Merchants with Evil Intent (14 page)

      
“Who’s Declan?”

      
She sat next to him and with irritation
in her voice she told him the entire story.

      
Afterwards, he grinned. “You like this
guy.”

      
She snorted, “Nu-uh.”

      
“Yes, you do. Go call him back and
apologize. Set up a date or something,” Ryan pushed.

      
“Why? He’s not from Chicago and long
distance relationships seldom work,” she sighed.

      
A knock at the door interrupted their
conversation.

      
She opened the door and her stomach
knotted.

      
“Since you couldn’t come to my house I
thought I’d stop by,” Viktor replied, brushing past her.

      
She scowled at the back of his head.

      
“Hey Ryan,” Viktor said shaking Ryan’s
hand.

      
“Camryn’s not up to visitors. Isn’t that
right?” Ryan asked.

      
“Well, I am a little busy,” she hedged.

      
Another knock at the door took her off
guard. She opened the door and Greg Travers filled her doorway. He held a
bouquet of roses and a bottle of wine in one hand. “Hey babe,” he crooned
wrapping an arm around her and kissing her.

*
     
*
     
*

      
Camille awoke to sobbing and muffled
voices.
 
She slowly opened one eye and
scanned the surroundings. Through the low light she made out two shapes across
the room. A shrill voice screamed out that was quickly silenced with a thud. Perhaps
the back of a hand or a fist she thought. She lay still, worried the hammering
inside her chest would give her away. She trembled slightly; she wouldn’t allow
herself a full blown shake. She couldn’t afford to.

      
Footfalls drifted away and a door slammed
shut.
 
She waited a few moments for any
sign of movement or sound. When the only sound she heard was the labored
breathing of her cellmates she guardedly scanned the area again.
 

      
She pulled herself up resting her upper
body on her elbows.
 
One of the beds that
had been filled before was now empty. She hoped the woman had escaped and would
bring the police.

      
“She’s dead.”

      
She whipped her head in the direction of
the voice. A blonde haired girl turned towards her. Her eyes were red and
swollen.

      
Camille tried to talk but words lodged in
her throat. She tried to generate saliva, but gave up. She didn’t know how much
time she had before the monsters came back.

      
“What’s your name?” she croaked.

      
“Sam,” the girl whispered and began to
cry. “What are they going to do to us?”

      
Camille fought back tears and mumbled,
“Nothing, if I have anything to say about it.”

*
     
*
     
*

      
Declan sighed. The damn gel exasperated
him. He wanted to throttle and kiss her at the same time. No wonder he hadn’t
dated since Teaghan. Aye, he was glad to be leavin’ in the morn. He’d put her
out of his mind and as Colleen so eloquently put it, start living again.

*
     
*
     
*

      
Camryn stood in a tight lip lock with
Travers and she tried to pull away, but he was too damn strong.
 
What
the hell is wrong with him?

      
He tore his lips from hers and whispered
in her ear, “Follow my lead.”

      
He pulled away, handing her the bouquet
with a wink.
 
“Whoa, I didn’t realize you
had company.”

      
Viktor’s hands fisted at his sides and as
he made a step towards Travers, Ryan stopped him.
 

      
Viktor glared at him and crossed his arms
over his chest. “It seems Camryn’s having a great time playing three guys at
once.”

      
Camryn lunged forward and Travers held
her back.
 
“Well if you’re talking about
you and the guy in the park, I’d have to say I agree with ya. She sure played
you two.”

      
Viktor’s jaws flexed. “Excuse me?”

      
Travers smiled.
 
“A lot of people aren’t aware, but Cam and I
were secretly dating. When I wouldn’t make a commitment she started dating you
to get me jealous. The guy in the park today was just the icing on the cake. So
now I’m here to make a commitment to my lady and if you don’t mind, I’d like to
do it in private, if you get my drift.”

      
Viktor didn’t know who he wanted to
strangle more. She’d played him for a fool. She probably wasn’t even a virgin
either, lying slut. He gritted his teeth and stormed out the door.

      
Travers shut the door with a smile.
 
“What the hell…,” Camryn started.

      
Travers held up his hand and opened the curtain
to watch Orlov pull away. “Okay, now you can hit me,” he grinned.

      
Camryn handed the bouquet to him and
wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “What the hell was that about?” she
snapped.

      
“Something’s not right with Orlov and a
few of us agreed to take shifts until you’re safely out of the country.”
 
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Look,
I’m sorry I did it that way, but he’s not going to leave you alone any other
way.”

      
“God, you’re a jerk!” Camryn screeched
pushing her hands into his chest. “Now he really hates me.”

      
“Does it matter? You’ve said he freaks
you out sometimes,” Greg replied.

      
“He freaks me out, too,” Ryan added. “I
wasn’t sure if I could’ve stopped him from hitting you, Greg.”

      
Greg laughed, “Not too worry, I would’ve
handled him.”

      
“Sure, you can laugh, but I’m going to be
here by myself tonight,” Camryn sighed.

      
“Why do you think I’m here? You’re stuck
with me until John picks you up,” Greg replied.

      
She narrowed her eyes and sarcastically
replied, “Well, at least I have
that
to look forward to.”

*
     
*
     
*

      
“Are you going to meet her?” Colleen
asked, wiping crumbs from the kitchen table.

      
“I’ll no’ be seeing her again,” Declan
growled.

      
Colleen’s eyes widened, “You stubborn
pigheaded arse!”

      
Declan shot her an incredulous look. “I’m
no’ the stubborn one. I doona understand her. She snogs me socks off and then
wants nothin’ to do with me. Are all bloody women like that or is just reserved
for Yank gels?”

      
Colleen wrapped her arms around him. “Oh
Dec, some day you’ll meet a grand Irish girl and have ornery children.”

      
He whispered, “I thought I had.”

*
     
*
     
*

      
Camille Mayden didn’t know what happened.
When she first arrived in hell she felt dopey, out of it. Now she thought
clearer and was awake more. When she felt brave, she lifted herself onto her
elbows and scanned the darkened room.

      
There were four women, including herself,
strapped to beds.
God, the other woman
died.
She jerked her head and looked at the IV stand next to her.

      
Did anyone miss her?
Surely
not her staff.
She was hard on them because if you let people walk over
you, you’ll always get shit on. How can you run a business that way?

      
Her parents lived in Ohio and she talked
to them twice a week. Did she miss a call from them?
Two?
Three?
Maybe Geoff, her flamboyant friend she went to
the concert with, reported her missing. She shouldn’t have gone with the hot
guy to his car. She scoffed. Hot guy all right…straight from hell.
The devil incarnate.

      
She heard the door knob jiggle and
quickly laid back down, her heart hammered in her chest.

*
     
*
     
*

      
Travers made himself at home by poking
through Camryn’s fridge. He frowned when the only thing appealing was beer.

      
“No wonder you’re so thin. Don’t you have
anything to eat?” he groused.

      
“I might have if Ryan hadn’t pigged out
on the pizza,” she laughed.

      
“Pizza?”
Travers
whined.

      
Camryn sighed as she grabbed the phone.
“Whaddya want on it?”

      
After she placed the order she pushed
Ryan’s legs off the couch and sat, looking through the itinerary again. Travers
and Ryan yelled at the television as they watched a pre-season football game.

      
Her thoughts drifted to Declan.
Exasperating jerk! But, there was something about him.

      
A knock at the door jarred her from her
thoughts. Travers silently motioned for her to go into the kitchen.
 
She narrowed her eyes and stomped to the
kitchen, grabbing the thirty-eight from the sideboard. Who the hell was he to
boss her around in her own house?

      
Travers pulled his own gun from his ankle
holster.

      
“Hey O’Mara family!”
Traver’s welcomed.

      
Patrick, Grace and Claire walked into
Camryn’s apartment with furrowed eyebrows until they spotted Ryan.

      
“Hey peeps,” Ryan waved. “Meet Cam’s new
boyfriend!”

      
Claire wrinkled her nose. “What happened
to Viktor?”

      
“First off, I’m not dating Travers and
secondly, Viktor is bad news, Claire,” Camryn said hugging her parents.

      
They looked perplexed so Camryn waved
them into the kitchen to talk.

      
Grace gasped when she saw a gun on the
kitchen counter. Camryn waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t freak out, mom.
It’s just for protection.”

      
“I thought everything was resolved,”
Grace whispered.

      
“Have a seat and I’ll explain
everything,” Camryn offered.

*
     
*
     
*

 
     
Lukov
took a cursory glance around the room and approached the second girl he
received. The IV was running low on morphine and he didn’t dare take a risk
like he did a few nights ago. “When you do you expect to get Valik released? I
lost one of my products the other night,” Lukov barked into the phone.

      
Detective Bedroom Eyes hissed, “What do
you mean ‘lost’?”

      
“She died, fool!”

      
“You killed her?”

      
“Nyet!
It’s your
fault Valik is in jail so the way I see it, you killed her!” Lukov hissed.

*
     
*
     
*

      
Viktor shuffled into the kitchen and
tried to get the image of Camryn kissing Travers out of his head. He pulled a
bottle of vodka from the cabinet, unscrewed the cap and brought it to his lips.

      
Travers was full of shit. He wasn’t her
type. Besides, cops are worse than women when it came to gossiping. No way
could that have been kept a secret.

Chapter
6

      
After Camryn explained the whole story
Claire gushed, “This Declan sounds adorable! Are you going to meet up with him
in Ireland?”

      
Camryn shot her a disgusted sneer. “Out
of everything I’ve said for the past forty-five minutes you’re stuck on Declan?
Are you freakin’ kidding me?”