Wicked Games (11 page)

The drive from
Noah’s downtown Miami firm to the South Miami Beach hotel seemed to take forever.  Noah was anxious to get there and stop her before she could do anything
else
stupid.
Or before Richard found her.
He walked up to the counter and requested a suite and a meeting room. The team needed somewhere private they could set up for the night, and it would be too conspicuous for them to all crash his suite.

With only ten
suites in the hotel, Noah was lucky to get the last one available. The concierge showed him to the meeting room, and he called the rest of the team waiting outside in the SUVs. They brought all the gear in and began to set up for surveillance. The hotel was once a private mansion, and while definitely large and elegant for a single owner, at only three stories, it was small in comparison to other hotels. 

Noah scouted the hotel as discreetly as possible. He noticed the people checking into the suite next to Richard’s had just arrived. A young man in
a dark suit with a hotel nametag was carrying their bags into their room. Noah picked up a couple of bags, followed the other man into the suite, and discreetly placed a listening device on the wall shared by Richard’s suite, just behind the wall sconce, so it wouldn’t be seen. He knew they wouldn’t be able to get into Richard’s room, and this point gave them the closest access point that he could get.

The young man thanked Noah for his help with the bags. Noah slapped him on the back and
with a smile said, “Anytime kid.” Noah left the suite with no one the wiser. He called Brad to tell him what they had to work with. Brad replied, “I will try to boost the signal to make it more sensitive. It may mean more distortion on our end, but any bit of information is better than none.”

When Noah got back to the command center room, Brad informed him he had just successfully patched into the hotel’s security cameras. Now they had eyes and ears on all floors, elevators
, and the front door. Noah breathed a sigh of relief. If Brianna were still in the hotel somewhere, at least they would see when she left. If not, he planned to follow Richard.  One way or another, he was determined to find her and stop her.

One of the guys had food catered in for the group. To anyone else, they looked like a group of businessmen getting ready for their meeting the following
morning. Their computers all on the tables, and they were engaged in business strategy discussions, using code words only they would decipher. Brad’s computer screen wasn’t visible to anyone else, so he continued monitoring the cameras.  When the hotel staff left the room, he switched it so everyone could see it on the projection screen. 

***************

Brianna’s phone alarm went off, as she was having the best dream about Noah. She turned the alarm off and sat on the edge of the bed. A sudden wave of dread washed over her, as she knew what was about to happen. The thought of saving Noah kept her going, and she prayed this would be enough to stop Richard once and for all. She rose and looked out her window facing the ocean. She opened the window and listened to the waves lapping on the beach and let the sound calm her frayed nerves.

She showered and got ready to go to the exclusive South Miami Beach
nightclub, the Mirage, where Richard would be. She carefully applied her makeup, being sure everything was completely perfect. Then she dried her long hair and styled it with the flat iron, adding curls to the ends to help accentuate her looks. 

She had picked out a trendy, tight-fitting dress to help her look like she belonged there. It was glittering blue and stopped above mid-thigh level. The top tied around her neck
, leaving her arms and back exposed. In the back, the tight material started again below her waist, teasing at giving a view of her ass. She moved her hand along the front hem of the dress, felt the small recording device, and breathed a sigh of relief that it was secure. She reasoned that it was in the best place to avoid suspicion. She could simply pull on the hem to make sure the dressed covered her, and no one would know what she was really doing.

She put on her silver, open-toe high
heels, then her earrings and necklace. Picking up her small matching clutch, she put her license, credit card, and cash inside. She gave herself an once over in the mirror and decided she looked very nice.
Too bad all this fuss isn’t for a date night with Noah…

She stepped out and asked the concierge to arrange for a limo to take her to the M
irage. She walked to the front of the hotel to wait for the limo to arrive. Within a minute, a long, black limo arrived, and the driver opened the door to let her slide in. He was barely out of his teens and probably working his way through college. She caught him smiling at her while watching her ass, and when he realized she saw him, the smile quickly faded while his face turned a deep red. She laughed to herself and leaned back against the leather seat, as he pulled the limo away from the hotel.

***************

Steele Security sat in the plush meeting room, watching the security feed change over to different camera views on the overhead projector. When Brianna suddenly appeared in the hotel lobby, Noah yelled for Brad to switch to that camera view only.  Noah watched as she walked towards the front door, then he ran out of the room after her. She wasn’t there by the time he reached the lobby, so he continued outside. She wasn’t outside, either. He looked both ways and saw a limo about a block away.

As he ran back inside, Brad was walking to him.  “There’s a delay on the feed, man. I’m sorry
, I didn’t know they had a delay on the cameras until you ran out of the room.”

“
Damn it!
”

They walked over to the front desk and asked the clerk about the types of transportation they offered. She confirmed his belief that the limo had just
left with one guest and would be back within twenty minutes. Noah asked to be next on the list for the limo, and told the guys to get the SUVs ready. He would talk to the driver and find out where he dropped Brianna off.
If this guy refuses to talk to me, I’ll break both his legs.

Twenty minutes my ass! Where the hell is this guy? It’s been
forty-five minutes!
Noah paced back and forth, getting more and more upset. He still had his wits about him to watch for Richard, and his team still had eyes and ears on him from the SUVs. 

“Boss, he’s coming down.”  Noah heard Bull in his earpiece and moved out of sight. He watched as Richard left
, told one of the teams to follow him, and the other to stay put, for now. He was still waiting for the limo driver to verify where he left Brianna. As he moved back into the lobby, he saw the limo pull up to the front.

By the time the driver put the limo in
to park, Noah was opening his door and all but dragged him out of the car. “The lady you picked up from here,
where is she?
”

The driver, obviously young
and scared, was speechless. A huge, muscled man just yanked him out of the car. He stammered, trying to form a coherent string of words. “I…uh…she’s…um…”

“
Where?
”

“Mirage
….nightclub…”

The black SUV slid up beside the limo, Noah jumped in
, and Bull sped off to the nightclub. No one said a word as they flew through traffic, dodging cars, and running red lights. Noah fisted his hands and released them, repeatedly. 

“Brad, anything on the digital recorder yet?”

“No. Nothing yet.”

Brianna enjoyed the smooth ride of the limousine and asked the driver to take h
is time. She wanted to take in the sights and sounds one last time before going to the club. She had him drive the entire length of Ocean Drive to South Pointe Park. He waited while she walked with her toes in the sand and shoes in her hand. She stood and listened to the waves crashing, breathed in the salty air, and enjoyed the ocean breeze for several long minutes. 

She finally made her way back to the limo and closed her eyes
, as he drove her to Washington Avenue. In the backseat of the limo, the memories that she wanted to take with her played like a movie in her mind. Her thoughts were always of Noah. She could see him, feel him, and hear him close to her. She felt the car slowing to a stop and opened her eyes.   

A long line of people, wrapped all the way around t
he block, waited outside Mirage. Young ladies, in various states of dress, were flirting with the bouncer, trying to get in ahead of the hordes of others waiting in line. Small groups of guys and girls talked and laughed with each other, without a care in the world, other than having a good time.

Brianna stepped out of the limo and looked directly at the security camera, smiled
, and waved.  She knew it was a blatant challenge and Richard wouldn’t be able to resist. She was here, willingly, and waiting for him. She strolled up to the bouncer, smiled, and waited. She noticed an earpiece in his ear and knew he would soon be given orders. He looked down at his clipboard list, then back up to her, as he opened the red velvet rope and let her in. Several people called out to him to let them in, too, as she made her way into the exclusive club.

The multi-level club was packed with bodies writhing to the mu
sic on the enormous dance floor.  Strangers were chatting and looking for company for the night, others at the bar getting another glass of their poison of choice. The DJ was set up in the middle to give everyone a good view of the show. A light show danced with the beat, changing colors on the ceiling and walls. Brianna walked through the crowd, refusing several requests for a dance and more.

She reached the VIP room
and took a deep breath. It was a smaller room for more intimate gatherings, but still large enough for a good sized party. The room included its own bar and plush leather couches. Richard stood as she walked in. His eyes raked over her, and he had the type of smile that reminded her of a sleazy, used car salesman. She swallowed the bile that tried to rise in the back of her throat and stopped in front of him.

“Brianna…
. I’m so shocked to see you. I thought you were
dead
.” He wasn’t even trying to sound genuine.

“Well, it seems we’re
both
back from the dead, Richard.”

“To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I’m here to ask you to leave Noah alone. Call off your dogs.”

“You know what I want, Brianna. When I get what I want, you get what you want.” The smile didn’t reach his eyes. There was no humor or compassion there. His eyes were stone cold
, and she knew he was lying, but played along anyway. 

Brianna looked around at the others in the room. There were several young women scattered throughout the room, enjoying the free drinks Richard supplied. There were also several hired henchmen waiting for a reason to pounce.
“This really isn’t the place to talk about it. Is there somewhere else we can go?”

Like the cat who had caught the mouse, he smiled and said, “Of course, of course,” and motioned for one of his men. 

They walked out of the back door of the club and got into the back of Richard’s car, as the man drove in silence. She watched the buildings go by. The people out having a good time were oblivious to her predicament. She took mental notes of the direction they were headed – away from crowds, hotels, clubs and restaurants. They were headed to a more deserted area, where they would have plenty of privacy.

Playing the victim, she looked to the man driving
, then to Richard. “Where are we going?”

“Oh, just a little place I have acquired.
It’s a good place to talk. Very private.”

They continued to hold eye contact until she finally turned her head and looked out the window.  They pulled up to a
windowless building made of large concrete blocks. The door was solid steel with an industrial deadbolt lock. The driver got out and opened the door for Brianna while Richard exited from the other side. The driver unlocked and opened the building door for them, locking it when they were all inside.

Richard flipped on the light to reveal a large room with a single chair in the middle of it and a long, thin table was against the wall to the right. There was
a doorway in the back wall that led to another darkened room. The second room was somewhat smaller than the one she was in, but she couldn’t tell what was in it. 

She turned to Richard and asked, “What is this?”

Richard didn’t answer. The driver walked to the table, picked up a wand to sweep her for bugs, and walked back to her. The wand made no noise, and he ran it over her front and back. “She’s clean.” 

Then he walked back and laid the wand back on the table. The sound of a door opening came from the darkened room
, and Brianna jerked her head around.  Three more men strolled in and stood silently, waiting for orders.

Brianna reached down and tugged on the hem of her dress, pulling it down
, as in a move of modesty.  She activated the hidden listening device and flattened the wrinkles in her dress. Richard watched her, but didn’t seem to know what she was doing. The corners of his mouth curved up slightly, as if he were amused at her attempt to cover herself in that dress.

“Oh, don’t
worry. These guys aren’t here for
that
.” 

“Why
are
they here?”

With an ominous chuckle, Richard gave a nod to the men
, and they stalked towards Brianna.