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Authors: Calle J. Brookes

Tags: #rescue romance serial killer romantic suspense pavad 5fbi romantic suspense stalking romantic suspense boss romance office romance police procedural romance

Hunting (6 page)

BOOK: Hunting
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He would have it delivered
to her hospital room within the hour, along with a personal note of
apology.

And then he’d have to begin
a new game, one that was set specifically on this new game board,
with more significant pieces than he’d used before. At times, he’d
doubted Malachi recognized the significance of the pawns and pieces
he’d chosen to use before. But in this new game there would be no
question that it was he and Malachi on the board.

And only one of them would
come out the winner.

Chapter
Twelve
* * *

Alessandra was exhausted
and wanted her bed. She could have stayed at her parents’, but the
thought of camping on their too-short living room couch was just
not appealing. Not when her own bed waited just four miles away.
Jules’ car was still in the driveway when she pulled in, and she
wondered what her friend was doing there at three-thirty in the
morning. The house hadn’t been that messy when Al had
left.

Maybe Jules had stayed with
Paige? Paige and Mick hadn’t been getting along—everyone had seen
that—so maybe Jules had stuck around to give Paige some support
until Al got home? That was possible.

Al parked beside Jules and
grabbed her purse from the passenger seat. She’d get inside, send
Jules on her way—or convince her to stay in the spare room since it
was so late—then Al would collapse in her own bed. All she wanted
was her own pillow and blankets.

She slammed the door closed
and trudged through the snow toward the back door.

She tripped over a dark
shape three feet from her car. She had been damned lucky not to run
over it. Was it a bag of trash? She looked closer, wishing her
idiot brother had gotten around to changing the security light by
the garage before the party like she’d asked. She’d have done it
herself, but she was eight inches too short.

The shape moaned, and Al
cursed. She dropped to her knees and grabbed her cell, clicking the
flashlight button. “Paige!”


Help…Mal. Jules…” Paige
fought to sit up, but it was obvious she’d been hit hard by
whatever…Al dialed 911 and gave a quick run-down, requesting PAVAD
assistance, as well as local. Whoever could get there the
fastest.


Mick! Mick! Get your ass
out here now!” Paige had said Jules and Mal. What about her other
brother? Where were Mal and Jules? Al shined the phone in a circle,
looking for a second person. Or a third. Nothing, but there was
blood on the snow, and smeared on Jules’ car hood. What had
happened? Dear God, where were they?

Mick came running, wearing
jeans and shoes only. “What’s the matter?”


Help me up! We need to
find Mal and Jules.” Paige held out her hand and Mick took it. He
pulled her to her feet, and Al stuck at her friend’s side. Paige’s
knees went out beneath her. Mick got impatient and scooped Paige up
and carried her into the house as the sound of sirens split the
night.


What the fuck happened out
here? Where’s Mal?”


Five men. I heard Jules
yell. They were beating Mal up. I tried to stop them!” Paige
explained what else she remembered. “Al, I scratched at least three
of them. They’ll be DNA.”


We’ll find them.” Al hoped
Mal and Jules would be in better shape than Paige when they did. It
was a miracle Paige was even talking coherently at that point. Her
arm was obviously broken, her forehead was bleeding badly, and Al
suspected there were other injuries that weren’t as obvious. Mick
was holding Paige up, and Al figured he was the only thing keeping
Paige from collapsing. “What the hell is going on here?”

Who had done this? And
where were Jules and her brother? Were they already dead somewhere?
How were they going to find them?

 

 

Chapter
Thirteen
* * *

He watched her sleep for
the longest time. Her dark hair stood out against the white of the
hospital bed. The cast on her arm was completely obscene. And it
didn’t belong there.

Nothing should mar her
skin, certainly not bruises, and casts, and stitches. He resisted
the urge to touch her. She wasn’t ready for that yet.

She shouldn’t be in that
hospital bed and that mistake would cost the men responsible
dearly. He would see to it.


Is she still sleeping?” A
voice asked from behind him. Alessandra.

Malachi’s
sister.


Seems to be. I figured I
would stop by; I was next door visiting a patient. I wanted to make
sure she is being taken care of. Have they found your brother and
friend, yet?” Shouldn’t she be out looking for them? Wasn’t that
one of the things she did? He doubted they’d had time to get to the
North St. Louis home.


Not yet.”


Any leads?” There had
better not be, but he knew the question would be expected in this
situation And he must play his part. But if there were leads, he’d
be furious. He wouldn’t pay for sloppiness. Of course, he hadn’t
given orders for Paige to be harmed or for that other woman to be
taken. Such foolish mistakes; they would have to be dealt with. And
swiftly.


Nothing. They are assuming
it’s an attack on Mal. But Jules’ testimony has put away quite a
few people. We just don’t know.”


You will find them. I know
you will. You just must take heart. How is your mother holding up?”
His one regret in his game with Malachi was the pain he’d
eventually cause the other woman.

The woman who was the
closest thing to a real mother he had.

And she loved her children,
including Malachi. His game would inevitably cause her lasting
pain. And that was something he had considered. But she would still
have her daughter and Mikhail, her second son. That would carry her
through. And eventually Alessandra would marry—all women like her
did sooner or later, in his experience—and give her parents
grandchildren to fuss over.

At one point he’d
considered marrying her himself, becoming an actual part of
Meredith’s family. But he’d discarded that possibility. He and
Alessandra would just not suit—she was too obstinate and
uncontrollable for his taste, though she was a beautiful and sexy
woman.

No, her slightly younger
friend and partner would fulfill his needs much better. As soon as
he stripped her of her Goth ways.

She only used the Goth
style as a way to hide her true self anyway.

Once she and he were
together, she would realize that such a hiding was not necessary.
He had a wardrobe for her already selected, and just waiting for
her to step into it.

Soon. All in good
time.

And she needed to heal from
the attack from those idiots first…

Chapter
Fourteen
* * *

Malachi held her through
the night and most of the next day as she grew progressively worse.
At one point he stripped the sheet off the mattress, then dressed
her in the hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants he’d found in the
bathroom before rewrapping her in the sheet. He tucked her against
his chest, and then pulled the blanket over them both, hoping his
body heat would help her fight the chills shaking her.

She didn’t protest, seemed
to welcome the warmth and his touch. That’s what concerned him the
most.

He was still holding her
early the following morning when the door burst open and federal
agents shoved in. Agents he recognized.


Thank God!” he got to his
feet, pulling Julia into his arms.

Ed Dennis tried to take her
from him but Malachi would not let her go. “Son, there’s an
ambulance waiting on street level. Let’s get her up there, get you
both checked out.”


I’m fine. It’s her. She’s
been this way since yesterday. I’ve tried to get her to drink as
much as I could, but...” She’d been lethargic for the last several
hours, and hadn’t wanted to drink, even when he’d forced it down
her.

He carried her out of the
basement, leaving Hellbrook and Dennis to follow. Several police
cars and a host of Bureau vehicles surrounded the block. He ignored
them and the news crews flashing their lights in his eyes. All his
attention was focused on the ambulance just outside the perimeter
of vehicles.

He was met at the rear of
the vehicle by two paramedics. He set his burden down on the
stretcher. She clung to him, until the medics pulled her away.
Hellbrook and Dennis were behind him, grabbing his shoulders and
pulling him back. He fought their hands, intent on staying with
her.


Settle down, Mal!” Hell
said. “Georgia’s going with her! We need you here!”

Malachi looked in the
ambulance at the woman who’d just hopped in. Georgia was pale, but
clung to Julia’s hand. She nodded at him, a wordless confirmation
she’d stay with Julia. The doors closed and the ambulance roared
away.

Malachi turned to the
agents surrounding him—Hellbrook, Dennis, Dan Reynolds, Sebastian
Lorcan, and Fin McLaughlin. Five men who he trusted
completely.


Paige?” he asked Lorcan,
her team leader. She had weighed on his mind almost as heavily as
Julia.


Carrie and Al have her at
the hospital. Your brother is there, as well,” Dennis said. “Just
as a precaution. She has a few broken ribs, concussion, and a
broken arm. Bruises. She’s been worried sick about you and Jules.
We all have.”

Malachi breathed a little
easier. “How did you find us?”


An envelope with an
address was sent to Paige’s hospital room, along with an apology
for involving her.” Hellbrook pulled an evidence bag out of his
pocket. “These were also inside.”

Malachi took the bag.
Inside the clear plastic were two chess pieces. The king and queen
stared back at him.


Look closely,” Dennis
said.


I don’t have my glasses.”
Malachi took the bag and pulled it closer to his face.

Dennis pulled a pair from
his pocket. Malachi recognized them as the spare pair he’d kept in
his desk. “These may help.”

The face stuck to the queen
was Julia’s. He didn’t have to look at the second piece to know
he’d find his own likeness staring back at him.

The Chess Master had
returned.

Chapter
Fifteen
* * *

Only his tight control of
himself kept him from lashing out at the youth in front of him. “I
told you only Malachi Brockman was to be taken. Not some woman I do
not even know!”


It was the only way we
could get the big bastard! He was so totally into that bitch. We
got a jump on him that way. You didn’t say he’d be so big or would
know how to fight back. Thought he would be soft.” Kid was cocky
enough to act like his failure didn’t matter. Fool. “Then the other
girl was there. We were lucky she didn’t kill Jimmy. Damned ball
bat.”

The other woman. His woman.
His final creation, his queen. Now lying in a hospital bed with
bruises, broken bones, and a concussion.

Completely
unacceptable.


You’re lucky I do not kill
you myself.” Which he would. Probably in the next four hours. Once
he checked the camera feed.

Checked on Malachi
himself.


Why? We got the bastard.
Now give me what you owe us.” False bravado, easy for a trained
psychologist like himself to see.

They’d struck a covenant,
him and this foolish young man who would not live to his
twenty-first birthday. “Why should I? You didn’t deliver on your
end of the bargain, and because of that, I must adjust my
plans.”


If you don’t, then I have
to rat you out.” Self-satisfaction was evident in the kid’s smirk.
“So just give me the scripts you owe us. My brother and me and the
others will consider the deal paid.”

He pulled the coveted
prescription pad from his desk drawer, where he kept it secured at
all times. “This? I do believe we had a deal. But since you failed
to deliver, I think we’ll cut your pay in half. Since you’ve caused
me twice as much work in the future. You see, I was about to end
things with Malachi Brockman, but since you’ve involved another
piece to the game, I must concede defeat.”


What the fuck you sayin’,
man? We had a deal, remember?”

Yes, they had. And to him,
his vow was sacrosanct. He didn’t give his word lightly. And he
expected the same from those he engaged with. This young man had
violated that sanctity by involving two other players in the game
he played with Malachi. He pulled one more item from the desk.
Aimed it at the young man. “Yes, we did. And you
failed.”

 

***

 

It was simple to dispose of
the young man’s body. He was a major part of the local gang and of
a disadvantaged background. It was as simple as dumping him in an
area of others with his socioeconomic and ethnic background would
congregate.

To ensure there was time
for him to complete what he needed to do, he drove across Eads
Bridge into East St. Louis, stripped the youth of his
identification and cut off his fingertips with the pocketknife
Meredith and her husband had given him for his fifteenth
birthday.

BOOK: Hunting
13.2Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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