Page 38 of Kiss Kiss Bang
“Just let me go and I’ll get you whatever you want.”
“Oh, I know you’ll get me whatever I want.” He moved the knife lower and right over her nipple and she began to shake even more. With his other hand he pulled and squeezed so hard on her breast that she whimpered in pain. “Shut the fuck up and take whatever I have to give or you will regret it. Do you understand?” he said, pressing the knife harder and moving down her left breast. “Oh these are nice. I’ve wanted to see you naked for a long time.” She whimpered. “You’ll walk out of here and follow the instructions I left in your wallet. There’s an IP address where you’ll purchase one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of bitcoins and then you’ll transfer those over to my account by six p.m. tomorrow. The instructions are all there. Follow them exactly. We’ll call it a measure of good faith. You have a week to get me the rest of the money.” He pressed the knife deep, so deep, she knew that the warm liquid moving down her torso was not from the shower but blood.
“Next time I see you, I’ll slice this knife down your face. Do you understand?”
She nodded her head. When she didn’t speak he shook her slightly and repeated, firmer and louder, his warm breath and spittle against her ear. “Do you fucking understand?”
“Y-yes.” She couldn’t process what was happening. Who was this man?
“One hundred thousand dollars by tomorrow and the rest in one week. And you better not open your mouth about anything that just happened. It would be a shame to hurt your little girl. Especially right in the middle of recess while she plays on that blue plastic see-saw, right in front of her friends, Emily and LeeAnn.” Her knees buckled but he held her up, his disgusting breath by her neck.
“You fuck with me, I’ll fuck with your loved ones. And if you think I’m bluffing, try it. I’m not acting alone, and I’ve given strict instructions on what to do if I go missing. Understand? Don’t fucking lie to me this time around, Olivia.”
She nodded, again wanting to turn around and see his face, but he held her hair tightly, not allowing her to move her head. He was speaking as if he knew her, but she couldn’t really process it. He let go of her breast and then lifted the big knife. She flinched as he brought it right to her face and she was sure—absolutely sure—he was going to cut her. Instead he wiped the flat sides of the blade clean on her cheek, then stepped back, pushing her forward and roughly closing the white mildewed curtain.
She didn’t know if he was gone or if he was still there.
She was completely and utterly paralyzed by fear.
* * *
Joey wiped his brow with the bottom of his shirt after placing the free weights back into their slot. He’d watched Olivia walk into the showers ten minutes earlier. And ten minutes before that, he’d watched her do squats over and over again. Hypnotically. Down. Ass out. Up. Tits out. Down. Ass out . . .
He’d had to think about the old sweaty man running on the treadmill with too-small shorts in order to get that deliciously firm ass and those perfectly shaped tits out of his thoughts.
This routine was working very well for her, he noted. He’d been using all his free time to keep an eye on Olivia. Tom was an imbecile, but he didn’t have the authority to fire him and Olivia wasn’t the kind of woman you told what to do. He was working on it, though. He’d set up meetings with Mark, had just handed over ICS’s security proposal, listing all the flaws and remedial measures as well as twenty-four-seven security detail. Once it had all been put together, he cut the price in half so that they’d have no choice but to hire ICS. Which meant hiring Joey.
“How long does she normally take in there, man?” he asked. Tom had been annoyed at being questioned and watched by Joey. But Joey didn’t give a shit what Tom thought. And Tom wasn’t fazed by anything, it seemed. Including being questioned by Joey. “She has a meeting in twenty minutes. We need to get going.” He pulled up his phone and dialed her number as Joey watched. He shrugged and swiped the phone off. “She’s not answering. Probably doesn’t hear the phone from the shower, or she’s drying her hair.”
Joey nodded but wasn’t convinced so he walked to the entrance of the locker room to wait—or pace. Something wasn’t right, he felt it in his bones.
The gym was one of those large commercial places, but at this time it was quiet and relatively empty. He’d kept his eyes and ears open while working out and nothing had seemed off, but he hadn’t done his normal pre-screening of the location nor had he monitored the women’s locker room which was off to the side where he didn’t have much access.
If she was his client, he’d not allow her to be out of sight. Losing visual was a no-no. At the least, he’d have cleared out the locker room and waited by the entrance.
Any moment she’d walk out with freshly dried hair, a suit, heels, and makeup, ready to work, rolling her eyes at his unnecessary worry. But that didn’t happen. Instead, a woman wearing a navy blue hoodie, ripped jeans, and a baseball hat walked out of the locker room and that feeling as if something was off hit him quickly. He looked at her and then noted that maybe it wasn’t a woman. And she or he reeked.
He had a choice to make: Question him or her, who was already halfway to the front door of the gym, or go check in on Olivia. his instincts screamed that he needed to go find Livie, so he went with his instincts.
He pushed off the wall and opened the door to the women’s locker room. “Olivia? I’m coming in.”
The locker room as was large. The entrance was full of rows of lockers, a long wall-to-wall mirror with some chairs for women to do their hair and makeup. The area was completely empty. “Livie?” he called out and no one answered. All his senses came on full alert and he pulled out his weapon. “Livie?” He heard what sounded like a small whimper coming from the back where the shower stalls were located. There was only one shower on and he followed the noise from the running water.
Quietly, his back to the wall, his weapon drawn, he walked to the shower. He could see through the curtain her outline and nothing else.
He pushed the curtain back. “Olivia? Jesus Christ!” He saw the blood dripping down to the running water. She stood naked and trembling, her back to the curtain. He stepped in, shutting off the water, and when he turned and looked at her, he saw the gash from right under her left nipple down her breast and onto her torso. “What the fuck!” It was a roar that went from his toes up his body.
“Olivia!” She was in some sort of shock. He yelled “Help!” as he grabbed a towel, wrapped it around her and carried her out of the shower. “Help!”
Two women, laughing, walked in and saw him carrying Olivia and stopped. “Call 911!” he yelled and sat down on the wooden bench with Olivia in his arms. “Olivia?” he wiped the hair from her face and then opened the towel a little. It was pink with blood. He looked closer at the cut. It wasn’t deep at all, but it was ragged, ugly, and raw. “Jesus Christ.” He covered her back up and held her tight, trying to get her to stop shaking. “Olivia, baby. What happened? Stay with me, Livie. Help is on the way.” She began to tremble violently in his arms. “S-s-ophie. G-get Sophie.”
“It’s okay. Sophie’s at school. Don’t worry.”
“N-no. H-he knows wh-where Sophie is.” Her teeth were clattering as she spoke and she started to pull away but he held her closer. “Who did this?”
“Sophie!” She gave a bloodcurdling scream. “Get Sophie!”
Joey pulled out his phone and called Jax. “Need you to go to Sophie’s school right the fuck now and get her. Right. The fuck. Now. Take backup.”
