Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Tazzy watched the dark gray Audi pull onto the street and drive away. It slowed for a moment. Her heart leaped, thinking maybe someone had seen her. Hoping someone might help her. That was before she spotted Phillip Thorne on the driver’s side. No way would he be any help.
She swallowed hard, refusing to cry. She knew Jaxon. She believed with everything in her that her Daddy would save her. Surely, he’d realized by now that the General had her.
What was going on? They were pulling up to Breezy’s old house. And then she remembered. Breezy was the General’s daughter. This was the General’s old house as well.
The General’s cold voice cut through the silence. “Let’s go inside and have a chat, shall we?”
He pressed the gun hard against her ribs as the driver opened the back door. Tazzy climbed out on shaky legs, the afternoon sun too bright after the tinted windows. The General shifted across the seat and got out behind her.
“Don’t run,” he warned quietly. “Don’t scream. Don’t draw any attention to yourself. If you do, I’ll put a bullet in you and drag you inside anyway. Understand?”
She nodded once. Her mouth was dry, but she lifted her chin. “Jaxon’s coming. You know that, right?”
The General laughed, low and ugly. “I don’t think so, but keep telling yourself that, little girl, if it makes you feel better.”
He shoved her forward across the driveway and into the garage. Tazzy had been inside before, back in high school when Breezy had invited the girls over for a sleepover. It felt like a lifetime ago.
The door was already unlocked. Thorne had probably left it that way for the General.
Even though she tried to resist, he dragged her through the kitchen and shoved her into the large den.
Dread skittered down her spine as the strong odor of gasoline was her first clue to what he had planned for her.
She prayed she was wrong. A wave of nausea rolled through her as dread settled like a rock in her belly.
She turned on him, voice shaking but defiant. “Jaxon will come and save me. You’re going to be sorry you ever touched me.”
The General’s eyes narrowed. He laughed again, but this time it sounded forced.
“You really believe that, don’t you? That your precious Daddy is going to ride in and rescue you like some white knight.
Pathetic. That kind of thing only happens in movies.
I’m guessing he doesn’t have any idea where you are. ”
Tazzy lifted her chin higher. “He’s smarter than you give him credit for, stronger too.”
“He would have to be.” The General laughed. “Sabre Security and the imbeciles who work there have been lucky in the past. Unfortunately for you, their luck has run out. Yours isn’t going to fare much better, I’m afraid. You just remember, this is entirely Jaxon’s fault.”
“How? Why are you doing this? What possible good will killing me do you?” She had to keep him talking, buy time for her Daddy to reach her.
The General’s face twisted into a snarl.
He stepped closer, stabbing her chest with the point of the gun.
“Everything that’s gone wrong in my life for the past eight years is because of Jaxon.
He cost me my career. Lost me all the power I’ve worked so hard to gain.
He turned my own daughter against me. He has no idea what real power looks like. But he will soon.”
“You are delusional. Jaxon was in jail all that time because you put him there with lies.”
The General shook his head slowly, the way a king might regard a peasant who had just offered a ridiculous suggestion at court.
“It was because of Jaxon that Sabre came into being. He started it all. It was all his doing.”
Tazzy stopped talking. It was pointless. General was indeed batshit crazy. A cold tendril of fear snaked into her chest and wrapped around her heart.
The General’s diatribe was interrupted when his driver lumbered in carrying four large red cans of gasoline. He set them down with a heavy thud and went back outside. He made three trips in all, bringing in a total of twelve cans.
“Start upstairs and work your way down. I want this place to burn to the ground.”
While Reggie was pouring gas upstairs, the General kept talking.
The man loved to hear his voice, now didn’t he?
He went on and on, as if he were giving a campaign speech.
“I had plans. I was going to be governor. I was going to run this town the way it should be run. But Jaxon and his little band of heroes had to interfere. Just had to stick their noses where they didn’t belong.
Just couldn’t leave it be. If they’d joined forces with me, they’d all be rich, and we’d be running this whole state by now. ”
Tazzy’s fear rose to a new level. This man was insane. No, the man was totally unhinged. “Jaxon is ten times the man you are. And Sabre would never help you.”
The General’s hand tightened on the gun.
His face flushed red. “You stupid little bitch. Of course, they wouldn’t help me.
That’s why you’re here now. If you want to blame someone for what’s happening now, blame your lover and all the other men at Sabre.
It’s going to please me a great deal to bring him down.
I just wish I were going to be here to witness it. ”
Reggie clanked back into the room with six empty gas cans. He poured the contents of the last few cans around the edges of the room they occupied, then stood quietly by the door. The General barely glanced at him.
“You should take comfort in knowing that your death will play an important role,” the General told Tazzy, his tone almost conversational now.
“When I leave, an anonymous tip will be sent to that ignorant detective, Ezra Harper. I’m sure he’ll let Jaxon know where you are.
By my calculations, Jaxon should arrive just in time to hear your last scream.
At least I hope so. Knowing you died such a hideous death, all because of him, will break him in ways nothing else could.
I’d much rather he suffer for life than give him a quick death.
It’s so much more—” the General waved his hand in the air as if searching for a word— “poetic, don’t you think? ”
Tazzy’s heart pounded, and she wanted her Daddy, but she forced herself to meet his eyes. “Is that his motorcycle I hear?”
The General jumped and looked around the room as if Jaxon might jump out at him. Then, running to the nearest window, he peered outside, keeping the gun trained on Tazzy.
Tazzy laughed. “You’re such a chicken. Just a big fat coward, who’s too scared to face Jaxon yourself.”
The General’s face twisted into a savage snarl, lips peeling back from his teeth as pure, unfiltered rage burned in his eyes, turning his features into something feral and ugly. The gun shook in his hand.
Tazzy closed her eyes and waited for the bullet to hit.
The General didn’t pull the trigger. “Maybe you’re right, but I’m the coward with the gun. And, no, I don’t need to see Jaxon in person to watch him or you suffer.” He pointed to a camera in the corner. “Not in person, anyway.”
Tazzy’s breath caught as he took a silver lighter from his pocket and flicked it open.
The small flame danced in the dim light.
The General tossed the lighter onto a gasoline-soaked section of the carpet well away from the doors.
Tazzy rolled her eyes. Trust this asshole to leave himself an escape route.
Reggie opened the front door, letting in a rush of fresh air that only fed the growing flames. “We need to go, sir. The fire’s spreading fast.”
The General ignored him, keeping his eyes locked on Tazzy. “Tie her to that chair,” he said, pointing toward the breakfast table.
Reggie hesitated for half a second, then ran to do as the General ordered. Grabbing a wooden dining chair, he dragged it toward her.
Tazzy tried to pull away, but the General crossed to her and pressed the gun against her temple. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be.” He picked up a gas-stained rag and stuffed it into her mouth.
The driver yanked her arms behind the chair and wrapped thick rope around her wrists, pulling it so tight the fibers cut into her skin.
He did the same to her chest and thighs, cinching the rope until she gasped in pain.
The rough cords dug deep, biting into her flesh, even through her clothes, and pinning her in place.
Reggie straightened, breathing hard. “Sir, we really have to go. The smoke’s getting thick.”
The General’s voice turned icy. “So it is.”
He raised the gun and fired once into Reggie’s chest without hesitation.
Reggie’s eyes widened in shock. He crumpled to the floor with a heavy thud, blood already soaking through his shirt.
Tazzy screamed, but the sound came out muffled and broken behind the gag. Her heart slammed against her ribs so hard she thought it might burst. She stared at Reggie’s still body, horror flooding through her.
The General looked down at the dead man with mild annoyance, then turned back to Tazzy. “He’d outlived his usefulness. I don’t believe in loose ends.”
The flames now crawled up the curtains behind him like hungry orange snakes. The heat pressed against her skin, singeing the ends of her hair and making her eyes water. Thick black smoke rolled across the ceiling and poured down the walls. It wouldn’t be long before she wasn’t able to breathe.
“You know what the best part of all this is?” he said conversationally, as if they were having tea.
“I’m leaving the country tonight. But I wanted to stay long enough to watch you burn.
Oh, not for your sake. But I must admit I get a bit giddy when I think of how much Jaxon will suffer when he finds what’s left of you.
Ashes. That’s all he’ll have. And he’ll know it was his fault. ”
Tazzy shook her head fiercely, tears streaming down her face. She tried to speak, shook her head, and finally spat out the gag. “He’s… coming. He’ll… save me.”
The General laughed, low and ugly. “Think what you like, little girl. You’ll realize how wrong you are soon enough.
” Coughing, he stepped back toward the door, watching the flames grow higher with satisfaction.
“It’s getting a mite stuffy in here, so I’d best be going.
Be sure and scream, now that your gag is out.
The neighbors can’t hear you, and the more noise you make, the more Jaxon will fight to get inside to try and save you. ”
He stood there glaring at her as if waiting for a response. But she didn’t feel like talking. She was alone with a madman, who couldn’t see his own madness.
The fire was roaring louder now, greedy and alive. Orange flames raced across the floor, licking at the furniture and climbing the walls. The smoke burned her eyes and clawed at her throat.
Even the General was coughing now, having pulled his shirt collar up over his mouth.
Tazzy struggled against the ropes, but they only cut deeper into her wrists and thighs.
That’s when she noticed that, in his haste, the General had shot Reggie before he had completely tied her calves.
The rope was loose enough there for her to bend her knees.
If only the General would leave, she might still have a chance to escape.
That’s when the crash echoed from the front of the house.