Chasing Thunder (35 page)

She sighed. She had had that exact argument with Snake a gazillion years ago, in those dark days following her grandfather’s death. “And just what are you going to do, Logan?” she asked. He was practically a man . . . but he was still family she had to protect, like a little brother of her own. “Where are you going to go?”

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “But don’t ask me to go home and wait patiently while you both are fighting on the front lines. I owe it to her to do something . . . anything.”

There were unshed tears in his eyes. M.J.’s lips thinned into a hard line. “You’re a liability as long as you’re thinking with your heart and not your head.” She glanced at Maddox behind him. “You too.”

Mad Dog wasn’t having it. “Like you could just sit and do nothing if it was your grandfather.”

That hit her at her core. Suddenly she knew she couldn’t saddle them with the heavy regret she’d felt for more than a decade. Despite being young, they were both highly skilled and could contribute to the cause. “Fine. But what I tell you to do, you have to follow to the letter this time. Got it?” She gave Kid a pointed stare.

Kid nodded. “What do you want us to do?”

She led them into the living room and opened her computer. “There’s a club called Slick. I think he’s taken her there, expecting me to follow.”

“A trap,” Kid said, and she nodded.

“His favorite thing,” she muttered as she opened up a blueprint of the second floor that she had created. “There are a bunch of rooms on the top floor. He uses it for a brothel, and each one has a theme.” She pointed to a room. “This one was the Green Room. For ‘green’ girls, new to the streets. That’s where I found the last victim, the other girl from the photo.”

“You think he’s taking her there?”

“Depends how cocky he is. He knows the law needs a search warrant to get access to the second floor, and he has accomplices all throughout the legal system, so he has advanced warning.”

“Which is why he always comes up clean.”

M.J. nodded. “My guess is he’s taken her there, knowing that I would use that window. He probably plans to remove the both of us to a second, more secret location the minute I show up.” She held up the drawings.

“So you’re going to the club?”

“No, you are,” she said. “There’s a video security system overseeing the premises at all times, and a pretty advanced security system he can control from his office. You’re going to have to hack into that system to override it. But you have to work quickly. If they hear that the LAPD is going to raid the joint, and they will, they’ll shut everything down in a matter of minutes. I want you in and out of there as fast as you can. Find her, get the hell out. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Where are you going to be?” he asked.

She pocketed Baby’s sketches. “I’m going to hit him where he lives.”

Baby slowly regained consciousness. Her wrists hurt from the strong adhesive tape binding them together, and a blindfold was secured around her eyes. She could hear someone pouring liquid nearby.

“Ah, you’re awake,” she heard a man say. The familiar voice sent shivers down her entire body. Before she could place it, the blindfold was snatched from her face, and she was staring into the coal-black eyes of Dominic Isbecky. He chuckled as her eyes opened wide.

“Yes, my dear. I found you. You had to know it was only a matter of time.”

“What do you want?” she demanded in a trembling voice.

“You,” he said as he traced her face with his fingers. They felt like snakes crawling on her skin. “Beautiful, unblemished you,” he added, bending close. “My ingénue. My sweet girl next door.” He played with her hair. “You may look like a whore of the underworld, but your girlish charm is still intact. Ah, look at those big doe eyes and those trembling hands,” he said, savoring his moment. “Sweetly fearful. Frighteningly obedient. I can smell it on you.” His voice was soft, hypnotic. His eyes narrowed as they stared into hers. “You’ve been dominated before, haven’t you, baby girl?” He trailed his fingers along her arm. “It may not have been your choice, but you enjoyed it every time, didn’t you? Admit it to me,
Baby
,” he whispered in a hiss. “You were born to submit.”

She shuddered, and he chuckled more in response. He closely inspected the new tattoo on her wrist. “Still. It was quite stupid of you to do this.” He traced the outline of the Wyndryder insignia. “You really think they’re going to keep you safe?”

Her blue eyes hardened as she thought about M.J. and Snake and Kid. Her chin tipped with what defiance she had left. “Yes.”

With a snarl, he pulled her arms over her head. “Foolish girl.” He lifted her effortlessly in the air. “All you’ve done is undercut your own value. I was going to give you to some of the wealthiest and most powerful clients that I have. Handpicked, vetted, and exclusive. Your pussy would have been a crown jewel befitting royalty. Now you’re trash like any other gutter whore. Anyone can have a whore. And now everyone will.” He slammed her up against the wall, and his mouth landed on hers in a punishing kiss. She felt like she was going to vomit right into his mouth, but he pulled away first. “Unfortunately for you, I will not be one of your clients. Shame, really. You would have been a hell of a lot of fun to initiate.”

He let her slide down the wall until she crumpled in a ball at his feet. “I wouldn’t let you fuck me if you were the last man on earth,” she hissed.

He bent down to face her. “For your sake, be glad I never will. I punish trash like you.”

He stood just as Xavier entered the office. “You called?”

“Take her to the Goth Room,” Isbecky ordered. “For now,” he added before he turned back to Baby. “That room has been empty for a while. I have a backlog of customers ready to fuck a little punk like you. Enjoy yourself, Miss Roberts,” he said with a slick smile.

She was stunned speechless when he called her by her real name. Before she could ask how he knew, Xavier was dragging her from the room by her homemade restraints. He wore a scowl as he led her a few doors down the hallway, to a locked door. She stared at him while he unlocked it. “Why are you doing this?”

He shoved her through the open door. “It’s not personal,” he said without looking her in the eye.

“I thought you liked me,” she said in a small, accusing voice.

Finally his eyes met hers. “We all have our debts to settle, Baby.”

With that, he closed the door and locked her in.

Agent Benjamin Llewellyn got the photo at 10:15 that evening. His heart sank when he saw Baby’s smiling face in the message sent by Jimmy, who was finally conscious and cooperating with the police.

“What’s the matter?” Chief Bennett asked.

Llewellyn sighed. “She’s changed,” he said as he showed the chief the photo. “This isn’t a girl next door anymore.”

“Maybe that will save her,” Richard suggested, but Llewellyn shook his head.

“She’s the epitome of what he despises now. A beautiful, upper-class suburban blonde who has been tainted and corrupted by an ugly subculture.” He sighed as he pocketed the phone. “She’s going to pay for that mistake if we don’t find her quickly.”

Richard shook his head. “You know I can’t authorize your raiding that club until we get a search warrant. And that won’t be easy after the last debacle involving Slick.”

“Maybe not. But no offense, Chief, I get my orders from an authority much higher than you.” He was on his phone in an instant, and he headed out the door just as Stuart and Katherine Rothchild were entering. They were an affluent couple in their late thirties, Southern socialites with money and influence. Both were picture-perfect, from their bonded, bleached teeth to their tailored, expensive clothing. Like her daughter Haley, Katherine was a true blonde with crystal blue eyes. But her hair was coiffed, and her eyes were tinted lavender, enhanced by contacts.

“Is it true?” Katherine demanded to know at once. “Have you found my daughter?”

“Only to have her slip through your fingers again?” Stuart added, with a scowl of his own.

Richard sighed. He had enough to deal with without adding hysterical parents to the mix. They had had PING in their ears from the moment they touched down at LAX, which meant most of what they hounded him over was unsubstantiated.

Granted, the rumors this time had been true. PING had really done its homework. This, of course, shaded his department as even more inept. He suspected that was the true purpose of the Hard Candy Killer, to tear the fabric between society and security and expose everyone for the sitting ducks that they were.

“Nothing has been confirmed,” Richard sidestepped. “As soon as I know something, you’ll know something.”

“That’s not good enough,” Stuart Rothchild announced. Like his wife, not one hair was out of place on the man, despite their very publicly documented turmoil. He stood tall and slender, with the grace of a man who had been raised with silver spoon in hand. He was elegant and entitled, the son of an East Coast shipping titan. His days included golf and accompanying his socialite wife to can’t-miss events of the season. “This is our child,” he reminded the beleaguered chief once again. “Every moment you squander cutting through all your red tape is a moment closer to that monster finding her. If anything happens to her, I will hold you and this department personally responsible.”

“I understand,” Richard reasoned as patiently as he could. This message had been on repeat since the first moment they walked into his office. “We are doing all we can, believe me.”

Katherine wrung her hands nervously as she glanced up at Stuart. “I just want her home.”

Stuart placed a hand on her shoulder. “Me, too.”

“It would help if we knew exactly why she ran away,” Richard said as he sat behind his desk.

“We already told you that,” Stuart snapped. “She wanted to date a boy and we decided she was much too young.”

Richard leaned back in his chair. “Typical teen stuff.”

“Of course,” Stuart replied.

“Still. Most teens don’t run clear across the country when they’ve squabbled with their parents.”

Stuart glared at him with his steely slate-blue eyes. “What are you implying, Chief Bennett?”

Richard shrugged. “The photo taken the day your daughter got into town shows that she had been pretty roughed up. Any idea how she got that way?”

Stuart took a deep breath. It was clear this wasn’t the first time he had been questioned about it. “I told you. She likely ran off to be with this boy and he beat her up, forcing her to get on a bus to anywhere else.”

“And the boy’s name?”

Katherine shot out of the seat in a flash. “We’ve answered all your asinine questions a dozen times already. None of it has got us any closer to our daughter.”

“Maybe she’s keeping in contact with this boy. Maybe they came to Los Angeles together. Any information you give me would be helpful, Mrs. Rothchild. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that time is of the essence.”

“We already told you everything we know. She wanted to date but we forbade it. She started seeing some boy on the sly but we don’t know who or where. It could be anybody. And he could be here or back in North Carolina. Isn’t it your job to piece together what we’ve told you to figure out what’s going on?”

“Yes,” Richard agreed. “But that’s a lot easier to do when you have all the information. Have you checked her school? Did she have a diary? Question her friends?”