A Dangerous Man (Elvis Cole and Joe Pike #18) - Robert Crais Page 0,4
in the SUV, and disappeared so quickly the SUV might have swallowed them. In the instant she vanished, Pike saw a flash of shock in her eyes. Her fingers clutched the roof, and then she was gone. The blinker came on, and the SUV eased into traffic.
Pike wasn’t sure what had happened. He watched the departing vehicle, and clocked the surroundings. The gentleman urged his beagles along, but a woman in a bright floral dress stood frozen. She gaped at the SUV as if she had seen something monstrous, but didn’t know what to make of it. No one else stopped, or stared, or shouted for help.
The SUV put on its blinker, and turned at the next corner.
But the skin across Pike’s back tingled as it had in the deserts and jungles. He started his Jeep, and followed.
5.
Isabel
Isabel twisted and screamed, but the man’s hand covered her mouth. He crushed her into the seat. His face was inches away, and no longer charming.
He said, “Shh. Shh.”
Consoling.
Izzy lay still. Her glasses askew, one eye focused, the other blurred. She heard the turn signal go on—blink, blink, blink.
Another man’s voice came from the front. The driver.
“Turning.”
The man on top of her glanced toward the voice.
“We okay?”
The driver didn’t answer.
The man on top of her asked again.
“Are we being followed?”
“I’m looking. I don’t think so.”
Isabel felt the car ease through a turn.
The driver said, “What about her?”
The man on top of her straightened her glasses.
“We’re fine.”
Outside sounds were hushed and distant. His hand smelled of mint, and Isabel knew she was going to die. Her mind spun with the jumbled crazy memories of every sex-killer movie she’d seen, the Hillside Strangler, the Night Stalker, Manson, and Hannibal Lecter, torture and rape and murder.
The man on top of her cooed.
“Everything’s fine. We’re not going to hurt you. Relax.”
She sobbed, and tears ran through his fingers.
The driver spoke again.
“Turn coming up. No one’s chasing us.”
The blinker blinked. They turned, and picked up speed.
The driver sounded calm.
“Lookin’ good. We’re clear.”
The man on top of her grinned. She felt his body relax.
“You’re okay. I promise.”
The pressure on her mouth eased.
The driver said, “She okay?”
“Superb.”
The man’s eyes crinkled when he smiled. Friendly and charming.
“Go with the flow, and I’ll move my hand. Shall we try?”
She nodded.
He lifted his hand, and words tumbled out in a rush.
“Please let me go. Please, please—”
The hand clamped her mouth, but not hard. His eyes even twinkled, as if he was amused.
“We know your secret. So let’s all relax and enjoy the ride.”
The driver said, “Red light ahead. Gotta stop.”
She felt the car slow. A horn blared somewhere behind them, but it seemed muted and far away.
The man above her bent closer. She thought he was going to kiss her, but he whispered.
“Twenty minutes, thirty, tops, and you’ll be on your way. For real. This will be over before you know it.”
Rape. They were going to rape her and torture her and it would hurt. Isabel hiccupped. She hiccupped again, and couldn’t stop.
The man grinned even wider.
“You’re funny.”
The driver said, “Here we go. Stopping.”
They eased to a stop.
The man smiled a whisper.
“You’re in control. I know it doesn’t seem this way, but everything that happens now is up to you.”
“Please let me go.”
“Soon.”
“Please. Please don’t do this.”
The window above her was blurry white light. She could not see where they were or what they were passing. She saw nothing of the outside world, as if she and the man on top of her were belly-to-belly in their own private crypt.
Isabel sobbed.
“Please don’t hurt me. I didn’t do anything. I don’t want to die.”
The driver said, “Green light.”
Izzy sobbed so hard the world shimmered. Her pleas were as soft as a butterfly’s wing.
“Help me, help, somebody please help.”
The man smoothed her hair.
“Shh. It’s okay. Don’t be afraid. No one can hear you but us.”
She sobbed again, and a shadow crossed the window.
The driver said, “C’mon, c’mon, the light’s green. What’s wrong with people, all he has to do is—”
The driver’s window exploded as if they’d been broadsided by a runaway truck. His door flew open, and the driver vanished. Something blocked the light, and the man on top of her jerked away. He convulsed, and flew over the seat and out the door as if he had been sucked into space.
Izzy lay gasping.
The car was silent.
Isabel was alone in a suddenly empty car.
Something blocked the light again, and Mr. Pike appeared. His head turned. The dark glasses found her.