Sin & Savage

by Anna Mara

  Tori scrambled back up sensing that Wizard was no longer a threat to them. Yet, if Matt kept going, he would kill the biker, forever crossing that red line from self-defense to outright murder.

  “Matt, stop it! You’ll kill him!”

  Savage snapped out of his haze and slackened the rope a bit.

  “You’re not a murderer, you’re not like them—please!” she pleaded.

  Savage stared down at his hands, still wrapped around Wizard’s throat. My God, what had he turned into? When had he become judge, jury and God, deciding who was going to live and who was going to die? That doing bad things for good reasons was the right thing to do? How had he lost his soul in his fight to stop evil?

  He released his stranglehold on the other man.

  Wizard sagged to the floor in a heap, his body limp and his eyes shut tight.

  Chapter 61

  Savage probed for a pulse in Wizard’s neck. “The bastard’s still alive. He’s just unconscious.” He stood up again.

  Tori closed her eyes and let out a breath of relief. “Thank God for that.”

  The adrenaline whooshed out of Savage’s system. All the blinding pain his wracked body had been feeling before, swept through him like a raging river, and he lost all power. He dropped to his knees, his hands clenching at his side.

  “Matt!” Tori scrambled towards him. “Are you all right?”

  He nodded, his lips twisting into a sarcastic grin. “It’s just a scratch.” His right hand lifted to her face, his fingers brushed against her reddened cheek where Wizard had slapped her. “I should have fucking killed him for what he did to you!”

  “But you didn’t, did you? Because you’re not like them!” Her own hands came up to stroke the sides of his face, unable to believe that she was finally getting to touch him again.

  “That cocaine bust? It was all a setup, so we could get you out of the way. I promise you, with everything that’s in me, that I would never do anything to hurt you—ever! You’ve got to believe that.”

  Tori saw the truth shining in his eyes. “I do. I do believe you.”

  Savage pulled her to him and captured her mouth in a kiss that devoured her soul, burning her to her core. As his hungry lips moved desperately over hers, she knew they were wordlessly promising her truth and life and love—from now on and for always.

  His strong, hard lips deepened the pressure for one brief second before he reluctantly let her go. “I’m sorry I had to lie to you, but I couldn’t tell you the truth about who I was. It was just too dangerous.”

  Tori brushed away strands of his hair that had fallen into his eyes, and she smiled. “I know. I love you so much, Matt, never doubt that.”

  He smiled back, relieved to know that she wasn’t holding any of his lies against him. He planted a swift kiss on her lips before pulling away. “I love you too, Snow White. Now come on, let’s go find your Nana and Joe and get the hell outta here. Do you have any idea where they could be?”

  Tori nodded. “They’ve taken Joe to the bank to withdraw some of his money. Nana’s down here in another basement room, but I know where.”

  “Don’t worry, my ATF crew is ready to bust in here and take these assholes down. Did you see or hear anything like that since you’ve been here?”

  Tori shook her head. “No, no one was upstairs except the bikers.”

  Savage frowned. Where the hell were his guys and why hadn’t they taken these people down yet? Had something gone wrong? Well, he wasn’t about to wait for the cavalry. It was time to take matters into his own hands.

  “Okay, let’s go get your Nana, but first, I have to take care of this animal.” He indicated Wizard who was still sprawled out cold on the stone pavement.

  Grimacing with the effort and using Tori’s arm as a crutch, Savage stood up. Taking in a few deep breaths, his adrenaline kicked in again and he knew that if he was to keep her safe until they managed to get out of this shithole, he’d have to mentally override the pain he was feeling.

  Walking over to Wizard’s body, he bent down and grabbing the rope again, tied the biker’s limp hands behind his back.

  “Hey asshole?” he mumbled to the unconscious outlaw. “Maybe if you’d had ATF training like me, you’d have known how to tie a rope properly. Then I wouldn’t have mopped the floor with your worthless ass.”

  Savage straightened up and glared down at the biker. “Karma’s a bitch…” he snarled and then, as the images of Wizard hurting Tori again blazed into in his mind, he brought back his leg and threw the other man a vicious kick to his ribs, his heavy motorcycle boot making contact with the comatose criminal. But a split second afterward, he regretted it because an immediate and searing pain flashed through his own body. “Shit!” Savage doubled over in agony.

  “Matt!” Tori rushed over to help him up. “Don’t hurt yourself!”

  “Believe me, it was worth it,” he spat. He wrestled himself upright, determined from now on, to handle the pain better with his strong mind.

  He took a few steps to where Wizard’s gun lay and picked it up. He checked it to make sure it was loaded and ready to fire. “Come on, Snow White, let’s go get your grandma.”

  “Wait! He’s got the keys to the door where they’re keeping her.” Bending down, she fished through Wizard’s pockets, finally bringing out the key ring. “This is it.”

  Savage nodded. “Stay behind me and do what I tell you to do. It’s my world, my rules, remember?” He grinned, his smile slow and naughty, as he gently tucked in her open blouse into her pants waistband, covering her exposed flesh as best as he could.

  Tori melted inside at his touch. “Okay, Agent Monroe, it’s your world, your rules.”

  With that, Savage, with the gun positioned squarely in front of him, made his way into the tunnel system, making sure Tori was safely behind him, protected by his body at all times.

  Chapter 62

  Savage carefully made his way along the stone tunnel wall, ever vigilant in case someone should approach from either direction. He didn’t trust those fuckers and he didn’t know enough about this underground maze to be of help. When the bikers had brought him down here and strung him up in that dungeon, he’d been out cold.

  He grabbed Tori’s hand. “Stay close,” he whispered.

  Tori nodded. “We have to make a right turn up ahead. That’ll take us to where they’re keeping her,” she said, remembering the route that she and Wizard had taken.

  Suddenly, shouting and a commotion sounded from the level above them. Putting a finger to his lips, Savage motioned for Tori to be quiet, as they froze to listen to what was going on upstairs.

  In a flash, fierce gunfire erupted, echoing in the silence of the tunnels. Savage knew then that his fellow ATF agents had just arrived on the scene and were storming the place.

  “What’s going on?” Tori hissed.

  “Housekeeping has arrived,” he mocked.

  “Thank God.” Tori breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Okay, let’s keep going and—”

  Savage didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence. Heavy footsteps pounded towards them inside the tunnel system. He dragged Tori against the wall and pushed her behind him.

  Suddenly, Snake appeared in the opening. He was clutching a pistol in his hand and was clearly on the run. Knowing the tunnel system as well as he did from his childhood days, he was probably on his way to some secret underground exit.

  The reptilian leader spotted Savage and skidded to a stop. His black eyes bulged as he took in the agent’s gun aimed at his head.

  “Put the gun down, Snake,” Savage thundered.

  Snake’s face turned red with rage. A vein pulsed at the base of his throat. “You motherfucker! This is all your fault…”

  He raised his gun. But before he could bring his arm up to his waist level, Savage squeezed the trigger on his own pistol. The blast rang. The bullet slammed into Snake’s head, right between his eyes. Hot blood splattered the concrete walls and the biker lead
er crumbled to the floor in a dead heap.

  Chapter 63

  Saturday – 3:36 p.m.

  Las Vegas Hospital

  Tori and Nana sat in the emergency room waiting for a doctor to see them. Even though, the older woman had protested loudly, the federal agents had insisted she be taken to the hospital to be checked over. Begrudgingly, she’d agreed, and Tori had accompanied her on the ambulance ride.

  As for Tori, her cheek was a little swollen from where Wizard had slapped her and her body felt bruised from how he’d manhandled her, but she wasn’t in any other pain or discomfort, and had refused any medical attention for herself.

  Savage had received the worst of it. He had practically collapsed from the pain once they’d emerged from the basement tunnels of the old hotel. He’d been grabbed then by his fellow officers, shoved into one of the waiting ambulances and whisked to this hospital. Tori hadn’t seen him since. Her heart beat frantically with worry. Even though she’d asked several times to see him, she’d been told she’d have to wait.

  And so, to pass time, Tori had told Nana everything that had happened since that fateful morning a few days ago when she’d left with the biker.

  Nana sat back in her chair, dumfounded by everything she was hearing. When Tori finished her story, tears welled up in her weathered eyes and her hand reached to caress her granddaughter’s reddened cheek. “Oh my word, sugarplum, this is all my fault. I should never have gotten you involved in any of this. I am so sorry, baby. Can you ever forgive me?” Tears spilled down her face.

  Tori hugged her Nana. “Don’t say that. There’s nothing to forgive.”

  “To think what could have happened, and all the terror you’ve been through these past few days because of me—well, I could just die!”

  “Shhh, don’t talk like that. I’m fine, see? Jesus protected me too, so hush up and stop crying, okay?” Tori met her grandmother’s wet eyes with tenderness. “I love you, Nana and I would do it all over again to help you.”

  “I love you too, sweetpea. You’re the best grandbaby an old woman like me could have ever hoped for!” She reached into her purse and took out a tissue and blew her nose into it. “So, our Mr. Savage is a policeman, is he?”

  Tori nodded. “Federal agent, actually. He’s been working undercover for two years.”

  “I knew it, I knew it! My tingle didn’t let me down, after all! Once again, Estelle Crumpton has been proven right and the whole world has been proven wrong!”

  Tori smiled. “Yes, you were right on the money. He’s a good man. I owe him a lot.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Tori noticed a young doctor in a white lab coat approaching from a side hallway. “Mrs. Crumpton, we can examine you now, if you’ll come this way.”

  “Son, I’ve changed my mind. I feel fine, so no thank you very much.”

  Tori frowned with disapproval. “Nana, you should at least get your blood pressure checked. It could be through the roof with all you’ve been through.”

  “Honey, I’m sick of all this fussin’ over nothing. The only thing injured during my kidnapping at the hands of those disgusting people was my hair, which is an abomination right now, I must say! Now, unless they’ve got a beauty parlor in this here building where I can get a comb out, pronto, nobody here is touchin’ anything on my body, and that’s that!” Nana then proceeded to pouf up her hairdo as best she could, before pulling a mirror from her purse to check out her efforts.

  Sighing, Tori faced the young medic. “I’m sorry, but when she gets like this, there’s no dissuading her.”

  The doctor’s eyes glinted at her with amusement. “I understand. I’ve got one of those…” he nodded in the older woman’s direction, “at home too!”

  Tori smiled back at him but thoughts of Matt flooded her brain. She placed her hand on the intern’s white sleeve. “Do you know how Agent Monroe is doing, doctor? Can you tell me anything at all about his condition? Please. I’d really like to see him, if I can.”

  “He’s not my patient, but I’ll go find out for you.”

  “Thank you.” She breathed a sigh of relief that maybe she would finally find something out.

  The doctor disappeared down an opposite hallway.

  Tori plopped back into her seat, her thoughts too preoccupied with Matt to notice how her grandmother’s savvy eyes had suddenly sharpened on her, studying her like a hungry hawk on a scurrying rodent. “Sugarplum, what else haven’t you told me?”

  “About what?”

  “About Mr. Savage?”

  Tori whipped her head around to stare back at her. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Victoria Alexandra Jones, you stop lyin’ to me, ya hear? What else is going on that I don’t know about?” Nana’s shriek attracted the attention of several nurses sitting at their desks.

  “Shhh, keep your voice down!” Tori hissed.

  “Tell me right now what’s going on between you and Mr. Savage, otherwise I’m gonna cause a scene as big as Texas! I saw that look in your eyes when you were asking that doctor fella about him, and you weren’t askin’ just to be neighborly.”

  “Well, I…”

  “You what, young lady?”

  Tori stalled. It was just plain foolish to have these types of feelings for a man she’d only just met, wasn’t it? But the fact of the matter was that she did. She loved him!

  “Tell me!”

  Tori nervously bit her lip, worried how the older woman would take this bit of news. “Nana, I know this sounds crazy but—I think I’m in love with him.”

  Nana imperiously sat back in her chair and threw her another stern look. “Explain yourself.”

  “I don’t know how it happened, I mean, we’ve only known each other a few days, and for half of that time, I didn’t even like him! I don’t really know all that much about him either. I mean, about who he is and where he’s from and all that, but—I love him with all my heart, Nana, and I can’t picture my life without him.”

  “Does he love you?”

  Tori nodded. “He told me he did.”

  Pensively, Nana sat back in her chair and nodded. “I see.”

  “You think I’m insane, don’t you? Or maybe I’m just on the rebound from Tod?”

  Nana took one of Tori’s hands and patted it tenderly. “Sweetpea, do you remember the story of how I met your grandfather? About how he came to Gideon to visit his cousin and his cousin took him to the church dance? Then, in a flash, he looked across that crowded dance floor and said to his cousin, ‘See that girl over there? I’m gonna marry her.’ And then do you remember what happened next?”

  Tori nodded, knowing the story well. “Yes. He married you instead.”

  “That’s right! Why? Because that Karen Shelton was no good for him! She was trash from the get-go. And your grandfather was meant for me, not her! My tingle told me so. Within the week, he had seen the error of his ways and had proposed to me. Me! After knowing me less than five days. Imagine that! My tingle is never wrong, sweetpea, just like when I saw my Joe over the Skype for the very first time. I knew he was a good man and I loved him right away.”

  “But Nana, things like that don’t happen nowadays for somebody like me. I mean—it’s beyond crazy. It’s downright lunacy.”

  “Well, you knew your Tod through all your college years before you married him, and look at what happened there—a gigantic disaster of biblical proportions.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying! I picked a rat! Maybe my judgment isn’t any good when it comes to picking men.”

  “Well, of course it’s not! You have lousy, rotten judgment, sugarplum. You can’t pick ’em at all. But I can! And my supernatural gut is telling me that if that man says he loves you and he respects you and he honors you, then I put my official stamp of approval on the whole situation, even if you’ve only known each other a couple of days.”

  “Really?”

  “’Course! True love is like that sometimes. It can defy logic and reasoning and
all good sense. Look at me and Joe! You know in your heart that a catch like me can definitely do better than somebody like him. But the truth of the matter is that I love him and he adores me, and that’s the way it should be. Amen.”

  “I guess…”

  “Honey, listen to me.” Nana cupped Tori’s chin, making sure she had her granddaughter’s undivided attention. “What you and Mr. Savage have been through these past few days is fire. And fire separates the garbage from the gold. Trust me, that man is gold! That’s why I put you into his hands.”

  As foolish and irrational and illogical as it all sounded, Tori knew deep down in her soul that her Nana was right. A sense of relief flooded her system, as if she needed to hear someone—just anyone—tell her that what she was feeling was something she could believe in.

  Throwing her arms around her grandmother, she hugged her tightly, tears of joy welling up in her eyes. “Thank you, Nana. You’re the best.”

  “I know, sweetpea, and you’re a good girl for listening to me,” she nodded, happy that her precious grandbaby might just have found love again.

  “Estelle!”

  Both ladies turned in the direction of the shout. It was Joe Sorelli. Hank Robinson, the ATF agent who was in charge of Savage Monroe’s undercover operation, was with him.

  “Joe!” Nana jumped out of her chair. “Oh, Joe, Joe, I’m so glad you’re safe!” She wrapped both arms around him and hugged him fiercely. “I was so worried.”

  “I’m okay, Estelle. The agents found us at the bank and they arrested those awful bikers that took me there.”

  Hank approached the group. “Ladies, nice to see you again.” They had all been introduced to each other back at the Valley Lodge and Casino after their rescue.

  Nana turned to the officer. “Thank you so much for bringing him back to me, sir.”

  “My pleasure, ma’am. When you two ladies are finished here, I‘ll be taking all three of you back to the station to get your statements.”

  Tori nodded. “Please Hank, would you be able to find out about Matt’s condition first? Nobody here wants to tell me anything.”