Jessie Slaymaker's Rules of Engagement (The Jessie Slaymaker Series Book 2) (27 page)

‘You spoke to Jack?’ Jessie said, clutching her bathrobe at the neck.

‘Yes. Right after I spoke to you. He said he was in Shanghai and would head back to you. Jessie, what’s going on?’ Tom asked, seriously.

‘Charlie Davenport came to kidnap me, but then I hit him with my shoe and ran away and now I think they’ve kidnapped Jack instead. I can’t get hold of him. It’s like he’s just disappeared,’ Jessie rambled, unable to hold it together any longer as a big gulp escaped her.

‘Shit!’ Tom exclaimed, before he unleashed a torrent of questions. ‘Please tell me you went to the police? Where are you now? Are you safe?’

‘I’m safe. I’m in a hotel. The police can’t do much. They said they’ll try and bring Charlie in for questioning for breaking and entering and threatening behaviour. But at the moment it’s just my word to go on that any of this even happened. Tom, I think I need to call the police and report Jack as missing. I need to do something. I feel like such a coward just hiding here in the hotel. I should be out looking for him.’

‘Jessie, listen to me: call the police and tell them about Jack, but you need to take care of yourself and
stay hidden
. You don’t have a clue what Charlie might do to you next time. Don’t go out looking for Jack on your own. I’ll use my contacts and see if I can find his flight details. Make sure he got on a plane and isn’t still in Shanghai somewhere.’

‘Thanks, Tom,’ Jessie said wearily. Although she still didn’t have a clue what was going on, she didn’t feel quite so alone in the world.

‘Keep your phone on, but in the meantime, I know it’s hard, but you should try and get some rest,’ he instructed.

‘Will do,’ Jessie replied obediently. ‘But promise me you’ll call me if you find out anything.’

‘Of course,’ he said before ending the call.

Jessie immediately called the police and gave them her case number and tried to attach a missing person’s report in Jack’s name to the same file. Yet despite her practically begging the police officer at the other end of the line to listen to her, they would not be persuaded to lodge anything official yet. Jessie was informed that apparently nothing could be done, seeing as Jack was a grown adult, and he hadn’t even been missing for half of the required twenty-four hours deemed necessary before a report could formally be filed.

Although she never thought she would, somehow, eventually, Jessie managed to fall asleep. She was woken by a thumping on her hotel room door, a sound that paralysed her with fear. Her first thought was that Charlie must have discovered her whereabouts, and she frantically searched the room for some sort of weapon to use on him.

‘Jessie, open up! It’s Rachel Horton,’ came her boss’s voice. Amongst all the craziness of the previous day, and with the realisation that Jack was missing, Jessie had forgotten all about the fact that she’d called Rachel, too. Jessie suddenly remembered that Rachel had called for Jack to be followed. Maybe she’d even had
her
followed as well, thinking she would lead them to Jack.

‘Have you found him?’ Jessie shouted as she ran to the door and flung it open.

Rachel strutted past her and into the hotel room, and Jessie’s eyes went wide. Her boss, forensic accountant Rachel Horton, was wearing what looked like a black, rubber, all-in-one body suit, and wouldn’t have looked out of place as a Batman sidekick.

‘Bloody hell!’ Jessie muttered as she took in the vision before her. Even clad in rubber, Rachel looked to be about the most put-together woman in the world, with her flawless makeup and a perfect high ponytail.

‘We haven’t found him. But we know they have him,’ Rachel answered directly. ‘We followed him back from Shanghai. He was picked up in a car by an as-yet-unidentified male.’

‘Where is he now?’ Jessie asked as she started to pick up her clothes, her intention to go to him obvious.

‘We don’t want you going in there, Jessie. Let us do our job. We’ll get him back.’

‘What are you waiting for? They could be doing anything to him,’ Jessie reasoned.

‘At the moment, they don’t know we know anything about them. And we need to keep it that way until we have the relevant paperwork to issue warrants for their arrests and launch a more thorough investigation.’

‘What? He’s being held against his will? Isn’t that enough? The police wouldn’t allow this.’

‘The police are working with us, and our combined task force has jurisdiction in this case.’

‘This is bullshit!’ Jessie shouted at her. ‘Rachel, where is he? They’ll be expecting me to come after him. If you don’t help me, then I’ll just find Charlie, and he’ll lead me to Jack eventually.’

Rachel looked at her with what Jessie thought to be pity.

‘Please, Rachel,’ Jessie pleaded. ‘Please don’t let them hold him for a second longer than necessary. He’s done nothing wrong.’

Rachel paused for a moment, clearly considering whether or not to divulge this information. At last she said quietly, ‘They have him at the bar.’

‘Thank you,’ Jessie replied tartly as she marched towards the bathroom to get dressed.

‘What are you going to do?’ Rachel called through the closed door.

Jessie paused whilst she thought about that for a moment.

‘I’ll figure something out,’ she replied lamely, and threw open the door. She didn’t exactly look like a stereotypical rescuer in her tight pencil skirt and trainers, but she would have to do.

‘I have a better idea, if you’ll just hear me out,’ Rachel said.

Jack woke up with a cracking headache and a metallic taste in his mouth. It didn’t take him long to realise that he was tied with his hands behind his back to a chair, or that he could barely flex his shoulders, let alone move a muscle. As he swallowed back the taste of blood and the initial panic of not being able to move, he tried to focus on his surroundings despite the pain in his head.

As his eyes struggled to focus in the dim light thrown off by the overhead bulb, he concluded that he was in some kind of basement. There was something familiar about where he was, as he noticed a pile of boxes and drink crates. Then it hit him why this place seemed so familiar: he was being held against his will in the basement of his own bar. Something in Jack’s brain just couldn’t fathom that. Surely it was too obvious. What kind of idiots had brought him here? It was either incredibly stupid or incredibly clever to have him hidden in plain sight.

He thought back to how he got here. The last thing he remembered was arriving back at Hong Kong airport and getting in a taxi. The traffic had been bad in town, and he’d opted to get out of the taxi early and walk the rest of the way to Jessie’s flat. And that’s where his memories seemed to just stop. Try as he might, he couldn’t remember anything between that point and coming to just now. The time between was simply filled with a hollow empty blackness.

‘Jessie!’ he exclaimed to the room.

His earlier panic resurfaced as he wondered what had happened to her. She was the reason why he’d raced back to Hong Kong. Tom had called him to say that he had a feeling Jessie was in some kind of trouble. So he’d called and called her phone, but she never picked up. In the end he resorted to leaving her a message to let her know he was coming back for her before his phone died. Even so, there was a part of him that wondered if Tom was just being melodramatic and she was actually right as rain and just unable to get to her phone. He’d hoped so anyway.

But now he realised that someone else must have been in possession of Jessie’s phone, had heard his message, and had used that information to come after him. Did that mean that whoever was holding him captive, had Jessie as well?

As that thought filtered through Jack’s still hazy mind, he subconsciously began struggling against his restraints in a feeble attempt to free himself. He could barely move at all, though, and achieved nothing that could be classified as progress, other than the fact that he’d managed to rub his wrists painfully raw.

Over the hum of the storage fridges in the basement, Jack started to make out the noises from the floor above him. It sounded like footsteps and doors clanging. Training his ears on the sound of the footsteps, he was able to hear a specific pair getting louder, and then the basement door opened and the footsteps continued down the flight of steps to the same steady beat. And there, standing in front of him, in her expensive shoes, was none other than Sonia Shum.

‘Oh, good. You’re awake,’ she cooed as she walked towards him, slowly revealing herself in the centre light. She was dressed in typical Sonia fashion, in a tight red dress that emphasised her bump. ‘You’ve been out for hours. Sorry about the head, but you know how it is: accidents happen. You’re lucky I didn’t have you gagged, but I knew you wouldn’t do anything stupid like make a racket,’ she went on. ‘Especially as you don’t have a clue what’s happened to your dearest Jessie.’

Jack stared at the woman before him. She was completely unrecognisable to him, but not because she was pregnant. Once upon a time he thought they’d been friends. That time was long past. There wasn’t a single trace of friendship left in the woman he saw before him. She was consumed by determination to achieve her own ends, whatever they were.

‘What are you doing, Sonia? This is crazy, even for you,’ Jack said, choosing not to rise to the Jessie bait. He knew she was goading him.

‘Perhaps. But, extreme times call for extreme measures. And call me psychic, but I had a feeling you wouldn’t give me what I want anyway, and I’m sick of waiting for you to do the right thing. Who knew pregnancy could make one so impatient?’ She said all this casually, wandering around the room and studying this box and then that crate, running her index finger along multiple surfaces, checking for dust and dirt. All the while her face looked as though she was smelling something rather disgusting.

‘What do you want, exactly?’ Jack growled at her.

‘Isn’t it obvious?’ she replied with a sigh. ‘I want all the secret documents that you keep stashed away for the government, up in Shanghai, transferred into my possession.’

‘Don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Jack retorted.

‘I want those documents, Jack,’ Sonia said, fixing him with a glare. ‘You don’t even know what you’re in possession of,’ she spat, launching at him suddenly. She didn’t touch him, but her quick movement was enough to make him flinch.

‘Like I said, I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Jack replied, smiling at her visible annoyance.

‘I wouldn’t be so cocky if I were you. I’m not the one tied up. I could do all manner of things to you,’ she said, sidling behind him and placing her hands on his shoulders. Jack tensed immediately under her touch. ‘Not to mention a certain English brunette.’

‘Leave Jessie out of this. It’s got nothing to do with her.’

‘My point exactly. If only the stupid little bitch had done as she was told and left you alone, she wouldn’t be in this mess now. But whether you like it or not, she’s involved now,’ Sonia said, leaning down to his ear so he could feel her breath on his neck.

‘I’ve destroyed them,’ Jack said quietly, changing his tactic.

‘Excuse me?’ Sonia enquired, completing her circle around him so she was now standing in front of him again, looking at his face.

‘I’ve destroyed all the documents,’ Jack repeated.

‘You’re bluffing,’ she said easily, a snakelike smile dancing across her lips. ‘I sincerely doubt you have the authority to destroy such things. But good try. And at least we all now know that you
do
know what I’m talking about. I expect the truth from now on, Jack. No more lying, and no more delaying tactics. No one is going to come and rescue you.’

Above their heads there was an almighty commotion, and both Sonia and Jack looked up at the ceiling as if expecting it to fall on their heads. They could hear shouting and furniture toppling over. Then after a few moments, there was silence, and the basement door opened noisily.

‘Found this one loitering outside,’ Charlie said as he made his way down the stairs, manhandling a less-than-compliant woman.

‘Jessie!’ Jack exclaimed when he saw who the woman was. ‘Charlie, let her go,’ Jack ordered.

‘Jack! Good to see you. And no, I’m not going to do that,’ Charlie replied with a sneer. He positioned another chair opposite Jack and roughly forced Jessie down into it. Then he bound her hands behind her. Jack looked on as Charlie took up an intimidating sentry-like position behind Jessie.

‘Are you okay?’ Jessie whispered across to Jack, tears in her eyes.

She looked frightened, but aside from that, Jack couldn’t see any other injury on her. He nodded quickly and was about to tell her that everything would be okay, when Sonia positioned herself between them and began her verbal assault on Jessie.

‘Nice outfit,’ Sonia said to Jessie, her tone mocking as she looked her prisoner up and down, pausing on the mismatched combination of running shoes and office attire. ‘And oh my! What do we have here? Diamonds?’ She pushed Jessie’s hair behind her ears so she could look at her earrings. Jessie didn’t flinch. She just looked at the woman like she wanted to scratch her eyes out. Despite the rapid rise and fall of her chest, Jack could see an undercurrent of steely resolve and underlying calm in Jessie’s eyes.

‘Jack gave them to me,’ Jessie replied eventually, her voice even.

‘Well, isn’t that nice. Although Jacky, they’re not so big now, are they? I thought you would have been a bit more generous than that.’ She turned her body sideways to include Jack in the conversation.

‘They’re perfect,’ Jessie said, drawing Sonia’s attention back to her. ‘So—these documents, Sonia. You want them. Jack has them. I'm guessing you've tried to held hold of them through illicit means, failed and this is your last-ditch attempt to gain possession. If you told him exactly why you wanted them, maybe he would be more inclined to give them to you.’ Jack threw her an alarmed look. He didn’t have a clue what the hell she was playing at, but this didn’t seem like an altogether good plan.

‘At last! Someone who’s not trying to deceive me with childish games,’ Sonia said, shooting Jack a warning look.’