Love's Protector: A Maverick's Shield Novel (15 page)

Jason and Alex pulled up to the security station in front of Captain Westfield’s luxury condominium in the ritzy West Los Angeles neighborhood of Century City. After stopping at the small booth, Jason rolled down his window to a rather small young man in a blue uniform.

“Who are you here to visit?” the guard asked.

“Robert Westfield.” 

“Is he expecting you?”

“Not at the moment.”

“Well I have to give him a call to see if he’s home and to let him know you’re here for him. Hold on a sec.” The guard then picked up the receiver of the large telephone at his small podium and dialed the number. After a few seconds, he said, “Hello Mr. Westfield. There are two gentlemen here to see you.” The guard turned to Jason and asked, “I’m sorry, what is your name?”

“Tell him it’s Jason Kincaid and Alex DeMarco.”

The guard repeated the names into the receiver and fell silent for a few seconds before saying, “I’m not sure sir.” He then turned back to Jason and asked, “What is the purpose of your visit?”

Jason knew Westfield wouldn’t allow them up if he knew what they really wanted so he decided to give him a half true reason for the two of them being there. As far as he knew, he and Jason had nothing to do with what Amour had come to the police station to inquire about earlier this week. “Tell him we need his approval to enlist the help of some of his officers for an important case we’re working on.”

The guard repeated the words to Westfield, paused for several seconds and then spoke again. “Alright sir, I will.” He pressed a small button in front of him and the two large barricades lifted. “Okay, you can go right in.”

After parking in one of the guest spots, Jason and Alex entered the plush lobby of the complex, made their way to the elevator and got off on the eighteenth floor. Since both of them had been to the captain’s home many times before, they navigated through the maze of the complex rather easily.

“I still can’t believe Westfield can afford to live here. Captain or not,
no
cop makes this much money,” Alex said.

“Maybe he has investments or something.”

“Maybe, I don’t know. All I do know is that he ain’t living in this place just on his salary alone.”

What Alex had just said instantly made Jason think of the conversation he and Amour had about Daniel Riley the day they went to visit him. She’d said the exact same thing. He had to admit it made him wonder as well.  “You never know what people are hiding Alex.”

“This is true.”

Jason rang the bell when the two of them approached the door. After a few minutes, Westfield answered breathing rather heavily wearing a t-shirt, sweat pants and tennis shoes.

He wiped the beads of sweat off of his face and then spoke. “What can I do for you gentlemen?”

“Did we catch you at a bad time?” Jason asked.

“No, not at all. I was just finishing up my workout. Come on in and have a seat.” He let the two of them inside closing and locking the door behind them. “I was just about to grab me a bottle of water out of the fridge, you gentlemen care for anything?”

“No thanks,” the two of them said simultaneously.

“Alrighty, I’ll right back. Make yourselves at home.” A few seconds later Westfield stepped back into the living room carrying a huge bottle of water. He unscrewed the top, pulled it off, took large gulp and swallowed. “So what’s this all about? What do you need my approval for?”

Jason looked up at him. “We need your permission to enlist a few cops on a case we were hired to investigate.” Jason didn’t want to come right out and confront him about lying to Amour. Instead, he decided to act as if he wasn’t aware of their meeting. He figured it would be a good way to get more information out of him. Alex must’ve thought so as well because he said nothing and went along with Jason’s story.

Westfield smirked. “Let me guess, some big shot celebrity received a threatening piece of fan mail from Nova Scotia and now they’re paranoid and think someone’s out to get them. Now they’re demanding two bodyguards and a couple of cops to stand guard at their residence.”

Westfield had a reputation for hating celebrities. He thought they were a bunch of useless, narcissistic, spoiled rotten pain in the asses that didn’t deserve all the attention or money that they received.

Jason chuckled. “No sir. No celebrities this time. It’s actually for a young woman who hired me to guard her as well as investigate a case earlier this week because she had been receiving death threats.”

Westfield sat on the smaller sofa in front of them. “Who did she piss off?”

“Apparently she questioned the wrong people for some information she wanted.”

“What information?”

Alex placed his elbows on his thighs and leaned forward. “She was looking for information on her mother’s death. She informed us that she had gone to your precinct for that information earlier this week and nobody was willing to help her out.”

When he saw Westfield’s eyes widen, Jason could tell he knew exactly what young lady they were referring to. “Do you know anything about that…captain?”

Westfield gave Jason a malevolent stare. “Actually I don’t.”

“Really?”
Jason knew that Westfield didn’t appreciate being questioned, but since he had no authority over the two of them, he also knew he wouldn’t act on his feelings. “Well, that’s not what the young lady said.”

“Is that right?”

“Yes. She said that she came to the station asking about her mother’s death which occurred twenty-seven years ago and after showing you the information she’d already collected, you told her that you didn’t work that particular case.”

Westfield scratched the stubble on his chin. “Oh I remember her. That case is very old and she’s right, I didn’t work that case. I was just a rookie then.”

“Yeah, that’s what she told me you said, but the only witness that day said that you and Daniel Riley were the cops that did the investigation.” Jason cocked an eyebrow. “Now that’s not something you would lie about is it captain?”

Westfield’s eyes became wider and he started to fidget so much he rose up from the couch and started to pace.
“No, of course not. I told her that I didn’t do the investigation, I didn’t tell her I wasn’t there.”

“What do you mean?” Alex asked.

“I was only a rookie beat cop at the time. We were called out to the scene to tape it off and question a few people because the detectives that were assigned to the case were going to start an investigation that’s all.”

Jason frowned.
“We as in you and Daniel Riley?” He decided to keep his and Amour’s meeting with Riley from Westfield as well to see if their stories matched up. So far, they didn’t.

“Yes.”

“Who did you question?”

Westfield scratched his head as if he were thinking. “Well let’s see. We questioned the old lady next door, a couple of kids across the street and a young Asian couple that lived a couple of houses down from her.”

Okay so Jason knew who the old lady was, but the kids across the street and an Asian couple? Riley seemed to have left that tidbit of information out. “The witness on the police report said that she’d seen a woman over Carly’s house that day.”

“Ah…Mrs. Pruitt.”
He laughed. “She’s crazy. I wouldn’t listen to anything she says if I were you. There was no woman at Ms. Graciette’s home that day.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes I’m sure. She couldn’t remember anything about the woman and none of the people we questioned had seen her either.”

“Are you the one that talked to Carly’s husband about her possible murder?”

“Yes. Riley and I both did. When we arrived at the scene, he was in panic mode saying someone had killed her. We told our captain at the time, he sent some detectives to investigate and they came to the conclusion that the M.E. was right and dropped the case. It’s as simple as that. I don’t know what else to tell you. Now if you gentlemen would excuse me.” He motioned towards the door. “I need to shower and dress. I have a date tonight.”

Westfield’s version of what had happened that day is not the version Riley had told them few days ago, but Jason had decided to keep that to himself as well. He didn’t want to give him a chance to tip Riley off once he and Alex left. It was obvious Riley hadn’t done that after he and Amour had spoken to him which proved to be a very useful mistake on Riley’s part. 

Jason rose from to his feet. “Alright. Thanks for talking with us captain. We’ll be in touch if we need those cops or anything else.”

Jason and Alex both shook Westfield’s hand and walked out of the condo onto the hallway. Once they’d gotten out of the building and into Jason’s car, it was clear to him that there was some kind of weird cover-up going on.

Alex looked straight ahead and spoke. “Do you smell dirty cops and murder?”

Alex had always been able to intuitively know what others were thinking as well as when things didn’t seem right even after having little information about it. That was one of the many things Jason admired about him. “Yep, I sure do and it smells pretty foul.”

Amour stood in the middle of the bank lobby trembling and wondering if today would be her last. After showing her the gun in his waist band, the strange man took a couple of steps towards her before discreetly beckoning for her to turn around and go out of the door behind her. She had no choice but to do what he wanted, that is…if she wanted to stay alive. She supposed she could run or scream but that would be unwise because it could potentially put all the other people in the bank in danger so she decided to oblige. She slowly faced the door and walked towards it.

What the hell was she thinking? She knew this was a bad idea. No, it wasn’t a bad idea, it was a
stupid
idea. Why did she listen to Shyla? She didn’t even know her, let alone if she was a very smart woman or not. Shyla may be the type that gets off on danger as far as she was concerned.  As she approached the door to open it, she could feel him getting closer to her and her stomach muscles clenched and her heart pounded. She’d never been this scared in her entire life. The ninety degree heat hit her like a fist when the door swung open. Standing next to her, he put his arm around her waist making her tremble even more.

He leaned in closer to her. “Act like you
know me.”

“W…What?’

He quickly slid off his jacket and handed it to her making sure she continued to block him from view. “Put this on and do it with a smile on your face.”

“Why?” she whispered.

“Do it now or you’ll regret it.”

“Alright.”
She paused to put her arms through the sleeves of the jacket.

“Keep walking,” he said in a menacing tone.

After fully getting the jacket on, she somehow managed to put a fake smile on her face as they started to walk.  She felt his arm slowly slide underneath the jacket and wrap around her waist followed by what felt like the barrel of his shot gun digging into her side.

Her mouth suddenly became dry and she swallowed. “Who are you?”

“That’s not for you to worry about.”

“Then tell me where are you taking me?”

“You ask too many questions bitch! Now shut up and keep moving!”

He led her away from the bank as they walked down Olympic Boulevard. After they’d walked about a half of a block, they spotted an
elderly couple heading straight towards them. Amour felt the barrel of his gun press even harder to her side so much it began to hurt.

His warm breath grazed her ear as he spoke. “Don’t attempt to grow a brain blondie or you’re dead.”

Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest she could hear it in her ears. As the couple got closer to them, she heard him let out a low chuckle in her ear. She took in a deep breath and before she could exhale, she suddenly felt his lips press hard onto hers.

He was kissing her. He was
actually
kissing her. When she tried to pull away, she felt the barrel his gun move from her side to her lower back pressing hard. It didn’t take rocket scientist to figure out what that meant. Her stomach became queasy as she felt his dry chapped lips cover hers. When the elderly couple passed them, they smiled and said a few pleasant words but she couldn’t make them out. All she could focus on was the fact that she was ten seconds from vomiting. When he stopped kissing her, he began to nudge her to walk faster.

She wiped her mouth. “Did you have to do that?”

“Of course. We wouldn’t want anyone getting suspicious would we?”

“You’re disgusting!”

He chuckled. “No that’s not nice Miss Graciette. But for the money I’m getting paid to do this job, I can live with it. Of course you wouldn’t have had to deal with me if you’d just done what you were told to do earlier this week. But you had to stay in L.A. and play Nancy Drew.”

After walking about ten blocks, he nudged her to turn right onto a small side street. Without raising her head, she used her eyes to look up to read the blue street sign above her that read Manning Avenue and memorized it just in case she was able to get away and tell Shyla or Jason exactly where she was. “Who’s paying you?” she asked.

“Now do you really think I’m gonna tell you that?”

No she didn’t, but she figured the more he was talking, the less he was thinking about shooting her. “At least tell me what they want from me.”

“I told you. They want you to stop snooping and leave. Boss is not happy about you sticking around or about your pretty boy bodyguard getting all up in the business either.”

She moistened her dry lips with her tongue. They tasted like sweat and stale booze…
yuck!
Boss? Who is he working for? As they walked further down the small street, she decided to keep talking hoping that maybe he’ll slip up and reveal something to her.

“Well whoever you work for is dammed coward.”

He snorted. “Now why would you say that Miss Graciette?”

After walking about seven more blocks, they cut in a fork in the small intersection and began to walk onto another small street. She looked up again with her eyes and memorized the street name Putney Road.
“Because he’s sending you to do his dirty work instead of doing it himself. He can’t take out a girl?”

He laughed. “Oh yeah, but that wouldn’t be wise considering how high powered my boss is. So I get to have all the fun.” They stopped at a midsized black sedan with tinted windows and he pointed to the driver’s side door. “Get in.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “You want me to drive?”

He pressed the gun harder into her back. “Yes! Now do what I told you!”

“Okay!” She opened the car door and lowered herself inside. Blowing her plan of escaping as soon as he walked to the other side of the car to get in, he opted out of doing so and climbed over her to get to the passenger seat never taking his gun off of her.

“Start the car and drive!” he exclaimed.

She looked down and noticed that the keys were already in the ignition so she gave it a turn. When the car failed to start, she turned the key again this time hearing the roar of the engine. “Where do you want me to go?”

“I’ll let you know. Just drive!”

As she pulled out of the parking space onto the street, she heard the text message alert coming from her cell phone in her tote which still hung on her shoulder.
Shit! Shyla!
That probably was her wondering where she was. “I…” That was all she could get out before he interrupted her.

“Don’t think I don’t know about the broad you came here with. That’s why we went out the opposite door. I’m afraid she can’t help you now blondie. And don’t even think about reaching for that bag!”

As much as hated to admit it, he was right. Shyla was outside the bank when he’d taken her and she had no idea where she was or if she was anywhere at all. She was in deep shit but she had to stay calm if that was even possible. “I’m not.”

“Good. I wouldn’t want to start my little party with you early.”

“W…What do you mean by that? What do you plan to do with me?”

He slid his index finger down her cheek causing her to flinch. “Oh, you and I are gonna have a lot of fun. I was informed by boss that as long as I put a bullet in your head and got rid of your body when I’m done, I can do whatever I wanted with you and believe me sweetheart, I intend to.”

Her heart pounded even harder in her chest and she began to tremble at the thought of him touching her anywhere on her body. She was still nauseous from him kissing her. Her mouth became dry again. She swallowed and tried to concentrate on the area she was driving in. She’d noticed that they’d driven passed the Parks Recreation Center and was now passing the Sony Pictures Studios. “You know Jason is going to kill you for this.”

He snorted again. “He can try but he’ll have to find me first.”

“He will.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure sweetheart. No one knows where I’m taking you and by the time I’m done with you, your body will be buried some place no one will ever find it. Even if they do, you’ll be unrecognizable. That is…after I have a little fun with you.” He reached down and rubbed her thigh. “I have to keep you pretty for that part.”

She clenched her teeth tightly together hoping that it will keep the vomit that was eager to come up to stay down. She couldn’t let him touch her. She had to find a way out of this. “Are you the one that’s been calling me?”

“Yep!”

“How did you get my number?”

“Like I said, my boss has acquaintances in high places and can get access to anything. Believe me; getting someone’s cell phone number isn’t hard to do.” He pressed the gun to her stomach. “Turn down here.”

She’d driven for what seemed like about twenty minutes when they’d arrived at a small run down house in what looked like a not so good neighborhood. He told her to park in front of the house and then nudged her to get out of the car. She opened the door and began to step out with him climbing over the middle console behind her just as he did when they’d gotten in. Shutting the car door behind him, he slid his arm back under the jacket he’d given her and pushed her with his other hand signaling for her to start walking.  They walked a couple of houses down from where they’d parked and he nudged her again to walk up the driveway of another run down house that had dead grass and chipping paint on the outside.

“Whose house is this?” she asked trembling. He legs were shaking so bad she could barely walk.

“Shut up and keep walking!” He led her through a narrow walkway on the side of the house that led to the backyard. It also had lots of dead grass and it was full of trash and old rusty cars. The stench was making her even more nauseated. He opened the small door of a large shed. “Get inside!” he yelled while pressing the gun deeper into her back, pushing her inside.

If she had her bag she’d have her pepper spray. Hell, she’d at least be able to swing it at him and make a run for it. But unfortunately it was in the car along with her cell phone so she was screwed. Once they were fully
inside the dimly lit shed, he shoved her down onto a filthy mattress that sat in the middle of the floor surrounded by four large rusted poles that were imbedded into the ground.

When he lowered himself onto the mattress, she pleaded with him to stop. “Please don’t…” That was all she could get out before she suddenly felt hard knuckles hit her across the face making her head snap back and her vision temporarily go black. The pain was excruciating and gave her an instant headache.

“I said shut up!” he screamed.

Keeping the gun pointed at her face, he reached over to a small wooden table with his other hand and grabbed something off of it. Her head was spinning as well as pounding from the blow she’d suffered and because of her hazy vision coupled with the dimly lit room; she could barely see or concentrate on what he was doing to her. After a few seconds and what seemed like the sound of a tear, she felt her mouth being covered by what felt like duct tape. She tried to kick and scream but to no avail because he was holding her down with his large body. Tears began to rush down her cheeks as flashbacks of three years ago flooded her mind. Why was this happening to her? Why…again?

He lowered his head and whispered in her ear. “I love it when they fight me. It turns me on.”

He lifted her arms above her head and taped her wrists together. A few seconds later, she felt his hands grab her ankles. Closing her eyes tightly, she hoped for a miracle. If that didn’t happen, she hoped that whatever he had planned on doing to her, he would kill her first.