Black Bear Rising: A BWWM Paranormal Romance (Black Bear Saga Book 1) (24 page)

Brad sat in the diner from another era for nearly three hours, feeling himself slowly seep into the walls like the decades of tobacco smoke. Until he was part of the place, another patron with his head in a cup of bad coffee trying to hide away from his past. He was about to order another cup of coffee when his new phone rang. It was purchased a few hours ago and the only people who had the number were the brothers. Once the job was completed the phone would be smashed and thrown away.

Brad picked up and said, “Speak.”

“It can’t be done. They are both gone. It is possible they have left the country. They were seen leaving in a hurry, both with bags. There’s too much heat around the dorms to check out their room. I have a cousin who can get me information on taxis taken in the area. It will take me an hour or so to get that info. How do you want us to proceed?” Serkin said.

The tectonic plates in Brads mind shifted and then slammed into one another sending sharp thunderous blows of pain throughout his skull. His stomach rolled greasily from the eight cups of coffee and for a second he could feel it pressing down on him. This was the end, this job was going to get him killed and he would never be free. The feeling passed and he refocused as Serkin repeated his name again on the other end of the phone.

“Find out about the taxis and get back to me as soon as possible,” he said hanging up the phone. He took out his regular phone which was always ditched and switched out with a new number on a weekly basis and called Gus. He picked up after three rings.
 

“Do you have good news?” Gus asked.

“I spoke to my guys. It looks like the girls have gone, possibly out of the country. I’ll know more in an hour,” Brad replied.

Gus let out a long sigh and then spoke really slowly as if he was talking to a child who needed to be chastened, “I don't care if they have hopped on a rocket to the moon. You find those two bitches and bring them to me. You know how my clients are about privacy and if any of this gets back to them, I can assure you Brad that you will be nothing more than food for the fucking seagulls at the municipal dump if these two are not found. Do what needs to be done and bring them here. Keep me the fuck updated,” he said ending the call.

Brad knew that there was no use in arguing with someone like Gus. There was a food chain and Brad was somewhere close to the bottom. He was more trusted than some street corner hustler, or low level thug. He was even allowed to see some of the inner workings of the black empire that he was a part of. This was no comfort to him at all, he was just as disposable as the dealer who tries to fuck over his next in command, in the grand scheme of things Brad was a nothing. He had seen other bag men think they somehow lived in rarified air that floated above the lower down criminal classes. The truth was if you made a mistake, if you tried to skim a little something for yourself, you would get caught and this operation had no interest in loyalty, or who you were related to, they were as cold and unblinking as a shark eating its own live young. Brad was not going to end up like so many before him. He held his notebook in his sweaty grip. He was so close to freedom now, he could not let a pair of college aged escorts, no he told himself call them what they are, a pair of college aged hookers to derail his shot at freedom. I am coming for you both and I will be merciless in doling out my masters wishes, he told himself. What scared Brad the most was that he knew he had no other choice. He waited for the call from the brothers as a storm brewed in his head and he prepared himself to go on the hunt.

A supernova of pain exploded in the back of his head at the words Serkin had uttered. He fished out a half empty bottle of pain killers a backstreet doctor had given him. The pink and blue pills usually obliterated the splinters of pain in his skull although lately he was finding that he would have to choke down two or three of them to have any effect.

“Are you sure,” Brad asked as he swallowed the pills with a swig of cold acrid coffee.

“My cousin has full access to all the taxi records. He has a GPS log for the car and he spoke personally to the driver. The driver picked the girls up a block away from the dorms. They never spoke during the whole trip. The driver said they looked in shock. He didn’t push for conversation. He dropped them outside of the airport and the last the driver saw of them was them going into the departure lounge. We showed the driver a selection of pictures and he picked the two girls out. It was them one hundred percent,” Serkin said.

“Your money will be at the usual drop,” Brad said and hung up the phone. He suddenly felt old and weary and didn't want to get up from the table. He could see how this was going to play out in its grim inevitability. If he stayed put and drank his coffee a version of the world would roll forward where no one had to get hurt and the two girls escaped the grasp of the wrong people who they got mixed up with. If only it worked like that Brad thought, if his inaction stopped dead the events that would unfold once he made the call and everything was set in motion. One minute more he promised himself, he wanted to sit for one minute more and exist in a world were the death of those two college girls was not on his hands. He took his phone out of his pocket and dialled knowing he was making the first step towards obliteration for the two young women.

The call was picked up immediately. “Things have changed. It looks like the girls have left the country,” Brad said into the cell phone.

Gus exploded on the other end and shouted a string of curse words in cuban and german. When his outburst passed he said calmly into the phone, “You know what my client is going to say. You need to find them and close this chapter before it cause any potential damage.”

“I’m about to leave for the airport now. How am I to proceed if I find were they went?” Brad asked.

“You follow them and you finish the job,” he said hanging up the phone. Brad stared at the phone in his hand, you are in it now he thought, you have set the girls death into motion and he knew that there was nothing he could do about it. He got up and left the diner feeling like a man walking towards the open doors of an abattoir.

Lana was dreaming of a flat grey ocean with low hanging wisps of clouds practically touching the slate grey surface. She was floating above the water and she could see something in its depths stirring, it was indistinct and nothing more than a slight change of colour as it moved below in the depths. Then it began to surface and take form. The first thing she could see clearly was the grey hair and the broad shoulders. It was the figure of a man quickly rising up from the depths, he was wriggling his body in a fluid motion like that of a fish and his speed was increasing rapidly. Please don't let him breach the surface Lana thought to herself. The man below the surface tilted his head back and he had the large silvery eyes of a fish. He reached his hands up before him as he sped towards the surface. Don't let him touch me Lana tried to shout and nothing but silent squeaks came out.
 

She felt a pressure on her arm and she awoke. She was panicked for a second that she could not see and then she slowly remembered where she was.
 

“You were groaning in your sleep,” Sara said rubbing her arm, “It sounded like you were having a horrible nightmare.”

The nightmare was already fading away like ash in a strong wind. “I don't know what it was, something was chasing me and it was about to touch me. I didn't want the thing to touch my skin.” She shuddered at the remnants of whatever horrible creature had been stalking her in her sleep. “Thanks for waking me. Are you here long?”

“I came yesterday but you were passed out and heavily sedated. I’ve been here all morning,” Sara said.

“What time is it?” Lana asked.

“Its around midday,” Sara said. “How are you feeling?”

Lana moved in the bed and flexed her arms and legs gently and said, “A little stiff and my head feels like its packed with cotton wool, other then that I feel ok and a little stupid.”

“I was talking to the Doctor he said there are signs on the way to the beach warning about the area with the quicksand. You must have missed them with the fog that rolled in. Seemingly it's a one in a million occurrence,” Sara said.

“I never got to thank the man who saved me. His name was Einar, have you meet him?” Lana asked.

“Oh I meet him all right. He came to the guesthouse to tell me what happened,” she let out a whistle and continued, “You haven't seen him yet. Lets just say you are in for a treat. He looks like some sort of viking from an old story book. He’s big and broad and looks like he could pick you up and throw you onto his shoulder with ease. His eyes are the brightest blue you have ever seen, he's laid back and charming, and so damn handsome. He looks like
 
a model, not someone who farms or fishes. And that accent, it does funny things to me every time he says my name. I definitely thought we had a bit of a moment when he was in our room,” Sara said.

Lana felt a momentary dull pain in her stomach and the slightest hint of jealousy. Of course it was just like Sara to be already homing in on Einar, the country boy probably wouldn't know what hit him. Lana felt the twinge of pain again thinking of Sara being with him but she pushed it aside. What did she think she was living in? Some sort of fairytale where the girl is rescued by the handsome prince and then they walk off into the sunset hand in hand. This was the real world and she was nothing but an escort who slept with men for money and allowed them to fulfil whatever sick and twisted fantasies they had while she lay there unconscious. How could someone like her ever end up with the fairytale ending? She couldn't afford to even allow herself to dream about such a scenario happening.

“What about everything else, are we ok?” Lana said lowering her voice.

“If you mean are there any ninja like assassins creeping about then we are in the clear. No one will find us here,” Sara said a little too flippantly for Lana's liking.

“How can you be sure?” Lana asked.

“Who is going to waste time coming after two high class hookers. We are safe stop your worrying. The doctor said you can get out tomorrow, you need to stay for one more night of observation. I’m going to go and explore the town. Do you want me to pick you up anything while I’m out?” Sara asked.

Lana wasn't surprised that Sara didn't intend to stay by her bed and hang out with her. She always had an underlying streak of selfishness and had been accused of being cold and heartless in the past. Lana was used to it and so tried not to let it hurt her too much. “No, I’m ok. Is Einar going to come back to see me?” Lana asked.

Sara let out a snort of a laughter and replied, “Do you miss your big strong hero?” Sometimes Lana felt that Sara didn't fully respect her and looked down on her as someone of a lesser calibre. Pull yourself together Lana thought to yourself, you are only feeling these doubts magnified because she is the only one you can rely on at the moment. Don't let her sharpness cut you too much.

“I want to thank him for rescuing me. If he hadn't come when he did,” she trailed off and felt a cold chill run through her body.

Sara rubbed her arm gently and said, “I know. I don't know what I would have done if I lost you.” This was typical Sara swinging from sarcastic barbs one second to open hearted genuine emotion the next. “When I see him I’ll let him know you want to see him again,” she said and left Lana alone in the hospital room.

The word “when” hung in the air like a silver bubble of air floating up through a still pond. What did she mean by “when” Lana thought to herself. Had Sara already arranged to meet up with Einar again. She felt a twinge inside as if someone was pulling on a loose thread and slowly unravelling it. Why wouldn't Einar want to hang out with Sara, she was attractive, smart and seemed to draw men to her like an open flame. Lana wallowed in self pity thinking why would he be interested in her, she was banged up and damaged goods lying in a hospital bed with a metre of bandages wrapped around her head. How could she ever compete with Sara and why should she even bother, she knew nothing about Einar and yet he was all she seemed to be able to think about since her rescue. Lana remembered reading an article about women falling for fire fighters who rescued them from burning buildings. The consensus was that when surviving a traumatic experience the women subconsciously transferred their intense emotions onto the person who had saved them. Maybe this was all that Lana was feeling now, an extreme bond and feeling of closeness to Einar when one really doesn't exist. As she tried to rationalise away what she was feeling she slowly began to drift off into a light doze as she imagined Einar picking her up in his strong arms.

A light knock on her door woke her an hour later. “Who is it?” she said groggily.

“It’s Einar. I can come back later if you are sleeping,” he said.

Her heart skipped a beat and she automatically looked around for a mirror to check herself before realising her world was one of pitch black until her eyes healed. “I’m awake, you can come in,” she said as her palms began to sweat a little.

“How are you feeling?” he asked as he pulled a chair to the side of her bed. She could hear a bag rustle as he placed it between his feet.

“I’m a little groggy from the sedatives and my body feels like I went five hours on the back of a bucking bull. I feel a little better now that I have company,” she said. Lana cringed at her last comment, without seeing his facial expressions she had no way to know his reaction. Maybe he looked bored and disinterested and was only coming to visit her out of a sense of obligation. Or the worst possible scenario, he was here to find out more information about Sara because she had already got her hooks into him.

“I meet your friend yesterday,” he said. Lana cursed to herself, here it comes she thought. She’d been here before and the inevitable questions would begin. Does Sara have a boyfriend, did she mention me, could I hang out with her again and on and on they would drone, treating Lana like nothing more than the gatekeeper of knowledge in all things Sara related. “She seemed,” he hesitated for a moment choosing his words carefully, “nice,” he continued. Lana could live in that pause, roll around and pull up its edges and wrap herself in the unexpected delight of the pause. It was not the pause of someone who wants to know more about the inner workings of the great and beautiful Sara, it was the pause of someone who was more confused or confounded by her. The pause was glorious to Lana's ears.