Hold Me (24 page)

“Don’t hurt her,” the man who had hit Némes warned. “You know Frankie wouldn’t like it.”

Katie wasn’t sure Liza was going to listen. Then the other woman smiled. The sight of that smile scared her more than the gun.

“That’s right. Frankie wants you for himself. Frankie always gets what he wants.” Liza tugged her arm. “Let’s go wait for him.”

Katie couldn’t control a shudder. She tried to break away, but Liza’s fingers dug like claws.

“Hey, what about the guy?” the man asked, nodding to Némes, crumpled on the floor. “Want me to off him?”

Liza studied Némes. “No,” she said, and Katie could hear regret in her voice. “Someone Frankie knows wants him alive. But it might be kinder if we killed him now.”

“Why?” the man asked, clearly mystified.

Liza rounded on him, dark eyes flashing, and he backed up a step. “None of your goddamned business!” she shrieked, then calmed herself. “Besides, he’s not going anywhere for a while.”

“Sure, sure,” the man said hastily.

“Just go find Frankie. Tell him that I have the bitch he’s looking for and I’m taking her to the basement. Do it now!”

The man rushed off to do her bidding.

“Idiot,” Liza murmured. She turned to Katie and smiled again. “Now. You. Come with me.”

Luc hoped to all hell he’d drawn most of Silvano’s men away from Katie. He vaulted over a blackjack table, raced through yet another buzzing, clanging jungle of slot and poker machines. God, please let him have bought Némes enough time to get her out of the casino. He varied his pace, let the men chasing him get a little closer. It wouldn’t be good if they got so impatient that they started shooting up civilians. On the other hand, he didn’t want Frankie Silvano to notice that he was alone and Katie had disappeared.

Luc rounded a corner, hit a patch of polished marble floor at a dead run, and slipped. His semi-healed ankle, already aching like a bad tooth, finally gave up, gave out, and dumped him unceremoniously on his ass. He hit the floor hard and cursed as pain flared up his leg. He scrambled quickly to his feet and took off again at a hobbling run. When he glanced behind him this time, Silvano’s men were a hell of a lot closer. It was time to get serious about getting away.

Ignoring the now nauseating pain in his ankle, he dove for the nearest stairwell, praying there wouldn’t be a guard on the other side of the door. There wasn’t. He flew down the stairs, his injured ankle throbbing darkly, his feet barely touching the treads. He’d lose his pursuers in the parking garage. He didn’t have much of a choice.

Silvano’s guys burst through the door above him, shot at him, and Luc realized he’d made a serious mistake. Bullets ricocheted around him, bounced endlessly off the narrow cement walls. He felt a sudden, sickening pain in his shoulder. Another further down on his side. He stumbled, almost lost his balance, but somehow stayed on his feet. He fired a few shots back at the men chasing him.

Luc practically fell down the remaining steps. Panting, hurt, his entire body on fire, his leg dragging, he ran out into the parking garage and ducked behind a row of cars.

Walking stiffly on his bad leg, Frankie Silvano finally made it down the stairs to the garage and looked around at all of the parked cars. His anger was a living, breathing thing, a creature he didn’t even want to control.

“Where the fuck is he?” he demanded of the men. “And where the fuck is the woman?”

“We didn’t see no woman, boss,” one of the guys answered. “Leastwise there weren’t no woman on the stairs. Just a guy.”

“Fuck!” Frankie screamed with rage and frustration. “Fuck! Go get him!”

His men melted into the garage, spread out among the cars. Frankie panted, trying to calm himself down. Okay. Okay. There was no way the woman would get away from him this time. No fucking way.

If she wasn’t down here, then Frankie would make the Feeb talk. Yeah, he had lots of ways of getting people to talk. This was his turf. He was in control here, and—

“Boss.”

Snarling, Frankie turned and saw the guy who’d gone with Liza. The other man was breathing hard, as if he’d been running.

“What?” Frankie snapped.

“Liza has the woman you’re looking for.” The man’s brow creased. “At least, I think that’s what she said.”

Joy, hunger, anger exploded in Frankie’s chest, filled him with excitement and power. “Where?” he asked, softly now.

The guy had backed up a couple of steps, as if the force of Frankie’s exultation had pushed him.

“Uh, the basement.”

“Good,” Frankie said. “Very, very good.” He turned to his men in the garage. “When you find him,” he shouted, “kill him.”

The pain of his wounds forgotten, he headed to the room where he knew Liza had gone. To the woman. To Katie McCabe.

Liza muscled Katie into a service elevator, then down several floors to a hallway lit with industrial fluorescents, the harsh light reflected against bright white walls. Katie could hear the roar of heavy-duty machinery and smelled heating oil, and maybe a little garbage. Quite a contrast to the carefully constructed luxury just a few stories above them. Then again, basements were basements.

She struggled as they came off the elevator, dragged her feet, looked desperately for some way to escape. Liza’s grip tightened painfully and the other woman’s small gun dug into her back as she urged her forward.

No chance. But surely Liza would let down her guard once they got where they were going. Katie would have to wait for an opening. Because she didn’t think Luc was going to be able to ride to her rescue this time.

Several doors lined the hallway, some open, some closed. A big man stood in front of one of the closed ones, looking bored. He straightened away from the wall as they drew nearer.

“Unlock it,” Liza commanded him, and he hurried to obey. The door opened to a small, square room with the same hard light and white walls as the hallway.

Another man was standing inside. He turned, gun drawn, when Liza propelled Katie across the threshold. Katie ignored him, her full attention caught by the figure tied to a chair in the middle of the room, arms behind her back, bright hair an unruly mess around a bruised face.

“Mom?”

“Hey, honey.” Her mother shook back her hair and smiled a little apologetically. “Looks like I’ve got a problem.”

“You both do.” Liza shoved Katie, and she landed hard on her hands and knees on the concrete floor.

She scrambled to her mother, touched her arms, her face. “Mom, are you all right?”

“Fine, but honey—”

“You’re tied so tight.” Katie whirled on her knees to face Liza. “She’s tied too tightly. She’s not going anywhere. Can’t I untie her?”

“No.” Liza turned to the man who’d been in the room. “Go outside and wait for Frankie.”

He swallowed. “Frankie?”

“Yes.” She smiled. “He’ll be here in a few minutes.”

The man hurried out and closed the door behind him.

“Mom,” Katie’s hands trembled when she ran them over her mother’s face, her arms and legs, trying to make sure she was okay. “What are you doing here? What happened?”

“Well, I’m not exactly sure,” her mother admitted. “I was worried about you. I knew something was wrong after that phone call—”

“I tried to tell them you wouldn’t believe me—”

“—and it just preyed on my mind, you know? So finally I couldn’t take it anymore, and I had to go check it out. I called your work—”

“You called where I work?”

“—and they told me that you really were on a retreat, but I, well, I had a feeling.”

“You’re psychic.”

Despite everything, her mom’s bright blue eyes lit with amusement. “Hardly. But I couldn’t shake it, so I, oh, honey, I went to your apartment.”

“I figured you had.”

“And those two guys knocked me out.” Her mouth twisted in disgust. “So much for karate.”

“They took you by surprise.”

“And outweighed—”

“Would you both just shut the hell up?” Liza demanded.

“—me. But Katie,” her mother said. “What in the world is going on? What kind of trouble are you in?”

“Bad trouble, Mom,” Katie said. “Really bad.” She got to her feet and faced Liza. “You have me now,” she said. “I’m the one you want. Let my mother go.”

Liza shrugged. “That’ll be up to Frankie.” She smiled. “He might find her useful.”

“Don’t hurt her.” If they wanted her to beg, she would. “She has nothing to do with this. She doesn’t know anything about this. You can let her go. Please.”

“Shut up, slut.” Liza stepped forward and backhanded her, hard.

Katie reeled from the force of the blow, put her hand up to her now throbbing cheek and tasted blood where her lip had gotten cut on her teeth.

“Slut?” her mother asked. “Seriously?”

“Mom—”

“You shut up too, old woman, or I’ll gag you both,” Liza snarled.

“Old woman?” Her mom murmured, sounding a little put out. Katie could understand her annoyance, but all the same she hoped she wouldn’t piss Liza off any more than she already was.

After they’d been silent for a few minutes, Liza relaxed. She still held the gun steady on Katie, looked at her intensely.

“I just can’t believe you’re the one,” she said finally. “I can’t believe you’re with Luc. And I can’t believe you’re the one who took down Frankie.” When Katie met the woman’s dark eyes this time, she thought she saw some reluctant admiration there.

“Why are you doing this?” Katie ventured, not wanting to make her angrier, but wanting to know.

“Why am I doing what?”

Katie gestured vaguely. “Why are you selling out the Bureau? Why are you selling out Luc and David? Why team up with Frankie Silvano?”

“I’m not selling out anybody.” Liza took a deep breath. “Especially not Luc. I put myself on the line for him. I kept quiet to try to protect him. I didn’t say anything when he went undercover on the estate until I had to.”

“Until you had—”

Liza moved restlessly, pacing in the tight space. “I didn’t have a choice,” she said, more to herself than to Katie. “I did what I could to keep him safe. He’d broken off our engagement, but I still did the best I could. I was supposed to report on everything. But I didn’t say anything until I found out Luc was going to break into the office. Then I had to tell. I had to.”

“Why?” Katie asked gently. She put a hand on her mother’s shoulder in warning, but Mom was too smart a woman to say anything that might break the mood. “Why did you have to?”

Liza turned to face her and the gun came up again. “I had to protect my family. They come first. They have to come first.”

“Your family?” Light dawned. “Joey Silvano? He’s your—”

“He’s my father.” Liza’s full mouth twisted. “My mother was his mistress for a little while. He didn’t know about me right away, but when he found out he came and brought me to live with him. I’m important to him. I owe him everything.”

“How in the world did you get a job with the FBI in the first place?” Katie asked, glad that Liza seemed inclined to talk. Liza talking meant less chance of Liza shooting. “They have to run extensive security checks, especially since 9-11.”

Now Liza looked amused. “Do you honestly think Daddy and Uncle Roberto don’t own people at the Bureau? Believe me, not everyone there is as pristine as David.”

Katie blinked. She guessed she hadn’t thought of that. “But still—”

Liza lifted her shoulder in an elegant shrug. “Frankie thought it was important to have somebody inside, and Daddy agreed. I was the best choice. They arranged for me to have a new name and background. I…I had some surgery…”

Her smooth voice, which until now had sounded almost robotic, faltered, and she reached up to touch her cheek. “Not much. There weren’t that many pictures of me around.” She stared at a point over Katie’s head.

Katie felt her mother stir and tightened her hold on her shoulder. “But surely David checked you out, didn’t he?” she asked.

Liza shook herself slightly and focused on Katie again. “David has an organized crime squad, but he’s really not that high on the totem pole. Besides, once you’re inside, it’s easier to move around. Especially if you have skills.” She smiled, and it was ugly. “I do.”

Somehow Katie knew she wasn’t referring to her ability to organize an office.

“So you got engaged to Luc and everyone was just,” Katie waved her hand, “okay with it?”

“I never told Daddy we were engaged. If I’d told him, he would have been angry.”

Katie wondered how Liza had expected to keep it a secret once she and Luc had gotten married, but she didn’t think it was a good idea to ask. Pointing out craziness wasn’t exactly smart when the other party had a gun.

“I didn’t tell Frankie either,” Liza continued, “but he found out. He always does.” Something flickered across her face. Something hurt and hard and terrible. “We’ve been…close since I was fifteen.”

“Close.” Katie wondered what it had been like to be ‘close’ to Frankie Silvano at the age of fifteen.

“Yes.” Liza smiled again, one of her bright, frightening smiles. “And you don’t even want to know how angry he is with you.”

“I’ve kind of got an idea,” Katie muttered.

“I don’t think so. Because if you did you wouldn’t be here. You’d have kept as far away from this place as you could.”

“Well, then we’ll just go—”

“Don’t get cute.” Liza bit off the words. “I don’t want to hurt you and spoil Frankie’s fun. God knows what he’s going to do to you. He’ll probably chop you up and eat you or something sick like that.”

The door to the room opened and Frankie Silvano walked in. “Always good to know what you think of me, Liza,” he said. But he didn’t look at the other woman. His entire focus was on Katie.

She swallowed, although her mouth had gone dry. All at once the threat that he’d chop her up and eat her actually seemed possible.

“Jerry,” Frankie called over his shoulder. “You and Paul go to the parking garage and see if you can help the boys nail that guy. Liza and I have this covered.”

That guy, Katie thought. Luc. Oh, God, Luc.

“Uh, sure boss,” the man who must have been Jerry said and shut the door. Katie heard the muffled sound of footsteps as the men hurried away.

“So. Katie McCabe.” Frankie’s hot eyes wandered over her like fingers. He limped across the room toward her, leaning heavily on a cane. He had an obviously bulky bandage wrapped around his thigh, and she thought there was another around his arm under his shirt. Each thump of his cane against the concrete sounded threatening, his injuries somehow making him more frightening, not less. Angrier. More dangerous. Like a rabid dog.

Katie licked her lips. “Mr. Silvano.”

Frankie smiled, showing small, pointed teeth. “Hey, call me Frankie, huh? We’re gonna be friends, you and me.”

“I don’t think so.”

“I do.” He laughed, and it chilled her all the way to her bones. “You’re gonna be screaming my name by the time we’re through.”

Katie tried not to shudder and failed miserably. “Yeah? What do you think you’re going to do anyway?” She wanted to sound brave and unconcerned, but she failed at that too.

Frankie laughed again. This time it was with real amusement. Joy, even. The sound traveled up Katie’s spine like fingernails on a blackboard, like he had run his hand over her nerve endings and pulled. For the first time in her life she understood sheer, unadulterated terror.

“I’m gonna play with you,” he said, still in that joyful voice. “And then I’m going to kill you. And then I’m gonna play with you some more. And then maybe I’ll mail what’s left of you back to what’s left of your family.”

An emotion so far beyond fear that it was almost unrecognizable flashed through her. She struggled not to let him see it, not to give him the satisfaction of knowing he practically had her on her knees and he hadn’t even touched her yet.

She felt her mother’s shoulder grow tense and tight beneath her hand. Her mom was wise enough to keep quiet, but Katie knew she was on high alert.

They had to give Frankie a bigger target, Katie thought. Had to make it harder for him to get both of them. And she had to give herself room to maneuver.

It was hard, but she forced herself to let go of her mother’s shoulder, to take a step to the side. Ignoring her quick, questioning glance, Katie continued to sidle away until they were separated by a few feet.

“Where you going, huh? There’s nowhere to run and I have some things to…discuss with you.” Frankie smiled broadly.

She stared at him, mesmerized by the lack of something in his eyes. The lack of something human.

“You’re gonna pay for everything,” he told her, his smile fading until it was replaced by rage. “Everything that’s happened. I’m a laughingstock because of you. I got arrested because of you. I got shot because of you. You’re gonna pay.”

“No!” With one powerful thrust of her legs, her mother launched herself, chair and all, sideways into Liza, who had been so caught up in what was happening that she’d come a little too close.

Liza shrieked. Her gun went skittering across the floor as the two women landed in a tangle of arms and legs and chair.

Frankie glanced at the melee, distracted, and Katie saw her chance. She leapt at the little man, kicked his gun up just as he turned it on her mother. He pulled the trigger, but the bullet discharged into the ceiling. Frankie snarled, spun quick as a snake. This time she punched, like her brothers had taught her. She caught him right where she suspected he’d been shot in his arm.

He howled, and his gun flew out of his hand. He hit her with his cane, but she twisted so that the blow glanced at her kidneys instead of breaking ribs. The pain was powerful, but she kept her footing and ducked his next lunge. She kicked again, this time into the bulky bandage wrapped around his thigh. He screamed, his leg buckled, the cane went flying. She kicked him in the balls. Hard. Hard enough to jam them up into his throat.

He made a wet sound deep in his chest and finally went down, hands cupping his groin.

Katie dashed forward, got his gun, skipped back and turned to her mother. She and Liza were still grappling on the floor. Liza, flailing around, grabbed Katie’s mom’s hair and yanked it hard. She gasped in pain, but her eyes lit with fury, and she brought her head forward abruptly, smacked it into the other woman’s face. Liza cried out and jerked back.

Katie raced forward. She brought the butt of the gun she held down hard on the other woman’s head. Liza cried out again, and fell back, unconscious.

“Jesus.” Her mom wheezed. “Jesus. I’ve never really done a head butt before. That freaking hurt.”

Katie rushed to her, dropping down beside her on the floor. “We have to get you untied. We have to get out of here.”

“The ropes are too tight,” her mother said. “It’s going to…” her voice trailed off, her eyes moving over Katie’s shoulder. “Katie.”

Katie spun around on her knees.

Frankie Silvano, face white with pain, was sitting up. He was holding Liza’s gun. It was pointed at her. His anger was a living thing, filling the small room. Insanity swirled in his eyes, making him seem inhuman. Demonic. He didn’t even seem to notice that she held a gun too.