Page 41 of Cherished By the Sinners
“Stop moving,” the gunman said.“Or I will shoot you in the head.”
“Bullshit,” Darlene snarled.“You have orders to take me alive or you would have shot me already.I would ratherdiethan go wherever you’re supposed to take me.”
“Let go of her and I might let you live,” Mason said, his clenched teeth shredding the words.
The driver jerked his head around, saw Mason, pulled a gun up, and took a couple shots at him.
At the same time, the guy holding Darlene switched his aim to Mason and also started shooting.
Fuck.He wore body armor to explain why he didn’t die from gunshot wounds, but no one was going to believe his armor was good enough to stop this many bullets.
Someone smashed the driver’s side window, reached in, and yanked the man out through it.Magnus.The driver’s scream was high pitched, and it got higher as he was pulled out of the vehicle.
Heh, maybe some broken glass snagged something delicate.
The guy holding Darlene tried to crane his head around to see what was happening in the front, and Mason made his move.He launched himself over to the gunman, grabbed the guy’s hand holding the gun, and lifted it so the weapon was pointed at the roof of the van.Then, Mason crushed the hand and the gun in his fist.
The guy screamed.
Darlene ripped herself out of his grip, scooted forward a bit, then slammed her elbow into his groin.
A strange wheezing sound came out of the man’s throat and his whole face turned a blotchy red and white.
“Fucking asshole,” Darlene yelled at him as she scrambled away from him and toward the rear exit.
“Darlene, wait,” Mason said as he flipped the asshole over onto his gut and twisted his hands behind his back.
“He’s got zip ties in his pockets,” Darlene told him, poised to hop out the back, but waiting as he requested.
Mason found them and tied the kidnapper’s hands together, then he tied the asshole’s ankles together too.
A thump reverberated through the van as Magnus tossed the driver onto the hood of the vehicle.He punched the driver a couple of times, demanding to know why they took Darlene and where they were planning to take her.
Mason grabbed his asshole by one arm and jerked him over onto his side.“Why did you take Darlene?”
“I’m not telling you fucking anything,” the man spit in Mason’s face.
“Kidnapping and attempted murder is going to put you in prison for a very long time,” Mason said, and he smiled.“We have people in every prison in the country.You won’t last a week.”
The man didn’t say anything.
“Where were you going to take her?”Mason asked.
The asshole laughed.“To the police station.”He laughed some more.“We were supposed to drag her in there under a citizen’s arrest for solicitation.”He grinned at Mason.“You’re fucked.”
“We have you on tape grabbing her in the hallway outside of her room.”
“She’s a whore, and we’re here in New York City on a business trip.Who do you think the police will believe?”
“You followed her from the restaurant onto an elevator and grabbed her outside her room.She kicked and screamed and bit your dead buddy’s ear off.”He leaned closer to the creep’s face.“And my phone,” Mason added, “has been recording everything we’ve said.”
Magnus roared a few colorful words in Russian at his asshole.He punched the idiot a couple more times.
“Come on, Darlene,” Mason said as he helped her out.She had bruises under all the blood covering her face and torso.“Let’s show Magnus that you’re...”he almost said okay.That was a lie.She vibrated with rage, and probably terror, and she likely had injuries she wasn’t aware of thanks to all the adrenalin in her system.“...out of harm’s way.”
She took one step, then spun around and tried to get back in the van.
“What—”
