Black Ghost Runner (3 page)

A fight did break out as one couple collided with someone else once too often. As usual, in such a situation in such a bar, when one person threw a punch, several others felt they should also join in.

Beth and her partner got separated, as all the dancers not willing to be part of a free-for-all backed up into the customers who moved forward to watch the melee. She continued to try to push backwards, until she found herself against someone who didn’t move.

Someone had hands on her upper arms. “It would be best if you didn’t raise an alarm, Beth.”

She froze in place. She knew that voice, even after six months. The fact that she had only heard a few sentences still left the low rasp imbedded in her memory. Like hell, she would not raise an alarm.

“Help, Ev, Help!”

With the noise of the fight, the music still too loud, she wasn’t sure she was heard except by a couple of guys near her who didn’t respond, as a bearded guy with a ball bat was standing on the bar. Next, he was leaping down into the dance floor. Now, everyone was scattering in all directions to get away from the fight.

The big man behind her flipped her fast, so that she faced him. He held her tightly into his chest, against his body. “Beth, besides my cock, which is reacting to you, you also can feel an automatic weapon that I will use on your friends. Be a good girl. We are leaving quietly. I need your help again. I promise it is temporary. You will then be able to go back to living your life.”

Beth was having trouble breathing against the solid chest he was pulling her into, one hand on her head, one arm around her back, pushing with the hand against her lower spine. The whole time he was backing away from the ruckus on the dance floor toward a side entrance. She knew she didn’t want to go out that door, yet she couldn’t think of any choice. Maybe outside, she could get away or get help.

Once out the door, he finally let her go, just holding one arm. Yep, she’d had bruises on that upper arm before, and she was going to have a matching set again. She wondered what he needed her help in robbing this time. The little construction office had no money at the site. No, wait, there was fifty dollars in the petty cash box in Ev’s locked desk.

“Go to your car.”

Actually, he was dragging her to her jeep. How long had he been watching her? When had he found her, and more important, why?

He put her in the driver’s seat and waited for her to belt up, then walked around the front, not taking his eyes off her until he got into the passenger side. Beth had the top up, but had no windows in place on the jeep. She watched him as he slid the seat back for his long legs and looked around on all sides, probably to see if anyone was looking at them.

A few people had come out to escape the skirmish inside, but no one was paying any attention to them. She pulled her keys out of her small tote strapped to her waist. Beth was looking around to decide if she could call for help or even escape when he placed a hand across the center and onto her seat belt. When she looked over, the dangerous dark weapon between his knees made her lose her breath.

“You are a smart lady—don’t disappoint me now. Just pull out. You can head for your apartment. Don’t break any traffic laws and everything will be fine.”

His voice was barely above a whisper, but she heard the words clearly above the motors of the other vehicles that were leaving.

Beth took a deep breath, put the car in
D
and started out. She pulled in behind another car, heading for her apartment. She wondered if he knew where she lived or if she dared to go to another location.

Beth felt a tug on the seat belt. “Forty-two Thirteen Apartment D. As I said, be smart.”

Shit, he knew where she lived. What the hell was this all about? Did he think she could get him into another clinic? Boy was he in for a surprise. Still, that weapon looked serious. It looked like something she saw soldiers carry on TV. She knew nothing about weapons, and she didn’t like being this close to one. This one was all black, bigger than a pistol, seemingly hooked to some straps on his chest under his jacket.

“I have nothing worth stealing. You saw to that the last time.”

There was silence. They were at a light with the bass music from the car next to them roaring, drowning out any conversation, The light changed, but she let the other car pull away first.

“What do you mean about
last time
?”

Beth heard his voice a little louder this time. She looked over, then quickly back at the street. “You are such a clever thief that the cops, along with my employer, thought I helped you. I almost ended in jail. I
did
end up fired. I lost all of my bonuses along with my company savings. There is nothing at my apartment that you need.” Beth drew a deep breath to give her bravery button a push. “Let me take you where you need to go. I can drop you off or give you this damn cheap car. You can go your way.”

Again, there was silence except for the traffic noises. The trip was the longest drive home she had ever taken.

“I am sorry about your job. I can make the money right. In fact, it is money that you are going to help me with.”

Beth thought his voice was interesting, as if he had an education. She still couldn’t place the accent, because it wasn’t always there.

Beth did look at him. Someone honked behind her. She realized she had taken her foot off the gas. She slowly moved back up to a suitable speed, trying to think over what he had said. She finally turned down the side street. The next turn led to her apartment building. Surprisingly, there was a spot in front not far from her entry, so she pulled in to wait.

“Turn the car off. We are going in.”

Beth did as instructed, but didn’t take her belt off. “I don’t think I want to be alone with you in my apartment. So, let’s just sit here. You can shoot me or some people I don’t know, or you can explain things.” She would have had her fingers crossed if she thought he wouldn’t notice.

Beth was shocked as he was out of the car, around it and had her belt off before she could take another deep breath. Since he had to reach across her body to unhook the belt, he used the same arm to lift her off the seat onto the street. The gun was hanging against his chest in a type of canvas belt that looked like it was supposed to be there. She was moving across the street, then up the stairs. If anyone saw them, no one was saying anything.

On the second set of stairs, she really began to resist. Beth wasn’t going into her apartment with this tall muscular basketball player alone without putting up some type of fight. At first, she just stopped, but he continued to drag her. She stumbled, so she started kicking, hitting, even screaming.

This made him stop and look down at her. She shut her mouth in the middle of a scream. “You don’t have those contacts in your work at the clinic?”

Beth did hear the words he spoke.

“I can knock you out, or you can walk in front of me. That way you will not suffer any pain, your choice.” He stood looking at her as he released his hold on her.

Beth looked up at him. She was aware again of his size and his strength.

Beth lowered her head, took a deep breath and moved around him, then went up the last couple of steps that led down the hall to her door. The key for her lock was on the key ring with her car, so she just went ahead and unlocked the door. She felt his hand on her back as he encouraged her to enter. Inside, she stood in the middle of her small living-kitchen room as he closed the door, locking it.

Beth watched him as he looked at the hooks on the sidewall. He took off his jacket with the sling attached to the gun, hanging the gun under the jacket. She watched the weapon disappear before she turned her eyes back to him. She became aware that his eyes were on her face.

“Go to the kitchen. I want you to stay behind the counter. Fix us something easy to eat.” He started to look around the room.

Beth felt his size was sucking the air out of the room. She did what he ordered her to do, grateful to have the counter between them. She decided she needed to keep busy or she would have a pure panic attack. She turned to the refrigerator, gathered the makings for sandwiches, and pulled the thick cut rye bread from the back counter. She put everything on the cutting board and moved it to the counter, then turned for a cutting knife. She needed this to slice the cheese and tomatoes. She stopped with her hand over the selection of knives displayed in the wooden stand.

Would he let her have a sharp implement? Beth pulled out the largest one, and turned around to find him watching her from across the small room. He raised an eyebrow, but she shrugged a shoulder, looking down. She picked up the tomato to begin to slice and put together two sandwiches. She doubled everything on his sandwich. He was big, so he would use the extra carbs. Part way through, Beth looked over at him as he searched her apartment, spending only a moment in her bedroom.

Beth put the unused items away, dropping the knife in the sink. She pushed the cutting board with the sandwiches on it forward on the counter, just in time to see that he had her laptop on the other side of the counter and was opening it.

Beth couldn’t believe the question he asked.

“I am logging into your bank account. What is your user ID?” He was looking down at her laptop.

“Boy, are you a loser.” Beth looked over at him in disgust. “I told you, I lost everything. I have seventy some dollars in there before they enter the service fee.”

He slammed his fist on the counter. “Beth, your user ID.”

She couldn’t help it, she jerked as the large hand hit the counter. Okay, he had a short leash on that temper. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to get on his bad side. “My first name with one two three four inserted behind each letter, every other letter upper case.” Then she pulled over a pad with a pencil to jot down the password.

He glanced up. “Clever. I need something to drink with that.”

Beth turned to the refrigerator, pulling out two bottled waters. “No beer.” She was surprised her voice was steady, because her stomach was in knots. “Are you satisfied that I don’t have enough in there to steal?”

He looked up from the computer screen to give her a slightly wicked grin. He turned the laptop around so that she could see the screen. Beth glanced down at it, pulling it over to look closer.

First, she was sure he hadn’t opened the right account so she checked the account at the top. As usual the top showed only the last four numbers of the account, which were correct—still it could be an error or matched to someone else’s account. She looked below that line where it said
Welcome, E. Donald
. She still felt there had to be a mistake because the balance said Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Seventy-Nine Dollars Eighty-Five Cents.

Beth opened up the detail section of the account where she saw the impossible. She knew it was impossible because she had logged in several times over the last couple of weeks. This wasn’t what she had seen before or what was on the screen now. It stated that over the last month she had received deposits from her prior employer directly into her account. The final total was Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars.

“You’re a hacker?” He didn’t fit the mold, but what did she know?

“Let’s just say I can get electronics to cooperate. I need the two hundred thousand and you can keep fifty thousand. They owe you that much anyways, since you didn’t have anything to do with what happened at the clinic. Your bank is open tomorrow until noon, even though it is Saturday. They will only let you have Fifty Thousand in cash. They will give you the rest in a Bank Draft. When you get that for me, I am gone. You get some extra cash to go on with your life.”

Beth heard this all come out in that sexy low voice, almost without any emotion.

She took a deep breath. “You must be crazy. I almost got arrested the last time you were in my life. This money will get me put away for sure.”

He shook his head. “It is clean, so you won’t be in any trouble. There are even taxes paid on it already. Take another one of those deep breaths. You can get through this. We have twelve hours before the bank opens. After that, your life goes on.”

He reached over to pick up the sandwich and took a large bite. He stepped back, grabbed her remote, and turned on her TV. She watched as he found the local news station. He leaned against the counter as he ate and watched.

“What is your name?” Beth was not sure why she asked, but she felt he seemed to know a lot about her, while she knew nothing about
him
. Maybe this time, she could learn something to tell the police.

“Noble.” He didn’t turn around, seemingly comfortable in her place.

Did he often go into peoples’ homes just taking over? He had the strength. With that gun, he could probably force his way into whereever he needed to go. What was with the funds in her account? Beth looked again at her screen. One of those small warning tags had come up saying the computer was going to disconnect in one minute due to inactivity. She decided to let it knock her out of the session. Maybe later, she’d go back in on her own to see if the funds were still there.

“Why me?” Her voice was almost a whisper. When he didn’t say anything, she thought he hadn’t heard her. He turned to look at her. She was almost sorry she had tried to talk.

Beth found his stare too intense.

“The first time was an accident. You were just there, but you liked animals. You weren’t as afraid as you should have been. You smelled special. I never got you out of my mind. I’m not sure why. I kept track of you to make sure you were okay. When it looked like that disgusting man who was with you might tell lies about you to the police, well, I felt I had to give you some protection, so I had a talk with him. That is how I learned more about you, yet I stayed away. Now, I need access to some funds. It was too hard for me to resist contacting you and, well, now I am glad, because I see you need some money so I got it for you.”

Beth stood there in complete shock. She forgot to be afraid, storming around the counter.

“Are you totally out of your mind? Listen to yourself. I smelled special? I use the cheapest perfume from the local drug store. You had a talk with Reggie? He is the biggest coward in the world. You probably took years out of his life. He probably left the company right after they fired me. You come into my life, ruin it then you keep track of me. What are you, some type of special terrorist?” By this time, she was in front of him with her hands on her hips. She had her head tilted back. It finally dawned on her she was yelling at a seven foot tall, very strong man who broke laws as if they were written for everyone but him.