Breaking Bad (21 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

S
tevie stretched and yipped out in pain. Oh, lord, her girly parts were sore. She smiled. A really good kind of sore. She ran her hand along the sheet behind her, expecting to feel Jack’s warmth.

The sheets were cold. Her gut tightened. “Please, not again,” she whispered, as the swarm of nervous butterflies flitted in her gut. Swallowing hard, she told herself Jack wouldn’t leave her. He’d just gotten up and was in the kitchen or on the phone with Flynn.

“Jack?” she called as she padded into the empty bathroom. She peed and put on her robe. As she exited her bedroom, she knew from the silence of the house that it was empty.

Jack was gone.

When she did a complete perimeter check and was certain he was not working out in the garage or taking a dip in the pool, she went out front and asked the uniform in the car parked at the end of her driveway if he had seen Jack.

“Yeah, he left about an hour ago.”

Her stomach dropped to her knees. “Did he say where he was going?”

“Nope, just waved and headed out.”

“Thanks.”

She refused to get angry because she refused to believe Jack would up and leave her. Not after everything they’d shared last night. Even if he was still afraid. He would be back.

As she hurried back into her house, she locked the door and started for the kitchen to make coffee. As she filled the pot, the hair on the back of her neck spiked. The distinct musk of a man’s sweaty body wafted under her nose. It was not Jack’s scent. Her gun was in her bedroom, but—as she continued to fill the pot, she silently opened the drawer to her left and pulled out a sturdy steak knife then slipped it into her robe pocket.

As she poured the water into the coffeemaker, the scent grew stronger. She was being watched.

“They always love you, then leave you,” the deep familiar voice crooned. “Makes you just want to kill them, doesn’t it?”

Slowly, Stevie turned and came face-to-face with a disheveled Mario Spoltori.

“What did you do to Jack?”

Spoltori shrugged his shoulders, but the glint in his black eyes belied his casual gesture.

“What did you do to Jack?” she demanded, taking a step closer.

He smiled the smile of the grim reaper. “I cut the brake lines on his motorcycle while he was fucking you. I doubt he survived the drive down the hill.”

Jack! Please, God, I promise anything, just make him not dead!

Her body shuddered as ice rushed through her veins.
Focus on defusing Spoltori, Stevie. Only then can you go to Jack.

“I’m going to kill you for that,” she promised, stepping toward him. Narrowing her focus on Spoltori, she set about bringing him down. One way she knew to rattle a master’s cage was to turn it upside down on him. “
After
I make you pay for killing your cousin, Joan Schillner, and the three ladies you wrapped up in plastic and left on the corner like bags of trash.” As the last words trailed from her lips, Stevie rushed him. But he reacted quickly, training her own gun on her.

She halted mid-step. Rage infused her. She had left her weapon on her nightstand when she came in last night. Had he been in her house all this time? It didn’t matter, because he was not walking out of her house alive. She was going to end it all here and now, one way or another.

“Please, Detective, don’t deny me the pleasure of torturing you.”

“I’m not a submissive twit,” she sneered, not backing down. “You’ll go down with me.”

Spoltori smiled evilly. “Oh, I think you may enjoy what I have planned for you. Especially after what I witnessed these past few hours.” His grin widened. “I must give you props in the man choice department. Your special agent is special in all the right areas.”

Her jaw dropped, and her fury mounted. “You watched us?”

He waved the gun at the hallway. “It’s no more than what the two of you have been doing to me. How does it feel to know your every private moment is being not only witnessed by strangers but captured on video?” He laughed as he patted his pocket. “Oh, yes, I have video of you sucking that Fed’s luscious cock and him going down on you.”

It took a monumental effort to put aside her embarrassment and disgust at what this man reduced her and Jack’s intimate moments to. This was her chance to get the truth out of him. So long as he felt he had the upper hand, a narcissistic prick like Spoltori would be more than happy to tell her how awesome he was at killing.

“How did you know you were being surveilled?”

“Just like you and your lover boy exchange information, pillow talk.”

“Pillow talk?” No one except her team knew he was being watched.

He laughed at her confused expression. “You’d be surprised who I sleep with and how forthcoming they are when a blow job is at stake.”

“That was you in the truck the other night?”

“Oh, I wanted so badly to play with you some more. I even came by, but your special agent was here. He has put a serious cramp in my style.”

Stevie forced her rising hysteria down. Not for fear of Spoltori but fear of Jack dying or dead on the side of the road. She needed to keep Spoltori talking as she set him up to fall. Then she could get all units out looking for Jack.

“How did you know where I live?”

“Like I said, it’s all in the pillow talk.”

A chill passed through her. He was sleeping with someone at the PD.

“How did you get into my house?”

“Oh, c’mon now, those uniforms are idiots. They spend half their time with their heads down texting. I took up residence the night you packed for Maryland. Practically walked up the driveway last night right after I offed my talkative assistant.

“You killed your cousin, too, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did. It was glorious. I couldn’t stop after that.”

“And the three ladies with the mark of Cain?”

He grinned and nodded. “Nice touch, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, if you’re into that sort of thing.”

He moved steadily toward her. “I most definitely am.”

“What are you going to do with the video?”

“Oh, I’m going to humiliate you and your special agent posthumously by putting it up on Youtube. I think everyone will get a kick out of it, don’t you?”

God, please, let Jack be alive.

“You’re a sick fuck, Spoltori. But I’m sicker, because after I cut your balls off and shove them down your throat, I’m going to take pictures of you and share them on every BDSM group, chat room, and forum I can, so that everyone can see what a pussy you really are.”

Anger flashed in his dark eyes. “My cock is going to tear your sneaky little cunt apart.” He waved the gun at her. “Your bedroom now, you little bitch. You’re going to scream like you’ve never screamed before.”

Her body was a ball of nervous energy. She wanted to go after Jack. Every part of her wanted to rush the sick bastard standing in front of her, but her training insisted on patience.
Please, Jack, be alive.

Unable to stall Spoltori further, Stevie moved past him and slowly walked down the hall. When he got close enough to touch, she’d make her move. But he kept a safe distance. For all his delusions of grandeur, he recognized a formidable foe when he met one.

When she turned the corner, in that one split second she was out of sight, she pivoted, cocked her arm back, and took her best shot at surviving. Spoltori’s face met her fist, as she roundhouse kicked him in the kneecap of his bad leg. He screamed in furious pain. She karate-chopped the hand holding the gun and it went clattering to the hardwood floor, skittering down the hall. Not wasting one precious nanosecond, Stevie lunged for it. So did Spoltori.

Jack pushed the damaged bike off his leg. He’d downshifted until he reduced his speed as much as he could, then he drove her over the soft shoulder of the road and into the field bordering it, and laid the bike down on his terms. He was alive, bruised, and pissed. He didn’t have his phone and he had no way of contacting Stevie or his team. He crawled out from the field and began the ascent up the hill. If Spoltori had gotten to his bike with the two units out front, that meant he could get to Stevie inside. His heart pounded. Adrenaline infused, he pushed past the pain, and started up the hill at a dead run. Nearly an hour later, he trudged down her street to see the two uniforms still parked where they had been when he left.

“Did you see anyone come in or out?” he asked the first one.

“Yeah, Detective Cavanaugh came out and talked to Silas. Asked if we’d seen you.”

“Give me your cell,” Jack demanded. The good officer handed it over. As he dialed Flynn’s number, Jack limped to the other uniform. “When did you speak to Detective Cavanaugh?”

“About an hour ago.”

“How did she look? Nervous?”

“Um, well, she was in a robe asking where you were, and when I said I didn’t know she went back inside. Haven’t heard a peep since.”

“I think Spoltori’s inside, I have a call in to my team, they’re coming in quiet. I want you out back and the other guy to stay out here. Eyes and ears wide open. I need your weapon.”

Silas handed it over.

Stealthy as a shadow, Jack tried the front door only to find it locked. He crept around the side and made sure he didn’t trip the motion sensor as he had last night. As he slipped into the quiet house, every instinct told him evil lurked within. He vehemently prayed to God that Stevie was still alive. He moved into the family room and grabbed his piece from the sofa where he had dropped it last night and slid it down the small of his back. In his right hand, he held Silas’s nine mil.

“You pigs think you’re smarter than everyone else,” a deep male voice sneered. Jack’s adrenaline spiked. Spoltori. If he was talking that meant he had an audience, which could only mean that thank you, sweet Jesus, Stevie was alive. He forced the emotions his relief elicited aside. He had a job to do before he could rejoice.

Like the predator he was, Jack moved silently down the hall, stopping just outside of Stevie’s bedroom.

“Why did you kill the wives of Mayor Dyer’s biggest campaign contributors? What did they ever do to you other than look like
maman
?”

From the trajectory of her voice, Jack knew Stevie was either near or on the bed.

Spoltori laughed sharply, the sound vicious. “Those women had two strikes, the first being they had the misfortune of being married to very unfaithful husbands. Secondly, they bore a resemblance to the woman who stole my childhood from me.”

Spoltori was closer to Jack, near the bathroom door. Was he armed? Was Stevie restrained? Incrementally, Jack moved closer.

“So what? Their husbands were cheaters. You’re a misogynist, what do you care?”

“Don’t classify me, you ignorant bitch,” he snarled. “You don’t know shit.”

Jack held his breath, ready to rush in if he had to. Not his style, but if it was the last resort…

“Is this where I get out my little violin and play a sorry tune for you, Mario?” Stevie taunted.

Jesus, Stevie, tread carefully.

“Shut up.”

“You call yourself a Master.
The
Edge.
Whoo, whoo, so scary. What you really are is pathetic.”

“I said shut the fuck up!” His voice quaked with rage.

Jack’s blood boiled. He was going to tear that prick apart when he got his hands on him.

He moved to the edge of the doorjamb. He knew what Stevie was doing, and it was working, but not knowing how Spoltori had the physical upper hand over Stevie didn’t sit well with him.

“
You
shut the fuck up, asshole. And while you’re shutting the fuck up, go
fuck
yourself.”

Jack, blanched.
Tone it down, sweetheart
.

“I know what you’re trying to do, “Spoltori said. “You’re trying to rattle me, make me second-guess myself.”

“There’s nothing to second-guess, Spoltori. You’re busted, by a big bad dominant woman.”

“You think you’re so smart? Tell me why I killed those women.”

“Because you see your aunt in each of them. Because you don’t have the balls to kill your aunt, so you pick easy targets. And your asshole is going to be an easy target in Quentin. Those boys are going to love making you their bitch.”