The Dangerous Curves Series

Chapter 70

Four days later

Clarice ‘Honey’ Potts sighed as the noise in the back of the truck increased, both in volume and tempo. She checked the GPS on her cell, and saw that there was a small wooded area coming up in about two miles. With her wide, gorgeous eyes – deceptively and softly baby blue – she glanced over at the man in the passenger seat.

“I was hoping the drugs would tranq him for another hour, at least.”

“Yeah, me too.” Tom ‘Tank’ Devereux shifted his muscled bulk in the too-small seat. “We’ll have to deal with this.”

“Yep.” Honey checked the rearview mirror, saw that the road was clear. “Let’s pull over up here and persuade our boy to shut his f*****g trap, huh?”

Tank flashed her a grin. “Now you’re talking, darlin’.”

She saw a small dirt path leading into the woods and she took it, handling the hill slow and easy. The trees provided good cover, and she knew nobody could see them from the road above. She shut off the engine, was amused when the banging in the back suddenly stopped.

Too late, dickhead. You got our attention, and now we’re coming.

They stepped out of the furniture delivery truck, looked around one last time. Tank rolled his massive shoulders, pulled his gun.

“Ready?” he said to her.

“Always.”

Honey lifted the latch on the one side of the door, then stepped back and pressed her small body against the still-locked side. Just as she expected, the unlocked half of the door burst open, and Dave Townsend came flying out, screaming wildly through the gag. He fell the six feet or so to the ground, and then he lay there, rolling over and over, struggling against the tape binding his wrists and ankles.

They stared down at him, half-amused, half-disbelieving. In all their years as hired guns, it had never ceased to amaze them just how determined people were to escape, no matter how futile the attempt. These morons provided hours of entertainment, really, but enough was enough.

Honey raised her tiny foot, encased in wicked high-heeled brown boots, and brought it down on Dave’s balls. He screamed again, at a much higher pitch, and rolled away. He came within an inch of Tank’s huge combat boots, and his eyes widened when he looked up and noticed the barrel of the gun aimed at his face. Dave froze, suddenly wondering if they were going to shoot him right here.

“You want to shut the f**k up now?” Tank’s deep voice was pleasant, the Cajun drawl misleading in its relaxed warmth. He had no relaxed or warm feelings for this piece of s**t wallowing in the muck at his feet.

Dave nodded, snuffling for breath.

“Now, I’d like your undivided attention, if you please.” Honey was all sunshine and sugar, and Dave gave her what she asked for. “We’re almost where we need to take you, but you’re making quite a ruckus back here. I don’t like ruckus… gives me a headache.”

She smiled. “So, if you’ll just turn over and present that spoiled ass to me, I’ll give you another shot.”

He groaned and shook his head. Honey c****d her head.

“You refusing me?”

He paused, sure that there was no correct answer to that question. He had no f*****g clue how these two had found him at his grandfather’s farmhouse over in Kansas. He’d barely poked his head out the f*****g door since his father got him dropped over there under the cover of darkness, all covert and s**t. He hadn’t answered the door, barely left the farmhouse.

Well, actually. OK, yeah, he’d been outside a few times – against his father’s explicit orders, and to the annoyance of the guards stuck babysitting him – but, f**k. He’d been going stir-crazy, trapped in that place. Nothing to do, not allowed to call anyone, cut off from all social media and internet access, and the selection of movies sucked. The professional bodyguards refused to let him drink, and they had no f*****g sense of humor to boot.

And anyway. It hardly seemed fair that he’d been under what was effectively house-arrest for something that he barely remembered, right? Christ, he’d just gone back to Denver to meet with the college board, sign a few documents and present another bogus doctor’s note, and he'd met Richard for a few drinks. All very hush-hush and on the down-low, since nobody could know he was back, even just for two days. But when Rich had told him that Sarah was screwing that biker asshole, the one who had humiliated Dave, he'd lost it.

He got leglessly drunk, and it was still kind of a surprise that he had even managed to drive the rental car to Sarah’s place. But man, her face when she opened the door and saw him there… it had been priceless. And why shouldn’t she be punished a little bit? That b***h seemed to be making it her personal mission to completely f**k up his life every chance she got. Why couldn’t she just drop the whole thing, take his Dad’s money? God knows she could use it, and he was dying to get back to his life.

But no. That slut and her biker boyfriend were in on it together – refusing the cash, keeping Dave in a holding pattern and under his parents’ thumb back in New York – and he’d just snapped. God, anyone would. And now these two gun-toting vigilantes show up, knock him out, throw him in a goddamn truck. How the hell they did it right under the noses of his father’s security guys, Dave would never understand.

Dave Townsend was almost certain that he’d be dying that day. He just had no idea who’d actually be doing the killing. He also had no clue how he was going to die.

Maybe it’s better to just go to sleep, even for a little while.

He rolled over now, lay on his stomach. The blonde woman hauled down his khakis, jammed a needle in his ass. She looked delicate and sweet, but holy God, she was not. A b***h on wheels, more like, and Dave would have enjoyed watching her writhe around under him, tied up and bloody. Scared and begging. He’d like that just fine.

The waves of sleep were coming at him now, and he barely felt the dark-haired giant pick him up, easy as you please, and throw him back in the truck. Dave closed his eyes, and hoped that whatever greeted him the next time he opened his eyes was merciful enough to do whatever they had planned quickly.