Monroe, Marla - Nina's Neighbor (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Marla Monroe

  At eleven that morning, she and Charlotte drove over to her house and made a couple of loops in the car to be sure they didn’t see any motorcycles lurking around. The area looked clear, so they parked in her drive and Nina jumped out of the car and ran to the door unlocking it as fast as she could. Once inside, she grabbed her cell phone charger and then started packing another suitcase full of clothes she would need. She figured on three days, and that would give her a week’s worth of clothes she could launder and re-wear.

  She heard something odd coming from the kitchen area, but after listening for a few seconds, she didn’t hear anything more. She put it down to nerves on edge. She’d just finished packing the suitcase when someone grabbed her from behind, smothering her with a cloth that smelled suspicious. She grew dizzy then…nothing.

  * * * *

  Jack sat in back eating his lunch when he heard a commotion out front. Fuck, had Reaper come back? He was about to walk out there when he realized it was a woman’s voice he was hearing. She sounded hysterical.

  “Jack! Jack, I need you,” she was saying.

  “Ma’am, he’s on lunch right now. Maybe I can help you,” his helper said.

  “I have to talk to him about Nina. Please get him.”

  Jack realized it must be Charlotte, Nina’s friend out front. Something was wrong.

  “Charlotte, what is it?” he demanded.

  Jack ran around the counter and grabbed her by the shoulders.

  “Where’s Nina?”

  “They have her, Jack. They grabbed her, and she was unconscious when they took her.” Charlotte was hysterical.

  “Calm down and tell me exactly what happened,” Jack said again. “Joel, grab a chair.”

  Joel, his helper pulled up a chair next to the counter and Jack sat Charlotte down in it.

  “What happened to Nina?”

  “She was adamant about getting more clothes, and she wouldn’t let me go by myself. She was going to go without me at lunch. She said they would be watching you, not the house. I couldn’t stop her, so I went with her. We drove around the block a bunch of times to be sure we didn’t see any bikes, but they didn’t use a bike. They had a red pickup truck,” she said around pants.

  “Calm down. You’re hyperventilating. I need you to calm down, Charlotte,” Jack said again.

  Charlotte drew in a deep breath and blew it out. She visibly tried to settle herself then started again.

  “A big red truck pulled in behind me, and the next thing I knew, someone else was bringing her out the front door slung over their shoulder, and her arms were limp, so I know she had to be unconscious or she would have been fighting them.”

  “Had you seen the truck parked anywhere before you drove up in the driveway?” Jack asked.

  “It seems like it was parked down the street, but I can’t be sure. We were looking for motorcycles.”

  “Okay, thanks for coming to tell me. I’ll handle it and get her back. Don’t worry, Charlotte,” Jack assured her.

  “She’s my best friend, and I couldn’t do anything to help her. I should have attacked the guy.”

  “No, you did the right thing. If you had interfered, they might have hurt you or taken you, too, and I wouldn’t have known about Nina being missing until much later,” Jack told her.

  “What are you going to do?” she asked with tears in her eyes.

  “Give them what they want.”

  * * * *

  “I think she’s coming around now,” a voice said.

  Nina fought the fog. What had happened to her? She had cottonmouth, and she felt nauseous. She had a headache like she’d been hit over the head, but she couldn’t remember being hit. Hell, she couldn’t really remember much after leaving at lunch.

  “Wake up, bitch.”

  The voice sounded familiar. Someone shoved her.

  “Leave her alone, Slick. She’ll come around soon enough.”

  That was Reaper. She knew what had happened now. She’d been kidnapped. They were going to use her as bait for Jack. God, she felt sick at her stomach. She was afraid she was going to throw up. She guessed she needed to let them know she was awake and that she was going to be sick.

  “I’m going to be sick,” she finally managed to get out.

  “Shit, get her to the bathroom, Slick.”

  The man fussed the entire time he had her in his hands. He carted her to the bathroom and dropped her on the hard floor. The ceramic tiles were hard against her knees. At least their coolness helped slow down the nausea. She looked around through the haze of her sight and decided she was in a hotel room bathroom. It looked like one.

  She retched and hung over the toilet, but nothing came up. Finally, she felt marginally better, but her cottonmouth was back. She needed something to drink anyway to settle her stomach. Nina pushed herself to her feet and managed to hold onto the door and walk as far as the bed. Then she collapsed on it.

  “Here,” a voice said, handing her cola.

  She looked up and didn’t recognize the man. He was as tall as Jack, but not quite as muscular. He did, however, have broader shoulders. His face wasn’t as hard as Slick’s, but he didn’t look like he cared much about her either. There were several scars crossing his face from one eyebrow to his nose then from the other eyebrow to the corner of his mouth.

  “Thanks.” Nina took the proffered cola and sipped at it.

  “She’s awake now. Let’s get her all comfy,” Slick said, taking a step toward her.

  “Leave her be, Slick. We aren’t doing anything yet. I want Jack to see her unharmed first. Then we’ll have our fun.” The voice came from Reaper, but she couldn’t see where he was. Her vision was still a bit cloudy.

  “Jack doesn’t care about me that much. He won’t do whatever you want him to do,” she said in a stronger voice.

  “You better hope he does, little lady, or we might just send you home to him in little pieces.” Slick smiled a toothy grin.

  Nina shuddered but tried to keep her cool. Jack would help her. She just hoped he didn’t sink to whatever they wanted him to do. She couldn’t bear it if he joined them again. He’d promised he wouldn’t. But he might do it to keep you safe.

  Reaper walked over and sat on the bed next to her. He shoved her hair off her shoulder with one hand. She drew back away from him and he grabbed her by the hair and jerked her head back. When he tried to kiss her, she closed her lips tight and fought back. He was stronger, but she had both hands, and he was using one of his to hold her head still.

  “Slick, hold her arms for me. I want a taste of her.”

  Slick grabbed her arms and drew them behind her back. Reaper smiled and leaned in to kiss her. She kept her mouth closed tight.

  “Open your mouth, bitch,” he said.

  She didn’t say anything, just kept her mouth closed. Reaper nodded at Slick behind her about something. Then her arms were pulled back and up until she thought her shoulders would dislocate. She opened her mouth to scream, and Reaper took advantage of it.

  “You better not bite him, or I’ll break your fucking arms, bitch,” Slick told her.

  Nina suffered through the kiss and the ensuing groping, trying not to gag into his mouth. When he drew back, he was smiling.

  “Yeah, Jack always did have great taste in women. You’re going to be a welcome addition to our gang.” Reaper laughed and stood up again.

  When Slick let go of her arms she nearly cried out again at the sudden pain it caused. Then he sat behind her and wrapped his arms around her and began playing with her breasts, squeezing them hard enough that it brought tears to her eyes.

  “That’s enough, Slick,” the other guy said.

  “You don’t tell me what to do, Freak,” Slick said.

  “He’s right. Leave her alone.”

  Nina chose that moment to throw her head back and felt the satisfying pain of slamming into Slick’s face. She hoped she broke his nose.

  “You stupid bitch.” He stood up and grabbed her by the t
hroat and dragged her to the wall where he drew her up the wall with his hand around her neck.

  The man Slick had called Freak intervened, pulling Slick off of her.

  “She’s going to have bruises on her neck now, you idiot. Jack’s going to freak,” Reaper said.

  “It will make him take us more seriously is all,” Slick said.

  “Yeah, but if she’s hurt, it will be harder to control Jack,” Freak told him.

  “He’ll be hard enough to control anyway. We’re not letting her go,” Slick told the other man. “We’re keeping her. He isn’t going to like that at all, but he’ll go along so he can have her. He’ll have to share her with us, but he won’t let us without him. That’s fine with me.”

  “You said you were letting her go,” Freak said, looking at Reaper.

  “Yeah, well. I changed my mind.”

  “Fuck, Reaper. You’re adding kidnapping to everything else? You cross the state line, and it will be the FBI who comes after us,” he said.

  “It won’t be kidnapping. She’ll do whatever we say to keep Jack safe, and Jack will do whatever to keep her safe. It’s a win-win situation as they say in the big corporate world,” Reaper said.

  He looked over at Nina. “Isn’t that right?”

  Nina just stared at him with as much hatred as she could manage on her face. She would do anything to keep Jack safe because he would do the same thing for her. She was sure of it. Her best bet for both of them was to get away. But right now, that looked hopeless.

  Chapter Eleven

  Jack paced back and forth across the living room floor. He figured Reaper would contact him soon. He just didn’t know if it would be at home or at the store. He knew he was being watched, so he chose to go to his house to keep everything away from the store and the public. He could control things better at the store, but it would be at a risk.

  The longer they had Nina, the worse her chances were of getting out of everything unscathed. The thought of Reaper hurting her or worse, raping her, turned his stomach. He wanted to hit something. Tear something apart. He’d come to realize that he loved her and didn’t want to spend his life without her, but he would join up with Reaper again if it would save her. The reality of it was, that was just what Reaper was going to want, and he was giving in.

  Joel’s words came back to him then. What about a sting? He could pull it off, but could he trust the police? He made the phone call and asked to speak to whoever was in charge of the gang unit. He got directed to Dallas for this. Great, larger city meant more help. At least he hoped so.

  A Detective Miller answered the phone.

  “Have you heard of The Devils?” Jack began.

  “Yeah, why?” the other man asked.

  “I use to be in the gang, and I want to bring them down, but I have some conditions,” Jack said.

  “What are the conditions first?”

  “They have my woman, and I want her back unharmed. She’s not a part of any of this. She’s a nice lady. They’re just using her to get me back in the gang.”

  “Okay. What else?” Miller asked.

  “Their leader’s name is Reaper. He goes down hard or he will retaliate from prison if we don’t get every one of them.”

  “That’s going to be tough.”

  “I can give you everyone who was in the gang when I was there.” He didn’t plan on outing any of the ones who had gotten out that he knew about, like Jimmy and Lacy.

  “Okay, we need you to come in.”

  “Can’t do that. I’m in Sage. Do you know where that is?” he asked.

  “Yeah, what in the hell are The Devils doing way out here anyway? They’re a West Coast gang.”

  “I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I think they found out where I lived and came here specifically to get me.”

  “Why go through all that trouble to get you? Who are you to them?” Miller asked.

  “I use to be Reaper’s right-hand man and their muscle,” he admitted.

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “No. I was at the top and got out. Things were going in a direction I wasn’t comfortable with. I agreed to keep my mouth shut in order to ‘retire’ so to speak. You’re never out of The Devils until you’re dead.”

  “I suppose you want immunity, too,” Miller said.

  “Of course. I’m a business owner and a responsible, taxpaying man now. I think I should get something out of giving you an entire gang and their secrets.” Sweat began to run down Jack’s back and bead on his forehead.

  He was making an unheard-of move. If it backfired, someone was going to get killed, and he was afraid it would be him and maybe Nina, unless they wanted her as bad as Reaper said he did. He prayed he was making the right decision in doing this. If they hurt Nina, he’d rain all kinds of hell down on their heads.

  “You give us all of that, and you can have just about anything you want. We need to contact the West Coast and see if they have anyone on the inside.”

  “That’s risky. Reaper has people on the inside of the police.”

  “I have someone I can talk to that I trust,” Miller said.

  “I’m staking my life and Nina’s life on your trusting them.”

  “I know. I’ll be in touch.”

  Jack gave the man his contact information and told him more about Nina and himself such as last names and where they lived and worked. Next, he called Joel to fill him in on a few things.

  “I want you to go to the store in the morning and call my customers who have bikes waiting. Tell them that I’ll be out of pocket for a few weeks. If they want to pick up their bikes then let them. Otherwise, clean everything up, empty the safe and cash register, and take it home with you. Then don’t go back to the store for any reason until I tell you to. Got it?”

  “You’re doing the sting, aren’t you?” Joel asked.

  “Yeah, so stay hidden. No driving by the store or anything. It’s not going to happen there anyway.” Jack hoped the kid would listen to him.

  “Don’t worry, I don’t want to end up in the crossfire. I’ll stick close to home.”

  Next, he called Charlotte and brought her up to speed without really telling her anything other than he had the police in on it, and they would get Nina home safe soon. She made him promise, and he did.

  A few minutes later, he got a call from a number he didn’t recognize. Had to be Reaper. He answered on the third ring.

  “Hello?”

  “Why has your phone been busy?” Reaper asked.

  “I’ve been talking to her best friend, trying to keep her from going to the police, and I had to make arrangements for my store since I’m obviously going to be gone. I have competent help, so they can handle the store for the most part. I’ll just have to come back periodically to do taxes and stuff like that.” He hoped they were buying this.

  “Good business, huh?”

  “Yeah,” he said.

  “You need to follow these instructions to the letter. Do you hear me?” Reaper asked.

  “I hear you. What do you want me to do?”

  Reaper gave him the name of the hotel where they were staying. He was supposed to pack his saddlebags and get over there ASAP. Jack assured him he would be there within the hour.

  As soon as he got off the phone, he picked up the landline and dialed Detective Miller back to fill him in on what his instructions were.

  “We’re going to be heading back to California. We’ve got to get him before he leaves Texas or you’ll have a hard time making anything stick out west. He has too many men in his pocket,” Jack told him.

  “We’ll get him and shut him down from both ends. We’re coordinating this to take the rest of this gang down all at one time. A part of the gang is in California, and part of them are in New Mexico around Albuquerque,” Miller informed him.

  “Great,” he said sarcastically. “The more people you have involved, the greater the chance he has someone on the inside who’ll help him get away.”

  “We
ll, just so you know, we’ve got someone on the inside, too. Well, the West Coast does.”

  “Who is it? How will I know him?”

  “I don’t know what he’s called inside, but he will answer to you if you ask him if he has a daughter named Sarah. So remember that. We don’t want to get him killed either,” Miller said.

  “What’s his answer going to be?”

  “Yeah, her mother was the best fuck I ever had.”

  * * * *

  “Okay, Jack is on his way,” Reaper said. “Remember what I said. No one hurts him. You just bring him back here when he rides up on the property.”

  Freak and two others went out to meet Jack while Reaper and Slick remained behind. Slick held a knife to Nina’s throat. She was almost afraid to breath. They also had her gagged so she wouldn’t reveal that they planned to keep her anyway. What was Jack going to do? She prayed he had a plan.

  After what seemed like hours, she heard the roar of a motorcycle then nothing for several minutes. Then the door opened and Jack was pushed inside by Freak. He saw her and how she was tied up with the gag. She tried turning her head but the knife bit into her skin.

  “Be still, baby,” Jack said.

  She tried just moving her eyes to let him know that they weren’t going to keep their deal, but he only gave a quick shake of his head. She gave up and tried not to cry.

  “You promised you wouldn’t hurt her. Her clothes are torn and she has bruises around her throat. What the fuck is going on?” Jack demanded with a snarl.

  “She got a little out of hand is all,” Reaper said with a smile. “She’s still okay. Just like we promised. So, what is your answer now, Jack?”

  “You know what the answer is. You let her go, and I’ll ride again,” Jack said.

  Nina made all sorts of negative sounds, and Slick reached around and pinched her nipple. Jack went crazy and started toward her. Slick held the knife closer.

  “Uh, uh, uh, Jack. Her throat is already a little tender. I don’t think you want me to actually slit it, do you?”

  “Be quiet, baby. Don’t give them a reason to hurt you anymore.” Jack glared at Slick. “You and me are going to go a round or two before this is over with.”