Lazar's Intrigue (The Jack Lazar Series) (8 page)

Jack
sighed. “I swear to God, I don’t know anything about it. You must believe me.”

“But,
you just offered to tell me everything if I let Sarina go free.”

“I
know what I said. That was just to protect her.”

“People
don’t play games with me, Mr. Lazar.” Phil motioned to Rex. “Put this bastard
in that chair, and make sure he can see what’s going on. I think it’s time we
gave him a different kind of incentive.”

Rex
pulled a chair from the table and rammed Jack into it while Phil walked over to
Sarina and grabbed a handful of her hair, knocking her head against the wall
behind her.

“I
don’t know how much you care about this woman,” Phil said. “But the way I see
it, the more you care, the faster you’ll talk.”

“No
matter what they do to me, Jack,” Sarina pleaded, seemingly impervious to the
pain, “don’t tell them anything.”

Phil
yanked even harder, pulling her body out of the chair as far as her bindings
would give this time, and she gasped.

Jack
instinctively bolted up from his seat in an attempt to defend her, but Rex’s enormous
hands assaulted his shoulders and suppressed him back into the chair.

“You
bastard!” Jack shouted. “I swear. I don’t know a goddamn thing! Just let her
go! Please!” He struggled with his assailant’s hold, but his strength was no
match.

“I’ve
only just begun, Mr. Lazar.” Phil released Sarina’s hair, swung back his arm
and struck her cleanly across the face as if it were a ritual he had performed
many times. He glared brutally into Jack’s eyes and spoke as if it were a
challenge to contain his rage. “Rex, rip the clothes off this little bitch and
do anything you want to her.”

Sarina
wrestled desperately with her bindings as Damien took over Rex’s guard, and the
huge man approached her with disturbing eagerness.

Jack’s
fiery anger drew him to his feet again, and he assaulted Rex from behind, wrapping
his arm around the man’s neck and tightening his grasp until the cold steel of Damien’s
Uzi pressed against the back of his head. He instantly froze before releasing
Rex and settling into his seat again. Jack was instantly aware that his
fighting prowess in the classroom paled in comparison to the demands of real
hand-to-hand combat, and it was intimidating as hell. His breath grew short and
his heart beat out of control as the odd combination of fear and rage swept
over him.

What
in God’s name am I going to do?

Rex
resumed his bold approach toward Sarina, and he placed his gun at the far end
of the table to free up both hands. He grabbed the lapels of her blouse as she stared
fearlessly into his eyes, and the garment ripped apart as if it were made of
paper. He tugged viciously at her bra like a befuddled ape, wrenching her
forward with each thrust. Frustrated, he reached for the knife he kept at his
belt.

Sarina
froze as Rex held the jagged blade just two inches from her face, and she could
hear Phil’s powerful laughter as the knife effortlessly cut through the straps
on her shoulders, inadvertently slitting the skin on both sides of her collar
bone, the blood trickling down her arms.

Grasping
the bra from each side, Rex pulled it down to her stomach with a single thrust,
exposing her breasts to the lascivious eyes of her captors. He grinned
boastingly to his counterparts as he greedily explored her upper body with his
callused hands.

Sarina’s
body jerked from utter repugnance like she was having violent seizures, and she
looked directly at Jack, her eyes clearly ordering him to forget what she said
before and get this bastard off her.

Jack
experienced an unfamiliar feeling as he absorbed the intensity of her plea. His
thinking became muddled, and his anger fed on itself, intensifying
exponentially with every passing moment. A feeling of numbness settled into his
extremities, and a rush of untamed anxiety charged through his nervous system
as the adrenaline kicked in. His fear of inadequacy against these powerful
adversaries vanished, and a single thought ran through his mind.

Kill
these motherfuckers. Kill them now!

Jack’s
fists clenched instinctively as he once again bolted up from his seat and let
out a fierce scream of bottled anger. He spun around, suddenly thankful for the
thousand and one times his teacher had made him practice the maneuver, and
swept his leg over the back of the chair, his foot cleanly striking the side of
Damien’s face.

Preoccupied
with his gawking, Damien could not balance himself against Jack’s momentum, and
he crashed into the wall, his head whipping back against the cinder block, the
Uzi spraying rounds across the room as he fell.

Jack
watched Damien drop unconscious to the floor before he felt the sting of the
bullet that had grazed his temple and the warm sensation of blood trickling
down his cheek. He quickly turned in preparation of handling the other two men,
his jujitsu stance in textbook form.

Phil
had fallen to one knee and held his left side with both hands, just above his hip.
Blood seeped between his fingers as he summoned to Rex for help.

“For
God’s sake!” Phil screamed. “Kill him!”

Rex
had already reached for his gun before Jack could approach him, and he fired
with desperate determination as Jack darted nimbly from side to side unscathed.
Before Rex could shoot again, the gun flew from his hand.

His
anger continuing to rage, Jack relentlessly struck the man again and again,
providing no opportunity for counterattack. Each blow became less true to form
than the last as his more primal defense instincts engaged, his punches losing
their Eastern influences and gradually resembling those of a fight in a back
alley somewhere—sloppy, but nonetheless effective.

Finally
Rex fell, his knife falling to the floor, and Jack swiped it before running
back to Sarina. He knelt in front of her and frantically cut away at the ropes.

“Hurry,
goddamnit!” she complained as Rex appeared to gather his strength for another
assault.

Jack
freed her left arm and began to work on the right. “Just one more second.”

Her
other arm released, Sarina grabbed the knife and hastily cut the ropes around
her legs, allowing Jack to prepare for another confrontation with Rex. But the
big man had stumbled back to the floor, propped on one knee, apparently still
disoriented.

“Give
me your jacket, and let’s get out of here,” Sarina insisted as she jumped to
her feet and crossed her arms over her breasts with a look of impatient expectation.
“Your jacket, please!”

Jack
removed his blazer and held it up to dress her before they dashed from the room
into the open office. Sarina moved directly toward the stairs as Jack detoured
to the desk he had seen earlier.

“My
gun,” he explained. “And yours, too, I assume.” He tossed the .45 to Sarina and
swiftly followed her through the outside door, down the metal staircase and
through the stacks of boxes like a star halfback led by an all-pro guard.

They
continued to run toward a row of steel overhead doors, which Jack assumed led
to a truck loading dock. Sarina pulled the roller chain to open the first door,
but it yielded only two inches from the floor, the clang of steel smacking concrete
echoing throughout the warehouse as she released the chain.

“Shit.
It looks like they’re all locked,” she said.

Rex’s
offensive, bloody figure appeared at the top of the stairs, Uzi in hand, and he
opened fire on the couple as they leapt behind a stack of unmarked crates. The
bullets made a terrifying noise as they struck the metal doors and flew in a
myriad of directions, marring articles all around them. Then silence.

Jack
and Sarina stood side by side, their backs against the crates, and they listened
carefully for the big man’s movements as they struggled to suppress the sound
of their breathing. Jack watched the way Sarina held her gun in the air, close
to her shoulder, and he attempted to emulate her stance with what he judged to
be a more masculine style. He studied her attentively and was taken by the
confidence she exuded, the poise of her carriage, the delicateness of her ears
and the curve of her neck as she tilted her head to listen.

Sarina
darted her head around the corner and reared back. “He’s not on the stairs
anymore,” she whispered. “He must have come down here while he was shooting at
us.” She appeared to strategize for a moment. “We have to get to the main door
on the other side of the warehouse, but I don’t think we’ll make it unless we
take him out first.” She pointed toward the other end of the stack of crates. “You
go that way, and I’ll go this way.” She kissed him quickly and smiled before
turning to begin her infiltration of the central corridor of boxes and crates
that led toward the opposite end of the building.

Jack
took a deep breath and raised his gun as he slid to the edge of his assigned
territory. He poked his head around the corner just as Sarina had done, but
before he could pull back Rex’s mighty hands grabbed his throat, the pressure
of his grip so intense that Jack felt his neck would snap in half before he had
the chance to choke to death.

But
the big man soon released his hold as the Beretta jammed into his gut, and the
few bullets Jack had loaded into the gun plowed into Rex’s body, causing him to
slither to the floor.

Jack
was momentarily stunned. He had never shot a man before. And regardless of Rex’s
obvious intentions to kill him, the realization that he had taken the life of
another human being was overwhelming.

There
seemed to be a lapse in time before Jack found himself running again while Sarina
tugged on his arm and led him to the opposite side of the warehouse. The main
entrance door opened effortlessly, and the couple sprinted away from the place
without looking back, zipping through rows of containers, around equipment, and
traversing the shadows to make best their escape. Eventually they heard nothing
but their own breathing and the sounds of their footsteps echoing from building
to building in the dark warehouse district.

The
fog in Jack’s mind began to clear, and he glanced over at Sarina from time to
time, following her lead, his thoughts slowly turning to her sensual form, the
passion in her strides. He could sense her gradual confidence in the success of
their escape, and the knowledge of it set his mind at ease.

They
continued for more than a mile before slowing down at the side of another
warehouse building, and Jack was relieved to see that Sarina had parked her Audi
there. They walked the remaining few feet and leaned against the car, out of breath,
and turned to survey the open area behind them. No one had followed.

“Where
did you learn to fight like that?” Sarina asked him, conveying that she was
content to remain there until they could breathe more easily.

Jack
looked at her oddly, hanging his head sideways. “What do you mean? I told you
at dinner the other night that I’ve been studying martial arts for a long time.
And I’m not half bad.”

Sarina
moistened her lips and smiled at him as she scooted her body closer. “I should
say not. I haven’t seen good fighting like that in a while. I guess I just
thought you were talking big to impress me.” She moved within inches of him and
expertly perched herself on the front fender of the car as she let the blazer
fall open to reveal her breasts. She crossed her legs so Jack could see plenty
of them.

He
pretended not to be affected. “What are you doing?”

She
smiled at him provocatively. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Sarina,
you may be used to the kind of violence we just experienced, but I’m not. For God’s
sake, I just killed someone.”

Despite
what he just said, Jack was surprised at how much he was excited by her. She
looked remarkable, he thought, even with all the cuts and bruises. Perhaps the
power she drew from adversity wielded the intense sensual energy that radiated
from her eyes. It captivated him so, without her hands ever touching him.

Sarina
smiled as if his morality was almost charming. “My dear Jack. Please don’t let
the cold reality of the moment spoil the passion you can draw from it. I can
feel the adrenaline flowing through your body almost as if it were my own, and
it excites me like crazy. I just need to teach you how to use it.”

Still
leaning against the car, she bent forward and pulled him down by the lapel of
his shirt. She kissed him gingerly at first, but her lips gradually became more
forceful, her passion building as her breathing grew heavier, and she
relentlessly enveloped his mouth. She reached down to his crotch and grabbed
him through the fabric of his pants, squeezing so hard that Jack almost drew
back. But instead he surrendered to it, allowing the bolt of cruel pleasure to race
up his spine.

“I
need you to fuck me,” she whispered, her tone firm and serious, her hot breath
washing over his ear. “C’mon, Jack. Fuck me right here on the hood of my car.
You know you want to.”

She
was right. That’s exactly what he wanted to do, and without hesitation he pulled
Sarina toward him, taking her into his arms. He grabbed her ass and pressed her
pelvis against his crotch as he kissed her, sucking her lips into his mouth and
seizing them with his teeth. Like a flood gate opening, the emotions rushed
through him as if he had no control, and his hands roamed everywhere in greedy
pursuit of sudden, unadulterated want and need.