Monroe, Marla - Brandy's Bikers [The Dirty Dozen 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (12 page)

Finally, the van stopped moving, and the man got out and came around to pull her out. She couldn’t believe her eyes. It was Jim. The fool was going to end up dead when her men caught up with him.

She glared at him and tried to tell him that, but the gag hampered her efforts.

“Not so high and mighty now, are you?” He pulled her to him, then bent and threw her over his shoulder.

He carried her like that down a path and to a cabin of some sort. She figured it was a hunting cabin. He opened the door and carried her to a bed, where he dropped her none too gently. Brandy fought her bindings, but there was no way she was going to get out of the duct tape.

He removed the gag, and she immediately sucked in great gulps of air.

“Why in the hell would you kidnap me, Jim? You’re going to be in so much trouble.”

“I’ll be long gone from here. They’re paying me enough to go to Mexico if I want to.”

“Who’s paying, and why?” she demanded.

“None of your fucking business. All you have to worry about is pleasing me.”

Brandy stilled. Surely he wouldn’t rape her. Her heart skipped a beat as she began to shake. She couldn’t handle it if he raped her. She would never be able to live through it.

“I see you’re worried now. You should be. You treated me like crap. I’ll get my revenge, bitch.”

He pulled her in for a kiss. She fought him and tried to bite him. He slapped her. Then he bit her on the neck.

“You bite me, and I’ll make it hard for you. Do you understand me?” Jim yelled.

“You’re not going to force me to do anything. I’ll fight you all the way.”

“I love a good fight. I’ll make you beg me for it before it’s over with.”

“I’ll never beg you for anything,” she spat out.

* * * *

West and Kyle pulled their bikes up to the diner to wait for Brandy to come out. They waited for several minutes when Kyle realized the building was empty.

“West, something is wrong. Everything is dark inside.” They climbed off their bikes and walked around the building. Sure enough, the building looked deserted.

“Where could she be? Her car is still here.” West walked over to the car and cursed. “Her bag and keys are lying on the ground over here. Someone grabbed her.”

“What are we going to do? How do we find her?” Kyle panicked.

“Calm down. The first thing we do is call the sheriff.” West pulled out his phone and dialed the number.

The sheriff and one of his deputies were there in less than fifteen minutes. Kyle and West explained what they were doing there and what they’d found. The sheriff studied the scene and then made notes.

“She was obviously kidnapped,” he concluded.

“Well, hell. We knew that,” Kyle yelled.

“Calm down both of you. Someone will be calling wanting a ransom or something. When they do, you let us know.”

“We’re just supposed to sit here waiting?” West asked with a growl.

“It’s all we can do right now. We don’t have anything to go on right now. I don’t know where to start, do you?” the sheriff asked.

“Fuck!” West crossed to his bike and climbed on.

Kyle was right behind him. They quickly returned to the house and waited.

Nearly two hours later, Kyle’s cell phone rang. He jumped on it and put it on speaker before answering.

“Hello?”

“If you ever want to see your bitch alive again, you’ll stop working on that hotel.”

“This is about the hotel? Why?” Kyle asked.

“That’s none of your business. Just don’t work anymore on it.”

“When will you let us have her back?” he demanded.

“You don’t work this next week and you can have her back, or what’s left of her at the end of the week.”

“You lay a fucking finger on her, and I’ll tear your balls off,” Kyle promised.

“You aren’t in any position to make demands.” Then he hung up.

“What are we going to do?” Kyle asked.

“Not go into work, for one thing. I think we need to go talk to Cole.” West headed for the door.

“Do you think he’ll stop?”

“I don’t know, but we don’t have to.” West climbed on the bike and pulled out as soon as Kyle was ready.

They knocked on Cole’s door at the hotel at a quarter of two. Zack answered the door wearing jeans he’d obviously pulled on, since they weren’t fastened.

“What in the hell are you doing over here at this time of morning?”

“We’ve got a major problem and need to talk to you and Cole.” Kyle ran a hand through his hair.

“Fuck, come on in.” Zack held the door open then switched on the light.

Cole growled but climbed out of bed and pulled on his jeans.

“What in the hell is going on?

“Someone kidnapped Brandy and is holding her to keep us from working at the site anymore this week.” West filled Zack and Cole in on the events of the night.

“I knew something was going on with this job. Too many setbacks and all the problems with our work.” Cole cursed long and hard.

“You’re not going to work tomorrow. In the meantime, you need to figure out what is going on with the hotel. I’ll call the company and work it from that end. Do you have any idea who has her?” Cole asked.

“I’ve heard the voice before,” West said, “but I don’t remember where. It will come to me, though.”

“Keep trying to remember. You figure who it is, maybe we can figure out where they are,” Zack told them.

“Do we bring the sheriff back in on it?” West asked.

“I think you need to. If you figure out who it is, you’re going to need his ability to dig up information to find her.” Cole sighed.

West and Kyle thanked Cole and Zack before leaving. They returned to the house. West ran to the bathroom. Kyle stopped in the kitchen to make coffee.

When West emerged from the bedroom, Kyle handed him a cup of coffee.

“When do you think we should call the sheriff?” Kyle asked.

“Now is as good a time as any.” West pulled out his phone and dialed the number. He answered on the second ring.

“A man called tonight. He wants us not to work on the hotel the rest of this week.”

“That’s all he wanted?” The sheriff sounded incredulous.

“That’s it. We’re not going back, but I want to find her before the bastard hurts her. He sounded like he plans on messing with her. He touches her, and all bets are off.”

“I didn’t hear that, son. You keep me informed. I’m going to do some digging on who would have a reason to keep that hotel from being built.” The sheriff hung up.

“I don’t like just sitting here. I need to do something,” West said, slapping the wall.

“Me either, but I can’t think of a damn thing we can do without information.”

“I’d go and beat it out of one of those guys on the construction site if it wouldn’t look like we’re going to work,”

“Maybe Cole will come up with something from his end soon.” Kyle ran a hand through his hair and sat his empty coffee cup on the bar.

After what seemed like hours later, Cole called. Kyle put him on speaker on his cell.

“Okay, here is the thing. Their contract on the land states that they have to show improvement of the property by August thirtieth, which is in three days. They have to have the hotel finished and ready for business by then. If they don’t, then the property reverts back to the city.”

“Damn, that’s a big incentive to get it finished. So someone wants them to lose the land. Why?” Kyle asked himself more than Cole.

“It could be the city wanting the land back, or it could be someone wanting to buy the land out from under them.”

“So, we need to figure out who, and that means figuring out why,” West said.

* * * *

Brandy woke up to find herself lying on an old army cot that smelled musty and made her sneeze. She was still taped around her wrists and ankles, but she managed to sit up. She was stiff from having lain on her side on the old cot for so long. She wondered what time it was. The window had a heavy curtain over it, but sunlight still sifted through the opening where it wasn’t closed tightly.

She wondered if she could hop over to the window and look out. What would it tell her, though? She had no idea where she was, and even if she did, what could she do about it? She couldn’t tell anyone.

She listened closely to see if anyone was in the cabin with her. She didn’t hear a thing. Why would Jim kidnap her? She still didn’t have an answer to that question. The next one was where was he and why had he left her alone? He had scared her to death then dumped her in the bedroom. None of it made any sense to her.

Brandy carefully stood up next to the cot and attempted to jump across the room to see if the door was locked. It took all her strength to make it to the door. Once she got there, she leaned against it to rest. Her legs muscles where burning from the strain. Turning around, she leaned against the door and grasped the door knob in her hand. She drew in a deep breath and prayed before attempting to turn the knob. It turned, opening the door, allowing her to fall through into the other room.

She hit the floor hard, knocking the breath from her. Once she caught her breath, she realized there didn’t appear to be anyone in the cabin with her. Where had Jim gone? Would he be back, or did he plan to leave her here to die? Well Brandy had no intentions of waiting around to find out. She rolled over and inched her way to a chair in the living area of the cabin. She used her leg muscles and chin to pull herself up on it until she was kneeling by it. Then she leaned into the chair using her shoulders and pushed herself into a standing position.

Exhausted, Brandy stood there wishing her feet were free. If she could figure out how to get her hands free, she could manage her feet. She hopped toward the kitchen area of the cabin and turned around to open drawers with her hands. She rummaged around in them, looking for something that would cut through the tape.

Finally, her hands found small paring knife. She whooped for joy and turned the knife around to try and saw through her restraints. Twice she cut herself, trying to cut the tape. The blood made the handle slippery, making it even more difficult to manipulate it against the tape. She sawed and poked until her hands were suddenly free.

Tears trailed down her face. She hadn’t even realized she was crying until then. She didn’t bother looking to see how badly her hands were cut. She reached down and cut her ankles free of the tape. She tore it off her pants and stomped her feet to get the blood circulating better. They tingled and burned. Her hands weren’t much better.

She finally noticed the blood and felt a little sick when she realized she’d cut them pretty badly. She turned the water on, but nothing came out. There weren’t any towels that she could find, either. Desperate, she wiped them on the hem of her shirt and hissed at the slight sting.

She set her sights on the outside door next. She needed to hurry before Jim returned. There was only one entrance and exit, so she hurried to the door and turned the handle. It didn’t open. She fiddled with the lock on the inside and finally got it open. Her blood-slickened hands didn’t help with turning the knob.