“Yes, you sure will,” she said, and Avana chuckled, but then Tiana grabbed her arm.
“How do I look? My lip gloss okay? I just came from showing a few houses.”
“You look gorgeous, but remember, they don’t live around here.” Disappointment filled her sister’s face. “Shit, forget it then. Let’s just be polite with the introductions.”
“Sure,” Tiana said, and then they turned around and Avana introduced her sister to the men and sure enough, the four soldiers ate her up with their eyes. Her sister looked good coming from work. She wore a pretty one-piece dress in light grey and a black short waist length blazer in black, and had on heeled black ankle boots with no stockings on her legs. They had almost exact identical figures, but Tiana was two inches taller.
They stood side by side as the men talked about Repose and SoJ, then about upcoming changes. Avana smiled as Messina flirted with Tiana, and Tiana was totally not playing easy at all. When a strong, muscular arm wrapped around her waist, she stiffened a moment and then felt Spade’s lips against her neck. He whispered into her ear.
“Tomorrow, after work, I want to go over some more self-defense moves with you.”
“Of course you do, so that we wind up not focusing but instead fooling around.”
“It was pleasurable, especially the sight of you holding onto the boxing bag as I took you from behind. Started a wild new workout program for all of us.”
She chuckled, and felt her cheeks warm as she slapped his arm. He squeezed her tight, and sneakily brushed his thumb over the underside of her breasts. She gasped, turned in his arms and hugged him around his waist. His hand went under her hair and neck and his other hand smoothed over her ass.
“Spade, we’re in public.” She reached back to try and move his hand but he didn’t budge.
Nathan and Cole were right there, as well as Bronco, Frankie, and Woodrow. “Everyone is going to know that you belong to us. I make sure there’s no misunderstanding that,” he said, and then kissed her tenderly. When he released her lips, she stared up into his eyes.
“I think you all covered that tonight,” she said, and then reached out and took Cole’s hand and brought it to her lips, kissing his knuckles.
He gave her a wink. “Any time you’re ready to head out, we’re more than ready.” He eyed her over, and she knew they would take her home, couldn’t make love again because she shared the condo with Tiana, and she wouldn’t want to make them leave, and surely wouldn’t want to start the work week Monday morning.
* * * *
“They got a few hits. We’re trying to find a match, but that will only happen if this guy is in the system. Damon is working on a lead. There was a witness to Meredith’s abduction, but the older woman was scared and when the feds questioned her she got intimidated. Dumb assholes were too aggressive,” Falzone told Tat and Nathan.
“I hope it leads to something more. I think we should try to break down how this guy got those cabins. There were different ones in different states and towns. He didn’t just take them over. This bullshit about cash deals is one thing, but the government, the state, and towns always want taxes, and want to know what you own. He obviously knows his way around insurance, real estate and buying, and maybe getting things lost in the system. We’re going to try and work that angle through the computers and see what we come up with. Spadaro, Woodrow, and Bronco are working on that today,” Nathan chimed in.
“We appreciate everyone’s help. The family is with Meredith and once she wakes up, perhaps we’ll get more from her,” Biani said.
“How did you guys like the Filling Station last night?” Tat asked once they figured out their next steps to this investigation. Nathan knew that everyone wanted to help find this guy before another woman was taken and killed.
“It’s a great place. Love the town, and understand why so many of you guys have set roots here,” Falzone said.
“Maybe you guys will consider it. You know, look around for a house. We all know a really great real estate agent,” Tat teased, and they chuckled, but Falzone and them looked at Nathan. He could tell last night that they immediately took interest Avana’s sister Tiana.
“She’s a beautiful, professional woman. Runs in the family,” he said.
“You guys are really lucky. Avana is gorgeous and sweet. We could see how protective you are of her and rightfully so. I thought you were going to start a brawl with those three men at the bar who flirted with her and Tiana as they passed them coming back from the ladies room,” Vella teased.
They chuckled.
“Vella, you and Falzone, Biani, and Messina were right behind me,” he replied, and they laughed.
“Right now our focus is on finding this killer, putting this guy away or six feet under, so no other women will experience what Meredith survived and what others died from,” Falzone said.
“I think when this is over we’ll decide what’s next,” Vella added, looking so serious and somber. Nathan didn’t know these guys well, but was informed by Tat and the others about these types of missions they did. They had no fears, went in blind and had close calls, but some recent business elsewhere changed things for them. He respected them and they all got along, making Nathan and the team happy to be living in Repose. Then he thought about Avana and missing her. It was crazy, but he smiled. Something he found himself doing more and more lately because of her.
* * * *
Austin watched the men coming in and out of the office all day long, and a few couples, too, all to meet and talk with Avana after meeting her at the car show and vending table. He rubbed his hands on his pants. He had driven by her condominium complex just in time to see her arrive last night, late, and with six men. Six fucking big men, too. He wondered when this had happened? Had it started the night of the car show? He should have made a move quicker, instead he thought he had time as he planned their lives together. He knew from last night that he needed to move quickly. He didn’t have time to go back and kill Gail, nor go to the other cabin and get rid of Meredith. She was dead by now anyway, and the place probably smelled of death.
He needed to take action. He watched her now, smiling and talking to two guys, who weren’t gay, but were brothers looking to change insurance policies on their motorcycles. When she stood up and they stared at her ass in the designer business dress in black she wore, he saw red.
He had to make that move. This wasn’t good. He looked back at the computer screen and finished making the final payments and then adjusted everything. He would have to work off of the home computers at the cabin. It was all set up anyway with great Wi-Fi, and after he got Avana there, he could take the time while she adjusted to her new life, to go over the quick changes he made to accounts and to his money to have access to it. Everything was going to work perfectly. He was done working here, and could focus on taking his time training Avana, getting her used to his touch, his home and rules he required. She was working late, and that was when he would strike.
* * * *
It was already six o’clock and Avana hadn’t heard a word from Gail all day. She didn’t show up for work, and she was going to regret that since Keith came from the main headquarters and actually asked about her. Avana smirked. She was going to rub that in Gail’s face for playing hookie. She got a text from Nathan and she told him she was working until eight tonight, and then she wanted to stop by her friend’s house on the way home. He texted back that they would meet her in the parking lot at eight o’clock and go with her. Obviously, they missed her as much as she missed them.
The other staff started slowly leaving and soon she was alone in the office with Austin working in his office. It was seven o’clock. As she started to gather the files to put away, she grabbed the paper she needed to make copies of and headed into the hallway next to Austin’s office. She was copying them, waiting next to the printer and yawning, when suddenly she felt the strike with something hard to the back of her head. She cried out, falling to her knees, and then a sec
ond hit, harder and knocking her to the ground. She couldn’t focus, but moaned as fear filled her insides and then her arms were pulled behind her back, her wrists tied tight with something. Someone rolled her over and she blinked and moaned, tears rolling down her cheeks. Austin stood above her wearing black gloves, and looking evil and menacing.
“Time to go home,” he said, and then she passed out.
* * * *
Bronco was pacing the office. The pace was flooded with feds, detectives, and the local Ausberry police. When he and the team arrived at eight o’clock to pick up Avana, the place was dark, except for a back hallway and two offices. Things got worse the further they looked, and as calls came in from local police that her friend Gail was missing and hadn’t shown up for work today.
“Who is this fucking guy Austin? What do we have on him?” Falzone asked.
His team showed up upon Nathan’s request when they saw the blood, heard about Gail missing, and thought the worse. When the feds arrived, they all knew what was happening. A nightmare. The fucking killer, whomever he was, had gone after their woman.
“We’ve got men working on it now,” Biani told them, and Nathan and the team. “So far, looks like the guy is clean as a whistle. He owns a nice house about thirty minutes from here and the locals say no one is there. Got a group of Rangers and other feds going over it with a fine-tooth comb in case this guy is the killer.”
“You think this guy could be him?” Woodrow asked them.
“It sure fucking looks that way. Someone from here saw Austin packing up the tables and things from the car show and then head off in his car. Damon and one of the local deputies found her car in the parking lot by the park. Whatever happened, it appears she went willingly,” Messina added.
“We have a lot of men and women working on this, guys. He fucked up big time by doing this locally, and so close together. We just need to figure out where he took them,” Tat stated.
“I can’t believe this. How could this happen? Avana must be scared out of her mind and what if he assaulted her already? Fuck,” Cole said.
“You can’t think that way. We’ll find him, and we’ll get to her in time. Obviously, he thought she would put up a fight and knocked her out. Guaranteed that’s her blood on the floor by the printer. You guys said she was working late and he was, too. Her cell phone and purse are by her desk,” Biani added.
“We need to find her and quickly. How about this computer here? You think he used it for personal business, too? Maybe something may be on it?” Frankie asked.
“Could be, you know the feds are going to go into the computer at his home,” Spartan stated, and then his cell phone rang. “It’s Basile. He’s at Austin’s house.” He answered it.
“Hello? Okay, let me put you on speaker.” He put the phone in the middle of them and they listened.
“We found a bunch of things, trophies or some shit, plus withdrawals of money from three different banks. One of those banks is located two hours from here, in a small town completely hunting and farming area. Nowhere near the other cabins where other victims were found. Also, looks like he packed a bunch of clothes and closed up this house. It’s fucking empty of furniture, anything personal, and talking to the neighbors they said he was hardly ever home, but a neighbor saw him placing large black duffle bags into the truck of his car at five o’clock this morning,” Basile told them.
“So he planned this. He made a move but why is he packing up, and bringing things with him? Maybe moving on after this and disappearing?” Nathan asked.
“Or planning on camping out in a remote location, but still have access to his money,” Bronco said, sitting at the guy’s desk typing on his computer.
“What do you have, Bronco?” Spartan asked, walking toward him with the phone.
“Basile still on there?” he asked.
“Here, Bronco,” Basile replied from the speaker.
“Those withdrawal tickets to the bank two hours from here, is this the number?” Bronco asked and then said the account number.
“That’s it.”
“Bingo, he’s somewhere out there, close enough to that bank to access money,” Bronco said.
“But he had to know we would all figure out he’s the killer. The feds could freeze the accounts.”
“He withdrew a lot of money, maybe even cleared it out. He might not be anywhere near that town,” Vella said.
“It’s a lead and we need to investigate it. In the interim, some of the evidence from other victims’ bodies had a few things in common. One was a chemical, a coating of some sort on the body. When tested it turned out to be ash, like from a fireplace, and it was in the women’s hair, as well. Plus, fibers of wooden flooring, and a black dirt, not common in this town or surrounding, but further into the woods and farmland. A rich, black soil. How many areas in this state have that?”
“How about how convenient it would be if he kept his most recent kill zone, for a lack of better words to describe it, but a kill zone within a three-hour radius. He can drive back and forth in one day or night, but still feel like they’re close enough,” Falzone said to them.
“I think we go with this idea that this guy took her and maybe Gail, too, within a three-hour radius from here and that bank. We don’t have anything else to go by but hunches right now,” Woodrow said.
“Let’s figure out a plan of action and where to search based on what we know, no matter how weak it is. A hunch is all it takes to find them,” Spartan said, and so they planned on trying to find her, and Nathan felt sick. Absolutely sick. Three hours later, in the middle of the night, the worse news hit them hard.
* * * *
Spade flipped the table in the conference room and raged. He paced back and forth and his brothers-in-arms were furious, too, and scared. Super scared for Avana. The federal agents along with Tat and Falzone and Vella found Gail, and she was murdered.
“I want this guy. I want to find him and rip his fucking head off. You heard how they found her. Bound, raped, beaten, and then left for dead. The fuck did it thirty minutes from here. Thirty!” Spade yelled.
“We have to do something instead of fucking waiting on the feds and shit to tell us our woman is dead. Let’s start pinpointing a starting location. We need to do this,” Bronco raised his voice.
“I know this is difficult. It’s been approximately eight hours since she was taken, but he was sloppy, and he left evidence proving he’s the killer. It links him to the other victims, and we’re getting closer,” Spartan said to them.
“Not close or fast enough. He’s going to rape her, beat her, and God knows what else, Spartan. We need to do more,” Cole said to him.
“Then we do what we said we would try to do. Start hunting. Start trying to find the cabin. Everything so far points to him not being that far from here. We’ll get a break, something soon enough,” Tat said to them.
Nathan and they knew how this was going, and their hope of ever seeing Avana alive again diminished with every passing minute.
* * * *
Avana was moaning and in pain. She rolled side to side and then felt the cool wash-cloth against her skin. She lifted her arms and touched a hand. A man’s hand that was unfamiliar. Her eyes opened and she gasped at the pain, but saw Austin. His blue dress shirt was unbuttoned.
“Easy, my pet. I may have gone a little overboard considering your size, but had to be sure you wouldn’t resist me.”
She remembered what happened. How she was struck with something hard out of nowhere and then saw him. Saw Austin standing there. He tied her wrists together. She moved her arms, and then felt the short give in them. They were tied now, too. “What are you doing, Austin? Why?”
He licked his lips and she wasn’t quite getting her brain to work. The pounding in her head enormous, but as she looked down, and the washcloth moved from her head, she realized she was only wearing a bra and panties. She jerked, cried out from the pain, and he jumped up and straddled her waist.
“N
o, no, no. You need to cooperate and to listen to my rules. It’s going to take time. I understand that, my pet, but we have all the time in the world now,” he said to her, stroking her jaw with his finger.
“My head hurts so much. I don’t understand this. Why? What is it you want from me?” she asked, blinking her eyes open and closed.
He looked at her breasts as he caressed her arms and then up to her neck. She tilted back and he licked his lips. “All of you. Your body, your heart, and soul, and eventually, your life,” he said to her, and then lowered down and pressed his lips to hers. She tried turning away, tried pulling back and then shoving upward. It was enough to cause his lips to leave hers as her teeth banged against his lip. She saw the blood there and he wiped it with his finger, looked angry and then wham. He smacked her hard across the face. “No. Stop it, now,” she said.
He gripped her cheeks hard. “You will obey me, pet. This is our new life. Together forever, you and I, and no one will find us. I will train you to obey me, pet. I’ve had a lot of practice,” he said, and climbed up off of her. She moaned and he checked her bindings, then cupped her breast. He leaned down and kissed her cleavage. “I’ve been practicing patience. I also got rid of the desire, the lust I had. Took one more whore before you. One more after nearly a dozen women and six couples. You’re my prize. My ultimate pet. We’re going to live happily ever after.”
“No, No, Austin, I don’t belong to you. I don’t understand any of this. I won’t stay here. I won’t comply with this.”
He chuckled. “Then you will end up dead. Just like Gail. Just like the others.”
Her eyes widened. “Gail?” she asked, tears filling her eyes.
“I had her. Had to take her since it didn’t take much convincing at all. She was game to the some of it. In fact, she begged me to stop, not able to take the sex, but you’re different. I saw you,” he said and tears rolled down her face.
Sons of Justice 12_Confident in Love Page 14
