by Dale Mayer
She stepped into the elevator. Someone stepped on beside her. She shook her head. “You don’t get tired of following me?”
“Not really. Some people need a little more babysitting than others.”
She shot him a look. “You better not mean me. I didn’t ask for any of this, and I’m doing the best I can to minimize the effect on others.”
“True enough,” he said cheerfully. “At the same time, loads of shit are going down. I can’t get past the feeling that you must know more than you think you do.”
“Then ask your questions because I have no idea what I might know.”
“Did she give you any gifts in the last few months? Did she hand over something she wasn’t using anymore but that you liked? Was there anything she bought for you?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“That was a little too fast. At least think about it.”
*
The trouble was, Saul knew she just wasn’t in any kind of mental state to process what he said. He also knew, so often, girlfriends exchanged clothing, bits and pieces of household items and never thought anything of it. That was way too possible in this case as well. The girls appeared to be close to each other but no one else. He couldn’t see Tammy deliberately hurting Rebel nor framing her. So maybe Tammy just needed a place to temporarily hide something where she knew it would be safe until she could come after it again.
He knew he was grasping at straws, but it was all they had at the moment. Nothing else made sense.
Downstairs he waited for her to catch up. She was dragging her feet, like she was ready to collapse in the car as soon as she got in. It would be a shame to wake her up when she didn’t seem to be getting much quality sleep.
But he knew she’d have a much better sleep if she went to a hotel for the night. He grabbed the bag from her hand. “I’ll carry it. You’re too tired.”
She didn’t even argue, and that said a lot about where she was mentally. He understood. She’d had a rough week.
He knew Ice would have to tell Benji something soon, and so far there wasn’t much to say. They found no sign of Daniel, no definitive answers as to what could have happened. Saul wasn’t feeling exactly positive about the whole event either.
Too many scenarios were possible, and most of them didn’t make Daniel come out as the good guy. Nor did it sound like he was alive, but Saul wasn’t willing to guess on that one. He’d seen guys supposedly dead yet return alive many times. Just too much was going on here.
As they walked to the street, she pulled out her keys to unlock the vehicle and to prestart the car. He heard a strange shuffling sound. His mind reacted slower than his body. His body was already in motion, racing sideways, snatching her up and racing with her. He was around the side of the building before he stopped.
Gasping for breath she cried out, “What the hell was that about?”
He slipped his hand over her mouth and whispered, “Shh.”
Above his hands her eyes opened wide. Then she nodded.
Sure now that she was committed, he released her and signaled that she stay behind him.
He wasn’t sure what he’d heard, but it was too close to a sound he knew all too well—somebody coming in for an attack. The so-very-distinctive sound of footsteps in the grass. He waited but heard nothing further. He peered around the corner but didn’t see anything. But he didn’t trust his eyes or his ears.
The trouble was, his friends were still upstairs. If they came out, they could just as easily be taken by surprise. He pulled out his phone and texted them a warning. Having done that, he stilled for a long moment, waiting for noises, clues. When none came, he figured her stalker had left in the commotion of Saul moving Rebel to safety. He again motioned for her to stay where she was and then snuck around the corner, headed toward the front entrance to her apartment building.
Then remembered how two separate intruders had been at the warehouse.
He glanced back and saw her. Reassured, he jogged forward a few feet.
And the destruction to her apartment indicated more than just one guy had been there too.
He took another furtive look over his shoulder, glad, for once, that she kept poking her head around the corner, watching him.
If her car had been downstairs and locked in the parking garage, they would’ve gone to the basement. But, as it was, Saul hadn’t known about the underground parking, so he had just parked on the street. The killer must have seen them arrive. That meant someone was watching the apartment or tracking her; either theory made sense. And, if the bad guy saw only one male exit the building with Rebel, maybe her stalker decided those were odds he could handle.
Saul found no sign of anyone lurking at the entranceway. Feeling a little foolish, but aware his instincts were normally sound, he made his way back to her and said, “Come on. We can get out of here now.” He unlocked the passenger door of her car and helped her inside.
Within seconds he was in the driver’s side of the vehicle, pulling away from the building. As they left, he kept an eye out to see if anybody was on the grounds in the middle of the night. But he couldn’t see anything. By the time he did reach the end of the block though, he knew why. A vehicle waited for them. Bright headlights shone in his rearview mirror.
In a low voice he muttered, “Shit.”
She looked at him in alarm. “What do you mean, shit?”
“We’re being followed.”
She spun around to look out the back window. “Oh, my God. We have to lose them. We have to lose him,” she cried out.
And, as that would be the best option, it certainly wasn’t an easy one. The roads were deserted at this time in the early morning hours, and it would be hard to get ahead fast enough that the pursuers wouldn’t see their taillights. He pulled his phone out, brought up his Contacts and tapped on the Stone icon.
When Stone answered, he said, “We picked up a tail as soon as we left the building.”
“We’re in the jeep. Where are you?”
He waited a few seconds until he came to the next block and a street sign. “On Redding Road—we passed the corner of Balsa Street.”
“Be there in five.”
“I’m still moving, looking for a place to pull around and maybe catch them. I see a hotel parking lot up ahead. If I can pull in there, maybe I can turn around in the parking lot and come up behind them.”
“You’re not very far ahead of us. No need to go without us.”
“You got two minutes.”
Saul laid the phone on the seat beside his leg and did several right turns, coming back up on the same street. He knew he couldn’t lose his tail, but at least they knew he was on to them.
He slowed down to give his buddies a chance to catch up, the car tailing them slowing too. By then the hotel he had mentioned loomed ahead. He took a right at the corner and drove into the parking lot and around to the back. He was just ever-so-slightly ahead of his tail. It was a big hotel, and it was peak season, so there should be no shortage of vehicles in the rear parking area.
As soon as he rounded the corner into the parking lot, he killed the lights and drove slowly through the aisles of vehicles. At the very back he turned and waited. Almost instantly headlights came in behind him. He could feel the fear coming off Rebel beside him. “It’ll be okay. Just take it easy.”
She shook her head. “How can you guys do this all the time?”
“Ultimately what we do is helping people. We just happen to be particularly good at dishing out this kind of help.”
“I’d rather bake cookies and deliver cupcakes,” she muttered.
He let out a low bark of laughter. “There is a place in the world for that too.”
“I think that’s been the hardest thing about this whole mess. I just feel so helpless.”
“That’s to be expected. We feel the same way. We have a lot of skills, but, if there’s nothing to find, there is nothing to find. If we have no target, we have no one in particular to f
ight.”
The vehicle came toward them again. Saul said, “Slide down to the bottom of the seat so your head is lower than the window. We don’t want them to see us.”
She crouched lower into her seat. He slid down so he could see out the topmost portion of the window. The vehicle drove down the aisle, went around beside them and back up along the far side.
He looked at her. “I would love to leave you here, locked in the vehicle, while I go after them.”
She snorted. “Like that’s safe for me.”
“They didn’t see you or even your vehicle parked here, and, if they don’t know you’re here, it might be safe. It would be worse for us if we let them get away. If I can at least get the license plate or, even better, stop them from leaving the parking lot, then we’ll have actual suspects to question.”
Just then another vehicle pulled into the parking lot.
He unlocked his door and said, “That’s my jeep. The rest of the guys are here. Lock the doors after me.” He opened the door and stepped out, very quietly shutting the door behind him. And then he ran.
Chapter 10
Rebel watched in terror as Saul raced toward the jeep, making hand signals.
The jeep backed up and headed toward the other side of the parking lot. As if the stalkers understood they would get pinned in, the car sped up. But the jeep had more power under the hood and jumped forward into the car’s path. They just barely avoided a collision as the car hit the brakes and squealed to a stop.
But the driver hit Reverse immediately and backed up fast to put as much space between him and the jeep as he could.
She couldn’t see everything that was happening, and all she could think of was them getting run over in the dark. The air filled with danger. She desperately wanted to leave her vehicle. The confined space was suffocating. What if someone saw her? Instead she followed instructions—for the second time in a row tonight, yet the first time in a long time—and stayed put. The headlights were going crazy on the far side. Someone raced in her direction on foot. It was too dark to see who it was.
She waited until he got closer. As he run past her car, he turned right in between the vehicle she was in and the car next to hers. She unlocked her passenger door, choosing her time well, and threw open the door right into his body, slamming him hard. She was out and on him in an instant. She pinned him to the ground and landed one fist against his chin, the second against his nose. She would take care of this asshole before he took care of anybody else.
Only she was not an even match for this asshole on the ground. He flipped her off his chest. But she hung on. It was awkward, still prone on the concrete parking lot, confined between two vehicles. She couldn’t get any decent blows in, and she couldn’t get her legs to work properly. Pissed but exhausted, the shocks kept coming as she resorted to hitting him, blindly kicking, slamming anything she could to knock this man back down and keep him down. Suddenly hands grasped around her ribs and lifted her.
“Take it easy, Rebel,” Saul said. “Take it easy. It’s all right. We’ve got him.”
Slowly she let her body relax in his arms as she realized several other men had grabbed the man, hauling him to his feet out from between the vehicles.
“Thank God,” she whispered.
He held her back against his chest, her arms and hands still clutched in his arms crisscrossed about her body. She watched them cuff the man’s hands behind him and zip-tied his feet, then propped the man up against her car. Flashlights on, they moved so she could look at his face. Although battered and bleeding, his features were quite distinctive. And unfortunately they were also completely foreign to her.
“I have no idea who he is,” she said. She pushed away from Saul to see the stranger better. “What the hell are you doing following us?”
He glared at her. “We weren’t following you. Why the hell did you try to beat the crap out of me?”
She sneered. “So you can tell your buddies you were beaten up by a girl.”
“No, I’ll tell them I was attacked by psychobitch.”
She laughed. “If I find out you had anything to do with Tammy’s disappearance, asshole, I’ll make sure you’re this psychobitch’s victim.”
He struggled to free himself, but Saul slammed him back against the car.
She glanced over at the other men. “What about the other person in the car? Or was this asshole alone?”
“We got him. He’s unconscious.” Merk motioned to the side.
She turned to see the massive hulk of Stone carrying another man by his right arm alone, his hand gripping the belt around her stalker’s waist. She stared at the man, his feet dragging on the ground, and shook her head. Under her breath she whispered, “Jesus.” She stared up at Stone, but he gave her a bland look. She shuddered and stepped closer to Saul.
He chuckled. “Stone never hurts anyone who doesn’t need it.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” She stared again at the asshole in front of her. “Did you have anything to do with Tammy’s disappearance?”
The man sneered but kept his mouth shut.
“You want me to set Stone on you?” she asked, her voice rising.
“You guys can’t touch me. You’re all about that law-abiding-citizen bullshit.”
She sneered right back. “Maybe they are, but I’m not.” She did a hop-jump kick and caught him in the gut.
He bent over double, his face turning white.
She slammed her hands against his shoulders to hold him upright again. “Asshole.”
He gasped for air. “You’re a fucking bitch. You’ll pay for that.”
She was just going to let that slide, turning to walk away. Instead she took two steps, turned and, with her left foot, shot out and kicked him across the jaw. That surprise quieted him for a bit. “Yeah, a sneak attack with your crew would be your style to take on one woman,” she snapped. “You wouldn’t come at me in the dark without a bunch of idiot muscle beside you. Is that what you fucking did to Tammy?” When he remained silent—glaring, but silent—she shook her head, grabbed him by the ear and twisted hard. When he yelped, she shoved her face into his and said, “Tell me about Tammy.”
“I didn’t touch her.” He saw her pull her leg back and yelled, “No wait. I know the guys who snatched her.”
Rebel straightened and leaned forward. “Where is she?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know where they took her.”
“Who took her?” Saul asked.
The man shook his head. “Look, I was just told to keep an eye on you guys and on the bitch.”
“Why?”
“The boss said so, that’s why.”
“Who’s the boss, and what was he looking for?”
“I’m not saying who my boss is. But he said, if she came out with anything in her hand, to grab her.”
“Is that what you were doing tonight?” Saul asked.
He nodded. “She came out with a bag in her hand. I don’t know if it’s what the boss wanted or not.”
She stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest. She had more ideas about how to get the information she wanted out of him. Before she could start in on the man again, Saul grabbed the stooge by the back of the neck and said quietly, “I suggest you start being a little more forthcoming.”
“Hey, look, I just told you something.”
“What about Daniel?” Stone asked.
The man shook his head. “The same person who took Tammy took Daniel.”
“And what about the man whose throat was cut,” Merk said, his voice hard.
The man stared from one face to the other.
When his eyes landed on Rebel, she beamed a big smile at him. “You better talk,” she said, “or else …”
He glared at her. “You can’t just beat me up. That’s brutality.”
“I’m not a cop. But I am the woman whose apartment was totally trashed, and you just admitted to knowing about the kidnapping of two people and likely sliced that
poor man’s throat, all on your own.”
“I did not,” he yelled. He motioned at the guy Stone still carried around. “Carney here did that.”
“Interesting.” She turned to look at the unconscious man. “Don’t let go of that asshole.”
Stone opened his hand. The man dropped to the ground, and Stone put his foot on the man’s back. He crossed his arms and stared at their conscious prisoner. “Who took Daniel and Tammy?”
The prisoner shrugged but was quick to look at the ground. “I don’t know. I didn’t have nothing to do with any of it.”
“What are you? Just the lookout?”
The man nodded. “Something like that. I screwed up another job, so I was downgraded to keep watch.”
“And vandalizing my property?”
He faced her. “Rich bitch like you probably got insurance anyway.”
She snorted. “Like that makes a difference.”
“You have any idea what your boss is looking for?” Stone asked.
He shook his head. “Not a clue.”
“So then why did they take Tammy?” Saul asked.
“She had something that didn’t belong to her.”
“Oh, no you don’t,” Rebel snapped. “Don’t you dare make her out to be a bad guy.”
“She got it at her job. I don’t know any more than that.”
Rebel stepped back. “Saul, maybe you are right then.”
He nodded slowly. “What about Daniel?”
“No idea, but he was marked for quite a while. They were just waiting for him to complete something, see if he had any further use. Like everything else they do, when they’re done, they take out the garbage.”
“Are Daniel and Tammy alive?” Merk asked.
The prisoner looked at Merk hesitantly. And then nodded. “I think so. But I can’t be too sure.”
“How will we find them?”
He motioned to the unconscious man on the ground. “Through him. I don’t know where they are.”
Rebel studied his face, the smirk slipping in and out of his features. “I’m not sure I believe you.”
“I don’t have any reason to lie,” he protested.
