His Jaguar Tattoo

A Splatter of Red

The moment they reached Drew's house, he jumped out of the passenger seat and sprinted inside. Ajax, who had already been given the order to take her to the safe room, got out of the driver seat and met a still-confused Zuri at the hood of the car. Taking her hand, he led her into the house.

"Why was Kevin in Drew's basement?" she asked.

Ajax either ignored or considered her question for a minute or two until they were deeper in the house. He pulled his handgun from where it'd been tucked into the back of his pants and flipped on light switches as they strode along.

"He was torturing Kevin in the basement," he finally told her.

"Torturing?"

Without looking at her, he continued on past more rooms, down an unfamiliar hall. "What did you think Drew was going to do with him? He wasn't going to turn him over to the police."

"But why not? He tried to kill me! That's reason enough to go to jail."

They reached the end of the hall and ducked into the room on the right. It was a windowless laundry room. Ajax squatted beside the dryer and tinkered around until something popped. Then the wall split open to reveal a short door.

Zuri was still staring at it in fascination when Ajax grabbed her shoulders and guided her through the door. The room on the other side was small, probably six feet high and six or so feet wide. It was a cozy fit.

"We will come get you once we find him," Ajax said, reclaiming her attention. Somehow, he managed to keep a calm and collected look in spite of the worry in his eyes. "Stay quiet, okay? He's going to be looking for you."

"When this is all over with," she growled, "I will get my answers."

Frustrated, he blew out a sigh. "Zuri, now is not the time for this."

"I know. I can wait until you catch the bad guy. Now, please go make sure my boyfriend doesn't get killed."

"Drew is tougher than he looks." He softened enough to send her a teasing wink. "Stay safe. Hopefully, I'll be back to get you soon."

While Zuri watched him leave, a look of determination crossed his face. She prayed they would both be safe. The safe room door clicked shut, and she felt the burden of being trapped in a small space for an uncertain amount of time. She took a deep breath to prevent panic from setting in.

That was when she noticed the cabinet. A small, square cabinet was set into the wall across from her. She crawled over to it and pulled the wooden doors open. The cabinet was stocked with canned and dried foods, a flashlight, batteries, gallon water jugs, a blanket, a satellite phone, and a gun. Zuri pulled the gun out to inspect it.

The weapon was plain black and rather squarish, much uglier than her pistol. Her fingers skimmed the lettering engraved on the side. It was a Glock 31, whatever that meant, and was made in Austria. She expelled the magazine and counted fifteen rounds.

After sliding the magazine back into its place, Zuri closed the cabinet and sat back against the wall. Her fingers continued to thumb the gun as she let her mind wander. Drew had been keeping Kevin in his basement all this time. She'd assumed he was going to either kill him or take him to the police, even though Drew himself said the police were messy.

Never did she expect him to hold the guy prisoner. She wondered what kinds of things Drew did to him until her ideas became so dark that she had to think of something else. Did she want Kevin to die? She could look at their situation with more objectivity now that he wasn't holding a knife at her head.

Well, he had tried to blow her up. And then stab her to death. He definitely deserved severe punishment. Death was just so...final. Prison would make him suffer.