The Body Hunters (32 page)

"I don't have to tell you shit right?" Gerard said to Rob
.

"Nah man we're cool!" Rob said nervously. His mouth was dry, and he could barely get out the words.

"Good, now go home and forget everything! If anyone asks, you ain't seen Cassie in days.
"

"Yep, I got it!"

"Good. Now if your wife asks, we were having a late meeting to discuss business, and tomorrow vacuum out this vehicle good. Detail it yourself. Don't take it anywhere damn it. Just make sure there’s no DNA left behind.
"

"Right, I know the drill." Rob nodded in agreement, and with that he pulled away leaving Gerard to figure out the rest.

Chapter 1
8

Danny’s flight from Dallas had been delayed for a couple of hours. She had a window seat next to a drunken travelling businessman who tried to hit on her. After politely but firmly putting him in his place, Danny turned her attention to scenery outside the window. The quiet time waiting on the plane had given her time to ruminate on Aiden’s proclamation of love
.

As far as Agent Stone was concerned, she liked him. She had twinges of feeling something more, but her emotions couldn't be trusted with the breakup from Gerard so fresh in her mind.
 He was a character, and that was putting it mildly. She and the agent had some kind of crazy chemistry going on, but now was not the time or place to explore it. Her focus was getting past Gerard to start the healing process, and then maybe she could really get to know and explore her feelings for him more
.

Nightfall was just beginning its ascent by the time Danny arrived back in Phoenix. The cab brought her from the airport right to the door of Gerard's house. She merrily noted that her Camaro was exactly where she had left it, and Gerard's Bentley was missing from its usual spot. She thanked the Lord for small blessings. She wasn't in the mood for a long drawn out soap opera scene when he discovered she was leaving for good
.

Danny pushed open the door to find a lonely pitch black house. Like a winter wind, a foreboding chill settled into Danny's bones. She felt something sinister was lurking on the other side of the door. She shook the feeling off as she walked in fumbling along the wall for a light switch
.

"Why look who it is back so soon. Hello Danielle." Gerard's voice filled the silence, his tone unusually monotonous. In the pale light of the living room his skin looked waxy. His usually flawless hair was unkempt, dark circles shadowed his eyes and his clothes were uncharacteristically crumpled. For a man whose entire business revolved around appearances, Gerard was looking rather shabby
.

Danny nearly leaped out of her skin at the sight of him reclining casually on the living room sofa
.

"Ger, you scared the shit out of me. I thought you were going to Vegas." She put her messenger bag in a nearby chair
.

Gerard nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders. "Plans change, Danny.
"

"Why are you sitting here in the dark?"

"No reason. I'm just sitting here thinking about people and their lies." He stood up stiffly
.

Run
! A voice in the back of Danny's head urged her to flee to safety. But her feet wouldn't move! They acted as if they were encased in concrete. Pain zigzagged through her ring finger for the first time in days. The dark foreshadowing she had felt first in New York and now in Phoenix was emanating from Gerard! Her mind reached out to him, but she may as well have descended into a black hole. Her probing mind picked up nothing but shadows and evil
.

With the ugliest expression on his handsome face Gerard continued. "You're just full of surprises aren't you Danny?"
If that really is your name.
"

Danny cocked her head to the side, now jumpstarted in survival mode. Her brain started processing her surroundings looking for the nearest exit, the nearest weapon
.

"What are you talking about?" She asked backing away from him. Her sneakers crunched on the remains of a vase she assumed he had broken
.

"The time for playing coy is over." He stepped closer to her regaining the space she had put between them. "How long have you been investigating me?
"

"I haven't been investigating you, Gerard. What are you talking about?" She asked peering at the image just over his shoulder
.

The ghostly figure that had appeared in her Camaro was now standing behind him. The woman made a twisting motion with her hand indicating her ring finger. How stupid she had been? The woman was somehow tied to Gerard's engagement ring.

Picking up on the woman's gesture, Danny put her hand behind her back before popping it off and letting it hit the floor. Then she kicked it away as far as she could
.

"DON'T YOU LIE TO
ME!" He bellowed so loudly he didn't even hear the ring hit the marble flooring
.

As if fending off a wild animal, she put her hands up defensively. "Ger, nobody is investigating you!
"

"I went to your little apartment and found your boyfriend. You must have been collecting evidence against me for months. I saw him on the computer looking into Angel Faces'
financial records." Gerard was on a roll, deaf to anything she had to say. "I took care of him, though. Don't you worry your pretty little head about him!
"

Danny's mind immediately went to Aiden, but it was impossible for him to be in Phoenix. Her mind fell on Alejandro
.

"What did you do to Alejandro?" Horror broke her voice and her eyes widened in terror. "What have you done?
"

Gerard continued his rant. "I have to admit, the feds went all out when they put you in my path. I was under the radar for
years, that is until you came along." He consumed more of the space between them, licking his lips like a beast. "You're beautiful, intelligent, not to mention extremely fuckable! The perfect honey trap, but I'm not going to jail. You can forget it!"

Gerard launched himself at her, but Danny had already shifted into defensive mode with her feet planted in a wide stance. His grapple missed her, but the bottom of her palm zeroed in on his nose. The target collapsed with a revolting crunch. Speedily Danny moved across the room and out of his grasp
.

"You broke my nose you bitch!" He cried nasally, stemming the gory fountain with his hand. "Damn it! I can't believe you broke my fucking nose!
"

Gerard now blocked her from the door since they had just swapped positions in the room. If she wanted to leave the house she had to go through him. Adrenaline pumped through
her blood. If he was going to kill her tonight, she was going to give him one hell of a time, and if she had anything to do with it she wasn't dying alone.

Cradling his precious crystal knick knacks from the living room table, she let loose with a barrage of projectiles. One hit Gerard in the chest, one that was aimed for his head was blocked by his arm, and the last hit him in the shoulder ripping his shirt. Seemingly unfazed, he flung himself across the room at her again, slamming her bodily against the floor.

Agony stabbed her in the back as she landed on the hard marble floor, and he slapped her hard in the face. Frenzied with her own bloodied nose, Danny snarled and moved all her limbs, gouging, biting, kicking, and scratching any part of his body she could make contact with as he tried to hold her down. Her nails scraped his face before finding their way into his eye socket, and she pushed it like a panic button causing him to recoil. She took the diversion and sunk her teeth into the meaty part of his hand until she could taste the blood.

"Fuck!" He yelled as he arose momentarily. Half blinded for a moment, he adjusted his eyes blinking furiously from her gouge. He hadn't expected this much resistance or strength from her. The woman was fighting like she was possessed
!

Danny took the opportunity to knee him directly in the balls. As Gerard bent over holding his aching privates, he howled like a wounded animal, cursing her very name. Her back still aching, Danny edged away from him, creeping across the floor on her stomach
.

"No you don't!" Shaking off his pain he crawled over to her again. Having regained his senses, he flipped her onto her back and using one hand to hold her chest, he pinned her to the
floor. Growling, Danny batted his hands away. Her feet searched for purchase and any leverage she could use against him, her sneakers squeaking on the polished floor
.

"Relax, sweetheart." He soothed, biting the orange plastic cap off a hypodermic needle. "I've got plans for you. I'm not going to kill you just yet.
"

"Motherfucker!
I'll kill you." She raged, warring against his steel grip. "Let me go!
"

"Shh,
shh, shh."Shushing her like one of his patients, Gerard plunged the needle through her jeans and into her thigh
.

Her movements slowing like she was trying to fight underwater, Danny continued to brawl and scream until her movements were nothing more than convulsions. The last thing she saw before the lights dimmed was the ghostly woman sadly shaking her head
.

Sitting in on an emergency late night meeting on the Sherry Cavender case,
 Aiden was totally distracted. The wiretap team had reported a major development and wanted to debrief Stone and Agent Johnson. His cell phone was sitting on the table in front of him, and he was willing it to ring. Danny had been gone for over six hours, and he hadn't heard anything from her. He was aware that her flight had been delayed for an hour in Dallas, but she should have arrived over four hours ago.

Prior to the start of the meeting with the accounting investigators, he had called her airlines to check for any further delays along the way. Other than the initial delay at Dallas-Fort Worth, everything with the flight went according to the flight plan and she had been off the
plane for over four hours. She knew he would worry if she didn't call so it wasn't a matter of her being irresponsible. Something else was going on
.

A scary, uneasy feeling wormed its way into his gut and festered there. His mind conjured multiple reasons why she had not called him, and they all ended with Dr. Wolfe. The way the man had assaulted the defenseless teenager stayed at the forefront of his consciousness. Danny's condition and safety was weighing heavily on his mind, and in retrospect he was wishing he had warned her about the man
.

 
               He considered sending Alejandro to at least check on her, but his partner had also been missing in action. He had not spoken to the rookie since early that morning when he told him to send her right back to Dallas. All his calls placed to Ramirez's phone went unanswered, the call ringing until it went to his voice answering service.

The non-communication was totally out of character for Alejandro, and not one to believe in coincidence,
 knew that something else was going on.

"I hope you have a reason for calling a meeting this late." Lucius warned the agents as soon as he entered the room. He cast his cold gaze over
 before turning his attention to the other two wiretap specialists in the room
.

Aiden's fingers were itching to wrap themselves around Lucius' neck and squeeze.

"This came in forty minutes ago." The technician said, pushing his glasses up on his bulbous nose and cueing up the audio on his laptop. "Since it was an outgoing call, we thought you might want to hear it.
"

"Where was the call placed to?"
 Aiden asked
.

"Some telephone number in Arizona.
Phoenix, to be exact.
"

Aiden
 and Lucius exchanged looks. For once, it looked like Johnson was worried
.

Play the audio." Lucius uttered hastily, letting out a deep breath
.

"Dr. Wolfe, I've been trying to get in contact you for a week."

"I've been busy. What is it? Where are you calling me from?
"

"The c-clinic."
The other doctor stammered
.

"You're calling me on my home phone and using my name have you lost your mind?
"

"It's just that the Feds were here last week looking for that missing white girl. I've been trying to reach you.
"

"Don't say another word!" Gerard warned. "Hang up and call me from a clean phone. You know the number.
"

The line disconnected, apparently from Dr. Wolfe's end
.

The two technicians looked at Stone and Johnson expectantly, but both of them were silently confounded. Lucius was two shades paler than he already was, the blood draining from his face.
  On the other hand was tense and taut, like a cobra poised to strike.