Marcus Quinn gazed at himself in the bathroom mirror in room 710 at the Innsbruck Tirol Hotel. The radio out in the main room had the hardest thing Quinn could find blaring from a crackling speaker. Some techno shit that he tolerated only because there was no other alternative.
He had just given himself a sponge bath to clear away the dried blood from around his bandage on his shoulder in front. He turned away from the mirror and swiveled his head around, looking at his back and wishing he could reach and wash that as well.
He had sucked down a handful of Tylenol, but it had only taken away some of the pain from the shot that cleared his body. The stitches the researcher had given him would work fine, although the local anesthesia was wearing off now and they seemed to pull with each move he made. Which was just fine with Quinn. He didn’t mind pain. It made him feel alive.
Wearing only a pair of dark underwear, Quinn lowered his gaze to his crotch, wondering what it would take to make himself happy. He remembered becoming excited as he raced down the mountain after Murdock. Then again as he had watched his former partner screw the helpless maid over and over. And yet, Ute had teased him so frequently, playing with herself in front of him. Nothing. Is this what he had become?
He picked up his gun, raised it at his reflection, pulled back the hammer...
“Interesting idea,” Ute said, coming in from the other room and startling him.
He had flinched from embarrassment. He turned the gun on her, placing the muzzle against her forehead.
She raised her brows. “Is that any way to treat a girl?” Becoming a bit concerned, she swiveled her head toward the other room. “The music was so loud there was no way you could have heard me.”
He thought about that, knowing she was right. “Where in the hell have you been?” He lowered the gun and released the hammer.
“What happened to you?” She ran her finger along the bandage on his chest.
“Some fucker got in a lucky shot in the old town. Fortunately I was a far better shot. Could you clean around the bandage on the back?” He handed her a wash cloth and turned.
She dabbed around the white bandage. “Went clean through. That was a break. By the way, I got the disk from Jake Adams’ computer.” She slid her free hand inside his shorts to his tight butt.
He pulled away and went into the main room. “Why didn’t you say so?”
She followed him in and watched him set up his laptop computer and wait for it to warm up. He had his hand out waiting for the disk, which she quickly found in her purse and handed to him.
“You spend the night with him?” he asked, shoving the disk into the drive and glancing up at her.
“That was the plan.”
“You didn’t have to enjoy it so much.”
He went into the directory for the three and a half disk and checked for files. There were a few that he wasn’t familiar with.
“What in the hell is this? These aren’t text files. I fuckin’ told you text files, bitch.”
She looked confused. “I did just as you said. I used the shortcut command and zipped all the files to the disk. I swear.”
He was pissed off and she knew it. She had never seen him like this.
He mumbled something under his breath and opened the executable file. Almost instantly Mickey Mouse appeared on the screen in full color. Then the mouse pulled down his red shorts revealing a huge erection. He grabbed the erection and started playing with himself.
Ute started giggling out of control.
“You think that’s funny, bitch? Adams just fucked you over. He’s on to you. He must have caught you taking his files.”
She noticed the veins in his neck sticking out and his muscles tensing. Trying to calm herself, she said, “I’m sorry. He was down getting a bottle of wine. I’m sure he didn’t catch me.”
Suddenly he backhanded her across the right cheek sending her flying to her knees. Then he was on top of her, his hands clasped around her neck.
“It’s not funny. It’s not...”
Her eyes were bulging and her face turning a bluish tint. She tried to speak, but couldn’t.
“I do everything for you and you fuck me over.” His lips were barely moving. “I get rid of that useless husband of yours so you can collect all the insurance and his military retirement and fuck anyone you want, and what do you do? Fuck me!”
She was about to pass out, so he eased up slightly. He still needed her. He released his grip and she rubbed her neck trying to catch her breath.
He slid off of her onto his knees beside her.
She rose onto her elbows gazing up at him, noticed his erection. “Looks like Mickey’s not the only one excited,” she whispered. She sat up further and released his hard penis from his underwear, stroking it like the famous mouse had just done to himself on the computer. “So that’s what it takes for you,” she whispered, her throat still sore.
Within seconds she was holding a drooping noodle and Quinn turned away from her, embarrassed. She started to say something and he punched her in the mouth, knocking her out cold.
Quinn shook his head as he watched Ute in a ball on the carpet next to the bed. Adams had fucked him over for the last time. Now it was time to pump up the jams and take care of that fucking asshole.
●
“What in the hell is he doing up there?” Jake said to Jordan.
The OSI major shrugged. “Hell if I know.”
Seconds later the door slammed upstairs.
Jake swung on his jacket, shifted his gun under his arm, and went for the door. “Let’s check out his room.”
The hallway was clear as the two of them hurried toward the center stairway and then slowly worked their way up to the seventh floor. Jake considered pulling the gun, but decided against it. When they reached the seventh floor, Jake listened for any movement out in the hallway, heard nothing, and quietly crept out the door. As he came up on room 710, Jake took out his card-key and smiled at Jordan.
“That won’t work in there,” Jordan whispered.
Jake slid it into the slot and a small green light came on so he slid the lever down, opening the door.
“How the fu—”
Jake went into the room and immediately saw Ute on the floor. He hurried to her, checked her pulse, and found a strong beat. She had a bruise forming on her cheek, and red finger marks still indenting the side of her neck.
“Why’d that sick fucker do this?” Jordan asked.
Jake looked around, saw the computer disk on the table next to the laptop, and understood. “Can you go get a cold wash cloth?”
Jordan hurried into the bathroom. While he was gone Jake found a few cubes of ice in a bucket. Jordan handed him the wet wash cloth and Jake wrapped the ice inside and placed in on Ute’s cheek.
Jordan sat back on the bed, confused. Then he took a closer look at the woman on the floor. “Holy shit. You know who she is?”
“Afraid so. Murdock’s wife.”
“How the hell’d you know that?”
Jake considered that. “Let’s just say we’ve gotten kind of close in the last few days.”
Still not sure what was going on, Jordan cocked his head to one side, getting a better look at the pretty blonde. “She sure as hell is a looker.”
“Yeah. But not if Quinn keeps bashing her around.” Jake started shaking her lightly to wake her. With some difficulty he raised her head to his lap and pulled her hair back from her face. In a few seconds she started coming around. Her eyeballs rolled around within the sockets trying to focus on Jake.
“Jake what are you doing here?” She groggily rolled up onto her arms and then to a sitting position. Looking around the room, she settled her gaze on the black man sitting on the bed. “Who the hell is he?”
Jake explained briefly who Jordan was, leaving out the part about him investigating her husband’s dealings with Richten prior to his death. As far as she needed to know, the OSI was simply interested in who had killed her husband.
“I didn’t have anything to do with Allen’s death,” she said preemptively.
“We figured Marcus Quinn killed him,” Jake said. “But why?”
Jordan shifted closer to her.
She gazed at him and then back at Jake. “I don’t know why Quinn does anything. He’s crazy.”
“You came down here with him and not your husband,” Jake said. He handed the ice-pack to her so she could hold it against her own face.
“Well?” Jordan said.
“Allen wouldn’t let me come,” she finally forced out. “Quinn was staying with us in Frankfurt. He saw we had a good thing going, so he wanted in. He had just gotten out of prison.” She glanced at Jake when she revealed that.
“That’s right,” Jordan said. “You were screwing over all of your competition in Germany. Stealing trade secrets. The whole works. I know all about it.”
“I thought you were looking into Allen’s death?”
Jordan hesitated. “I am.”
“Let’s get back on track here,” Jake said. “Why were you helping Quinn set me up?”
She shook her head. “It wasn’t like that. I didn’t come here to hurt you. You’ve gotta believe me.” She looked away, tears forming in the sides of her eyes. Sniffling she said, “Allen and I had a different marriage. He didn’t mind if I was with other men as long as there was some economic gain or strategic significance involved.” She spit the words out like venom.
Jake glanced at Jordan, who had a knowing expression. “I understand that. So why did you come here?”
She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand, collecting herself. “I had been trying to...mess with Quinn in front of my husband in Germany. I was just teasing. But Allen didn’t like it. It was all right with strangers, but not someone he knew. Allen didn’t want me coming along on this trip because of that. Secretly Quinn told me he wanted me along. He said he and Allen really needed me. He also said that Allen didn’t want me along because he had told Quinn without me they could go to the bars and pick up someone else.”
Jordan broke in. “Why in the hell would he want to do that? My God, you’re gorgeous.”
She smiled. “I wish he would have thought so.”
Jake wasn’t buying all of this. “But still. Why were you setting me up?”
“Let me finish,” she said. “I didn’t know Quinn was going to kill Allen. He said they were going skiing to get my husband away from his room. While they were gone, I went to Allen’s room and took the papers working the deal between Richten and Tirol Genetics and brought them back here to Quinn. He had showed me a picture of you, and I was to go to the Jazz bar and keep you occupied.”
Jordan glared at Jake. “You didn’t say anything about bopping the dead guy’s wife, Jake.”
“It wasn’t relevant.”
She let out a quick breath.
“I didn’t mean it that way,” Jake said. “It was good, it was just irrelevant to his investigation.”
“I beg to differ,” Jordan said. “I hope Martini doesn’t find out you were screwing Murdock’s wife.”
“Can we get back to the point here?” Jake asked. “So while you and I were...occupied, Quinn was off killing your husband.”
“And the maid,” she said. “I didn’t know any of this until after the fact. Quinn was trying to find another angle to everything. He figured if he could steal the scientist’s solution then he could sell it to the highest bidder.”
“My God,” Jordan said. “Why’d he have to kill the poor maid? She didn’t do nothin’ to nobody.”
“For fun,” she said. “Quinn showed me pictures of Allen fucking the maid while she was tied up. I think Quinn gets off on stuff like that. He sure as hell doesn’t want me.”
“How do you know?” Jake asked.
She pulled the ice from her face. “Why do you think he did this? He got all pissed off when he saw Mickey Mouse beating off on the computer, so he starts strangling me. I thought he was going to kill me right here. I notice he’s got a hard on after slapping me around, and when I go for it, he whacks me. Next thing I know, you two are standing over me.”
“Mickey Mouse?” Jordan asked. “What the hell...”
“I’ll explain later,” Jake said.
“I guess I shouldn’t have laughed so hard at Mickey.”
“What did Quinn want from my computer?”
“Some leverage. Some advantage.”
“Where is he now?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Honestly. He’s going to kill you Jake. I’d stay clear. The man is nuts.”
Jake pulled her to her feet. “You better also. He’s just using you like he does everyone else. When he’s done fucking with you, he’ll kill you also. Maybe not today, but after you’ve gotten your insurance payoff. He’ll steal that, kill you, and then take off again. Did he tell you why he was in prison?”
“No. He said you stabbed him in the back. Testified against him in court.”
“Did you ask Allen about that?”
“He said Quinn got what he deserved. Even less. Allen said Quinn had killed at least two women in Germany while he was stationed there.”
“Jesus Christ,” Jordan said.
“Christ won’t help you with Quinn,” she said.
Jake started rifling through the room, looking for anything that he could use against Quinn. When he found nothing, he settled on the computer, folding it up and handing it to Jordan.
“We can’t take this,” Jordan said. “We don’t have a warrant or anything. No authority.”
“Quinn doesn’t play by the rules, Jordan. Neither should we. You think he’ll go back to prison? No fucking way.”
The three of them left and went down the elevator. Outside, they climbed into Jordan’s Ford and drove directly to the airport. Jake put her on the first flight to Frankfurt, waiting for her to board.
When they got back to Jordan’s car, he asked Jake, “One thing I don’t understand. How the hell did you use your card-key to open Quinn’s hotel door?”
“Computers. I simply went into the hotel security system and recoded room 710’s lock to match my card.”
They got into the car and drove off.
“What we going to do about her, Jake?”
“She’s got a two hour flight on that little plane,” Jake said. “Get on that cell phone of yours and have someone pick her up at Frankfurt. She may be clean for the murders, but I have a feeling she isn’t telling the whole story either.”
Jordan punched in a number and did what Jake said.