Miss Jenny Jones #2
Dread filled her body. Then shock, as the big man bumped the back of her seat with his gun barrel. When she glanced back, he made a shushing motion with his finger. She shot him a confused look, then nodded.
Was it hope she felt? Something was wrong… maybe she had a chance.
“Miss Jones, take your exit home. Go past security and drive right into your garage. Open your car door only when you are in park and the car is off.”
“Ok…” She nearly jumped again when she felt his hot breath at her ear. Surprisingly, his breath smelled of licorice. Then he whispered ever so quietly, “Miss Jones. You must remain calm. Nod if you understand.”
With newfound hope, she gave him a rapid nod as he sat back.
Within a few minutes, she was pulling into her garage. She recoiled in fear as his huge, gloved hand came up, but he simply pushed the garage door button.
With a stern command, and his face inches from her own, he looked right into her eyes. “Miss Jones, turn off the car and hand me back your keys.”
She did as he commanded and stared at the white garage wall in front of her car.
“I am getting out first. Then you can get out. If you run, I will break your legs with my bare hands. If you scream, I will crush your throat. It will hurt badly, trust me, I know this. Understand?”
Her voice caught as fear gripped her once more. “Y—yes.”
In her side mirror, JJ watched Simo ease his bulk out of the SUV with the grace of a dancer. Then he aimed his gun at her. It was the first time she got a good look at it. It was fucking huge, it was like a cannon… then she saw the other gun with a silencer and her blood turned to ice.
“Get out, Miss Jones.”
Shaking, she did as instructed. She assumed with detached fascination that she was not quick enough.
His hand shot out, grabbed hers, and yanked her out of the car.
She squeaked in pain at the iron grip on her arm.
She felt him try to turn her toward him, but suddenly she got hot like a fire was racing through her.
Panic took hold and she tried to pull away and run.
She began to scream, and he jerked her hard, cutting her off mid-scream.
Then… then his voice was once again ice-cold as he chuckled loudly.
“I lied, Miss Jones. You die right here!”
She started to scream again. Then his huge hand was covering her mouth and nose, effectively cutting off her air.
Her body fought him to save herself, but it was like she was nothing but a rag doll in his hands.
Desperately, she tried to pull the hand down and heave in air.
It was no use… then her lungs were on fire.
‘This is it’ resonated through her brain as the roaring in her ears gained in volume.
She struggled harder, desperate for air; things began to darken, then she heard a loud bang.
The last thought she had was of Halo, her best friend.
Simo dropped JJ’s body onto the cold concrete floor.
He reached into the Audi, grabbed JJ’s purse, and dumped the contents onto the seat.
He rummaged through and found the pen he planted.
He held it up to his mouth and began to speak.
“Killing women is bad for fucking business. Do you fuckers hear me? If I see any of you new guys, I will kill you all. Tell Joelly to fuckin’ have my money ready!
” He dropped the pen onto the concrete and crushed it with his boot.
Leaning over, he picked up the warm bullet shell off the floor and put it into his pocket.
Reaching under his leather blazer, he turned off his radio. Then he produced a little box and switched it on. He waved it around inside the Audi and the little light stayed green. Putting it away, he turned his radio back on and holstered his gun.
He looked down at JJ’s body splayed out on the concrete and sighed. Blood dripped from her lip onto the concrete. He shook his head angrily. “I fucking told her to remain calm.”
Squatting down, he scooped up her lithe body and flung it over his shoulder like a sack of flour.
He opened her door with his key and quickly punched in the alarm code.
Without turning on any lights, he made his way through the laundry room and into the main house.
Up the stairs he went, beelined into JJ’s bedroom, unceremoniously dropped her body onto the bed, and headed to the bathroom.
He flicked on the light switch, stood over the toilet, lifted the seat, unbuttoned his pants, and proceeded to pee with a huge, relieved sigh.
“Fuck, almost pissed myself waiting for her.” He shook himself and zipped his pants back up.
He washed his hands, then grabbed the nearest towel.
He ran it under cold water, wrung it out, and headed back.
Sitting down next to JJ, he turned on the nightstand lamp. He quickly inspected JJ’s blouse, ripped a piece of her blouse off, and stuffed the blood-stained piece of fabric into his jacket. Then he abruptly slapped her face.
“Wake the fuck up!”
He watched her gray-blue eyes flutter open, then suddenly go from confusion to a horrified stare. She started coughing and he pulled her upright. “I fucking told you to stay calm, goddammit! I thought we had an understanding? Didn’t we?” he hissed angrily.
Her eyes were wildly looking around the room. She coughed again and clutched at her throat.
“You are in your bedroom. No, you are not fucking dead. For future reference, calm means, fucking CALM!” He let her go and she fell back against her perfectly placed pillows.
Then he was pointing at her. “All this is your goddamned fault, JJ. Ari Asher even told you to leave! What. The. Fuck?” he punctuated angrily.
JJ kept staring up at him. She did not understand what was going on. Her last thought had been of Halo and she was dying. Her throat felt raw, her lungs hurt, and she had a pounding headache. Finally, with a hoarse voice, she responded, “You’re not going to kill me?”
He pointed his finger at her. “Fight me like that again and just maybe I will. Move your hands, lemme see your neck.” Without waiting, he pushed her hands away. “You got some broken blood vessels. You will be ok.”
Sitting up, she scooted back against the tufted headboard, watching Simo, the hitman, the entire time. After a few silent moments, she spoke. “I thought Joel paid you to kill me?”
“He did, or he will. Someone stepped in for you and paid me more to fake your death. If you were a man, I’d tell them to fuck off.
I don’t kill women or children… definitely not children.
Ok… women, if the money is good, but it is still bad for business.
” He smiled at her. “Fuck! I should thank you, you made me a hundred and sixty thousand more!”
“Oh… so who is my benefactor?”
“None of your…” He paused and stared at her for a long moment. “Fine. Irwin Miller did.”
Her mouth fell open. She looked down and saw how wet the front of her pants were.
Suddenly, her chin trembled and she began to cry uncontrollably.
She desperately tried to wipe away the streaming tears but it was no use.
Then Simo pushed a wet towel into her hand.
His sweet, hot breath was suddenly at her ear.
“JJ, this happens. It’s normal. Now, I need you to get up and go shower…
you smell bad. You will have to play dead.
I need to make it look like you took a long vacation…
like you should already be doing in New Zealand.
You don’t know how bad you fucked things up by not leaving sooner.
We now have an audience. Do we have an understanding this time? ”
She nodded and felt his hand gently grip hers. Then she was pulled off the bed.
“Suitcase still in the closet?”
JJ stared at him for a moment, then nodded.
She felt his hand support her and she found her balance.
She teetered for a second, then pushed his hand away and waved him off angrily.
She made it to her bathroom and shut the door.
The first thing she noticed was that the toilet seat was left up.
Anger shot through her and she slammed the seat down.
Then she pulled off her clothes, turned on the shower, and got in.
Wrapped in a towel, she opened the door and peeked out. Simo was sitting on her bed, waiting.
“Need me to cover my eyes?” he grunted as he got up.
“Sorry… Doug, my fiancé, was the only man ever in here with me…”
“Fine. You need to be dead and in the back of your car in under ten minutes. Got it? Your suitcase…” He pointed at it on her bed and began to leave.
“Uh… thank you, Simo.” She heard the irritation in his voice as his hand straightened out his long black ponytail.
“We are not done yet. I gotta go through your shit to find something to wrap you up in. I’ll come get you. Stay away from windows.” Then he was gone.
JJ quickly went to her closet. She pulled out a pair of blue jeans and a black turtleneck and slipped them on.
She grabbed a bunch of clothes and hurried out to her suitcase.
When she was done packing, she looked around the room.
Remembering her clothes in the bathroom, she rushed in and deposited them in the dirty clothes hamper.
Sitting on the bed, she remembered her safe.
Dashing into her closet, she retrieved a small fireproof box from the small safe room Halo had installed when she lived here.
Pushing those thoughts aside, she punched in her code and counted out twelve thousand dollars.
She split the money into two. Half went into her pocket, the other she hid in her suitcase.
A knock came at her door, then Simo filled up the double doorway. He was holding up a dark brown blanket. “I need to use this. Let’s go.” He grabbed her suitcase from her hand and headed down into the darkened lower level.
“Go into the kitchen and make something to eat and drink. It may be a long time before you eat again.”
JJ watched him leave for the garage.