Crystal Mac: A prologue novella to Captive Series Book 3 HELL'S HILLTOP (13 page)

It was going to be a big morning.

“Park right here,” Crystal ordered, indicating an empty space near the manicured entrance of a two-story medical building. The intensity of her look meant she was preparing herself for something big. “I’ll be right back.”

Before she could exit, he said, “No disappearing act, right?”

“Just keep the engine running,” she threw over her shoulder as she hopped down and slammed the door.

That didn’t sound good. They were in a surgical outpatient parking lot. What was she going to do, raid the
gift shop?

Nerves pr
ompted him to turn on the radio. In the span of two classic rock songs and a commercial break, she was back with a plastic bag marked “Personal Belongings”.

Mac stared in utter disbelief.
“Nothing like doing a little shopping in outpatient surgery.” He put the van in reverse.

“I did this one chick a favor.”
Plastic crinkled as she reached in and pulled out a pair of black flats. “Just look at these hideous things.”

“I can’t believe you stole a patient’s shoes.”

A mile down the road, she pointed to his left. “Now I need you to stop at that gas station ahead. I’ll only be a sec.”

It was a busy place by the highway with twenty-four pumps and plenty of foot traffic streaming through the doors. Crystal disappeared in the way Mac was becoming used to. Sure as shit, the passenger door opened three minutes later and a stranger slipped into the seat beside him. Mac almost kicked her out before he realized who was beneath the prim
blue dress and long strawberry-blond wig. With bangs, glasses, earrings and lipstick, she looked like a girl from the office.

Mac gave her
a onceover with mouth agape.

Crystal lowered the black plastic frames an inch. “Just drive, cowboy, or I’ll knock you out.”

Yep. That was Crystal all right. “Where’d you get the wig?” he asked, patiently awaiting the elderly couple behind them before backing out.

“Cancer center.”

“The glasses?”

“Vision center. No one will miss them, at least for a while.”

“Do you ever worry about Karma?” he asked conversationally.

“Every goddamned day,” she answered, then tossed a pack of Marlboro Reds into his lap. “You’ll need those if you want to hang close without attracting attention.”

Next stop was one block south of the
Lesico building. It stood out as the tallest among other similar buildings of white concrete and mirrored glass. The park beside them was full of activity as people walked to work or sat on the benches with their coffee. A public transportation bus pulled away, leaving a dozen scattering commuters.

Mac and Crystal sat in tense
silence, staring at the face of the building they’d infiltrated the night before. It looked so unassuming. Ordinary.

Beside him, beneath the ginger wig and glasses, Crystal’s soft mouth was set in a determined line. She pulled the door handle. “If I’m not back in twenty minutes, leave.”

He grabbed her arm before she could exit. “We leave together,” he countered sternly. “And you’ll call me as soon as you enter the building so I can listen in.”

A brow went up. “So commanding,” she purred. Her focus shifted to his restraining hand. “Tell me, Mac, have you ever
done a redhead?”

Coming from any other woman, he would have proceeded with caution. But Crystal wasn’t any other woman and his dick jumped to immediate attention. “Several,” he answered honestly.

She took her lower lip between her teeth. “How ‘bout in a preschool van?”

Ah, something to shoot for. His mouth curved slight
ly. “Can’t say I’ve done that… but it’s certainly not above me.”

When he relaxed his grip, she took his hand and lightly nipped the tip of his middle finger. “Then, I’ll definitely be back.” She leaned over, whispered, “After all,
it’s just sex, right?”

There was a challenge in those glimmerin
g pools of ice blue. Just sex… Something he told himself would never happen again. But who the hell was he kidding? He burned for her and he feared she saw every flame behind his crumbling wall of restraint.

When her tongue flicked over that luscious bottom lip, the need to taste it
himself overpowered all reason, so he leaned in and took what he wanted. Mmm, her sweet flavor was definitely something he could get used to. The pleasure built to a steamy level as they angled into the kiss together. What was supposed to be a quick last word turned into something much more.  He took her face in his hands, dove deep, fully gave in to the hunger he no longer wanted to deny.

Crystal was the one who broke away, leaving him shaken and wanting more. Breath ragged, she inhaled deeply, let it out slowly. “That didn’t help my focus,” she said staring intently at the parked car in front of them. Then, hooking a thin white purse over a shoulder, she exited the vehicle.

The slamming door hit Mac like a bucket of cold water. Damn if that kiss hadn’t left him with a stark visual of what was to come. A few deep breaths and a complete round of
Old MacDonald
made his crotch presentable enough to exit the van himself. With ball cap low over his face, he slipped some quarters into the parking meter.

Two minutes later, he leaned against a light pole in an alcove by the
Lesico building with a cigarette in his mouth. Other smokers milled around him and he bummed a light. Just an inconspicuous guy with a legitimate reason for hanging around.

The fact she failed to obtain a lighter proved
Crystal had never smoked a day in her life. He’d quit the habit after his stint in the military, and damned if it didn’t reek now. His cell phone buzzed. “Talk to me.”

“What?” Danny’s voice greeted him instead of Crystal’s.

Mac checked the number, put the phone back to his ear. “Sorry, Danny, I thought you were someone else.”

“Very cloak-and-dagger of you.” She was laughing at him. “Derek wants to know how things are going.”

A handful of pigeons pecked at the manicured grass by the street, unafraid of the steady flow of morning traffic. “They’re going. In fact, I’m expecting a call, so I’ll fill you in later.”

“Does that mean she’s inside?”

He aimed a stream of smoke toward the sky as he looked up at the red Lesico sign on the front of the building. “Yes.”

“Okay. He’ll want her back as soon as it’s over.”

Tough shit. Derek would just have to wait. He and Crystal had plans to defile a certain preschool van between now and then. “Danny, I need to go.”

“Right. Good luck.”

More time passed. Mac checked his watch while he extinguished his butt at the nearest ash receptacle. Dammit, why hadn’t she called yet?

He shook out another cigarette and tucked it between his lips. The first one had calmed his nerves a significant amount, but the second might make him puke if Crystal didn’t hurry.

Before he could bum another light, his phone buzzed. Without checking the number, he answered.

“I’m getting on the elevator now.” Crystal’s tone was hushed.

He ripped the smoke from his mouth and hissed, “What took you so long?”

“I had to incapacitate my server administrator.”

“Anything else?” Like a pile of dead ghosts? Rafferty? All those things that needed to come first?

The elevator dinged in the background. “Not y
et,” Crystal answered. “Sophie has a bed in her private lab on the fourth floor. If no one is up there, I’ll take a look in her computer before I go down to the testing facility.”

Where he’d been caught last night. “Just stay focused, okay?” he reminded her quietly as he was joined by a couple of women with
Lesico ID badges.

“That’s a tall order considering the way we left things.” There was a smile in her voice. “Maybe if you tell me what I have to look forward to, I’ll perform better.”

Why was she doing this to him? Not only was he worried about her, there were four other folks within hearing range… and she wanted him to talk dirty. “We’ll discuss it later,” he answered in code.

“I can’t wait to feel your enormous cock inside me again, Mac.”

The unlit cigarette fell from his mouth and hit the ground.

“
Mmm. I’m touching myself… oooooh… imagining your hands all over my body…”

Jesus.

“And while you’re pounding into me, this time I want you to—”

Another ding. Mac heard the doors slide open in the background.

“Okay, I’m putting you in my pocket.”

What? You want me to
what!
No! Of all the…

Coming to, Mac looked down and saw
crushed tobacco beneath his boot. Blood pumped loudly in his ears. His jeans once again strained under the pressure of his pounding member.

Okay, reel in your shit, Mac.

As her clothes swished against the speaker, he loaded another smoke between his lips, shoved the pack back in his shirt pocket and simply stood there with the phone to his ear. Waiting.

More employees piled through the glass doors, some crushing their cigarettes right beside him before entering work. He felt like a fish out of water among the suits and skirts, until someone offered a light. With feigned interest, he nodded and leaned into the flame.

“Thanks, man,” he muttered, turning away.

“That’s weird,” came her muffled voice through the phone. “There isn’t a soul up here. I wonder if Sophie’s death already got around.”

He could hear her shoes clap against a parquet floor. The couple beside him burst into laughter and he moved away with a finger to his other ear.

“Okay, I’ve cleared every room. Computers are on and coffee cups are still steaming, but it’s just me and the crickets up here.”

But, for how long? That unanswered question grew more deafening as each silent second ticked by. Then he heard her pull out a rolling chair and sit down. Rapid-fire tapping of a keyboard…

“I’m in IGP’s pharmacy loop,” she murmured. More typing. “Everything still w
orks, just different location… A-ha. This might have something to do with why Sophie’s office staff is missing. Lot number two-two-six-four-one-seven was distributed a half hour ago. That’s our Plan B.”

Yes!
The ghosts would be falling like flies in a hot car and the staff was somewhere else dealing with it. But, disguise or no, Crystal was lingering too long for his comfort.
Come on, baby, get out of there.

“Now, I’m diving into her private files.”

No!

She blew a song through
her teeth as she surfed. “Oh… crap.”

“What?” Mac asked before remembering she couldn’t hear him.

“Um… she really had a thing for Derek. I mean… I knew that already, but… damn.”

What the hell had Crystal stumbled onto? Pictures? Videos? A diary?

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t see that and move on.” More typing. “Wait a minute… I think I found something on our basement chemist.”

This was it. Mac sensed her excitement from fou
r stories below when her breath caught. “My God,” she murmured. “This can’t be right…”

Her tone indicated a severe shift in mood. More than ever, Mac wanted her to put the damned phone to her ear so he could talk to her. “Come! On!” he hissed, turning to find out who heard that.

Absolutely no one was around and his ashes had burned down considerably. He flicked them off, took a long drag and held the smoke in his lungs until the urge to chew nails subsided.

Just then, a muffled voice reached out through the phone. It was masculine,
gravelly and dripping with disdain.

“Hello, Crystal.”

What the fuck!

“Jude,” she answered, not even bothering to work the disguise. “You look a little pale. Not feeling well?”

She sounded way too calm. Assuming a ghost had caught her, perhaps he was too sick to pose a threat. Still, Mac’s heart lay dormant in his chest.

“Actually…
” the man said, “I’ve been better.”

There was a strange swooshing noise and a loud thump.

“Too bad this dance is so one-sided,” she purred nastily. “I would have enjoyed fighting you. The only thing worse than a sexist prick is a really big sexist prick.”

Laughter rolled through th
e phone, slow and raspy. “Not… so one-sided,” the man croaked.

A few silent agonizing moments passed. “I see that,” she bit out with malice,
then the phone went dead.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

As Mac doused his cigarette, he listened a moment longer to dead silence. Yes, she’d definitely hung up.
God dammit!
Why would she do that?

Unless someone else did it.

He pulled the ball cap lower over his eyes and pocketed his cellphone as he entered the building. Two security guards conversed in front of the ladies room down the hall. A pretty brunette behind the front desk pointed to a waiting clipboard. “Excuse me, sir?”