Snatched (12 page)

"Trust me. Going to the police isn't an option."

"
You can let me go, then take off then. You're better than this. You don't have to stay in this gang, do the things that you do."

Another smirk. "Not an option. There're other things going on that you can't possibly know. Trust me, you came at the worse time possible."

"Yes, I'm sorry I forced you to kidnap me and keep me prisoner
here
. I hate
when I
inconvenience criminals that way." She couldn't keep the
strain of
bitterness out of her voice.

He smirked.

"I'm glad you find me funny."

The smirk left. "Trust me lady I don't find any of this funny. I no more want you here than you want to be here. But what we want isn't our reality. You don't know Rez. If I let you go, it's as good as a bullet to the head for both of us. He would track us down no matter where we went. Even if we left the state."

She sighed, exasperation overcoming the underlying fear. "Then what is your plan. We can't go to the police, we can't run. Do you plan to keep me as your gang bitch because believe me that's not an option either. My family and friends will be looking for me soon, if the police aren't already looking for me."

He stopped pacing and she realized this was something he had already considered.

"Trust me on this. It's a matter of timing. I have an ace up the sleeve, something I can't tell you
about
. But if you
give
me for just a little longer,
I can get us both out of this
."

She was tired of his asking her to trust him. How could she trust a biker,
a gang member,
someone who dealt drugs and probably did much worse? Yes, he hadn't
hurt her
…
yet
. But that could change
at any moment
. She was at his mercy.

But right now she didn't have a choice. He was her only ally in all of this
mess
.

"So, what's the plan
?" she asked. "More pretending?"

He looked at her in earnest. "Yeah, that's exactly it. What you said before about being my…bitch. That's the role you're
going to
have to play for a while. If Rez and the gang think you're in this on your own free will, the heat'll be off us…off of you… at least for a little while. Rez is fast with the knife but he also doesn't build up a body count unnecessarily. He's efficient that way."

"What
do you want me to do?"

"Basically, just stick by my side. And look like you enjoy it."

"Geez, I swear I'll never eat another piece of rib again."

"Don't blame the meat. It seems you got anger management issues."

"You really want to go there?
Considering…" She
shook her handcuffed wrists again.

When he smiled, a couple of dimples deepened in his cheeks, as they did now. She had to admit it wouldn't be hard to pretend to like him.
Remembering the kiss in the parking lot ac
tually made her flush a little.

"There'll be no kissing," she declared.

He just shrugged and said, "That's up to you. Although you don't seem too turned off by my touch."

She refused to answer his observation.

He walked close to a bureau she hadn't noticed before, opened the top drawer, pulled out a
white
t-shirt.

"We got to get you some clothes
that aren't torn
. Until then, you're going to have to wear
this top."
He tossed the shirt onto the bed.

He walked over to her, pulled a key from his jeans pocket and unlocked the handcuffs.

She sat up, rubbing at her sore wrists.

"Where did you get those from anyway?" she asked, nodding at the cuffs that he was presently putting away in the nightstand drawer. "The local joy toy shop?"

"You could say that," he offered.

"Bet your lady friends get a kick out of those."

"I have better uses for them."

"I don't want to know."

She shifted placing her feet on the floor. It felt good to be mobile
again
.

"It'll be light soon. First thing we're going to do is pick up some breakfast then
we'll
head over to
the
warehouse
district
. That's
the
official meeting place
for the Demons
.
We have
facilities
all over the city.
An
yway
t
his is what's going to happen
in a few hours
. We're going to walk in
together lovey-dovey, kissing or no kissing is up to you. But you hang on to me, stay by my side. That'll be the message to the gang that this is a thing for now. Luckily for you, Rez's woman
Clare
is a hothead and doesn't take kind
ly to women being passed around so at least you don't have to worry about that. But make sure you don't ever be alone with any of the guys because they will definitely try something."

"
And just w
hat do I do if someone
does try
something?" The idea of having to fight off one of those goons was
temporarily debilitating.

"Fight. Fight like you've never fought before. And call out to me. I'm not going to be far away."

"Can you promise that
?
" she asked.

His silence wasn't reassuring.

"Put the shirt on.
A
nd to answer
your question, all I can do is try to keep you
within distance at all times
.
Other than that, w
e're going to have to play this all out by ear.
"

"Play it by ear," she repeated as she turned her back to him, took off her torn shirt and slipped on his much larger t-shirt. She shifted it and tucke
d it to prevent major exposure.

"That's all
you got
?"
She turned back to him. He gave a
slight
nod of approval at the change.

"For now
. The main thing is to stay alive. If I'm taken out, you're at their mercy. Just remember that.
Which
means neither one of us can afford you do
ing
some
thing stupid like trying to run
off
again. Because
even
if
I don't find
you
,
you
be
st
be
sure
Rez or
one of
the
crew
will and the consequences will be brutal and final.
"

She didn't want to be reminded of those consequences. Her courage level was
dropping at a rapid rate. Even now she didn'
t know how she was still standing. Her legs were jelly.

"C'mon," he ordered, opening the door. "
We better
get fueled up
, put some food
on our stomachs
.
S
omething tells me
it's going to be a hell of a day
."

S
he followed him out to the bike
. The sun was
almost fully risen
and
already
the heat was settling over the city
like a pall
.
S
he didn't know how she was going to keep anything on her stomach.
Actually s
he didn't know much of anything at this point. Including whether she would still be alive at the end of the day.

She was going to have to play it by ear, just as he
'd
ordered, if she had any hopes of getting out of this mess.
She climbed on the bike behind him and held on for dear life as he roared out of th
e lot into a traffic that was burgeoning even at this early morning hour.

###

The warehouse district was
located
just
southeast of
the
downtown
area
. The
blocks
of industrial buildings ran along the BNSF freight railway
with t
he
Los Angeles
River
j
ust a few miles
away
.
Hardly anyone lived in the
surrounding
area
anymore
and many of the
dilapidated
buildings were closed up due to the economic downturn.
The seclusion provided a perfect backdrop for the less than licit dealings of the gang members
which not only included drugs but prostitution and other enterprises
. Dele had accumulated evidence of the drug running
and the pimping
but still hadn't picked u
p anything
on
the Mojave
murders
. At this juncture he wasn't sure that he would.

Dele
pull
ed up in front of a building
just off
Merchant Street
that presently served as the Demons business headquarters
.
The building's front signage
read "
Nuevo
Mexican Seasonings
"
and offered
"
chiles,
frijol
,
tamale pepper
and other mouth-searing spices
." The graffiti-
strewn metal door was closed but a couple of bikes were already parked indicating that there were members inside. One of the bikes
was Roach's 1979 Harley Sportster.
Anytime
Roach was
around was
bad news.
Somehow in the next day or so
he
was going to have to confront Roach
about
the missing stash
to get out of Rez's bad graces
. Even if he came in from the cold, this vendetta could follow him into his other life. He needed more evidence to make charges stick or these fools could be out on the streets days after the arrests.
And they would come looking for him.

He steeled himself for whatever shit he had to deal with today. H
e
didn't have t
o tell her to stick close
. Even as he unstraddled his bike, she was
quickly
beside him
. H
er
arm encircled his waist
with no hesitation or shyness
. Yeah, she knew what to do now. At least she wasn't an idiot, not like some of the crew's women.

He led her to the door, knocked three times. Within a few moments, Roach stood in the doorway. The biker's expression was less than welcoming
and for a few seconds he blocked their entrance.

"Y
ou wanna move?" Dele asked, his voice tight. He wasn't about to take shit from this
cokehead. Even this early in the morning, Dele could
see
that Roach had
already
been snorting. How could Rez not see how
far
gone this mutha was?
Especially enough to lift a few kilos
for his own recreation
.

A
few seconds
passed before
Roach
finally shifted to allow
them
entrance
,
but
only slightly. Dele caught t
he
look
the
biker cast
Nailah
's way
, or specifically along her form
.
A leer appeared.

"Keep your eyes to yourself," Dele warned.

"Got her tamed
enough, huh?" Roach snickered.

Before the man could move back, Dele grabbed the lapel of the biker's leather jacket.

"Keep your bullshit to yourself," Dele said.

Dele turned to a visibly
shaken
Nailah,
grabbed
her arm
while silently imploring
her
not
to
lose her nerve. It was very important that she steel herself
through this ordeal
. Rez and the
crew
could smell weakness a mile away, fed o
ff
it.
Not to mention the other women, especially
Clare
.