Training Strong [Hard Hits 17] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) Read online

  It was quite possibly the creepiest thing he had ever heard. Max was quite certain that this woman wasn’t truly capable of love nor did she care about anyone in her life or any stranger around her. She was a psychopath.

  Kace wouldn’t give up on finding him. He was sure of it. Ever so slowly, Maksim checked his arms and feet, trying to feel what was binding him. It was duct tape. Through the slits in his eyelids, he saw the woman move around.

  When she came toward him, he closed his eyes quickly. She reached down, grabbing his face, pulling it up to look at him. “You’re pathetic. You should have just stayed out of my way. Then we wouldn’t have this problem. Now I’m going to have to kill you if I’m going to be able to keep my secret.”

  She let go of his face and walked away. She started pacing next to him as though she tried to think about what she was going to do. She mumbled incoherently to herself while biting her nails.

  Her cell phone rang again, and she answered. “I told you I was going to be home in a little while.” Long pause. “Fine. I’ll come home now.”

  She hung up her cell phone and grabbed her keys. Her feet were heavy on the cement floor. “I’ll come back for you in a little while. Don’t go anywhere.”

  She opened the metal door and shut it behind her, locking it before heading out. She laughed as she shut off the light and made her way out of there. Maksim waited several long beats before sitting up. He wanted to make sure she was really gone.

  Where the fuck was he? Was he still at the storage facility? Fear raced down his spine as he sat up, feeling the room spin. Trying to work his wrist out of the duct tape, he knew he needed to use his shoelaces to get out.

  Tying his shoelaces around the duct tape, he worked hard until the duct tape snapped off his wrists, breaking him free. He went to work on the duct tape around his ankles before standing up on shaky legs, moving around the dark room.

  Maksim slid his hand over the wall, finding the light. He had to get out of there and survive.

  He had to do everything he could to ensure he saw the man he loved again. As he moved around the room, he quickly became aware of the fact that there was no way out. He took a deep breath, relying on his training, and knowing there had to be another way and not just the door.

  He put his shoulder into the door and heard the latch on the other side give a little. That had him stepping back and stomping his foot over and over and over into that connection until the door burst open.

  What was on the other side was not what he expected though. A dark tunnel loomed before him. That thought had him recall the time one of their own was trapped down within the tunnels, kidnapped but eventually saved.

  He had to get out of there and quickly. It was the old abandoned subway tunnels. Finding the wall with his outstretched hand, he crept along as nature started encroaching on the space that once would have been used as a train station.

  As he made his way along the wall, he heard rats scurrying by. The cramped space was starting to make him feel squirrely. He didn’t like enclosed places of any kind—even though he was starting to handle elevators.

  Especially the kind where he couldn’t get out of them. As he made his way along, with darkness leading the way, he had to rely on his instincts if he was going to survive this. He had to hurry before the woman came back. He just hoped he was heading in the right direction.

  There was a good chance he wasn’t, but he had to take the risk. Maksim lost his balance and tripped forward, landing on his knees. He felt as though he hit something hard into his palm as he stood up. He could feel the warmth of blood moving down his wrist.

  “What the fuck?”

  He took another step and rolled his foot. He heard the splintering, breaking sound of something beneath his feet. It didn’t take him long to figure out that there was some type of trap beneath his feet.

  He ran across that, but it was too late. The wood beneath his feet cracked, echoing around him.

  “Fuck!”

  He fell through the floor, landing hard in a pit that was at least eight feet deep. Pain shot over his spine as he landed hard on his ass. He felt as though every nerve ending in his body was ringing and on fire from the impact of the fall. Maksim groaned as pain sang down his legs.

  He caught his breath, trying to stay focused on seeing Kace again. How much time had gone by? A few hours maybe? He probably wasn’t yet looking for him. Maksim stood up, taking several deep breaths.

  Bracing his legs off the side of the wall, Maksim started inching his way higher. It was slow going. When he neared the top, he became very aware that he was no longer alone. The woman was coming back. He had to hurry if he was going to make it out of this alive. He grabbed for some of the sticks lying on the floor beneath his feet, picking them up and covering the hole above his head.

  When he made sure that there was enough there to make it look like the trap hadn’t been disturbed, he waited. A flashlight moved around the trap as she moved by, careful not to step into the pit and fall in, too.

  Temptation had Max wanting to pull her down into the pit with him, but he didn’t want to get into a hand-to-hand battle with her like this. Not when his body was still shaking and hurt from the fall.

  The sound of the woman’s frustrated scream echoed through the tunnel when she realized he was not in the room where she left him. He had only one chance to get out of there, and he was going to blow it now.

  * * * *

  When all leads at the storage units were exhausted, they were all forced to head back to District Two. It was the last thing Kace wanted to do, but they had to come up with a game plan moving forward.

  Hunter came running into the office. “We have a hit on his cell phone.”

  “Where is it?”

  “The old tunnels underneath the city. We have to move. Not the outlying ones down I-71. We better call out SWAT.”

  Those tunnels tended to flood during the rainy season. “I was thinking the same thing. We need to move now.”

  As they headed out the door, Kace had a sneaking suspicion that they weren’t going to make it in time. He had no idea if they were on the right track given the fact that cell phone signals could be off when they followed them.

  The roar of blood pounded within his ears. He raced down the hallway as SWAT rolled out. Before he could make it down to the situation room, Chief Rask appeared before him.

  “Are you solid?”

  “Yes.”

  “I can’t have you going out into the field like this.”

  “I’m good. Move. We’re wasting time.”

  “You’re with me then. I’m not going to let you go out like this.”

  Precious time was wasting. It was too much for Kace to handle. He had to get out of there fast. Chief Rask drove with lights and sirens as they raced toward the scene where they last got a hit on his cell phone.

  Adrenaline rushed through his blood as he tried to make sense of what he would find. He hoped that he would find Maksim alive but there was a good chance he was already gone, and that terrified him. The thought of losing his lover now was too much for him to even consider.

  He had to keep his cool if he was going to be able to save Maksim’s life. Through the radio, they heard that the SWAT team arrived on scene. They burned rubber down the city streets with cars quickly ducking out of the way.

  Kace was quite certain that Chief Rask was going to drive over them had they not. The windshield wipers beat a steady drum across the windshield, mixing with the sound of his throbbing heart. Seconds later, they arrived on the scene.

  Before the car even came to a stop, Kace was flinging open the door. He jumped out with Chief Rask screaming for him to wait but he wasn’t going to.

  “Damn it. Wait!”

  He wanted to make sure he got to Maksim before anyone else. He wanted to be the one to save him. He wanted to be the one to protect him. As he raced behind the entrance team, Kace had his gun at the ready. He wasn’t going to stop until he had his sub with
in his arms.

  The sound of rushing water echoed within his ears. As they made their way down the nearest staircase to the long tunnels, water sloshed around their boots. A sense of urgency hurried within his mind.

  Their footsteps reverberated around them as they sprinted through the tunnel. It was cold and damp and musty. It felt like a grave or coffin. He thought about how Maksim didn’t like tight and enclosed places. This would have been torture and a nightmare for him.

  Light from their flashlights bounced off the walls. He heard the team call for him. When silence resonated back, Kace knew he was in trouble. What was going on? Where was he? And why wasn’t he answering them?

  “Here! I found something!”

  Kace ran over, finding a pit dug into the ground. It was half filled with water. At the bottom of it was Max. He looked as though he’d been knocked out cold. His head was resting barely above the water, and his arms hung limply out to his sides.

  Kace leaned down, jumping carefully into the pit, and picking Maksim up to feel for a pulse. Relief moved through his system when he found it steady there. He was just knocked out. “He has a pulse!”

  He hoped that was all that was wrong with him. The team above him was quick to help Kace pull Detective Strong out of the water. The hardest part was letting him go and allowing his team to take over and make sure he was okay. Two of the guys offered their hands, helping him climb out of the pit.

  As he watched Maksim being taken away on the basket stretcher, Kace turned away, trying to make sense of the scene. He turned his flashlight down the tunnel, seeing several doors lead off the tunnel.

  The door was half open. He pushed open the door and stepped inside, shining his flashlight around. A shiver reached down his spine, gripping his heart when he realized that this was the killer’s hideout.

  They were long gone. The sound of footsteps behind, Kace looked over his shoulder to see Chief Rask.

  “There’s nothing you could have done to prevent this. You know that, right?”

  “I know. It still doesn’t make it any easier for Maksim.”

  “I know.”

  The sense of being watched overshadowed the moment. Their gazes met. “I don’t think we’re alone.”

  “Neither do I. I think they’re still here.”

  “Let’s fan out and search the area.”

  “Good idea.”

  As they systematically searched through the tunnel, Kace became very aware of the fact they were moving like a mouse through a maze. More and more, Kace sensed they were moving through a trap.

  There was something about this entire situation that put him on edge. He felt as though they were going to find something else. That scared him greatly.

  After clearing the maze of tunnels, they quickly understood that their serial killer was long gone. That didn’t stop Kace from putting a call out to the FBI to let him know what they had found.

  “We got a location on her house. We’re sending a team over there now.”

  He suspected that Maksim would be disappointed he wasn’t the one doing the takedown, but Kace knew he had to be there in his place. “What’s the address?”

  Kace quickly wrote it down on his arm. “I’ll be there in a few.”

  As he came out of the tunnel, the ambulance was heading away. Chief Rask was talking with TJ as Kace hopped into the chief’s unmarked, stealing it and driving it across town. As the chief watched him drive away, he knew he’d be in trouble but just not yet.

  As he pulled up to the house, the FBI team was getting situated down the end of the road. A tan minivan was sitting in the driveway. Through the front window, Kace could see people inside.

  “You must be Kace. Nice to finally meet you.”

  “Agent. You ready to do this with us?”

  “Definitely.”

  “How’s Max?”

  “He’s on his way to the hospital. I think he’s going to be okay.”

  Meg nodded. “Good. Let’s make contact.”

  Three FBI agents walked up to the door and knocked. Kace quickly fell in line behind them. Meg knocked on the door and was quickly greeted by a man.

  “I’m looking for Samantha. Is she home?”

  “My wife is in the shower right now.”

  “Do you mind stepping outside where we could talk?” Meg said.

  The husband stepped out. “What is this about?”

  “It’s about your wife, sir. We need to talk to her. Are your kids inside?”

  His face clouded. “Yeah. What’s going on?”

  “I need you to bring them outside, sir.”

  As the husband went inside, calling for the kids to come to the door, Meg slipped past him. As she got inside, Kace noticed one other agent followed her inside. It wasn’t long before the husband was taken away from the house.

  Two more agents went upstairs, and Kace followed behind as they cleared the house. They opened the door to the bathroom and quickly swept it, but they realize that the woman they were looking for was not there. The shower was on, but there was nobody in it.

  “Clear.”

  “Clear downstairs.”

  After a quick statement from the husband, Kace suspected he had no clue what his wife had been up to. She was clearly now on the run. “So, what’s the plan?”

  Meg sighed. “We have a picture and a name. We’ll catch her eventually.”

  Despite hearing through the grapevine that Maksim was stable, he couldn’t let go of the fact that he needed to be at the hospital—hours ago, in his mind. He hurried along the rain-slicked streets, parking in the emergency lot and headed straight inside. It didn’t take him long to figure out that Maksim had been taken upstairs to the intensive care unit.

  The whitewashed walls and the too-clean scent of the hospital struck him hard. It was nearing midnight as he was escorted by a social worker onto the floor. The doctor met him at the nurse’s station.

  Years of experience had taught Kace how to read people. There was something she wasn’t forthcoming about. She rattled off a list of concerns.

  “We’ll know more once he wakes up.”

  “When do you expect that to be?”

  “Later tonight. We’ve eased up on his medications. The first twenty-four hours are the most critical for him.”

  “Can I see him?”

  She hesitated. “Visiting hours are over but seeing how things aren’t looking so good, go ahead.”

  As Kace entered Maksim’s private room, his heart started to beat faster. He heard the low sound of the monitors beeping. Why wasn’t any of his family here? Didn’t he have family who would be at his side?

  “Hey.” Chief Rask appeared in the doorway with a cup of coffee. Dark circles were under his eyes. “How’s he doing?”

  “Not good. No family?”

  “A sister in Germany. She can’t come. She’s due any minute with her first kid,” Rask confirmed.

  The thought of Maksim being alone sent a pang through his heart. “Are you heading home?”

  “In a bit. I want to make sure he’s out of the woods.”

  “I don’t mind staying for a while.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah. It will give me time to write up my report.”

  “Okay. Call me if things…”

  “I will. Don’t worry. They won’t. He’s going to hang on.”

  “I hope so…”

  “It’s okay. I’ll call you. Go home and get some rest. You look like you could use it,” Kace said.

  Chief Rask handed him a cup of coffee. “I should be the one sending you home.”

  “I’m good. My shift just started.”

  As Chief Rask left, Kace set his messenger bag down on the chair by the bed.

  Chapter Nine

  Voices were quietly talking around Maksim—like the quiet whispers in a funeral home. He blinked his eyes open, yielding his senses to the intrusion of the outside world.

  He looked around the room seeing two of his coworkers talk
ing. It didn’t take him long to realize the incident had landed him in the hospital. As he struggled to sit up, somebody came to his side stopping him. It was Kace. Maksim turned his lips toward his palm, kissing him.

  “What are you doing?” Maksim asked.

  Kace put his hand on Maksim’s arm. “Stopping you from making a mistake and getting your ass out of bed.”

  “I’m good. I want to go home.”

  “You should probably stay,” Kace said.

  “I’m ready to get out of here. Hospital food sucks.”

  Kace chuckled low. “If you promise to stay in bed, I’ll go find the doctor to see if we can work on getting you out of here.”

  An hour later, they were heading home. He was still groggy from all the medicine they had given him, but he was slowly tapering off them. He wanted to be fully in control.

  Word had come down to him that the FBI had tracked down the serial killer. It was a bittersweet ending considering he wanted to be the one who caught her.

  As he was released from the hospital, Kace was at his side, helping him into the car. “Where do you want me to take you?”

  “Can you just take me home?”

  A smile moved over Kace’s lips. “I was hoping you would say that.”

  “There’s no other place I’d rather be.”

  “I feel the same way.”

  “What do you think about me moving in with you permanently?”

  Kace smiled. “I thought you already had.”

  Laughter spilled from Maksim’s lips before he could stop it from happening. “God, you make me so happy.”

  “Do I?”

  “Yes, you do. I always needed a daddy, and you’re the one. Although I think I’m about to break the rules.”

  “Is that right?”

  “Yes, it is. There’s a confession I have to make.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You should know that I love you. I loved you since the first moment I met you. I’ve always loved you. I had a hard time keeping it from you.”

  Kace and moved his hand over his submissive’s, gripping it tightly. “I know you love me.”

  He started the car and drove back to his place. They got into the elevator together and went upstairs to their apartment. When the door shut behind them, Maksim finally felt as though he were safe within Kace’s arms.