"Fine."
"Remember what we have to do?"
"Yep. Can you tell me the rest of the plan?" Tyler asked.
"No. Just stay out of the way when my colleagues come in. If you"re with the others, Prescott"s not going to know it was you who blew the whistle."
"Not until the court case."
"They can hide your ident.i.ty from the press."
But Prescott would know. Tyler began to feel more and more uneasy. What happened when Prescott got out of jail? What happened if he didn"t even go to jail? What if he knew the police were planning this raid?
"Do you have our story straight?" Steve asked.
"We were at a care home in Surrey from when we were eleven until we were fourteen. I went to stay with you after Jeremy had been stabbed in my flat. You need money and you like s.e.x so I suggested you come with me tonight."
"What"s my surname?"
"Davies."
"Birthday?"
"September, same as mine. Don"t remember the date."
"Brothers, sisters?" Steve asked.
"No. And mine are dead."
"Don"t give any more information than you"re asked for. That"s the way people get caught out."
They turned the corner and the entrance to Prescott"s building lay across the road.
"Have you done this often then? Worked undercover?"
"No, it"s my first time. Now shut up and remember we need to show them some action in the elevator."
Tyler wondered where the police were hiding to watch them. Maybe they were already inside the building. His heart pounded so hard he felt sick. The security guard waved to Tyler in recognition as he led Steve to the elevator. He felt even worse when it was ascending and Steve made his move. He slid his hand over Tyler"s crotch, where his d.i.c.k was currently smaller than a mini wiener and still shrinking, and put his mouth on Tyler"s. Tyler kissed him and felt-nothing. Well, nothing except acute fear and the piercing in his tongue. But he put his arms around Steve and pretended and they were still kissing when the elevator ground to a halt. s.h.i.t, I forgot to face the camera.
The doors slid open and they stepped out into the foyer.
"Hey, those are cool," Steve said and flicked the metal mobile with his finger making it clang and vibrate.
The doors slid closed behind them and the door to the apartment opened.
Tyler slapped a smile on his face. "Hi, Prescott."
"Who"s your friend?"
Steve slouched at Tyler"s side. "I"m Steve Davies."
"I thought you might like him to replace Jeremy. You heard he"d been stabbed?"
Prescott frowned. "Who"s Jeremy?"
In that instant, everything fell apart.
"I"m having a little dinner party. Come in." Prescott moved back.
Fly. Spider"s web. f.u.c.king great big tarantula waiting to gobble me up. But Tyler felt he had no choice. What he hadn"t expected was that Prescott would block Steve"s path.
"I"m sorry. Invited guests only." Prescott closed the door, locked it, put the key in his pocket and turned to look at a monitor next to the door.
Tyler watched Steve shrug before he stepped back into the elevator and the doors closed. Oh f.u.c.k.
Prescott slapped his face so hard that Tyler staggered into the wall and hurt his back.
"You f.u.c.king little p.r.i.c.k," Prescott barked. "What do you think you"re playing at?"
"What the h.e.l.l"s the matter? What have I done?" Please don"t know.
"I have a f.u.c.king senior policeman who comes here. You think you can land me in the s.h.i.t and me not know?" Flecks of spittle hit Tyler"s face. "Well, that"s exactly where you"re going to end up after I"ve cut out your heart. You"ve cost me a f.u.c.king fortune. I have to leave this place and find somewhere else and everyone"s going to be wary now." He glanced over his shoulder. "Lu! Mex!"
Tyler yelled for help and struggled, but the three of them overpowered him so quickly he found himself bound and gagged in seconds.
"Service elevator," Prescott said and unlocked the door.
Tyler hoped to see a group of policemen, but there was no one outside the apartment. They manhandled him through double doors he"d always thought were a closet, and on into a much larger elevator than the other that Prescott started with a key. Lu held Tyler behind Prescott, keeping him tight against his body and facing him rather than the doors. Mex pressed up behind him, rubbing against his healing wounds and Tyler could feel his erection against his b.u.t.t. Oh f.u.c.k.
Lu smiled and Tyler thought about smashing his head onto his nose but decided against it. He needed to be in a place he could run before he tried anything. He counted the floors they dinged down and the elevator stopped on the fourth. Lu pulled him out into a corridor lined with doors to apartments and Mex took his other arm. Prescott took keys from his pocket and opened a door and Tyler knew if he went through it, he wouldn"t be coming out again under his own steam.
He banged his head into Lu"s face, wrenched loose of Mex, turned and ran. His hands were bound behind him so he couldn"t pull the tape off his mouth. He also couldn"t run very fast. Tyler kicked hard at the first door he came to, ran on and managed to land a kick on a second door before Lu brought him crashing to the ground. He groaned behind the tape as Lu hauled him upright. Mex thumped him in the stomach and Tyler doubled over desperate for air.
They tried to get him to walk, and when he wouldn"t, they dragged him. Tyler kicked his heels on the floor, twisted, squirmed, did everything he could think of to get free. He could feel the wounds on his back opening up as he was yanked into the apartment. The door slammed and he hit the floor.
Lu pulled him onto his back and leaned over panting, blood trickling from his nose, and Tyler gagged behind the tape. Don"t throw up.
"Get him into the bedroom and put him on the bed," Prescott said.
Lu and Mex hauled him over the carpet and then picked him up and tossed him up onto the mattress. Tyler"s hands dug into his back as he landed and he moaned.
"Shall I tell you what"s going to happen to you, you little t.u.r.d?" Prescott glared down at him. "See the camera?"
Tyler turned his head. Oh f.u.c.k. A video camera sat on a tripod.
"You"re going to make me back every penny of the money I"ve lost. I"ll f.u.c.k you first, then Mex can have you and then Lu. Did you know he likes fisting?"
Tyler"s sphincter clenched. No, no, no. Oh G.o.d. Oh f.u.c.k.
"He"s going to shove his arm up into your body and f.u.c.k you straight to h.e.l.l." Prescott smiled. "He tells me he can pull you apart inside out. And when we"re done with you, I"ll have you cut into pieces and tossed into the sea."
Oh G.o.d.
Mex leered at him and started to slice away his clothes. The knife was sharp and Tyler briefly considering trying to impale himself but figured he"d never manage it. He lay still and thought about all the things he"d wanted to do with his life, thought about Haris and how he shouldn"t have waited for him to say I love you first. Then he stopped thinking about that because his throat started to close and he had enough trouble breathing without listening to his heart break.
The moment Tyler and Steve turned the corner, Haris slipped out of the car, locked it and followed them. If the police spotted him, he didn"t care. He wouldn"t interfere, he just wanted to...h.e.l.l, he didn"t know what he wanted to do but he was worried. No way could he just sit in the car. He watched them enter a building, waited a few minutes and followed. His gaze locked on a bank of elevators and he scanned the displays above. The one on the far right seemed only to serve the top floors. The penthouse apartments. That was where Tyler would be.
"Can I help you?"
s.h.i.t. Haris turned to see what he"d missed when he walked in-a security guard sitting behind a desk.
"Yes, I"m looking for my sister. I thought I saw her come in."
The elevator on the far left was on the way down.
"What does she look like?" the guard asked.
"Tall, short dark hair. Wearing a gray coat and red heels."
The elevator door slid open and Steve emerged. Haris looked behind him but there was no sign of Tyler.
"Not seen her," said the guard.
"What are you doing in here?" Steve snapped.
"Where"s Tyler?"
"He"s inside. I wasn"t wanted."
"Where is everyone?" Haris rushed to the far elevator.
"You can"t use that," the guard said. "An owner has to allow you access."
Everything inside Haris screamed that Tyler was in danger. "Do something," he yelled at Steve. "Where"s the service elevator?"
"What the h.e.l.l"s happening?" the guard shouted.
Haris yanked at doors at the far end of the lobby and behind them was the service elevator, currently on the fourth floor. A hubbub broke out and he glanced back to see police everywhere dressed in black SWAT outfits. He slid to one side and listened. He didn"t hear anything good. When everyone went quiet, Haris wanted to slam heads together. He stalked over to a guy who looked as though he was in charge.
"Where"s Tyler?"
"Who are you?"
"His boyfriend," Steve said from behind him. "He was supposed to stay in his car."
"Tyler"s not in the apartment," one of the cops said.
"That elevator hasn"t moved," Haris said. "How do you know he"s not in there?"
"We had a man in the roof void."
Haris turned to the service elevator. "He"s on the fourth floor." He ran to the doors, shoved them open and pressed the b.u.t.ton. Nothing happened.
"The key," Steve shouted and the guard handed it over.
Five policemen came with Haris. When the elevator doors opened and he saw all the apartments, he groaned.
"Knock on every door," said one of the cops. "Mark those where there"s no answer. Steve, call for back up. We need more men up here."
Haris banged his fist on the nearest door and kept banging it. When a lady holding a dog answered, he rushed to the next door and banged on that.
"What is it, young man?" she called after him.
"My friend"s been abducted," he said.
"He won"t be in there. That"s Edward"s place. He"s out for the evening."
Haris walked back to her. "Are there any vacant apartments?"
"That one." She pointed.
"Thank you."
It didn"t mean it was the one with Tyler but Haris thumped on it. A policeman pulled him aside. "Let us handle it."
The policeman banged on the door and shouted, "Emergency. Open up."
Kick it in. Kick it in.
Stop thinking it and say something.
"Kick the door in. If it"s a mistake, I"ll pay. Please. He"s in danger. I know it."
But they didn"t need to kick it in. It opened and Haris recognized Lu.
"Tyler"s in there," Haris snapped.
When he tried to get to the door, he was pulled away, but after the last policeman had gone inside, Haris slipped in at the rear. Two men were naked and cuffed, one of them was Prescott and he remembered the other from the door on the warehouse.
"What do you think you"re doing?" Prescott shouted. "I"ll be speaking to my member of Parliament about this. What I do in the privacy of my home has nothing to do with anyone."
There was no sign of Tyler and Haris"s heart flipped over and over. He watched as the police checked the bathroom, the bedroom and the closets. Nothing.
No. He"s here. I feel it.
Haris looked around. "This isn"t his home. There"s nothing here. It"s just a furnished apartment." He hurried into the bedroom, saw the video camera and swallowed hard.
"He"s not here," Steve said at his side. "I"m sorry."