Mikala's Passion (Pulse Series Book 2) (27 page)

“You did good girl,” Landon replied, placing her on the ground as she tugged at her hemline to make sure it was in place.

“Am I interrupting?” Mason growled, as he approached the pair standing all alone.

“Don’t be stupid.” She slapped her hand against Mason’s chest and then tugged him forward by his shirt. “You’ll never guess who I just signed up as a client.”

“Three guesses?” he joked.

“Mayor Townsend, can you fucking believe it, the fucking Mayor is on
my
client list!” She was beyond tickled pink and rushed off before Mason could say anything.

“Stay on her Landon, she’s all over the place,” Mason ordered, as he lost sight of her in her black sequined, far-too-short-for-his-liking dress and stilettos. Even though the idea of pealing it off of her later had him adjusting himself for the umpteenth time, he just didn’t want anyone else having the same thoughts about his woman.

Mason understood her excitement but had this pressing feeling as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, that all was not perfect in the world of Passion & Pulse tonight. And the fact that the techno beat resonating through the room was increasing his sizable headache, he was finding it hard to concentrate, which pissed him off. Nearing the elevator so he could head up to the club where it was far more refined with mellow music and conversation, he thumbed in his code and happily stepped into the quiet box, watching as the door slid closed.

Mason’s head tilted back, he closed his eyes when it made contact with the cool mirrored wall. Lights flickered behind his closed lids, the elevator jerked to a stop and his eyes burst open. The emergency light came on and Mason frantically started pressing buttons, he opened the phone door and lifted the receiver to his ear, the line was dead.

Panicked as fear grabbed hold of his chest, he pulled his phone from his pocket. Landon’s phone rang several times before he answered. “What the fuck is going on?”

“What are you talking about?” Landon’s confusion had Mason baffled. “Where are you?”

“Elevator, it’s not working, it stopped with me in it.”

“I’ll see what I can do from my end, hang in there.” Landon said, calmly.

“Wait,” Mason called into the phone. “Mikala, where’s Mikala?”

“She’s over…” Landon went silent and Mason’s heart stopped. “She was right there a second ago, I’ll find her and we’ll get help, just stay calm.”

“Stay calm? Are you fucking kidding me? You need to find Mik and right fucking now, I’m telling you something’s not right, get me the fuck outta here!” Mason roared into the phone, as the line went dead.

Every thought that came to mind was a bad one. The only thing he could think of was Mikala and her screams he couldn’t hear and revisiting the day he found her on her office floor covered in bruises. The signal had obviously been scrambled as the screen on his phone displayed a Matrix of letters and numbers on a gray background. He was being fucked with and he knew exactly who was responsible. Terror choked him as his mouth went dry and a huge lump formed in his throat, Mikala was in trouble and he knew it.

The elevator door slid open twenty minutes later, Mason viewed the somber faces that stood before him, one missing face in particular sent off an explosive reaction as he leapt for Landon and his hands tore at his lapel.

“Where is she, Landon? If anything has happened to her, so help me God,” he screamed, mere inches away from Landon’s face.”

“Mr. Reed, take it easy,” Blackstock said, in a sickeningly calm tone. “We know exactly where Miss. Santino is.”

“Where?” Mason seethed.

“The apartment upstairs,” Blackstock said, placing his hand against his chest to stop him from moving. “She’s not alone and appears to be unharmed, you go crashing in there now and she may not remain that way.”

“How do you know?” Mason shoved Blackstock’s hand away and then like a light suddenly illuminating the way down a dark passage, he knew. “You have her on camera?”

“Yes,” Landon said. “This is entirely my fault, Mase, I’m,”

“This is that fuckers fault, the creep, is it him?” Mason asked, shoving past the group heading to the office. He noted the techno beat was missing and an unnerving silence met his stare as he looked into the dance club and the room was empty.

“We decided it best to clear the dance club. Each person was questioned and sent on their way. The occupants of Passion have been secured and questioning is underway.

Mason grit his teeth when he saw Mikala tied to a chair in the center of the living room at four different angles. She looked pissed and it made him happy to know that she was not showing signs of fear or surrender.

“What’s the plan?” Mason swung around ready for battle.

***

“I do not see any tears, so close to death and you are unemotional and cold,” crooned the creeper, as he lifted his gun into her sights and waved it about.

“I don’t cry, besides, I wouldn’t waste any tears on
you,
asshole!” she burst out with venom as she glared at him.

“We will see,” he laughed, circling her chair.

She turned her head to follow him, “Fuck you!”

The back of his hand struck against the side of her mouth. She straightened herself the best she could since she was tied so tightly and could barely breathe. She glowered defiantly as a trickle of blood streamed from her lip. “Watch your mouth, a beautiful lady should not talk with the mouth of a truck driver.”

“Are you going to kill me?” Mikala asked, surprising herself at how calmly she spoke.

He knelt in front of her and swept the hair from her eyes. “It never needed to come to this. All you had to do was listen to me. That was all you had to do.” He shrugged, “Now you leave me no other choice.”

Mikala focused on the reflection of his gun in the shining layers of glaze on the hardwood floor. “Then I deserve to at least know why.”

“We do not have time. Your friends will realize soon that you are missing.”

“So give me the fucking condensed version, if I’m going to die, I should know why.”

Tongue in cheek, she could see him contemplating whether to humor her with an explanation or get it over with and blow her head off. She was praying his choice would not be the latter. She watched as he retrieved an empty milk crate beside a pile of tools and set in on the floor not quite in front of her, just off to her side. He sat placing the gun on his knee facing her while he discarded his jacket and got comfortable.

“My wife’s name…never mind, you don’t need to know that.” He started to get agitated and grasped onto the gun, holding it tight to his chest. “I never had to worry where she was,” his focus seemed to distort as he spoke, as if he were talking to someone else in the room, as if he was dictating a memo, he spoke with great clarification, making sure the recorder could recall the story word for word. “She was always at home waiting for me…always. Ours was a perfect match, we were meant for each other and she worshipped the ground on which I walked. Until she discovered
this
place…” he snorted. “That’s when she met
him
.”

Mikala wanted to ask who, but didn’t dare for fear of setting him off. She almost wished he would change his mind and not tell her anything more. She swallowed hard and licked her dry lips tasting the tang of drying blood, as her eyes roved over the room for any means of escape.

It was insane how everything Landon had taught her about self-defense, just seemed to go out the window, the minute her captor yanked her back by the hair and buried his gun between her shoulder blades with the lethal whisper into her ear, “I warned you, bitch.”

“Why me and not him then,” Mikala asked, trying to give the impression she was unaffected.

His precarious smile told her far more than she wanted to know as he continued, “He
has
been dealt with, and Lori also paid for her sins, just as you will.”

He stood pointing the gun to her temple, his hand visibly shaking. Mikala could tell he was hesitant. When he moved behind her and stroked his hand over her hair, she clamped her eyes shut, and prayed Mason was on a quest to save her, before the nut-job totally lost it and bullets started flying.

***

“Here are the blueprints.” Chase swept the end of the bar clean with his arm as glasses and bottles crashed to the ground. He spread out the floor plan for the apartment and indicated for the head foreman to join them.

“What’s done, what’s not?” Chase asked.

It only took a few minutes to devise a plan of action from what the foreman had told them and once the elevator door was wedged opened, Mason turned to Blackstock as he stood by his side without a word. Blackstock glared at them stepping back as Chase and Mason loaded their guns.

Blackstock raised both hands. “My hands are tied, you know this.” Then he held up a set of hand cuffs. “But I’ll be here when you’re done. Try and bring the bastard out alive, we found his wife and her lover shot to death in a hotel room not too far from here.”

“No guarantees,” Mason said, climbing into the elevator shaft, followed by Chase.

***

Mikala could not see the lunatic that stood at her back, but she could feel his angry presence and hear his irregular breathing accompanied by the occasional sigh, as if he were in pain. From her vantage point he was hidden, all she could see were newly papered walls and the windows ahead of her sealed with newspaper to save them from paint splatters. She didn’t dare turn her head in fear that he would lash out at her. He was as unpredictable as a caged cobra, and she had already experienced his malevolence.

She flinched with a shrill yelp when his hand suddenly caressed her cheek. “Did you know that my wife was a fabulous cook?” he asked, entirely out of the blue, remaining out of sight.

“Was she?” Mikala humored him, in hopes that by keeping him talking she would give Mason the necessary time to get to her.

“Dinner was ready each night when I got home,” he said, with an air of pride. It was a good-little–house-wife retelling and Mikala wanted to be sick. “Your club ruined her. One night out with a friend she said, one night was all she asked for. I was being reasonable I thought, what harm could one night out do? ...what harm indeed,” he seethed, grabbing a handful of hair and pulling Mikala’s head back until her eyes focused on his inverted features. “Why? Why did you make her fall in love with
him
?”

“I didn’t,” Mikala said, halting any further defense as he yanked her hair nearly tipping the chair she was tied to over, forcing her to scream as hot pain seared her scalp.

“No, you knew nothing about her, did you? So why would you introduce a happily married woman to another man?” He glowered. “You are all whores; even my own mother was a whore. I should have known Lori could not be trusted.” He released Mikala’s hair, walking around to stand at her feet.

The heated urge that welled up inside of her to tell the psycho to fuck off was instantly extinguished as the barrel of his gun was placed directly between her eyes and he leaned forward into her face. “Any final words my love?” he whispered.

She sat silently staring down at his expensive Italian shoes.

“Nothing...nothing at all? Perhaps a tear…go ahead just one,” he goaded, his words filled with such frenzied rage she feared he would detonate at any moment.

***

Mikala’s scream echoed in the small elevator shaft as Mason and Chase neared the top floor where the door hadn’t been installed as of yet. Mason looked down at Chase and Chase nodded his understanding. He was well aware that Mason was wound up tighter than a spring, ready to release. He put his hand on his ankle and squeezed his silent warning to stay calm. Mason’s nod barely reassured him.

Mason’s head peeked above floor level, he peered around before giving Chase an all thumbs up and climbing out. They remained close to the ground as they rounded their way to the living room area where they knew the creep had Mikala held captive. Mason could hear the man’s voice but could not make out what he was saying. He was hoping for enough noise to assess the direction the man was facing, but it was virtually impossible. The only thing in Mason’s favor was the music playing on the lower level giving them enough latitude to move about without causing an echo in the empty rooms.

Mason leaned into Chase’s ear and whispered, “Need to cause a distraction, when I do, get Mik and run.” He reached into his pocket, brought out his knife and handed it to Chase.

“Don’t be crazy,” Chase said, looking at the knife in his hand.

“Just do it,” Mason ordered.

Chase nodded, although he was sure this was not a good idea and hid off to the side where he would go unnoticed should the creeper walk by. Mason darted to the right, leaving Chase holding his breath with the knife open in his hand, waiting to move for what felt like hours.

***

“I have nothing to say…wait,” Mikala thought for a moment, why not, if it was her last chance to speak she was going to do just that. She turned her head to the side to blow a piece of hair from her face and the creeper drew back his gun crossing his arms over his chest, tucking the gun under his armpit. Something white at the threshold to what would be the apartment’s entrance caught her eye, and her heart skipped a beat when she realized it was a sneaker.

Yeah, she had something to say now, she needed to buy sometime. “What’s your name?”

“Why?” He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“If you want me to speak to you, I’d like to know your name.”

“Fair enough, it’s Ross,” he said.

“Ross,” she tried it out. “I’m sorry that your wife…I’m just sorry. But I want to assure you I didn’t have a hand in your wife’s decision to partner up with someone else.”

“Are you joking?” He stepped off to her side which gave her a better look at the doorway, but the shoe was gone and panic had her turning her head about to see where it had moved. The roar into her face startled her and she screamed. “You act like it was all innocent. As if by chance Lori met him and ran off.”