Behold the Stars (26 page)

He was here, in the building with her.

She set the pen aside—nowhere to try to hide it now—and picked up the contract. Facing the camera, she tore it to shreds.

Immediately, she heard a heavy, metallic chunk. A breeze kicked up from the ceiling, and the temperature in the room began to drop.

~oOo~

Lilli tried as long as she could not to let the cold get to her. But the temperature had dropped maybe thirty degrees in the past hour, and now she was curled into a tense, shivering knot in a corner of the room. She was freezing cold, desperately thirsty, and the pain in her head was so bad, she had to force back the irrational need to run away from it. The tension and shivering from the cold was doing that pain no favors at all. Her right shoulder felt like a hot ember had been embedded in it, but that gave her no warmth. The only thing she had going for her was a lack of hunger. She was too nauseated to be hungry.

She kept her mind off all that by trying to work the problem. She didn’t know if Isaac was in trouble himself, but if he was capable of knowing, then by now he knew she was in trouble, and if he was capable of doing something about it, she knew he was trying. But that might be the point. Maybe she was bait.

Maybe, but probably not. She wasn’t bait. She was a target. If Ellis was after Isaac, too, then he was playing that on a different field.

So, okay. Rescue was unlikely. If she was getting out of this, she was doing it on her own. She had no idea where she was or what kind of building she was in. The same three men had come in twice; they were obviously in direct charge of her. Ponytail seemed to be the squad leader. Ellis was on the premises, somewhere.

Her only resource was herself. What use she could be to herself, in her current condition, was certainly a variable. A lot depended, too, on what Ellis knew about her. He’d had time, so she assumed he knew her real name. If he knew that, then he knew she had a military background—that might account for the way her guards were armed. He had the same information that Bart had been able to trace.

If he had more than that, Lilli didn’t think it was much more. Her past was very well protected, and getting through the walls around it was extremely risky. Ellis wasn’t reckless enough for that—and he’d only recently begun to take her seriously as a threat.

So the most he probably thought he knew about her was that she was a former military pilot, highly decorated, who had choked under pressure and gotten a whole squad of soldiers killed.

Not the truth, but not even the U.S. Army knew the truth about what Ray Hobson had done. And the story the Army did have about her was still buried pretty deep.

But say he had that much. Maybe Lilli could use that misperception in her favor. He thought her breakable. It very likely reinforced his standing perception of women. That’s why the nakedness. He thought—most men thought—that women were fundamentally weak and insecure. He thought stripping her would make her feel vulnerable. But she felt no more insecure naked than she had in a sweater and jeans. Colder, but no less secure. She’d feel more secure in armor, of course.

As a woman in the military, Lilli had learned to use men’s preconceptions and expectations against them. They thought of her as a piece of ass? She used that angle to get what she wanted. They thought she was weak and emotional? She used that to get their guard down. She had yet to encounter a man, civilian or military, who feared and respected her for what she could do until he’d seen it for himself.

It didn’t bother her at all. She liked the room it gave her. And she loved the stupid expressions on men’s faces when they got a load of her. She needed to find the room Ellis had given her. If indeed he had.

She had only been so vulnerable and weak one other time, and she had not been able to save herself from Hobson. She had needed Isaac to save her. But she had not broken.

She knew she wouldn’t break now, but did she have enough left to fight?

~oOo~

She had almost mastered her shivering when a voice materialized out of thin air. Or, more accurately, out of that old intercom speaker high on the wall.

Miss Accardo. I respect that your will is strong. But truly, this unpleasantness must end. I am a businessman. A philanthropist. An important member of my community. The events of the past several weeks are…well, they are sordid and sad, and not at all the civilized way to conduct a business transaction. We can put an end to this, you and I. You have no ties to that desiccated old backwater of a town. There is no need for you to give up so much in its name. Especially now. Signal Bend has fallen. Your friends with the motorcycles are dead. All of them. There is nothing left for you to fight for…except the life inside you. The last piece of its father. Sign the contract, my dear. Take what you can and move on with your life.

Lilli heard him but refused to believe. Isaac wasn’t dead. No. No.

She gave herself a stern mental shake, refusing to entertain that thought. Even if he was dead, it changed nothing, except to harden Lilli’s resolve. If Isaac was dead, she would not grieve until she’d taken Ellis out. She didn’t know how he knew she was pregnant, but that changed nothing, either. She would not break. She turned to the camera in the ceiling and raised her middle finger.

Again, Ellis’s voice filled the room.
I am truly sorry that you have chosen stubbornness over reason. Things are about to become extremely unpleasant for you, my dear.

~oOo~

By her estimation, about ten minutes, and another ten degrees, passed before the door crashed open again, and her three guards were back in the room. This time, Ponytail’s 16 was on his back, and the other two had their weapons trained on her. Saying not a word, Ponytail crossed the room, grabbed her by the hair, and dragged her to the desk, pushing her, face down, onto it.

She’d known this was coming. She’d known. This was how it went. She’d known. Her goal was to live as long as she could and not break. No matter what they did, she would not break. Ellis would have to take that property over her dead body. She turned her mind away, to Isaac. He was alive. He had to be.

She would not break.

~oOo~

Lilli lay on the floor. It wasn’t cold in the room any longer. Or if it was, she’d stopped being able to tell. She had no idea how much time had passed. Maybe days by now.

It had seemed endless, what they’d done.

She was bruised and bleeding. Cramping. She hurt so fucking bad. She didn’t think she was pregnant now. She didn’t know how she could be.

When they’d gotten inventive, she’d fought, and they’d beaten her. One eye was swollen shut, and her nose was broken. Blood was caked on her face.

The door crashed open. Oh, God. They’d just left. They couldn’t be back for more. Please, they weren’t back for more.

She struggled to focus. Ponytail came into the room, his sidekicks right behind him. He was wearing a bandage over his left eye. He put another motherfucking contract on the desk, and they backed out and closed the door.

She lay on the floor for a few more minutes, building her resolve back up. Then she struggled to her feet. No—not to her feet. She couldn’t get there. So she crawled to the desk, every inch an agony, and pulled the contract down. Now the offer was $200,000.

She faced the camera and tore it up.

~oOo~

She’d fallen into a dazed semi-consciousness, too hurt to really sleep, when the door crashed open again. When they put their hands on her, at first she didn’t even open her eyes. But they put her on her feet and bound her hands. They led her out of the room, still naked and bleeding, sandwiched between two guards, Ponytail at her side. She brought herself as quickly as she could to full alertness. If she was moving, then there was opportunity. They’d bound her hands in front—that was a mistake. She hoped she could exploit it. She had to keep her eyes open and her wits sharp. She ignored her pain and focused.

They led her into an elevator and pushed “4”—the highest number. When the doors opened, they walked out into a different world—the sleek architecture and décor of an executive suite.

It appeared to be empty, and the sky outside the wall of windows they passed was black. Full night. At a minimum, six hours had passed since she’d been taken. She caught a glimpse of the Arch glowing at medium distance—they were in St. Louis, just west of downtown. Only a couple of hours from Signal Bend. For the first time, Lilli really confronted the idea that Ellis had told her the truth, that Isaac might be dead.

They stopped her in front of two burled wood doors. Ponytail knocked and then opened both doors and pulled her through. A chief executive’s office, with high-end Danish furniture, gleaming modern accessories, and abstract artwork on the walls. Lilli saw a Rothko. Probably not a print.

In front of an expansive teak desk was an unassuming, armless chair, chrome and red vinyl. The kind one might find in the waiting area at the local tire store. A white painter’s tarp was spread under it. Ponytail shoved her onto the chair and then stood back. It took all the will Lilli had not to scream at the pain of sitting down.

Lilli heard a toilet flush, and then a door at the side of the room opened, and a small man, maybe five-five, trimly built and richly dressed, with a thick head of sandy hair going to light grey, stepped out of a bathroom, wiping his hands on a thick, gold towel. He turned and hung the towel neatly on its rod and then came into the room.

He waved impatiently at her and looked at Ponytail. “Please, Derek. There’s no need to be inhumane. There’s bedding in the closet in my assistant’s office. Bring her a blanket.”

When Derek was back and had draped a soft blanket over her shoulders, Lawrence Ellis sat down at his desk and smiled sweetly at Lilli. “Miss Accardo. It’s time we put an end to this.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Show leapt through the front window of the ice cream shop, his handgun drawn. “Isaac, what?!”

He’d been drawn by Isaac’s bellow. Now, Isaac shouted, “Ellis has Lilli. Fuck, Show! He’s got her!”

“What? How? You sure?”

“He answered her fucking phone!” Without thinking, knowing only that he had to save her, Isaac ran by Showdown and leapt through the window and onto the sidewalk. Before he could head off to his bike at a full run, Show’s hand was around his arm, pulling him back.

“Isaac, stop! Think! Where is she? Do you know?”

He didn’t know. He had no idea. Not as far as Chicago, certainly, but that’s all he knew. He looked at Show, feeling desperate and terrified and without a clue what he could do to save her. “I don’t know. God, Show! I don’t know!” A thought occurred to him. “Where’s Bart?”

“In the candy shop. He got hit, remember? Evelyn Sweet is sewing him up.”

Isaac turned and ran down the sidewalk, headed for Sweet’s. He could hear Show running behind him. He jumped over debris and bodies, and he barely noticed. He didn’t care about anything but finding Lilli.

Bart was sitting on a red vinyl stool at the soda counter, as Evelyn wrapped his shoulder in gauze. Isaac tore up to him and grabbed his good arm. Bart still winced at the movement. “Bart—Ellis has Lilli. He answered her phone and then turned it off. Can you trace it? Even if it’s off?”

He had Bart’s full attention. “Yeah—long as the battery’s in it, I can trace. But I need my gear. My bike’s down, and I can’t ride like this, anyway.”

Evelyn handed Bart her keys. “Check out the Silverado. I had it parked in back—maybe they didn’t get to it.”

Bart kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Evie.” To Isaac and Show, he said, “I’ll meet you at the clubhouse?”

Isaac nodded and ran out the door and across the street to his bike.

~oOo~

While Bart worked, Isaac paced. The clubhouse was still crowded with people and their belongings, so he went into the Room for some fucking peace, trying as he paced to make his head work. He had to think.

But he couldn’t. Ellis had Lilli. The thought took over everything.

Show came in and blocked his way. “Boss, stop. We need to work this. I talked to the Sheriff. He’s holding the Staties and Feds back long as he can, but that won’t be long. The story is we’re chasing some of the attackers, and that’s why we’re off the scene. It’s just me, Len, and Hav, but we’re with you.”

Show put his hands on both of Isaac’s shoulders, and Isaac knew he had bad news. His heart was going to come clear through his chest. “I got some news on what happened, and I need you to maintain. Tyler told me that Badge is gonna be okay, but he’s still out, and there’s no sign of Lilli. Witnesses on the scene saw a blacked out van pull up next to the truck, shoot Badge where he stood in the bed, and shoot Lilli as she ran. They carried her off with them.”

They shot her. Oh, fuck. They shot her. “God, Show—I can’t…I can’t…”

Show put his arm around his shoulders. “I know, Isaac. Maintain. We’ll find her, but we need you steady and clear.”

Bart came in, holding his bad arm to his side. He looked peaked, but focused. “I got her. Office building in St. Louis. One of Ellis’s fronts. Keeps an office there. Her phone is there. Don’t know if that’s where she is, but that’s the best place I think we can start.”

Isaac pulled his burner out. “I’m calling Tug. The Scorpions should be in the St. Louis area by now—maybe even through it. That’s five more bodies.” He called, got Tug to pull up at a park just west of the city and wait for them.

When he was off the call, he looked at the men he had left. Dan was dead. Vic and Bart were wounded. C.J. was with their fallen brother. The healthy Horde were four men. No army at all. But he met each of his brother’s eyes in turn and then said, “Let’s load up and ride.”

Then he headed into the Hall. As he passed the bar, he stopped. There was a stack of Kevlar vests at the end. He turned to Show, who was coming up right behind him.

“What’s this?”

“Courtesy of Sheriff Tyler. One each for the four of us.”