “We love our children. Drive Slow!” Obviously these residents gave a few bucks to local politicians to get traffic calming devices. And from the look of the ever-increasing mansions, they still had some bucks left over. Where the hell were they? You’d think he’d take them to a seedier area to kill them.
He pulled the car into a treed driveway and up to the security gate. In response to a low mumble from the speaker phone, he merely said, “Reynolds.” The gate swung open to a winding driveway up to a beautiful, red-brick mansion. Lu’s jaw dropped. I guess the drug business pays really well.
Reynolds seemed familiar with the place. It couldn’t be his, could it? No, Ace would’ve mentioned, and that would’ve tipped everyone off to Reynolds’ extra-curricular activities. He pulled up to the back door, and put the car in park.
“Stay in the car or I’ll shoot your friend,” he commanded as he jumped out of the car and went to the back seat. Lu looked around the front seat for anything she could use as a weapon, but the glove compartment was locked and, strangely enough, he didn’t have a spare gun hidden under the seat. Shit.
“Okay. Help me carry her.” Reynolds had removed Susan’s gag and was sitting her up on the back seat. “Make it look like she’s just had too much to drink.” He lifted Susan and draped one of her arms around Lu’s shoulders. They were both so much taller than Susan that her one shoe didn’t even reach the ground. Reynolds closed the car door and beeped the lock shut.
“Don’t say anything to anyone or I’ll just start shooting,” he warned.
They carried Susan between them up to the door. It opened just as they got close and a small Asian woman looked at them curiously before signaling with her hand that they should enter the room to the left. Lu glanced at the massive industrial sized kitchen as Reynolds pulled them along. What the hell was the place?
They walked into what seemed to be a pantry room with five wooden chairs with cushions around a rough oak table. Heavy wooden cabinets covered three of the walls and small leaded-glass windows overlooking the spacious back lawn, the fourth. Staff dining room? Wine cellar? Or maybe it was a chopping area. Reynolds pulled out a chair and then let go of Susan into it. Lu quickly followed suit, putting her hand on Susan’s shoulder to keep her from falling forward.
“What the hell did you guys give her? Shouldn’t she be waking up yet?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” Reynolds answered as he plunked himself in a chair next to Susan. “Sit.” He indicated the chair next to him so he’d be between the two women.
“But—”
Reynolds kicked Susan’s feet in front of her body so her head slumped over the back of the chair. She snored. Did that mean she was coming to? Lu sat. So what was supposed to happen now? The door opened and the man Lu had watched Byron interrogate strolled into the room, his face a stony mask. Reynolds suddenly appeared less confident.
“Why did you bring them here?” Huang demanded.
“I had to … I, uh …” Reynolds straightened up in his chair. “She knows too much.”
“Obviously.” The man stared at Reynolds. “You are well paid to keep this sort of thing away from me. Perhaps you are a liability, as well?”
“No. But you have people who can …” Reynolds’ Adam’s apple jumped.
“Yes, I do.”
“Well, if you tell me where to take them …” Reynolds stammered.
Lu definitely wasn’t getting back into the car with Reynolds again. She concentrated, focusing all her anger on Reynolds’ chest. The pressure started building up at the back of her skull. A slight ache began to form and she closed her eyes.
God, could she actually do this? She pictured Reynolds writhing in pain, engulfed in flames and stopped. No, she couldn’t. She opened her eyes. Not even to save Susan and herself. Reynolds wiped the front of his shirt, and Lu’s blood froze as she realized how close she’d come to committing murder.
She focused instead outside the room on the row of ovens in the kitchen, wondering if she and Susan would be able to escape if the explosion was too big. There was no other alternative.
Reynolds stood up. Apparently she’d missed some of their conversation. She blocked him out of her mind, piling her anger and frustration into the kitchen instead. Reynolds said something to her, but his voice was muffled by the pulse pounding inside her head. Her fingertips singed the chair cushion, emitting a distinct burnt-cotton smell. She barely registered the pressure on her upper arm as he lifted her to her feet.
He was yelling at her now, but she closed her eyes as pain took over all her senses. A loud crash in the next room coincided with the gush of relief washing the pain away from her skull. She crumpled to the floor as the explosions in the kitchen came one after the other, like well-timed fireworks, each one building on the last.
A loud scream from the kitchen galvanized the two men into action. Huang opened the door only to slam it shut again as a fireball barreled into the small room. The sheer curtains flared up, then melted
in the fire. Flames licked along the surface of the carpet.
Within seconds a fire alarm was adding to the noise, then two more alarms joined in. Lu struggled to sit up as Reynolds grabbed his chair and swung it at the window. The glass shattered. He swung again, clearing out enough of the window so he could escape. His firefighting training seemed to have deserted him as he climbed onto the sill to exit the room first. Reynolds was poised to jump when Huang calmly pulled out a small automatic and shot him in the back. He fell outside.
Huang turned toward Lu. With a yell, she propelled herself at his legs and knocked him to the ground. He dropped his gun and they both watched it slide across the carpet and rest against burning, rattan garbage can. She hauled him back before he lunged for the gun and was rewarded with a fist flailing at her face. She ducked and then flung herself at him again, smashing him in the chest with the top of her head.
She heard the air rush out of him as she tried to shake off her own dizziness. For future reference, it was probably better to use her fists than her head. She wound up to punch him when she felt herself lifted into the air from behind. She swung backward and her elbow connected with muscle.
“Stop that,” a male voice commanded. “Get the hell outta here.”
Lu was shoved toward the window.
“But Susan—?” Lu looked at the empty chair that her friend had been in.
“She’s outside,” Byron said as he effortlessly picked up Huang in a headlock.
Lu jumped onto the burning windowsill then onto the grass and rolled. About five yards to the right by Reynolds’ car, she saw a couple of paramedics and some cops, probably hovering over Reynolds and Susan. When had all these people arrived? Lu looked up to see Byron in the window frame. He pushed Huang out the window. The man hit the ground, then attempted to flee, but was hindered by handcuffs. Byron leapt out and tackled Huang easily. Grasping Huang by the collar of his shirt, Byron marched the smaller man in front of him and held out his other hand to Lu.
