Two large hands gripped her upper arms and she managed to suck in enough air to let loose a shriek. She still gripped the bar handle and shook it with all her terrified strength. The door didn’t budge and she found herself still trapped. She twisted, tried to get away from the hands. He refused to let her go and she glanced up to see it was the dark-haired one who had her. Her foot kicked out frantically, trying to nail him in the shin.
“Stop it.” He snarled the words, a scary sound that just made her freak out more.
Lauren kicked again but missed. The man could move quickly and dodged her foot with ease. She did brush the material of his pants though with her toes. He hissed out a curse before he spun Lauren back around to face the door and pushed her against the wall next to it hard enough to knock the breath from her lungs.
One of his hands left her arm and fisted into the bun at the back of her head. He released her arm and that hand pushed hard against her back, pinning her tightly against the wall. She struggled but he was too strong.
“Freeze,” he demanded. “Before you are injured. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Lauren stopped struggling when it became apparent that each movement brought her pain. Her breasts felt smashed and it was really uncomfortable. Tears blinded her from the pain of her hair being pulled. She closed her eyes, trying to calm her ragged breathing. The firm hold on her hair eased until it wasn’t painful any longer but she still couldn’t turn her head.
“Where is Brent?”
“I don’t know. I keep telling you that. I just work with the guy.”
The dark-haired man sighed. “You lie.”
“I’m not lying.”
“You just said you haven’t dated in a year. That was a lie.”
She wanted to glare at him but she couldn’t turn her head without him ripping out hair in the process. “That wasn’t a lie. I haven’t been in a relationship in that long.”
“You just share sex with men? How many times have you allowed Bill to touch you?”
“You mean Brent? I have never slept with him! I don’t do that stuff. I’m telling the truth. You can call my boss. She might know where Brent is. I’ll give you her number. Her name is—”
“Stop,” he ordered, cutting her off. “Obviously you aren’t going to give him up easily. We’ll have to change your mind.”
The door next to them opened. Hope leapt inside Lauren that help had arrived but one glance at who entered just made her fear notch higher. The bald man was dressed exactly like the other men who’d confronted her. He kept the door open as he frowned, met her stare, and his icy-cold blue eyes narrowed.
He didn’t wear sunglasses but she suddenly wished he did. She’d never seen eyes like his before. The shape of them was strange and they were chilling, with no emotion. A shudder ran down her spine. His stare seemed to grow even colder, leaving her shaken, until he shifted his gaze to the big thug behind her. It broke the spell and she glanced at his face. It was strange too but she didn’t have time to really study him to discover what was wrong with it.
“We need to leave now. Our escorts are nervous about this and have threatened to place calls. Wrap her up and let’s move.”
She closed her eyes again.
Wrap me up? As in kill me and leave my body rolled inside a carpet?
She wanted to scream, maybe cry, but she sure didn’t want to die. The hand fisted at her back, grabbing the material of her shirt. He used it to haul her away from the door and force her to move. He kept hold of her hair too, a double insult, and she knew she couldn’t get away from her captor.
“Walk through the doorway and don’t fight me. I would hate to harm you but I will if you don’t follow orders. You’ll walk or I’ll have to hit you, knock you out, and carry you.”
They were taking her somewhere and she couldn’t escape. The thug holding her was huge, a real freak of muscle. She would have fought to be free of his hold on her shirt but grabbing her bun had been sheer genius.
“Please?” Lauren wasn’t above begging.
“Silence.” He lowered his voice as he leaned in to put his lips closer to her ear. “No harm will befall you if you just cooperate. You have my word.”
The word of a hired killer. Yeah. That’s comforting.
She managed to refrain from snorting, afraid he’d pull her hair just for the hell of it. He wasn’t going to let her go regardless of what she said.
The back parking lot was dimmer than the front. There were fewer lights set farther away but it was easy to make out the large, black, unmarked commercial van parked ten feet from the door. The side door was open, she was led to it and her hair was finally released.
“Get in.”
She climbed into the back of the van, not seeing another choice, and he kept hold of her until he’d angled her toward the back. She couldn’t see much without interior lights but didn’t try to escape. He stayed too close, his fist kept a firm grip on her shirt, and she collapsed to her butt when he seemed happy with where she’d stopped.
The front passenger door opened. She glanced that way and spotted the dark head of a driver wearing a black cap. The bald man climbed into the passenger seat. He turned to stare at the two guys wearing sunglasses.
“Close the door and let’s go. He sent someone in his place but we’ll get answers from her.”
I don’t know anything!
Lauren kept her lips sealed though. They obviously weren’t going to believe her. She really hated Brent now.
“We’ll send a team to his condo.” The blond sighed. “It’s all we can do. Someone had to have tipped him off. He wasn’t sure though since he sent her.”
The dark-haired man still gripping her said, “That or he wanted us to get rid of her for him.” He paused. “Female, you wouldn’t happen to be recently pregnant, would you?”
Shocked, Lauren turned her head. She couldn’t see him now that the doors had closed but she knew where he was. “No. I keep telling you, I’ve never slept with Brent, I mean Bill, or whatever you want to call him. Never.”
“Let’s return,” the dark-haired man rumbled. “We’ll get her to talk once we’re back at headquarters.” He paused. “Tell Brass that she’s our only lead.”
Dread and terror filled Lauren.
Chapter Two
Lauren figured they were going to kill her. It would explain the room she sat in, chained by her wrists to a big table that looked more like something found in a morgue. The entire thing could tilt, it had a rim along three sides and a big drain, which was centered over another drain in the concrete floor. The walls were equally grim with the dungeon décor of dull gray bricks. The only splash of color came from the yellowed light that ran the length of the room about eight feet above her head. They were underground, backing her theory that it very well could be a morgue.
The blond shifted where he stood against the wall. Sunglasses still hid his eyes but she knew he wasn’t happy since he hadn’t stopped frowning after she’d been led into the room.
“How long have you been sleeping with Bill?”
She’d left fear behind and moved right into feeling pure frustration. “I keep telling you that I’ve never slept with my coworker. You can call him any name you want but if you’re talking about Brent Thort, the real estate agent, I’ve never touched him.”
“Where is he?”
She took a deep breath, really wishing the blond would stop asking the same questions over and over. He was the only one who’d spoken to her since they’d brought her into the room. Hours must have passed and she yawned.
“I don’t know.” Her voice rose. “I really don’t. The answer isn’t going to change, no matter how many times you ask me the same questions. I have told you at least a hundred times that I am not sleeping with him. I have never even gone on a date with him and I only see his face at work. Call my boss, I say again, and ask her. She has to know where he lives. It would be in his employee files.” Anger stirred, at Mel, who’d sent her into this nightmare. “Go kidnap her!”
He sighed. “What has he told you?”
“Nothing. I don’t talk to the jerk! I’m tired, hungry, and I want to go home. I don’t know where he is but I’d tell you if I did. Trust me. We aren’t friends. We’ve hardly said two civil words to each other since I started working there three months ago. I avoid him, okay? He’s loud and rude. Crude. He tells offensive jokes at the office, which is very unprofessional.”
She took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Her temper was borderline explosive. Why wouldn’t they listen to her? “He goes to a lot of bars and brags about all the women he picks up. He’s also recently made a habit of taking inappropriate cell phone photos of the women he dates and shows them around the office. That’s all I know about the guy. I swear I’m telling you the truth.”
The dark-haired man pushed away from the corner where he’d been standing quietly since she’d been handcuffed to the table. He frowned as he moved closer. His weapons and belt were gone but it didn’t make him appear any less dangerous. He paused near her.
“It could get really ugly if you don’t stop protecting your boyfriend. He obviously doesn’t care about what happens to you or he wouldn’t have sent you in his place. He must have suspected it was a trap since he didn’t go there.” He paused. “He sent you alone without his protection, knowing something was wrong. Do you understand that, female?”
“Stop calling me that,” Lauren snapped. “My name is Lauren and my boss, Mel Hadner, sent me to that warehouse. That’s all I know. She called me on my cell while I was at the restaurant to tell me Brent had some kind of emergency. She was busy and ordered me to show the property instead. I didn’t want to but it’s my job. I was the last hired and you know that saying. Last hired, first fired. I need to keep my job so I left the restaurant and here we are.”
His lips twisted into a mean grimace. “You just showed your ability to lie. You said you didn’t date. Were you eating alone?”
“I was having dinner with a friend.”
“I see. Do you call men you share sex with your friends? How long have you and Bill been friendly?” A strange, animalistic noise came from him. “Stop lying. You are Bill’s type of female. We interviewed many of the ones he used to share sex with.” He bent a little, drew closer, and those dark glasses just made him look evil. “We’re not easily fooled. He is not a male you wish to protect since he is not one who would protect you. He’s free and you are not. You seem intelligent. This is only hurting you.”
“I was having dinner with my friend Amanda. Don’t twist my words and stop accusing me of screwing that loser. He isn’t my type. I’ll say it again. I wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot pole!” She pushed back in her chair and glared at his sunglasses, resisting the urge to scream from the frustration.
“We won’t release you until we have Bill. That is a promise.”
She believed him and anger turned to fear all over again. They were going to hold her hostage until they had her coworker. It was beyond shocking. “You can’t do that. Please? I just want to go home. If this is about money, how much does he owe? I’ll try to pay it. Whatever it takes but please, let me go!”
The man drew closer. Lauren felt fear but he suddenly spun away.
“I can’t,” he snarled.
She swallowed but the blond took his place. The guy crouched near her chair. “You are now willing to pay his debts but you aren’t sleeping with him? You are bad at lying.”
“That’s not what I mean. I’m scared, you won’t believe the truth, and I’ll do anything you want if you just let me go.”
“He doesn’t owe us money.”
Lauren lost the last bit of hope. These guys were criminals and would probably kill her. She stared at the guy, trying to convey her sincerity. “You have it wrong. The only thing I did was answer my phone when my boss called me to show a property. That’s it. I don’t care if you want to beat on Brent. I’m sure he deserves it, he’s a jerk, but I’m innocent in this.”
“You were having dinner with Brent? Just tell us the truth if you want out of here.”
“Do you want me to lie? I will. I was having dinner with my friend Amanda but I’ll say anything you want if it makes you happy enough to release me.”
The man took a deep breath. “I see.”
“You believe me now, right? I am not sleeping with Brent.”
The man moved quicker than she thought a person could. Lauren didn’t even have time to gasp before his hands gripped her waist, he flipped her and her back slammed on top of the table. The handcuffs pulled painfully on her wrists, which were hooked above her head now.
Her heart hammered and pure terror tore through her as he leaned over her. His weight caused the table to tip until her head was higher than her feet as his fingers gripped her jaw. He kept her pinned with one hand on her waist and a snarl came from deep within his throat. It mimicked the sound from a vicious dog.
“I’m done playing nice. Hurting a female isn’t something I wish to do but I will. Did you see the drain in the floor? It is there to clean up blood easier.”
“Shadow.” The dark-haired one gripped his shoulder. “I can smell her fear over that horrible perfume even. Back off. You made your point and are going too far with your attempt to make her comply. Let’s give her time to let the situation sink in. We could all use a break.”
The blond released her. “I made certain I didn’t cause her any harm.”