by Dahlia Rose
She struggled in vain against brutal strength that dragged her into the back of the van and threw her against the hard metal floor. Her head hit the wheel well, and she grimaced in pain as the doors were slammed shut and the van pulled away. Nina tried to stay conscious, but darkness enveloped her quickly from the blow to her head. The last thing she heard was the strong engine working to take her away from all she knew, from Mac.
“You broke her, you fucking idiot, we need her of sound mind,” a voice cut through the darkness and then smelling salts made her turn her head to escape the strong smell.
“Look, she’s fine, she’s coming around,” another voice said. “Come on, love, show us them eyes.”
Nina chose to keep them closed, hoping they would go away, but the voice became hard and cold.
“Open your fucking eyes before I start waking you in other less pleasant ways,” the man barked out at her, and Nina’s eyes snapped open.
“There she is.” She instantly recognized the face that went along with the voice; it was the man from the street fair who'd tried to call Mac out. “I see you remember me.”
“I know your face, but for the life of me I can’t remember your name,” Nina answered and winced as she touched her head.
He inclined his mean face politely. “Alec is what they call me.”
“Ugly is what they should call you,” Nina muttered. “Mac is going to kill you for this, you know.”
“I’ll deal with Mac when he comes,” Alec said mildly. “I’ve got a little surprise set up for him. But right now, I need you for something completely different.”
“Yeah, I’d rather not,” Nina said bravely.
The gun being cocked sent a chill straight through her, and Alec’s voice was deadly. “I must insist you help my friend, since it’s your man that caused him harm.”
It was then she looked over from the old sofa she was lying on to the recliner. Bouchey sat there, and there were obvious blood stains on the bandage around his round middle. Bouchey was pale and sweating; she could see he was in obvious pain.
“He needs a hospital, I’m just a nurse,” Nina pointed out.
“You work the emergency department. I know you’ve seen enough to help me,” Bouchey was holding a gun in his hand as well and waved her over with it. “Alec got what you’ll need, now come here and fix me.”
“You’re a human, and I’m not a mechanic,” Nina said angrily. “Turn yourself in and get the damn care you need before you die.”
Bouchey raised the gun and pointed it directly as her. “If I die, then you die, we’re not connected so come here and get to work.”
Nina cried out as Alec dragged her to her feet and shoved her forward. How much time had passed, did anyone even know she was missing? The thoughts ran through her head as Bouchey reclined the recliner and she slowly pulled down the blood-soaked bandage around his belly. It was obviously infected, she had been at the safe house for forty-eight hours, then Christmas and Boxing Day. He’d gone more than three days with a gunshot to the belly and no medical care. He was clammy and still burning hot, and as she took his pulse it was racing. Bouchey’s body was fighting a serious infection.
“There’s no exit wound, so the bullet is still in there,” Nina cast a quick glance back at Alec. “Bring me what you have . . . Bouchey . . . Trevor, you need a hospital. I don’t know how to treat this, it’s not a cut I can stitch up. There has to be internal injuries, and the bullet is making you sick.”
“Do what you can, Miss,” Bouchey’s voice gentled. “If I die, I’m going out on my terms.”
Nina shook her head. From the way he looked he was well on his way out—the bullet wound was already severely infected, and she knew the smell of decay all too well.
Nina tried again. “Bouchey, it's more than likely that bullet did a whole lot of damage to your internal organs or nicked your bowel or intestines. You need immediate surgery and a high course of antibiotics for any infection.” Nina looked at him helplessly. “I . . . I can’t help you, not with this.”
He smiled at her and took a bottle of whiskey from the table beside him. “I know, but I wouldn’t be Bouchey if I didn’t try. It would take Mac to come back and piss my life up and down. I’m good with dying, knowing that he’s gonna die, too. Not in the way you think but losing you will kill him.”
Nina looked at him in alarm as she tried to clean his wound, and she kept her voice cool. “I wouldn’t want to burst your bubble, but Mac is going back to D.C. I was good enough to play with but not to keep.”
Bouchey chuckled. “That’s what you think. Alec’s been watching him. And now I’m at the end of my road, Alec takes over the business. I was much nicer than he will ever be, and it starts with you.”
“Killing me won’t mean a thing,” Nina heard her voice tremble, belying her bravery.
“Oh, he’ll have to fight first, then watch you die,” Bouchey shrugged and took another swig from the bottle. He grimaced and a groan escaped him. “I’ll go to the devil knowing I finally won against Mac ‘the Bruiser’ Black.”
Hours passed, and she could see night turn to daylight through the closed blinds that barely filtered light in. Bouchey got weaker and weaker until he stared off into the distance and died. After one final breath escaped him, she heard Alec laugh from behind her, and that sound chilled her to the bone.
“The king is dead, long live the king,” Alec said, and Nina turned to see his grinning face. “Now what shall I do with you?”
Chapter Nine
Hours had passed—hours without Nina—and Mac was fit to be tied. They should tie me down, he thought, because he was going to kill Bouchey and anyone who'd had a hand in taking her. He clenched his hands until they were tight fists. They are all going to pay.
Haile looked around the Celtic Cross, which had turned into a command center—all in hopes of finding Nina. Please be alive, he implored mentally. If they found her body, it would kill him, and Mac knew the guilt would eat him alive. He knew something was wrong from the time he'd left her that morning and she'd seemed distant. In a way he understood why, they were at an impasse and no one was willing to give an inch.
Mac could understand her part, but to him Northumberland was a reminder of his past. He'd spent the day making arrangements for Donnie and Britt. He'd also lent a hand to Zeva and Jasper with the women they had at the safe house. They all needed so much, and one of the main things was to be able to trust people again. It was after eight when he'd finally showed up at the pub for a bite to eat and a cold beer. The day had worn on him, even more so because he knew that if he left, he would lose Nina and his heart couldn’t bear it. He looked at the time on his phone and frowned when he noticed it was almost nine and no call from Nina. He assumed that she had been caught up at work in a busy crush and would be getting off late.
“No Nina yet I see,” Mari said as she came out of the kitchen and behind the bar.
“If I don’t see her by ten, I’ll go to the hospital and wait for her,” Mac answered. “It had to be a madhouse; she shouldn’t have to walk home after being on her feet all day.”
“If you’re leaving again, who’s going to pick her up on these late nights?” Mrs. Humphreys said as she came out of the kitchen and took a pint glass.
“Jesus Christ, woman, is there nothing your ears don’t pick up?” Mac asked.
“I stopped trying very early on to understand her sonic hearing,” Mari said.
“Stands to reason you shouldn’t be worrying about my hearing but by the fact that you’re being a stubborn block head of a man by leaving that girl. You know you love Nina, but here you are, still thinking about Northumberland like it’s some stain on your life,” Mrs. Humphreys filled the glass with Guinness and gave him a cross look. “This town never did anything to you, it’s the choices you made you can’t face. But you did it to take care of your Ma and brother. The only person who is holding it against you is you, Mackenzie Black.”
He couldn’t refute her
words, but before he could answer, the phone behind the bar rang and Mari answered. “Celtic Cross, Mari Buchanan speaking.”
She listened for a little bit and frowned. “Hey Melissa. No, Nina isn’t here. We assumed she was working late.”
Mac instantly tuned into the conversation, and he watched Mari’s face become worried as she spoke. “Okay, maybe she stopped for dessert somewhere. . . . Yes, I’ll have her call you as soon as we see her.”
She hung up the phone. “Did Nina come home, and we didn’t see her?”
“I’ll run upstairs and check,” Mac said and slid off the stool.
In a matter of seconds, he was up the stairs. He found the door at the top was locked. He ran back down the steps and directly outside to look up at the apartment. The only dim light she kept in the kitchen was on; if she were home, Nina would have the living room lights on and he would see the glare of the television. When he came back, Mrs. Humphreys was already on the phone calling around.
“She’s not here,” Mac strode to the bar and his heart raced with worry. “Mari, what did Melissa say?”
“She said Nina got off around nine and was going to walk home, it’s not that far, she always does it,” Mari chewed her bottom lip worriedly. “She forgot to sign out for the night, Melissa was going to do it for her but wanted to know about a patient. Nina hasn’t answered her phone or the landline upstairs, so she called here thinking she was having her gin and tonic.”
“Get Haile on the phone, I’m going to go look for her,” Mac said briskly. “Fuck! I told her to call me.”
“Why would she if she thinks you’re leaving?” Mrs. Humphreys snapped.
Mac pointed at her. “Don’t you start with me!”
“I will start with you all I want and box your bloody ears if you take a tone with me!” she replied angrily. “Nina is an independent woman, and if she feels like she can’t depend on you, she’ll depend on herself. Now you go find her and bring her home and don’t think because you’re big I won’t take a belt to your ass. I did it when you were fifteen, and I will do it now.”
“I’m sorry. . . .” Mac blew out a frustrated breath. “I’m going to search.”
It went downhill from there, with all the shops closed and no sign of Nina. Mac knew she’d been taken and probably by Bouchey. He didn’t go back to the pub, not for a while. Instead he called to tell them he was going to search further in his way.
“Mac, Haile said to wait for him, he’ll meet you,” Mari said urgently.
He hung up, not waiting for someone to stop him from what he was about to do. Mac drove toward the hospital and then past that into the seedier area of Northumberland. He found the basement gambling house easy enough, and when he walked up to the front door the bouncer put his hand on Mac’s shoulder. Mac glanced at the offending touch and with brute force brought his elbow up and hit the bouncer in the face. It satisfied him to hear the nose break and blood flow between the man’s thick fingers. It took two more blows and the burly protector of the gambling house was on the ground. Mac stepped over him and opened the door, and from the time he stepped in he began to destroy anything and anyone in his path.
He toppled tables with chips, cards, and money. He grabbed a bottle of scotch, and as people rushed him, he used it as a weapon. Women screamed and cowered away from the fight, but Mac was beyond caring. None of them were Nina, and right now they didn’t exist. He took blows and hardly felt them, his eyes were trained on one man smoking a cigar casually and watching the melee. Until it was his turn and then that cocky look turned to pure fear with no more bodies between him and Mac.
“Bouchey,” Mac punctuated his words with two quick blows to the face. “Now.”
“We don’t know!” The small-time ringleader became a frightened mouse. “We haven’t seen him since the raid. But it's business as usual.”
“You wouldn’t be lying to me, would you?” Mac’s tone was deadly, and he wrapped his fingers around the man’s neck. “Because if you are, I will squeeze and squeeze until I feel your larynx being crushed and you drown in your own blood.”
He shook his head frantically. “I swear, I swear! I just collect the money and wait till I get word to take it in!”
“Shut it down,” Mac said. “This place is done, and any others like it. Tell them Mac is back in town, and if he sees this shit, there will be hell to pay.”
“Yes sir, Mr. Black,” the man stammered.
Mac dropped him and walked back out through the devastation he'd caused, and it was par for the course for the rest of the night. He worked his way through the docks and warehouses asking for Bouchey and destroying anyone who got in his way. Mac barely felt the hits because his body hummed with one mission: his Nina . . . his. By God he would burn it all to the ground to find her. Finally, he went back to the Celtic Cross with no answers, feeling the hints of desperation clinging to the corners of his mind.
Haile and Jasper were on him as soon as he stepped through the door. Zeva was there, Mari, Mrs. Humphreys, even Mr. Moore was on the phone making calls. Numerous others he didn’t recognize and some he did: Melissa, Nina’s friend, looked at him hopefully and the tears that had settled in her eyes almost drove him to his knees when he was alone. Why didn’t he tell Nina he loved her when he'd had the chance? His Ma always said his pride would be the death of him—and now it seemed it was her doom as well.
“You bloody fool!” Jasper grabbed him by the shoulders. “Look at you! Christ, you could’ve been killed going out there by yourself.”
“I’m okay,” Mac said numbly. “Any word?”
“Nothing,” Haile answered. “Mac, you look like hell; what did you do?”
“I went hunting,” Mac moved behind the bar and pulled out a single-malt scotch. He threw himself at least four fingers and downed the entire thing. He barely felt it burn its way down his belly, and he felt the worried gazes of everyone looking at him.
“You’re favoring your left side, let me check your ribs,” Melissa's voice was firm but gentle. “I may need to wrap them.”
“No,” Mac said the one simple word and dared anyone to say otherwise. He’d been hurt way worse than this and survived. “Stop staring at me like I’m fucking dying! Bouchey has Nina and has gone underground.”
“Not far enough, someone saw a white van pull away from down the street just after Nina left the hospital,” Mr. Moore piped up as he hung up the phone. “Sideways Bob said he’s seen that van down near the docks. Alec or one of his friends use it for deliveries when they heist extra fish from the catch.”
“Sideways Bob?” Zeva said slowly.
“He’s been around the dock forever; no one sees him, but he’s there,” Mr. Moore said and added proudly, “I know these streets just as good or even better than you milk-breathed boys.”
“I was down at the docks, no van, no Nina,” Mac poured himself another drink.
“You aren’t much help to Nina drunk,” Haile pointed out.
“You should know it would take more than this to get me drunk,” he retorted.
“If Jasper would give me my piece, I would be right beside you busting heads,” Zeva spoke up and glared at her husband.
“You are a duchess and cannot be running around this town with a gun,” Jasper pointed out.
“I was a soldier long before I was a duchess; trust and believe if I need to use force to find Nina and get her back, I damn well will,” Zeva snapped. “After seeing what Bouchey had going on in this town under our noses, we can’t just walk around being all regal. We are not just royals, we are protectors—and people need us.”
Jasper cupped her cheeks. “We do help. Through the charity, we make sure women and children can be cared for, we offer counseling. Zeva, we have to do things within the constraints of the law sometimes.”
“And sometimes we need to get hands-on,” Zeva pointed out. “Not just when it’s one of us, but for everyone.”
“I know that, and I’d stand next to Haile and Mac and fight an
yone,” Jasper pointed out. “Out of the two of us, I’d rather me be in danger.”
Zeva lifted her chin. “I walked out of the moors, I sure as hell could take on Bouchey or any of his assholes.”
He smiled. “Of that I have no doubt.”
He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, and when he pulled it out and looked down at the number, he didn’t recognize it. Mac pressed the connect button, and everyone watching him immediately went silent.
“Yes,” Mac’s tone was brisk.
“I hear you’ve been looking for me,” Alec’s voice made him see red instantly, and he gritted his teeth.
“I’m looking for Bouchey,” Mac said.
“He’s the old monarchy, you’re speaking to the new king,” Alec said. “I got your nurse. You gonna come get her—or shall I sample that cocoa myself?”
“Eat a bag of dicks.”
He heard Nina’s voice in the background, and he wanted to scream her name. She’d learned that little term from TV, and Mac kept the grin off his face. It was a mixture of relief at hearing her voice and the fact that Nina was as spirited as ever.
“What do you have?” Mac asked simply.
“Good boy, don’t let your little friends know a thing, I have someone watching that pub,” Alec said. “Come down to the far end of the docks where the fights used to happen, the old packing plant. We’ll be there, and if you want her, you’ll fight for her. I get any messages your people left with you and I will slit her throat.”
“Thanks,” Mac hung up and met all the expectant gazes of his friends and those who loved Nina. The lie slid smoothly from his lips. “I had a connection out looking, he hasn’t found anything yet.”
