Tearing Down Walls (Love Under Construction Series Book 2) (15 page)

“’Stang!” Vic yelled, and Steve jumped into the passenger side of Vic’s car as Vic fired it up and slammed it into first. The tires squalled as he tore out of the parking lot. It was close to an hour to Shelbyville – well, not the way Vic was driving – but both men were still afraid of what they’d find when they got there.

Steve pulled out his phone and hit Tony’s contact in his list. “Hey, Steve, we went to eat. Sorry we cut out so fast but . . .”

“You’re heading into the jaws of hell! Wagner’s at your house!”

“Have you got your Walther with you?” Tony asked Nikki, and the way he asked told her that something was very wrong.

“Now where in the hell would I have put it in this outfit?” she asked him. “But I thought just in case . . .” She produced the Heckler & Koch nine millimeter he’d given her as a gift from underneath the front seat and racked a round into the chamber.
That’s my girl,
Tony thought. “Now, what the hell’s going on?” She dropped back into the seat and let out a hiss.
Yeah, her ass is gonna sting for awhile,
Tony remembered.

“Baby, he’s at our house.”

“Wagner?” She couldn’t believe it. How had he found Laura?

“Yeah. Steve said Peyton called him and he told Peyton to take her to the safe room. God, I hope they’re okay,” Tony said. “But we’re going to beat Steve and Vic there, so we’re the first line of defense. I hope you have some better shoes,” he said, looking at the stiletto-heeled boots. Nikki reached into the back floorboard and pulled out a pair of Asics.
Yep, that’s my girl,
Tony smiled. “Of course, you’ll be staying in the SUV.”

“The hell you say,” she chirped, flipping the safety off and looking down the sights. “I needed about ten more hours of range time with this thing, but I’ll get by.”

A car raced up behind Tony, pulled in behind him, flashed its lights twice, and then pulled around. In their headlights Nikki saw the paint change colors – Vic. How in the hell had he caught up to them? And in a second it was clear as he pulled away. He had to be going one twenty in that convertible, and she was terrified. If anything happened to him . . .

“Sweet mother of god, he’s moving. I don’t think this thing will do over ninety.” Tony stepped down on the gas and Nikki watched the needle move up and over ninety-five. And Vic was still disappearing in front of them. Unbelievable.

Vic and Steve flew off the exit ramp. The Mustang slid sideways, and Vic tromped down on the gas again, going from about twenty-five to sixty-five in about three seconds. “Where’s your piece?” Steve asked him.

“Console.”

Steve pulled the big Ruger out and took it out of Vic’s holster, then flipped the safety off. “We’ll be lucky if they’re still alive when we get there.” As Steve said the words, Vic’s gut torqued. If he got a chance, that bastard would be deader’n a hammer.

Vic slowed at the end of the long driveway. Something didn’t look right, and then it hit him: It was eleven forty-five at night, and Helene’s lights were on, not to mention that her car wasn’t in its usual spot. The housekeeper’s little house at the entrance to the driveway was usually dark at this time of night, and she definitely wouldn’t be out and about. “Steve, as soon as we can, we need to check on Helene.”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Steve said, his voice grim and laced with stress.

As Vic turned off the headlights and made the slow approach to the big house, he noticed Helene’s little car sitting in an odd position on the lawn. It was dark inside – he didn’t see a single light. “I see Peyton leveled the playing field,” Steve chuckled. “The old ‘if I can’t see you, then you can’t see me.’ He’s a pro.” Vic had never thought of Peyton as being hardcore security savvy like Steve and José, but maybe he’d underestimated the short blond. “I’m going to try to call him. Or maybe I shouldn’t. Hell, I don’t know what to do at this point.” Steve took another look at the dark house. “Nope. We’re going in cold.”

“And?”

“And you go around to the left. I’ll go around to the right, meet you at the back. Stay low but try to see in the windows.” They heard a sound and saw Tony and Nikki’s white Yukon pull up behind Vic’s car. Both got out with weapons drawn and crouch-crawled to Steve and Vic.

“So, what are we doing?” Tony asked.

“We’re going around the house. You need to go in the front. Cover for each other as you clear each room. Give us a count of about fifty before you come in. Key?” Tony handed Steve the back door key. Nikki handed Tony her front door key. “We all ready?”

“There is no ‘we all.’ You’re staying your ass here, babe,” Tony hissed at Nikki.

“Wish you would,” Vic added.

“Fuck you. No way,” she whispered back, and Tony realized it was useless to argue with her. She was going to get herself killed, and he’d just have to keep that from happening, so now he was trying to protect
two
stubborn women – perfect.

“Let’s go.” Steve and Vic took off, leaving Tony and Nikki beside the car. Tony started counting, and Nikki reached into her bra and pulled out an elastic, putting her hair up into a ponytail. Tony just shook his head; was there anything she didn’t have with her?

“I’m first in the door, hear me?” Tony growled. Nikki nodded to him. “You stay behind me. I mean it. Don’t make me shoot you.” Nikki grinned at him. He finished the count and whispered, “Come on.”

Vic and Steve made it to the back of the house at the same time, and Steve didn’t need the key – the door was standing open. They’d seen nothing through the windows on their way around the house. One cleared a room, and the other rushed the next, going from room to room. They reached the bottom of the stairs at the same time Tony and Nikki did. Ascending two abreast, they separated on the landing, two going one way and two the other, Nikki with Steve and Tony with Vic. They cleared one room after another, opening closet and bathroom doors as they went. When they’d exhausted their search, they met back on the landing.

“Nothing,” Steve said. “Need to check the basement, but I’m guessing he’s gone. I’m guessing that when the lights went out, he figured out she wasn’t alone.”

“Yeah, and not knowing who was with her threw him,” Tony said. “We need to go down to the basement, check everything out, get them out of there.”

All four of them crept down into the basement and cleared the rooms. Tony hit the wine rack at the back of the wine cellar, and the whole unit shifted out and down the wall in front of the unit next to it, revealing a steel door. He flipped open a panel on the door, punched in some numbers, and the door opened. Stepping inside it, he hit the main breaker on the electrical panel, then opened a flip panel on the next door and punched in a different set of numbers. There was a hissing sound as the door slid out of the way, and Tony found himself looking straight into the barrel of Peyton’s nine millimeter Glock. “Well, that’s a fine hello, Peyton,” he said, and Peyton dropped his arms with a sigh. Laura cowered in the corner, terrified.

“Good god, it took you guys long enough! I’d about decided I was going to have to blast out of here myself.” Peyton holstered his weapon and looked at the four of them. “Nothing?”

“Nope. But I think something’s wrong at my housekeeper’s house,” Tony said.

Vic nodded. “I made that comment to Steve as we were coming in. I’ll go down there with you, but I’m afraid of what we’re going to find.”

“How did he find her?” Peyton asked. “We were so careful.”

Steve shook his head. “I don’t know, but we’d better figure it out pretty soon.”

They looked around to see Nikki crouched next to Laura, smoothing her hair and trying to calm her. The brunette turned to the four men. “No one can help me. He’s going to kill me and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. I’m as good as dead.”

“Not as long as I have breath,” Vic growled. Nikki glanced at Tony, and they both knew he meant it.

“Goddamn it,” Wagner growled. “Who the fuck was with her? I don’t get it. Why would anyone care about that worthless, used-up cunt?” His phone rang. “Anything?”

“Not yet. But I think I found an in. A very, very good-looking in. I’m going to enjoy this.”

“Do whatever you have to do,” he snarled.
She may be the biggest slut I’ve ever known, but she’s got a way about her. Maybe she’ll fuck some useful information out of somebody. If she doesn’t, I’ll just kill her like I did the others. Easy as pie.

“It’s bad.” Tony called Nikki from Helene’s when he and Vic got there. José was already there; he’d stopped when he realized something looked wrong. “He very nearly beat her to death. Once she’s loaded in the bus, I’ll be back down. He thought her house was ours, thought Helene was hiding her.”

Nikki could hear sirens in the distance. She turned to Laura and lied. “She’s fine. Everything’s fine. But we need to get out of here, okay?”

Laura was still shaking, but Nikki was shocked that she hadn’t shed a tear. Her face was a complete blank. Peyton stood in the doorway, a silent sentinel, and Nikki could tell he felt bad, but he had no reason to. He’d done a good job of protecting her.

“You okay, Laura?” Steve asked her. Nikki was seeing a side of Steve she hadn’t known before, the one that was genuinely concerned about someone. Laura was trembling and her eyes darted around, like she was checking every corner.

“No. I’m not okay. Wagner is going to kill me and not you, not Peyton or Vic or Tony or José or her,” Laura said, pointing to Nikki, “can stop him. He’ll keep hunting me, keep finding me, until he kills me. That’s just how it is.”

“Laura, we’ll find him. This will stop. I promise.” Steve walked up to her and put his arms around her shoulders, and she leaned into him but left her arms at her sides. It was the most demonstrative any of them had ever seen her.

“No. You won’t. He’s like a shadow. There’s no point. I’m going home, make it easy for him,” she said into Steve’s chest.

“You will not!” Nikki practically shrieked. “We’ll figure something out, but we’re not throwing you to the wolves, you hear me? And there’s nothing you can do about that!”

“Nikki’s telling the truth, Laura,” Peyton said, coming back from checking out the front door sidelights. “We’re not finished, not by a long shot. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m digging a trench and laying in for the long haul.”

“Me too,” Steve added. “All of us.” Tony and Vic had come through the front door after seeing Helene off and caught most of the conversation.

“We’re all in this now, Laura. We can’t walk away.” Tony looked at his cousin. “Right, Vic?”

Vic walked up to Laura, put his hands on her shoulders, and said, “Look around. No one in this room is walking away. Get used to it.” The commanding and firm tone in his voice soothed Nikki’s jangled nerves, and she watched Laura’s face soften, her trembling stop, and her eyes lock with Vic’s. “Now, we’re going to find you a safe place to go tonight, and we’ll try to figure everything else out in the morning.” Nikki glanced over at Tony and found him caught up in the tone of Vic’s voice. Tony looked back at Nikki and smiled a tiny smile. “Steve, got any suggestions?”

“Nope. I’m fresh out. Anybody else?” Steve asked, looking around the room.

Nikki thought for a minute, then said, “Yeah. I’ve got an idea.”