by Leigh, Lora
If only she had her cell phone. Some way to contact Adam.
Her mind went through all the possibilities, which were no possibilities. She didn’t have anything sharp to protect herself with.
She was tossed around with the movement of the van.
Her pack hurt her back as she lay on it.
Marcy’s cell phone. The girl was always texting or calling someone and Keri had had to make the girl put the phone away more than once. The thing was normally glued to Marcy’s fingertips but today she’d actually forgotten it.
The space in the trunk was so cramped Keri could barely move. She struggled to get to the backpack and was barely able to take it off in the close quarters. She tried to rush, knowing that they could get to their destination at any moment, wherever that might be.
The more she rushed, the more she fumbled. She forced herself to take a deep breath and slow down. Her hands shook as she unhooked the top of the pack and pulled at the drawstring to stretch it out. She reached in and groped inside for the girl’s cell phone.
She could barely keep her hands steady. Sounds of traffic were loud. A ship blew its horn. From it and the loudness of the traffic she guessed they were about to go over the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan.
Keri dug through her pack and finally clasped her hand over what felt like a cell phone. She drew it out and flipped it open. Immediately the glow of the phone lit up the almost pure darkness of the trunk.
For a second she clasped it to her chest, silently thanking Marcy.
The backlight on the phone went dim. Keri pressed a button and it lit up again. She started to dial Adam’s phone number when she saw the battery was almost dead.
She rushed to complete the call, praying he would answer this time.
“Boyd,” came his voice.
Keri almost sobbed with relief. “Adam,” she said into the phone, “they’ve got me, Edward’s men, and they locked me in a storage trunk and I found my student’s cell phone and I don’t know where they’re taking—”
“Keri, I can barely hear you.” Panic was in his voice, then she heard the cop side of him take over. “It’ll be okay. I’ll get you. Tell me where you are.”
“I don’t know.” She could hear the near hysteria in her voice. “No, wait.” Calm down, Keri, Calm down. “I think we’re going over the Brooklyn Bridge,” she said, trying to catch her breath.
“I’m not far,” Adam said and she heard the slam of a vehicle door. “Stay on the phone with me. I will find you.”
“Okay.” Keri nodded, bumping her head against the side of the trunk again.
“Tell me what happened.” Adam was trying to stay calm for her and it was helping her panic to ease.
Keri told him how the men had grabbed her in front of Marcy’s apartment and that she had heard one of them refer to “Carter.”
She heard the curse in Adam’s voice even as he held it back for her.
“Whatever you do, don’t shut off the phone. When you notice your surroundings try and describe as best you can where you are. You got that, honey?” he said.
“Yes.” She looked up at the trunk lid. It was so close and the space so small that she felt claustrophobia start to set in. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “But there’s not much battery power left. I don’t know how long it’s going to last.”
“Shit.” This time Adam did let it out. “All right, it’s going to be okay. Just hang with me.”
“I will.” Her body rocked as the car jostled her.
Adam asked her about sounds she heard, talking with her while trying to figure out where she was.
They drove for about fifteen minutes and finally they came to a stop.
Finally? Was that what she really wanted—for the ride to end? Would she be killed before Adam could find her?
She heard the car doors slam and then the squeaking of the trunk lid opening.
Right before the trunk lid was all the way up, Keri put the open phone into her backpack and prayed that Adam would be able to hear anything that was said.
Thug jerked her out of the storage trunk and hooked his arm around her throat before dragging her out of the van.
She blinked. “We’re at Edward’s old house. Why?” she asked, hoping Adam could hear her through the pack. “Didn’t he sell it?”
“Doesn’t matter, lady,” Bruiser said. “What do you care?”
“Furnishings and all,” Thug said. “But the boss made sure the two of you could use it one last night, though.”
Keri swallowed. “What do you mean?”
“I mean why don’t you just shut that trap of yours or I’ll shut it for you,” Thug said. “For good.”
It was then that she felt the gun pressed against her spine.
TWELVE
Carter’s house.
Thank God. That meant he was close and didn’t have far to go.
Adam’s strobe lights flashed and his siren wailed as he tore through the night.
Let me be in time. The place had been under surveillance up until yesterday, when the keys were reportedly turned over to a new owner.
Adam used the police radio in his car to call for backup. From where he was, he’d make it there around the same time his backup would.
He heard muffled sounds over the phone connection, then Keri saying, “Edward.”
Adam clenched his teeth as Carter said, “It’s the little ballerina slut.”
Keep him talking, honey, Adam thought as he drove up the toward Carter’s house. Keep him talking.
“Why are you doing this?” she said, her voice fainter.
Damn, he hoped her phone wasn’t going to die.
“That’s a stupid question,” Carter said. “Even for you, Keri.” The bastard had a sneer in his voice. “Let’s see. You give me up to the cops and I get put away for almost seven years. Would have been longer if my lawyers hadn’t figured out a way to get the verdict overturned.”
Keri’s voice was muffled and the connection went dead.
* * *
“On your knees.” Edward shoved Keri and she cried out as her knees hit the floor.
Her heart pounded and fear tasted sour in her mouth.
“Get out of here, all of you,” Edward said in a snarl to Thug and Bruiser. “I’ll deal with her myself. I’ll have my fun before I take care of her. It won’t be messy.”
“Right, boss,” came a voice from behind her, someone she remembered from years ago. Edward’s flunky, Johnny Hill. “Do you want us to wait outside?”
“Yeah,” Edward said as he glared at Johnny. “Now get the fuck out of here.”
The moment Keri heard the door close behind them, Edward backhanded her. She cried out when pain sparked in her head as he knocked her onto her side on the floor.
He towered over where she was lying. “Hands and knees, bitch.”
Shaking, she obeyed. She cried out as Edward grabbed her by her hair and jerked her along behind him, toward the hallway that led to the bedrooms.
“You’re slowing me down,” Edward was saying. “Crawl.”
“Edward, please.” Pain was in Keri’s voice as he started leading her down the hall while she crawled. “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it. I promise.”
“Sure.” Edward came to a stop and jerked her closer by her hair. Her scalp ached with pain. He raised her up so that she was just on her knees and he bent his head to get his face close to hers. “Give me back the years I lost being stuck in that fucking prison. Think you can do that?”
“I’m sorry,” Keri said as more panic seized her. “When I turned you in I was scared,” she said.
“Are you scared now, Keri?” Edward yanked her head back. “I bet you’re scared,” he said, then shouted, “Aren’t you?”
“Yes.” Keri’s voice was low as she stared up at him. “I’m scared.”
Edward laughed. “You know what’s funny? As much fun as it’s going to be to k
ill you, it’s going to be even more fun to see your detective suffer. When you disappear forever, on his watch, he’s going to be real sad, isn’t he?”
Keri just looked at Edward as a cold, icy feeling rolled over her. He shook her by her hair and repeated, “Isn’t he?”
“Yes,” Keri whispered. Then louder when he shook her again. “Yes,” she shouted.
Edward jerked her harder by her hair. Her eyes watered and she had a hard time catching her breath. She could fight him, but he was bigger than she was. She needed to wait for the right time to try to escape.
She wasn’t going to give up hope on Adam. She wasn’t going to give up hope at all.
Keri glanced up as he dragged her and saw a handgun tucked in the back of his pants, up against his spine.
Chills made her shiver almost uncontrollably. Was he going to shoot her? But he had said something about it not being messy. What did he mean by that?
They reached Edward’s bedroom and Keri gave a strangled gasp as he jerked her to her feet by the collar of the T-shirt she’d pulled over her leotard.
With his grip still on her T-shirt with one hand, he slapped her with his other hard enough that she stumbled. Her T-shirt ripped in his hand and she almost fell.
He released his hold on her torn shirt, then shoved her. This time she dropped onto her back on the mattress. “You hurt me in more ways than one, Keri. We were meant to be together, but you threw that away.”
“I—” she started.
Edward raised his hand and slapped her. Keri’s mind spun as lights and colors erupted behind her eyelids.
“Here is what I am going to do, Keri,” Edward said with a cold look in his blue eyes. “You violated me. Now I’m going to violate you. You took some of my life away. I will take all of yours away.”
Keri’s skin prickled from every word Edward said. She knew she didn’t have a chance if she didn’t keep him talking. Adam had to get here and she had to stall until he did.
Keri swallowed. “I thought you were in Florida.”
“I knew these loser cops were following me,” Edwards said. “They’re so stupid. It’s not like it’s hard to outsmart them. I have a double. Name’s Bruce. Idiot cops watched him go to the airport and get on the private jet I chartered. So as far as they are concerned, I’m in Florida and I won’t be blamed for you disappearing.”
“Edward,” Keri said, “I was frightened back then. I was afraid of what you would do to me after you crushed my knee. I cared about you, I still do, I just didn’t know what to do. I was young. Please Edward, don’t do this. I am sorry.”
“I love to hear you beg,” Edward said in a growl. “But your lies don’t help you here.”
Keri clenched her hands in the bedspread beneath her.
Edward reached for the buckle on his belt. “Time for payback, bitch.”
* * *
Adam was a few blocks down the street from Carter’s house when Captain Wilson’s voice came over the radio. “Boyd,” she said, “House is empty.”
Adam’s skin crawled. “Empty? What do you mean it’s empty?”
“I mean nothing’s here,” Wilson said with impatience in her voice. “Place is clean. Not even a stick of furniture in it, much less Carter or the woman you say he kidnapped.”
Confusion made Adam’s head spin. “She said Edward’s house—” Then he realized his screwup. “She meant his old house.”
Adam couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been. Carter’s old house. Carter had used it sort of like a guesthouse for friends or meetings. He’d kept it and rented it out. Not long ago he’d sold it to a fellow lowlife friend. When this started up again, Adam had gone by the house, not knowing it had been sold.
“His what?” Wilson said over the radio.
“Carter had another place two streets over.” Adam whipped his SUV down a side street in the direction of the other house. He gave the captain the address he had in his Blackberry as he drove. “I’m almost there.”
“Damn,” the captain said, but Adam barely heard her as he neared the house.
Twenty seconds and Adam was parked down the street from Carter’s old house.
He killed the engine and quietly climbed out of the SUV. Lights were on inside the house, downstairs and up.
In front, a van was against the curb and three men were standing nearby, having an animated discussion. One of them looked up and down the street every so often, but it looked more like it was ingrained in him as opposed to real concern.
Adam drew his Glock and crept through the darkness. He avoided the streetlight as he ducked through the shadows and walked toward the house.
Gravel shifted beneath one of his shoes. He paused and held his breath, waiting for one of the men to say he’d heard something.
“What’s the boss doing with her?” one of the men said as he rubbed one hand with the other, as if it bothered him. “The bitch bit me.”
“I told you to quit whining like a girl,” the big guy next to him said. “My bet is he’s having some fun before he takes care of her for good.”
Adam gritted his teeth. Keri had to be okay and he’d get there before anything happened to her.
Gripping his handgun, carefully, slowly, Adam made his way to the side of the house. When he reached the wall he leaned against it and took a deep breath, then let it out.
He had to find Keri. He was running out of time. Keri was running out of time.
One-handed, Adam grabbed the short fence that ran along the side yard. He vaulted over the fence, and rushed into the shadows, and pressed himself up against a wall, melting into the darkness.
He held his Glock in both hands as he peered in the windows through gaps in the curtains. The house was furnished and it looked lived in. But he didn’t see anyone and he definitely didn’t hear anything.
Adam tried to keep his professional cool as he prayed he wasn’t too late. He ran around the house to the back. Lights came from windows on one corner.
Holding his handgun tight, Adam tried to peek into the windows on the east side of the house, but the curtains were shut too tightly.
He made his way around the corner. Just as he tried to get a look in through that window, he heard a woman’s scream coming from upstairs.
Keri.
Adam’s heart pounded faster. He ran for the back door of the house and tried it. Locked.
Keri screamed again.
Adam used the butt of his Glock to knock out a small pane of glass from the window on the door. He reached his hand through and unlocked the door.
“Hold still, bitch,” Carter said loud enough for Adam to hear.
Adam ran toward the staircase and bolted up the stairs as quietly as he could.
Keri cried out and Adam opened the door. Carter’s back was to him, but Adam could see that the bastard had a hold on Keri.
“No.” Keri was fighting Carter, trying to get away. “No!”
Gripping his Glock in both hands, Adam bolted into the bedroom. “Police!” he shouted. “Hands in the air.”
Carter whirled, his arm around Keri’s neck, a gun pressed up against her temple.
Adam’s gut tightened as he raised his hands and pointed his gun to the ceiling. “Let her go, Carter.”
The bastard smirked. “Looks like I’m the one holding all the cards—and the bitch. Slide your gun over here, dickhead.”
Very slowly, Adam eased down, careful to not make any sudden movements that would set off Carter. He slid his gun and it clattered over the tile floor to Carter’s feet.
* * *
Keri thought her heart just might burst out of her chest. Edward’s gun pressed into her temple and her throat hurt from how tightly he was holding it.
Her eyes met Adam’s. He was here, but Edward would probably kill them both.
Keri could barely swallow. Still with his grip on her, Carter moved his gun away from her head and started to reach out his foot kick away Ada
m’s gun.
She had to do something.
She dug her nails into the arm he had around her throat. At the same time she slid down.
With her countless years of training, Keri was so limber she was able to swing her leg over her head and drive her foot into Edward’s face.
She felt the crack of his nose against her toes, which were strengthened from years as a ballerina. He screamed in pain. In the shock of what she’d done, he released her.
Keri twisted out of his grip and kicked the gun out of his hand.
Edward shoved her and she fell back and hit her head against the tile.
Blood pouring from his nose, Edward grabbed Adam’s gun and started to point it at Keri.
A shot rang out from behind her at the same time she saw a spot of red appear in Edward’s forehead.
He slumped face-forward onto the tile.
Stunned, Keri couldn’t move. She felt frozen for a moment, not comprehending what had just happened.
“Keri. Honey.” Adam was there, his arm around her shoulders as he helped her sit. “Are you okay?”
She looked up and saw Adam, a deadly look in his eyes as he held Edward’s gun.
Keri looked at Edward’s body, then she met Adam’s gaze again.
“It’s over,” Adam said. “It’s over.”
THIRTEEN
“Thank God he’s gone.” Keri leaned up against Adam, her back to him as she looked into the crackling flames in his fireplace.
It was the night following the horror of the ordeal with Edward. She still couldn’t believe the terror had ended.
Adam stroked the side of her neck with his fingers. His touch was feather light, soothing against the areas that had been abused by the thug who had tried to choke her and by Edward.
“You were amazing, Keri.” Adam pressed his lips to the top of her head. “But you scared me to death.”
She tilted her head back and looked up at Adam, meeting his warm brown eyes. “I thought we were going to die.” She swallowed. “I was so frightened.”
