Chapter Two
Up early on Monday, Emma pulled her long, dark hair into a ponytail, dragged on tight black latex pants, strapped her full breasts into a snug-fitting sports bra, and headed for the gym on 42nd Avenue, not far from the West Seattle apartment she shared with her roommate, Carly Drake.
Carly was a long-distance Delta flight attendant, which made her the perfect roommate because she was rarely home. Emma had gone to church, come home, and enjoyed her quiet Sunday, though she would have liked to share her Digby-Luke Brodie story with her very best friend.
At eight a.m. Monday morning she walked into Easy Fitness for her standing appointment with her trainer, Leonard Fox. Midthirties, big, buff, not bad-looking, Len was a nice guy who did his job and kept his semiprivate lessons tough and professional. Len had a gorgeous girlfriend he was devoted to so Emma felt completely at ease during their hands-on training sessions.
As she walked into the workout room with its thick rubber floor, she glanced around, saw Nita Hernandez already there, running in place to warm up. Nita gave her a quick smile and returned her attention to Len.
“All right, ladies,” he said. “How are we doing this morning?”
“Ready to kick some instructor ass,” Nita said with a grin. She wasn’t a lot better-looking than her brother, though she had his same smooth, coffee bean complexion, which was a very nice feature. She stood six inches taller than Emma’s five foot three, lifted weights, and kept herself in top physical form.
“How about you, Em?” Len asked.
“I’m doing great. I got to use the Face-pounder on a skip last Saturday night. First time. It worked perfectly.”
Len flashed a grin. He was sandy-haired, a former Marine who had a way of teaching that made it seem more fun than work—most of the time. “Glad to hear it. I wouldn’t want to think all the hours you spent on your butt in here were wasted.”
Emma grinned, thinking of the thousands of falls she had taken during her training sessions.
Len clapped his hands, grabbing their attention. “All right, let’s get moving. Both of you . . . give me fifty push-ups—now.”
Emma groaned inwardly. She wasn’t that good at push-ups. She could do a jillion sit-ups, which was why Len always called for the other.
She dropped down and got to work, got through the warm-up exercises, then they started on self-defense. Len moved her through the Grab, the Peel, the Hammer, did a few Inside Rolling Elbows, and finished with a Bear Hug. Then he set both women to work on the heavy bags.
The class finally ended. “I’ll see you on Wednesday,” Len said.
“Let’s hit the treadmill,” said Nita as they walked into the main part of the gym. “Xavier says you’re going after Felix Biggs. You need to be in shape to take on that dude.” Felix had a reputation. He was a drug dealer and an ex-con who had a way of staying off the grid. Now Emma knew where to find him.
“I am in shape,” she said.
“Yeah, but still ... maybe you should take Xavier with you.”
That wasn’t going to happen. This was her mission. It was dangerous and it was personal. “I’ll think about it.” Emma spent another hour running next to Nita on the treadmill. When the hour was up, Nita kept running, but Emma had had enough. She needed to stay in shape—that was important to the job—but it wasn’t a compulsion the way it was with her friend.
Emma was more fit than she had ever been in her life and considering the amount of effort it had taken her to get there, she was proud of what she’d accomplished, an amazing change from her quiet life as a middle school teacher.
The job she’d undertaken was the biggest challenge she had ever tackled, but the moment Rudy Vance had been released from jail, skipped his court date, and gone to ground, Emma had had no other choice.
Rudy Vance was a psychopath, the man arrested for the rape of Emma’s niece, fourteen-year-old Ginny Hodges. With plenty of money, a fancy attorney, and no real evidence, three days later he’d been released. Two weeks after that he’d gone back to Emma’s sister’s house, murdered Eleanor Harris, the housekeeper who’d been there that afternoon, and raped little Ginny again.
The judge had made a terrible mistake in releasing him. Even the three-million-dollar bond hadn’t been enough to keep him from running. Vance had disappeared, vanished completely, but he was out there somewhere. Out there and still a threat to Ginny.
Which was the reason Emma had quit her job, changed her life, and set out to find him.
For the past ten months no sign of him had surfaced. But lately word on the street was Vance was back in the Seattle area. This time Emma wasn’t going to fail.
* * *
Luke parked the Bronco in the lot behind the two-story, freestanding brick building and walked into Brodie Operations Security Services, Inc. BOSS, Inc., everyone called it. The office was done in chrome and black, with modern desks and waiting area with deep black leather sofas and chairs. Photos of hot cars and speedboats hung on the walls.
Nice digs for a bunch of ex-cops and former military who now worked in the security business.
As he passed the conference room and the employee lounge and walked into the main part of the office, Luke spotted his brother, Ethan. He was sitting at his desk with his cell phone pressed against his ear; big guy, an inch taller than Luke, more muscular, same short dark hair, brown eyes instead of blue.
Ethan was an ex-cop from Dallas, where he and Luke had been born. A few feet away their cousin, Nick, formerly a homicide cop in Alaska, now happily married and a dad, pounded away on his laptop computer.
As Luke slid into the chair behind his desk, leaned down, and powered up his computer, Ethan walked over. “You busy?”
“I’m tracking a skip—Rudy Vance. You might remember him. Gangster, killer, child molester. Big money if I can find him, but so far I haven’t had much luck.”
“You think he’s back in town?”
“Rumor is he’s back. Probably not for long. He must be working on something big to risk returning to Seattle.”
“Or maybe he never left.”
“Could be, I guess. But he’d have to have a very deep hole to stay out of sight for nearly a year.” Luke leaned back in his chair and looked up at his older brother. “You need me for something?”
“Val’s putting together a little barbeque this Saturday. She was hoping you could make it. I’ve got Hannah this weekend. Dirk and Meg are coming, bringing little Charlie. Nick will be there with Samantha and the baby. And of course Ian, Meri, and Lily.”
“Sounds like a real family reunion. I oughta fit right in.”
“You won’t be the only single guy there. Pete Hernandez is coming, Sandy Sandowski, guys I worked with on the fashion show tour. Some of Meg’s girlfriends are coming over.”
His head came up. “Lingerie models?” Meg was Dirk Reynolds’s girl. Dirk was a PI who worked in the office, one of Luke’s best friends. Lucky bastard was marrying a former La Belle supermodel.
Ethan’s mouth edged up. “Carmen and Isabel are planning to be there.”
Luke had met the girls through Dirk and Ethan, who had worked as bodyguards on the tour. Izzy and Carmen were two of the hottest females on the planet. But they weren’t one-night stands. They were relationship kind of women, and that wasn’t the kind for him.
Though he had to admit, lately he wasn’t interested in a string of one-nighters either.
Luke sighed inwardly. He had no idea what was wrong with him. Probably just too much of a good thing. Maybe he ought to stop by the health store, pick up some vitamins or something.
“So can you make it?” Ethan asked.
He always felt a little out of place with a bunch of guys and their families, though he did enjoy the kids. Ethan’s little Hannah and Ian’s daughter, Lily, were as cute as all hell, and Meg’s little red-headed Charlie was a kick. Babies, not so much. Once Nick’s kid got older, began to like baseball and football, he and Luke would get along just fine.
“What time’s the shindig?” Luke asked.
“Starts at four o’clock. We’ll have a couple of beers and barbeque some burgers, hot dogs for the kids. I’ll tell Val you’re coming.”
Luke just nodded. He wasn’t the kind of guy who would ever have a wife and kids. Too much water under the bridge. He didn’t miss what he’d never have until he got around his friends and their families.
“You got any leads on Vance?” Ethan asked, pulling him away from the dark mood he didn’t want to slide in to.
“I’m staking out a joint called the Polo Club tonight, looking for a second-tier supplier named Felix Biggs. He was part of Vance’s food chain. I got a hunch he still is.”
Luke knew everything there was to know about Rudy Vance. The scumbag had made a fortune in the import-export business before the FBI got wind of his smuggling activities. Vance was involved in everything from drugs and human trafficking to gunrunning. Made money transporting illegal goods all over the world.
Problem was the authorities never could get their hands on any proof.
It was his kink that had finally tripped him up, his perverted desire for young, teenage girls. He liked them just as they were becoming sexually aware, their tiny breasts beginning to bud, the girls more curious than wary.
The rape of a fourteen-year-old girl had gotten him arrested. Luke had been tracking him since the day he’d missed his court date, since before he went back to the same house, killed the housekeeper, beat, and tried to rape the girl again.
Vance was worth twenty percent of the three-million-dollar bail the bondsman had posted. Unfortunately the guy had fallen completely off the grid. Luke had followed every lead until it had gone as dead as the murder victim.
Until now. If Vance was back in town, Luke was going to find him. He hated a child molester worse than any human being on earth. Hell, he could always use a fat, six-hundred-thousand-dollar fee, but with scum like Rudy Vance, he might even haul the bastard in for free.