Page 113 of Bad Enough

The door pushed open.

“Hello, Jolie. Long time no see.”

42

JUNE 22ND-23RD

TB

TB watched Flame walk away from him toward the ladies’ room with a sense of unease. He knew he was smothering her, but until this little fuckgoblin, Gendry, was found and pounded into oblivion, and the other six girls missing were found, his skin would probably continue to crawl.

Shortly after she entered the restroom, he saw Tabitha enter. At least he knew someone she was in there with.

He finished his drink, then watched Medusa enter the ladies’ room as Tabitha exited. Both women had odd looks on their faces. Tabitha was thinking furiously. Medusa appeared concerned, then ducked quickly behind the closing door. By that time, Tabitha had pulled out her cell phone and was talking angrily into it.

Cell phones aren’t allowed on the floor.

His watch beeped. Frowning, he looked down. “What the fuck?” TB muttered.

In the text was a photo of the club parking lot. It showed a car parked under one of the lot lights, the passenger side door open, and in the passenger seat was Fleur, the most recent of the missing girls. He couldn’t tell if she was alive or dead, but they needed to get to her quickly, just in case.

He forwarded the number that the text came from to Midas, and then he voice-activated his earbud. “Midas!”

He didn’t bother to greet TB. “I see it, I see it. I’m running the plate and pictures. Steel’s on his way to check out the car. Whatever you do, don’t leave the bar.”

A second text came through. This one showed video footage of the first missing girl. She was in what appeared to be an upright, empty coffin. She could move around slightly, but not enough to stretch out her arms in any direction. She couldn’t sit, couldn’t lie down.

Suddenly, the club was plunged into darkness.

“Midas!” TB yelled over the shocked gasps of the club members in the bar, “he’s here!”

“Fuck! Where’s Flame?”

“Ladies’ room.”

“Can you get there?”

Using the flashlight app on his watch, he began working his way through the crowd, but he was having little success. It was like everyone had been hired to work against him getting across the bar. “It’s pandemonium here. You’d think people have never been in a power outage before. It’s going to take me a moment. Do you have Flame’s tracker online?”

“She’s still on the property. Not moving.”

“I just saw Medusa go in there with her.”

“Stay on target to get to her. I still don’t have any information on that crew, so I don’t trust them yet.”

TB continued to fight his way across the club, but now individuals who had been upstairs in the play portion of the club were adding to the mix of bodies attempting to find a way out.

Steel’s voice came over his earbud. “I need Demon. She’s unconscious. Pulse thready. Head wound, and I’m pretty sure she’s drugged.”

“Copy that,” Demon replied.

Shoving his way through the final stream of people, TB found himself at the restroom door. He opened the door, walked through it, saw the disaster of the lounge area covered in broken mirror glass and upturned furniture, saw Medusa being hefted over an unknown man’s shoulder, and pain exploded across the back of his head. Then nothing.

He had no idea how much later it was, but it probably wasn’t more than a few minutes. He groaned. Everything was pitch black, but he could feel his eyelids raising and lowering as he blinked them rapidly to try and clear the fog in his head. He pushed himself up off the floor, his hand reaching up to the back of his head, where he could feel a giant lump forming.

Instantly, everything had clarity.

“Flame!” he bellowed.

---