In Too Deep: A Romantic Suspense Novel (31 page)

A little bit of natural light filtered in from the slat sides on the north side of the tower, which had years ago allowed the sound of the bells to come out. I could see the massive beams above us where they had once hung, but had been removed decades before. Along the other three walls the slats had been sealed up. There was a thin mattress on the floor along the west side of the floor, a small table, and a series of metal footlockers. "What's in these?" I asked, tapping them with my foot. "Your supplies?"

"And my tools," Mark replied, unlocking two of the lockers. The tops lifted open, revealing an arsenal. "We should contact the people who have Tabby, and learn more."

I took out my old cell phone, and looked at him. "Here?"

"No, we'll go back on the road," Mark said, taking out two pistols. "You ever fire a gun before?"

"Just on video games, and one time I did some paintball," I replied.

Mark nodded, put one of the pistols back, and pulled out another. He took a clip of ammunition from the trunk, slapped it in, and pulled back on the top, making a metallic, intimidating *snick*. He turned the gun around and held it out to me. "It's loaded, with one in the chamber. There's a safety on the left side, right now it's on. Push it in, and the red line disappears. See?"

I looked, and saw the button. I pushed it in, and heard a small click. I looked on the other side of the grip, and saw the button had popped out on the other side, this time with a red line visible. I pushed it, and the safety reengaged. "Okay, got it. Now, how do I cock this thing?"

"You don't need to," Mark said. "Once the safety is off, just point and shoot. Listen, this thing is not very big, but it packs a punch. You more or less point and shoot, and can do it over and over again."

Mark took two more pistols from the footlocker, slid in clips, and tucked them under his shirt against his lower back. With his shirt hanging loosely over the top, I couldn't see anything. "Do you have a jacket or a sweatshirt?"

"I have a hoodie," I said, "but it's kind of tight. I couldn't wear that pistol in my jeans like you are."

"Then keep it in the pocket itself. If you stuff some other things in there, you should be fine. We're going to walk, so it should look like you have a cell phone or something like that in there. Don't pull it out unless you have to. You'll know when."

We left the belfry, and walked cross country until we were along a side street, near a preschool. "This was a lot easier when I started," Mark said as I pulled out my phone. "Back then, there were pay phones all over the place. Nowadays, neighborhoods like this don't have many at all. In some ways it makes it more flexible, since we can go anywhere. The bad part is you need to hang onto a phone. There's some VOIP and different masking programs out there, but in a lot of ways they are just as traceable as a normal cell phone. So, we do things like this, and travel. I'd prefer to get on a city bus or something and head downtown, but I don't want Tabby to be in any more danger."

I nodded and pulled out my phone, dialing Tabby's number. My hands shook as I waited for the call to be picked up. I didn't have to wait long. A rough-voiced man picked up the call after only three rings. "Miss White."

"Where is Tabby?" I asked immediately, before he could say anything else. "Is she safe?"

"She's fine," the man replied. "Although that may not last forever. Is the Snowman with you?"

"Yes," I said, looking up at Mark. "Why?"

"Put him on the phone," the voice commanded.

I handed the phone to Mark, who held the phone up to his ear. "I'm here...... okay...... okay..... not going to happen. Not there, I'm not a fool. That's fine. Just me and her. Fine. Three hours. Now put her on the line, let her verify her identity."

Mark handed the phone next to me, and nodded. "Tabby is supposed to be on the line."

"Tabby?" I asked, my throat tight and my eyes starting to water. "Are you all right?"

"Oh Sophie, I'm so scared!" It was definitely Tabby. Even with all the fear choking her voice, the accent, the intonation, everything was her. "They keep saying there's some guy they are interested in or something. What the hell is going on?"

Before I could answer, the phone was taken away. "You have your proof. Three hours."

The phone went dead in my ear, and I cursed, only muffling my voice enough to make sure the preschoolers in the area didn't hear me. I handed the phone back to Mark, who shut it off and took out the battery. "We meet in three hours, at the same nightclub where you and I met. Which at least confirms who took your friend. That club is owned by a Confederation member. Don't know how many in the Confederation are in on it, but it doesn't matter, I guess. Let's get back, I need to get us ready."

T
he club was dark
, which I expected. I wished that I could have left Sophie behind, she wasn't prepared for this, but the men on the phone had been very clear, we had to come together. It made sense. They assumed that having Sophie nearby would reduce my combat efficiency, since I would spend energy and brain power trying to defend her at the expense of killing them. They were right. It came down to how much of a decrease in my abilities Sophie would cause, and if it would make them better than me. Honestly, it was an interesting conundrum, and one I would have enjoyed contemplating at any other time.

I didn't even try to hide what I was carrying, coming loaded full bore in a tactical vest, my Glocks in cross grab holsters against my ribs. I had my throwing knives in a thigh sheath on my right leg, and was as ready as I could get. Sophie, on the other hand, looked like she was wearing just a hooded sweatshirt, although it was different from the one she had worn earlier. She had borrowed one of mine, in order to fit the armored vest underneath. I just hoped she didn't have to use either of her two surprises she had under the shirt.

"Yo, I'm here," I called into the seemingly empty club. I knew all of the entrances and exits by heart, and immediately cut to my right, reaching for the Glock under my right arm, pulling it out and scanning. Sophie stayed right on my heels, exactly as I had asked her to do. She was quiet, her body semi-crouched as we made our way around the inside wall. Staying there had trade-offs. On one hand, I couldn't be crept up on from behind with my back to the wall. I could keep my eyes on the entire first floor of the club. However, I also couldn't see about two-thirds of the upper floor, especially directly above me. Thankfully, they couldn't see us either. "Come out, it's just the two of us, like you demanded."

There was motion near the VIP rooms, close to the hallway that led to the manager's office. Shaun, the manager, came out holding Tabby, along with two other men. He had his favorite pistol, a Colt 1911 in his hand by his side. "Snowman. I honestly didn't think you would do it. I mean, we all knew you'd stashed money away like my grandma used to. All those hits you made, and jobs you pulled, and you still didn't live anywhere near as good as you could have. I figured you for one, maybe two more years in the game. But I didn't think you'd go out like this. You were always too smart. I mean, it's not like you couldn't get yourself a dime bitch after you got out. Giordano wouldn't have had any problems with that, you know, after a year or two."

"So it was Sal who signed off on this?" I asked, trying to draw them out. Keeping them talking was vital to my plan. There was no way I could take them out without knowing exactly how many men Shaun had with him, or where they were located in the club. "He told me he gave me the rest of that night."

"Sal's a good judge of character, you know that. Didn't get to where he was without it. He saw in your eyes that you wouldn't take out your girl. Don't know why, either. I see better girls than her in here all the damn time."

"I'm not interested in girls, Shaun. I've always been interested in women."

Shaun laughed and stepped forward. "Come up here, man. Both of you. When you're at the bottom of the stairs, my boys will let the girl go."

"Fine. We'll come up the east side stairs. I see any of your boys anywhere near it, I start shooting. Let the girl go and she can come over to the east side as well. That cool?"

"Cool."

I nodded to Sophie, who followed me. I was proud of the fact that she hadn't said a word since we came in. There was no point in creeping up the stairs, they were open to the center of the club on all sides. Instead, Sophie and I took them at a quick but even pace, making sure my Glock in my left hand was visible, but not pointed in Shaun's direction. I wanted him aware but distracted, not fearful.

When we reached the second floor, my eyes swept the walkway, spotting two other men. Shaun was smart, he knew me. In normal circumstances, five on one would be odds I would walk away from. "All right Shaun. Let her go."

Shaun laughed like I'd just told a funny joke. "Come on, Snowman, you think I'm stupid? I know how good you are. I let this bitch go, and before I can count to ten I'm a dead man. No way. Drop your guns, and then I let her go."

Now, I could have talked more. I could have dropped the guns. But one of the main personal rules of my training is that once you're in the zone, you just go. I felt that familiar, welcome coldness drop over my emotions, and I went with it. Squeezing the trigger on the Glock in my left hand, I put a round in the head of the man on Shaun's left before my right hand even cleared my other Glock from its holster. It is one of the secrets of my success, I'm not only almost totally ambidextrous with my hands, but with my eyes as well. I put a round in the thigh of the second bodyguard while my right hand snapped into place, firing as soon as I could. There was an instant when Shaun could have gotten the drop on me, while I was shooting his guards. If he had just raised his pistol in that split second, he could have gotten a shot off at me. Instead, he hesitated, torn between shooting me and trying to use Tabby as a human shield, and in that hesitation I had him dead to rights. The round took Shaun in between his eyes, the 9mm hollowpoint turning the back of his head into a giant bloody flower petal of bone, hair and skin. It took less than two seconds.

I whirled and dove while Sophie flattened herself on the floor. Rolling over a table in front of me I came up firing, catching one of the corner men before he could get a shot off at me. The second man was smarter, moving before trying to fire, and it took me an extra three seconds to find him and put a round into his shoulder. He spun, crashing over the railing to fall to the club floor below, head first. The dry twig sound of his neck snapping told me all I needed to know.

Suddenly there was a boom behind me, and I spun, both pistols ready, but it was already over. Sophie huddled on the floor, the pistol type shotgun I'd given her tight in her hands, smoke rising from the barrel. I'd never seen or even heard him, and he crashed to the floor, the deer slug obliterating most of the right side of his chest.

It was only then that sound came back into the world, and I realized the high pitch screaming in my ear wasn't my overtaxed nerves going nuts, but Tabby screaming hysterically. I swept the room with my eyes, then ran over and knelt next to Sophie. "You all right?"

She looked at me, her eyes calmer than I expected them to be. "Yeah. You?"

"Yeah. Get Tabby, I'll cover the room," I said, kneeling next to the man who had snuck up on me. I was curious, I hadn't had someone sneak up on me in years. Sophie started off, and I caught up, making sure the back of the club didn't have any more nasty surprises, then checked Shaun's body, taking his cell phone out of his right front pocket. Tabby was still in hysterics until Sophie pulled her into a hug, and between the two of us, we carried her out of the club. She passed out on the way to the truck, which I was grateful for. It made transporting her easier since she was already in a state of shock.

I
t was even more
difficult two weeks later. "You're sure about this?"

It was the third time Sophie had asked Tabby since bringing her home. We were in her apartment, and while I was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, I was still armed. There was no time I'd left the belfry in the last two weeks that I wasn't carrying something. We'd brought Tabby there, trusting her to keep the secret, to give her a chance to recover and adjust to the situation. I'd then spent the last week giving her a crash course on how to survive if organized crime was interested in you, and how to cover your tracks. Finally, I'd placed a few calls, and made a few inquiries to try and give her a bit of security in other ways too. Still, I agreed with Sophie. Tabby should have taken a vacation, preferably one of multiple months at least in a city far away. Europe would have been nice.

Tabby looked at Sophie in exasperation and smiled. "You know, just because I don't have Rambo for my boyfriend doesn't mean I can't take care of myself. Besides, you know what Mark told them."

It was true, I had used Shaun's cell phone to give Sal Giordano a call, warning him to stay away from Tabby, and that he'd made a big damn mistake doing what he did. I hoped that it would put a bit of caution into the Confederation, and have them spend more time trying to find me rather than going through Tabby. Still, I am only one man, and I couldn't protect her all the time. No matter how many times I tried to tell her though, she wouldn't listen. She was going to stay in the city.

"Tabby, I can't promise I can be here, but if you need me, you know the number to call." I'd bought half a dozen burner phones with some of the cash I had on hand, and had given her one with another of the numbers programmed in. I could ditch it whenever I wanted if I needed to. "Just remember, if you want to just talk, use your normal phone. Sophie's cell still works, it's been scrubbed."

Tabby nodded, only a bit exasperated with me. "I know, I know. Mark, you've been giving me lessons on how to survive for a week and a half now. I got it, really."

On the way back to the belfry, Sophie reached over and took my hand. "She'll be ok, you know. She may come off at a total ditz, but Tabby's got a decent brain inside that cute skull of hers. By the way, thank you for turning her down when she hit on you, even though she was just teasing me."