01 Untouchable - Untouchable (44 page)

“
Sharon’s lover,” I uttered
as if I had no doubts.

He seemed to be enjoying the fact that
I knew so much about him. He smiled and then he began to look at
me, really look at me. He had me pushed against a kneeling bench
with my back against a large wooden cross on the wall. He was
making a slow assessment from top to bottom.

“
At least I can see why the
idiot hasn’t killed you yet. You must be pretty good if you can get
that far with a Gavarreen.”

Just the mention of his name sent a
spike through my system.

He pressed himself against me, sliding
the gun back to my side. I turned my face and my stomach rolled as
I felt the pressure of his body on mine. Micah had been the only
man I had allowed to be this close to me; unfortunately, there was
little I could do to stop Jack.

“
I can’t see much reason to
kill you right here,” he concluded, his hips thrusting into mine. I
was trying to keep my tears from forming, but this wasn’t the
ending I had expected and I knew I’d rather be shot.

“
Where’s your boyfriend?” he
breathed the words into my ear. “Answer me!,” he snarled, jerking
my head backward with a handful of my hair.

“
I—I don’t know.
He…”

“
Liar,” he spewed. “Tell me
where he is or I’ll shoot you right here.”

The hand had released my hair and I
tipped my head back to look him in the eyes. “Go ahead,” I said
firmly.

“
You think you’re a tough
little girl, don’t you?” He licked his lips and smiled. “You can
tell me where he’s at or I can knock you out and go upstairs and
finish what I started with your momma; too bad she’ll be awake this
time.”

I had no room to strike him; he was
hard against me, and his legs were too close together to knee his
groin. “You…”

“
Yeah, me. I went there to
speed up the job for Sharon. She had a date with your poppa so he
doped her up as usual and left her. I cut her wrists and was going
to watch her bleed to death when he came back for his phone. It’s
too bad really, but it just helped him make her look like the crazy
woman he’s been creating for a while. The stupid bastard really
thinks she cut her own wrists.” He gave a sluggish laugh, as if the
joke was actually starting to become funny to him. “Now, are you
going to tell me where he’s at or do I have to get rid of your
mother?”

I let the tears roll down my cheeks; I
didn’t want him to think I wasn’t telling the truth. “He left for a
while before I got the call to come to the hospital. He doesn’t
know I’m here and I don’t know where he went.”

“
Well, I guess you’re just
gonna have to come with me then,” he said, the smile returning to
his face. “Don’t do anything stupid,” he warned, pulling a cell
phone from his pocket. He hit one button and I heard it speed
dialing through the speaker. He didn’t have to raise it to his ear;
he just kept me pressed against the wall.

“
What?” came the voice over
the phone.

“
I’ve got her. I’m taking
her back to Sharon’s.”

“
Just shoot her and get it
over with,” was the response.

“
Ah, be patient, little
brother, you haven’t seen the close up yet. No sense in taking all
the fun out of our job.”

I heard a laugh and the phone was
snapped shut.

Jack dropped the phone back into his
pocket. “Now we’re going to walk out of here just like we’re two
peas in a pod. If you make me shoot before we get out of here—well,
there is no telling who else will get hit in the process. Do you
want that on your conscience?”

I shook my head, no.

“
Good, let’s go get that
Porsche of yours. Hand me the keys.”

I gave him the keys, but I knew as soon
as we were clear from all the people in the hospital I was going to
fight him, and I was already sizing up the best way to knock the
gun from his hand. We walked out of the room, his arm around my
waist, guiding me to the front entrance. I wondered if Micah had
returned to the bungalow and found my note. Would he be waiting,
hidden somewhere with his rifle and silencer?

I felt the breeze hit my face as the
doors opened. There was a stiff east wind and I could smell the
Atlantic. My car was at the end of the ramp and I had decided to
make my move when I opened the passenger door. I turned, but it was
too late, apparently Jack had plans of his own. The gun hurled
toward my face with a hard, painful thud and I blacked
out.

I came around to the sound of a high
performance sports engine being down shifted and then climbing up a
slow rise. A pair of hands pulled roughly at me, dragging me from
the car as I struggled to open my eyes. I was in a garage. I heard
Jack’s voice saying to tie me up. I was flat on the concrete, the
coolness of it feeling good against my throbbing head. A younger
man was pulling my arms behind me and binding them together, then
he rolled me over and moved to my ankles. I resisted feebly as he
held my feet together and finished the job.

I was finally able to focus as I
watched them standing there discussing what plans they had for
me.

“
Are you sure Sharon won’t
be back until after four?”

“
Yeah, but I told her I’d
meet her and let her know what was happening. She’s paying the guy
to get rid of Gavarreen, but it can’t look like a hit.”

“
She should just let us
finish him off.”

“
She has her reasons, but
we’ll have enough fun while she’s occupied. You think you can
handle keeping our mark secure until I get back?”

“
Oh, she’ll be secure. I
don’t know if I’m going to wait for you, but I’ll save you a
little.”

“
Don’t do anything stupid,
Ricky. Wait until there are two of us to make sure the little
princess doesn’t get loose.”

Ricky looked at me, noticing I was
awake. “Well, good morning little princess,” he turned back to
Jack. “Don’t be gone too long. You’ve had Sharon to keep you
satisfied. I’m ready for some satisfaction of my own.”

Jack smiled, got into a small white car
and pulled out of the garage. The door came down as I felt Ricky
pick me up off the floor and carry me upstairs. My head was still
trying to come out of the fog that had filled it when Jack hit my
temple with the gun. I looked at Ricky. He was brown eyed like
Jack, but at least ten years younger. His hair was a curly, dirty
blond, his features were finer than Jack’s, and he was taller and,
apparently, as strong as Micah because my weight didn’t seem to
faze him as he walked up to the second floor.

The house was large and I could only
assume it was the beach house that Micah already knew about. He
carried me into a wide, open living room. I could hear the sound of
the waves in the Atlantic hitting the shore and I could smell the
salted air.

He laid me down on the couch and seemed
to study me for a moment. “You’ve been a real pain in the ass,” he
finally spoke. Then he squatted down on his haunches to get close
to me. He moved my hair away from my shoulders and neck, exposing
my cleavage. I’d seen that look in a man’s eyes before and at the
moment he wasn’t thinking about killing me. He smiled as he began
lowering his face.

“
Don’t you listen to what
your brother tells you?” I managed to say. My voice was soft and
trembling because I had no defenses with my feet and hands
tied.

The smile got bigger, flashing
surprisingly white teeth. “So you’re going to talk to me,
now?”

“
Yeah, well it isn’t easy
after being clubbed with a pistol.”

His hand reached up and softly touched
the tender area on the side of my head. “Jack can get pretty
rough.”

“
And you?” I asked. I had to
keep this conversation going.

“
I can be gentle, for the
right person. Now you need to ask yourself if you’re the right
person because if you piss me off,” he pulled out a gun from the
back of the waistband of his jeans. “I have a really short fuse,
and I don’t have to have you while you’re breathing.”

That caused my stomach to roll. I
looked at the gun; it was a Glock-17.

“
Do you like it?” he
questioned, a funny expression on his face. He seemed to understand
that the look on my face wasn’t fear, but recognition of the kind
of weapon he was holding.

“
Glock-17,” I said, closing
my eyes for a moment to slow the throbbing that was expanding from
my temple down to my cheek bone.

“
You know, I think I’m
starting to like you.”

I opened my eyes and smiled at him.
“You’d like me a lot better if I could wrap my arms and legs around
you.”

The surprise hit him and his eyebrows
went up.

“
I’m not stupid,” I
continued my daring plan. “Why do you think Gavarreen has kept me
alive this long? He said I’m the best he’s ever had. I guess I can
be the best for anyone who’s willing to give me a little more time,
besides I enjoy a good thrill ride. Didn’t I hear you say that
Jack’s had Sharon and you’ve had to do without?” I could see my
words were taking a firm hold on him. “Why is she sleeping with
Jack anyway? You’ve certainly got a lot more to offer than he
does.” I gave him a thorough look over to let him know I approved
of his physique.

He placed the pistol on the coffee
table and then his face descended to my exposed skin, more direct
than Micah had ever been. His hands moving over places I didn’t
want him touching, but I continued to pretend that I was enjoying
his caress.

His mouth moved toward mine, but I
carefully turned my head to whisper in his ear. “You aren’t afraid
of me are you? I know you’re stronger than Micah,” I lied. “You and
I shouldn’t have any trouble spending a little time
together.”

The look in his eyes was telling me he
was over the edge. If he didn’t untie me then I was in big trouble.
I put my teeth to his neck and I felt him stiffen, but when my
tongue touched his skin he lost all ability to refuse
me.

“
Yeah, you and I are going
to get along just fine,” he panted, grabbing me, roughly this time
and rolling me onto my stomach. Now my heart was pounding with a
fury that I’d never known. I had in no way ever imagined that I
would have to fight a man in hand to hand combat, but as long as
the gun wasn’t involved, I felt I had a chance. My arms were free
now and he was frantically sliding his hands up the sides of my
shirt trying to remove it.

I stopped him and smiled, reaching down
as if to undo the top of my jeans. “I can’t take these off with my
legs tied together.”

He was obeying my every request at this
point and I was almost free. As quickly as he untied my legs, I
moved to an upright position. I could tell he was going to try to
force me to lie down on the couch, but I stood, crossing my arms
and gripping the bottom of my shirt. I pulled it off as he remained
wide-eyed watching with eager anticipation.

He fairly collided with me, his muscled
arms wrapping around me. My hand slipped down to his pants and his
legs parted to give me access to what he was certain I wanted. And
I did want exactly that as I slammed my knee as hard and high as I
could into his most vulnerable area.

I heard the air leave him as he doubled
over in agony. I swung my fist into his windpipe and then grabbed
two handfuls of his curly hair, pulling downward, and brought my
knee up to crack his nose with all the force I possessed. He hit
the floor writhing in pain, blood splattered across my jeans. I
grabbed his Glock and my shirt and took off running.

I flew downstairs to the garage,
grabbing at a door that was locked with a keyed dead-bolt. My
Porsche was there, but Jack had taken my keys. I could hear Ricky
swearing upstairs and I knew I was trapped. I dropped the magazine
from the gun and made sure it had bullets and then slammed it back
into the handle. I ripped the top of it back and chambered the
first round, safety off. My hands were shaking so hard that I knew
I’d never be able to hit my target, even if he stood perfectly
still. I was slipping into a strange type of fear, an animal and
instinctive kind of state, and it frightened me more than the man I
was trying to escape from.

He was coming down the stairs and I
took aim. I’d never shot at anything other than a paper target and
I didn’t know if I could fire on someone who didn’t have a weapon.
He saw me when he was half way down the staircase, blood staining
his face and shirt. He was still bent forward in pain from our last
encounter, and then he tripped and tumbled down the stairs landing
in a heap several feet from the base. I seized the opportunity and
charged back upstairs, frantic to find the closest exit. The
sliding doors to the second floor patio were right there and I made
my choice, I’d jump.

I could hear him once again, the
profanity worse than before, the anger hotter and more vicious. I
heard a loud cracking sound of wood being splintered and hitting
the wall. I pulled at the sliding doors. A pin at the top was
lodged tight, preventing me from opening it.

“
Damn it!” I pulled at the
pin and it didn’t move. There was no choice. I spun around with the
Glock and would simply start firing until I hit him. Something was
in the opposing hall and was moving toward me from my right and I
guessed that Jack had returned.