“I’m good,” he said and wiped his eyes.
“I wouldn’t use that particular adjective.”
Gabby snorted. “No. I suppose not. I mean, thank you. For all you’ve done for me.”
Boone smiled. “You saved my life, Brother. The least I could do was return the favor. Now, let’s go get our girl.”
“Yeah.” Our girl. He liked the sound of that.
At that moment, a gunshot rang out through the woods. They turned. The sound had been faint and had pinged from the west.
“We’re too far away,” Gabby muttered.
“Come on,” Boone replied. They ran as fast as possible through the thick underbrush.
They hadn’t gone too far when the second gunshot echoed around them—closer.
“I hope to fucking God that was Kaiya killing both of those assholes,” Gabby said.
“Me too,” Boone replied grimly.
Chapter Twenty
“She’s deaf,” Cipher said.
They both faced her, with Vicious maliciously staring at her. She was able to follow along with their heated debate.
“You don’t have to hurt her, Vicious.”
“Of course I’m going to hurt her,” Vicious said. Evil gleamed hotly from his eyes. “Deaf, huh? How do you know she’s not faking it?”
“Dude, I’ve been watching her for some time now. They sign to her.”
Vicious brought his gun up, and her heart jumped painfully, but she didn’t move. This man was nothing more than a thug, and she was used to thugs. There were plenty in her grandfather’s organization.
“No, don’t kill her!” Cipher said.
“I’m not going to kill her. Yet.”
Vicious placed the pistol right up next to her ear. Her heart hammered fearfully, but stayed still, already figuring out what he planned to do. She saw the thrill he got having her at his mercy. The fear excited him. He pulled the trigger. She didn’t hear the blast but she felt the percussion of the weapon and a hot sting creased her cheek as the bullet exploded from the chamber. But she didn’t flinch, and, slowly, he lowered his weapon.
She swallowed thickly.
Their eyes met, and the coldness radiating back at Kaiya left her chilled to the bone.
“Okay,” Vicious said. “She
is
deaf.”
“You’re an ass,” Cipher said.
Instantly, Vicious swung the gun up and aimed it at Cipher’s head. The two men stared at each another for a long minute. Tension bracketed Cipher’s mouth as he stared down the barrel of a loaded gun. There was not one doubt in her mind that out of the both of them, she’d rather it was Vicious who took a long walk off a short pier. He scared her. The craziness shining forth was dangerous and unpredictable—two deadly combinations.
She watched as Vicious suddenly began to laugh, and once again, he lowered his pistol. She felt slightly sorry for Cipher, who excelled mentally, but was vastly unmatched physically against the bigger, stronger man. A man like Vicious could never create a code as Cipher had done, never mind stealthily steal money from two separate entities.
Vicious glanced back at her, still chuckling. Up and down, he looked her over, lingering on her breasts, and bile churned in her belly. The last thing she wanted was his
admiration
. Kaiya folded her arms across her chest and lifted her chin.
“Ah, a little hellcat, I see,” Vicious said.
She could practically feel the disdain oozing from his pours.
“I bet I could get bring out all her claws. Would you scar up my back, pretty girl, as I fucked your tight little pussy?”
She itched to slap the smirk right off his face, but she didn’t want to reveal that she could read his lips. He raised his hand and brushed away a stray piece of hair off her cheek. Kaiya grabbed one of his fingers and bent it back, forcing his hand away from her. Revulsion rolled through her. His touch absolutely disgusted her.
Her defiance only seemed to excite him further. His whole body seemed to thrum with excitement. “Oh, yes, I’m going to enjoy taming you. And you know what’s going to be even better? The look on Boone Tempest’s face when he finds your used and broken body.”
The next instant he had freed his hand and spun her around to level one arm against her throat and the other across her stomach. Kaiya used her nails to dig into his flesh, trying to get him to release her, but he seemed unaffected. Instead, the obvious pain must have aroused him even more because he ground his hard dick into her ass. She gasped, the arm around her throat cutting off normal airflow, causing her to thrust her elbow into his ribs. Other than a slight wince, he didn’t move. It was as if he couldn’t feel pain, and fear sliced through her. He wasn’t letting her go and it quickly dawned on her that he was either going to rape her or kill her. She struggled, harder than before, desperate to tear away from him, but she just felt the rumble of his laughter, and her fear turned into full-blown terror. She was going to die, right here and now, without even getting a chance to tell Gabby and Boone how she truly felt about them. That she loved them. Completely, deeply, unending. Even after she died, she would love them, heart and soul. They’d taken a girl filled with suppressed rage and given her wings. They had set her free.
Pressure on her throat increased, and soon, she couldn’t breathe at all. Kaiya clawed to escape, but he only tightened his grip. Her chest burned, tears flooded her eyes and she thrashed her body around in an effort to dislodge Vicious. It was the last desperate attempt at clinging to life, and she was failing. Her vision edged in darkness. Strength fled. Hope fled.
Then Cipher stepped up and placed a barrel against Vicious’ forehead. Just as the world went black, the ricochet of gunfire bathed her again, only this time a warm spray of blood splattered over her. Hands fell away from her neck, and she drew in a deep, ragged gulp of air as she pitched forward into Cipher’s arms. Kaiya coughed as she kept dragging in beautiful, precious air.
A few minutes passed before she got herself under control, and the fear of dying faded. She straightened and pulled away from Cipher. He still held the gun at his side. Kaiya looked behind her and saw the Vicious’ dead body lying there, a large bleeding hole in his forehead, the skin around the mortal wound black from gunpowder. As she stared down into the lifeless eyes, she knew she should have felt something—shock, horror, disgust. But all she could summon was relief. She reared back with her leg and kicked the corpse as hard as possible, then she turned to Cipher and mouthed her thanks. Instead of smiling and answering, however, as she had expected, since he
did
just save her life, he raised his weapon and aimed it at her face.
“I know you can read my lips,” he said. “Now that insane asshole is dead, let’s go find my diamonds.”
Diamonds?
Chapter Twenty-One
Cipher consulted the journal then held up a GPS locator, getting his bearings, before pulling her along behind him. He did this several times, navigating through the dense woods. Kaiya couldn’t help but trip along the unmarked path as he led them farther away from civilization and a way back to find help. Not that she could ever bring the cops out here. Gabby and Boone were somewhere. She knew they had to be trailing them, and she’d never put them in a position where they could be arrested. No, the cops weren’t an option, but what she wouldn’t give to see her men come barreling toward them right then, although it was an unrealistic fantasy.
She’d been in this situation before, when she’d been kidnapped right outside of her hotel. Taken, without anyone knowing she was gone. It always made her wonder how a person could simply vanish without any trace of them left behind, but it had happened to her. She’d been a victim, and perhaps she’d always been one. First to a disease that took her hearing then to human traffickers. Then to her grandfather. But not this time. No, Kaiya knew if she was going to survive, she was would have to save herself.
“Here,” Cipher said as they stopped by an old rotten tree. Cipher closed the journal with a snap. “I wrote the coordinates to this tree down so I wouldn’t forget where I stashed this last bag because damn if all these trees don’t look alike.”
He tied the rope holding her hands together to a nearby branch then began to kick the dead tree over and over until the rotten wood splintered apart and tumbled to the ground. Another duffel bag spilled out. Cipher grinned and snatched it up gleefully. He walked over to her and squatted to open it. Kaiya spotted cash, guns and a several black velvet bags.
“Once I started filtering cash from the club and from the Master, I had to figure out a way to launder the money. So I invested in uncut diamonds.” He held opened one bag and dumped a few ugly rocks into his palm. “Believe it or not, these are diamonds. Or you might call them blood diamonds. I call them a wise investment.”
He laughed, and she was glad she couldn’t hear how maniacal he must sound. Although she knew people invested in diamonds for a secure future, she doubted Cipher knew all the details of investing in diamonds, especially unpolished ones. Sure, they were a commodity that never really lost their value, but to get top dollar, he would need to know buyers, sellers and traders. Otherwise, a diamond engagement ring could be bought on the Internet for a fraction of its worth. Somehow, she really doubted Cipher knew the intricacies of the gem world, and she sure as heck wasn’t going to bring up that line of debate. He carefully poured the diamonds back inside the bag, tied it then tossed next to the cash and weapons before standing to face her. He brought up his gun and leveled it at her forehead.
“I should shoot you. You’ve served your purpose.”
Terror flooded her body. She didn’t want to die, especially at
his
hands.
“But, those two shots had to travel and if I know Boone and Gabby, they’re tracking us right now. If I kill you at this moment, they will hunt me down. I could wound you, but that gives me the same dilemma, and Gabby is one big asshole I don’t want to tangle with.” He lowered his gun. “So you’re coming with me until I can get on my damn plane and get the hell out of here.”
Plane? Where did he get a plane?
The questions tumbled around in her head as Cipher untied the rope from the branch, shouldered his duffel bag then yanked her to follow. They walked, and every once in a while he would consult his compass. Soon, the woods began to thin, and a moment later, they left the tree line behind and Kaiya realized they stood on a dirt runway. A large airplane hangar rested in the distance, with a single propeller, white plane staring at them. As he tugged on her roped hands to lead her toward the plane, a sense of disbelief washed over her. Did he pilot it himself? Did he plan on taking her with him?
A sign caught her attention. John Zinger Field. The letters from the lockers. Her mind raced on how she could possibly escape him. Out running him might be difficult, especially since her hands were bound with rope, but maybe she could hide long enough until he gave up and flew away in his plane. Maybe he was right and Gabby and Boone were tracking them at that moment, although she didn’t want to put too much faith in being rescued. This very reason was why she’d taken self-defense, and she let the anger of being abducted simmer in her chest.
He dragged her forward and as they came closer to the airplane, Kaiya noticed a figure in a flight suit walking around the fuselage, checking on things. What surprised her immediately was the shock of blonde hair flowing down the pilot’s back. Lisa was recognizable anywhere. Kaiya’s mouth dropped open in surprise. Knowing she was the pilot just about made Hell freeze over, because if there were one person Kaiya would’ve said was a fluff piece of ass, it would’ve been Stone Cold’s old lady. All the specific questions Lisa had asked now made sense.
As soon as Lisa saw Cipher, she let out a little squeal of excitement and ran toward him. Passionately, she threw herself into arms, planting little kisses over his face. Cipher had to drop the rope securing Kaiya to hold onto her.
“I can’t wait to fly out of here, baby,” Lisa said. “No more fucking old dick. Hello sandy beaches and Mai Tais!”
Cipher chuckled. “We’re going to spend the rest of our lives living in swim suits, being waited on hand and foot.”
“Oh, yes!” Lisa exclaimed as she gyrated her body against Cipher’s.
Kaiya made a gagging noise.
The blonde pinned her with a fierce glare. “Right after we take care of business, that is.”
Cipher took off the duffel bag and laid it at Lisa’s feet. “It’s all there. Almost every damn cent I managed to take from the Men of Hell and that fucking psycho, the Master.”
Lisa knelt and zipped open the bag. In one hand, she pulled out a stack of hundred dollar bills and in the other, she held a baggie filled with uncut diamonds. “Beautiful,” she murmured, her rapt expression reverently admiring her new commodity. “I’ve dreamed of this, you know. Ever since I was a little girl, I knew I was destined to be rich. I can finally live the high life.”
“We can’t go too crazy,” Cipher said. “This has to last us.”
Lisa looked at him and frowned. “We’re rich, baby. We’ll live like fucking royalty.”
He shook his head. “Lisa, once we flee, Stone Cold will be searching for us. He has enough weight in the MC world where we’ll have to lie low for a while. Until the heat dies down—”
“No!’ she said, surging to her feet.
Kaiya followed their argument closely, waiting for a ripe moment to use for her own escape.
Lisa poked Cipher’s chest. “The first thing we’ll do is send Stone Cold a fucking Christmas card with a big, old ‘fuck you’. Then we’ll sell the diamonds and buy a fucking island! With slaves!”
Madness lined Lisa’s face. Kaiya wondered if the crazy bitch actually realized how much money would be needed to own an island. And slaves? The woman was downright insane. Cipher jerked back and his expression quickly changed from lovesick besotted fool to unhappy calculating accountant. Yep, he was just learning his stolen fortune might not be so long lasting around his one, true love.
“You’re not thinking clearly,” he said.