Prologue
It took a minute to put it together. Somewhere between the car and his house, something happened, most likely something involving a taser. That might explain the burning sensation on his side. After that, everything was a blank, but somehow, he found himself hanging from a hook in the ceiling of an empty room. Most likely by his own handcuffs. The thug who slapped the bracelets on had taken them a notch too tight, so they were digging into his wrists. The same thug, wearing a cowboy hat two sizes too big for his head, was standing in front of him.
“What are you waiting for?”
“I’m just enjoying myself. You have to understand, once you get a reputation, people just don’t cross me very often,” the man in the cowboy hat said as he twirled a combat knife that was probably big enough to qualify as a sword in his hand like it was a baton. “It might be months before I get to do this again.”
“Enjoy your work?”
“I do. What you should be doing is trying your best to make sure I don’t get to have any fun.”
“How? You want me to talk? I don’t know anything.”
“Come on now, use your imagination. I’m sure there’s something a man like you could do for a man like me.”
“You can do what you want to me. I’m not going to hurt her.”
“Well, you’re going to need to hurt someone. If and when it's time to hurt her, don’t worry, she’ll be hurt. I was thinking someone more difficult to find, someone your friend already found before.”
“You want me to kill Stone?”
“I want someone to kill him. You seem to be a good candidate. He seems to trust you, or at least your partner, and she—despite the fact you are something of scumbag—seems to trust you.”
“If I do it, what do I get?”
The man in the cowboy hat nodded to someone lurking in the shadows. He never saw the man, just felt the uppercut he delivered to his ribs before going back into the shadows.
After he caught his breath, the man in the cowboy hat told him, “We aren’t negotiating. Get this done, show you might have some use to us other than as an example to others, and then we’ll talk. I can’t guarantee you doing us this favor will make everything square, but I can tell you what will happen if you don’t do it will be much worse.”
“I just find and kill Stone?”
“For now.”
“You know, you could have just told me that without the abduction and the handcuffs. I know who you are.”
“I know, but like I said, I don’t get to do this kind of stuff as often as I used to. I’ll give you a week.”
“He won’t be easy to find.”
“If it was easy, I’d do it myself and we would be having a very different interaction right now. Any more questions?”
“I think I’ve got it.”
“Good. I’d say don’t let me down, but I’m kind of hoping you do,” the man in the cowboy hat said. He turned to the shadows and ordered, “Take him down. Call him an Uber something.”
Instead of taking him down, the big man stepped out of the shadow and dug and another uppercut into his stomach. Satisfied with the pain the blow caused, he undid the handcuffs.
Chapter 1
Today
It was weird having them both in the car and having Mal behind them, but her life had been weird like that lately.
“Both of you stay here,” Margot told them.
Dean Stone, the former client who’d been the source of a lot of her problems laughed, saying, “Where the hell would I go? We’re in the middle of nowhere.”
“Plus, I’d shoot him in the back,” Detective Rick Radcliff added.
“Just be cool, this shouldn't take long.”
Margot got out and looked over the property situated in between some orange groves. The double-wide was well put together. At first glance, it looked more like a single-family home, something one might find in the suburbs. They had a carport rather than a garage and there was no car under it right now. This didn’t mean Lori wasn’t home. According to Gale, they only had one car and Dave Lori’s husband was the only one allowed to drive it. Since they lived miles from pretty much everything but a single service station and a lot of orange trees, this kept her basically a prisoner.
Lori had a phone, but her husband had been taking it with him when he went to work. They didn’t really get the internet out here, so unless Dave was with her, Lori had no contact with the outside world. On one of those occasions when Dave let her have her phone, she’d managed to get a picture of bruised and broken self out to her friend Gale. Gale had contacted Margot, which was why she was there.
Even though Dave’s truck wasn’t in the carport, Margot opened her purse so she’d have quick and easy access to the weapons she kept there. Depending on the situation, she could grab her gun, a short-barreled S&W .40, a can of mace, or a telescoping baton.
She knocked on the door. When no one replied, she yelled, “Lori, Gale sent me.”
Lori didn’t reply. Margot knocked and called again. Again she didn’t get a reply. Margot checked the door and found it locked. Probably living out here where there were more coyotes than people, Dave and Lori weren’t that security conscious. The door didn’t have a deadbolt. The lock it did have wouldn’t slow Marg
ot much.
She figured Radcliff would frown on her breaking in. Still, she got out what looked like a credit card but was actually made of metal instead of plastic so it was better for picking locks. She went in without looking back. If she was a cop, she could argue probable cause since it wasn’t unreasonable to think the woman sending pictures with a black eye and broken arm courtesy of her husband could be hurt or worse inside.
The inside was as well done as the out. Lori and Dave kept a clean house. Margot called for Lori again and got no response. The place wasn’t very big; it didn’t take Margot long to figure out Lori wasn’t there. A check of the closet showed all the hangers were full. If Lori had left on her own, she hadn’t taken any clothes.
Margot was getting ready to leave when she heard a big truck pull up. She checked her phone. Mal was supposed to be watching the road leading to the house. He should have warned her. Even if he hadn’t, she would have thought Stone and Radcliff might do something. She put her hand in her purse and wrapped her fingers about the handle before she stepped out of the door.
A stocky guy with a shaved head jumped out of the truck. He was wearing a dress shirt and a long red tie. The name tag above his shirt pocket said “Dave,” so this was probably the same Dave married to Lori. He also had a big nickel-plated revolver in his hand as he came around his truck. Margot drew her gun and leveled it so it was aimed at his head as he came around toward the door.
“Put it down,” she told him.
When he hesitated, she added, “I actually want to shoot you, so don’t give me an excuse.”
“Who are you?”
“We can talk after you put down the gun.”
The stocky man Margot assumed was Dave put down the gun and then asked, “Are you the one who kidnapped my wife? I have the money.”
“Your wife’s been kidnapped?”
“Yeah, that’s not why you’re here?”