Bare It All

Never did she want to outright lie to him, but for sure he would ask. She’d been gone all day. It was time for dinner. And Pepper had already assured Logan she was on her way home, so Reese would expect her to be at the apartment when he got there.

That is, if he came straight home.

Home. She couldn’t start thinking that way. Right now, their arrangement was far from concrete.

And she’d just come full circle in her thoughts.

Nervous sweat dampened her palms, the back of her neck. With each mile covered, the area got more disreputable. Not that location mattered all that much when the monsters crawled out. They lurked everywhere, in high society and poverty, in business and in everyday life.

Her courage waned as they passed the bus terminal. Few people were out beneath the heat of the midday sun. They left behind businesses and went into a residential neighborhood, except that everything seemed abandoned.

The driver steered around a corner, dark and ominous and empty except for the crumbling brick facade of an old motel with single-story units that formed an L. The truck drove around to the back.

Alice paused before falling into that trap; her car idled on the street, her doors locked, her senses alive to warning signs. She quickly surveyed the area and decided to take an adjacent street separated from the motel only by an overgrown empty lot. She coasted along the curb until she finally spied the truck pulled up to a more open area at the rear entrance.

Neglect fell like a dark stain over the abandoned motel. Jagged glass clung to the frame of a broken back window. Weeds grew up through crumbling blacktop in what used to be a parking lot. Graffiti covered some of the individual doors. An awning hung haphazardly, ready to drop.

No one had inhabited that wretched place for a very long time.

So, why would the man take the girl in there?

Wishing she’d been wrong, Alice put her car in Park. Quickly locking up, she glanced around but saw no one. Farther down the street, a siren blared, and in the distance she could hear the traffic on the highway.

With trembling hands she confirmed the contents of her purse. Satisfied, she drew a calming breath and went in pursuit of the woman, her steps hurried up the broken sidewalk to the front of the motel.

Circling the building, she peeked around and saw the man holding on to the woman’s wrist while he worked keys in the dead bolt of a locked door. The unit he chose was at the end, with windows on two walls—but the windows were boarded up from the outside.

What to do, what to do? Wait for him to get inside, so they were out of the way of prying eyes?

Or act now, in case others were inside?

It would be awful enough confronting one man. But if she had to face two, or even three...

She lost the opportunity for choices when the door opened and the man urged the woman inside, then started to follow her.

Damn, damn, damn.

If he locked that door... “Hello!” Hearing her voice break the silence nearly made her hysterical.

But it didn’t change her mind.

Alice hastened her step, all but jogging down to the remote unit. “Excuse me, please,” she called even louder.

Incredulous, the man stuck his head back out the door. He had reddish-brown hair, a tidy goatee and a pocked complexion. He glared at her, looked beyond her, around then back to her with fury. “What?”

Moving her lips in the semblance of a smile, Alice waved to him. “Could you help me, please? I think I’m lost, and I don’t see anyone else—”

“Get lost, lady.” He started to move away.

Oh, God. Alice slipped her hand into her purse. Closer and closer she got to the door. “My phone died. I only need to make a call.” Her heart thumped so hard it hurt. “Please.”

Anger darkened his eyes. His insulting gaze crawled all over her. A smile stretched his mouth. He muttered something to the woman inside the room before holding the door open for her. “Fine. Come on in, and we can get you sorted out.”

Bile tried to crawl up her throat. She did not want to get close to him. Vision closing in, she nodded. “Thank you. That would be very helpful.”

Her skin crawled as she walked past him, and when she saw the room, she thought she might faint. Dark, with peeling paint on the walls, exposed pipes from the defunct heater/air conditioner and stained carpet. It was bare except for an older wooden desk, no chair, and a mattress on the floor. The girl stood in a corner, her back to the wall, her expression watchful, horrified.

Alice turned in time to see him locking the door.

He leered at her, saying, “Stupid bitch.”

In answer, Alice pulled out her Taser.

* * *

ROWDY DROVE AS fast as he dared. What the hell was she doing? He’d tailed Alice from the shopping mall, curious, a little concerned when she headed away from her apartment.

Never in a million years had he thought she’d pull a prank like this.

It took him a bit to realize she was tailing someone herself. Why, he didn’t yet know, but he’d find out when he caught up to her.

Unfortunately, he got hung up at a light, stuck behind a couple of other cars. He saw Alice turn a corner.

He knew the area, and he knew there wasn’t a damn thing there for her.

Nothing...except trouble.

* * *

TREMBLING ALL OVER, Alice held the Taser steady.

Nostrils flared, hands curling into fists, the man all but spit out, “What the f**k is this?”

Finding her voice wasn’t easy. “I’ve already flipped the safety into the armed position. I know how to use it, and I know it will incapacitate you.”