Storm Warning (Assassin In Paradise Book 2)

by Jack Stroke

  Pulling her dress down her shoulder, she went into full pretend drunk mode, staggering about. She had no idea what the pair had been told or what they were looking for, but she guessed an intoxicated woman wasn’t high on their list.

  The two guards yelled at one another, rushing in Amber’s direction. They pointed at the rope hanging down the building.

  The first security dude went charging past her. Trouble was, beyond Amber the street was empty. They were looking for someone either coming down the rope or had just come down the rope, and as far as that went, Amber was the only choice.

  She couldn’t risk the second security guard drawing that conclusion. She stumbled towards him, calling him over. She faked a trip, appearing as though she was about to topple over. Instead she delivered an almighty kick, hitting him square in the testicles.

  With no chance to protect himself, he went down hard.

  “Hey!”

  Amber bolted for the black Jaguar. The door swung open. She dived in, just feeling the hands of the first security dude at her back. He was fast but not fast enough.

  The tyres squealed as the Jag sped away from the curb.

  Amber looked up to see Franz’s smiling face.

  “Cutting it fine, as always.”

  Franz was one of Mother’s regular drivers, one who Amber had worked with before.

  “Is there any other way?”

  Taking a hand off the wheel, Franz handed her a pair of leopardskin heels and matching pocketbook.

  “Mother thought you might need these.”

  Inside the pocketbook was a small SIG Sauer P238.

  “Thank you, Mother. You think of everything.”

  No response in Amber’s ear. Not a good sign.

  They were outside the hotel in minutes. Amber strutted through the lobby, heels clacking loudly against the stone floor. She was happy to have footwear now. Unlike the corridor in the club, the lobby was bright and her lack of footwear would have been much more obvious.

  She took the elevator to the 14th floor. The key she had lifted from Gomez opened room 14 C.

  “Wow, this guy is a pig,” she informed Mother.

  There was mess everywhere. The bed looked as though it had a football match played on it. All manner of food wrappers and drink bottles littered the floor.

  “I’m not even sure I’ll be able to find his laptop amongst all this.”

  Still nothing from Mother.

  After a quick search, Amber located what she was after, half-covered by his suitcase. She inserted the dongle, setting up the remote link to Mother’s server.

  “Right to go,” she told Mother, hitting the button to commence the file transfer. Now all she had to do was wait for the transfer to complete.

  She resisted the urge to make some comment about how it was all good and there was no need to stress.

  And it was fortunate that she did because right at that moment she heard the unmistakable growl of a very large dog.

  7

  The Doberman pinscher crept around the bed, its overly angular ears standing to attention. The beast had a growl like the low throb of a muscle car, its physique giving the impression the animal had just finished a weight session in the gym.

  Amber stared at it, not moving. She quite liked dogs generally. Less so the ones intent on ripping her limb from limb. She was really more of a cat person, although that probably wasn’t much use right now. This puppy could probably smell Lion on her.

  “Good work, Amber. Transmission coming through.”

  She remained still as a statue, staring the animal down. No sudden movements.

  “Amber?”

  “Dog,” Amber managed to croak despite the dryness of her mouth.

  “Dangerous?”

  “Looks like it.”

  The dog’s growl died away almost completely as it stopped, waiting for her to make the next move.

  “Shoot it,” Mother instructed.

  Amber’s fingers rubbed against the Sig’s cold metal in her pocketbook. The Doberman tilted its head slightly, watching her. It was kind of cute in its own terrifying way. Amber made a snap decision. Time to move.

  Backing up with extreme caution, she headed towards the bathroom, careful not to let her eyes leave the beast.

  The dog’s low growl increased again with movement, matching her pace step for step.

  The bathroom was only a yard or two behind, yet it took an eternity to cross. Once Amber sensed the doorway surrounding her, she darted, jumping inside.

  The Doberman pounced with more speed than any living animal should possess.

  Amber whipped a dirty towel from the floor and flung it in the dog’s face as it sprung towards her. The momentary distraction was enough. Disoriented, the dog careered into the side of the bath. Amber slipped out the door.

  The animal recovered fast, getting its snout between the door and the frame before Amber could get the door shut. A quick kick to the nose was enough to get it to withdraw and the door closed.

  Amber let out a large sigh. Two things locked in two bathrooms in around half an hour. The difference was, the Doberman couldn’t open the bathroom door to escape. At least, Amber hoped it couldn’t. She kept hold of the handle for a while, just make sure.

  “Amber? Report in. Did you kill it?” Mother asked.

  “Negative. All good.”

  Reluctant to let go of the door, Amber eventually snuck back to check on the file transfer. It was about halfway done.

  Good. She could relax a bit. That was until the dog started barking.

  “Crap.”

  Clearly the dog wasn’t too keen on the idea of being locked in the bathroom. Stupid animal.

  The barking became steadily louder, extremely noisy in the otherwise quiet hotel room. Heck, it was probably loud at reception, some 14 levels below.

  Amber willed the transfers to move faster, although it didn’t really do a whole lot of good. She probably needed some other sort of action. The barking was bound to attract someone’s attention sooner rather than later.

  “Hey, dog… Shut up!”

  That didn’t help. What was her best option here? She could ask Mother, except Mother wouldn’t be happy that she hadn’t shot the dog when told to earlier.

  Amber could leave. The file transfer would complete on its own, except then it would be obvious someone had been in Gomez’s room accessing his computer. Would that be an issue? Almost certainly, although Amber didn’t know enough about the job to be entirely sure.

  Maybe she should just shoot the dog after all. Except… that was a last resort. There had to be some alternative.

  What about … food? Surely they would have something here to feed the dog. Could she shove that through the door to keep the thing quiet?

  Foolishly, Amber placed her pocketbook down on the bench as she crossed to the fridge. The barking was so loud the very walls appeared to be shaking, which is probably why she didn’t hear the hotel room door open.

  By the time Amber realised she wasn’t alone, it was too late.

  8

  Ralph was a gym junkie who looked as though he could bench a small car. From what Amber could tell, his presence in the room was sheer bad luck (or good luck, depending on whose side you were on).

  Having eaten something that didn’t agree with him the night before, Ralph had spent the day in bed. The ailment was so bad he even had to forego the trip to Kinki’s with his boss and good friend, Gomez, something he was clearly cut up about.

  He had been somewhere between asleep and awake in his hotel room, trying to sleep off his upset tummy, when Rocky went bananas in the room next door. Strictly speaking, Rocky wasn’t supposed to be in the hotel with them, and given the painstaking lengths they had gone to sneak the animal in, his barking sparked Ralph into action.

  Like all good guard dogs, Rocky only barked at strangers. As such, Ralph thought it prudent to take his Desert Eagle pistol with him.

  He entered the suite to find Amber deep in the r
oom’s small refrigerator looking for dog food. At least, that was how he told the story to Gomez when the boss made it back to the hotel, although, unaware of Amber’s name he referred to her as that ‘old, sexy chick’.

  By this point, Amber was sitting in the hotel room’s wicker chair with little chance of escape, hands tied behind her back.

  They had been so busy, neither Gomez nor Ralph had noticed the laptop as yet. They would though. It wasn’t clear if the file transfer was complete.

  Having heard enough from Ralph, Gomez turned his attention to Amber. “What are you doing here?”

  “Just visiting Rocky. I thought the poor thing might be lonely.”

  This elicited two responses from Gomez. First, a humourless smile. Second, a savage punch. The blow sent her tumbling to the floor. Pain exploded through her right eye and throbbed steadily after that.

  Gomez nodded to Ralph, who lifted Amber and the chair like they were nothing, placing Amber back in an upright position.

  “You think I’m playing here? Ralph, go get him.”

  Rocky the Doberman had been temporarily appeased by Ralph offering him a piece of meat the size of a small towel. Still, Amber wasn’t too keen on being confined to close quarters with the canine.

  Ralph brought the dog back out of the bathroom, one hand gripping its collar. The dog pulled at his restraint, Ralph stopping the canine just short of Amber’s face. She could smell the meat on his breath as the beast growled at her, yellow teeth inches from her eyeballs.

  “Rocky’d like to eat you, you know that? He’d like nothing more,” Gomez told her. “So, you’ve got a choice, lady. You can either tell us what you’re doing here or we can have Rocky bite your pretty face off.”

  Ralph tittered. It was clear which option he would prefer to go with. Rocky too.

  “You got three seconds. Three… Two…”

  9

  Just before Gomes reached ‘one’ a loud knock at the door interrupted him. Grabbing Rocky’s collar, Gomez sent Ralph scurrying off to answer the door. He returned a couple of seconds later, looking sheepish for such a big guy.

  “Umm, it’s the manager. They’ve had complaints about…” His voice dropped. “Rocky’s barking.”

  “What did you tell them?”

  The hapless Ralph shrugged.

  “Bring them in,” Amber said. “Why not? Oh, yeah, the dog. Plus you’d have to explain why you have a woman tied to the chair.”

  Not pleased, Gomez took a few minutes to decide on a course of action.

  “Here,” he said, dragging the dog at Ralph. “You take him.”

  “Where? For a walk?”

  “No, not for a walk. How would you get past the manager? Put him back in the bathroom.”

  Ralph grabbed the collar and did as he was told. Gomez pointed threateningly at Amber, warning her to stay quiet. He stomped towards the door.

  The resulting conversation was loud enough for Amber to hear. Gomez was in a bind. The manager demanded to be let in. Demanded to know what all the noise was.

  As Gomez stalled, Amber could feel Ralph’s eyes on her. He had missed his visit to the club after all. His hands had lingered as he tied up ‘the old, sexy chick’. Maybe his upset tummy was on the improve. All things Amber could use.

  Not every man is the same, and Amber would never be one to suggest they were. But there are plenty of groups that possess similar traits, like Ralph, for example. Sure, Amber didn’t know him as such, but people don’t get that muscular by accident. It’s often about power - feeling it and exerting it over others, often because they have felt powerless at some point.

  Same with Ralph’s pistol. A big piece like the Desert Eagle was compensating for something.

  And given he didn’t bat an eyelid when Gomez punched her, she doubted Ralph was much for respecting the fairer sex. If he wanted to show off his strength, who better to than a poor, defenceless woman tied to a chair?

  If Ralph was thinking like that, she had him. Essentially, because it meant he wasn’t thinking.

  At least not above his waist.

  10

  Not looking at Ralph but fully aware he was watching her, Amber ran her tongue across her lips and pushed her chest forward slightly. All nice and suggestive.

  Gomez slammed the door and stomped back in, shaking his head.

  “I have to go downstairs to sort this out,” he said. “Stay here. Keep an eye on her. Don’t do nothing stupid.”

  Ralph nodded.

  That was a promising sign, the fact Gomez felt compelled to remind Ralph.

  The door closed again, leaving Amber alone with the big guy.

  Amber waited. Sure she was tied to a chair, but she could still move her legs. She shrugged her neck to either side and shimmied down slightly, enough to make her dress, already high on her thighs, ride up even more. She turned. Ralph’s eyes were full of lust.

  She gave him a lopsided, flirty smile. He snorted.

  “What? Do you think I’m stupid?”

  Amber didn’t answer.

  “What are you trying to do?”

  She let him have a coy shrug.

  “You trying to seduce me? You’re old enough to be my mum.”

  Rude.

  “Is your mum as sexy as me?”

  That threw him.

  “Anyway, how could I seduce you? I’m tied to a chair.”

  “Yeah. And you think I’m dumb enough to untie you?”

  “I have no idea what you are dumb enough to do. What good would that do me anyway? What hope would little me have against a big strong man like you?”

  “Exactly. And it’ll never happen anyways.”

  Amber shrugged again. “Looks like I’m your helpless prisoner then.” Playing a role.

  Ralph’s gaze lingered.

  ‘Gotcha,’ Amber thought.

  His eyes flicked towards the door.

  “What are you, chicken? Gomez has gone. He won’t be back for ages.”

  “Oh, you wanna play?”

  Ralph lumbered over and grabbed a handful of breast with his big, meathook hand. Amber groaned appreciatively even though he was mauling her with all the finesse of kneading dough. Emboldened, Ralph placed a hand on Amber’s knee. She responded by gently moving her legs apart. Ralph clearly took this as encouragement, rather than the repositioning it actually was.

  As his hand moved up her thigh, Amber launched without warning, wrapping her legs around Ralph’s neck. The attack took him by surprise. He tried to grab her legs. He was too late.

  Swinging her body weight to the side, she threw him off balance, toppling the big guy to the floor. Not enough to snap his neck, but he fell heavily, face first. Amber followed up with a swift volley of kicks to his head.

  Ralph slumped to the carpet, unconscious.

  Standing as best she could, Amber jumped, landing heavily on the legs of the wicker chair. The legs managed to absorb five decent jumps before splitting and cracking into pieces. From there it was reasonably easy for Amber to untangle herself from the bits of chair and rope.

  She crossed to Gomez’s computer.

  Thankfully the transfer was complete. Removing the dongle, Amber shut the laptop and dumped it back where she’d found it.

  Ralph groaned from the floor. Time to get out of there.

  “I’m coming out. Tell Franz to be ready for extraction.”

  Amber made her way outside onto the balcony with vague thoughts of climbing down. It appeared unnecessarily tricky though. Too high risk. Possible, yet the design of the balconies made it too challenging, especially without any rope.

  She hurried back through the room, Ralph still on the floor.

  Entering the corridor, Amber hurried the way she had come. If Gomez was at the front desk, she would need a back entrance or something. No problem, as long as she was careful.

  Only once she had arrived at the elevator did she see the sign for the stairwell. Back behind her, the other way. Oh well, too bad.

  She pr
essed the button and waited. The number on the electronic display suggested the elevator was on the floor below.

  “Hey!”

  A chill rumbled down Amber’s spine. Clearly she hadn’t kicked Ralph a sufficient number of times.

  11

  Ralph staggered towards her on unsteady legs. Amber felt for her pocketbook. Damn. In all the excitement, she must have left it in the room. Thankfully, Ralph didn’t have his Desert Eagle with him.

  Could she make it past him? Possibly, although it was a pretty substantial risk. If he grabbed her, she doubted she would be able to get away from the big guy a second time.

  Amber’s eyes scanned the corridor for potential weapons. An umbrella sat by the door of one of the rooms. A large one, not the foldable type. She grabbed it although it was hardly an ideal weapon. Any impact on Ralph would be negligible.

  The muscleman lurched towards her, calling Amber all manner of unpleasant names.

  Corridors disappeared off to Amber’s left and right. Almost certainly dead ends.

  Quickly assessing her options, Amber forced the umbrella’s tip into the seam where the elevator doors met. It was enough to force them open a little bit. Working first the umbrella then her hands into the gap, she was able to pry open the doors despite the elevator not being there.

  Still dazed, Ralph cottoned on to what was about to happen half a second too late.

  Amber slipped through and disappeared, the doors slapping shut behind her.

  She landed on the roof of the elevator with a thud. The impact vibrated through her knees. Fortunately, the drop was only one floor.

  What would happen next? She could hear Ralph swearing and trying to force open the doors above. She’d pressed the button. Undoubtedly, he probably pressed it too. The elevator could go up to the 14th floor. That wouldn’t do Ralph any good. If you are stuck in an elevator, the safest place to be is in the elevator. As such, the cars are designed so that it is impossible to climb out once you’re inside. So even if Ralph made it inside, there was no way he could get to Amber.