Page 48 of Malice
Bonnie watched him, trying not to let him see the rage bubbling up inside her. She wasn’t going to give him a reason to hurt her, and she was certain that her fighting back, her arguing in any way, even with just a look, would be seen as a reason to teach her a lesson. She’d had all the lessons she wanted today, or ever.
35
Malicehadmadeitto beside the small silver SUV, and was looking at the ground on the driver’s side, following the single set of footprints around the rear to the passenger side, looking for any trace of Bonnie. He had just spotted a second set of prints when his phone vibrated in his pocket.
He debated ignoring it for a second or two but knew he couldn’t. What if it was Bonnie, or that fucker with her phone and some kind of demand for him? No, he couldn’t ignore it.
It only took a moment or two to pull the phone out and navigate to his messages. It wasn’t Bonnie. The message had been from Steele. And now there were two more messages.
Steele:Need you here.
Steele:Just heard a woman scream.
Steele:You’ve got two minutes till I’m going in.
Malice started moving even as he tried to type, giving up anything long winded he opted for an abbreviation.
Malice:OMW
He didn’t know how much time he had to spare, but he knew it was way under two minutes when he found Steele standing outside the back door to the house.
“You see anyone inside?” Malice asked.
Steele shook his head. “I haven’t heard anything since the one scream. It was faint. I’d say not on the main level. Maybe upstairs, but more likely in a basement or cellar. I think if whoever screamed was upstairs it would have been clearer.
A small cracking sound to the east made Malice turn, Talon was in a couched run and appeared to have stepped on a stick. He didn’t pause or look around, instead he just kept moving.
“What’s the plan?” Talon asked as he reached them, barely breathing heavy from his sprint across the yard.
“We’re going inside. We clear each room as we reach it. If we find stairs down, I’ll take them, and you continue on. When you find the stairs up, Steele takes them, and you finish on the main floor. Hopefully by then one of us will have found something. First one to find either Bonnie or the fuckwad that took her, call out. As soon as the others are through clearing their zone, they join the party. Clear?”
Malice pulled the pistol from the small of his back, double checking that there was a round in the chamber with a practiced move pulling the slide back just far enough to see the round, then easing it back into place. When he looked up to meet the gazes of the men he now thought of as his backup, they were doing the same.
With one more glance to make sure everyone was ready, Malice reached up and checked the knob, and to his surprise, it twisted easily. Not that he really should be surprised. Many people out this far from town didn’t bother to lock their doors but if you had just kidnapped someone and were holding them hostage, Malice thought they would lock the doors. If only to slow their captive down if they got loose and tried to get away.
Malice shook his head and brought his mind back to what they were doing. Stepping inside the house, he found himself in a small mud/laundry room. There was a rug with a couple pairs of muddy boots sitting on it to one side of the door, hooks for outer wear on the wall above it and a little farther into the room sat a washer and dryer. There was nowhere in the room for anyone to hide and only one other door leading out of the room and that was where Malice was headed. He didn’t have to look to know Steele and Talon were right behind him.
The doorway took them into a large kitchen, a four-seater table at one end, a bar on the other where it led into what looked like the living area. On the wall across from the stove and sink was a door. It looked old and battered and had a hasp on the outside like most people put on storage sheds. The kind with a loop to put a padlock through. What could possibly be on the other side of the door to warrant that kind of lock?
Was it possible that Bonnie wasn’t the first woman the fuckhead had done this with? Even the mere idea made Malice want to beat the shit out of the useless bit of humanity.
Malice turned and looked at the men behind him, making sure they were watching him before he used two fingers to tap his cheek below one eye then motioned toward the door. He then motioned for the two of them to continue through the house. Steele nodded first, then Talon, indicating they both understood and would do as he instructed.
Malice stepped up to the door and waited until both men had passed him and moved farther into the house before slowly, gently turning the knob and easing the door open. To his surprise the light was already on, revealing narrow wooden steps that led down into what from where he stood, looked like an unfinished cellar.
Dim light filtered up from somewhere at the bottom of the stairs, leading Malice to believe there was someone down there. If there was someone here, what were the chances the scream Steele had heard had come from here? Had it been Bonnie?
Someone below was talking, but Malice couldn’t make out what was being said. Since the voice kept on, hadn’t stopped, he could only hope that they hadn’t heard the door open.
Malice battled with his need to find Bonnie, now. He forced himself to step onto the first stair slowly, listening carefully for any tell-tale creak or groan of the old wood that might alert whoever was down there to his presence.
He held his pistol in both hands in front of him, angled down toward the base of the stairs, but ready to pivot to take on any threat that might come up. Malice paused on the first step, making sure whoever was below hadn’t heard him. No. The voice continued. It was a man, and the tone told Malice that whoever it was wasn’t happy. The voice turned from chiding to condescending then angry again. Slowly, one by one, Malice eased down the steps, the words becoming clearer with each step.
The crack of skin against skin, what sounded like a slap, made him wish he could magically be at the bottom of the stairs and see what was going on, but it wasn’t possible. It took a moment to realize that there had been no response to the slap.
No one had cried out, only the original man had spoken. His heart seemed to stutter in his chest. Who had been hit? Why hadn’t they reacted in some way? What had he done to Bonnie to keep her from saying something, even if it was only to ask him not to hit her again?
Malice tried to figure out what she might say as he took the last step to bring the rest of the room into sight. There were still stairs to descend, but at least this one he’d be able to see. He eased down the last step, and his gaze took in the room in a quick sweep. The cellar was about fifteen feet by maybe twenty. Rough brick walls but a dirt floor. A few feet away sat a chair, facing the steps and Malice, where Bonnie had been taped. Pacing back in forth in front of her, his mouth still running, was the fucker Malice had seen in the video not an hour ago.