Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16
R unning wasn’t an option. That much Kelli knew. With a full foot of height on her and a helluva lot more muscle, Hank would catch her in three seconds.
A bullet would be even faster.
“Get in there,” Hank snarled, pushing her toward a door. “Move it!”
She knew she shouldn’t go with him, but what choice did she have? She glanced at the gun and shivered. He shoved her again, and she stumbled forward, fumbling with the doorknob. It turned easily, and Kelli pried it open, wondering what the hell she was walking into.
“Can’t we talk about this?” she asked. “Whatever you want, I’m sure Mac will?—”
“Mac isn’t running the show anymore,” Hank snapped, pushing her through the doorway. “I am.”
Dread knotted her stomach as she moved into the darkened space with Hank on her heels. The room was pitch-black and darker still as he jerked the door closed behind them. He flipped a light switch, bathing the room in a swath of dirty yellow light.
She turned and looked at Hank’s menacing face and tried not to shudder. “He trusted you, you know,” she said. “Mac did. That’s not easy for him.”
“I don’t give a fuck what’s easy for him,” he barked.
“The carjacking,” Kelli said, realization dawning. “You were behind that somehow, weren’t you?”
“It would have gone down much easier that way.”
“What would have?”
“My plan!” he snapped, raising a hand.
She must’ve flinched because Hank gave a nasty little laugh and dropped his hand. Kelli didn’t relax. “Chill, babe. I’m not planning to rape you or beat the shit out of you or anything.” He hesitated, then gave a leering shrug. “Well, assuming you do what I say.”
“Which is what, exactly?”
“You’re going to help me turn this fucking arms deal around. Mac’s planning to hand the weapons over to the U.S. military but there’s a lot more money to be had selling them elsewhere.”
“To terrorists, you mean?”
He rolled his eyes and thrust the gun skyward. “No, to hairdressers. Jesus. Terrorists. You watch too much television. I’m talking about a highly trained rebel group fighting valiantly by whatever means necessary to seize control of their government.”
“And that’s different from terrorists how?”
Kelli knew she shouldn’t bait him, but she was trying to buy herself some time. She studied the gun, which was no longer pointed at her, but dangling loosely from one hand as Hank glanced away to adjust the lights. If she could just keep him talking?—
“I’m done talking,” he snapped. “Now here’s how you’re going to help me.”
Now or never .
She lunged at him, the syringe she’d stashed her pocket clutched in her fingers. She flicked the cap off with her thumbnail, baring the sharpened point of the needle. She aimed for his biceps, stabbing with all her strength to sink the point into Hank’s bare muscle.
“What the fucking fuck?—”
He grabbed her by the hair with his free hand, jerking her head back. Kelli yelped and jammed the plunger down, flooding the Telazol into his muscle. Hank yelled and drew his gun back, slamming the butt of it into her cheek.
She cried out, falling to her knees. He raised the gun, sneering, and aimed at her head.
She looked up to see the syringe still stuck in his biceps. She could smell his sweat and the scent of her own terror mixed with the dust in the warehouse. He had a crazed look in his eye as he drew his foot back and kicked her hard in the ribs. Kelli screamed and curled into a ball, hoping he’d kill her fast.
Hoping against hope the drug would kick in faster. “Fucking bitch!” he snarled as he jerked the syringe out of his arm and threw it at her. She ducked, avoiding the needle, but grimacing from the pain in her ribs and the throbbing her cheekbone. She wasn’t bleeding anywhere, though she guessed Hank planned to remedy that.
He stomped his boot on the syringe, crushing it into a million tiny bits. Then he raised the gun again and sneered.
“Stupid bitch! What the hell were you think?—”
That was all he got out before his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the ground. He landed with a thud , dust clouds billowing around him. Kelli scooted back, barely escaping being crushed under his weight. He flopped onto the concrete in a big, traitorous heap, and began to drool.
Kelli skittered away. She hesitated, catching her breath, then got to her feet. Her legs were shaky, but she towered over him.
“I was thinking,” she snarled, “That Telazol is an excellent tranquilizer for mean dogs and mean men.”
She barely recognized the primal sound of her own voice as she reached into her medical bag for a length of surgical tubing. “And I’m thinking Mac is not going to be thrilled when he finds out what you’ve done.”
She knelt beside him and worked quickly to bind his hands behind his back, hoping like hell the drug kept him out long enough for her to get away. She cinched and knotted and tied as fast as she could with her hands shaking like she was in the throes of a seizure.
When she was done, she sat back on her heels. Her phone was in the car. She just needed to get to it and call Mac and everything would be okay.
She fished in Hank’s pocket for the car keys, shuddering as she rolled his limp form from one side to the other. She found the keys and stood up, moving away from him on shaky legs. Clutching her medical kit, she sprinted for the exit.
She’d almost made it when the door burst open.
The sudden rush of daylight blinded her, sending her staggering backward. A man stepped into the opening, a woman right on his heels.
Kelli skidded to a stop, her heart lodging in hear throat. “No.”
“I’ll take that,” Griz said, reaching out to yank the medical bag from her hand. Kelli tried to keep her hold on it, but Zapata raised a vicious-looking assault rifle and aimed at her chest.
Kelli let go of the bag, stepping back.
“I see you’ve taken care of Hank for us,” Zapata said, nodding over her shoulder. “Nicely done. Saves us the trouble of double-crossing the double-crosser to do our own double-crossing.”
Kelli took another step back, stumbling over her own feet, too stunned to recall how to maneuver them. “I have no idea what you just said, but please—let me go.”
Griz laughed and tossed Kelli’s medical bag across the room. It landed with a clang , and Kelli fought the urge to lunge at the woman, clawing and screaming. Griz reached into her purse and pulled out Kelli’s phone.
“I grabbed this from the car for you,” she said. “You’re going to make a phone call now. You’re going to summon your fiancé so we can make a few changes to the terms of our business deal.”
“I don’t—why now?” Kelli gasped, her head still spinning from Hank’s blows. “Why not just ambush us when we both show up to dinner tonight?”
Griz sneered. “Because we’ve seen the way Mac looks at you. How protective he is, how he’ll do anything for you— anything.” She laughed, a brittle sound that made Kelli’s skin prickle. “We need to ensure he complies. You are our ticket to that.”
“You’re more useful to us alive than dead,” Zapata said.
Griz gripped the phone in her hand and held it aloft, glaring at Kelli. “Try anything funny, we’ll blow your brains out in two seconds. Then we’ll go after all your friends, family members, and Mac.”
Zapata nodded and lifted the gun. “Do what we say and summon Mac without incident, and we’ll let everyone go.”
“Everyone?”
Griz took a step forward. “Everyone but Mac.”
Kelli shook her head, still dazed from Hank’s kick to the ribs and the drama of the last ten minutes. “You want me to lure my fiancé to his own death?”
Griz shrugged. “It’s either that or we systematically kill everyone you love, ending, of course, with you.”
“And only after we’ve made you watch us torture your fiancé,” Zapata added, almost cheerfully.
Kelli wiped her hand over her face, feeling a trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth. She looked from Griz to Zapata and back again. “You’re crazy.”
Griz just laughed, a sick, curdled sound that made Kelli’s stomach clench in a tight ball. “Do exactly as we tell you to do and we won’t have to torture you as well,” she snarled, thrusting the phone at Kelli’s face. “Now here’s how we want you to play it.”
Mac was just wrapping up a meeting when his phone buzzed. He glanced at the readout on the screen and felt his gut twist with pleasure.
Kelli .
“That’s all for now, boys,” he said, dismissing the assembled men as he stood and sidled toward the exit. One by one, the soldiers filed past him, saluting even though he hadn’t been a military officer for ages. One result of this undercover bullshit meant no one knew exactly how to address him.
Mac stepped into the hall and slid his finger over the screen. His phone flickered to life.
“Kelli,” he said as one of the men strode past and made googly eyes at him. Mac turned away, ignoring him. “Everything okay?”
“Everything’s great, Mac,” she chirped, perky as ever. “I could use your help though.”
“Help?” he asked, alarm bells ringing in his head. Her tone was breezy, but something seemed off.
“Not help like that—nothing’s wrong, except that I need a hand with some wedding stuff.”
“Wedding stuff?”
“Right. See, I’m meeting with that guy about the wedding venue we wanted—the one on the edge of the cliff?—and he’s refusing to let me sign for it without my groom present.”
Mac frowned, trying to get a handle on what she was saying.
What the hell?
“Kelli?”
“There’s another couple here ready to put down a deposit on the date we want, and if you don’t hurry, they’re going to get it.” Her words were hurried and panicky, which may have had something to do with the wedding venue, if the wedding were real, but?—
“You know how much it means to my mother to see us get married there,” Kelli said, her tone so cheery Mac’s teeth hurt. “It’s sentimental for all of us.”
Mother?
“I understand,” Mac said, not sure he did.
But one thing was certain: Kelli was in trouble. Someone must be listening to their conversation. It was the only reason he could fathom for the way she was talking in code, feeding him clues he couldn’t quite piece together.
“The caterer here said he can make that Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup cake you wanted,” she said, clearing her throat. “I went ahead and ordered that already, since I know how much you and Jillian will enjoy it.”
Jesus .
“Okay, so you need me to meet you somewhere?”
“Right,” she breathed. “That place on the cliff. The one we talked about with Anna?”
“I know it. You’re there now?”
“I am. This place is just amazing, honey. I can’t wait for you to see it. And Mac?”
“Yes?”
There was a pause—probably only three seconds— but long enough for Mac to come up with at least a dozen scenarios for how this could end very, very badly.
“I love you,” she said. “I really, really love you.” Mac’s flesh went cold.
I’ll fall in love over my dead body .
“I’ll be right there.”