by Dale Mayer
“And you think this is important, why?” Tabi asked.
“You’re okay, right?” Maureen said hurriedly. “He didn’t like come and do anything to you, right?”
“Why would you think that?”
“Well, we’d made plans for breakfast this morning. I was still on a bit of a high overnight and didn’t notice, but, when I got up and went downstairs, expecting to meet him for breakfast, he didn’t show up. I waited for an hour, and, when I asked after him at the reception desk, he had checked out late last night. So he did it deliberately,” she said in outrage.
“Interesting,” Tabi murmured.
“What does that mean?”
“My apartment was trashed,” she said. “We’re trying to figure out how anybody would know where I lived, and why someone would want to do that.”
“Trashed?” Maureen’s voice rose superhigh over the phone. “How bad?”
“Well, they tossed the furniture, threw the food all over everything, tore up all my clothing, at least the bulk of it was either slashed or torn,” she said. “I’m supposed to meet the cops there tomorrow, and the insurance company has already been contacted. A message was on the bathroom mirror,” she quickly explained. “So we’re waiting on the police.”
“Do you think he targeted me?” Maureen asked in horror.
“The only reason he would do that,” Tabi said, “is if he knew about us being friends, but I don’t know why he’d care.”
“Sure, but lots of people know about us,” she said. “Not to mention the fact that we’ve had several photoshoots done here at the Sydney docks.” And then Maureen started to cry. “I did this, didn’t I?” she blubbered.
With a sinking feeling, Tabi sank back against the headboard and whispered, “God, I hope not.”
“How would they know that you were even here though?” Maureen asked, trying to stop the tears.
“The boat, it’s registered at the marina.”
“And they would have found out the name of the boat, how?”
“I’m sure it hit the news,” she said. “The fact that my sailboat went under, and I lost it.”
“And I told him about that too,” she said. “God, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” she said. “You’re one of the most honest, open, bubbly personalities that I know. It’s just natural for you to talk about your friends.” The trouble was, it really was the way Maureen was built. She didn’t have a care in the world about what she said, but it was always good stuff. She wasn’t a gossiper, and she wasn’t one to backstab. But she absolutely loved to talk, so you could never give her a secret to keep because it was beyond her control. At the same time, this brought up a whole different avenue of investigation.
“I’m really thankful that you called me,” she said.
“Honestly I wouldn’t be as nice about it,” Maureen pouted. “I thought about it all day, and then, as the evening settled in, I just felt worse and worse, and I knew I wouldn’t sleep tonight without a full confession.”
Tabi chuckled. “It’s fine,” she said. “The insurance will cover the bulk of it, and I’m in a hotel right now. So it is what it is.”
“Well, I hope they cover all of it,” she said. “You could use some new furniture.”
“So could you,” she said, chuckling. “What I really need is to have all this settled.”
“And I’m just part of it all now too,” Maureen said sadly. “But at least I can sleep now.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” she said. After she hung up the phone, she stared down at the piece of pie and picked it up and scarfed it down in four bites. It was absolutely delicious. Stunningly good. And she was also now fairly ticked off and upset.
To think that somebody had gone to the marina, where her boat had been, and had found her friend Maureen and had talked to her, chatted her up, even slept with her. He made her feel like she was someone special. Then ditched her after making breakfast plans because he had gotten what he wanted from her. It just made Tabi superangry. Talk about feeling used. She pondered the events and finished off another treat, the TV show blaring mindlessly in the background. She realized that she needed to share this news with Ryland.
She picked up the phone, remembering Cain’s comment about not contacting them too early. Frowning, she brought up a text message and typed, Is this too early? She quickly typed in what Maureen had said. Her thumb hovered over the Send button for a long time. Then finally she decided they would probably have their ringers off anyway, and he’d see it when he turned it back on again, so she quickly hit Send. Then she settled back, tense and waiting, wondering just what else this asshole might have done to find her. And if he’d found her in Sydney, how much effort would he go through to find her now in Perth?
*
When Ryland’s phone vibrated, he ignored it, as he studied the alleyway. Their quarry had headed out this direction, within ten minutes of them finding him. Now blended against the back wall, Ryland knew that this guy had somewhat of the same background because he blended in almost as well. But, while Ryland was there, holding his position, Cain had gone around the building and came up on the far side. It was a matter of whether Cain got there before this guy left, or they met up, or if Ryland and Cain could manage to pin this guy in between them.
Ryland hadn’t seen any sign of a weapon, but that didn’t mean the guy didn’t have one. It was almost a given that he would. Nobody out here in this position would be without. Ryland and Cain weren’t. Ryland carried a small Glock in his back holster and an ankle piece as well. He hadn’t let Tabi see them. This wasn’t her world, and he was trying to keep the dark ugliness away from her as much as he could.
That her apartment had been trashed was already a horrific step in the wrong direction. He’d wondered if there would be any retaliation against her, but he couldn’t come up with any decent reason why, but Cain was concerned. He felt that, as soon as anybody knew Ryland was alive and talking, they’d be worried about what he would say. Which also meant that Ryland likely saw or noticed something that was important. And, for the life of him, he didn’t have a clue what that was or how to figure it out. He heard a faint bird call in the distance and smiled because that meant Cain was in position. Ryland slid down the wall six feet and stopped.
He saw his quarry on the other side of the Dumpster. The suspect blended into the shadows, but his head made just enough of a movement, as he checked from left to right, that it shifted the outline. As soon as it shifted in the opposite direction, Ryland moved forward another six feet. As soon as the target looked back Ryland’s way, Ryland stopped, almost feeling the fear rolling off the man. And that was good because the guy should be afraid. He should be damn well good and afraid because this attack on Bullard and the team was just pissing off Ryland.
As soon as the man’s head moved again, Ryland moved down another six feet. That was two large steps. When the guy’s head shifted one more time, Ryland knew the man was aware he was being hunted. This time Ryland didn’t move at all, and he just waited. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight as Cain shifted inward.
Finally their target froze and called out, fear lacing his voice, “What do you want?” The fear was interesting because a pro wouldn’t have been afraid. A pro would have been angry and stealthy, just looking for a way out.
“You haven’t been paid enough for this,” Ryland said, his tone conversational.
“Haven’t been paid at all,” he snapped. “What the hell do you want?”
“Who said I wanted anything?”
“Why are you stalking me?”
“Because it’s fun,” he said.
“For you, not for me. So get the hell away from me.” That raw fear really got to him.
“Why did you go beat the crap out of my girlfriend’s apartment?”
“Is that what you call it, like it’s a living thing?”
Enough sneering was evident in his voice to suggest that some of his fear had tamped dow
n. “You didn’t have to destroy everything,” he said. “What did she ever do to you?”
“How do you know it was me?”
“Video cameras.”
“No way,” he said. “No bloody way.”
“Absolutely,” he said. “You used a hat and kept your head down, but your profile is pretty hard to miss.”
“Damn you,” he said.
“No, more like damn you,” Ryland said.
The target’s head shifted again, and Ryland moved. This time he managed to get to Ryland’s side of the Dumpster but he couldn’t see where Cain was.
“What do you want?” the man cried out. “I don’t have any money.”
“Well, of course not. You didn’t get paid yet.”
“Jesus, how did you get over here?” he cried out nervously.
And, just like that, Ryland was there, gun out, pointing at him. “Hands up,” he said.
The guy stared at him, but he was flattened against the wall with a gun in his hand. It was almost as if he were wondering if he could take Ryland on.
“Don’t try it,” he said. “First, I thought you were a pro, but you’re not.”
“Pro what?”
“Mercenary,” Cain said, suddenly appearing at their side from the darkness.
The guy looked at Cain in shock. “I thought somebody else was here,” he said. “Jesus, you’re quiet.”
“Oh, there’s a lot of us,” he said. “When you take on one of us, you take on all of us. So we’re trying to figure out if you had anything to do with blowing up the plane.” The look on the guy’s face was almost comical.
“Plane? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
“Then you better talk about what you do know,” Cain said. “My buddy here, he wants to beat the crap out of you, for what you did to his girlfriend. The fact that you hounded his girl.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Now you’re just lying,” Ryland said, bored. “Let’s take him back to the little room we set up for this.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Says you, but you don’t have any say in the matter. We’ll knock you out and take you anyway.”
“You can’t do that,” he said.
“You’ll stop us?” Cain asked with interest. “That should be fun to see.”
“Maybe I will,” he said.
“Nice,” Ryland said, his silky voice trailing as he eyed the stranger. He shifted ever-so-slightly, so he could confirm the profile. But, once that was in his head, he nodded and said, “I know that you’re the asshole who trashed her apartment. So, what I want to know is, who paid you and why?”
“Doesn’t matter why,” he said. “And honestly I didn’t ask.”
“And how much did he pay you?”
“Not enough.”
“Of course not because now you’ll take the fall for it. How did he contact you?”
“He showed up at my apartment one day,” he said.
“And do you have a description?”
“Tall, dark, and handsome.”
“Right, so if we’re just getting smartass answers out of you,” he said, “we might as well leave you broken and bleeding in the alley. That will help us work out some of our frustrations at least.”
“What good will that do?” he said bitterly. “I did the job, and I didn’t get paid.”
“How were you supposed to get paid?”
“Afterward an envelope was supposed to be in my apartment.”
“No envelope?”
“Nope.”
“You didn’t get a hefty deposit first?”
He just shrugged and shook his head.
“Right, so you weren’t worth getting paid?”
“I did the job he asked,” the guy said. “I should have gotten paid.”
“What was the amount?”
“One thousand bucks.”
“To mess up an apartment in two and a half hours? That’s pretty good wages,” Ryland said.
“Maybe he decided you didn’t do a good enough job. Was there anything else you were supposed to do?” Cain suggested.
“No, just get in and get out. That’s what he said.”
“What about the cameras?”
“Well, I don’t know how to disable cameras, so I did the best I could. I wore a hat. What else am I supposed to do?”
“And did he ask you to write the message?”
“No, that was me,” he said. “I just, you know, really got into it.”
“So maybe he got pissed off about that.”
“I don’t know. He was also looking for something.”
“What?”
“Evidence of some boyfriend but I don’t know who.” He looked at Ryland and said, “You?”
“Maybe,” Ryland said cheerfully. “But I didn’t get back into town that fast.”
“All I did was mess up her apartment, and she’s probably got insurance, so what do you guys care?”
“You might be surprised,” he said. “Terrorizing innocent young women isn’t exactly on our list of how to make friends.”
“Well, getting paid is on my list of how to get fed,” he said.
“Not really,” he said. “All it means is that they didn’t want to waste the time and money by giving it to you, so they were planning on taking you out in the meantime.”
“Why would they take me out?” he said, his voice rising. “I didn’t do anything.”
“I don’t know about that,” he said. “The thing is, you did what they asked, and you saw him. And the minute you saw him—well, that’s just a problem.”
“But I didn’t really see him,” he said.
“Why not?”
“Because I was at my apartment, and, when I went to open the door, he grabbed the door on the other side and told me that I wasn’t allowed to step out, but that he had a job for me.”
“So you didn’t actually see him?”
“Not much,” he said. “I had my face against the corner, to try and see him, but his face was right there too, so all I really saw was his eye.”
“Interesting tactic,” he murmured, and actually it was, because, as long as he could make sure the guy didn’t look afterward, it was hard to see anybody when they were eyeball to eyeball. “Accent?”
“Sure, but don’t ask me what kind.”
“And you were supposed to get an envelope of money afterward? Is that correct?”
“Yes,” he said. “But what good did that do because I didn’t get it.”
“Or your place is such a pigsty that you couldn’t find it.”
He shook his head. “No, I searched.”
“No way to contact him?”
“No,” he confirmed.
“Okay then,” Ryland said. He stepped back and asked, “Do you have any ties to Africa?”
“Africa? Hell no,” he said. “Why would I give a shit about anybody over there. My world is such a mess here now.”
“You could try for a job,” Cain said mildly. “You know? A real one, where you get up and go to work every day. Just saying.”
“Screw that shit,” he said. “That’s what idiots do. I take on special jobs.”
“Special jobs, huh. Well, how did this last one go for you?”
“He’s probably just delayed in paying me,” he said.
“Maybe and, then again, maybe not.”
Cain looked at Ryland and motioned toward the shadows. Ryland said, “Close your eyes for a few minutes.”
“Hell no,” he retorted.
Ryland reached out and, with a light tap, knocked him out cold.
“Well, I guess he shut his eyes anyway,” Cain said.
They left him there, turned, and walked down the alleyway.
“Do you think he knew anything?” Cain asked.
“Nope, he didn’t know shit. He’s just another stupid little idiot, looking for an easy score,” Ryland said.
“On the other hand,” he
said, “we need more answers.”
“We do.”
As they got to the end of the alleyway, they stopped at the corner and looked back down to where they had left him. As they turned and headed out toward the traffic, a hard, loud shot came behind them. They looked at each other, and both split, one going left, one going right. Ryland raced around the corner and headed back toward the hotel but in an erratic pattern. The last thing he wanted to do was lead whoever the hell had just killed their stooge back to the hotel. Because going back led them to Tabi, and that wouldn’t happen. The fact that somebody had actually followed them, found them behind the bar, and waited until they talked to their guy was already unnerving. So far, they were behind the game, and this asshole was coming out ahead every damn time.
Knowing Cain was somewhere behind him, Ryland quickly ducked into a back door of a Chinese restaurant and made his way to the front, ignoring all the comments from the kitchen staff. Once through there, he bolted out the front of the restaurant and headed down the road where he crossed and disappeared into the shadows of another alleyway. It took him a good ten minutes to work his way back around to the hotel. He stayed in the shadows around the corner, waiting and searching to see if anybody followed him. When he saw nothing, he moved smoothly inside and raced back up to the third floor, the floor that they were on.
As he walked up to the door, Cain approached from the far end. They looked at each other. Cain shook his head and said, “All clear.”
Ryland knocked on the door and said, “Tabi, it’s us.”
They quickly unlocked the door and stepped in.
Chapter 10
When the door opened suddenly, Tabi bolted awake and stared in shock as both men raced in. Her hand to her chest, she gasped out, “Jesus, you scared me.”
Ryland came to her side and gave her a quick hug. “It’s all good,” he said.
She shook her head. “Not if you came running in like you did.”
“We had an unexpected visitor,” he said, as he sat down on the side of the bed, moving the cart out of the way. He looked at the tray appreciatively. “I see you made good use of your time.”
“I also sent you a message. Did you look at it?”
