Run Beautiful Run, page 7
Her first instinct was to push it open, but there was a gigantic sign on the door warning that opening the door would trigger an alarm.
‘Come on. Think.’ Slinging her overnight bag’s strap over her head and shoulder, she positioned it behind her back, spotting the nearby fire alarm panel on the wall. She strapped her large red shoulder bag over her other shoulder, making her feel like a pack horse, but her hands were free.
She tossed the hotel’s fire plan to the floor and again studied the tiny street map. She took a deep breath, rubbing her fingertips together, she stared at the door.
In the blink of an eye, she pulled down the trigger on the fire alarm before propelling herself through the door and into the night air, to begin the race for her life.
Fifteen
An alarm bell pierced the night, it was deafening.
‘Is that the fire alarm?’ called out Tom, tapping Eric on the shoulder, dozing in the passenger seat.
Eric sat upright, blinking at the gloomy city street where neon lights displayed business names and sales. Traffic lights had paused on deserted intersections beside empty sidewalks. But the ringing bell and whooping alarm was enough to wake the dead. ‘What’s going on?’
‘There’s an alarm going off at Maddison’s hotel.’ Tom pointed at the hotel where the staff and guests were spilling through the main doors and onto the street.
‘Move. I bet Maddison’s done that. Quick, start the car and drive.’
For a big man, Tom sprang into action in a matter of moments. They sped across the road and turned left down a one-way street to the back of the hotel.
‘There.’ Eric pointed to the far end of the alley at a female’s silhouette running toward the well-lit city street.
Tom followed in hot pursuit. ‘How did she see us?’
‘Don’t care. Just don’t lose her.’
Tom forced the car into the stream of traffic and onto Hindley Street’s main drag. The place was crawling with cars filling both lanes, lit up like some Christmas parade. People crowded the bars and eateries as music pumped from various nightclubs and car stereos.
‘There she is.’ Eric pointed to the blonde running with her luggage, bumping into people.
‘Man, she can run in them heels, see?’ Tom was forced to slow down with their car trapped in the congested traffic.
‘We’ll lose her at this pace. I’ll follow on foot. Catch up when you can.’ Eric slammed the car door shut and gave chase. ‘I’m not losing you now!’
Sixteen
Maddison ran blindly, her heart pounding against her chest as she bumped into people on the sidewalks. ‘I’m sorry. Sorry.’ But she couldn’t stop. Only glancing back to discover that Elvis hair had jumped out of the car and was chasing her.
She turned to run, only to barrel straight into the chest of a tall man dressed in black. It was like hitting a brick wall.
‘What’s the rush there, sweetheart?’ asked the bouncer, with red neon lights flashing above him. He stood next to an open door that led to a flight of stairs.
‘Sorry.’ All she saw was those stairs and ran for the red light at the top of the staircase.
‘Twenty bucks, thanks,’ said the bored hostess through the booth’s box window.
Maddison grabbed the first note her fingers touched and threw it at the counter, then ran inside.
‘Hey, don’t you want your change?’
‘Keep it.’ It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the smoky haze of the darkened room. On stage was a woman wearing only a G-string, swinging on a pole. Scantily dressed waitresses carried drink trays to men seated at scattered tables staring at the stage show.
At the back bar stood a group of bikers. Just behind them was the bar’s small opening. It was her only shot. ‘Sorry. Sorry …’ She tried so hard to dodge the bikers with her bags, to then dive under the wooden bar top.
On her hands and knees, she crawled behind the working side of the bar and found a gap between the sinks and kegs, to curl up into a ball.
‘Hey, you can’t be in here!’
‘Help me, please. Help me?’ Maddison pleaded with the topless barmaid who knelt in front of her.
‘What’s wrong, hon?’
‘I’m being chased.’ Maddison heaved for air, gripping her trembling knees to her chest.
‘By who?’
‘Two men. One short with Elvis hair, wearing a long black leather jacket. The other guy is tall, bald head, big hands, mid-length leather jacket. Please don’t tell them I’m here, please.’ Maddison was desperate to catch her breath with her heart about to explode.
‘Hey, Karla? What’s going on there?’ A biker with a greyish beard and arms covered in ink, leaned over the counter with another younger biker beside him doing the same.
‘Hello, sweetheart,’ said the other biker with red hair. ‘Didn’t you just scamper in here like a little rabbit?’
‘She reckons she’s being chased, Reaper,’ Karla said to the bearded biker.
Both bikers frowned. ‘By who?’ Reaper asked.
‘Them.’ Karla nodded to the front of the bar.
They’re here. ‘Oh God no-no-no-no!’ Maddison gripped her bag tighter. Tears mixed with sweat streamed down her face. Crouching down on the dirty floor of a strip bar, she couldn’t stop trembling.
‘Hey, you’ll be right, hon. I’ll hide you. Don’t move,’ Karla said to Maddison.
‘She looks scared out of her bloody wits,’ said the younger man with flame-red hair beside Reaper.
‘Excuse me, miss,’ called out the voice of Maddison’s nightmares, she recognised it from the hotel foyer. It belonged to the guy with Elvis hair. It was Goon One.
She cupped her mouth with both hands to stifle her scream.
‘What do you want?’ Karla stood in front of Maddison as she talked over the bar. Karla wore fishnets and some sparkly stripper shoes. As a barmaid, Maddison was impressed Karla could work in shoes like those all night.
Maddison peered through the cracks in the bar’s wood panelling and gaped at Goon One.
‘I’m looking for a woman, blonde hair about yay big …’ Goon One raised his hand to his shoulder height.
Hey, she was taller than that!
‘She’s wearing a classy-looking black suit and heels, carrying a large red bag.’
‘What’s it to you?’ Reaper said, as other heavily tattooed gang members lined up with their backs to the bar. Their patches displayed on their leather vests. In biker boots and jeans, it was a formidable scene from Maddison’s peephole.
‘So, you’ve seen her, huh?’ Goon One grinned, swiping a palm over his Elvis hair.
‘Now why would a woman dressed like that come into a place like this for?’ Reaper said. ‘Look around you, mate, all the women here are all half bloody naked.’
‘I know she’s here. Look, I don’t want no trouble, and you don’t want to get involved in this either, mate.’
Maddison’s eyes widened as the second goon came up and stood behind his mate. He was big, with the lights causing a strange devilish-red effect on his shiny scalp. So, which one was the brains of the outfit and who was the sidekick?
‘Piss off short-arse, this is our bar.’
‘It’s a public place, and I had to pay to get into this rathole.’ Goon One seemed unfazed at facing a row of gang members. ‘Just tell us where she is and we’ll make it worth your while.’ He reached into his pocket and Reaper reacted.
She couldn’t see past the leather patches, jeans, and biker boots, but there was a scuffle of some sort, and then it was on. Fists hit faces, they smashed glasses, spilling beer and spirits. Women screamed and men grunted with each punch, in a barroom free-for-all brawl!
‘Come on, little rabbit.’ A gang member crouched down in front of her, holding out his hand. His short-cropped flame-red hair caught the neon lights of the bar like a halo. ‘I can get you out of here.’
‘Go with Match, he’s a good bloke.’ Karla, the topless barmaid had ducked down beside Maddison, holding up her drinks tray like a shield. ‘Use the staff’s back door, Match.’ She pointed to the far corner of the bar.
With no other option, Maddison grabbed Match’s hand and followed him to the back door behind the bar. They scurried down a flight of dimly lit stairs before he pushed the door open onto the street. He didn’t stop or let go of her hand until they stood before a row of Harley motorcycles, their polished chrome sparkling under the streetlights.
He passed Maddison an open-faced helmet as he slid on his own, then swung his leg over the seat of his bike. ‘Get on.’
‘I’ve never been on the back of a Harley before.’ It would be her first bike ride ever.
Gunshots rang from the strip club above. Strippers and lingerie-clad waitresses screamed as they ran down the stairs of the nightclub with patrons spilling onto the street.
‘Now’s the time, honey.’ Match kicked the bike over, and with a deafening roar it came to life. ‘Get on.’
She hitched up her skirt and straddled the back of the bike.
‘Maddison?’ Goon One burst out onto the sidewalk, with the towering Goon Two close behind him.
‘Go-go-go.’ Maddison stared in horror at the goons, running towards her with guns!
‘Hang on,’ said Match, and she wrapped her arms tightly around the waist of a complete stranger, who gunned the bike and rode fearlessly straight into the stream of traffic.
Seventeen
The Harley roared down the road, the wind whipping around Maddison as she held on to a guy she’d just met as he hurtled through an unknown city. But not just some guy—a motorbike gang member.
He pulled up under the streetlight of a deserted car park.
The bike’s noise was soon replaced by crashing oceanic waves.
Maddison unsteadily got off, still feeling the bike’s vibrations. She removed the helmet to stare at the silent houses that lined the cliff face overlooking a darkened ocean. The salty air was invigorating.
Still seated on his bike, he removed his helmet and faced Maddison. ‘They call me Match, but my name’s Mitch. What’s your name?’
‘Maddison.’ She shrugged while checking out the hero who’d helped her escape the gun-wielding goons.
He grinned at her, and wow! The guy was dynamite.
His nickname was obviously from his flame-red hair and freckles. She’d never seen a sexier redhead. This bad boy had presence. And baby, she wanted to get burned.
Which was so wrong!
‘Thank you for your help. I hope your friends didn’t get hurt?’ A bout of nerves hit her. Was it the intense stare from the guy who was making her hot under the collar? Or was it the fact she was on the edge of a cliff, in the dark, alone with a biker?
‘Doubt it.’ Again, Mitch grinned, and she was flushed with a wash of heat. ‘It’s rare we get to save a damsel in distress.’
She frowned at his comment. A damsel in distress! Are you kidding me?
‘And I’ve never seen a lady look as scared as you.’ He sobered up, crossing muscular arms over his toned chest, his eyes slowly inched their way from the top of her helmet hair to the tips of her heels.
She’d never felt more exposed.
‘Why were those men chasing you?’
‘They followed me from Melbourne.’
‘Melbourne? When did you get here?’
‘About …’ She glanced at her watch. ‘About four hours ago. I was supposed to be in Sydney, but they followed me from Flemington Racetrack, so I caught the first plane out of Melbourne and ended up here.’ Wherever here was? She searched for a street sign. In the distance a group of tall buildings stood near a long row of lights over the water, like a wharf.
‘Where are you going?’
She faced the man who would normally have her drooling at the nicest piece of eye candy she’d seen in a while. But she wasn’t helpless. She could stand on her own … kind of.
She was also in a life-or-death situation that didn’t allow time for flirting with bad boys. And she sucked at flirting. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Have you been on the run for long?’
‘Since this morning. I had a plan, but that got lost back in my hotel room.’
‘When was the last time you got some decent sleep?’
She sighed, staring up at dull stars hiding behind patchy clouds. ‘Um, two days ago. Maybe?’
‘You’ve been that busy, huh?’
She stared at the car park’s asphalt, remembering another deserted car park at night. Where did the time go?
‘Well, yesterday, my apartment got broken into while I was at my uncle’s funeral who was murdered only last week. Since then, I’ve been told my phone’s bugged, there’s crooked cops involved, while copping the lecture on life on the lam by a bookies’ bodyguard. So I fly out here, thinking I’m safe, only to spot the same two goons that followed me from the Melbourne racetrack asking about me in the foyer of my hotel. So I escape through the fire exit, tripping off the alarm, hoping they’d get distracted by the other people, but instead they chased me down in their car. I ran into my first strip bar, met my first topless barmaid and you. Got my first ride on a Harley escaping the scene of a barroom brawl and gunfire. And all of this happened in the last twenty-four hours!’ She blurted it all out in one go, unbelieving she’d spilled all to a complete and total stranger.
Surprisingly, she felt better for getting it all off her chest.
‘No way.’ Mitch shook his head.
‘I don’t expect you to believe me. And you and your friends have already gotten too involved with what you did back there. I’m sorry for—’
‘I believe you.’
‘Why?’ She could hardly believe it herself.
He shrugged, then gave a sly grin. It was divine.
‘Are you going to ask me what they’re after?’
‘Nope.’ His biker boots echoed across the car park until he stood right in front of her.
He was a wall of muscle. Tall and bad boy delicious. She wanted to lean against his toned chest and breathe him all in. He would be perfect for keeping her warm against the sea breeze that crashed over the waves.
‘In my game, little rabbit, sometimes it’s better not to know these things, especially with what you’re apparently hooked up in.’
‘Why did you do that? Help me?’ Mitch was her hero, with the most amazing bone structure. Her wicked godmother, Nancy, would drool over him.
‘You looked like a petrified lady in need.’
Again, his eyes slowly crawled all over her until she felt naked. Hot. And naked. She’d never felt so needy. Was it the adrenalin rush making this guy so desirable?
‘We just weren’t expecting those guys chasing you to have guns on them.’
That broke her trance. ‘My uncle got shot to death.’
‘Well, you’re in somethin’ deep, aren’t you?’
‘I know.’ She sighed, turning away from the beautiful bad boy. ‘And you’ve done so much already, I don’t want you in anymore danger. So, if you could kindly point me toward a safe hotel?’
‘I’ve got a better idea.’ He swung his leg over the bike and tapped on the back of his seat. ‘How about you hop on like a good little bunny?’
Tempting. So very, very tempting. ‘To where?’
‘I’ll take you to a safe house,’ he said, sliding on his helmet.
‘Why? It’s not, um, some bikers …’ So what if he was a mouth-watering bad-boy biker, was he going to take her to some clubhouse to never see daylight again? Hello, he’d picked her up from a strip club.
Mitch held out her helmet. ‘You need help and you need some sleep. You’ll think better when you’ve had some sleep. Trust me on that one. It’s okay, you’ll be safe there. If I was going to hurt you, I would have already done it.’ He let rip a killer grin as if he could read her mind.
Her knees knocked and she bit on her bottom lip.
‘Besides, I know what it’s like to be on the run.’ He started the bike. ‘Get on, beautiful, this ride isn’t over yet.’
Eighteen
Eric sat on one of the twin single beds in their cheap hotel room, gingerly pressing an icepack to his eye as he inspected his reflection in the mirror above the tacky dresser.
‘Aw hell.’ He had bloodshot eyeballs and swollen eyelids, along with a pulsing lump in the middle of his forehead. ‘Bloody bikers.’ Eric was prepared for a punch, not a solid forehead smashing him in the face—they fought like animals.
‘How are you feeling?’ Tom strolled out from the bathroom wearing a towel around his waist.
‘Just freaking peachy, mate. You?’ Eric sculled back a mouthful of bourbon straight from the bottle. That was his medicine.
‘I’m okay.’
‘How?’
‘Being a tall bloke, few people can swing that high. And now my nose has finally stopped bleeding …’ He delicately dabbed a tissue at his nose. ‘I had to re-straighten it again. That’s the tenth time I’ve broken my nose. I reckon I can smell better each time it gets broken. See? I might get lucky and end up with a sensitive sense of smell just like you?’ Tom chuckled. ‘You look worse for wear.’
‘Bloody arsehole bikers.’ Eric reapplied the ice to his handsome face. Still, he had his teeth; he’d paid a fortune for his billionaire’s smile.
‘How come Maddison went in there?’ Tom unzipped his canvas bag and started getting dressed. ‘She’s not the type of sheila to visit a titty bar or jump on the back of some patched member’s bike.’
‘Well, she did,’ muttered Eric. The only problem now was she’d stared at him long enough to pick him out of a police line-up.
If he hadn’t wasted so many rounds inside the strip club, he might have shot the bitch in the back. At least his firepower had stopped that gang from kicking his head in. If there was one thing Eric knew: you never take a knife to a gunfight.
He was also prepared for people to do crazy things when they were being chased. Usually, their panic made them rush into a corner. But not this little Miss Maddison—she was proving to be quite resourceful.
