Page 49 of Black Bay Enforcer
Before the Venezuela base had been raided, they’d been on a call talking next steps when Cleary’s assistant had interrupted. Cleary must have thought he’d put Terrence on hold, but he hadn’t. He heard the entire conversation. At first, he’d been annoyed. How fucking hard was it to push a goddamn button? Until he realized what he was hearing was information he could hold over Cleary if he ever needed to. He’d always figured Cleary would try to fuck him over one day. See, that was kind of Terrence’s thing. In business, you respect him, he’ll respect you. You fuck him over, he’ll fuck you back even harder. His family had made the mistake of treating him like shit, thinking they were untouchable, and look where it got them. They were serving multiple life sentences in federal prison while he was free and exploiting their contacts.
He always made sure he had leverage. And surprise, surprise. It turned out Cleary had a daughter and she worked at Black Bay where Cleary needed to get access. Why a weapons manufacturer wanted to get into a supermax prison was anyone’s guess, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that Cleary had mentioned some birthday party for his daughter – needed his schedule cleared for it – and that it was vital he went and put on some grand show for his daughter so she could get him the access he needed. Whatever. Terrence didn’t fucking care, but he remembered the date, remembered that it was coming up. So he jacked some old ladies’ car and drove to Virginia, swapping it out for this newer model once he arrived and, since he had a little time to kill, some fun with the blonde bitch in the back.
All he had to do was keep an eye on Black Bay. When Cleary’s daughter left the island for the party, he’d grab her. Cleary hadcalled her Katherine, but his assistant had been extra helpful by calling her Miss Knox. All it took was a quick search of social media to find the Katherine Knox who had the right date of birth to get a picture of her. So simple it was child’s play.
The hardest part had been finding the tunnel access to Black Bay. That shit was well hidden, and not exactly advertised, but he’d found it.
He’d parked on that side road, waited for a vehicle to pass, and there she was, clear as day in the passenger seat. He hadn’t paid any attention to who was driving – he hadn’t cared as they wouldn’t be an obstacle. That it turned out to be Monkey Boy had just been sweet icing on the cake.
The look on his face… Terrence let out another hoot of laughter.Priceless. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought it washisbirthday.
He grinned smugly. He wondered what Cleary’s daughter would think of the birthday present he was going to give her.
The trunk was stifling. Katherine was drenched in sweat and the air was so hot and thick it was hard to breathe. She didn’t know how long she’d been in here, but it felt like a while. Close to an hour, maybe?
Kong was likely dead. Katherine didn’t want to think about it or the grief and pain of his loss would overwhelm her again, but her mind refused to cooperate. Every few minutes her face would crumple and more tears would leak out. He’d been shot in the chest. Even if he’d still been alive when she’d last seen him lying there on the ground, he would have needed immediate medical attention. Unless someone had come along soon after she’d been stuffed in this trunk, he would have died alone…
A choked sob rose in her throat and she forced herself to stop. She had to be strong. She didn’t know why she’d been taken, but that didn’t matter. If she was going to get out of this, she needed to find a weapon. She searched the tight space, cringing and quietly apologizing as she slid her hands under the dead woman’s body to feel around. She’d been hoping for a tire iron, maybe a hammer, or a screwdriver. Hell, even a first-aid kit she could throw at him as a distraction when he opened the trunk. But there was nothing. Nothing but the body of that monster’s first victim.
Katherine wished her dress had pockets where she could have put her phone, but it was back in the cupholder of the SUV. Maybe the other woman had a phone, though.
Pushing aside her squeamishness, she searched, checking any pockets and patting down the body, only to come up empty.
They slowed and then stopped and Katherine tensed in readiness. She’d done that each time the vehicle slowed, waiting for the trunk to pop open, but so far, all the stops must have been traffic lights. She’d thought about screaming her head off at one of those stops, hoping someone might hear her, but she’d beenafraid of what would happen to anyone who tried to intercede on her behalf. They might get shot. That psycho had already proved he wouldn’t hesitate to kill…
Her chest constricted as another sob broke free and she started crying again.Kong.Sweet thoughtful Kong. Strong, intelligent Kong. She loved him so much. How could the universe have stolen him away from her? Today was supposed to be a happy day. He was going to meet her friends and family. They would have welcomed him with open arms and she was sure Kong would have loved them too.
Instead of laughter, wine, and cake, Kong was dead and she was in a nightmare she couldn’t wake up from. No one would even be looking for them for hours.
The car slowed again, turned, and then jolted and bumped over a stretch of rough road.
When the car finally stopped, she breathed a sigh of relief until she realized that they hadn’t just stopped, but the engine was no longer running either. This was it. She had no weapon, no plan – just her nails, her teeth, and her will to survive.
The trunk popped open, the bright sunlight after so long in the dark nearly blinding her. She wanted to launch out, throw herself at him in a surprise attack but her body was stiff and clumsy from being cramped in the tight space. She didn’t even have time to cringe away before she was grabbed and thrown bodily to the hard ground.
He went for her hair again, grabbing a handful to drag her along behind him. Katherine screamed, clawing at his hand to get him to release his hold, but he never even slowed. Worse, the psycho was whistling like he was on some sort of summer jaunt.
As she struggled, she caught glimpses of tall, overgrown grass and even taller weeds. There was a thick line of trees in the distance but no buildings. She couldn’t even see a road. It looked like he’d driven them through a field.
She heard a loud creaking noise and what sounded like the squeak of hinges desperately in need of oil before the murderer grabbed her upper arm in a painful grip and threw her inside a dark enclosure. She landed hard on a dusty wooden floor that reeked of rot and groaned under her weight. Pushing up to a sitting position, she looked around. A few beams of light pierced through some holes in the sagging roof, illuminating dust moats floating through the air, dead leaves bunched in the corners, and some trash. Nothing that could be used as a weapon to defend herself. The place that might have been some sort of storage shed at one point, was tiny, windowless, and out in the middle of nowhere.
Even if she survived long enough for her family to sound the alarm, no one would be able to find her here.
She cringed as she heard the floor creak under footsteps and her captor loomed over her. He was a big man, maybe in his late forties or early fifties, with a rough face that suggested he’d lived a hard life. He had an ugly look in his eyes that had Katherine shivering despite the heat. He licked his lips. “You and I are gonna have some fun together.”
His hand moved, sliding to his crotch to adjust himself and Katherine saw that he was noticeably aroused. Horrified, she shrunk back even further.
Her captor let out a scoffing sound. “Don’t flatter yourself, bitch. I don’t fuck fat chicks.”
Katherine had never been so grateful for the extra weight she was carrying.
He grinned evilly. “But Monkey Boy does, doesn’t he?” He squatted down in front of her, his knees cracking. “So what’s it like fucking that animal?”
How dare he talk about Kong that way! It was this guy that was the animal. Anger surged through her, overriding any sense of self-preservation. She lashed out, slapping his face for all she was worth. His head turned with it, a muscle flexing in his jaw.
When he turned back to her, he smiled, the expression so sinister it chilled her blood. “Look at you, trying to start the fun early.”
She didn’t even see the blow coming. Pain exploded in her cheek, the force behind it crumpling her to the floor, her forearms scraping the rough wood as she tried to catch herself. Her ears were ringing with a high-pitched whine and spots danced in her vision. Blood dripped from her mouth to splash against the floor and the side of her face felt like it was on fire.
