Deadly Lover (36 page)

The vid appeared to be a live stream. It showed her cousin, lying on an old mattress, hands and feet chained and bolted to a plascrete floor. She was gagged and struggling.

“If you shoot out the vid, I’ll kill her now.”

The altered voice boomed through the room, shocking Lily into gasping for the breath she’d been holding.

“Do you recognize the location?” Jolaj’s gruff voice rumbled low and menacing.

Lily shook her head. The bare plascrete walls could be anywhere.

“Now, come inside.” The words broadcasted over speakers were bitten off, angry, demanding.

Lily stepped inside and Jolaj followed her lead. Behind them, the door slid shut.

“Law Keeper, I’m glad you’re here. Saves me a little extra effort and waiting.” The voice barked a short laugh. “I’m tired of waiting.”

Lily forced herself to look away from the vid, struggled to settle her heart rate She tried and failed to reach a state of calm, but managed to get enough air to speak normally.

“Now we’re here, tell us what you want. Why are you doing this?”

“What do I want?”

Lily concentrated on the voice, trying to catch something to confirm the speaker’s identity. Her brain was having trouble believing Bradley could be behind all this, but if not, where was he?

 “I want the world to wake the fuck up and see what’s going on around them. I want every last one of those damn animals to die.” The voice had increased in speed and volume. She could hear the speaker panting for breath as he paused. “And, you, my pretty Lily, for your betrayal... I want
you
to suffer.”

Lily kept her eyes on the camera as Jolaj paced the length of the room. She knew he was checking the door. She wanted to tell him again to go for help, but knew that was pointless.

“How did I betray you? I don’t even know who you are.”

He laughed, the sound sharp and ugly like a rusty knife. “Trying to get me to tell you who I am. Tsk, tsk. Did you think I’d fall for that? But don’t worry. I do plan to tell you eventually and I’ll even let Sara go. All you have to do is follow a few simple instructions. Cooperate and you’ll have your answers. Your cousin will go free, unharmed.”

“Why should I think you’ll stick to your bargain? You never have before.”

“Aaaannnn! Wrong answer!”

Lily flinched at the jarring buzzer-like shout.

“Wrong answer, Lily. I always keep my word. You’re thinking I’m Bradley. I did use him to get you there. But I’m not lowlife Bradley.”

“Again, why should I believe you?”

The camera panned to show Bradley slumped on the floor in another corner of the room where Sara was being held.

“Bradley is unconscious, but safe, for now.”

“You could have recorded this earlier.”

“My wicked little Lily, there are some things you’ll have to trust me on. Besides, you don’t believe that chicken shit could have executed such a brilliant plan.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Jolaj stop his pacing. The tension in his body was clear even across the room. He looked ready to pound on the unresponsive door, but instead he
slipped
toward
out-of-sync
and disappeared. For a brief moment she hoped he’d sensibly gotten out and gone for help. Too soon, he returned,
slipping
back to
in-sync
looking more frustrated than ever.

“Do that again, Law Keeper, and Lily will be dead in five minutes. I rigged the air vents with a lethal gas. Remotely operable, of course.”

“Of course,” Jolaj growled. He strode across the room to stand closer to Lily. He roared at the camera. “If she’s harmed I
will
kill you.”

 “If you live another twenty minutes it will be because you were willing to let your precious little slut die alone.”

Jolaj growled again, low in the back of his throat.

“You see what an animal he is, Lily? And you let that animal defile you, didn’t you? Didn’t you!”

Lily stood unflinching in the center of the room as their host screamed at her, repeating the accusation, calling her names until the room fell silent.

She allowed herself one quick glance to reassure herself Jolaj was calm and alert. Her unflappable companion had gotten his anger back under control. They were good together, she reminded herself. They would get through this and so would Sara and Bradley.

When the silence had gone on several minutes, Lily decided to try to talk to the killer. The camera had been off of Sara all of that time and not knowing what was going on was tearing a hole in her gut. “You said something about a bargain.”

“Good girl.”

The condescending praise rankled, but Lily bit back her sarcasm. “I’m ready to listen, if you’re ready to talk.”

“Clever, clever, Lily. Things could have been so different.” He sounded bleaker, as if the shouting had drained him. “But you’ve made your bed. Let’s start by reviewing the rules.”

Lily listened.

“First rule, the Law Keeper doesn’t leave the room. Second rule, you take the power pack out of your pistol and smash it. Third, you put on the manacles hanging from the ceiling. Once you’ve completed these tasks, I release Sara and Bradley unharmed.”

“And after that?”

“After that I give you one more task to do. If you complete it as I instruct I’ll release the locks on the manacles.”

It sounded a little too good to be true. Whatever he wanted her to do would have to be very, very bad. “Why give me a chance to survive this and come after you?”

“Not to worry, Lily. I’m not making this easy for you. The doors will still be locked. The gas will still go off on a timer. Once the manacles are released you’ll have thirty minutes to get out of there before it does. You’ll have a chance, Lily. A slim one. Fair, don’t you think?”

“And if we don’t comply?” Her gaze darted around the room, looking for something, anything she could use to get them out of there.

“I gut Sara like I did Mary Santini... while you watch. In thirty minutes the gas still goes off and you die.”

“You know,” she said, “I think you like killing.”

“Oh, I do. I always do.”

“So, why should I believe you’ll let them go?”

“I only enjoy killing animals and the bad little girls who fuck them. Sara hasn’t done anything wrong,” he said. “She doesn’t need to be punished.”

“Rose hadn’t done anything wrong, but you killed her.”

“Your fault, Lily! You betrayed your own kind. You should’ve killed Kabel, like you did the others. Not protect him! You had to be punished. Rose took your place, but I didn’t enjoy it. I made it as painless as I could for her.”

Jolaj paced the length of the room like a caged tiger. If she could send him to help Sara she’d gladly put on the damn manacles. “I want to see Sara.”

The camera panned to show Sara still struggling on the mattress. Lily looked hard at the image trying to think where they might be. She could see the wall from floor to ceiling and from one corner to another. Solid, plain plascrete. No windows. Artificial lighting. The only vent in sight—a small round pressure vent like the ones in the room where she and Jolaj were standing. Exactly like them. “It’s a storm shelter,” she whispered.

But there had to be thousands of shelters in the city. The one in the image was cheaply made. Probably private.

“No more stalling,: the voice boomed. “Time to decide.”

“You’re not expecting me to get out of this alive. Are you ever going to tell me who you are?”

There was silence for several seconds. “I think I like that you want to know who I am. Yes, I’ll show you after you’ve put on the manacles. After I let Sara go.”

His comment gave her more confidence that he would indeed let Sara go.

“All right.”

Jolaj snapped his attention back to her. “Lily, no.”

She met his eyes. “I have to take a chance.” And if the masked bastard didn’t let Sara go, but did reveal his identity, it might help her figure out where he might be.

Lily pulled the power pack out of her pistol and held it up in plain sight of the cameras. Then she laid the pack on the table and used the grip of the pistol to smash it. She left the useless weapon on the table and wrapped her hands around the manacles. The metal felt cold and terrifying in her hands. The locks were electronic, the only way to release them would be to cut power.

Or for the killer to keep his word.

Lily stepped into position and faced Jolaj. Her fingers shook a little as she placed one of the manacles around her wrist. He grabbed her hand before she could click the lock home. He spoke low. “I cannot let you do this. We will find another way.”

“If you have a better one, I’m listening.”

But Jolaj only stared at her, frustration etching hard lines in his face. “He may kill Sara the moment you close the lock.”

A surge of panic made her heart thump harder, but she shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

Her eyes flicked to the vid as a movement caught her attention. A masked figure stepped into view. He stalked over to the mattress and dropped to his knees beside Sara. His right hand was encased in a glove with long taf-blade claws. Before Lily could react, his arm slashed down fast in an arc, scoring Sara’s abdomen.

Lily screamed.

She screamed so loud the strain had already scratched her throat before her first cry died away. On screen, Sara sobbed and thrashed harder against her restraints. She screamed for him to stop, but another quick slash shredded Sara’s blouse, leaving only her bright pink bra to cover her. Brilliant red blood oozed across the bared flesh, but the cuts were shallow. The man grinned into the camera. “Look what you’ve made me do. Are you going to let that animal tempt you into turning your back on innocent Sara? He’s already cost you your sister.”

Lily pulled her hand away from Jolaj. “I have to do this.” She clicked the latch closed then held the other manacle out to Jolaj. “Help me...please.” Her eyes swam with unshed tears.

He closed the other manacle around her wrist, then wrapped his big hands around hers. The warmth of him seeped into her and staved off the chill of dread gripping her with the feel of metal at her wrists.

“Good girl,” said the killer. Lily watched as he sprayed something across Sara’s wounds. The cream-colored gel of a liquid bandage formed over the slashes. He slipped a black hood over her head and tied it off behind her neck. He released the chains at Sara’s hands, replacing them with zip ties that held her wrists tightly together in front of her then he released her feet. Sara immediately scrambled up on her knees, scuttling to move away from him.

The killer tapped a com at his wrist and a small inset image appeared on the screen. The inset showed the view of the killer from his wrist unit. He looked into the small camera, only his eyes showing through the mask. “Now don’t forget you still have one more task to do.” Then he went back to Sara. “I’m leaving you now, dear. Bradley’s over in the corner. You should be able to wake him, if you care to help him. The door will be open.”

Both views showed him leaving. In the vid, the door swung open, filling the room with a shaft of sunshine.

Lily couldn’t see much on his cam when he left the room, but there were hints of sky, trees, grass. In the main vid, still gagged, hooded, and bound, Sara had found Bradley and was shaking him. There was no audio so he must have taken it with him.

Lily’s attention was pulled away from the vid as Jo yanked on one of the chains. “They’re solid,” he whispered. “I can’t get you free.”

She cupped a hand around his cheek. “He let them go,” she whispered. “He let them go.”

“He hasn’t gone far. They’ll remain in danger for some time.”

Lily could see now that Bradley was also bound and he looked too disoriented to stand. He was probably drugged and wouldn’t be much help to Sara.

The killer could easily return and kill them. In his vid she could see he’d moved inside another structure and was climbing stairs. He stepped into a room and over to a window. She could see a bed covered by a comforter with pictures of baseballs and bats. The kind made for a child. He moved the wrist cam up and looked into it as he pulled the mask over his head.

Timothy Perry smiled into the camera. “Hello, Lily.”

Jolaj tilted his head and frowned at the image.

Lily gasped. “Oh, God. Why?”

“I’m disappointed in you.”

She jerked compulsively at the chains. “You were at the med center the day of the attack, you saw me the night Jennifer died.” It fit. That much of it fit. “But why? Why would you do this?”

“The little sluts were sleeping with animals. When you lie down with animals you get bitten.”

“The bites. You treated them. Removed the scars. Mary Santini thought you were coming to see her to follow up on the treatment.” That’s why her shirt had been carefully unbuttoned. He’d been a medic and she’d trusted him. The outrage of it simmered in Lily’s veins.

“That’s right. Brainy Mary was very cooperative in the timing of her own execution. I volunteered at the clinic. House calls are common as vermin in that foul neighborhood.”

“That’s where you met Simone Rawls.”

He frowned. “She was useful to me, but in the end she showed her true colors. She was a slut, just like you. But she was useful indeed. I never wanted to work in The Mixer, but my supervisor thought I needed to work with all kinds of people. Learn to play nice. But she’s never understood that when I play, I like to make up my own rules.” He laughed at his own joke.

Lily grabbed Jolaj’s hand and leaned her head against his chest to hide her face. “He grew up in the neighborhood where I grew up,” she whispered.

“Lily!” Timothy’s voice boomed over the speakers. “You’re supposed to be listening to
me
.”

She ignored him, what she needed to say tumbled out in a rush. “The
same
street where the O’Learys live now. They had a house down the block. Most of those houses have storm shelters. They’re on Old Duval. I
know
it.”

Timothy screamed a steady litany. “Listen. To. Me. You. Whore.”

Jolaj bent his head low and spoke though a clenched jaw. “I won’t leave you.”