SiNN (5 page)

He’d lick her slick cleft, tasting the slight saltiness of
her juices. He’d be patient in arousing her, his tongue swirling around her
clit, demanding her shameless response.

When she cried out in delight, tumbling over the edge, he’d
fill her. With each thrust, he’d burrow deeper, trapping and toying with her
until it was too late for her to get away. Recognition of her coming death
would flare in her eyes. First, there would be terror, then resignation. Before
he was through with her, she would beg for the end as his other victims had.

He thought about each of them, some old, many young, several
brought down by gunfire, others by a stiletto or his fists. For a few, he’d
devised remarkably effective tortures that the church would have coveted during
their inglorious Inquisition.

Gathering strength from his victims’ remembered horror, he
promised himself Lea Baptista’s would be even greater.

To each side of him, men suddenly stirred. Why?

Glancing at the stage, he saw the act had ended. The last
one tonight in this room and possibly for the dancer who’d just performed in Lea’s
place. As the music faded, the area went black. In the darkness, he waited like
everyone else. Unlike them, he remained standing by his seat as the lights came
back up. The slap of shoes, the rustle of clothing marked the audience’s
departure.

With everyone gone, he went to the door SiNN and her partner
had used earlier. It was then that he should have intercepted her.

Cursing himself for having lost his prey even momentarily,
he entered the dimly lit hall. A series of doors marched up each side, some closed,
others not. His fingers tightened into fists, his rage barely controlled.
Behind which would he find the female dancer? Would any of the bouncers stop
him before reaching her? What then?

Inhaling deeply to calm himself, he heard faint music
pouring from the room at the end. A maudlin Country-Western tune. A favorite of
the male dancer?

Striding down the hall, he reached the first room where the
door was slightly ajar. Inside, he saw the young man who’d just danced, his
attention on the tips in his hands.

If the boy looked up for even a moment, he’d have to die.

Thankfully, his focus remained on the money.

He continued down the hall, glancing into darkened rooms
that seemed abandoned for the night. Brightly colored masks and costumes, all
seductive and brief, hung over the backs of chairs. The lingering fragrance of
too many flowery perfumes did little to relieve the area’s mustiness.

At last, he reached the room at the end, stopping in its
doorway.

The woman inside glanced up, her blue eyes meeting his in
the mirror. In the room’s much harsher light, he saw that her brown hair was a
shade lighter than Lea’s.

Bitch. Lea would pay for this deception, but first he had to
find her. He forced a smile to put this woman at ease so he could learn all
that she knew. “SiNN,” he said pleasantly.

She regarded the scar on his chin, then his exquisitely
tailored Italian suit. He sensed her calculating its price.

“I wanted to give you this out there,” he said, holding up
three crisp one hundred dollar bills. “Unfortunately, too many men were in the
way.”

She ignored the money in favor of evaluating him. “Liar.”

His smile broadened at her teasing tone. He spoke at a pitch
only she could hear. “You’re right. I didn’t want you to have to share this
with your partner. You’re the reason for the success of the act, not him.”

She arched one brow as though trying to determine whether to
believe his lie or not. A moment ticked by, then another.

He behaved as she did, playing her game easily, knowing he
was better at it than she would ever be.

At length, a smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “You
have that right.”

“Then please take it,” he said, moving closer, offering her
the cash. “It will be our secret. You deserve it. You’ve improved my mood
greatly with your performance.”

To his surprise, she still didn’t take the bills. “Bad day,
huh?”

“Only if you consider losing a case to be bad.”

Turning in her chair, she crossed her legs, the tip of her
high-heeled sandal nearly brushing his pants. “You’re an attorney?”

“Civil,” he lied, knowing the story well. He’d used it on
many of his other prey. “Corporate matters. Very boring.” He spoke with
conviction, sensing any hesitation on his part would alarm her. “As I said,
you’ve been the highlight of my day. We don’t see women like you in court.”

She regarded him thoughtfully. “I bet.”

“Beautiful women,” he added, studying her features,
deliberately ignoring her naked breasts.

Rather than assuring her, a hint of caution flashed in her
eyes.

Why? With no time to consider the matter, he spoke quickly.
“Accept this, please.” He placed the bills on the table near her makeup. “Use
it to buy something to make you smile.” He stepped back. “The next time I’m
here, if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you to have a drink with me, dinner
perhaps at that new club, The Voyager. As we eat, you can tell me about your
day and I’ll tell you about mine.”

Her foot moved up and down in time to the music, a soulful
song by a woman who’d just lost her man.

“Unless you have a boyfriend,” he said, then continued before
she could speak, “Of course you do. How could you not? I acted without
thinking. I should leave.” He stepped back.

Her foot stopped bouncing. She purred, “I don’t have a
boyfriend.”

He made no effort to curb his delight. She’d taken Lea’s
last show tonight, therefore she had to know why Lea had left early and would
soon tell him everything she knew. His shoulders relaxed.

“I’m hungry now,” she added.

He returned her smile. “So am I, SiNN.”

“Danielle,” she corrected, offering him her hand. “And you
are?”

Not who she imagined. Shaking her hand, he offered a fake
name.

Chapter Three

Less than an hour from their location, Toby was beyond
antsy, needing this case to be fucking over and done with, his reaction
troubling him far more than he would have liked. Not wanting to dwell on it, he
divided his attention from the road ahead and the side view mirrors to see if
anyone was tailing the vehicle.

From behind, some pinpoints of light remained stable, the
cars keeping a respectful distance. Others came up quickly on the left,
barreling past, exceeding the limit at rates that might encourage a traffic cop
to impound their vehicles.

Except for their reckless speed, none seemed threatening.

He inhaled deeply, needing to pull in a full breath. Didn’t
happen. When he tried to swallow, he found it equally difficult. His thoughts
continued to churn, going places they shouldn’t.

Adjusting himself in his seat, he concentrated on the task
at hand, getting through it and moving on to the next assignment. He checked
the traffic to the left, the right. No different from a few seconds before. He
stared ahead, demanding that he keep his eyes on the road and nothing else.

His good intentions didn’t last. Giving in to temptation and
a gnawing need he couldn’t seem to shake, he looked at the rearview
mirror…Lea’s reflection.

Heat flooded his body. His cock got too fucking hard, just
as it had during her performance at The Second Circle and when she’d come
around the corner of the building into the employee’s parking lot. At his mounting
arousal, he pushed too hard on the accelerator.

She didn’t notice the increased speed. Seated next to Jake
in the back, she remained turned to him. Illumination from oncoming cars
spilled across her face, revealing her vulnerability and shock. Her lips were
parted, her expression dazed at what Jake had revealed to her.

Gripping the steering wheel, Toby regretted his own silence,
but he honestly didn’t know what to say to make the unthinkable better. He
wasn’t good at shit like this. He followed the rules and got the job done. It
was what he’d been trained to do. Like Jake. They were supposed to protect Lea,
not get involved emotionally or physically with her.

Already she was affecting Jake far too much.

Unsettled, Toby flicked his gaze back to the road, then
glanced into the rearview mirror once more. Blocked by the headrest, his view
of Jake was incomplete, allowing Toby to see no more than the upper part of his
partner’s face.

Predictably, Jake was focused on Lea.

“You drive,” he’d told Toby back at the club, tossing him
the keys as he might to a chauffeur or a younger brother. Giving Toby no chance
to protest, Jake had gotten into the SUV’s backseat right behind Lea.

She hadn’t seemed to mind. Toby saw the way she looked at
Jake…the soft heat in her eyes.

He pressed his thumbs into the steering wheel until they
began to hurt. Releasing the pressure, he recalled Lea’s blush when she’d
caught him watching her during Jake’s conversation with Sanchez. At the time,
Toby had expected her to turn away, disturbed at how he’d been staring at her.

Much to his surprise, she had not. He’d been the first to
break eye contact, unnerved by his response to her fresh scent, the thought of
slipping his hands beneath her tee to cup her sweet breasts, delighting in
their heat and weight. Unable to stop his unyielding desire, he’d simply
ignored his hard-on then as he tried to do now.

There was no point in believing his idiotic longing could go
anywhere. Even if she wanted him, her life as she’d known it was over and would
be for the rest of her days. Once he and Jake received word from their
superiors about the disposition of her case, neither of them would see her
again. It was out of the question if they expected to keep her safe.

Toby’s throat constricted, making his collar and tie seem
too tight. If he’d been Jake, he would have loosened both, not caring about
appearances or propriety, just going with the flow.

He wasn’t Jake.

He was a man who didn’t let situations or people get to him,
yet in a very short time, Lea had. Her fear and helplessness in the face of the
unimaginable had stirred something he hadn’t buried deep enough. Her lush
sensuality hadn’t helped.

A rueful smile touched Toby’s lips. He fought it as he did
many of his emotions. This time without complete success.

He still wanted her too badly, as did Jake.

Toby cleared his throat, trying to relax the muscles. They
tightened even more, but didn’t stop him from speaking.

“Everything all right back there?” he asked, knowing it
wasn’t, cautious as to what might happen next.

What Jake might eventually do.

With more patience than he felt, Jake looked at Toby’s
reflection in the rearview mirror.

His partner arched one dark brow, a contradiction to his
pale hair, just as his unruffled manner failed to match the disquiet in his
question.

Offering no answer, especially the one Toby wanted to hear,
Jake turned back to Lea.

She was absorbed in her own thoughts, her distress all too
obvious.

If Jake had been able to spare her from the truth, he would
have. What man wanted to see any woman looking as Lea did now? A sense of
powerlessness settled over him that Jake didn’t much like. Her demeanor
reminded him of people he’d seen at morgues, waiting to identify the bodies of
their loved ones. Because they hadn’t yet seen the worst, Jake knew the truth
of what had happened wasn’t yet real. A part of them still resisted and hoped.

Was that what was going through Lea’s mind now?

She’d said nothing as he’d revealed the facts of her life.
Not once had she challenged or asked any questions. Nearly a half hour had
passed since he’d last spoken and she still hadn’t broken the oppressive
silence. In many ways, Jake couldn’t blame her. Discovering one had been living
a lie manufactured by others was a lot to stomach.

He knew that firsthand.

At ten, he’d learned the man who’d been raising him wasn’t
his biological father. The confusion and anger Jake had experienced at the time
was mostly gone. At least his parentage explained why Victor had never shown
him a measure of kindness, hadn’t even seemed to like him.

“You’re not mine,” the man had said one night, his
confession fueled by drinking, his face ugly with disgust. “You’re a fucking
bastard.”

He was the product of his mother’s time away from the
reservation, her affair with a white man who’d been married.

“He didn’t want her,” Victor continued, opening another
beer, “but her people did.”

She’d returned to her tribal lands and had married him, one
of her own, before delivering her son.

If Jake’s home life had been bad before he knew the truth,
it worsened after. To Victor’s way of thinking, there was no longer any reason
to police his words or actions. Seemingly incapable of helping her son, Jake’s
mother begged him to be a good boy. He tried, doing all that he could to
protect her, taking the brunt of Victor’s rage until Jake feared the man would
kill him. After one particularly harsh beating, Jake had sought out his
biological father, believing, as all kids do, that his real dad would love and
want him. There would be no more emotional or physical violence.

The day Jake arrived at his father’s home in an upscale
Phoenix suburb, he was dizzy with relief. He could barely jab the doorbell, his
hands trembled so badly. As politely as he could, he explained to his dad who
he was and that he wanted to come home.

The man’s fleshy face froze in a look of dread. When he
regained his composure, he made it clear that Jake couldn’t stay, nor would he
be welcomed back.

“Don’t show up again,” his father had warned quietly so his
wife and kids couldn’t overhear. “If you do, I’ll call the police. No matter
what you tell them, they’ll believe me, not you.”