Whisper In The Dark (The McKinnon Legends-- The American Men Book One)

by James, Ranay

  Chase, Sundown, and the deputy gave pursuit as Kate watched from the mezzanine. Kate was still in shock from being shot, blood streaming from between her fingers as she held her wounded leg.

  “Robert! Up here. I’m hit!” she yelled down. Crawling on her belly, she made slow progress across the metal catwalk to the other side, clawing the grate with her fingers using her left foot to propel her along. She noticed the main electrical box just inside the door, and pulling herself up with great effort, shaky fingers tripped as many switches as she could. The lights began to come up one by one in rapid secession like falling dominos flooding the warehouse with light.

  Robert could see her, but could not get to her as he watched in dismay.

  “Behind you!” she yelled just before Razor slashed out at him with a deadly blade. Her warning saved his life.

  Robert and his foe were locked in a deadly game of life and death. Then Robert felt Razor go limp falling to the floor. Standing behind them was a strange looking little man armed with a syringe.

  “Quickly, before the effects ware off,” the little old man ordered. Robert obeyed.

  The second deputy accompanied him.

  Robert watched as the little man began to question Razor but not before asking if the deputy was able to take confessions.

  “Read him his rights, quickly,” the doctor ordered. “I do not want him to walk away from his crimes.”

  That done, he began to ask him questions.

  “You are Lawrence Rosario?” the little man asked.

  “Yes,” came the slurred response from the man stretched out on the floor.

  “Do you understand this man here is a policeman and he has offered for you to keep our mouth shut?”

  “Yes. I’m good. The woman locked up in my room will put me away for life. I’m screwed.” Razor almost smiled.

  “Is your birthday April 7, 2002?”

  “No. I’m a Capricorn,” Razor answered frowning wondering why everyone did not know that answer.

  “Is your mother alive?” The doctor asked just to prove he was telling the truth.

  “Yes. And she is a nag. She buried my father in the basement and claimed he left. Everyone believed her. Did I say she was a nag?”

  “Did Robert kill Brice Langston?”

  “No. He was out on the ranch with Kate. I’d like to cut her. She tastes good. Like candy.”

  That confession just about sent Robert over the edge. The deputy placed the palm of his hand square into Robert’s chest stiff-arming him to stop him.

  “Who did kill Brice, Lawrence? Do you know?”

  “Of course I know. I did, I shot him twice in the back of the head,” he slurred confessing all. “Some of my more stunning work, too.”

  That was information no one except the killer and a few law enforcement personnel could have known. The information had not been released. Even Robert was unaware of all the details. The deputy was radioing into Sheriff Maxwell asking for at least two ambulances.

  “Are you aware and freely giving this testimony, Lawrence?” the deputy asked.

  “Yes, because it is not right what Tony is doing. He cut off my ear, the bastard. I did not kill Kyle. You did.” He pointed to the doctor.

  “Oui, I did and I am sorry for zhat unfortunate accident. And if I must hang, zhen I shall hang for something worth dying for.” He turned to the deputy. “Is zhis confession enough to get Robert off zhe hook for Brice’s murder?”

  The deputy nodded in the affirmative.

  Chase was dragging a screaming, hysterical Candice in cuffs claiming she had been kidnapped.

  “Shut up, Candi,” Chase commanded. “Robert, go find Kate. Tony is still at large after shooting the other deputy. Dark Man and Sundown are on him.”

  Robert took off once he realized Chase had not apprehended Tony. The deputy and his brother could manage this situation.

  Unnoticed the little man took his bag out again. Filling up another syringe, he plunged half the contents into Razor, finishing off the balance on himself.

  Maybe God would be merciful and grant him entry, he prayed, considering Razor’s death payback for Kate’s loss and suffering. He and Razor would both be dead in minutes, and he would finally, after sixty years, be joining his bride.

  Chapter 60

  Robert cautiously made his way through the maze of halls and stairs. Tony was still at large and had the advantage of knowing their surroundings. He could be anywhere. His greatest concern was Tony going for Kate. She was wounded and like any animal of prey, Tony would single her out as weak. If Tony got his hands on her he would, like he did with Candice, use her as a human shield. His stomach churned at the thought of Kate wounded, bleeding, and in pain. His mind was racing with the injuries she could possibly have sustained when Tony shot into the darkened recesses of the ceiling. All Robert knew was that she was hit. Closing his eyes he reached out for her.

  “Where are you?” he whispered.

  “Where am I?” Kate whispered finding herself in uncharted territory. Managing to drag herself down two flights of stairs and into the basement levels, she was now in some sort of large lab. Several round 110-gallon industrial drums containing what looked to be old chemical waste used in the manufacturing of the fertilizer were shoved haphazardly in the corner.

  How the HazMat authorities had missed this in their cleanup was nothing short of negligence. Extremely corrosive in nature, the chemical-filled drums had been left for thirty years to oxidize allowing the contents to leach. In places the floor was slick with goop which she imagined was bad to the bone. The fumes alone could well be enough to induce some undesirable side effects. At the very least it was not healthy, and it did not take a second for her to decide this was definitely not the place she wanted to be.

  Hobbling further along the hallway, she was leaving a trail of blood any rookie could follow. Tony followed the droplets and smears of blood like a breadcrumb trail. If he could get to Kate, he would have a fighting chance to get out of this alive. He could take her as a hostage and then make a run for the border.

  He had family in Mexico and with the five million dollar check that he had in his pocket, he could buy a small country in Central America.

  He smiled. What Kate did not know was she was in a dead-end corridor.

  Kate had just discovered it, too.

  Chapter 61

  Robert quickly made his way to the third floor catwalk and saw the place she had been shot. There was still blood drying on the metal grating of the walkway. He took his fingertip and dabbed it in the blood as he reached out for her.

  Instantly, he felt her, and knew exactly where she was.

  “It is good to be a McKinnon,” he smiled. “I’m on my way,” he vowed to his bride.

  Crossing over to the other side he saw the smeared hand print on the electrical panel box and doorframe. He too followed the trail of blood she had left behind. Seeing the bloody shoe prints that were too large for her feet, his heart sank. Tony was behind her and walking through her blood.

  His gut was telling him this was a dead end, not a good place to be. However, Tony was blocked in as well.

  There were no windows or offices on this level. It appeared to be more of a lab environment. Gauging from the old surveillance cameras dotting the hallway it must have been a secured area at some point in time. Given this piece of information, he knew from experience that there was usually only one way in or out of areas such as this, and he just passed what looked to be a security desk. Kate was the only one who did not know she was trapped.

  Chapter 62

  The hallway was dark. Kate blindly felt her way along the wall, unable to locate any light switches, believing she must have passed them somewhere along the way. Making a ninety-degree turn to her right, she spotted light coming out from under a closed door way. It was a beacon. What she found behind that door was not refuge, but horror.

  “Oh, God!”

  Kate rushed over to the creature tied and gagged on t
he small cot in the corner of the room. Gently untying her mouth the creature flinched and screamed when Kate picked up the scalpel off of the surgical tray beside the bed intent on cutting the binding on her feet and hands.

  “Easy, I’m just going to cut your bindings.”

  All Katherine could tell was it was a human female. Other than that, who knew? The poor creature was cut severely from head to toe, and the dried blood and smell would have been tremendous had the large exhaust fan not continually circulated the air taking the foul away and replenishing it with fresh.

  She gagged and vomited as she saw the bucket containing flesh, teeth, and body parts undoubtedly severed from this person. Feces and urine covered the bedding and accompanied other fluids. What those other fluids were, she could only venture to guess. The woman was hooked up to an IV designed to feed her and keep infection at bay, and it was obvious she was being kept alive for some sick bastard’s perverted amusement.

  “I’ll be right back. I promise. I’m going for help.” Kate gently touched the woman on the top of her head. It was the only place left with unblemished skin. Meeting eyes crying out in terror, the unknown victim reached out grabbing Kate’s wrist silently begging for mercy. Kate vowed she would be right back. “I promise we are going to get you out, but I have to get you help first.”

  Kate turned fleeing back the way she came as fast as she could with her wounded leg. She had to find Robert. He would know what to do.

  Robert pressed his back against the wall with his gun drawn, locked, and loaded. He quickly made his way down the corridor using the dim emergency lighting he had managed to activate. Darting his head quickly in and out of each room, Robert was not above using his sharp and keen observation skills to locate any person or possible threat. So far he had found nothing.

  “Robert!”

  He heard her yelling from further down the corridor her boots tapping out an unsteady cadence on the old asbestos tiling. She was running, but not on two good legs. And if he heard her, so did Tony.

  “Kate, Tony is here with us! Be careful.”

  Hearing her scream, he knew Tony had her.

  Chapter 63

  Kate could see Tony’s outline, and putting her back into it she went in low and hard. Living on a farm with men had taught her a thing or two about fighting. She had watched the ranch hands square off in good old fashion fistfights in the corral on many occasions. Never expecting her offensive attack, he was taken unaware. Rolling as they hit the ground, she was the first to regain her footing. First with Brice and now Tony, her legs were her albatross. However, she knew Robert was ahead and closing the gap. If she could somehow get behind Tony, then he would be trapped between her and Robert.

  Dashing into the first doorway she passed after turning the corner, she hoped the fact he was behind her and around a corner would hide the fact she had ducked into a side room. The guise worked as he tore past her continuing on down the hallway. Her advantage did not last long as he realized she was not in front of him any longer. He could not hear her boots on the tile floor.

  What he did hear was Robert and from the sound of it at least two others.

  Damn it, Tony thought.

  She lured him into a trap he could not escape. He needed to get back upstairs to the upper levels. If Kate could do it, so could he. He too darted into the first room he came to next.

  It was the lab.

  Robert and the others were getting closer, but moving at a slower place than Kate as she hobbled up the hallway.

  She will be even with me any moment, Tony thought in triumph.

  Patience, he steadied himself.

  Patience, he thought as he timed his pounce perfectly as she ran past the doorway.

  Placing a hand over her mouth, Tony swung her around and back against him. Holding her tightly, he pressed his body against the right-hand side of the doorway. It was the perfect spot to shoot Robert in the head as he looked in the door.

  Kate was fighting wildly using every ounce of strength left to get free of Tony and give Robert some kind of warning. She figured it had worked once why not again as she head-butted him. He cried out enough for Robert to give his team the silent signal to halt. In silent understanding, each man knew his role. The target was two doors down, and now that they knew where to look, Robert focused his senses. He could hear the struggle taking place. Using it as a diversion, he gave the signal to storm.

  “You! Will! Let! Me! Go! Now!” Kate was fighting for all she was worth and sprayed him in the face with the bug spray. Robert could feel her terror as she used the power of the universe against her captor. That was a powerful force to be reckoned with and few understood its secret. She had just learned.

  Robert entered first just as he saw her break free and Tony leveled his gun to shoot.

  Before Tony could reach for her to use her as a shield, Robert fired six shots in rapid succession. Each hit its mark by laser target before Tony hit the ground. The bullets passed through him and into the chemical drums. Noxious and corrosive contents spewed all over Tony who had fallen backwards into the stack of industrial drums. His flesh was melting and stripping from his bones. Before their eyes, the prophecy had come true.

  If they had not known who he was, he would have been unrecognizable. Tony Booth had died for laying his hands on Kate, the last of her kind.

  Kate rushed to Robert.

  “You’re hurt,” Robert said trying to steer her out and back up the stairs.

  “Robert, there is a woman back there who needs medical attention. We cannot leave her. I promised I’d come back.”

  “I will send the medics down. They are upstairs now. I want you away from down here.”

  Kate let him lead her out of the bowels of the old plant and back up to the first levels. There were authorities from several different agencies waiting for them to emerge to take statements and make any arrests necessary to wrap up the case.

  Candice was standing beside one of the deputy sheriffs who she had talked into taking the cuffs off her. She was crying prettily, making false claims of her being an unwilling party regardless of how it might appear. She said Tony had tried to blackmail her, and the five-million-dollar check was Kate’s and her ransom money.

  She made a dash to Robert pleading her case.

  “Oh, Robert, this has been the worst day of my life. Please, take me home. I’m not feeling well and this cannot be good for our baby.”

  Katherine had heard enough. “Oh, you are so full of shit, so just put a sock in it," Kate commanded turning to Robert happy to let him know he was not to be a father after all. “She is not pregnant, Robert. I heard her and Tony talking. That sonogram is of a child at least six months in gestation. That would put her a size 14 by now instead of her claim of a size 4. I say she is a size 9.”

  “Bitch!” Candice came at her.

  Kate reared back, then connecting solidly with Candice's jaw. Chase clapped as the heiress hit the floor.

  “About time someone put that wench in her place,” Chase said tipping his hat to Katherine.

  “Ouch, that hurt!” she said shaking her hand and rubbing her fingers.

  “Let’s get you to a hospital.” Robert tried to lead her out to one of the waiting ambulances, but she would not allow him. She broke free going to the gurney where the unknown woman was being brought up from the basement.

  Kate went over and smiled down at her giving her reassuring touches filled with kindness. She gently rubbed her hand again over the woman’s head as tears streamed down the face of this poor terrorized creature.

  “See, I told you I’d be back. Let them take you to the hospital, and I’ll come see you there. Okay?” She nodded just before the paramedic took the unknown woman to the awaiting ambulance.

  “Who is she? Do we know?” Robert asked one of the deputies, suspecting the white BMW belonged to her. If so, it would be easy to find out.

  “She is an interior decorator. She was reported missing over a month ago by her neighbo
r. Apparently she has no family.”

  “She has family now,” Kate vowed.

  “And so do you, Kate. Right here in Texas.”

  Robert kissed her hand and pulled her close.

  He had almost lost her and it was just not something he wanted to face. He was also afraid she was still leaving. He knew the insurance money had hit her account. She was now free to leave. Well off enough monetarily, she did not need his financial support any longer.

  Chase had been right about so many things where Katherine was concerned. Maybe he was right on this count, too. Maybe he just needed to ask her. Maybe it was just as simple as that.

  “Kate, please don’t go back to New York. Stay here with me. Stay with me as my wife, my partner, and my friend. I never want to see another day without you by my side.”

  “Yes, I’ll stay, but I get to pick the side of the bed I want to sleep on,” Kate teased. “After all, marriage is all about compromise.”

  Chase smirked. “See? Now, was that so hard?” he asked in that I told you so sort of way. “I so love it when I’m right. Now, will you please go on and kiss her?” Chase teased.

  “Right about what?” Kate asked looking back and forth between the two men. There was a secret there between them.

  “Oh, only how to break a stubborn filly,” Robert replied.

  Crawling up inside the ambulance, Robert reached over to give Kate one last kiss before the ambulance made its way to the hospital.

  “Robert?” she asked on the way.

  “Yes, love,” he pulled her fingers to his lips.

  “I hope you will look back years from now and never be sorry you married me. I will try to soften the edges.”

  “Not on my account,” he kissed her forehead.

  “I love you.”

  Her soft confession meant more to Robert than any king’s ransom could ever be worth.