Untraceable (40 page)

He didn’t answer.

“
Stubborn,” she said
somewhat under her breath, but it didn’t dim the smile. “Let me
show you my bedroom,” she winked at him.

“
Make the
call.”

“
Take me to bed first,”
she taunted him. “It’ll take off the tension
beforehand.”

“
No. Make the
call.”

“
I don’t want you
leaving.”

“
We’ll discuss that later.
Make the call.” He could see those little wheels turning furiously
once again just behind her amber eyes.

“
Kiss me, Micah—kiss me
like you did before you left for New Orleans—and then I’ll make the
call.”

He could tell she was up to
something.

She placed her phone on the kitchen
countertop and laced her arms around his neck, “Show me that
passion you hide as well as your emotions. Make me,” she uttered as
distance between their lips began to erase and her voice became
soft and husky, “feel how badly you want her freedom.”

He wrapped his arms around her and
closed his eyes. She had no idea, but her perfume choice for the
day was making this just a little too easy for him. She was wearing
Escada, Leese’s favorite. The kiss was long and sensual, deep and
sultry. Never opening his eyes, his mouth trailed from her lips to
her throat, biting, kissing, and suckling her skin as he tucked her
tighter against himself. He felt her knees giving out as he held
her up.

“
Micah, oh Micah,” she
whimpered, lifting his chin and seeking his lips for another kiss,
“baby, don’t stop,” she begged as kiss number two ensued, deeper
and hotter than the first; her body was now quivering with desire.
His kiss was raw alpha-male power that demanded every ounce of her
concentration and total surrender; her knees gave out completely as
he crushed her into himself.

“
I—I can’t—can’t breathe,”
she said in tiny gasps. “I want you so bad—anything you want,
anything I have. I’m—I’m—”

He was back for kiss number three,
pausing her words, “Anything?” he hissed softly as the kiss ended,
and his hips thrust hard against her groin.

“
Umm-hmm,” she managed to
get out, fighting the lightheadedness that was taking over as he
ignited every cell in her body. She was on fire like she’d never
been on fire in her life. “Mmm,” she moaned again. “I—I love
you.”

He pulled back as if he’d been
slapped.

“
No,” she cried out,
“Don’t stop, please! You know we’re right for each other. What’s
wrong with me loving you?”

“
You said I could have
anything I wanted.”

She nodded furiously, “Just don’t
leave.”

“
Make the damn call—that’s
what I want.” He let her go and stepped away.

Her knees were still weak as she
gripped the barstool beside her for balance and picked up her phone
with trembling fingers. “When I call him,” she said, obviously
getting back to the plan she had before his kiss stripped her of
her brain cells, “it will take him a little while for him to get
her home. I’ll tell him to have her call you from her house phone
so you know she made it safely.”

“
Home?” he questioned,
wondering what she was talking about. “You said you’d have him take
her to an airport.”

“
Why Micah? Why, when
she’s only two hours from West Palm Beach?” A smile spread on her
face.

If he’d had been standing next to a
wall he would have banged his head into it! First rule of hiding
someone; whenever possible, pick a place so obvious that no one
would even consider looking there. Damn it! He never went to the
property; she never left it the day she met Giovanni
there!

“
I was against the idea of
him using the house on the other side of the lake, but he said he
was certain you didn’t know about it, and once you thought she was
dead, he said you’d never go there anyway.”

“
Son-of-a-bitch,” he
growled, she’d been within his reach the whole time; he just didn’t
know it!

She grabbed his hand and pulled him
toward the balcony. I’ll make the call, we’ll have a glass of wine,
and a bite to eat, but for however long it takes him to get her
home, I want you in my bed. I don’t plan on letting you rush out
the door as soon as I hang up.”

For the next two hours, he would be
her toy once again until the final call came in from Leese
herself.

Sharon’s expression was blissful as
she stood beside him on the balcony and waited for Giovanni to
answer. He watched her expression sour as he heard the call ring
twice and then go to voicemail.

That was interesting.

He knew if the phone had been off or
if Giovanni had been on a call, voicemail would have picked up
immediately. Three or four rings would have meant he simply didn’t
answer, but two rings and then voicemail? Giovanni must have
silenced the call. Micah drew Sharon against himself as she called
Giovanni again. She grinned, mistaking his move as being sexual
when he simply wanted to hear what would happen as she called him a
second time. It took him three rings to answer.

The volume was sufficiently high that
he could hear what was said as Giovanni called her ‘puttana,’ which
in Italian was the same as calling her a bitch, slut, or a
whore.

“
You will never speak to
me that way you sorry, impotent, Italian bastard. I
will
—”

He heard Giovanni laugh and say that
she couldn’t have everything her wicked heart desired. But the next
words cut as deeply as if someone had just placed a scalpel to his
throat and sliced open his jugular vein.

“
She is mine now; you have
no say over what I do with her.”

Sharon began again, threatening that
she would tell her men to kill him.

“
They are dead; all of
them, as I am sure you will also be in a few seconds because I know
he is right beside you and can hear every—”

Sharon didn’t struggle when Micah
pulled the phone from her hand. There was nothing quite like being
in the grasp of a lethal human—a human you’d toyed with and
tortured far too many times; her face was now devoid of any
color.

“
I swear I’ll kill you
if—”

“
Hello Micah.”

He heard Leese yelling something to
him, the sound of a struggle, and then nothing but silence. The
call had ended.

Unexpectedly, Sharon slapped his hand
hard and quick, knocking her phone from his grasp and sending it
into the air, over the rail, and on a thirty-three story drop to
the cement below.

His reaction was immediate as he went
for her throat.

“
I—I—know—his—number,” she
stuttered before the power in his grip could choke off her
airway.

He realized she was trying to save her
own skin; not a half bad reaction on her part, he considered. As
long as she still possessed something he needed, she’d live a
little bit longer.

He gripped her arm too firmly and then
jerked her inside the condo. She was wincing under his hold as he
pulled his phone from his pocket; he wasn’t about to let her send
his sailing over the rail. “Tell me his number, now.”

She was reaching for his phone, but he
pulled it away. “You’re not getting your hands on it. What’s the
number?”

“
I—I’ll dial
it.”

“
I have a photographic
memory; I don’t need you to dial it, only to speak it. Say it now!”
he demanded so fiercely that she began to tremble.

She closed her eyes, either trying to
remember the number or afraid to see if he would pull his guns
immediately after she uttered it. She whispered out the
numbers.

Without delay, he dialed it to see if
she was telling the truth. Four rings and it went to voicemail; it
was Giovanni’s voicemail, so she had told him the truth. He then
dialed the number he knew belonged to ‘Jonathan’ before this whole
mess began. He’d tried this when he found out who Sharon had
holding Leese, but it always went to voicemail. This time the
recorded message stated the number was no longer in
service.

“
Stupid bitch!”
he thundered.

Her eyes blinked open, fire flashing,
as she tried to strike him over his remark. Not the wisest thing to
do in his current state of mind.

Within a second, he had her arms
twisted behind her, held immobile by one of his, his other arm
around her neck in a choke hold as he moved her out to the balcony
railing.

She was gasping and crying, “No,” for
all she was worth as he lifted her body up.

“
Shooting you is too easy,
Sharon—that’s just a little too quick. You need a few seconds to
think about what you’ve done to my wife, my son, and
me.”

“
No, no, please, please,
Micah, no,” she implored as she realized his intention was to throw
her over the railing.

He pushed her body farther away from
his and then held her, suspended a fraction of an inch from death.
He kept thinking about Leese. He kept thinking about his promise.
He kept thinking how he didn’t want to be the man he used to be
anymore. He pulled her back to safety and turned her to face him.
“I guess you’re lucky that you aren’t worth a broken promise!” he
rumbled and then let her crumple to a pile on the floor.

“
Don’t—don’t leave,
please, don’t leave. I’ll help you find her,” she
whimpered.

He turned briefly, “I
don’t need you,
puttana
.”

And he was gone.

CHAPTER thirty-one

By the time his feet touched the
ground floor, he had his plan revised. It wasn’t much different
than before because he realized all along who he’d eventually be
facing. He needed to pay a visit to his favorite arms dealer. He
had been waiting on some specialized equipment that was seldom seen
on the regular market. He dialed Ryan’s number as he walked to his
rental car. “How’s it going?” he simply asked.

“
You know I’m a dead man
after this, right?” he gave a brief laugh. “It’s great; just a
freaking walk in the park.”

Micah couldn’t keep from laughing,
even though he was afraid Ryan was right about that first
statement, “I’m not trying to get you killed, but let’s just hope
I’m the one who gets all the blame.”

“
No—I’ve been pretty much
told I’m a dead man about a thousand times. Even if you get the
blame, I think we’re both in deep shit.”

“
Well the shit just got
deeper, my friend. Giovanni evidently killed Sharon’s men and now
he’s on the run with Leese.”

There was a long breath drawn on the
other end of the phone before Ryan spoke, “You’re off her chain,
aren’t you?”

“
She lost her
leverage.”

“
But did she lose her
life? I know how badly you wanted to kill her, Micah.”

“
You don’t know what it’s
like to wish I had, and to be glad at the same time that I didn’t.
She’s alive. I didn’t work this hard to allow my temper to screw it
up now. This is getting ready to come to a head and you need to be
prepared to move. I’ll try to bring it to your doorstep so you
don’t have to, but if not… Well, all I can say is I’m afraid it’s
going to be a difficult flight for you.”

Ryan was laughing, again, “Hell,
that’s the easy part. It’s what happens when I land that’s going to
be the hard part! Don’t worry about me, just worry about getting
Leese out of this bullshit.”

Micah sighed. Ryan was right. “You
know, in case something happens and I don’t have a chance to say
this later, I want you to know I’m glad you’re my wife’s best
friend, and I’m glad I didn’t kill you when you ran off with
her.”

By this point, Ryan was rolling with
laughter, “Hah! I kicked your ass, dude! Admit it, big, bad hitman,
I kicked your ass!”

Micah chuckled as he cranked his car
and headed for the airport, “Ryan?”

“
Yeah?”

“
Thanks for kicking my
ass—and thanks for being my friend, too.”

The laughter faded, “You’re welcome.
I’m glad we’re friends, Micah. Be careful.”

The moment he hung up, his phone was
ringing. He looked at the number and recognized it was one of
Sharon’s. She had two other cells that he knew of, and he was in no
mood to listen to her beg him to return; he blocked her number and
continued to the airport.

He was pleased that he’d had the
forethought to pay his charter pilot for the full day so he didn’t
have to arrange anything new when he arrived at the airport. He
never expected to make it back quite so soon, but that was simply a
bonus. He had a stop to make in New Orleans, and then he’d call
David and tell him about the craziest thing he’d done in his life
and see if he would consider joining him in the madness. David
would have to do things Micah’s way, but he knew his brother well
enough to know that he wouldn’t like the plan.

He sat in the back of the plane with
his laptop open. He’d been making his arms supplier, Crank, a
wealthy man lately. Crank was a former high ranking officer in the
Russian military for about ten years after the collapse of the
Soviet Union. His primary work had been in weapons development and
weapons supplies, but he’d been doing side deals with the Russian
mafia until one little slip mandated leaving the country. During
those ten years he discovered the benefits of capitalism, so it was
natural for him to continue his ‘business’ when he came to the
U.S.