WILL TIME WAIT: Boxed set of 3 bestselling 'ticking clock' thrillers (34 page)

Kerry
elbowed him in the ribs.  “Shut it, John.  Don’t turn this around on
me.”

“Okay,”
Dylan said.  “Let’s just cool it a minute.”

Kerry’s
glassy eyes met mine.  “I’m sorry you’re caught up in this.  Really I
am.  You seem like nice people.” 

I
let her apology hang in the air.  If I opened my mouth I didn’t know if
I’d have any control over the filth that would come out.  I had enough
problems of my own without throwing this into the mix.  If they’d come
clean a few hours ago, I’d have left, given the house over to them with
pleasure.

Her
voice sweetened, “Really, I didn’t know this would happen.  We didn’t have
a problem last time.”

“Save
it,” I hissed through my teeth.  “Drugs kill.  You may as well just
dish out bullets.”

“Just
because we do this,” John said.  “Doesn’t mean we like it.”

“Why
oh why did you have to involve us?”

“We
didn’t plan to,” John said.  “Kerry thought this place would be
empty.  When I saw you here, I figured we’d just try our luck and say it
was a double booking.”

“Don’t
you lowlife people care about anyone but—“

Dylan
squeezed my hand.  “So, anyway, unless we can escape, we have until
tomorrow evening when they collect the drugs, for them to either let us
go....”  He paused to gulp, his face ashen.  “...or kill us.”

A
lan paced in
front of his desk in his office, listening to Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D
Minor to calm himself.  He knew he had pushed Jenna too far, but it was her
own stupid fault. 

She
deserved more than a slap!  He should have locked her in the basement
again until she calmed down, but he couldn’t exactly have wrestled her back
into the house when Joe, one of his employees, had just pulled onto their
drive. 

He
snatched his mobile off the desk and sent her a text message:

‘its
L8.  Come home now & I’ll 4give u.  We’ll talk F2F.’

What
right did she have to continually blame their relationship issues on his
father’s death?  He was two years dead for Christ’s sake! 

‘Your
grief can no longer excuse your behaviour’ – What on earth had she been
droaning on about? 

Changed? 
Gone off the rails?
 
What nonsense!  It was Jenna who had changed.

He’d
simply found the drive and focus to chase the lifestyle that he should have had
all along.  She should have been grateful, not whine about it.  The
only reason he put up with her miserable attitude was because he did really
love her.

Having
received no reply to the text, Alan dialed his wife's mobile number and got her
voicemail again. 

This
time he decided to leave a message.  “Those women meant nothing to
me.  I don’t even know why I did it.  I’m sorry and I love you,” Alan
said.  He leaned a hand on the desk, pressing down on something hard and
unlevelled.  The music quickly rose in volume until it was blasting from
the corner speakers. 
Damn it.
 

“Come
home,” Alan said louder, while tossing papers aside to locate the remote. 
“Look, perhaps I have been a little ‘off the rails’ lately.  But you’re
not exactly easy to live with yourself!  Give me another chance to prove
I’m still the man you fell in love with.  Come back now, and I’ll forgive
you.” 

Perhaps
he didn’t need to make this call.  She wouldn’t survive five minutes on
her own.  Hell!  Some days she could barely drag herself out of bed
to fix him a meal. 

Alan
found the remote, pointed it at the stereo and jabbed a button several
times.  The music lowered to a whisper as footsteps approached from
behind.  Alan grunted, annoyed at his security guys.  He’d made it
clear that he didn’t want to be interrupted.  

“I
know I’ve been married to my job, lately,” Alan said, continuing to speak into
the phone.  He touched his neck, rubbed the snake tattoo that coiled
around it, thinking of what Jenna would want to hear him say.  “And my
temper needs some work, but things at work have finally taken off.  I
promise to treat you better.  You know I love you.  We’re meant to be
together and you know it.  Let’s try again.”  He lowered his mobile
and spun around, ready to shout at his security guys.

Two
men entered the room.  One, a stocky guy, had a bloodied knife in his
hand.  The other, leaner and dressed in a sharp black suit, pointed a gun
directly at Alan’s head.

Alan
jerked upright.  The phone slid down his palm until only his forefinger
and thumb held it.  “Who the hell are you?”

“Your
new business partner,” the man pointing the gun said in an accent that Alan
recognised to be Geordie.

“My
what?”  Alan struggled to keep his voice strong and steady. 

“Hang
up the phone.”

Alan
glanced at his mobile.  He fumbled the buttons with his thumb, hit the
volume by mistake, then gave up.  He didn’t want to take his eyes off
these men for another second.  He slid the mobile onto the desk behind
him.  “Done.”  

The
voicemail was still recording. 

“My
boss here wants in on the action,” the second man said.  “You’ve got one
cracker of a scam going on, and he’s impressed.”

Alan
shrugged, trying to act cool.  “I don’t know what you’re talking
about.  I run a scrap metal business.”

“Sure
you do.”  Geordie laughed.  “We’ve had a private eye tailing you and
that pretty little wife of yours for weeks now.”

A
what?
 
This news was a sucker punch to Alan’s guts.  How could he not have
realised someone was following him?  He’d been extra careful of late.

The
man continued.  “We know the scrap business is just a front for your scam
even if your wife doesn’t.”

Alan
glanced over the man’s shoulder into the hall.  “How did you get in my
house?”

The
man waved his hand nonchalantly, and continued speaking in his Geordie
accent.  “Oh, let’s not waste time
tawking aboot
your goony
guards.  They can’t help you.  Not now.  They’re bleeding all
over your floor.”

Alan
gulped.  His gun lay in his top drawer, but it was on the other side of
the desk.  Getting it would be tricky.

“Now,
I’m going to ask you a question,” the man said, turning the gun over in his
hand as though examining it for defects.  “If you dunnot tell me what I
wanna know, my colleague here will make a quick phone call.  We have your
wife barricaded inside a house in the woods with her boyfriend.  We’ll
keep them there for as long as it takes.”

Alan’s
gut twisted and he stumbled back. 
A lover?  She’s having an
affair and being held captive? 
Both
t
he thought of losing her
and another man’s hands touching his wife’s soft skin made him shudder. 
Alan’s fooling around with other women had only ever been to relieve
stress.  What was her excuse?  How dare she play about!  Now
that the cash was finally rolling in hard and fast, he intended to spend more
time with her, win her affections back.  And now, not only had he lost
her, but... he raised his head and stared down the barrel of the gun... he’d
landed himself and his wife in danger.

The
man continued.  “One nod from me, and she’s history, man.” 

A
chill ran through Alan’s veins.  Determined to act unmoved, he shrugged
and forced his voice to sound spiteful.  “We’ve split up.  She’s
nothing but a whore.”

A
chair scraped across the floor.  “Sit down,” the man holding the knife
said in a low, commanding voice. 

Alan
considered racing around the desk to get the loaded gun, but thought better of
it.  He'd never make it in time. Suddenly, more than anything, he wanted
to see his wife again. He'd have to play it cool and listen to what these guys
had to say, figure out how to outsmart them. He sat down.

The
man with the knife tied Alan’s arms behind his back with rope, while his boss
circled the chair like a shark.  “Let’s not play games.  We know
you’re a home-wrecker who rips people off.  You think you can get into any
woman’s pants.  You think you’re untouchable... but you’re wrong.  So
very, very wrong.  It’s sad, but we know that in your own sick way you
love your wife and want her back.”

Alan’s
chest tightened in rage.  He opened his mouth to speak.

“Shut
up and listen.  Tell us the password to access this software program of
yours, or we’ll force it out of your wife.”

“She
doesn’t know the password,” Alan said quickly, determined to convince them.

“Oh,
why aye man,” he said, the Geordie accent creeping in again.  “She knows
it all right, even if she doesn’t think she does.  Like I said, we’ve had
a P.I. watching both of you all month, been keeping your lovely wife close... as
backup for when—”  He stopped and glanced at his partner.

Alan
tried to keep his face emotionless.  These guys were good.

“So
what’s it gonna be?  Tell us the password, and if it works, we’ll let your
wife go and start talking shop.  We’ll make a great team, you and I. 
Or...”  His words drifted to a stop once again, leaving Alan with no doubt
about what the ‘or’ implied.

Alan
shook his head, but didn’t dare say ‘no’ aloud.

The
guy stopped in front of the chair.  “Oh, Alan, Alan, Alan.”  He blew
out an exasperated breath, smashed the gun hard against Alan’s front teeth and
forced the metal into his mouth.  “I’ve been biding my time for
weeks.  But my patience has now run out.”

Alan
cried out.  His eyes watered as he gagged on the hard metal.  Blood
trickled down his chin from both corners of his mouth.

“Let’s
start this afresh, shall we?” Geordie guy said with a sigh, then pulled the
barrel out of Alan’s mouth to allow him to talk.  “The password... or it’s
goodbye to that clever brain of yours, and au revoir to your pretty wife. 
Give! Me! The! Password!”

Alan
choked and spat two bloodied teeth onto the rug near his feet.  He had no
doubt they’d do him more damage if he refused, but he assumed they wouldn’t
kill him.  They needed him if they wanted in on his scam.  Kate was
the only other person who knew how to use the software, but they wouldn’t know
about her.  At least he hoped not.  “The password won’t help
you.  The software is complicated even once you’re in.  Besides, you
won’t get anywhere near the office.  Security’s been stepped up.”

“Yes,
it’s been doubled.  Your guys are racking up pool balls, in your office,
with my guys as we speak.  Ee... Amazing how a little extra cash can
persuade people to switch sides.  Works every time.” 

Shit!
  If Alan’s
guys had switched sides, they might have told him about Kate – perhaps not Joe,
but...  Besides, they’d still need Alan.  Kate wouldn’t be back at
work until Monday morning.  It was Friday night, so that would give him
just over two days.

The
man thrust the gun back into Alan’s mouth, pushed deeper this time.  “The
password.” 

The
second guy pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket.  “Shall I give our
boys the nod to do his Mrs in, boss?” 

The
man tilted his head as he glared down at Alan.  “What do you say, Alan, my
friend?”

Alan
tried to shake his head, and made a muffled sound in protest.  He could
barely breathe, let alone speak.

“Sorry. 
I didn’t quite catch that.”  He pulled the gun out of Alan’s mouth,
pressed it into his eye socket.  “That’s better.  Now... you were
saying...”

“Okay,
okay,” Alan blurted.  Two days had to be enough to get himself out of this
mess until Kate showed up, making him expendable.

The
man nodded at his sidekick.  “Alan agrees.  Get on the phone and tell
‘em to drop that little surprise
doon
the chimney for his wife.”

“What? 
No wait... I didn’t mean...” Alan spluttered.

The
second man typed a text on his mobile and pressed send.  “All done.”

The
boss turned to Alan.  “Now, where were we?  Are you gonna cooperate?”

Alan
considered his options, then nodded. 

“Good
choice.  Looks like your wife won’t be trapped in that cabin for as long
as I thought.  Time for stage two.  All
right
, Alan? 
Partner?”

There
was something not quite right about the way he’d said the word partner, but
still, Alan knew his options were at zero.  A mixture of blood and saliva
bubbled out of Alan’s mouth as he said, “Sure.  I don’t do partners, but
you leave me no choice.”  He hated working both for and with other people. 
Nonetheless, he knew that would be the only way to save his life and his
wife’s.  There was no point denying that he wanted her back.  It was
probably painted all over his sweaty face.  However, he also wanted to
punish her.  Knowing she was trapped inside a house with her lover was an
opportunity too attractive to pass over.  “We’ll join forces, but there’s
one condition... I get to deal with my cheating wife.”