Off Limits

by Jana Leigh

  “Yes, then come back in a few hours. I ‘m calling my brother in, and we ‘ll have a meeting , ” Junior said and turned around to indicate he was allowed to leave.

  ***

  They stopped in the back alley of a contact’s house to pick up the bag they needed. Blake moved the unconscious Phoebe to the back of the van while Shane started their trek to upper New York.

  He laid out all the supplies that were provided and set up a make-shift clinic in the back end of the van. Tipping the medication that assured them that Phoebe would remain out for the next few hours , Blake pushed a syringe into the rubber top. He guessed her weight but knew from her ID that he was close.

  Setting it aside, he grabbed the IV bag and checked to make sure that he had everything set right before hooking her up efficiently . Blake and the others were given training in field medicine. They could all do what he was right now, but he had never actually had to do this on a female. His friends were different; he knew that they could handle the pain. Blake didn ‘t want Phoebe to feel anything he was going to have to do.

  Finally, he was ready and turned to the front of the van and sighed , “I ‘m gonna need help, can you pull over for a few minutes ?”

  Shane nodded and said, “Get her put under, there’s a rest stop a few miles away, I ‘ll pull in, and we can do this.”

  Blake nodded, and then began to give her the drugs that would keep he r asleep while they set her arm and then stitched her cuts. There were a few deep ones. He tapped down his anger as he worked to get things ready; there would be plenty of time to be pissed later. Now he had to concentrate on their woman. She needed to be taken care of.

  When Shane pulled over, he parked under a tree away from the rest of the cars that were pulled in the rest area. If they only knew what they were doing, Blake and Shane would be surrounded by State Patrol in minutes. Thank goodne ss the windows were blacked out on the side and Shane thought to put a sticker on the side of the van that had a cleaning company name on it.

  “What are we doing?” Shane said when he crawled back to him. He looked down at Phoebe for the first time and swore under his breath. They seriously beat the shit out of her. He wanted to get his hands around Junior’s neck and squeeze.

  “I know, brother; I feel the same . But we have to get this done so she can rest without so much pain. Even in her sleep , she was grimacing when I touched her arm at all. We have to set it and then cast it . Which do you want? Whoever casts, the other has to do the stitches .”

  Shane nodded and said, “Cast. We gotta get rid of the clothes.”

  Blake knew that when he started to assess her injuries, they were going to have to take off the torn clothes, but he waited for Shane to help him. Nodding , Blake pulled out the sharp surgical scissors and then began to cut the ugly business suit down the middle.

  Shane looked at the battered form of the woman they both wanted and frowned. “Shit,” he whispered and Blake sat back.

  There was not one inch of her delicate skin that was without a mark. She was going to be in pain when she woke up. “Check her ribs before we do the arm.”

  Shane ran his hands over her ribcage and pushed gently and then swallowed when he got to her breasts. Her underwear was a contradiction of what she wore on the outside. Pink , lacy, and utterly feminine , they matched her sexy undies that were peeking out from the pantyhose she wore. She was gorgeous , he thought , and then continued his examination.

  “Maybe a few cracked ribs but nothing broken. I think we should wrap them ‘cause they will hurt. Especially where the largest bruises are , ” Shane said and then sat back while Blake continued to cut the offending clothes from her.

  When she finally laid there naked, except for her underwear, they could see all the damage with one look. She was a mess. It looked like someone had taken a cane and hit her legs and stomach. Then there were circular patches where she had been punched. Small cuts adorned her body, some of them deeper than the others. But all of them looked like they had been painful.

  “Let’s do this before I go back to find the asshole who did this , ” Shane gritted out, and Blake looked at his friend and caught his eyes.

  “I promise you we will get the chance to pay back this son of a bitch , ” Blake ground out and Shane smiled. His best friend was serious. If it took forever they would hunt the man who did this, as soon as Phoebe could tell them who it was. Rocco may have been a thung, but nothing in his past indicated he had this sort of sick and depraved mind that was needed to cause this.

  Together they worked to get Phoebe fixed up enough so they could actually leave the rest stop. When they were done, she had a cast on the broken arm, thirty stitches in various places, a thick wrap around her ribs, and pain medication being pumped into her through the IV.

  Blake got out, driving this time while Shane took care of Phoebe. He covered her battered figure with a blanket and made sure she was secure before telling Blake to move. They wanted to make it to Massena before dark.

  Finally, Shane pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned it back on. They had both agreed that until they were safe , they needed to go dark with communications since the feds were also monitoring Junior and his business. They didn ‘t want their old bosses to know what they were up to. In fact, they were pretty sure someone inside the agency was directly involved with the leaks that came out of the office the last year or so.

  Andre, Rex’s brother, had almost been killed because of the leak , and now they were in hiding with friends who pissed of f Senior Digrossi in the first place. It all led back to them, because they offered to help a friend in need. Now they were neck-deep in exposing the mob boss for what he was.

  His phone had a lot of missed calls and messages. Instead of actually looking at them, he called Rex. Shane knew that ‘s who the majority of the calls were from. Rex wanted to know if they had found his half-sister, and if she was safe. Ever since he discovered he had more siblings out there, Rex had been hell-bent on finding them.

  “Boss,” h e said into the phone and then winced when his friend began yelling on the other end.

  “Where the holy fuck have you been? It has been hours! Bear was monitoring the police scanner and we heard a bomb threat being called into Junior’s place. Where is Phoebe?”

  “Right…” Shane started but Rex apparently was not done.

  “I have called more than fifty times, Lily’s in tears, and Jazz is getting pissed. Do you know what it ‘s like to deal with two of them when they want to know answers? Bear is ready to rip your heads off when he finds you. Lily was standing right there when the call came in, and she freaked.” Rex continued to yell, and he could hear his friend in the background demanding to have the phone. Shoot , if Bear got on the phone , he would never get a word in.

  “I’m…” Shane said and then was interrupted again.

  “I don’t think I have ever seen anyone go so pale; shit , Jazz almost had a heart attack when Lily fainted. What ‘s wrong with you guys, we ‘re not on our own anymore, got it, from now on, there ‘s at least one phone turned on so we can communicate! I swear to god if you don’t start telling me what the hell happened, I ‘m going to let loose on your ass.”

  “SHUT UP!” Shane finally yelled into his phone, and he must have been heard through the room because there was silence on the other end. “Dude, trying to tell you, but you won’t shut up long enough for me to give you anything.”

  He heard Rex take a deep breath and calm down. “Fine, speak.”

  Shane filled him in on what happened, and he could tell that he was trying to relay the information to the people waiting in the background. He could hear them preparing for their arrival. Phoebe would need medical care. They were going to have to run into the closest large town to get things . They had time; Blake said they were about three hours away.

  Making the plans for their arrival, Shane finally hung up and let his head fall back on the seat behind him and sigh ed . Finally , they were headed home. He looked
forward to spending more time at the place they now called home. Rex began to call it a compound . Jazz had been pissed and said it sounded like they were a cult, but it was what it was.

  Lily’s parents had owned the large house with smaller cabins that they rented out during certain seasons. Now the land had been split three ways and the cabins were currently being overhauled. Until they were complete, they were all staying in the large , spacious house that Lily had. It reminded him of a southern plantation, but when all was said and done, they would all be living on the same land with a small building that was being converted into their main offices. Being a covert operative made it easy to have offices. No one was supposed to know where they were ; all the technology they had protected their actual location, while it still allowed them to get information.

  It was perfect really; Shane and Blake could n ‘t have found a better place for them to settle. Ne ither of them had family to speak of . That was why they had been such perfect operatives, no one to worry about them if they dropped off the grid for more than a few weeks at a time. Now they would have Phoebe and things were going to cha nge. They were no longer field operative s for the agency . No , they had burned that bridge when they walked out with their friends’ weeks ago.

  After planning and talking over the last few weeks, the six friends had made up their mind s . They all wanted to get out of the business —they had enough money. It was scary , really , how intelligent Shane and Blake were when it came to financial things. Investments and careful planning made each of them millionaire s several times over.

  In the past few years, their money had been hidden overseas. Shane and Blake continued to make them money, and they acted like paupers to the agency. It was easier that way . Now they were setting up their own business. It was a unique business for a unique group of men. They were going to do what they had been doing for the last few years, just not for the government . There were a lot of people who were in a situation that they c ould n’t get out of in the criminal world. They had all seen innocents hurt by the monsters who were pure evil in the world.

  When they left the agency, they took their files and documents. They would come in handy; Rex and Drew intended to take down the crimina l enterprises around the world then hand them over to the police.

  Excited about the prospects in the future, Shane grinned and thought about how life would be when they finally convinced Phoebe to be their woman. Blake and Shane had plenty of time over the last few days to plan their seduction. They had every intention of making her the most spoiled woman on the planet. He looked back over his shoulder and noticed that she had kicked off the blanket from her feet. He grinned; when they had been doing surveillance, she had done the same thing.

  They just had to get her well, and then it was going to be on.

  Chapter 4

  They finally arrived at the big house , and with a flourish of activity , they had Phoebe settled in a room large enough for them to watch her day and night . She had not woke n up yet, but that wasn ‘t really surprising , considering how much medication he had been giving her in order to keep her comfortable during the ride. If she had woken up, they would have had a problem .

  Rex and the other men went into the make-shift office they had in the dining room and sat down to talk , while Jazz and Lily help ed clean up Phoebe as much as they could. Shane looked at the ceiling and wondered if Blake and h e should have taken care of it , but then he shook his head.

  “What have we heard?” Blake said.

  “Apparently, Junior has moved his office to his house while the security i s getting beefed up. According to my contact, he ‘s pissed that you took Phoebe, and they have a price on her head. She knows too much now. I assume you haven ‘t been able to find out if she got any information at all out?”

  “We have what she had on her home computer, which wasn’t too much. Each time she used it , she wiped the history, so I ‘m not sure what else she has. We checked her clothes, she had nothing on her, and her purse was missing.” Blake reported.

  Rex nodded and looked across the table at Bear and Trent. “I will let them tell you what they ‘ve heard.”

  Bear snorted and said, “That’s because you don’t want to tell them the bad news.”

  Shane raised his eyebrows at the group and said, “Having a bounty on your head is about as bad as it can get, what the hell else happened?”

  “The feds are looking for all of us too. They know that we’re involved with the investigation into Digrossi, they want our information and the easiest way is to put out an arrest warrant. So we are now officially wanted men. Andre called and he was informed by his contacts that he ‘s also wanted for questioning.”

  Blake shook his head and then looked a round the room. “What are we gonna do ? They know most of our tricks, and sooner or later one of the people we talk to is gonna talk to them too.”

  “Hang on. Andre wants to be in this , ” Drew said and turned the computer screen around so the man in question appeared in front of them.

  “How’s Phoebe?” Andre asked worriedly.

  “Resting, the girls are watching her, she took quite a beating. We had to put her under sedation until we got back here. Hopefully it will wear off soon. We ‘re going to need some answers , ” Blake said grimly.

  “Any chance you‘re going to be able to come up here and see us?” Rex asked looking at his brother .

  Andre shook his head and frowned. “I don’t think so, we’re pretty much entrenched in here and no one knows where we are. Bailey ‘s pregnant, and Dallas and Noah are hovering over her. Callie has a show in New York for her designs, but Jolly and Steve have arranged for her to be there via webcam. And I hate to say I won’t let Ginny out to even go grocery shopping. We have prices on our heads and p eople are looking. Until the Di Grossi empire is gone, we have to stay this way. Sorry, I really want to meet everyone , and especially Lily a nd Phoebe. But what can we do f r o m here to help? Noah and Dallas have all of the state of the art computers at our disposal.”

  Rex grinned and then looked around the table and nodded to the men. They began giving each other a rundown of exactly what information they had about what was going on inside the Digrossi organization. They had long suspected that they were not only selling drugs and killing people, but they were also trafficking humans. Senior wasn ‘t aware that his son had been dabbling in the field. But Junior was beginning to make a name for himself as a connection that could get you anything , for the right price.

  Bear and Trent explained that they were following the paper trails of money that came in and went out. So far, they found connections to several cartels and groups overseas.

  Rex and Drew had been using their connections to see if the case against Senior was going to hold up. So far, it looked like no one had been paid off to make evidence disappear. Senior burned his bridges with this last mess he made. People were waiting to see where the chips fell. Who would take over? Junior was a psychopath , but his brother was a hundred times worse, and even more unstable.

  They finished their call and then made plans to continue their discussion after the guys went and checked on Phoebe; they hoped she would be awake soon.

  Before they had even reached the stairs, Li ly popped her head out and said, “Fella s , she ‘s awake.”

  Blake and Shane took the stairs two at a time to get to her side. When they entered the room, they saw that Jazz and Lily had cleaned Phoebe up and had her propped up , surrounded by a bunch of pillows to rest her arms on. She looked beautiful to them, even with all the bruises. Shane felt a wave of relief flow over him. She was safe .

  Phoebe looked up when the men all came filing into the room. Her eyes grew as wide as they could with the blackened , swollen areas surrounding them. She l icked her cracked lips and said, “Uh, hi?”

  Rex laughed, and Blake and Shane went to either side of her bed, each of them sitting down gently and placing a hand on her leg. Since they each knew exactly where the bruises were
, they made sure they didn ‘t touch the sore spots. Phoe be looked from one to the other with a confused look on her face.

  Jazz stepped up. “Phoebe, this is Shane and Blake, the two I told you about, ” a s Jazz pointed them out , “And this is Bear, Trent, Drew , and Rex.”

  Her eyes pinned Rex in his spot looking at him closely, waiting to see what his reaction to her was. Jazz told her that Rex already knew that she was his sister. She wanted to see for herself that he was safe. She mad e the mistake with the Digrossi s to underestimate them , and look where that got her.

  Rex grinned broadly and walked to her bedside. Shane scooted back a little so her brother could take her good hand. He brought it to his face and placed the palm against his cheek and said, “Sister, I ‘m so glad we found you in time.”

  Lily stepped up and put her hand on Rex’s shoulder and squeezed. “Two sisters, I never thought I would have a family like this , ” h e whispered, and Phoebe felt the tears gather in her eyes.

  When she woke and found Lily standing over her, she was ecstatic. They hadn ‘t had much time to talk, but she felt a connection with the woman instantly. She could feel another one now; Rex and Lily were her family now. At least she found them.

  Both her brother and her sister bent down and kissed the top of her head before moving back. Blake leaned over and wiped the tears that had fallen down her cheeks. She was i n shock. When she had begun to wake, she had been terrified that she was still in the hands of those monsters.

  While she was in the room with Rocco and the other man who came in to actually torture her, she had resigned herself to dying. They were going to kill her just to see what information she had.

  Phoebe let a sob escape, and she looked around the room at the worried people who were gathered. Now what? s he wondered; she had not done what she had wanted to do. “I didn’t finish , ” s he whispered and looked at Rex, knowing he would understand what she was talking about.