“Puttin’ it together, I see,” he said. “I’m gonna need that phone.”
Did he need me dead or alive? I was guessing alive; otherwise, my kidnappers would have killed me the other night. “No.”
I turned myself into the corner of the backseat, behind Merv—the furthest I could get from his reach—and immediately switched from Violet to Jed and started typing.
Merv reached into the backseat, grabbing at my clothes and hair in an attempt to get to my phone.
Merv kidnapper. Fertilizer plant.
I hoped Jed understood my gibberish.
Merv was now leaning halfway into the backseat, pulling my arm painfully to get to my phone.
I frantically pressed send, but there was only one bar of service, and I watched in a panic as the send bar crept across the screen. Merv was dangerously close to reaching the phone, so I turned on the lock screen and prayed the message didn’t fail.
He snatched it from my hand and looked at the screen. “What did you do?” he growled.
I didn’t answer him.
He grabbed a fistful of the front of my dress and pulled me closer. “What did you do?” His eyes looked wild.
I remained silent, staring at him in defiance.
He fisted his hand and punched me in the cheek. His ugly laughter filled the car. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that. You’re lucky I held back. But the bruise will be a nice touch.” He shoved me back in the seat, then grabbed my backpack and searched inside.
Considering the pain shooting through my face, I wasn’t feeling very lucky . . . except Merv had underestimated me. He may have taken my backpack with my pepper spray and Taser, but I still had the gun strapped to my thigh. I almost pulled it on him immediately, then thought better of it. If I acted now and Merv refused to talk, my vision could still come true. The cost could be James’ life. I would do better to find out more before acting.
James had gotten a texted photo of Scooter from Buck Reynolds, and if Buck was innocent like I suspected, that meant Merv had someone embedded in Buck Reynolds’ camp. I aimed to find out who. “One of Buck’s men is workin’ with you. Which one?”
He dug into my purse. “One of his right-hand men. Someone he trusts. He’ll never see it comin’.”
Tim Dermot? I’d trusted him too. I felt like I was going to be sick.
“You sent the texts from James,” I said.
“I knew you’d come runnin’. You couldn’t help yourself. So I stole his phone, which wasn’t easy.”
Satisfied after his search through my backpack, Merv tossed it onto the passenger side floorboard, then turned his attention back to me. “Where’s Carlisle?”
“Do I look like Jed’s keeper?”
He grabbed my dress again and slapped me this time, hard enough to make me see stars. “I can do this all night, Lady.” He spat the name out as though it left a bad taste in his mouth. “And the more battered you look, the more it will piss off Skeeter, so keep on defyin’ me.”
He was right, and I knew it—even so, I wasn’t about to help Merv out. But he grinned at me, and the cruel self-satisfaction in that grin told me he already knew where Jed was. That’s how he’d gotten here so fast. Merv was just looking for an excuse to hit me and start wearing me down.
“He’s not gonna find Scooter,” he said, confirming my suspicions. “If he’d arrived earlier he would have, but we’ve already moved him.”
“So Scooter’s alive.”
“For the time bein’.”
“Until it suits your purpose to kill him,” I said in an even voice. I knew that in Merv’s eyes, my fate was tied to Scooter’s, and it was clear he intended to kill both of us before this was over. “Why are you doin’ this?”
“You know why.” He backhanded me, this time on the other side of my face, the ring on his hand catching my cheekbone. “You’re too sure of yourself. You think you one-upped me with that text?” That same grin flashed across his face. “We’re not goin’ to the fertilizer plant. You sent Carlisle to the wrong place.”
Fear rushed through my blood like a January arctic wind, chilling me to the core, but I tried not to let it show. Still, he must have seen the flicker of fear because his grin spread. “You should be afraid. Part of tonight is about teachin’ Skeeter Malcolm a lesson about loyalty and consequences, and a good part of that means hittin’ him where it hurts him the most.”
Hitting James where it hurt the most didn’t mean actually hitting him, although I was sure Merv had that in mind too.
I had the gun—I could feel it strapped to my leg—but I panicked anyway, lunging between the two front seats for the front passenger door.
A man was walking from the convenience store to his car parked at the gas pump, and I banged on the window and started screaming, “Help! Help me!”
The man startled and stood in place, clearly torn between helping and running.
Merv wrestled me down to the seat before punching me again. He’d intended to hit me in the face, but I turned my head at the last minute, and the blow hit the side of my head. My vision darkened and I heard a gunshot before I passed out.
When I came to, my head was pounding and Merv was hauling me out of the backseat. He jerked me to my feet, but I was still unsteady and my legs started to buckle. Holding me up with one hand, he pointed a gun to my temple with the other and dragged me around the back of the car.
“Sorry, I don’t have your brother,” Merv said. “But I brought someone else you seem to be fond of.”
I heard James before I saw him. “Rose.”
We were in the same warehouse in Louisiana where I’d been taken before, but this time James was standing in the middle of the space. The three wooden chairs arranged to his right were a new addition since my last visit. James had his gun trained on Merv, and he looked furious.
“I’m gonna kill you with my bare hands, Chapman,” Skeeter said in a voice so deadly it scared even me.
Merv laughed. “That’s not gonna happen, but I’ll let you think so for now if it makes you feel better. And you might as well put that gun away. We both know if you shoot me, I’ll shoot her too.”
“Where’s Scooter?” James asked, still holding his gun on Merv. “You said you’d found him.”
“He didn’t have to find him,” I said. “He was one of the men who took him. He’s conniving with someone in Buck Reynolds’ camp. But Buck’s not in on it.”
James’ eyes hardened. “What’s your endgame, Merv?”
“We both know.” He took several steps forward, dragging me with him.
I heard a car engine in the distance, and Merv’s hold on my arm tightened.
A car pulled through the wide-open warehouse doors and parked next to Merv’s sedan. Paul Chapman got out of the driver’s door—I recognized him from his photo and Jeanne’s vision—then opened the back door and pulled out a man whose face was covered with faded and fresh bruises. One eye was nearly swollen shut. Still, I could see a resemblance to James, although Scooter Malcolm was shorter and heavier.
“Skeeter,” the man said when he saw James. “Why’d you come, you fool?”
His words shocked me, but then I remembered he came from the same stock as James. Of course he talked tough.
James remained silent, his gun still trained on Merv.
“Brothers versus brothers,” Merv said. “Only, we have the upper hand this time.”
“Scooter never wanted any part of this,” James said. “And you know I kicked him out five years ago.”
“And her?” Merv gave me a shake. “You sure wanted her. And if you dare deny it, I’ll shoot her where she stands.”
Regret momentarily filled James’ eyes, but he didn’t deny the truth. His expression hardened, and he snarled, “Cut to the chase, Merv. You were never one for theatrics, so tell me how this is supposed to play out.”
“We’re waitin’ for one more player,” Merv said. “And maybe I’ve warmed up to the idea of a show.”
/> It was the show that worried me. I knew Merv had manhandled Neely Kate just last week. I was certain he’d do the same to me—he already had—but I had no idea how far he’d go. James was going to lose his mind.
And that was exactly what Merv wanted.
He dragged me toward the chairs, turning us to face James as he walked. When we reached them, he said, “Grab one of the chairs, Lady.” He said the name with even more disgust than before. “You’re gonna drag it until I say stop.”
I glanced at James before I looped my hand over the back of the chair, but his face had become unreadable. I dragged it as Merv tugged me backward.
He stopped after about twenty feet. “Now sit.”
He was no doubt planning to tie me up, so if I was going to use my gun, now was the time. But Merv still had his weapon pointed at my temple. If I made a wrong move, I had no doubt he would shoot me.
I stood behind the chair, still unsure about what to do, but Merv pressed the gun harder into my head. “You’d hate for James to have to see your brains splattered on the floor. Sit.”
My anger was growing stronger than my fear.
Still holding my arm, Merv dragged me around to the front of the chair and pushed me down until my butt was firmly planted on it.
“Skeeter,” Merv said. “Grab that duct tape on the floor and bring it over.”
James looked torn, but he wasn’t in a position to say no. After a second, he walked over to the roll of tape and squatted to pick it up, never shifting his gaze from Merv.
“Now bring it over like a good boy. And drop your gun. I don’t like it pointed in this direction. I’d hate for you to accidentally shoot Rose.”
James started to put it behind his back, but Merv jammed the gun into the side of my head again. “Good try. Drop it.”
James tossed it onto the ground with enough force that it skidded toward Merv’s car.
“And the other one,” Merv said. “The one on your ankle.” He released a short laugh. “It sucks that I know all your tricks, huh?”
James didn’t answer, just squatted again with the roll of duct tape in one hand and pulled up his pant leg with his free hand, revealing the gun strapped to his ankle. He pulled it loose and dropped it on the floor.
“And the knife.”
James reached around to the other leg and removed a sheathed blade from its strap.
“Okay,” Merv said. “Walk over to Rose, and you’re gonna tie her up. And make sure it’s tight enough, or she’ll be the one to pay the consequences.”
James walked over and dropped to one knee at my side, still facing me as he set the tape on the floor. His eyes softened as they searched my face.
“Hey,” I said quietly. “Fancy meetin’ you here.”
His mouth twitched.
“Get to tyin’ her up,” Merv said.
James glanced up at him with hate-filled eyes. “I’ll do it, but we both know this is probably the last time you’ll let me near her. Let me tell her goodbye.”
Uncertainty filled Merv’s eyes, but he nodded.
“Step back so I can talk to her.”
Merv laughed. “Beg me.”
I suspected this was the first of many times tonight he planned to make James beg on my behalf. “Don’t do it,” I whispered.
James ignored me, looking up at his former friend. “Will you give me half a minute of privacy with Rose? Please.”
Merv laughed again. “You have twenty seconds.” Then he stepped back several paces.
James cupped the side of my face. His thumb traced below the cut on my cheekbone. “I’m sorry.”
I shook my head and threw my arms around his neck, leaning into his ear and whispered, “I have a gun strapped to my left thigh. Get it and use it.”
He whispered back, “Merv will shoot you. I have another plan to get you out of this. But you have to do what I say.”
“What about you and Scooter?”
“If you get out, I can take care of the two of us. Cut yourself loose and run out to my car and take off. Keep the gun and defend yourself.” Then he leaned back and looked into my eyes. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this. If I could go back and do it all again—”
“Don’t you dare tell me you’d do it different,” I said with tears in my eyes.
“I wouldn’t have fought with you weeks ago.” His words were heavy with regret. “Too much wasted time.” Then he kissed me, one of his hands holding the back of my head while the other grabbed my left hand. His kiss was hard and demanding and reeked of goodbye.
He didn’t plan to get out of this.
But as he pulled back and gave me a tight smile, I realized he’d placed something in my hand.
An open pocket knife.
“Let’s get this over with,” James barked at Merv. “How do you want me to do it?”
“Hands behind her back, taped to the chair back. Just like you taught me.”
I moved my hands behind me, and James gently gathered them together, hiding the knife in my hand and angling it so that I could use it and then wrapping my wrists with tape. After several loops, he tore it off, then ripped off another strip to tape my bound wrists to the center scrolls of the wooden chair. When he finished, he leaned into my left ear and whispered, “I made it thinner on the right side.”
“Get up,” Merv barked. “What did you tell her?”
“You know how I feel about her. What do you think I told her?”
“Go stand back where you were.”
As James walked back over, I realized Scooter was in another chair being tied up by Merv’s brother, Paul. James gave him a long look, and Scooter nodded slightly. What had they just silently communicated?
I heard another car engine, and I immediately tensed. Could it be Jed? Had he figured out where we really were? Had my text gone through? Or was it Tim Dermot? I didn’t know why it bothered me so much that Dermot was a turncoat. He’d betrayed Buck Reynolds, not James, but he’d shown me kindness. As stupid as I knew it was, it felt like he was betraying me too.
The engine turned off, and the men all turned their attention to the open warehouse doors behind me. Paul grinned, but Merv looked pissed.
“Where the hell is Reynolds?” Merv snapped. “You were supposed to bring him.”
“Cool your shit. He’s on his way,” I heard a man say, but it wasn’t Tim Dermot’s voice. “Did you take care of the girl?”
I thought he was talking about me, but Paul nodded. “We caught her outside of town, headed toward El Dorado.”
I gasped in horror. “Jeanne?”
Paul shot me an evil look. “I told her not to talk to you.”
I couldn’t stop the sob that rose in my chest. I knew in my gut that he’d killed her. And Merv had egged him on. I’d seen it in my vision.
Scooter began to thrash in his chair. “I told you to leave her alone. I told you she’d keep quiet.”
“We left her alone, until she talked to Skeeter’s girlfriend. We couldn’t risk it.”
“But it didn’t matter anyway,” I said through my tears. “You’re gettin’ away with whatever you want. Why couldn’t you just leave her alone?”
“Did Lady know her?” the guy behind me asked, moving around to face me. I was relieved to see Gary, the guy who’d gotten hurt in the shoot-out, although he seemed to be using his arm just fine now. He gave me an inquisitive look. “Why would you care if she’s dead?”
Because I’d convinced her to talk to me. Because she’d wanted to keep quiet, and I’d pressed her for information anyway. Because she’d counted on me, and I’d gotten her killed. My heart shattered into pieces.
But I needed to pull myself together. I didn’t deserve to get out of this alive, but I could try to save James and Scooter before I died.
“I thought you said she was badass,” said Paul, still standing next to Scooter.
“She is. Or she was,” Gary said. “Maybe she’s not so tough tied up, but she stared down Reynolds and kept walkin’ as
he shot at her. No fear whatsoever.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Merv said, moving over and squatting in front of me. “Her weakness is she’s soft with other people. She knows she got Scooter’s girlfriend killed.” He looked into my face. “Am I right?”
He was expecting a response, but I wasn’t about to give it to him. I sucked in a breath, willing myself to stop crying.
His hand rested on my left knee and slowly began to slide up, fractions of an inch at a time. Slow enough to make James rabid as he watched, even though he said nothing. I didn’t dare look at him.
I held my breath as a wicked smile spread across Merv’s face. He slid his hands higher, then shoved my dress up to my lap, revealing my gun.
“What do we have here?” He laughed. “I knew you had it on you. I saw it while you were passed out in the back of the car. I left it there to see what you would do. I was just waiting for Skeeter to snatch it so I could have a good excuse to shoot you.”
Terror filled my head and I tasted metal on my tongue.
Surprisingly, Merv left the gun on my thigh. Probably to torment me . . . knowing it was there yet having no way to reach it. “I want you to have a vision.”
Merv knew about my visions? But of course he did. He’d been there in the very beginning. When I’d gone to meet James last November. How had I forgotten?
I swallowed, forcing myself to calm down. “Of what?”
“Don’t play stupid.” He put both hands on my exposed thighs, his right hand just below the gun strapped to my left leg. “You have to be touching me—am I right? Will this work?”
I shot a glance at James, but he was so rigid he looked like a statue.
“Hey!” Merv’s fingers dug into my thighs. “I don’t want you to have a vision of him. I want one of me.”
The knife was still in my hand. If I cut myself loose, maybe I could use it to get Merv to let James and his brother go. But Merv would feel the jerky movements of me cutting through the tape if I tried it now.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I’ve always been the one purposefully touchin’ the other person.”
“Try it,” he grunted.
“What do you want to know?” I asked, feeling like I was going to throw up. What if I couldn’t see anything? What if I didn’t see what he wanted? What if I did?
For the Birds: Rose Gardner Investigations #2 (Rose Gardner Investigatons) Page 27
