“What’s up? Boat’s about to leave the dock,” our prez answers.
“This is more important. Life or death. Cancel the cruise tonight! I need you to round everyone up and bring them to Harry’s.”
“Harry Cox?” he asks. “What the fuck are you doing there alone, Dev? Are you insane?”
“I’m not there yet. But he’s got a girl, Sean’s sister, and I’m going in to get her out even if I have to kill every motherfucker who stands in my way!”
There’s a long pause before Malcolm says, “How do you know your girl doesn’t want to be there with Harry? Maybe she wants a sugar daddy.”
“No, goddammit! Jetta told me she didn’t know who he was, and I believe her because I’m in love with her, man. She cares about me too; I know that for a fact. Sean made some kind of deal with Harry – he gets Jetta for a night to clear his gambling debt. He said he threatened to kill him.”
“Goddamn that little bitch! What was Sean thinking?” Malcolm asks. “Who would do that to his own sister?”
“Man, I don’t know. I don’t have time to think about the morality of addicts right now. Are you coming or not?”
“Stay where you are, Dev. If you try and go in alone, you won’t make it out.”
“That’s a chance I’m willing to take,” I assure him.
“I’ll be there with the crew in ten.”
“Thanks,” I tell him, relieved he’s on board, because I know what I’m asking for is a helluva lot. “Tell everyone who can come to bring as many guns as they can carry.”
“Will do,” Malcolm replies with a sigh before he ends the call.
While I wait for the rest of the Aces to show up, I pull out an old pack of cigarettes from the storage space under my bike’s seat and light them up, one right after another. I’m shaking so badly I need something to do with my hands to calm my nerves and keep me from going to that goddamn house without backup. It would be suicide, I know. I would be outnumbered. If I die, that won’t do Jetta any good. Harry could take her and leave before the rest of the Aces show up. So, I convince my adrenaline and nerves to wait, even though I fucking hate it.
Finally, after what feels like forever but is probably only a few minutes, I hear the hum of motorcycles in the distance just as I see their headlights coming down the road.
I hop up on my bike ready to go, but Malcolm pulls his bike in front of mine and kills it as the rest of the guys pull over onto the shoulder. “First, we need a plan before we go in there with guns blazing,” he says.
“The plan is I’ve been sitting here waiting for too long as it is!” I shout at him. “Sean James traded his sister to Harry to pay off his debt, and she has no idea who he set her up with!”
“You all know I wanted to take Harry out of our speed trade so we can do business straight from the seller, but I was hoping for something a little less…bloody that doesn’t lead straight back to us, you know, like a car accident.”
“Tough shit,” I tell him.
“Yeah, tough shit,” Malcolm agrees. “There’s no love lost, though. We’ll take Harry and his entire crew out tonight. Cuts off. Gloves stay on. Helmets too in case there are cameras. We’re only about half a mile or so away, so we’ll leave the bikes down behind these hedges and sneak up to the house, surround it, and then penetrate it once the guards are all down.”
Fuck, I didn’t even think about the possibility of surveillance cameras seeing our bikes, license plates or faces. This is why Malcolm is in charge and making plans, rather than going in like Rambo the way I had planned. It’s going to take us longer to get there, but it’s the best idea to keep us all alive and out of prison, I know that.
Is it too much to hope that Cox won’t touch Jetta before we make the hike and get to her?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Jetta
* * *
Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!
The thoughts in my head seem too loud and my lungs feel like they’re going to explode. I’m trying to hold my breath so I don’t make a sound from my hiding spot in the dirty clothes bin of the mansion’s second floor laundry room. The smell is awful, but I easily fit inside the container and the clothes provide some measure of cover.
All I can hope is that the fat ass eventually gets too tired of searching for me and gives up.
But then that’s probably what his guards are for, to do whatever he wants them to do, including search every inch of the house looking for me.
God, I’m going to kill Sean if I make it out of this place alive! How could he set me up with this asshole? There’s no way Sean didn’t know he was a fucking psycho.
And Devlin? If I tell him what happened on this stupid date he didn’t want me to go on, he will probably flip out and threaten to slice Mr. Cox’s throat.
Not that I would be opposed to that now that I know what he has in mind when he finds me. The freak spent the rest of dinner telling me his plans for how he’s going to hurt me once he finds me. I have no doubt that his thug employees wouldn’t be opposed to holding me down for him to do whatever he wants to me either.
While I know I’m hidden well for the moment, I can’t help but wonder if I should try and sneak out, to keep moving, hiding in various places to make it harder on him to find me. But the chances he’ll see me leaving are too great, so I decide to stay put.
“Oh, Jetta,” I hear Mr. Cox’s arrogant voice say into the muffled silence.
Shit! How did he find me so soon?
“Did you think I didn’t have cameras all around the house watching you every second? I knew where you were from the moment you came in here. I just wanted to let you think you were safe.”
Fuck! I should’ve tried to run toward an exit instead, but I thought it was pointless because of the guards. Maybe one of them would’ve had a conscience and helped me. Probably not, but it would’ve been better than this – being a sitting duck.
“Come on out now, Jetta. I can’t wait to make you scream.”
No. Fuck no. He’ll have to take me fighting and clawing, because I am not going to let him touch me without putting up a fight.
“Boss, we need to get you into the panic room,” a deep voice says, and I don’t know if he’s been standing there with the psycho all along or if he just walked up.
“The panic room?” I hear Mr. Cox ask softly, his voice sounding mildly concerned.
“There’s been a breach in the perimeter. We should hurry.”
“Who is it?”
“We’re not certain at this time, and it’s not important. You’re in danger.”
Danger? Please god don’t let this be part of his creepy game.
“Fine. Grab the girl and bring her with us. She’s under the clothes.”
“But, sir…”
“We’ll need entertainment in the panic room! No telling how long this will take…”
Crap! This has to be part of his disgusting game, making his guard carry me back because I won’t be able to get away from one of these oafs that are twice my size.