Drop Dead Sexy(72)

Oh shit. Oh shitty-shit-SHIT! This was so bad. My gaze bounced around the room, desperately searching for any sign of Catcher. Although I should’ve been concerned about Olive’s whereabouts too, Catcher was the one with a gun and hand-to-hand combat training.

Slowly, I started inching toward the back door. If I could just get outside, I might have a chance to get away. I’d been a half-way decent runner back in the day when I ran track in high school. But then I bumped into something warm and fleshy. When I spun around, an overweight man in a John Deere hat grunted at me. The next thing I knew he pointed a shotgun at me. “Let’s go.”

John Deere grabbed my arm and dragged me down the porch steps. My heart was beating so frantically that I was afraid it was going to explode right out of my chest. Fear had me almost paralyzed. I would’ve been frozen in place if I hadn’t been forced along by the burly redneck.

When he shoved me toward the hillside, I momentarily faltered. Nothing good could come from going up there. John Deere and Creepy Voice were either going to take me into the woods and rape and kill me, or they were going to take me into the work shed and rape and kill me.

I didn’t want to die. Not now. Not after I’d finally found a man to love and have hot sex with. That would just be entirely too cruel.

John Deere jabbed the shotgun into my back. “Move it.”

Tears welled in my eyes. “Please don’t kill me,” I whimpered.

“That ain’t up to us. Ronald will make the decision on that one,” Creepy Voice said.

Oh God. There could only be one Ronald he was talking about. The one who had shot Randy and poisoned Mr. Delaney. Swallowing hard, I pushed my trembling legs forward. Somehow I found the strength to make it up the hillside. John Deere escorted me into the work shed. What I saw before me brought fresh tears to my eyes.

It was Catcher, and thankfully, he was alive. Of course, it was an epic bummer that his wrists were bound by rope, and his arms were tied over his head to one of the wooden beams in the middle of the room. His eyes widened at the sight of me. “I’m sorry, Liv,” he lamented.

“It’s not your fault.”

“I should have never asked you to come along today.”

I shook my head. “You couldn’t have possibly known a simple trip to Olive’s would be dangerous.”

“Are you okay? They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

Creepy Voice crossed the room and smacked Catcher across the face. “Shut yer yappin’!”

Catcher gritted his teeth while venom burned in his eyes. John Deere dragged me over to the beam. He shoved me down on the floor. Creepy Voice tossed him some rope, which he used to tie my wrists and ankles together. Unlike Catcher, he didn’t tie me to be beam. Of course, considering how I was trussed up, it wasn’t like I was going to be able to run anywhere.

Once I was tied up, the Redneck Twins wrapped a gag around both of our mouths before leaving us alone. An eternity seemed to pass. It felt like hours, but it might’ve only been a few minutes. It was in those moments that my love life flashed before my eyes, and I relived my past.

I was jolted from my thoughts by the work shed door opening. A tall, lanky man stepped inside the room. He wore a white button-down shirt with no tie, and a pair of black dress pants. A pungent smelling cigar was in his mouth. On top of his head was the worst toupee I’d ever seen, and that was saying a lot since I’d worked on a lot of bald men in my funeral days.

I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was Ronald Krump. Of course, my gaze couldn’t help zeroing in on his crotch. Even in what could have been my final moments, I couldn’t help wondering what a reconstructed penis looked like. Did it feel like a dildo or smooth like real skin? And where did the extra parts come from to rebuild it? I mean, it wasn’t like men were lining up to donate their penises. It certainly wasn’t on the checklist for organ donations. I wondered if he would grant me a last request by dropping his pants and showing it off.

“Well, well. I have to say you two are a surprise. I had my men come up here to detain the bitch who helped take away my manhood, and instead of her, we get you two.”

A relieved breath whooshed out of my nose. They hadn’t killed Olive. Thankfully, she hadn’t been home and was safe somewhere.

Krump crossed the room to stand in front of us. He jerked Catcher’s gag away. “Agent Mains, it’s so nice to finally meet the man who has been putting so much heat on my ass these last few months.”

“You’re The Shadow?” Catcher questioned incredulously. I was just as surprised as he was.

“Yes. I am.”

“But how the hell is that possible? The Shadow has a drug operation that’s been underway for over a year. You didn’t get out of prison until six months ago.”

“There’s a simple explanation for that. While I ran the operation from inside the big house, my two associates, that you just had the privilege of meeting, did all the leg work on the inside.”

“That’s why your appearance kept changing with people’s descriptions.”

Ronald grinned. “Pretty ingenious, isn’t it?”

“How did you even get started on the drug trade when you were inside?” Catcher inquired.

“When it looked like I would get paroled, I knew I needed to start working on building a new life when I got outside. Through a few contacts on the inside, I hooked up with Larry and Daryl, and the business was launched. Things were rolling along until my old enemy in the mafia, Delaney, got wind of what I was doing and decided to pull a snitch.” Ronald shook his head. “A little bit of cyanide took care of him.”