Stalked Justice (Fractured Minds Series Book 1)

by Kate Allenton

  “Lucy, why don’t you sit down,” Sam said from across the room.

  As if that were possible. I stepped into the kitchen and started opening drawers. This might be the only opportunity I had to find what I needed.

  “Are you hungry? I could cook you something,” Sam said.

  I held out my wrist. “I’m not hungry. I’m looking for something to jam into little slide so I can open the bracelet. There aren’t tiny sharp objects in this room.” I raise my brow as I stared at him. “You happen to have a needle in a sewing kit? Maybe something similar?”

  “Noah would kill me if I helped you get out of that bracelet. Besides, it’s not a good idea considering everything going on. We need to be able to keep eyes on you more than any of the others.”

  I tossed the knife back into the silverware drawer and slammed it shut. Just because they thought they needed to keep eyes on me didn’t mean that I wanted them to. I continued searching the kitchen, and Sam started typing on the computer again; my attempts at freedom were no longer his concern.

  I walked through the suite and tossed open the door to Ford’s room. His was an exact replica of mine. My gaze traveled over the room to his suitcase then to the suits hanging up in the closet. Ford was a thief. He had to have some type of lock picks to help me.

  I opened his dresser drawer and rummaged around inside trying to put everything back as I found it. I slammed it closed and worked my way through the rest of them.

  I turned around again, gazing over the room. If I were a thief wanting to hide my tools, where would I hide them? My gaze went up to the vents in the ceiling. No, he wasn’t tall enough to reach them. Slowly, again, I gazed around the room, and my eyes landed on his closet. I ran my hands through all of his suit pockets, hoping beyond anything that maybe he had stashed something useful in there. I hit pay dirt on a dark blue suit jacket that matched his eyes. There was a hidden pocket inside. I could feel the outline of something beneath the fabric. I just couldn’t make out what it was. I grabbed the suit jacket out of the closet and tossed it onto the bed.

  It only took a few attempts to open the hiding spot. A missing stitch in the seam, clever. I reached inside and pulled out a leather case and opened it. “Jackpot.”

  “Lucy, I don’t think Ford would appreciate you being in his room and going through his things,” Sam said from the doorway.

  “Well, the safety pin I normally use to get out of my restraints is in a trashcan at the airport. I had to ditch it to go through the metal detector.”

  “Lucy, if Noah finds out about this, he’s going to send you back. You won’t be able to help us catch Gentry.”

  Sam had a point. I knew it, and he knew it. Whatever choice I was about to make would define my future. My gaze shifted to the lock pick set sitting open on the bed. The one I needed was nestled inside. I could take it and remove my restraints and run. I could be free.

  “Lucy, come in.” Noah’s voice traveled into the earpiece in my ear.

  Sam reached over, grabbed my hand, and pushed the button on the earpiece, showing me how it worked. “I’m here.”

  “What are you feeling, anything? Is he angry? Does he already have her? We haven’t been able to spot him in the crowd.”

  I closed my eyes and held a deep breath, searching for the tendril of energy and emotion that would take me to him. I felt nothing. “He’s not feeling anything. I can’t find him yet.”

  The lights in the room flickered out, making my heart seize. “The lights are out.”

  Within another second, the fire alarm blared throughout the building. Sam gave me a worried look.

  “Noah, the fire alarm is going off, and the lights are out.” My voice held a touch of uncertainty.

  “That could be him trying to flush you out,” Noah said.

  “Or it could just be college kids playing a prank,” Sam said.

  “Or the building could really be on fire,” I interjected.

  “What do you want us to do?” Sam asked.

  “Evacuate the building with the other guests. Don’t go wandering off. Stay in the crowd,” Sloan ordered. “We’re on our way back.”

  Sloan wasn’t the boss of us. “Agent Roth?”

  “You heard the man. Do not leave the property. Stay with the other people. Don’t make yourself a target,” Noah added.

  Every nerve in my body told me that Gentry was behind this, regardless of whether or not I could latch onto his emotions. I left the lock pick set on the bed as Sam ushered me out of the hotel room, locking the door behind him.

  Chapter 22

  My heart raced as Sam and I headed for the fire exit stairwell. I didn’t see any black or gray smoke billowing in the air, but I could smell it. “I’m sure it’s nothing, probably just some college kid smoking in his room who passed out and forgot to put out his cigarette.”

  I didn’t know why I expected Sam to believe me when I didn’t buy it myself. I didn’t believe in coincidences. We shoved out into the parking lot with all the other guests slowly taking their time to get out of the building. They must’ve been thinking the same thing. I still didn’t see the smoke, or even know where it might be coming from, until one of the other guests pointed out there was smoke near the pool area.

  “Well, we were wrong; it wasn’t a false alarm.”

  An unease settled firmly in my gut as I glanced around the crowd of people. Gentry’s face wasn’t among them. When the fire truck pulled into the parking lot, the crowd had to disperse. It wasn’t until the alarm was turned off and people were allowed back into their rooms that Sam and I stepped onto the elevator. A hand flew out to stop the door from closing.

  Gentry’s smiling face stared back at us, and my heart stopped. I’d been right. The barrel of a gun was held to Sam’s head. “I know you don’t care what happens to you, Lucy. But do you care about what happens to him?”

  Gentry used his other hand to jab the number to the service floor where the laundry was located. I inhaled a deep breath of his anger, letting it soak into me. If there was any chance of us getting out of this, I might need to look at Gentry as if he were part of Carl’s transgressions.

  The door swished open, and the laundry floor was empty of employees. Gentry ushered us through the room with the barrel of the gun at Sam’s back. He stopped at the boiler room door. Anger riddled his face.

  “Open it.”

  I swallowed hard, knowing that this might be the place where we both died. “You know, Gentry, even though I called you stupid earlier, you didn’t have to prove me right.”

  “Shut up and get inside.” He shoved me forward and I stumbled down the stairs and caught myself on the railing. “Keep moving.” Gentry cocked the trigger with the barrel pressed to Sam’s head to get him to move. He shut the door behind him and flicked a lock before guiding Sam down the steps.

  The light illuminated above us. “Don’t worry, Lucy. This isn’t where you’re going to die.”

  I gasped as Gentry lifted the gun and hit Sam over the back of the head. Sam collapsed onto the concrete floor, and I dropped to my knees.

  “I’ll deal with him later. You’re the one I want. Get on your feet,” Gentry growled.

  “Before you kill me, answer one thing. Why are you changing the women to look like me?”

  Gentry neared and pulled a needle out of his pocket. He flicked the cap off, and I scrambled to my feet and began to back away.

  “Don’t make this difficult,” he said, shooting a bullet into the ground near my feet. “Next one is in your head.”

  He pressed the hard barrel to my skull before shoving the needle into my neck. “You want to know why they look like you?” His voice was stone cold, lacking any emotional inflection. “Don’t worry, Lucy. I’ll show you exactly why, but first we have to get rid of your tracker. I’d hate for us to be interrupted.”

  Fear fought the fog forming in my head. If he got rid of the tracker, there would be no one coming to save me. Unable to hold my body up anymore, my eye
s rolled in my head, and I dropped to my knees.

  Gentry approached with a sharp-looking file in his hand. “Don’t fight it, Lucy. We’ll be out of here in no time.”

  Gentry grabbed my hand with the bracelet as I started to lower to the ground, my eyes glazed as I fought to keep them open. Darkness sucked me into its hold.

  Chapter 23

  My eyes slowly slid open, taking in the dark room. I yanked at the bindings on my arms and legs. Glancing around the room, I saw I was attached to the same X-shaped board found in the laundry room. Only I wasn’t in the same room.

  I glanced at my wrist to find the bracelet gone. “Just because you ditch the bracelet doesn’t mean they won’t find you,” I screamed.

  “Nice of you to join the land of the living again, not for long but long enough.” Gentry chuckled from somewhere behind me.

  “If you’re going to kill me, just tell me why.”

  “You don’t get to make demands,” Gentry said as he stepped around into my view. “Didn’t you imply that I was brainless?”

  I couldn’t answer him. My mouth refused to move as I stared at Gentry. The wig on his head resembled my haircut. Contacts changed his eyes to my color. The prosthetics framing his face to look like mine were flawless. If this guy wasn’t such a psycho, he could’ve easily landed a job in LA working for the movies creating stunt doubles. The clothes he had on were the ones I was just wearing an hour ago. My body was covered in a single T-shirt that came down mid-thigh. Even my bra had been removed.

  “You weren’t stalking me because you wanted me. You were stalking me because you wanted to be me.”

  Gentry grinned. “And you called me stupid. It took you this long to figure that out.”

  “Those other girls that you are dressing like me and making to look like me were just prototypes. You were trying to get everything perfect.”

  Gentry glanced down at my clothes covering his body. “Actually, I think I’m a better you than you were.”

  He stepped closer to me; his breath laced with liquor. Had that been how he’d blocked his emotions?

  “I wouldn’t have put Carl in a coma. I would’ve finished him off.”

  I was going to die in this room. This guy was crazy. And not in a way that I could stop him, not with my arms and legs bound. I was at his mercy. “We could do it together. What if I helped you? What if I train you?”

  “I’ve watched you enough to know that I could pass as you.”

  “So, you’ve been to med school?” I asked.

  Gentry’s eyes narrowed.

  “If you’re going to be me, you have to be all me, not just some half-assed version in your head. Unless, of course, you don’t have the stones to see this through.”

  Gentry’s nose flared, and anger glinted in his eyes. I could feel it to my core, soaking in through my pores. “You feel that, don’t you? The sweet taste of my anger?”

  “Hardly,” I answered, trying to piss him off. I needed more; I needed hate to get out of this. I needed to challenge him in a way that he couldn’t dismiss, and that would mean cutting me loose even if it was to beat me down.

  “How about this?” he asked as he shoved a needle in my neck. “The serum they gave you is useless, but this serum…this will make you a worthy opponent. That’s what you want, isn’t it? To prove that you’re better than me?”

  Anger stirred in my veins, turning everything in the room the color red. I yanked at my bindings, letting the restraints cut into my skin just as Gentry used a knife to slice across my chest, mimicking the same wound that I’d given Carl.

  “Did you feel that, Lucy?” he sneered. “I promised Carl I would recreate every wound you left on him, and then, when I left you beaten and broken, I’d kill everyone you loved. Starting with your poor little sister, Gigi. She’ll be easy. I’ve already been in her room. I could have killed her many times while she lay helpless in her coma.”

  I yanked at my bindings again. How did Gentry know my sister was in a coma? That was a question that was going to have to wait. I’d beat it out of him if I have to.

  “You think you’re better than me?” I spat. “Prove it. Let me down from here and fight me like the bitch I am.”

  Gentry crossed the room and grabbed another knife from the table. “Now why would I do that? I like you much better where you are.”

  He slid the knife across my torso, cutting the shirt. A scream flew from my lips. “Wait until I get to the neck. I might have a hard time not stopping.”

  “God, you can’t even do this right. How in the hell do you think you’ll pass for me? If you’re going to do something right, get it right from the start.”

  His brows dipped, but his hand with the knife paused.

  “I caught him off guard. Carl never saw me coming. I was waiting on him to get home. It was dark when he walked in. He flicked on the light, and when he turned around, I shot him so that he couldn’t run off.”

  Gentry stepped back and picked up his gun. He aimed it at me, and only then did I realize what I’d done. This maniac was going to do the same damage to me.

  “Where did you shoot him, Lucy?”

  I swallowed hard, trying to think of the best place where I wouldn’t lose a lot of blood with him missing and hitting an artery. “His arm.”

  Gentry tsked and lowered the gun. “Wrong answer.”

  He lowered the gun to my knee, and I braced myself, unsure I’d be able to handle the pain.

  I clenched my eyes closed and cringed, waiting for the inevitable.

  The sound of splintered wood had my eyes flying open. The sound of Noah’s and Tine’s yells made me hang limp against my bindings in relief.

  “Get on your knees,” Noah growled.

  Hesitation filled Gentry’s eyes as I started to laugh. “You better do what he says. They don’t play around.”

  Gentry’s eyes narrowed.

  “Now,” Tines added, cocking his trigger. “You have two seconds, or I’ll put you on your knees with bullets in your kneecaps.”

  Gentry dropped the gun and lowered to his knees, and a smile twitched on his lips. “This isn’t over, Lucy.”

  “Yeah, it is,” Sloan said, entering the room. He gave one glance at Gentry wearing my dress and shook his head. “The guys in jail are going to love you.”

  Noah walked over to where I hung; he reached for the bindings. “No, he gave me a shot of something, and I can feel the anger building. Don’t untie me until you have my calming shot or some type of restraints to stop me from killing you.”

  Sloan lifted the needle with my magical elixir and uncapped it. He eased the needle into my arm and pressed the plunger. “Now let’s get you down and patched up. We have an ambulance waiting nearby.”

  “How did you find me?” I asked as Noah undid my restraints. I fell into Sloan’s arms.

  “I told you that you were being tracked,” Noah answered as if I should have known.

  “He ditched the bracelet,” I said, still unsure where he was going with this.

  “The bracelet was a diversion. The minute it was removed, I knew you were either on the run or had been taken. The trackers were added into all of your shoes.”

  A smile twisted on my lips. “You tricked me.”

  “Be glad I did,” he added as he glanced at Gentry.

  At the hospital, Sam burst into the room. His worried gaze settled on me, and relief filled his face. “You’re safe.”

  “I am.” I gritted my teeth as the doctor put in the last stitch.

  “Good, because we have another problem.”

  Noah slid his hands into his pockets. “What kind of problem?”

  “There’s another woman missing.”

  “What, how do you know?” I asked.

  Sam handed the envelope to Noah. “They found this in the boiler room. He was using it as a bargaining chip should he get caught.”

  “Son of a bitch,” I growled as the physician covered my wound. “I didn’t see that coming.”

/>   “None of us did,” Sloan added, stepping into the room.

  I sensed the anger thrummed below the surface of his skin. I could feel it across the room. The look on his face was sheer determination and laced with panic.

  “That picture is of Susan, my assistant. The woman that was with me at the club. He’s got her tied up.”

  “Well, I guess my job here isn’t done.” I batted away the physician’s fingers and tightened the closure myself. I slid off the bed wearing the scrubs the hospital had given to me. Clothes and shoes that didn’t contain any trackers.

  “Take me to the jail. He’ll talk to me.”

  “You think he’s just going to give up the location?” Sloan asked. “Hell, you couldn’t even get him to talk last time.”

  “Just put me in a room with him for five minutes. I’ll get you the location.”

  “You think beating information out of him is a smart move, Lucy? He’s at the Sheriff’s Department. They will arrest you.”

  “You brought me here so I could get the job done. Now trust me to do it.” I headed out of the hospital room with the others following me.

  Chapter 24

  I took a deep breath and clutched the file as I stepped into the room. Gentry didn’t look so menacing now. The prosthetics had been ripped from his face, his wig removed. The only remnant was some glue that he’d use to hold it down. His makeup was done like mine. It was a little disorienting to look at him this way. A man that didn’t want me but wanted to be me. He was even crazier than I was. I slid into the seat in front of him and watched as he yanked at his bindings.

  “I bet this isn’t how you expected the day to end.”

  Gentry gave up on his struggle with the bindings and leaned back in the chair to regard me. I could see it in his eyes; he still thought that he was better than me.