Against The Wall Read Free Page A

he made her itchy. Itchy in a way she couldn’t put a finger on. She held back the urge to squirm in her seat.
    “I told you,” she said, finally answering his question. “I’m his assistant.” And someone in a boatload of trouble.
    ____________
     
    For the hundredth time, Jay St. John surveyed the unfinished basement where his wife and four sons had been tied—and trapped—for the last twenty-four hours. The cement walls had no windows and only one door led to a short hallway and stairs to the upper part of the house. A series of pipes ran horizontally against the walls several inches off the floor and that’s where the whole family had been handcuffed. No doubt about it, they were in a boatload of trouble. Trying to loosen the pipe that held him, Jay felt the bite of the handcuffs against his raw wrists and pain sizzled up his arms. The damn thing should give at some point.
    His mind had been spinning for hours, trying to figure out who had abducted them and why. Originally, he’d suspected one of his angry clients. As a lawyer, he’d made enough enemies, people not happy with the job he did or a final verdict. But this had been pretty damn extreme. It was one thing to want to hurt him , but to grab almost his whole family? That didn’t make sense.
    Terry shifted and brought his focus back to now. She’d finally fallen asleep an hour ago, her head in his lap. Her cuffs bound her to the same horizontal pipe. He itched to smooth her red hair away from her face, but the restraints made that impossible. From this vantage point, her black eye looked as if she’d gone a few rounds with a heavyweight champ. His sons had similar bruises. So did he. He couldn’t have been more proud of Terry, of the boys too. They’d all fought hard until the moment they realized the futility.
    “She’ll be okay,” Eric, murmured, his voice low, but confident. “Remember when she joined that roller derby team a few years ago and got body-checked off the track? She had a huge shiner after that.”
    Jay looked at his oldest son and forced a smile. The cut over Eric’s eyebrow had stopped bleeding, but the trail of blood still remained along his cheek. “Yeah. Good thing it was the end of the season and I convinced her to hang up her skates.”
    He’d fallen in love with Terry because of her sass. Her attitude and energy drew him like flies to a picnic. She was the only woman he’d ever loved—high school sweethearts in fact—and he’d be the first to admit that their love had grown even stronger through their twenty-seven years together.
    Eric stretched his long legs in front of him, rotated his shoulders as best he could and winced before a grim smile curved his lips. “I think the guy that surprised Mom at the door won’t ever have kids.”
    “Yeah.” Jay grinned too, picturing Terry kneeing the stranger in the balls and slamming her purse against his head. He’d gone down quicker than a bowling ball in quicksand. At that point the house had been full of men. It had taken five of them to bring down all the St. Johns. It private investigator. mt him would’ve taken more if they hadn’t picked them off one and two at a time, waiting as everyone got home. But Terry had been just as awesome as the boys, fighting for her family, for herself. Right up until one of the men slammed his fist in her face and she’d crumbled to the floor in a heap. Jay’s smile faded and he opened his eyes to banish the memory.
    “I hope Jess is okay. You think they plan on bringing her here too?” Eric asked.
    “No.” Jay shook his head. He’d been considering that idea. “I think we’re leverage. I don’t know who’s taken us, but the longer I mull it over, the more I think Jess is involved. She’s the only one not here.” Once the goons at the house had Terry and the boys, they’d hit the road with six of the St. Johns’ in two different vans and a squeal of tires. They would’ve snagged Jess if they’d wanted everyone,