Page 3 of Allison

The sister is beautiful. She’d make a nice addition to the rich man’s collection. Something to keep in mind, he muses. Then turns back to his original task.

Bruno looks around the apartment some more, going through the woman’s personal belongings, including her clothes. He gets distracted while rummaging through her underwear drawer. Images of the woman flash in his mind. His body responds. The urge to pleasure himself hits him hard, but there isn’t time for that.

Perhaps, the rich man will let him play with her before he has to kill her. A wicked smile forms on his face. Yes, that will be his payment for this little endeavor. Bruno has made plenty of money snatching young girls and boys from their lives to hand them over to men who want them for pleasure. Investing his money wisely has made him comfortably wealthy. He can well afford to take physical pleasure as payment for this gig.

Bruno moves to leave the apartment, when he notices a key hanging next to the door. ‘Spare’ is printed on the tag. He slips it off the hook, then opens the door. Looking left, then right, he checks that no one is around, before testing his theory, which turns out to be correct.

This key is a master for both the knob and the deadbolt. He closes the door, pocketing the key. The woman had a suitcase with her, but he doesn’t know how long she’ll be gone. It’s important he copies the key and returns it before she discovers it missing.

A couple of hours later,Bruno returns, replacing the spare and testing his copy. It works like a charm. Smiling, he places the copy on his keychain. This little key will come in handy in the future, of that he is certain. He leaves the apartment just the way he found it, unlocked. He strolls down the hall, whistling a little tune.

The day hadn’t started out great. He’d planned on taking the woman this morning, but she’d surprised him by leaving early. An Uber driver waiting for her by the curb prevented him from snatching her off the street. His hands curl into fists, and his teeth clench. He’d failed to monitor her internet activity as closely as he should’ve. Mistakes are unacceptable. He must always be the best.

A door opening down the hall pulls him from his thoughts. He slips into the stairwell realizing the day wasn’t a total loss. Discovering Butch’s name along with finding the spare key to the woman’s apartment has turned his bad day in the other direction. Now, he just has to find the best way to execute the next part of his plan. The suit won’t wait long before he begins to demand results and a resolution to his annoying problem.

Bruno had spent the time waiting on the key to do some research. He has gathered intel on Butch including his full name, address, and other important details. Butch is a low-level member of a local street gang, not a heavy hitter by any means. However, he does odd jobs and errands for the gang’s leader which puts him in a position to know things.

Bruno discovered Butch makes most of his income by selling information to the highest bidder. How he hasn’t been caught by the gang’s boss, Bruno doesn’t know.Unless he has a guardian angel?

Bruno shakes his head at the thought. He doesn’t believe in such things, not luck, fate, karma, nor destiny. Bruno has worked hard his whole life and made his own destiny. There’s nothing magical about it. Still, it’d been very advantageous finding Butch’s name on her calendar and finding the key.

Bruno has been formulating a plan all afternoon. He hopes Butch won’t comply with his demands; at least not at first. If Butch cooperates there’d be no reason to keep the sister. Bruno plans to use her as leverage for Butch’s cooperation. Bruno can’t take the risk of pissing off someone who potentially has the information and means to help him stop the woman from bringing down the rich man and even Bruno, himself.

Well Bruno isn’t going to worry about that now. He has everything he needs to get the woman where he wants her so that her abduction will go largely unnoticed. He is going to enjoy this job, more than the others he’s done in the past. He has never gotten off on the sick, twisted pleasures his boss does with young, underage children, but the woman? She gets his motor running.Yes, this will be a rewarding experience.

3

ALLISON

It takes Allison longer than usual to get through security and baggage check due to all the people hurrying to catch their early morning flights. A long line has already formed at her gate. She puts her phone in airplane mode, continuing to ignore the messages she hasn’t read yet. A man pushes against her back rudely when she allows a small gap to form between her and the woman in front of her. Allison frowns over her shoulder at the man, but he just returns the scowl. She resists rolling her eyes, barely.

Boarding the plane, Allison finds her seat without any difficulty, but struggles to get her bag into the overhead compartment. At last, she gets it inside but pinches her finger when shutting the door. Grumbling a curse, she flops into her seat. The worry that’s been riding her since she left her apartment hasn’t gone away. She has double checked her things. She has her phone, charger, wallet, and she’d had her ticket information with her, but she knows she’s forgotten something important.

Thump!Allison’s seat jolts forward as something hits the back of her seat hard.Thump! Thump!She looks over her shoulder, sagging in defeat when she sees the reason her seat is bucking like an untamed bronco. A rowdy, four-year-old boy is entertaining himself by kicking the back of her seat.Thump!

“Stop that!” the woman seated next to the boy exclaims. “I’m so sorry,” she says to Allison. “He doesn’t like flying and gets restless.” Allison nods, feigning a smile she doesn’t feel, and turns to face forward.It’s going to be a long flight. So much for catching a nap.

Hours of being kicked in the back later, her plane lands at BNA, the international airport in Nashville, Tennessee. Allison, feeling worse than ever, grabs her carry-on bag from the overhead bin and gets in line to leave the plane. Once inside the airport, she heads to baggage claim for her suitcase where a nice long line has already formed.

Finally, she spies her suitcase. “Excuse me,” she murmurs, elbowing her way forward. Grabbing her bag, Allison heads to the exit, looking for a car rental station. The nagging sensation continues to plague her, but for the life of her, she can’t remember what she’s forgotten. She shoves it away, again, to focus on renting a car.

Exiting the building, Allison pauses to check her phone app for directions to the car rental. She makes an effort to keep an eye on things happening around her. She doesn’t want to end up like those in the story she’s working on. Looking up, her eyes land on a devilishly handsome man holding a sign with her name on it.WTF? Who is this guy? How does he know my name? Are there two Allison Simpsons?

Worm

Russell a.k.a. ‘Worm’Chapman navigates his way through the heavy traffic surrounding Nashville, Tennessee’s international airport. He is driving on autopilot, his mind on his mom and sisters instead of his current assignment. He snorts at the thought. This isn’t really an assignment, but he’s treating it like one.

In reality, it’s a request from a good friend. A request he couldn’t deny. Worm and Curtis Wallace have been teammates for several years. Both are members of an elite special forces team known as Marine Raiders. They have been through a lot over the years, both at home and abroad on deployments. Worm considers every man on his team to be more than a colleague or friend. They are brothers in all ways but blood relation.

Worm checks his watch. Allison’s flight should have landed by now. He is waiting just outside baggage claim where she should be exiting. Emma, Wallace’s soon-to-be-bride, had texted him Allison’s flight information. She’d also said Allison hasn’t read or replied to Emma’s text about him picking her up from the airport.

Putting his borrowed SUV in park, he grabs the sign Emma had insisted he bring with him from the passenger seat and exits the vehicle. He moves to where others are waiting for passengers to emerge. He waits as patiently as possible for his charge to emerge, but patience isn’t his strong suit lately.

Worm’s mind wanders to his mom while he waits.Is she able to work today?He’d called her early this morning before he’d left the resort. He hadn’t wanted to wake her if she’d been sleeping, but she needed to be up, getting ready for her day.Fuck!He hates that he has to treat her like she is the child and not the parent, but since his father had died unexpectedly last year, their roles have reversed.

Before, she had called or texted him daily, asking if he needed anything or just to chat about the family and ask him about his teammates. Now, she never calls or texts unless he does first. Even when she replies to him, it’s like pulling teeth to get answers out of her. He sighs with frustration. It’s been a year since his dad had died in a fatal collision early one foggy morning. There had been a multi-car pile-up on the interstate, taking not only his father’s life but four other unfortunate souls as well.

Worm had called Leigh, his oldest sister, a couple days ago before he’d left for this trip. He’d been prepared to head home for the week and only show up for the wedding if his family had needed him, but Leigh had assured him everything was going well—much better than it had been for a while.

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