Yet for some reason, the thought did not bring him relief. He went to pick up his phone to text Rusty when he noticed that it was gone. He did a quick scan of the room and discovered that the car keys were also missing. Next he opened Janey’s bag and peered inside.
His worst fears were confirmed. The firearm he’d given her was missing.
Drew’s heart began to beat in apprehension.
“Damnit, Janey! What have you done?”
He slipped on a pair of jeans, not bothering with a shirt as he hurried over to Rusty’s room. Janey had been pensive the day before, he should have known she would try something like this. He should have known.
How had he not known?
He banged on Rusty’s door.
“Godamnit! What the hell?” Rusty swore as he opened his door.
Drew brushed past him. “Janey’s gone.”
“Hell.”
Rusty hurried to his computer and tapped on the live video feed. He scanned until he got to the part where it showed a grainy image of Janey stepping out of the bedroom and heading to the kitchen.
The feed showed her in the kitchen with a coffee mug. She appeared to be drinking the coffee. Then she walked out of the building, and then the feed went blank.
“Jesus,” Rusty murmured.
“How long ago was this?” Drew asked.
Rusty scanned the time stamp on the feed. “About fifteen minutes ago.”
“Why did her exit not trigger an alarm?” Drew wanted to know.
“The alarm is rigged to go off whenever people entered the building and not the other way around.”
“Could she have known this?”
Rusty pinched his nose and closed his eyes as he let out a string of curses.
“She asked about that yesterday. I thought she was just scared and I tried to reassure her.”
“So she knew that her exit wasn’t going to trigger any alarms,” Drew said. “We need to track her down.”
“How?”
“Well, she took the car keys and my phone…”
“And we added trackers to all the vehicles we have,” Rusty completed. “Great. I’m on it. Why don’t you alert the others?”
In less than five minutes, everyone was gathered in Rusty’s room.
“I can’t believe she just went off like that,” Ryan said. “What the hell was she thinking?”
Drew shot him a hard glare. “Back off, Murphy! At least she was thinking.” His tone had an edge to it and he knew, but he didn’t care. No one had the right to criticize Janey.
“She’s trying to draw him out,” Emily noted.
“Got sick of the waiting game. I don’t blame her. I would have done the same,” Tamika said.
Drew nodded, grateful for their quick defense of Janey. As much as he did not like the move she’d taken…hell, who was he kidding? His heart was in his throat and it was all he could do to keep the dread from creeping all over him.
He hated the move she’d made. But he understood it.
“I’ve found her. She’s about five to six miles away from here, headed towards New Orleans Street,” Rusty said, eyes still focused on the screen. “Hold on…seems there are some abandoned warehouses in that area. Bet that’s where she’s headed.”
Drew got to his feet. He had made a detour to his room and his firearm was now neatly placed beneath his jacket in his shoulder holster. He had another one tucked inside his waistband for easy access.
“We have no way of knowing how many men there are,” Ace pointed out. He had returned from Chicago a couple of days back.
They’d hoped that he would return with the news that Mikey had been asked to step down or whatever term it was they used to tell an enforcer to stop trying to kill someone. It hadn’t worked out that way.
They were disappointed but were ready to face anything. They had called in some backup. Operators they used on a freelance basis. Five of them were now in Rusty’s room.
“There are ten of us excluding Rusty. We’ll take three vehicles and be prepared for anything,” Emily said. “Rusty, we need you here to let us know if her location changes at any time.”
Rusty nodded.
“Alright then. Ryan and you two are coming with me,” she said, pointing to a female and male operator. “Tamika and Ace, you’re together with Roger.” She mentioned another operator. “Drew, you have the others. Now, let’s move!”
They hurried out of the building and got into their vehicles, Emily’s SUV taking the lead. Drew brought up the rear.
As he gunned the vehicle towards New Orleans Street, Drew wondered why Janey would drive to an abandoned warehouse. There was only one possible answer and he prayed with everything he had that they would not be too late.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Janey stared at the man standing before her. He’d tied her hands together and then tied them up to some rod or beam above. Her feet were tied apart and her lips were bleeding where he’d hit her just a few minutes before.
They had pulled into the parking lot of the abandoned warehouse and he’d dragged her out of the van before she could jump out and run. He’d reached for her and pulled out her firearm. It happened so quickly, Janey hadn’t seen it coming.
He held it and sneered at her, “Cute.”
“What are you going to do to me?”
At that question, he’d hit her hard across the face. It was that blow that had split her lip and caused the bleeding.
“You don’t get to ask questions,” he’d stated. Then shoved the gun against her ribs so hard they’d hurt. “Move.”
Now he had her all tied up. Janey wriggled her wrists, to see if there was any room, but the ropes were tight and only cut into her skin.
“Do you know what I’m going to do to you?”
She knew he was going to kill her. There was no doubt about that in her mind. What she didn’t understand was why he hadn’t killed her yet. She voiced out the question, then braced herself for another slap.
He surprised her by answering her.
“Killing you will be too damn easy, bitch. Do you know what you’ve cost me? You cost me my brother, the only family I had.”
“What of your wife and kids…surely they’re also your family?”
He raised his hand and hit her hard across the left side of her face. The pain was so sharp, it stung. She felt her left eye beginning to swell shut.
“My wife!” he spat. “That faithless piece of crap. You cost me that too. You’ve cost me my life and I’m going to make sure you regret every single thing you’ve done to me. Starting now.”
With the eye that wasn’t swollen shut, she saw him bring out a long knife with a gleaming blade. A shudder went through her body as she felt herself running out of breath. Was he going to carve her up before killing her?
He brought the knife to the base of her throat and Janey swallowed. She closed her eye, her breathing had turned shallow as she tried not to show her fear.
There was a slashing sound, then she felt air on her torso. Opening her good eye, she looked down and discovered that he’d slashed through her clothing from the top to her waist. The blade had cut through her bra as well, exposing her breasts.
“I’m going to carve up this pretty skin of yours,” he said, looking at her through narrowed eyes. “But first, I’m going to help myself to this.” He ran the barrel of the gun over the exposed skin at the base of her neck, down to the swell of her breasts, over her nipples and down her belly.
Janey could not help it, she flinched and tried to shrink back at the assault. Her reaction only made him laugh. He brought the barrel down and placed it between the juncture of her thighs.
“You’re going to let me in, bitch. And when I’m done with you, I will carve my brother’s name on your body before I put you out of your misery.”
Janey began to tremble with fear and revulsion.
“Please, Mikey…this is not you…”
She didn’t finish what she was about to say befor
e he hit her again. This time, over her good eye. Now both eyes were swollen shut.
“How the hell do you know what I’m capable of? You don’t know fuck!”
Oh God, he’s crazy.
He held the gun in his right hand and forced the muzzle into her mouth. Then with his left hand, he cupped her breast and pinched the nipple.
Janey flinched, not bothering to hide the disgust in her face. She could feel tears running down her face because she was so terrified. Briefly and irrelevantly, she wondered what he’d done with the knife.
Seeing her terror, Mikey laughed.
The sound of his laughter triggered something inside her, sparking her rage. The anger finally pushed back the fear.
Janey could not understand how she managed to attract crazy people to herself. First Riley and now this psycho. She knew she was going to die, but the terror she was feeling was what she could not stand. She would not let him do this to her.
So she straightened up and glared at him, though she could barely see him through the slits that were her eyes.
“You are a total psycho,” she said clearly.
He brought the end of the gun over her head. Sharp pain exploded in her skull and she saw bright lights before everything went blessedly dark.
**
Mikey stared at the unconscious woman with disgust. He should just shoot her and be done with it. But the thought of doing that stuck in his craw. He wanted to make her pay. Needed to make her pay.
His plan was to slice off all her body parts one at a time and watch her scream as she bled to her death. That would be sufficient justice for Tommy and for all the problems she’d caused him. He leaned against the wall and watched her.
He hadn’t hit her that hard, she would come around soon and then he could have some fun.
Just then he sensed he was no longer alone. He tightened his hold on his weapon and spun around. He found himself face to face with a man of medium height. He had short brown hair and olive skin. The man stared at him through intense eyes.
Mikey felt his heart freeze over when he saw the man. It could only mean one thing.
“They sent you after me,” he stated harshly.
The man shrugged and walked casually towards him. He turned his gaze towards the limp body of the woman. Mikey stared in burning resentment. He was the one with the gun, and yet the man was so confident in his abilities that he’d turned his attention away from him. He clutched his gun.
The man they called Babe cast a sideways glance at Mikey with a lifted brow.
“Torturing innocents I see,” he said.
Mikey bristled, “She was no innocent. She killed Tommy!”
“On a mission gone wrong.”
He turned and gave his full attention to Mikey.
“You’ve lost it, Mikey man.”
Mikey glared at him. “You could have shot me just now, why didn’t you?”
Babe shook his head. “We go back a long way. I came to give you one last chance to get out of town.”
Mikey felt hope squeeze his chest. His gaze flickered towards the still unconscious woman.
“I’ll take care of her,” Babe said. Still, Mikey hesitated. “Five minutes, Mikey. That’s all you’ve got.”
Mikey nodded. Taking a deep breath, he exhaled. He hated to leave a job unfinished, but he no longer had a choice. He turned and walked out of the warehouse.
He was at the door, almost out of the warehouse, when he heard the muffled sound of a suppressor. He froze just as he felt a sharp pain at the base of his skull. His mouth opened in an O as he slowly sank to his knees.
He was dead before he reached the floor.
**
Janey slowly regained consciousness. She heard the men talking but pretended to be out. She kept her head down, but could not help the shock that jerked her body when the gun went off. Her eyes were swollen shut, so she couldn’t see anything. Not like she wanted to.
In the silence that followed, she felt the man looking at her. His gaze felt different from Mikey’s venomous stare.
She heard him walk towards her and held her breath. This was it. She was finally going to die. Then she felt a gentle hand on her head.
“Slim sends his regards, little one,” she heard. Then she heard footsteps walking away and suddenly, she was alone in the warehouse.
She sagged in relief as painful tears fell from her eyes. She couldn’t believe it was over and she was still alive. How was it even possible? She half expected one of Mikey’s men to come into the warehouse to complete the job he’d been unable to finish.
That was when it occurred to her that she hadn’t seen any other person with Mikey. It was almost like he’d been acting solo. If that was the case, it meant this really was over.
She shivered in reaction, the ropes on her wrist cutting into her skin.
She still had Drew’s phone in her pocket. For some reason, Mikey hadn’t bothered to take it off her, or he hadn’t seen it. She hoped that Drew found her soon.
The warehouse had seemed abandoned, so it didn’t seem likely that anyone else would find her. Would she escape death from one end only to face it on another end?
She felt the darkness closing in on her and she tried hard to fight it. She struggled to swim above the black cloud that was insistent on pulling her down, but she had lost a lot of blood and was tired. She gave up the struggle and sank into oblivion.
**
They found the warehouses on New Orleans Street. It was a group of warehouses, close to one dozen warehouses spread out in the same area. Janey could be in any of them.
Drew parked the van beside the others and was out almost before the engine was fully turned off. Emily signaled to them to spread out but warned them to be silent.
Drew pulled out his firearm and jogged towards the warehouses at the very end of the large compound. He turned around a corner and came to a stop when he saw the van that Janey was driving.
His heart began to pound in his chest. Janey was definitely here. But he had no idea in what state he would find her. He had no doubt that she was brought here against her will, most likely at gun point.
He pressed his back to the wall, hiding in the shadows, then tapped his watch. It was a device that also served as a communication gadget between the Silver Shield operators.
Found the van.
He waited and soon a reply from Emily flashed across the screen.
We have your coordinates. Stay down and wait.
It was the last thing he wanted to do. He wanted to barge in there and save Janey from whatever horrors she might be going through. But they were going in blind, with no information about how many people they were up against. If he barged in there the way he desperately wanted to, he could put Janey’s life in danger.
Soon he saw the other operators approaching stealthily. They were pressed against walls, crouching down as they approached, taking care not to be seen through any windows, though there weren’t many of those.
There were four warehouses in that part of the compound. They checked the first one where Drew was leaning against. Ace gave the all-clear sign. Which meant that there was no sign of Janey in there.
They moved on, stopping to check each warehouse, until they came to the third one. Ryan went ahead and they waited for word from him. Drew’s watch device beeped once.
There’s a dead man on the ground.
That brought Drew up short. The others had received the message as well, so they jogged up to where Ryan was standing. He approached the dead man along with Emily and Ace, while the others covered for them.
Emily went down on her hunches and glanced at his face. She stood up and faced them, looking consternated.
“It’s Mikey Vitale,” she said.
They exchanged confused glances.
Then Drew looked into the warehouse. It was dark inside, but he didn’t care. If Janey was in there, he was going in.
“Cover for me,” he said to the others and darted inside.
There tied up, practically dangling from the rope was Janey. He hurried towards her and when he got closer, he noticed that there was blood all over. His heart beating rapidly in his chest, he saw the shining blade on the ground and used it to cut her down, gently lowering her to the ground. He felt for a pulse. It was weak, but it was definitely there.
Her saw her swollen eyes and the cuts to her face and wanted to do violence to someone. She was bare from the waist up, so he shrugged off his jacket and covered her with it.
“We need to get her to a doctor.”
He looked over his shoulder and saw that the others had gathered.
Without a word, he lifted her into his arms and walked out.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Janey lay on the cool bed. She could hear the humming of machines and the sound of muted voices. Her nostrils picked up the scent of antiseptic and she guessed that she was in the hospital. Again.
She tried to open her eyes, but could not. Slowly, she lifted a hand to her face and touched the edge of the cloth. It was wrapped around her head and covered her eyes firmly. Bandages.
She dropped her hand back to her side, suddenly tired. She took a moment to adjust, using her senses to “see” her surroundings. She caught a whiff of a masculine scent. A mix of man and soap.
“Drew?”
She heard a chair being pushed back and then the side of her bed depressed slightly. Suddenly she could feel him. He ran his hands over her hair, her face, her arms.
“Janey.”
His voice sounded hoarse. Broken. Her heart went out to him.
“Are you crying, Drew?”
There was no response, but she could feel his hands on her body. She felt him lean close and a lone tear dropped on her face. Then he kissed her mouth, gently, before drawing back.
“I’m going to be okay,” she said, trying to reassure him.
“Why did you put yourself in harm’s way like that?” he asked.
Silver Shield Security Box Set Page 49
