Wicked Games (12 page)

Three of Noah’s men followed Richard
, as he left the hotel and headed to the nightclub. The car let Richard out at the front door. They watched as the bouncer opened the red velvet rope and let him walk in ahead of the line of waiting partiers. 

“
Blake, follow the car and put a GPS tracker on it, in case they leave again,” Roman said, as he handed the tracker off. Blake took it and walked around the building, following the car. He watched it pull into a parking lot behind the building and the driver jogged back around to the front. Moving silently through the parking lot, Blake secured the GPS to the underside of the car.

Climbing into the SUV, Blake said,
“GPS is ready. There’s a parking lot behind the building with a back door. The driver didn’t go in that door, though. If she shows up, we will need eyes on it.” Roman found a place to park where they could watch the front door.   Blake opened the GPS tracking software and confirmed the steady dot on the screen.

“Do we have any intel on this guy? Does he have a team of guys? Or another car?” Alex asked from the backseat.

“We know he has men, but we don’t have any other specific info.”

“So
, we’re flying blind.”

“Pretty much.”

“Good. I hate when people spoil the ending.”

The men chuckled and kept vigilant watch on the front of the nightclub.

***************

An hour after he lost sight of her at the hotel, Noah finally arrived at the nightclub. He found Roman and Alex on the sidewalk in front of the building and Blake was walking towards them from the corner.

“We have a situation, Reaper.” Blake hated being the one to deliver the bad news to his boss.

Noah’s hard stare bore through him
, as he asked through clenched teeth, “What?” He knew his men were good and whatever happened was probably beyond their control. But he wasn’t very logical where Brianna was involved. Especially tonight, when he knew exactly what she intended to do, and he had no doubt Richard would have no problem with complying.

Roman spoke up, “We were in place, staking out the front door while we waited for Brianna to show up. Blake put a GPS tracker on the car parked in the back lot. There was a wreck
, an 18-wheeler and a drunk driver. The semi blocked our view of the door, so we moved closer. When we got around the rubberneckers and the semi, we saw a limo turning at the end of the block. Blake went to the back lot to check for movement. She may be inside.”

Noah rudely pushed through a group of people
, who were in his direct line to the bouncer. The guy at the door knew Noah owned Steele Security. Noah told him he was looking for someone who may be in the club, and he needed to have a look around. The bouncer opened the rope to let Noah, Bull, and Rebel in. Roman told Blake to go around back and keep watch, just in case, while Roman stayed at the front door.

Inside the club, Noah, Bull
, and Rebel split up to look for Brianna. He didn’t really care where Richard was. His only focus was to find Brianna. The entire place was packed with wall-to-wall people. There were multiple rooms with various seating arrangements.  There were high backed booths, soft cushioned chairs, actual beds, and some people were even sitting in the floor. He slowly walked through the crowd, his eyes scanning everyone, as he made his way through.

He saw Rebel and Bull systematically making their way through the lower level of the club until the three men had covered every square inch. They made their way to the second floor mezzanine and continued their search. They turned around and performed the search again on their way back to the front of the club.

Damn, where can she be?
Noah tried to keep his mind in professional mode and not let his personal feelings enter the equation. Emotions would only make it worse and keep him from thinking logically. The three men stood in the foyer of the club, watching people entering and leaving for several minutes before walking back outside. As they moved away from the crowds of people, Blake came running around the side of the building.

“West! They’re headed west! Let’s move!”

Scattering to the SUVs, they headed out in the direction Blake had last seen the car. Alex looked at the GPS tracking software and said, “This isn’t moving!”

Blake shot back, “They had a second car!” He gave everyone a description of it
, as they pulled out of their parking area. Traffic was heavy with people trying to get to the late night parties. By the time they pushed their way through the blaring horns of angry drivers, they had lost sight of the car.

Noah punched the dash of the SUV.  “
Fuuuuuccccckkkkkk
!”

They split up and proceeded to canvas the area
, one block at a time.

“This is
fucking useless. We don’t even know if they went back to the damn mainland or somewhere else on the island.” Noah was racking his brain to figure out what to do next, where to look, but nothing came to him. Bull kept looking, driving block by block, anything to keep busy.

Noah raked his hand over his face and his hand stopped just over his mouth. His elbow was propped on the door
, and he stared out the passenger window. 
Bri…where the hell are you?

Just then, Brad yelled out,
“Reaper, she’s activated the bug!”

“Pinpoint her location.
Now!
”

Richard’s men surrounded her and forcefully shoved her towards the chair. The chair was made of thick wood
. It was painted black, very sturdy, and had armrests. The legs were reinforced with two-by-fours running between each one, on each side, front and back. Once she was sitting, she understood why it was constructed that way. They used duct tape to secure her arms to the armrests and her feet were duct taped to the legs.

Without saying a word or asking a single question, one man backhanded her across the face.  Her body shifted violently to the left. She saw stars and felt a sudden burst of intense pain in her cheek
, then tasted the metallic taste of blood in her mouth. Her eye immediately started to swell. Still dazed, she turned her face back to the front when another blow rocked the other side.

With blood running down her cheek and out of her mouth, Richard walked up to face her. “You’ve caused me a lot of
fucking trouble. I want those damn documents back, or you’ll hurt a lot more than this.”

“What documents?”
Say it. Say it!

“Don’t play coy with me. You know damn well what documents.”

She heard a loud
“thwack!”
in her ear, as something slammed in the side of her head. She knew she’d been hit, but she didn’t know with what. A fist?  A baseball bat?
Oh God, it hurt! 

Her vision blurred
, as she struggled to hold her head up. Then she felt blows to her ribs that knocked the breath out of her. She coughed and felt her chest convulse, as she tried to suck in oxygen. It hurt to breathe and it hurt to not breathe.

“
You stupid fucking bitch. Give us back the weapons’ invoices!” She felt another blow to her head, but she was so disoriented she didn’t feel as much pain as before. Or her brain didn’t register it. Whatever the case, she knew she wouldn’t get out of here alive.

At some point, she passed out from the beating
, because she awoke to one of the men slapping her in the face, “Wake up. Come on. Wake up!”

She tried to open her eyes
, but they were both almost swollen shut. Her vision was blurry, and she couldn’t make out any faces now, only dark figures moving around her. She could feel the darkness enveloping her and was confused about what was going on around her. She seemed to lose moments of time. 

“Tell us now
, or you die, Brianna.” The male voice came from the dark figure directly in front of her.  She heard the slide of the gun, as he readied the bullet in the chamber. She saw the dark figure pull his arm up, straighten it in front of him. She couldn’t see it, but she knew he held the gun in his hand.

She heard heels clicking across the floor
, as a female voice said, “Give me the damn gun if you can’t do it, Richard. I sure as hell can.”

Just as she t
hought it was over, she heard another voice in the room with them. It was a very familiar voice. But in the fog and haze of her battered body and brain, she couldn’t quite place it.

“Put the gun down. I already told you, man.  This
isn’t happening.”

“Oh, it’s happening all right. I’m putting a
fucking bullet in her head and feeding her to the damn sharks.”
That was
Richard – I know that voice.

“
I’m not asking. I’m
telling
you. Put the damn gun down. This is your last chance.”
Who is that? 

“
Last chance
? What? You think you can fucking stop me?”

“Yep.”

Brianna saw Richard’s dark figure turn from her and face the other dark figure that had just stopped in front of her. Richard’s arm was down at his side, but she could feel the tension in the room.

“And how
the hell do you plan to do that?  There’s five of us and one of you.”

A menacing chuckle, “I don’t
need
five.”

She saw the shadow of Richard’s arm move up
, and she heard the loud pops of gunfire and people moving all around her. She heard shouting that seemed to come from everywhere, echoing off the walls. She had lost sight of Richard’s dark form, there were so many now, and she couldn’t tell one from another, and her eyes were so heavy.
Did more of Richard’s men come in?

She was still taped to the chair and couldn’t shield herself.
She heard someone scream and realized it was coming from herself. She suddenly felt a white hot, searing pain in her shoulder. Just before she passed out, she heard a calm voice that soothed her, “Hold on, Sunny, help is coming.”

***************

Noah paced back and forth in the surgical waiting room at Jackson Memorial Hospital. He hadn’t seen Brianna since the paramedics left with her in the back of the ambulance. She wasn’t awake when they loaded her on the stretcher, and they were frantically working on her in the back of the ambulance as it pulled away. He didn’t make many friends at the hospital when he arrived at the emergency room and couldn’t find her. 

A nurse finally informed him she had been taken straight to surgery upon arrival.
He was more than aggravated that he had to fill out registration paperwork on her before the nurse would tell him where to wait for word of her condition. After more than two hours of jumping every time any of the medical personnel walked by, a doctor came into the waiting room and called out, “Tate family?”

Noah, Bull
, and Rebel rushed to the doctor. He motioned for them to sit down, “I’m Dr. Sullivan. She’s out of surgery and in recovery now. She had a gunshot wound to the right shoulder. The bullet went straight through with minimal damage. We cleaned it out to help avoid infection, and she will need some physical therapy to restore full range of motion.”

Noah let out a sign of relief, “OK, we can deal with physical therapy.”

Dr. Sullivan nodded, but the look on his face was serious. “I’m afraid that’s not all. She was badly beaten. She has a significant concussion with large hematomas on both sides of her head and there is some slight swelling around the brain. That is the most serious injury right now. We will continue to closely monitor her brain activity and swelling. I’ve asked Dr. Conley, a neurosurgeon, to oversee that part of her care. He’s one of our best.”

Noah’s face drained of all color.

Dr. Sullivan continued, “She also has numerous cracked ribs, along with contusions on both sides of her ribs. Contusions were also found on her arms and legs. This lady has sustained significant trauma to essentially her entire body.”

Noah couldn’t think of a single intelligent medical question to ask. “When can I see her?”

“She’ll be in PACU for at least an hour, more likely two, while we monitor her vital signs and her brain activity. If her vitals remain stable, she’ll be moved to neuro-ICU until we’re sure all danger of swelling has passed. Once she’s in ICU, you can go in during visiting times, as long as you’re family.” His eyebrows rose, as he questioned their relationship to her.

Noah responded, “Yes, I’m
her husband.” 
Maybe not right now, but I plan to be.

Bull spoke up, pointing to Rebel and himself, “We
’re her brothers.”

Dr. Sullivan nodded and said, “We will inform you of any change in her condition.” He advised them to move to the neuro-ICU waiting room to wait for the updates.