They came out in an area filled with equipment: pipes and furnaces, water lines, air-conditioning ducts, refrigeration units.
Kate looked at Jason. “Surely he wouldn’t bring girls down here...would he?”
“If he does, he’s got a lair, someplace he feels safe.”
She nodded. “Then let’s find it.”
“Keep your gun handy,” Jase said, and her fingers tightened on the big semiauto she had picked up in the alley.
Jase took off one way while Kate took off the other. Circling around, she made her way between rows of equipment, the noise made by the machines concealing the sound of her footsteps. Her bare feet were raw, the bottoms cut and bleeding. No time to worry about it now.
Fifteen minutes later, she was still searching.
“Nothing,” Jase said when they came back together.
“We can’t give up.”
He nodded, and they took off again in two new directions. The basement of the high-rise was huge. If Reyburg had a place down there, it could be anywhere.
Kate began to move deeper into the center of the building. As she ducked behind an air duct, she spotted what looked like a big white storage tank with a door cut into one side, and remembered reading Denny’s father had been in the underground storage tank business.
Reyburg was standing in front of it and so was Callie Spencer. The hard-faced man from the party stood behind the girl, a wooden club across Callie’s throat, held in both hands, prepared to deliver a crushing blow—the way he had used the weapon to kill before.
Emanuel Vargas.
“The boss sent me here to solve your problem,” Vargas said. “You need to leave—now. You can’t be found with an underage girl. I’m going to take care of this for you.”
“Get away from her,” Denny demanded. “She’s mine!”
“You want to go to prison, Mr. Reyburg? When things settle down, De Santos will get you another girl. Get out of here. Let me handle this.”
Callie whimpered. Her eyes were huge, her face bone white.
“I don’t want another girl,” Denny argued. “I want this one. She’s pure. I’ve never been the first before.”
“You’re a fool, Reyburg. Get out before it’s too late.”
Kate glanced around. No Jason. No police. She was Callie’s only chance. Her heart felt close to exploding in her chest. It was now or never. She took a calming breath and stepped out from behind the air-conditioning duct, the gun gripped in both hands.
“It’s already too late.” She sighted down the barrel and fired, aiming the shot as close to Vargas as she dared without hitting Callie. The bat dropped out of his hands as he dove for cover, and the girl collapsed to the ground.
Reyburg started running, lumbering down the path he used to access his lair. Kate fired at Vargas again, determined to keep him away from the girl, knowing Jase would hear the shots and come running.
“You killed my sister,” Kate said, firing off another round. “Now I’m going to kill you!” She ducked out of sight and kept shooting, pinning him behind a piece of heavy equipment. Vargas returned fire, blasting a stream of bullets that pinged off the steel machinery.
Glancing around, Kate spotted a chunk of concrete, picked it up and tossed it one way, then ran toward Vargas from the opposite direction.
The distraction worked. Vargas fired a series of shots toward where the concrete had landed. Combined with the noise made by all the equipment, Kate slipped right up next to him and pressed the gun against his head.
“Move and you’re dead.”
Vargas froze.
“Toss the gun. Do it slowly.”
When Vargas hesitated, Kate pressed harder and he tossed the pistol away. Fury nearly blinded her. She wanted to pull the trigger so badly her hand shook. “You killed Chrissy. She never had a chance.”
Jase stepped out of the shadows. “Don’t do it, Kate. He isn’t worth it.” Jase’s pistol pointed at Vargas. “The cops are on their way down. Let them have him.”
