24. Ike
24
IKE
I watched her weave through the crowd behind that asshole and followed at a distance. I didn’t like this one bit. If she got in trouble, she was too far away from me. But this was what we agreed to.
“Tell me again why she’s going up there and you’re down here,” IRIS drawled.
I clenched my jaw, doing everything possible to keep from punching my fist through his face or the wall. “Because we agreed that it would be less intimidating if it was just her.”
“Isn’t that what you want, though? Intimidation is sort of your thing.”
“That’s not what Isla wants,” I bit out.
“Since when does that matter? This is your wheelhouse, not hers.”
I turned to him with a scowl. “That may be, but this involves her, and I won’t do anything that might stain her conscience if I can avoid it.”
He held up his hands in acquiescence. “Hey, it’s your mission. I’m just along for the ride.”
“Just remember that.”
The music pulsed around me, but where everyone else looked like they were having a good time, I hated every second of this. It was filled with bad decisions and booze, a deadly combination on the best of nights. I scanned the crowd for anyone who might pose a threat. There were plenty, but none to Isla or Jane.
“Okay, she’s got him talking,” IRIS said, like I couldn’t hear every fucking word they were saying. I had an earpiece, too. She was coming in loud and clear.
“Come on, Isla,” I whispered. “Bring him around.” If she didn’t get him talking, we’d have to do things my way. And I knew she didn’t want that.
“I don’t like this,” he muttered. “We should be up there.”
“Five more minutes.”
“Do you know what could happen in five minutes?”
“Yes,” I bit out. “I’m well aware, but they would let us know if they needed an out.”
“Unless they can’t.”
I ignored him and listened as Isla continued her conversation. She was losing him. He was getting up to leave. My eyes jerked to the room upstairs as he said he was getting back to work.
“IRIS—”
And that’s when I heard it. “Shawn is missing.” I swear to God, my heart stopped in my fucking chest. She wasn’t supposed to say a goddamn thing to him about Shawn missing. We knew it was a risk, that if he was concealing Shawn, he might signal him to run.
IRIS’s eyes flicked my way. “Maybe it’s okay.”
“You hope,” I muttered.
“He might be telling the truth. He might really want to help.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. In my experience, that was hardly ever what was really going on. I watched as he exited the room and hurried down the stairs. The moment he hit the bottom, he was on the phone.
“Follow him,” I told IRIS. “I’m going after Isla and Jane.”
“On it.”
I pushed through the crowd toward the stairs, desperate to get to the girls and get them out. A sinking feeling hit me hard, and my gut was hardly ever wrong in situations like this. I had to get them out now.
“Isla, what’s wrong?”
I pressed my hand to my ear to hear better as I got to the bottom of the stairs. “What’s going on?”
“Something’s wrong with Isla,” Jane said, her voice laced with panic.
The door opened at the top and Isla came stumbling out. My eyes widened in horror as she hit the first step with shaky legs. I rushed up as fast as I could, but I didn’t get there in time before she collapsed, tumbling down several stairs, her body bouncing off them as if she were a rag doll.
“Isla!” I shouted over the music, grabbing her before she could fall down any further. I hefted her body into my arms, dragging her against me. Her head rolled against my chest, but she didn’t move.
“Isla, talk to me,” I said, slapping her cheek.
Her eyes fluttered open, and what I saw terrified me. Her pupils were constricted. I ran my hands over her skin. Clammy. Cold . What the fuck? I pressed my fingers to her pulse. It was slow. Too fucking slow .
I lifted her limp body in my arms and took off down the stairs. “IRIS, get the fucking car now!”
“What’s going on?”
“Isla’s been drugged. I think she’s overdosing.” I turned and shouted over my shoulder. “Jane!”
“I’m here!”
My only concern was getting Isla to the hospital, but IRIS would shoot me if I lost his wife. The crowd parted as they saw me running to the exit. I burst through the front doors just as IRIS was pulling around the corner with the car. Jane ran ahead of me, yanking the backdoor open.
“Rae, get me directions to the nearest hospital now!” IRIS shouted into his phone.
I laid Isla down on the seat, keeping her flat as I held her cold hand in mine. She didn’t want to be cold ever again, and here she was, fucking freezing. What the fuck happened?
“Jane, what did you see?”
“Nothing. I was with her the whole time.”
“Did she drink anything?”
“Only what you gave her. I went to the bar for drinks, but she never touched it.”
“What about Mitch?”
“He shook her hand and—oh, God. Uh…when he was leaving. He grabbed her by the back of the neck and kissed her cheek.”
I lifted her up and felt along the back of her neck. My eyes slipped closed as I barely felt the patch on her skin. I tore it off, though it wouldn’t do much good now. Whatever drug was on it was already in her system.
“He fucking drugged her,” I bit out, clenching my teeth hard. “He knows where Shawn is, and he tried to kill her. Fuck!”
“Just hang on. We’re almost there,” IRIS shouted.
But all I could focus on was Isla—how pale she looked. How she was barely breathing. It was all my fault. I shouldn’t have let her talk to Mitch alone. That should have been me up there. Hell, I should have dragged him out of the club and beat the truth out of him. She never should have been within fifty feet of that asshole.
I closed my eyes and laid my forehead against hers, praying she would be alright. I wasn’t sure if I believed in God or if he would even listen to my prayers. I knew I wasn’t deserving of it, but I had to try for her. She was worthy. Out of anyone in this world, she was good and deserved a higher being to step in and save her life.
“We’re here,” IRIS said, screeching to a halt.
The door opened and I scooped her up in my arms, carrying her out of the car. The gurney was already there waiting for me. I laid her frail body on the gurney, brushing her red hair back from her face just as the doctor shoved me out of the way.
“Sir, we need to move.”
He started pushing her away, but I grabbed his jacket, stopping him. “Wait, I found this on her neck.” I handed him the patch. “I don’t know if you can identify the drug from this.”
He stared at it for a moment, then nodded and reluctantly took it. I didn’t know what that meant, if he was just placating me or if he already knew what the drug was.
“Hey,” IRIS said, clasping me on the shoulder. “She’ll be alright. She has to be.”
“I will be okay.”
“I know you will.”
I never wanted to hear those fucking words out of her mouth ever again. She shouldn’t have to recover and get better—to struggle through the crap in life to be okay.
“It wasn’t your job to protect me. It wasn’t anyone’s.”
“Sweetheart, protecting you isn’t a job. It never was.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, squeezing my fists closed.
“Come over.”
“I’m here, gorgeous.”
My nostrils flared as anger swept over me.
Someone tried to take her from me. I hadn’t had her more than a few days and I was already losing her. My head swam with rage. I couldn’t control it. The more I tried, the worse it got.
I turned on my heel and snagged the keys out of IRIS’s hand.
“Where are you going?”
“To find Mitch.”
“But…Isla needs you!”
I yanked the door open, but IRIS, was there, trying to close the door.
“Think about this, man. Isla needs you.”
“Get the fuck out of my way.”
“IKE—”
“Do not make me tell you again,” I hissed in a low voice.
This time, he nodded and stepped back. “You’ll regret not being there when she wakes up.”
I was used to regrets. But one thing I knew I would never regret was taking out the man who tried to kill the woman I loved.
Snow fell at a steady pace, making it difficult to see more than a few feet in front of you. It was perfect for what I had in mind, and unfortunate for Mitch. He would have nowhere to run. No idea what was coming for him.
Standing in the back alley of the club, I waited for the door to open. It didn’t take long for the garbage to be taken out, and once it was, I caught the door and stepped inside, slipping into the shadows of the club. Music no longer pumped through the club, and the lights had gone from strobing to a low amber glow. Most everyone was done for the night, with the exception of the bartender and Mitch. He was still in his office.
It took another half hour before I was alone with Mitch. He sat in his office, doing paperwork as he smoked a joint. That fed into my plans perfectly. I walked calmly over to the front door and propped one of them open, then to the bar where I poured myself a drink and left it on the counter in plain sight.
Picking the music was the easy part. Getting it to play over the sound system was more difficult since I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing. The mournful melody played throughout the club, bringing a smile to my face. It wouldn’t be long before he would hear it and come looking for me.
I stepped back into the shadows. Sure enough, a few minutes later, I watched as he strode into the main part of the club. I saw the moment he realized the front door was wide open, he saw the drink left on the counter, and knew someone was in the building.
Fear.
I could practically smell it wafting off him. But he didn’t know who was after him. He would by the end of the night. I watched as he searched the whole building, as he missed me every fucking time, never able to see what was right in front of him. And as he convinced himself that whoever it was had left, he packed up his things to leave for the night.
I followed him out the back door into the heavy snow. My shoes crunched in time with his. When he stopped, so did I. When he turned, he would see nothing because it was too dark and the snow was too thick. But he knew I was here. Watching. Waiting.
And no one would be here to help him.
“Who’s there?” he shouted, his voice quivering with fear.
When he got no answer, he turned and picked up his pace, walking faster to his car, terrified that he was going to die tonight.
He wasn’t wrong.
His breathing became heavy and labored as he started to jog. A terrified mewling sound left his lips just before my hand wrapped around his mouth and I pulled him back against me.
“Shh,” I whispered softly. “No one is here to save you.”
He struggled against my grip just as anyone would, fighting to get away from me. His pleas for help died against the glove on my hand. No one would hear him tonight.
“Why did you do it, Mitch? Why did you drug her?”
He stilled in my arms, but his pulse skyrocketed.
“Tell me. Do you drug many women, or was this special for her?” I pulled my knife from inside my jacket and held it out for him to see.
He shook his head wildly, desperate to get away.
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you a chance to answer some of my questions, but if you scream, I’m going to have to shove my knife into the back of your neck. Are we clear?”
His head jerked in a nod against my hand. I slowly pulled my hand away from his mouth, but gripped his arm, jerking it up behind his back to keep him against me. “Why did you do it?”
“I—I didn’t want to,” he spluttered.
“Then why did you?”
“It was for a friend! I swear!”
“And who would that be?”
“Shawn, okay? His name is Shawn. Her husband.”
“He wants her dead because of the money he owes, right? He wants to collect the insurance money he would get from her.”
His eyes widened in surprise. “Yeah. How did you?—”
“I’m asking the questions here. Where is he?” I yanked him back, gritting my teeth in anger. I had very little patience left.
“I don’t?—”
“You do know. And you’re going to tell me.” He cried out as I torqued his arm. “Stop wasting my time and tell me what I need to know.”
“He’s…he’s on my property. It’s a cabin up north.”
“Address,” I hissed.
“And then you’ll let me go?”
I chuckled low in my throat. “I never said I would let you go. You drugged my woman. You tried to kill her. The only question is, how slow will I kill you?”
His body started to shake against mine, and for just a moment, the terror he felt was enough. Knowing he would piss his pants and probably have nightmares for the rest of his life almost made me walk away because it was what Isla would want.
But he didn’t think twice about slapping that patch on Isla. He didn’t care that he was killing another person. He never thought about who she would be leaving behind. It was all for money, and Shawn probably offered him a cut of it. That was all her life meant to him.
I knew I was a killer. I understood the consequences of my actions. That someday, someone stronger, tougher, harder than me would find me and slit my throat. I knew that I wouldn’t be invincible forever. I was merciful when the situation called for it. I always tried to give a second chance when I could. But when those chances were up, I did my job without mercy, knowing one day I would be in the same position.
That was the difference between this asshole and me.
He didn’t understand that when he agreed to the job, but I was pretty damn sure he was regretting it right now. And when he took his last breath, the last thing he would see was my face, and he would know he had crossed the wrong man.
“The address,” I hissed.
Tears filled the man’s eyes, but he gave it to me.
And then I got to work.