Shattered Rules (8 page)

Chapter Ten

Kelly fought him, but the man but held her tight, his hand over her mouth. “Scream bitch and I’ll slit your throat.”

He wore a mask but
she recognized his voice, over powering cologne and cigarette breath, the intruder from her house. She twisted in his arms trying to loosen his grip. His hold tightened and she saw his signet ring.

“
Do you have it?”

“No,”
She choked on the word.

“
Get it. You don’t have much time left. I’ll be back. If you don’t have it then, you’re dead.” He threw her to the floor and ran out the door.

The slam of the door reverberated in her head.
She sat up slowly and rubbed her arms. As her eyes adjusted to the bright light of the room, she noticed bedding was strewn on the floor and the chairs were knocked over. The mattress was on the floor. The few items she brought with her were thrown in all directions. “Not again. Not again.” She groaned.

There was a knock on the door.

“Kelly, you still up?”

“Brick
?” She scrambled to her feet and yanked the door open.

“
I forgot to tell you what time.” Brick's eyes darkened as he took in the ransacked room. “Damn! Are you okay?”

“
Did you see anyone in the hall?”

“No
. You’re okay?” He came to her and held her to him.

“
Yeah, just scared. Someone was here when I came back. He just ran out.”

“Did you
recognize the guy?”

“
It all happened so fast and he was wearing a mask. But I know it was one of the men who ransacked my house.” She rubbed her arms again.

“
Is anything missing?”

“
I don't know.” She stepped away from him and examined the room. “I didn't bring very much with me.” She hesitated. “The intruder did this to me. He found me just like he said he would. Oh God, what am I going to do?” She swallowed a sob.

“
Calm down. We don't know this attack has anything to do with you. It could be a simple break in.”

“
No. They told me they could find me anytime, anywhere. This is their way of proving it.”

H
er body tensed ready to bolt, but where could she run? “This isn’t right. They can't do this to me.” Anger replaced her fear. “Somehow, I'm going to stop them.”

“
Let’s not jump to any conclusions. This is a university. Lots of mischief happens on campus,” he said, his voice composed.

“
First I was attacked in the casino and now here in the hotel. How did the men know how to find me?”

His
expression turned grim. She could tell by his expression he thought it was one of the intruders too, but for her sake he was putting a better face on things.

“
If they wanted to frighten me, they’ve succeeded.” She gazed at the ransacked room. “I can't stay here. I've got to get out now.”

“
Maybe that’s what they want. They could be outside watching, hoping you'll run.”

“
Then what should I do? I'm so exhausted I can't think.”

He held out his hand to her.
She went to him and he held her. Electricity flowed through him, arcing to her, giving her strength.

“
They knew you were here because of Amanda.”

“
Why would she do that? I've never done anything to hurt her.”

“
For one of the oldest reasons in the world, greed.”

“
What kind of world are we living in?” she said, not expecting an answer.

S
he moved out of his arms and began to pick up her possessions.

“
Kelly, whoever did this is gone. Let's get some sleep. Tomorrow everything will look better.”

“
Maybe.” She picked up a black bra from the floor. “But I can't sleep here. I'm sorry. I just can't.”

“
Okay, finish packing.” He picked up a few items and handed them to her. Then he righted the furniture and set the mattress back on the box spring. “That's good enough. Let's get the hell out of here.”

They walked across the hall to
his room and turned on the light. His clothes had been dumped on the floor, the mattress was overturned and the desk chair was upside down.

The
message was clear. She understood the men who ransacked her room were warning him. They knew who he was and they could get to him too.

A
surge of adrenaline raced through her. They’d kill Brick and Carrie and it would be her fault.

A
slight tremor shook her and she leaned against a wall for support. She choked back fear and glanced at Brick’s stoic expression.

“We have to leave
this place,” she whispered.

He
picked up his belongings and tossed them into his backpack and put the contents of Amanda's wastebasket into a plastic laundry bag he found in the closet.

“
Whoever did this didn’t take anything. It was just a scare tactic.” He zipped his backpack shut.

“
Well it worked. I’m scared as hell.” She held her arms around her midriff in an attempt to stop her trembling. “What are we going to do now?”

“
I'll think of something.”

She
wanted him to promise everything was going to be okay and there’d be no more of these kinds of incidents. She groaned. He couldn't.

“
Okay, let’s go.” He picked up his belonging and led her out the door.

“
Where are we going?”

“
Do you like movies?”

“
What an odd question. Of course I do. Why?”

“
I saw a flyer in the lobby for an all night drive-in movie theater. Have you ever been to a drive-in?”

“
No.”

“
I have, when I was a kid, I went with my grandparents.” He smiled. “I didn’t think there were any left. C'mon. You'll like it.”

“
The men might be watching for us. How can we get out without being seen?”

“
I have a plan.”

C
hapter Eleven

In the hall
way, Brick punched the button to call the elevator.

“
Kelly when the elevator gets here, go in and keep the door open. I’ll be right back.”

From the open elevator door she watched him
as he set off the fire alarm. He ran and slid through the door just before it closed. The car automatically returned to the first floor and the doors opened into the lobby.

“
If someone is watching the hotel we're going to give him a show.”

Before she could respond, he grabbed her
by the hand, pulled to the back of the hotel lobby.

The alarm continued
to sound.

“
We'll wait for the fire trucks to arrive,” he said as he glanced out of the hotel window.

Just then the
loud speaker blared, “Please evacuate your room. This is not a drill. Please evacuate your room. Do not use the elevator. Use the stairs to exit. This is not a drill” Then the announcement repeated.

Blurry-eyed people in various states of dress rushed down the stairs and stumbled into the lobby.

“I'm sorry we scared them. They look frightened,” Kelly said. “Couldn't we tell them there's no fire?”

Brick
glanced at her but didn't answer.

“
I'm being foolish, but I know what it's like to have fear change your life.”

Brick’s
expression softened, he squeezed her hand and then released it.

The noise in the lobby swelled a
nd the hotel guests surrounded the front desk. She watched the night manager, standing behind the desk, trying to calm the patrons as they asked questions all at once.

“
The fire department has been called. Everything is under control.” The manager shouted over the din of the questions. “No, I don't know what floor the fire started. I don‘t know the room number. But the fire trucks will be here soon. I suggest everyone wait in the back parking lot until the fire department tells us it is okay to return to the building. But please do not go back to your room.”

Brick
pulled her into the center of the people in the lobby. “When we exit the building, don't run. I don't want to call attention to us,” he whispered in her ear. “Walk slowly out of the building with the group and go to the car. I'll be right beside you.”

She nodded and they moved with the crowd toward the backdoor. The fire alarm continued to blare.

A Fire truck’s siren sounded and a hook and ladder truck pulled up in front of the building just as they left the lot. She looked back. Cars drove out of the parking lot and turned left and right.

“
The patrons probably expect flames to erupt from the Inn at any moment.”

“
Put your head down. If anyone is watching, I want this car to look like there’s only one person in it.”

“
Where are we going?”

“
The University Drive In. They're showing a Hitchcock retrospective. I saw the poster in the lobby.”

***

Vehicles rushed out of the parking lot as the fire department set up roadblocks in front of the University Inn. The intruder lost sight of the Volvo. Fisting his hands, he let out a string of expletives in his native language. He twisted the gold and onyx ring on his finger while he considered what to do next.

He
’d drive around town on the off chance he would see the car Kelly was using. An hour later, he realized how many gray Volvos there were in town, but not the right one.

Frustrated, he parked the rental truck near Amanda's motel room.
If he couldn't get to Kelly, he'd get to Amanda. If the roommate thought she could hide from him, she was a fool. Earlier, before he went to the Inn, he'd followed Amanda to this rundown motel. With a little persuasion, he could find out if she had held back any information from him. He smiled. It would be fun to make her to talk.

He took off his signet ring and scratched his red blistered fingers.
“Nerves” the doctors had told him. His hands itched because of nervous stress. He dug his nails into his flesh. Pain was better than the itch that was driving him crazy.

The dermatologist prescribed
a cortisone cream. Then the doctor had told him to choose a different line of work, something that didn’t cause so much stress. The intruder scratched his hands until they bled and put his ring back on his reddened finger. He laughed. The Doc would have a shock if he knew what he did for a living.

***

It was after midnight when Brick and Kelly found the drive-in movie theater. The retrospective had just started. In a huge parking lot, rows of cars and trucks faced an enormous movie screen. It was an old fashioned drive-in with metal posts holding a speaker for each car. The speaker could be put in the window of the vehicle so that each auto could adjust the sound to the liking of the passengers.

“
There aren’t many places like this left in the world,” he said. “It's good the place is so busy. We can hide in plain sight.”

He found a parking space in the middle of
the fourth row. The movie screen loomed high in front of the car. The opening credits of “The Birds” rolled before her eyes.

V
ehicles were parked on both sides of Brick’s car. The one on the left appeared to be empty, but from the interior, rap music boomed. The sedan on the right held two people, kissing furiously, their bodies intertwined.

He
grunted and turned away from them, trying to ignore the sounds of their lovemaking.

“
Kelly, think you can get some rest?”

“
I'm so tired I could sleep anywhere. Anywhere but the University Inn.”

“
Good. Why don't you crawl in the back seat and sleep?”

U
sing his backpack as a pillow, she lay down and closed her eyes.

He watched the frames of the movie play in front of him, but his mind
was elsewhere. Two days had passed and he’d learned nothing that could help the FBI or Kelly. Someone was one step ahead of him. For her sake, he’d tried not to show his frustration, but it was eating at him.

He could use
help, but at this point in the investigation he didn't want to bring in the local cops. They’d have too many questions he couldn't or wouldn’t answer. Everything was on a need to know basis and the locals didn't need to know. In fact if they started digging into things, they’d make his job more difficult. The crooks would go underground, if they knew the police wanted them.

“
I can't sleep. I'm more exhausted than I've ever been in my life, but I can't sleep.” Kelly interrupted his thoughts. “When I close my eyes I see the ransacked room and I can't relax.”

He looked away from the screen to the back seat. Their eyes met.

“I'm afraid, more scared than I've ever been in my life. Hold me,” she whispered.

Surprised by her request
, he stared her. Was that longing in her eyes or just a projection of his desire?

“
Please. I feel so lost.”

He
got in the back and put his arm around her, pulling her close. She came willingly, her body trembling. The vanilla scent of her shampoo wafted to him, so delicate, so enticing. But she was trouble, a career killer, not to mention the sister of his ex-fiancé. What would Carrie think if she knew he wanted to sleep with her kid sister?

H
e couldn’t deny yearning for Kelly was breaking his own self imposed rules to never again get involved with anyone from the Shaw family or with anyone he was protecting. Kissing Kelly would break both the rules.

She
leaned against him and he felt the full appeal of her body. He allowed himself the pleasure of watching her. Barely hidden by her white tank top, her budding breasts strained against the cotton fabric of her shirt. They rose and fell in synchronous movement with her breathing. Against his will, he admired her full mouth pouting as she slept. A strand of her golden hair fell across her face. He reached to push it back behind her ear and his arm brushed against her breast.

A bolt of heat seared hi
m and blood rushed to his groin. The need to kiss her flared. He didn't. A kiss wouldn't be enough. It would only ignite the fire that was smoldering in him. Acting on his need wouldn't do either of them any good, because it couldn't solve their current problems or fix the past. It would only make their complicated relationship, more complicated.

She snuggled closer and h
is body pulsed. She was in his arms, alluring, vulnerable and needy. He could take her. She wouldn't deny him. But that would be a betrayal of her trust and he’d known the sting of a friend's treachery. He wouldn't betray Kelly. He forced his gaze away from her and back to the movie screen.

Brick
woke with a start. In the dawn's light the credits of a film were rolling on the immense movie screen.

Kelly
slept in his arms. Conflicting feelings stirred in him. He should have said no when she asked him to hold her. Somehow he hadn’t been able to resist her request. He closed his eyes and inhaled her scent.

She woke and
stretched. “Hi,” she said her voice husky.

Hell
. Why did she have to be so damn beautiful in the morning?

He ignored his growing
need for her. “Morning, let’s find a restaurant and get some coffee and something to eat.”

“
Mm sounds good.” She adjusted her tank top.

He pretended
not to notice.

***

Reno is a twenty-four hour town and even at five-thirty in the morning it didn't take long to find an open coffee shop.

While Kelly freshened up in the bathroom, Brick took a seat at a table in the
back corner of the room.

A bone thin, middle aged waitress dressed in an orange dress with a white apron served coffee and
gave him a menu. Without looking at the menu, he ordered bacon, eggs and toast.

He rummaged through the plastic bag that held Amanda's trash
, annoyed she was his only lead. The wastebasket contents held crumpled binder paper, candy wrappers and empty cigarette packs, but little information. The only thing he found that might help was a flyer from a local nightclub. He read the bold fonts, a special Goth/ Industrial show was on tonight. Doors opened at eleven-thirty pm.

With the flyer stored in his pocket, he knotted the plastic bag and put it under the table. Tonight he
’d see if Amanda showed up. Clubs weren't in full swing until after midnight. It looked like it was going to be another long night.

Kelly returned and sat in a chair across the table from him.
“Just toast and coffee please,” she said when the waitress returned to the table.

“
What did you find in Amanda’s trash?”

“
She eats too much chocolate. The bag is filled with candy wrappers and this.” He slid the flyer toward her. “It looks like we’re in for another late night.”

She read the notice and nodded.

He took a sip of coffee and looked out of the café's window. The street was virtually empty at this time of the morning. Sitting back he drank more of the insipid liquid. It did nothing to rev his engine. He was going to have to drink at least three or four cups of this brown water in order to give him the caffeine needed to manage the day and the long night ahead.

***

At eleven p.m. they stood in line waiting to enter the Goth nightclub. The club was in a rundown building located in an alley in the older part of Reno. No marquee hung on the building. The flyer they’d seen announcing the club was taped to a plain front door.

A tall man in a black tux wearing skull and cross bone earrings stood at the entrance.
He asked for a ten-dollar per person cover charge. Brick paid. Kelly made a mental note to pay him back, along with the cost of the wig he bought.

“
When we go in, you look for Amanda. I'll take a seat where I can see most of the dance floor. Signal me, if you need me,” he whispered in her ear.

She nodded and tried to shake the creepy feeling that snaked down her spine.

Two giant stone gargoyles, sitting on faux black marble columns, stood guard at the entry of the club. In the grand room, she let her eyes adjust to the dim light. The windowless walls were draped in black velvet floor to ceiling. Tables and chairs were scattered around the room. Couches and an immense pool table sat in one corner of the room. A gigantic mirrored ball hung from a center rafter and flecks of light bounced off the attendees.

Still early by Goth standards, the room was
almost empty. Jarring music played while a few people danced to it in jerky, movements. Some people seemed to be dancing with partners and the others were on the dance floor alone. It didn't seem to matter.

Though their hair might be red, blue or green, stripes or checkerboard, the attire was black. How many shades of black where there?