Different (19 page)

He crept upstairs to the first floor and stopped before emerging into view. Silently, he removed from his pocket a black telescopic car aerial onto the end of which a small convex mirror, the type sold as blind spot mirrors, was attached. He inched the mirror around the corner and could see one of the bodyguards leaning against the wall smoking, the other one was standing with his back to the door, behind which Spencer Schroeder would be working. Russell withdrew the mirror and after retracting it, he put it away, there was no way he could take out both bodyguards.

Someone was coming down the steps behind him; he turned, his hand reaching inside his jacket for the gun.

It was the freak!
She stopped and shrugged apologetically. “Sorry!” she said, “I'm looking for the manager's office. It must be the other way.” Before he could react she was walking away from him and down the hall towards Spencer's Office.

Through the mirror, he saw her talking to the bodyguards and then after knocking on the door, she went inside. The bodyguards remained outside and Russell swore silently, because he wouldn't be able to get anywhere near them without being seen. The girl and Spencer's angry voices reached him, Russell grinned as he imagined the look on the girl's face when Spencer had explained what her new job entailed. She'd be out of there pretty damned quick.

He ran silently back down the stone steps to the fire doors and quickly threaded a thin black cord though the hole in the door so it hung down on the outside. Hurrying, he left through the fire doors and ran through the shadows and then stepped into the street and walked towards the Saracen's main doors. The girl had been holding some car keys in her hand and he couldn't afford to miss her because she had to die, but before he killed her, he intended using her to distract Spencer's minders.

The freak emerged from the club and headed towards the car park. Russell making no noise in his thick rubber soled shoes, kept close to the darkened shop doorways ready to dart out of sight should she sense him following her.

Jay's mind was in turmoil as she left the casino after her confrontation with the manager. His reaction to her visit replayed through her mind over again and again. He'd leaned back in his chair and smiled at her before standing and beckoning her to stand beside him so she could look through a window that looked down to the casino tables and fruit machines.

"You see that girl by the Black Jack table, the one with that high roller?” The girl he meant was about her own age, very attractive and her arm linked through that of a man about fifty who had a huge pile of poker chips in front of him.

"That's Jackie, one of our hostesses. She earns about three hundred a night by being nice to guys like him in our executive bedrooms upstairs.” He grinned and cupped his hand over her buttock. “How about getting your kit off and showing me what you can do?"

She shoved him away from her and headed for the door. “Get your fucking hand off me. I'm no prostitute. I'm going to tell Scott about you!” Before he could reply, Jay snatched open the door, strode out of his office and slammed the door shut behind her. Pushing her way past the two amused looking bodyguards, she hurried towards the stairs leading to the exit. She could hardy believe that Spencer had actually groped her. Obviously, Scott didn't know him very well.

She left the club and headed for the car park, she'd go back home and have an early night.

She was about to unlock the car door when a hand was clamped over her mouth and the steel blade of a knife pricked the skin of her throat.

"Make a sound and I'll kill you,” a voice hissed in her ear, and she was pulled around to face him. The man was about fifty and taller than her. He had plump features, curly brown hair and his eyes were so dark that they appeared to be as black as the rest of his clothes. She was forced away from her car into the dark shadows of a wall.
He's going to kill me
, she thought as he shoved her so her back was pressed against the rough brickwork.
Please
, she prayed silently,
don't let him kill me!
She wanted to knee him between the legs but the knife had disappeared and she was staring at a gun that had a silencer fitted to its muzzle. She'd only ever seen a silencer in the movies and this one looked a lot bigger and fatter than those.

He jammed the gun into her stomach and slapped her hard across the face. “If you want to live, keep quiet and listen. What's your name?"

Jay, her cheek stinging and half blinded by the tears that had sprang to her eyes was shaken by the mundane question and she had to moisten her mouth with saliva before she could speak. “Jay, Jay Mallard! Please don't kill me!” Her voice broke into a sob, but she made a tremendous effort to regain control. “I'll let you do anything you want!"

"Then you might just stay alive. You're coming with me and I'm warning you, one sound or just a second's hesitation and you're dead. There'll be no more warnings. I'll just kill you. Now move!"

Jay felt the smooth black leather of his glove clamp around her neck as he pushed her forward and she tried not to stumble as they reached the exit of the car park. She was suddenly desperate to stay alive.

He snatched her handbag off her and hurled it into the shadows of the car park. “You can find that later.” he said.

She nodded, he might let her go! She had to believe that.

"We're going back into the casino but by the back door. I intend to relieve it of some cash, and you're going to help me."

So that was it, he was going to rob the casino, but why did he need her?

"You're going to help me distract the two bodyguards outside his office. I have to get close enough to them to discourage them from going for their guns. I'd hate to have to kill them, because then you'll be next."

He threw her car keys in the same direction as her handbag and led her back out of the car park and into the street. Putting the gun inside his coat, he pulled out the stiletto and pressed the button and the double edged blade that shot out, glinted wickedly in the light of the street lamps.

"Pretend I'm you lover.” he said as he slid an arm around her waist and through the thin material of her dress, she could feel the tip of the blade pressing into her flesh. But at least now, she knew he wanted to avoid killing anyone.

Satisfied that the girl was sufficiently intimidated to play her part, Russell led her to the rear of the club and up the steps to a fire exit. He grasped the thin black cord that was hanging from the top of the door and pulled. With a click the doors swung open, he pushed the girl inside and then quietly re-closed the doors.

She was still too shocked to resist when he pulled her up the stairs and onto the first floor where again he used his mirror to check around the corner where Spencer's office and the bodyguards were. Satisfied that everything was as he expected, he turned to the girl and put the blade of the knife back against her throat.

"If you don't want me to slit your throat, put your arms around my neck, wrap your legs around me and start acting as if you want to fuck me."

She only hesitated for a second before putting her arms around his neck and then she pulled herself up him in order to wrap her legs around his waist. When he kissed her, she opened her mouth and responded with a desperation that could have easily been mistaken for passion instead of fear. Russell slid his hands along her thighs and cupped her firm buttocks; the bitch was actually turning him on. Perhaps he'd have time fuck her first before he killed her. She'd really move her ass for him with a knife held at her throat.

Russell carried her up another flight of stairs, instead of turning onto the landing that led to Schroeder's office. The two men would have been instantly suspicious if they'd emerged from down by the fire doors, but on the floor where he and the girl were now, were the executive bedrooms. He was willing to bet that more than one drunken couple had staggered down the steps to the fire exit by mistake.

"When we go back down I want to start laughing as though you're having the time of your life,” he whispered into the girl's ear. “It's time to pay the manager a visit."

She started to make giggling sounds as he carried her back down the steps with his hands still clasping her buttocks to support her weight. When they turned onto the landing, with the girl's back facing towards the bodyguards, Russell lifted the back of her dress to give them a good view of the girl's butt.

As if on cue, the girl laughed again. He wondered if she'd have been so compliant if she knew what he really intended to do to her before he finally killed her. The stupid bitch wasn't even aware of the two grinning men watching them one of whom looked at Russell and winked. Russell winked right back and moved his right hand from her buttocks, he slid it in front of his chest just as though he was going to grope one the girl's breasts, but instead his hand went inside his jacket and gripped the butt of the Beretta.

They were staggering down the hall and were less than six feet away from them when he stopped and fired over her head. The pistol coughed twice and the bodyguards fell to the floor. Striding past the girl, Russell pumped another bullet into each of them. He turned to see the girl running back towards the fire escape.
Shit!
He shot from the hip and saw the bullet bury itself in the plaster an inch from her head, and then she was gone, running down the stairs.

Swearing, he turned away from her, stepping over the bodies and flung open the office door. Spencer Schroeder was at his computer and he looked in horror at the silenced gun in Russell's hand. He shot the bastard once in the throat and once between the eyes.

The girl had less than a twenty second start on him so he went after her.

Jay heard the pistol fire, and could see the man was looking behind her. Turning, she saw the two bodyguards, who'd been in the manager's office, slumped down on the carpet. The pistol fired twice more and she saw both bodies twitch as the bullets penetrated them. Terrified, she leapt to her feet and flung herself towards the steps that led down to the fire doors. A piece of plaster seemed to leap out of the wall just in front of her. Then she was running down the steps and the fire doors were in reach. She pressed down the release bars and nothing happened! Frantic, she pressed down with all her strength but still the doors refused to budge.
Please!
Jay screamed silently,
please!
She threw her whole weight at the door, but they remained firmly shut, and then she saw him walking down the steps towards her. Jay held out her hands in front of her as though trying to ward off the bullets that would kill her.

His hand slapped her across the face stinging her cheek and making her eyes run, he hit her twice more quickly on either side of her face knocking her to the floor. He grabbed her hair and pulling her to her feet, opened the fire door and led her out into the darkness of the alley. Slamming the door shut, Russell pushed her behind a huge metal rubbish skip. Jay could hear the throb of music coming from the Oasis, a club frequented by those who were into heavy metal type bands. He backed her against the side of the cold orange metal of the skip, kissed her and the steel blade of the knife sliced through first one shoulder strap of her dress and then the other. He was going to rape her, she realised, and then he'd kill her and throw her body in the skip. Jay was paralysed with fear, as unable to move as a rabbit trapped in the headlights of a car.

It occurred to her, as the man parted her legs, that she'd often wondered why none of the people massacred in Kosovlow had fought for their lives, and now she knew. They hadn't wanted to die one second before they had to and neither did she!

There was a loud crash and the fire doors of the Oasis club flew open and two men emerged punching and kicking at each other and screaming obscenities. A crowd of cheering and jeering clubbers followed them outside, and Jay snapped out of her state of placid acceptance. With a cry of revulsion, she thrust the man away from her and ran towards the crowd, screaming for help. Something slammed against her head and she felt herself falling, heard someone scream, and then everything just faded away.

She awoke in a strange bed, in darkness and it took her a few seconds to realise that she was in a hospital and then everything came flooding back. Being grabbed in the car park and taken through the back doors of the club. She remembered the man who made her do what he wanted and used her to get close to the men he wanted to kill and his two attempts to kill her.

Jay saw him again in her mind watching as she was loaded into the ambulance, there was something different about him, but she couldn't remember what it was. One thing she did know, she couldn't stay there! He'd be coming after her, Jay had no doubt at all about that. Her head felt fine beneath the bandage and she removed it and could find no trace of a wound. That was strange because she was sure she'd heard the doctor tell the policeman she'd been grazed by the killer's bullet.

Carefully, she slid out of bed and found her clothes in the locker next to her bed. Stripping off her hospital nightdress, she pulled on her clothes. She had to tie her shoulder straps back together and realised that the skirt barely covered her knickers, she would be showing about two inches more of her thighs than she liked.

A snore from behind her made her cry out in alarm and she whirled and saw a policeman asleep in a chair. If she'd got out of the other side of the bed, she'd have landed in his lap. Jay was tempted to wake him and tell him what had happened. Tell him of her irrational conviction that the killer would be coming. Coming after her to finish what he'd begun and to silence her for good. But explaining would take time and there was always a chance that he would be reluctant to do anything until the morning; and if the killer did come, she knew he would kill them both without a second thought.

The ward door swung open and she almost screamed, but it was only a nurse who'd stopped to check on a patient at the far end of the ward. Jay realised that if the nurse saw her, she would try to stop her from leaving, so fully dressed; Jay slipped back into bed and pulled the covers up to her neck, and pretended to be asleep. The nurse was conscientious and seemed to take an age checking that all was well with her charges and Jay expected to be found out when the nurse stopped at the foot of her bed. She heard the metallic sound as her chart was lifted from the metal bed frame and then it was repeated as it was replaced. Then the nurse moved on along the rows of beds and then let herself out of the ward and only the snores of the policeman disturbed the silence. Obviously, the nurse had taken pity on the policeman and let him sleep.