Page 28 of Alien Viking's Plunder
“I agree,” Kingston said softly. Shoving the Glock’s muzzle against Pickett’s temple, he extended his arm, stepped back and pulled the trigger.
* * *
Kingston enteredthe main portion of the house with Jack trailing behind him.
Although it defied reason, Kingston needed a shower before moving on to his next target. It made no sense to clean up after killing a man before moving onto the next, but he always found it necessary.
Drake Cornerstone. I’m coming for you next.
Paulie met him just outside the door to the dungeon. His expression was grim. “Bad news, King.”
“Oh?” Kingston accepted his cell phone from the man. “What is it now?”
“She’s escaped.”
Kingston’s brow raised high. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Paulie scraped his jaw with his hand. “Blair says she’s gone. She was out on the pool terrace. Drinking hot tea. Reading a book. And now, she’s just gone.”
“That’s not possible.”
“They’ve searched the penthouse, the building, the restaurant, and the alleyways around the building. They even searched LIST. She’s gone. They checked surveillance cameras, and somehow, she managed to make her way down to the ninth floor. Hopped on the public elevator and rode it all the way down to the lobby.” Paulie’s laugh was one of reluctant admiration. “She waltzed right out the front door, and no one lifted a finger to stop her.”
“Fuck!” Kingston slammed his fist into the wall, leaving a splintered dent in the thick plaster. “When?”
“Almost four hours ago,” Paulie responded, watching as Kingston swiped the new blood staining his knuckles onto his pants.
“Why wasn’t I told sooner, goddammit?” Kingston stalked down the corridor, headed for his office. He wanted to see it for himself, this daring escape his little lamb concocted while fluttering her lashes as she flat-out lied to him.
“You remember the rules. No interruptions when work is underway in the dungeon. No matter how important it might be.” Jack’s laugh was sharp. “You put the damn things in place yourself.”
Kingston swore under his breath. That was true. He wanted no interruptions when he was down in the cells. It did not matter if he had a woman chained to the wall, waiting to be pleasured, or a man hanging from the ceiling, battered and bloody and begging for a bullet. No one disturbed him once that thick dungeon door closed behind him. There was no cell phone service that deep underground anyway, at least not in the torture chambers.
Once in his office, Kingston flipped on his laptop and pulled up the security camera recording from earlier that day at the Winter Enterprises building. He clicked on the feed for the rooftop terrace, focusing in on his errant little lamb.
There was the pool terrace, the covered chaise Ava was lying on. He saw her hand reaching for the teacup and replacing it on the table beside the chair. Her legs were covered with a dark grey fur blanket. A few minutes later, she placed a book on top of the blanket somewhere in the vicinity of where her hip would be.
It was one of many he purchased for her at the bookstore near the penthouse. A first edition copy ofTess of the d’Urbervilles.
She’d been so excited about that book. Her eyes glowed with pleasure and reluctant affection when he paid for it then handed it over so she could thumb its pages.
Shaking aside the recollection, Kingston focused on the chaise and how the blanket was bunched up. It was difficult to tell whether Ava was under the material or not. He continued watching the camera feedback, focusing on every detail.
Then he saw it.
A shadow, on the wall closest to the chaise lounge. A sharp corner hid the elevator and the fire escape stairs from the camera feed, but that fleeting shadow told Kingston what he needed.
Ava had made a covert dash for that door. She’d used the fire escape stairs, knowing the use of the service elevator would alert someone to its use. Even armed with the code he gave her, there would still be a recording of the elevator doors opening and closing, and the camera would have picked her up inside the lift.
Switching feeds, Kingston pulled up the camera for the public elevator. There was footage of Ava entering the ninth floor lift just like Paulie said. When it reached the lobby, he clicked on that camera and watched his little lamb walk right out the front door of his highly secured building without a backward glance. The camel-colored peacoat was a smart choice. She blended right in with others wearing similar items. Even her luxurious blonde curls had been pulled up into a nondescript bun.
If he wasn’t so infuriated by her cunning and daring escape, Kingston would have felt a bit of pride in her resourcefulness. Admiration even.
But where had she gone from there? She had no money. No identification. Not even a cell phone. Where did she think she could go? And how would she get there?
“Tell us what to do, boss,” Jack said, swearing beneath his breath. “Where do we start looking for her?”
Kingston contemplated that. Pulling his money clip from his pocket, he quickly counted out the bills. It was two hundred dollars short. Not enough to get very far, but enough to get her out of the immediate vicinity of the penthouse.