Beautiful Prey: The Storm Series (18 page)

Chapter 25

STORM

Jack
was the first in line in the caravan of vehicles supplied by Storm Enterprises.
He rode with Steve and a short stocky cop named Frankie. He’d heard Victoria
refer to him as the funny one, but he was extremely serious at the moment. The
other cars were occupied by the rest of Victoria’s team and a couple of friends
that she had on the department. Steve was right about the police department.
Her superiors showed absolutely no intention of getting Victoria back, but her
team was determined. They entered Storm Enterprises looking like street thugs,
with the exception of the attractive African American officer that they
referred to as Natasha. They were immediately detained by Jack’s security team
before he instructed his employees to send them up. Jack called Victoria’s
parents while Steve pleaded with the department to get John’s last location
through his
OnStar
system. They spouted some shit
about procedure and needing a search warrant. The authorities basically blew
them off, but Victoria’s family was not giving up that easy. They told Jack
that they would be booking a flight out immediately. Jack informed them that
booking a flight wasn’t necessary, and sent his private jet to retrieve the
Price’s. Jack could have easily reached out to the mayor, but he didn’t have
any more time to waste. He bypassed the police department and instructed his
tech team to hack into John’s cellular phone and his car’s
OnStar
link.

Jack had John’s last location, and they were in route. There
was no way that Jack could lose Victoria. He’d never loved a woman this way
before. Victoria was his promise of a family filled with love. She carried his
child, his future. She was his life now, and Jack would give his own to keep
her and his child safe. He’d never even told her that he loved her, and he had
no way of knowing if she was still alive. Jack pushed those thoughts from his
head and focused on getting her back.

They arrived at John’s last location as reported by
OnStar
. It was an old abandoned hotel and Jack immediately
spotted John’s car. Victoria’s team constructed an extraction plan that
included Jack staying in the car. That wasn’t an option for Jack. Back at Storm
Enterprises, after the debriefing and once everyone cleared from his office,
Jack pulled his 45 out of his safe. He turned to see Steve in his doorway. Jack
looked him in the eye and told him that it was his woman and child in the
custody of a madman. Steve nodded and walked out of the office. So as they
turned off the lights and pulled slowly around the back of the building, Jack
was ready for war.

Steve looked over at and Jack and said, “Stay in the rear.”
But Jack sternly shook his head. “Jack, stay in the back or I will fucking
shoot you myself. You’re not supposed to be here in the first place, and all of
our jobs are at risk as it is. We don’t have authorization to be here,
remember?” He tossed Jack a black
hoodie
. “And how in
the fuck are we supposed explain why a gun toting, billionaire, playboy, friend
of the mayor was with us if something happens to you?”

Jack reluctantly agreed. “I’ll stay in the back.”

Steve wrapped himself in a bulletproof vest, and Frankie
tossed one at Jack. Steve and Frankie had weapons everywhere. They had guns
holstered to their hips and ankles, and blades attached to their belts. Jack
looked out the window to see one of the officers pointing his weapon and
creeping toward John’s car. When he reached the car, he peaked into the window.
The officer gave a hand signal and opened John’s driver’s side. He holstered
his gun and pulled John out of the car. John appeared to be injured but he was
alive. The officer dragged John back to his vehicle where another officer
waited to assist. They pulled John into the back seat. There were four teams
and Jack was in the car with team one, which was the entry team.

Since Steve was the biggest of them, it was his job to wield
the battering ram and hit the door. Once the door was breached, Steve would
step to the side and allow the rest of the teams to enter. So Jack would be
going in behind Steve. Team four was for surveillance and
intel
. They would gather as much intelligence as they
could on the building. They were checking to see if there were any silent
points of entry or if there were any lookouts, but everyone assumed that the
killer was working alone. Jack was impressed by their professionalism, but he
was more impressed by their dedication to Victoria. Steve was right. If they
lived through the night, there was a possibility that they’d all be out of a
job. If that were the case, Jack would make sure that they’d all be taken care
of financially.

“We
gotta
hit it,” Steve said
reaching for the ram. Apparently team four indicated through his earpiece that
there was no possibility of a sneak attack. Frankie opened his door and got
out. He carefully closed his door without a sound. The other teams exited the
same way. Teams one and two crept silently to the front of the hotel. Team
three covered each side, while team four, minus the officer that stayed behind
with John, covered the back. When all the teams were in place, Steve swung the
ram.

Boom!!

VICTORIA

Victoria
gave up on trying
to free
her wrists and decided to
utilize the only method of defense that she had available. Her captor was
wielding a knife and charging at her at full speed. Victoria lifted her legs
from the shower floor and kicked him with every ounce of strength that she had.
He fell back against the toilet, but he wasn’t done. He stood and charged at
her again. Victoria attempted to kick her assailant again, but this time he
grabbed her feet and plunged the knife deep into her shoulder. Victoria
screamed out in agony, and her captor’s expression was one of pure
satisfaction.

He grabbed Victoria by the waist, pulled her close to his
body, and pushed the knife in further. Pain shot through Victoria’s entire
body, and her blood poured onto the shower floor. Her vision blurred, and she
could feel herself fading away. The killer held Victoria in his arms and her
head fell on his shoulder.

He whispered in her ear, “Mine.”

The word seemed to have snapped Victoria from a dream,
because suddenly she mustered the strength to lift her head and lock her teeth
onto her captor’s ear. She applied what had to be the force of a pit bull and
bit hard into his flesh. He tried to pull away, but she had a secure hold on
him. He screamed and continued his fight to free himself. Her captor’s blood
flowed down her chin, which gave Victoria a little satisfaction. Victoria’s
satisfaction ended when the maniac snatched his knife out of her shoulder. When
she screamed, he was free from her hold. Her captor stepped back and grabbed
his ear and looked at the blood on his hand. He shot Victoria a look of pure
hatred. Victoria’s expression of hatred matched his, except she was smiling.
She spat a big chuck of his ear on the filthy bathroom floor. He was seething
and Victoria was ready to fight until death.

“Pick up your ear and come get some more,” she taunted.

His expression turned to shock. Victoria figured that he was
accustomed to women begging and pleading for their life. Victoria was in severe
pain and bleeding excessively, but she had no intention of begging.

“You will die worse than the rest, bitch,” he said through
gritted teeth. He raised the knife and charged at Victoria again. She prayed
silently for the strength to fight him off again, but she was weak and in pain.
Suddenly, Victoria heard a gunshot followed by rapid gunfire. Her captor fell
to his knees in front of her. He stared at Victoria with pleading eyes as if he
expected her to help him and then fell face down on the bathroom floor. Natasha
stood behind him with her weapon pointed. She slowly walked over to him and
kicked the knife away from him. Steve rushed in with his weapon drawn and
looked down at the killer. He looked up at Victoria in the shower and gasped.
She figured that she must have been a sight hanging from the ceiling naked and
covered in blood. Victoria saw tears run down Steve’s cheek. The sight of her
partner crying caused Victoria’s tears to fall. Steve rushed to her while
Natasha dealt with her captor.

Victoria looked behind Steve to see Jack running into the
now crowded bathroom.

“Oh God!
Victoria!” He yelled while pushing passed Steve.

“Jack?” She looked at him curiously, wondering how he ended
up on a rescue. He wrapped his arms around her body and lifted her from the
shower floor, relieving the excruciating pain to her wrists.

“Oh God!
Oh God!
Victoria! Thank God,” he chanted.

Steve reached up and pulled the handcuffs from the hook.
While Jack held Victoria, Steve freed her from the handcuffs. Jack pulled her
out of the shower and laid her on the bathroom floor. He took off the
hoodie
that he was wearing to cover her nakedness, until he
saw the blood pouring from her wound.

Jack turned to Steve and yelled, “Get an ambulance!” He
pulled her close to his body. Victoria could hear the familiar voices of the
rest of her team outside the door.

She turned to Natasha and said, “Thank you.” Victoria turned
back to Jack’s worried face and saw tears running down his cheeks. The sight of
her strong man, who was always in control, crying humbled her. “Don’t cry,
baby. I’m ok,” was the last thing she said before everything went dark.

Chapter 26

 
SIX
MONTHS LATER

 
VICTORIA

 Victoria
stood naked in front of the mirror and stared at her round belly. She was eight
months pregnant, and she couldn’t wait to exorcise her soon-to-be bundle of joy
from her body. Her eyes moved to the scar on her shoulder and reminded her of
her time in hell. When she woke in the hospital, Jack was by her side. He
hadn’t left since. Jack had her entire family flown in from South Carolina.
Between her team, her family, Tracy, and Jack’s family, there were enough
visitors to have a party. They stayed at the penthouse even after she got out
of the hospital. It wasn’t the best way for Jack to meet her family, but at
least she didn’t have to do the awkward introductions.

Victoria was able to visit Deon since they were in the same
hospital. He’d recovered from his injuries. After three months of physical
therapy, he returned to work. She and Natasha had become good friends. Instead
of being fired, the members of her team were given commendations. The
department took all of the credit for catching and killing the serial killer,
as well as for rescuing Victoria. Her captor turned out to be Harold Malone, a
wealthy businessman. According to the people that had known him, he seemed
normal.

What they didn’t know was that Harold didn’t start out
wealthy. His mother was a heroin-addicted prostitute who would bring Johns
home. She would perform sexual acts in front of her son. For the right price,
she would often allow men to use him. The life his mother lived planted his
deep-seated hatred for prostitutes. He had killed twenty-four prostitutes in
five different cities. Victoria could never go back to working undercover,
since her face had been plastered all over the news next to a serial killer’s.

The press had also gotten wind of her relationship with Jack,
and apparently that was news. Victoria had no intention of going back to
risking her life and taking orders from bosses that could care less whether she
lived or died. Besides, she was a wife and soon to be mother. She and Jack were
married a month after she got out of the hospital. Jack insisted that they
marry right away. He joked that he didn’t want to give her a chance to change
her mind. His parents managed to somehow plan a small elegant wedding at their
home in such a short amount of time. They moved into a new house that Victoria
was still furnishing. Victoria had finally finished the nursery, which was
connected to their bedroom.

Victoria was so lost in her thoughts that she almost forgot
that Jack was driving her to her apartment. She needed to return her keys to
the building manager. Victoria wrapped a towel around her wide body and walked
into her bedroom. She plopped down on her bed and realized that she’d left her
lotion in the bathroom. Getting up and walking to the bathroom had become a
tiresome task for Victoria.

“Shit,” she muttered. She was debating in her head whether
or not she needed lotion.

“My son can hear that,
ya
' know!”

Victoria looked up to see Jack standing in the doorway.

“Your son, or daughter, is the reason why I can’t get my big
ass off this bed,” she said smiling. “I forgot my lotion in the bathroom.”

Jack walked into the bathroom and came out with her lotion
in his hand. He got down on his knees in front of her and opened her towel. He
raised Victoria’s foot and put it on his thigh. “Allow me,” Jack said with a
seductive smile that sent the blood rushing straight to Victoria’s core.

She was surprised at how horny she’d been lately. She was
climbing on top of Jack every chance she got. The way he was applying the lotion
to her body was about to assure that they wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime
soon. When Jack finished moisturizing Victoria, he stood. Victoria, without an
ounce of shame, stared directly at the big bulge in his pants. She reached for
his impressive package, but Jack caught her hand.

“Oh, no you don’t. We have things to do.” He told her while
shaking his head. “Besides, I have a surprise for you. Get dressed, babe,” he
said as he helped her off the bed.

Victoria pouted and started dressing.

Jack bent and held the sides of her face, pulling her in for
a kiss. “I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you too, baby.” She did love him, and she knew that
he loved her. But what she wasn’t sure of was whether or not Jack had married
for love or because she was pregnant. When he released her, she finished
dressing.

An hour later, Victoria and Jack were pulling into the
parking lot of her old building. Jack parked in Victoria’s old parking space.
He jogged around and helped Victoria out the car. They walked hand-in-hand to
the building. They went in and headed to the building manager’s office.

Victoria knocked on the door and heard, “Come in”, from the
other side of the door.

Jack opened the door and placed his hand in the small of
Victoria’s back, urging her inside. The building manager looked at Victoria’s
round belly and smiled brightly. Earnest was a tall African American man with a
kind heart. Although he was in his late sixties, he still managed to keep the
building in great condition.

“Hi, Earnest,” Victoria said smiling. She liked the old man.

“Hi, yourself.
Look at
you. You’ve never looked more beautiful,” he said. He walked around his desk
and gave her a warm hug.

“Earnest, this is my husband, Jack.”

“Well, hello, young
fella
. Congratulations.
You got a treasure here,” he said pointing at Victoria.

Victoria blushed and handed Earnest the keys to her
apartment.

“Don’t I know it? It’s nice to meet you, sir,” Jack
responded and shook his hand.

“I’m
gonna
miss you, little girl,”
Earnest said shaking his head.

“I’ll miss you too.”

“Oh darn, I left your security deposit in my apartment. You
guys have a seat. I’ll call my wife and have her run it down.”

Victoria didn’t know that Earnest lived in the building. She
eased into one of the chairs across from his desk and Jack sat next to her.
Earnest made the call to his wife and hung up. While they waited for his wife
to come down, they settled into polite conversation.

Within minutes, the door opened behind her and Victoria
turned, ready to meet Earnest’s wife. Victoria’s inhaled sharply and her eyes
widened, causing Jack to turn around. Mrs. O’Malley stood in the doorway.
Victoria struggled to stand before Jack helped her.

She turned toward Earnest. “Mrs. O’Malley is your wife?” She
did not try to hide her confusion.

“Yep.
For forty
years,” he said proudly.

Victoria was shocked. Mrs. O’Malley walked over and handed
Victoria a check. “But I thought...”

Mrs. O’Malley cut her off. “You thought what?”

“Well, to be honest, I thought that you didn’t like me
because I’m black,” Victoria admitted.

In response, Mrs. O’Malley chuckled. “You thought that I was
a racist?”

Victoria nodded.

“No, child, I’m not a racist and I never said that I didn’t
like you. I was concerned. Why do you think I checked on you every time you
entered the building?”

Victoria shrugged her shoulders.

“You had that god forsaken job and you came home at all
hours of the night damn near naked. I worried for you, child.”

Victoria, astounded, she shook her head and asked, “You knew
about my job?”

Grace O’Malley nodded, “Yes, child. I own the building. And
your job is on your application.”

“And my new bed?
You
bought it?”

Mrs. O’Malley nodded.

“Then why were you so mean to me?”

Mrs. O’Malley laughed.
“Because I’m a mean
old lady.
Now that gorgeous man that you married...well, I just didn’t
have it in me to be mean to him.”

Laughter filled the room.

Then Mrs. O’Malley caught herself and turned serious. “You
look beautiful. Congratulations to you both.” She approached Victoria and
hugged her.

“Thank you,” Victoria whispered.

Jack and Victoria wrapped up their visit and headed out of
the building.

As they stepped outside, Victoria wrapped her arm around
Jack’s and smiled. She was so happy. “So what’s this surprise that you
mentioned?”

Suddenly, a gunshot pierced the air. Jack suddenly stopped.
Victoria felt hot pain in her left arm and realized that
she’d
been shot. She snatched her weapon from her purse and looked up to see Gregory
Donovan pointing a gun in their direction. Jack stepped in front of Victoria,
and she heard another shot.

Jack fell to his knees.

“Jack!” As Victoria was screaming for Jack, she raised her
weapon and fired five shots into Gregory. He fell to the ground. Victoria
walked over and stood over his motionless body. She pointed her weapon and
fired until she was out of bullets. Victoria turned and ran to Jack. He was
laying face down. She rolled him over. He’d been shot in the chest. Earnest and
Grace O’Malley came running toward her.

“Call an ambulance!” Victoria yelled instructions as she
realized that Jack was awake.

Gritting his teeth in pain, he asked, “Did you get him?”

“He’s on his way to hell now, baby,” she responded. “You’re
gonna
be fine. Stay with me baby.”

Jack nodded and coughed. “I love you, Victoria.” He
struggled to speak.

“No! Don’t do that! Don’t you dare give up, Jackson Storm,”
Victoria ordered.

Faintly, Jack smiled and closed his eyes.