The guy fired.
Pain exploded in Bosco’s chest, and he fell back, hitting the floor hard. The last sound he heard before the darkness grabbed him was Marlie screaming his name.
Marlie regained consciousness slowly,her body on high alert but her eyelids remaining shut. She breathed evenly and tried to take stock. The floor or ground was hard under a rough blanket beneath her, and a chill wound through the air. Quiet conversation took place to her right, male voices, but she couldn’t make out the words.
Other than that, no sound filtered through the space.
She opened her eyelids, careful not to move from her position on her side. It took several heartbeats for her vision to clear enough to see the inside of a garage door in front of her.
“You’re awake,” a man said.
She rolled over, yanking the blanket up to cover her nude body, her bare butt on the cold cement. “Who are you?” She squinted, trying to see him better. The guy sat at a table near the other wall with a large blue truck behind him. He looked to be in his early thirties with brown hair, blue eyes, and all-black clothing. His gloves and mask were on the table.
“My name is Rickert. You’ve heard of me?” he asked.
“No.” She put her back against the wall and looked around the large area. It was more than a garage. A metal shop? While the walls were blank, spots of gasoline marred the smooth concrete floor. “Why did you kidnap me?”
He winced. “Well, I had a question for you, but I think you just answered it.”
She had never seen this guy in her entire life, nor had she heard of a Rickert. None of this made a lick of sense. Was it possible he had her confused with somebody else? “Did you break into my apartment the other night?”
“That was a colleague of mine.” He shook his head. “After he failed so spectacularly, he’s no longer with us.”
Fear fissured through her. He’d killed his colleague? “I think you have me mixed up with somebody else,” she murmured. How the heck was she going to get out of there? How long had she been unconscious? They couldn’t be too far from town. She tilted her head and studied him.
An outside door to his side opened, and another man walked through.
She eyed him. Brown hair, brown eyes, normal build. His hands shook, and he shoved them into his pockets. She cleared her throat, trying to figure this out before somebody decided to shoot her. Wait a minute. He was familiar. Even so, she played dumb for the moment. “Who are you guys?”
The newcomer looked at the other guy and sighed. “Guess we worried about nothing.”
There was something about his voice. Yep. That was him. He was one of the boring guys at the bar the other night. Her head hurt but she needed to concentrate. They’d stormed Bosco’s apartment and kidnapped her, and she had no idea why. Bosco. Oh, God. Was he okay? “You shot Bosco,” she said to Rickert. He was the bigger of the two, and he’d been the one to carry her out of the apartment after knocking her out. Was he the leader?
He nodded. “Yeah. He injured and possibly killed two of my friends. I hope he’s dead.”
Her chest hurt. She bit back tears and concentrated on the moment. Once she got out of here, she’d worry about Bosco. He was a trained soldier, and he had to be okay. Right now, considering these guys had let her see their faces, she was in trouble. Definite trouble. “Would one of you please tell me why you kidnapped me?” She tried not to feel too vulnerable, considering she only had the scratchy blanket to cover her nakedness. “This doesn’t make sense.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” the brown-haired guy said. She vaguely remembered him pattering on about numbers when she’d almost fallen asleep at the bar. With Turner. He looked at his partner. “This is a disaster, Rickert.”
Rickert nodded. “We jumped the gun, that’s for sure.” He studied her. “Although we don’t have much of a choice now, do we?” His gaze was hard and his jaw set.
She ran his name through her head again. It wasn’t common. Shouldn’t she know a Rickert? She looked at the man near the door. “I don’t remember your name, but I do remember that you know Turner.” Was he in on this? Or could he somehow help?
“Denny,” Rickert said quickly. “I’m Rickert, and he’s Denny.”
Denny sucked in a breath, his face paling. “This is all Turner’s fault.”
“How so?” Marlie asked.
Denny pressed his lips together as if afraid to say too much.
Marlie squirmed on the cold floor. That was so not good. She’d seen their faces, and she knew their names. Apparently, Denny wasn’t as comfortable ending her as was Rickert. He was definitely the weak link. She concentrated on him. “You kill me, and you’ll go to hell, Denny.” He turned even whiter. “Plus, let’s be honest about this. Your friends, the ones Bosco hurt, are no doubt talking to the authorities right now and giving you up.” If they were alive. It looked like at least one of them was killed. Her voice trembled, and she didn’t try to hide her fear. Why bother?
Denny leaned back against the wall as if his legs wouldn’t hold him up any longer.
She pressed on. “Right now, you’ve only gone along with a kidnapping. If you kill me, that’s murder one. Do you really want to face the death penalty?” It was a good thing she loved watchingLaw and Order.
“Shut up,” Rickert snapped.
