Authors: Toni Blake
Hotbed Honey (22 page)
They both went as still as statues, their eyes going to the overturned can before raising to each other. They both knew the noise had been too loud and the timing couldn't have been worse. Kimberly could faintly detect voices coming from outside the office just beyond their view.
"Great stuff, Reggie," a deep-voiced man said. "Good work, as usual."
"Thanks, boss." It sounded like the paunchy man again.
"Boss, I just heard something."
This
voice, however, belonged to Carlo.
This
voice, however, belonged to Carlo.
Max and Kimberly exchanged glances full of dread, but before they could even move, the office door burst open.
Chapter 9
C
arlo stood before them with the big man, Reggie, as well as an older guy whom Max took to be the boss. His craggy face gave an impression of age combined with experience. He was clearly a gangster, through and through.
arlo stood before them with the big man, Reggie, as well as an older guy whom Max took to be the boss. His craggy face gave an impression of age combined with experience. He was clearly a gangster, through and through.
"Who the hell are these people?" he asked.
"These are the two I just spent the weekend with." Carlo looked Max squarely in the eye and shook his head, his voice deadly serious. "Maxxy boy, you made yourself a big mistake by coming here. And bringing Kimberly?" He continued to shake his head. "Bad move, Max."
Max didn't reply, but Carlo's words echoed in his heart. Bringing Kimberly here had indeed been a very bad move. Damn it. Why did he have to trip over that waste can? He sighed, tired and worried—it didn't matter now. What mattered was that they'd been caught.
"I don't know why you followed me, Max, if you were trying to play the big hero for your wife or what, but I can promise you this. You just got yourself in deeper trouble than you ever even imagined could exist."
"You know what to do boys," the boss said then, and as Carlo and Reggie started toward them, Max realized that he was far from giving in.
"Run, Kimberly!" he said.
The next thing Max knew, Kimberly had picked up an old black telephone from the desk and flung it at Carlo, dinging him in the head and knocking him back a few steps.
Then he found himself wrestling with Reggie, who—stronger than he looked—succeeded in shoving Max backward onto the desk. Fortunately, the position gave Max leverage and he managed to get to his feet even as he threw a right to Reggie's stomach, then a left to his eye.
He saw his cell phone skitter across the floor amid the fight, and then heard Kimberly's voice. "Back here, Tate!"
A quick look over his shoulder revealed that she'd found another door at the rear of the office. He could only assume if she was calling him toward it that it was more than a closet. Reggie was recovering his balance now and Max just eluded his grasp, circling the desk and running through the door, which led back out into the warehouse through a pathway lined with steel drums
"Run, Kimberly! I'll catch up!" he yelled.
It took a few precious seconds and all the strength Max possessed, but he managed to haul down one of the huge drums to send it rolling toward his pursuers. After a few more steps, he brought a crate crashing down, shattering a mountain of dishes in the path.
Max's heart beat a mile a minute by the time he found Kimberly huddled behind yet another row of crates. "Don't make a sound," he warned her in a near-silent whisper.
Every nerve in Kimberly's body was tensed and ready for action. Daring to peek around the wall of boxes that currently protected them, she saw Carlo and the old boss man across the way.
Carlo carried a gun.
Carlo carried a gun.
"Find them!" the boss exploded. "Now!"
They hadn't been seen yet, but this was definitely not a good enough hiding place. Obviously thinking the same thing, Max spoke to her in a barely discernible whisper. "As soon as the three of them get a little farther away, we make a run for it. Follow me." She nodded.
"Let's go," he said a moment later, and they scurried quietly from their hiding place, ducking between another row of boxes and crates, passing behind a forklift, hand in hand.
Suddenly, an order blared over a loudspeaker. "Attention. We have two trespassers on the premises. Find them immediately!"
The voice clearly belonged to the boss and the announcement meant there were more than just the three men in the building with them. Maybe a
lot
more.
lot
more.
Max yanked Kimberly down behind the row of crates toward the other side of the warehouse until they reached the end of the aisle. When Max cursed softly, she glanced up to see that more seedy-looking men had just appeared. A group of four stood conferring in a circle.
Before Max and Kimberly could backtrack, they were spotted. "Hey, you there!"
Kimberly followed Max as he pulled her frantically across the floor. She had no idea where they were headed, and no other choice than to simply trust Max's instincts.
"Hold it!"
"Come back here!"
The voices behind her were close, too close, as she tried to keep up with Max.
"You can't get away, Max!" Carlo yelled.
Without warning, Max flung Kimberly aside and turned to face Carlo and his henchmen head-on. "You want to make a bet!" He leaped behind a mountain of crates and gave a mighty heave, sending them all toppling before the encroaching men, blocking their path with a loud crash of splintering wood and breaking glass.
He placed his hand back in Kimberly's and they started running, running, until they came to a large steel door. Max ripped it open and Kimberly turned instantly heartsick to see that it wasn't an exit, but a large closet.
"In here," Max said anyway.
She rushed in and Max followed, shutting the big door behind them, then pulling her behind a stack of boxes.
They both stayed quiet and stood close as their breathing began to slow.
Kimberly couldn't help leaning into him, and he rested his back against the cinder-block wall, hugging her, warm and tight and long.
Outside, footsteps finally faded and gradually she began to feel that they were safe, at least for right now.
Then Max's strong hands began to move, slow and comforting, easing over her shoulders and back. It was good and soothing simply to be in his embrace, simply to let him console her that way.
A long, silent moment later, when he began to pull her closer, his caresses growing slightly deeper, Kimberly realized they were on the verge of edging into a desperate, slow-burning passion that could only escalate. As his touch skimmed over her hips and then higher, she came to her senses. "Max."
"What?" he whispered, one hand at the side of her breast.
"What are you doing?"
"Touching you." His voice was raspy and sexy, which made protesting considerably harder, yet…
"Max, are you crazy? Think about where we are. We've got to figure out what to do."
Slowly, he lowered his hand. "You're right," he whispered. "I'm sorry, babe. I was a little … out of my mind." He ran his fingers through his dark hair.
"It's okay," she said, hands at his chest. "But we've gotta keep our heads here."
He nodded, and they went silent, his grip tightening on her waist, when muffled voices could suddenly be heard again nearby.
"Where the hell could they be? They didn't just disappear into thin air."
"All the entrances are being guarded, so they couldn't have gotten out."
Kimberly and Max tensed, their gazes meeting, as yet another voice joined the fray. "Any luck?"
"Nope, but the boss said to scour every nook and cranny until we find 'em. They gotta be here somewhere."
Max didn't like how close those voices sounded, almost as if they were in the same room. Dropping to his knees, he pulled Kimberly gently down beside him to better hide them behind the tall row of boxes. Then he heard the door open.
And the vague, soft sounds of someone stepping inside, looking around.
He squeezed Kimberly's hand. He didn't like how afraid he was. Not afraid for himself. Afraid for her.
His heartbeat thundered in his chest. He waited for the door to shut again, for the relief to flood him, for them to be safe once more. Seconds seemed like hours.
But then he felt it. The unmistakable sensation of being seen. The silence did nothing to relieve the sensation, to make him think he was imagining it. Instead, it only intensified everything.
Dread filled him as he shifted his gaze to the left and up over the wall of boxes. Carlo's eyes peered back. He wore a leering grin. "Hi there, Max."
Max's chest tightened as he tensed for a fight, but then he remembered. Carlo had something he didn't—a gun—and Carlo chose just that moment to hold it up for Max to see.
Max got to his feet and Kimberly clambered up to stand slightly behind him, as Carlo and another guy stepped around the boxes so that no barrier stood between them.
"All right," Max said. "You win. Just let us go and we won't tell anybody about this place."
Carlo chuckled. "You think it's that easy?"
No, of course he didn't, but it had seemed like something he at least had to try.
"The boss had to leave, but this looks like a safe enough spot for you until he gets back tomorrow morning," Carlo said, looking around the closet. "No way out but the way in. And we'll be sure you don't get out
that
way, so don't even try."
that
way, so don't even try."
"What's gonna happen when the boss gets back?" Max asked.
Carlo lifted the gun again, this time leveling it at Max. "Bang, bang," he said with a hideous smile.
Max felt all the blood drain from his face, but kept his voice steady when he asked, "What about Kimberly?"
Carlo's gaze shifted admiringly to her and he gave his head a regretful shake. "If it was up to me, I'd find some other way to deal with her. But it isn't. The boss isn't one for taking chances."
Carlo and his buddy went out and closed the door, locking them inside. Max instinctively pulled Kimberly tight against him. Neither of them said a word. This was a high-stakes operation and they knew Carlo wasn't exaggerating. Kimberly slid her arms around his neck and they embraced.
"What now, Max?" she whispered, feather-soft in his ear.
He considered their options as he continued to hold her—there weren't many. "I'm not sure," he admitted, releasing a long sigh and lifting a consoling hand to her cheek. "But it looks like we may as well get comfortable."
* * *
Hours passed and hunger mounted. Max decided that if they made it through this, he was going to take Kimberly out for a lavish dinner someplace expensive. But for now, he tried not to mention food—God knew he was thinking about it, but if she wasn't, no need to make her start.
Each time he thought about making a run for it, he remembered Carlo's gun and the talk of guarded entrances and it made him stay put. He didn't like just waiting around, especially after a threat like the one Carlo had issued, yet who knew how many men were out there waiting for them to make the mistake of showing themselves?
And just where was Frank? Enough time had passed that his old mentor should have come looking for them by now, hopefully with the police in tow. But then, who knew how often Frank picked up his messages? Anything could have happened—his machine could have malfunctioned, or he might simply have missed the blinking light when he'd come in.
Now he and Kimberly sat side by side, their backs against the closet wall, both lost in private thoughts. Everything around them was quiet and had been for some time.
"I'm sorry, Kimberly," he suddenly felt compelled to say.
Even through the dim lighting in the closet, he saw her turn to look at him. "Sorry? For what?"
"Sorry you're in this mess with me. Sorry I didn't make you stay outside. Sorry I kicked over that trash can."
"Let's get something straight here, Max. I'm in this mess with you because it's my job to be. I know you don't have much faith in me professionally, but there's nothing you could have done to make me wait for you outside."
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