A Little Harmless Submission(66)
“You fucking bitch,” he screeched. He gave her the back of his hand with so much force the chair tipped over onto the ground. Her head slapped against the cement floor, and she saw stars.
Then she felt his hand slip behind the back of her head, and he pressed the cloth against her mouth and nose. She struggled for a moment and then everything faded to black.
· · · · ·
Rome’s nerves were riding a fine line between panic and rage. Fucking hell, he should have seen it. He had dropped off Tina at the department and told them to put a trace on Jack’s phone. He wasn’t even out of the parking lot when his phone went off.
“Carino,” the captain said. “We got a GPS track on his phone. He has her on Sand Island. Warehouse.”
The idea had his gut churning. Jack must have had her for at least four hours, and the thought of what he could have done to Maria during that time… He shook his head. He would not think about it.
“The address?”
The captain rattled off an address. “I’m sending backup. The FBI had to be notified since she’s an agent.”
“Tell them to approach without sirens.”
He hung up without getting the agreement. Right now the only thing that matter was getting to Maria.
Several long moments later, Rome pulled up to the building. There wasn’t a way to really sneak into some place like this.
He found a side door unlocked. It was easy, too easy. His suspicions were confirmed when he stepped inside.
“Nice of you to join us, Rome,” Jack said.
He followed the sound of his old partner’s voice and found him in the storage area. He looked horrible, as if he hadn’t slept in days, and Rome didn’t miss the gun in Jack’s hand. There was a battered table on one side and to the left of that sat Maria. His head about fell to his feet when he saw her. She had a bloody nose, a split lip, and she was tied to a chair. She looked like she was unconscious.
“It took you long enough.”
He glanced at the man he used to trust with his life. Rome knew then he should have seen the signs. They had been all over the place.
“Well, I had a chat with Tina. She had a lot to say about your relationship.”
He laughed. The sound of it sent a sick ball of dread to his stomach. He inched closer and saw that Maria was still breathing. He drew in a deep breath and decided he needed to get her out of there, away from the maniac. Then he could deal with the bastard.
“She’s okay. You know I wouldn’t hurt her until you showed up. Well, not much. She did struggle a bit, so I had to use chloroform on her twice, but she should be okay.”
“Tina’s giving a statement at the station. Oh, and she called that Mike guy. Someone told me he used to fight in the ring...he apparently has plans to tear you apart.”
Jack’s eyelid twitched. “What do I care?”
“You should. You’ll lose that job you have in LA.”
Jack shrugged like he didn’t care, but Rome knew that he did. It was all coming apart now, which made Jack even more dangerous. He had nothing to lose.
“I’ll figure something out. I always do. As my mom always said, I’m a smart boy.”
Rome cocked his head to one side. “Really? I would have thought she said you were a loser.”
Jack’s finger twitched on the trigger. “You’re wrong.”
“Isn’t that why you attack women? Because you could never deal with mommy being such a total bitch?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“Or, hey, maybe it was the other way. Did she smother you?”
Jack said nothing, his face turning redder by the minute.
“Did she treat you like you were a man...like a real man? That’s it, isn’t it? What did Mommy do to you? Did she make you sleep with her when it was way past time to do that?”
“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. Romeo Carino, who sleeps with his partners, who trusts the wrong partners. How the fuck are you going to get yourself out of this one? Huh? How will you make sure to convince the HPD that you aren’t a total fuckup. I’m a killer, you’re last partner in Seattle was dealing arms, and this one,” he said, waving the gun in Maria’s direction, “is going to be killed.”
“Oh, I don’t think it will be a problem. I didn’t hire you, someone else did. That person will probably get fired because you should never have passed the psych evaluation. Hell, I’d be amazed you would be able to clean toilets with any evaluation.”
“Shut up,” he said, swinging the gun back in Rome’s direction. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I know how to ace those things. Easy.”