“I’m going to be blunt. I’ve made an enemy with my work.”
“As an accountant?” Which quite honestly didn’t match the bullish man in front of him. A man who wore a sweater that didn’t completely hide the bulge of a revolver strapped to him.
“Don’t sound surprised. An accountant knows more secrets than anyone else. It makes us dangerous. Especially when we work for people who skate dangerously on the edge of laws.” The obliqueness didn’t hide what Jacob meant.
“Wait, are you saying you do business with criminals?” Ulric exclaimed.
“Don’t act so shocked. Especially since you’ve been tied into a few shady things of your own. Bar fights, really?”
His stomach sank. “You did a background on me.”
“You knocked up my daughter. You’re lucky that’s all I did.” Jacob took another drag.
“I will make her a good husband.”
“Will you keep her safe?”
“That goes without saying,” Ulric hotly stated.
“Good. Leave in the morning. I don’t think they’ll follow you, but don’t take a direct route and make sure you’re not tailed. It’s probably being over cautious, but at the same time, I ain’t taking the chance he’ll use her to get to me.”
“Excuse me?” The conversation had veered.
Mr. Iris stared at him with a serious mien. “You need to leave and watch over Honey until I settle a problem with Viper.”
“Who the fuck is Viper?”
“Someone who wants me gone because I know too much.”
“You knew this and yet let us stay the night?” Ulric growled.
“I didn’t have much of a choice given what Daisy did to get Honey to come. I was actually glad my girl went off-grid. Was hoping I’d have my troubles sorted before she came back.”
“Are you in trouble, sir?”
“Yes and no. Only Viper might want me dead, but the others that I work for don’t, which means I’ve got some protection.”
“If you were worried about your safety, you wouldn’t be out here having a smoke. A sniper could take you out.”
“We’re in upper-class suburbia. There are cameras everywhere. Motion detectors too.” Jacob waved a hand. “Anyone coming through the back would get lit up like the Fourth of July. You should see the chaos when the Fergusons forget to disarm theirs and let their dog out.”
“They could be watching, waiting for an opportune moment.”
“Neighborhood Watch calls bylaw on any vehicle’s that parked more than three hours in the daytime, and they are not afraid to take note of the license plates of those staying overnight.”
“Better than a gated community,” Ulric muttered. Yet his unease remained. Something didn’t feel right. “I should try and get a few hours’ sleep.” He was headed for the sliding door when he heard it.
A cry. He glanced at Jacob, who dropped his cigarette as he started sprinting for the front of the house.
Ulric was at his heels. The gate swung open, and Ulric heard another cry.
Honey!
They emerged into the front yard in time to see a struggling person being shoved into a car parked across the way on the corner with the giant hedges. The door slammed shut before Ulric had gotten halfway across the road.
The car sped off, the electric motor so quiet he’d not heard it in the yard.
“We have to follow.” He bolted for the front door and spent a few precious minutes trying to locate his keys, which turned out to be on the floor under the couch, must have fallen from his pocket. By the time, he found them and sat in his car, with her father in the passenger seat telling him to move, he had no idea where to go.
Someone took his Honey.
Hopefully none of the neighbors heard the howling.
24
Honey stopped struggling with her first assailant when the barrel of a gun pressed to her forehead. “Get in the car.”
A second kidnapper joined the first. The tough guys attacking a pregnant woman wore balaclavas to hide their features. She knew better than to go anywhere with them. That would lead to certain death.
“What do you want?” she asked as she gauged her ability to race back to the house. If she could just wake her daddy… He’d come to her rescue, guns blazing.
“Move,” the guy with the gun snapped.
Her lips pursed. “I am not leaving with you.” She knew better than to listen.
“I will shoot you.”
“Fire it and see what happens,” she taunted a little louder. Her father would hear a gunshot.
Would he hear her yelp when she didn’t move quick enough to defend against the sudden violent blow? The pistol cracked the side of her head. Her eyes struggled to remain open as her knees buckled.
Before she could even blink, she was literally tossed into the car.
The sudden violent movement stole her voice. She would have scrambled out the other side if a beast of a man who didn’t smell very nice joined her in the back. He lunged and grabbed a fistful of hair. “Make a sound and I’ll scalp you.”
It might still happen, given he didn’t relent on the pressure. She felt strands snapping at the tension. Ping. Ouch. Ping. Ouch.
Gun Boy had the wheel, and he took off like a silent bat out of hell. Literally so quiet it had to be an electric car.
She wanted to ask questions. Beg for mercy. Pretend a bravery she didn’t feel at the moment.
Her hands palmed her rounded belly, wondering if the men even cared she was pregnant. Obviously not. They’d had no problems threatening and manhandling her.
That callousness more than anything led to her blurting out, “Who are you? Where are you taking me?”
“Quiet.”
“I’ll be quiet if you tell me. I just want to know what’s going on.”
Rather than reply, the car halted, but only long enough for them to tie Honey’s hands behind her back, gag her, and stuff her in the trunk.
A pregnant woman.
How low could these people go?
The ride lasted long enough her bladder hurt. All of her ached. She shivered as if feverish.
When the car finally stopped and the trunk was popped, she almost cried. Not that she was offered any relief.
Rough hands dragged her out and brought her into a house. She got a brief glimpse of hardwood floors and timber construction before being dragged down into a cement-block cellar.
They removed her wrist ties and the gag and instead tethered her, via chain collar, to a metal support post and left. No food. No water. Not even a pot to piss in. She had to squat as far as the chain would allow and let loose.
She’d been kidnapped, and given the treatment thus far, whatever they had planned for her wouldn’t be pleasant.
The concrete floor provided no warmth or comfort, so she paced. And paced. It only led to increasing her fatigue. She slumped to the floor at one point and waited. Waited. Was it hours or days? She couldn’t tell with the lack of windows. She did know that she hungered. Her stomach cramped, and thirst desiccated her mouth.
She’d long ago given up trying to break the chain that kept her. The loops proved impervious to tugging, the lock cinching it around her neck impossible to pick.