All the President's Men 1: Derek's Darling Damsel (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Rose Nickol

  Checking the message, it was Dillon. Dillon and Tracy had been the second shift watching Dottie’s condo that night and he was afraid the news was not good.

  He was correct. In the message, Dillon said that Dottie’s condo had been broken into and the place was a total wreck. Whoever had done it had made a total mess of the place and it was impossible for the team to tell if anything was missing. Dillon had said that the place was such a disaster that he wasn’t sure Dottie would be able to tell.

  Derek was totally pissed. The purpose of having the team on twenty-four-hour duty was to prevent something like this from happening. He was going to have someone’s ass. Now he had to ruin her evening and go tell Dottie.

  Sitting on the couch and pulling her toward him, he handed her a glass of wine before taking a big drink himself. What he could use was a shot, but that would come later.

  Dottie sipped her wine and looked a Derek, something was bothering him. “Derek, what’s wrong?”

  “Dottie, I have bad news, someone broke into your condo tonight and trashed it. Dillon and Tracy are there, but the place is so bad they can’t tell if anything is missing. We need to go and see if you can tell what might be missing. Do you know of anything you might have that someone would want?”

  “Derek, you’ve been there, you know I don’t have anything really valuable, other than my laptop and it only has my files for work on it. I keep all my personal data on the PC in my room. The computers are the most valuable.”

  Derek made a quick call to Dillon and both computers were gone. Luckily Dottie had backed up both her laptop and home PC on flash drives and kept two copies, one in her purse and one at the office. She willingly gave Derek the flash drives she had with her and he planned on going through then as soon as he had her settled and sleeping.

  They quickly changed clothes and Derek drove her to her condo to survey the damage and make sure nothing else was missing.

  The place looked like a tornado had hit it. Derek walked Dottie through the mess and when he felt she was calm enough, left her looking around while he tore Dillon and Tracy a new one.

  “What the fuck happened?” He growled the minute he had them outside.

  “Boss, I don’t know. I swear we did not leave this spot all night, and one of us had eyes on the front at all times.”

  “What about the back and the windows?” Derek demanded.

  Dillon and Tracy exchanged a glance and both hung their heads. “We watched what we could see from our vantage point, but that was all.”

  “You didn’t think of splitting up so one of you could watch the front and the other could watch the back?” Derek practically screamed.

  “Uh…no.” Dillon answered. He didn’t want to tell Derek that he and Tracy had been arguing and not really watching that close. Dillon had been after Tracy for several months and really wanted her. Tracy was fighting him at every opportunity and he had hoped taking this assignment would give them some time together and he would be able to convince her to go out with him. So far all they had done was fight.

  Dillon really wanted a chance with Tracy, and when Dottie’s apartment was being ransacked, they had been arguing about her going out with him. He couldn’t understand why she was so reluctant. She was smart and sassy, exactly his type.

  They had played several times at the club together and he didn’t understand why she wouldn’t take it further. He was determined to have his way. The next time they played at the club, she was in for a surprise. Right now he had Derek to deal with though. He had really fucked up this time.

  Derek couldn’t believe what he was hearing and just shook his head. “I expect a full report by 8 a.m. and no excuses. You’re both dismissed for now, we’ll deal with this tomorrow,” he told them as he stormed off. He couldn’t believe the incompetence he was surrounded by sometimes.

  Chapter Ten

  Derek stomped off, wanting to get back to Dottie. He had left her looking somewhat dazed and overwhelmed. She had said she was okay, but Derek had his doubts. If he hadn’t needed to find out what was going on he wouldn’t have left her.

  Derek walked back into the condo and found Dottie sitting on the floor looking a picture that had been torn. She had tears in her eyes.

  Sitting beside her, he pulled her into his lap and held her. The picture she held looked like it could have been her mother and it had been wadded up and torn, a deliberate move.

  “This was the last picture I had of her. Then she was gone,” Dottie said quietly.

  “Honey, we’ll get it restored and it will look just the way you remember it.” Derek didn’t know for sure how he was going to accomplish that, but he would.

  “I can’t find all the pieces, all I have is this.” And the dam broke and she started sobbing in earnest. She hadn’t been that close to her parents in the years before they passed, but she still missed them, especially her mother.

  Derek just held her close and let her cry. He would get a team to clean her condo and repair everything that could be, replace what they could and trash the rest. He would fix this for her.

  Standing up with her in his arms, he said, “Come on, baby, let’s get you out of here. We’ll get this cleaned up and then you and I will go through and see what’s missing. I don’t know what I was thinking bringing you here tonight.”

  Dottie reached up and touched his face, trying to smile through her tears. “Thank you for bringing me and being here. I needed to see.”

  Derek had given Dillon the flash drives to copy before he dismissed him, and Dillon was standing at the door with the copies for him. Dillon and Tracy would be up all night writing reports and analyzing the drives for information.

  Derek took the drives and slipped them in his pocket, not letting go of Dottie. Dillon could see the hurt in his eyes and his guilt compounded. He should have never been fighting with Tracy and if he had followed procedure and had split up with her instead of insisting she stay with him, this would have never happened. Why did he have to listen to his cock anyway? Walking to the car where Tracy was waiting, he knew they were both in for a long night, and with her mad at him on top of it, things were all fucked up.

  During the forty-five-minute drive back to Derek’s home, Dottie was quiet, so quiet Derek was worried about her. He was starting to think maybe she had gone into shock when she finally sighed and said, “What did I do to deserve this? I didn’t have much, but I worked hard for what I have and to get where I am. Why would someone want to do something like this to me?”

  Derek’s heart was breaking for her. Not sure he was saying the right thing, he said all he could think of. “Baby, it’s not your fault. I will find out who is responsible for this and we will make them pay. I have a team cleaning up your condo and we will salvage everything we can.” He wished he could fix it, but knew he couldn’t.

  She just sat quietly the rest of the way to his house. When they arrived, instead of walking to the door, she went to the horses, Derek following her.

  “Do you want to go for a ride, baby? Would that help you settle?”

  “Yes, can we? I always used to ride when I was upset at home.” She had a hint of excitement in her voice and as she was talking, Patrice walked up to her to nuzzle her neck.

  “Oh, look Derek, she knows I’m upset, can we take them out?”

  “Yes, baby, let’s go. I want to get jackets, it’s cool. Can you get Patrice saddled while I’m gone?”

  Nodding enthusiastically, she went into the barn, the horse following beside her.

  Derek was glad she was responding better, he would take her to the park and they would take a long ride. There was a path there that the horses were used to and they could go pretty fast. The horses needed the run anyway.

  Derek went in the house to get jackets and make a quick phone call. He wanted to make sure the team was continuing to watch the condo and have someone check on Dottie’s office. He had a bad feeling.

  Placing the flash drives in a locked drawer, he made sure hi
s house was secure and turned the alarm on. Something was not right. He had felt like they had been followed, and wasn’t taking any chances.

  Grabbing a couple jackets, he hurried back to the barn. It was quiet outside, almost too quiet. He should have heard the horses and Dottie talking to Patrice, some type of noise.

  Going on instinct, Derek crept silently into the barn. Still nothing. The horses should have neighed in recognition when he entered the barn, they always did. Something was up. He kept quiet and slid silently against the wall, listening intently.

  The barn was small, eight stalls and a tack room. He had never had more than two horses, but was planning for more when he retired. The extra stalls were used for storage or empty at this point. He came to Big Al’s stall, and the horse lay on his side. Sneaking in, he saw he was breathing, but not moving. More concerned about Dottie, he left the big animal and kept moving toward the end of the barn. The stall where Patrice should have been was empty, but he heard voices, one of them was male and the other was Dottie’s.

  “I don’t know, I told you I don’t know. Please don’t hurt her. Please.” Dottie was sobbing.

  Derek had pushed the panic button on his phone that would alert the team and police before he entered the barn, but it could take a while for backup to get this far out. Even though he was a big man, he could move quickly and silently, so he continued toward the voices, gun drawn.

  Crouching down, he crept silently toward the sound, trying to be invisible. He came to the last stall in the barn and the source of the sounds.

  Dottie was tied to a chair and a man was standing, holding Patrice’s bridle, a knife to her throat. “Tell me the information I want, Ms. Chapman, and I will let you and the horse live, otherwise I’m afraid I may have to do something unpleasant,” the man said in a calm, cultured voice as he brandished the knife and looked at Dottie in a hostile manner.

  Dottie visibly shuddered and again pleaded. “I told you I don’t know. What do you want of me?”

  Assessing the situation, Derek weighed his options. He could follow procedure and wait for back-up, risking not only Patrice, but Dottie also. Not an option. All he could think was that he had to get to her and damned the consequences. Listening for a few long moments to make sure there was only one assailant, he formulated his plan.

  Moving with a stealth and speed in spite of his size, he waited until Dottie’s attacker had his back to him and made his attack. Dottie screamed his name as she saw him approach and smartly flipped her chair to the side when the man lunged for her with the knife.

  In the chaos that happened next, Dottie wasn’t sure how, but Derek had the man on the ground, he was now in possession of the knife and was sitting on the man’s chest. A quick punch to the man’s face and he was out cold. Derek quickly tied him up and then went to free Dottie.

  By now they could hear sirens approaching and shouts coming from outside. Leaving the man tied on the floor, Derek wrapped an arm around Dottie and walked her out of the barn and into the fray of FBI, police, and rescue personnel.

  Chapter Eleven

  Dottie woke the next day crushed to Derek’s side in his bed. She couldn’t believe all that had happened. Parts of it were like a nightmare, and other parts a dream. In the matter of a few hours, she and Derek had played in the club, he had told her he was in love with her, her condo had been broken into, and she had been attacked. She was amazed she had been able to sleep, but after everyone had cleared out, she had fallen into bed with Derek and slept the sleep of the dead. She didn’t even remember dreaming. What time was it?

  Derek had made her call off work for the rest of the week, not wanting her out of his sight for a few days. Looking at the clock it was early, very early and they had not gotten to bed until very late. She had only slept a couple hours. Derek was still out. Snuggling closer to him, she went back to sleep.

  * * * *

  The week had been quiet and they spent it riding and getting to know each other. They had played in the playroom and Derek was introducing her to more BDSM every time, and she was learning more about being his submissive in and out of the playroom.

  Thursday night, they had had an intense session in the playroom and Dottie had fallen into an exhausted sleep before Derek had her out of the tub. She didn’t remember him carrying her to bed, but when she woke he was wrapped around her and they were in his bed.

  She lay there going over everything in her mind that had happened in the past few days, when she heard her cell phone ringing. Struggling to free herself, she padded naked to the kitchen where she had left her purse. Finding the phone which had stopped ringing by now, she saw it was her office that had called.

  Deciding to make coffee before she made her phone call, she went back to Derek’s room to get one of his shirts. He was still sleeping.

  Dottie went back to the kitchen and started the coffee before checking her messages. There were several, all from her boss. The first few were fairly tame, just acknowledging her need for the rest of the week off and a request to call. As the messages went on, the requests became demands and her boss, Matt, sounded more and more frantic.

  By the time she got to the final message, he was screaming and yelling. Dottie quickly dialed his direct line.

  Matt answered even more frantic. “Thank God! Dottie, I heard everything that had happened and we were all worried. I also have more bad news.”

  “Oh God, Matt, I don’t think I can take any more,” Dottie said sitting down. What the hell was going on?

  Matt quickly informed her that the office had been ransacked and the chaos was centered mostly around her and her partner Terrance Mason’s desk. Like her apartment, the damage was so destructive that they couldn’t tell if anything was missing or not. Dottie promised to be in as soon as she could and sat at the table, her face in hands, which is how Derek found her several minutes later.

  “What’s up, baby?” he asked.

  Dottie quickly told him about the phone call she had received and that she needed to get to the office. “Will you go with me? I don’t want to do this alone and have to face all those stares by myself.”

  Derek agreed and they dressed to go, planning on eating on the way.

  Chapter Twelve

  When they got to Dottie’s office, the place was still in a state of chaos. Along with all the usual workers, there were police, FBI, and Derek’s Secret Service team there. Most of the FBI were people from the group Derek was working with, but the cops were also there.

  Between Dottie and Derek, they knew almost every one there except for one person, James Preston. He was new to the police force, having transferred into his position. He was an arrogant asshole.

  “Where were you last night, Ms. Chapman?” he asked arrogantly, pulling her arm to pull her away from Derek. He was short and fat, shorter than Dottie by a few inches and over a foot shorter than Derek.

  Dottie resisted his pulling and Derek wrapped an arm around her. “She was with me at my house for the last several days, Officer Preston.” Derek answered just as arrogantly. It was on!

  “And you would be… Sir?” Preston asked, looking up at Derek.

  “Special Officer Derek Moore, Secret Service protection division. Ms. Chapman is under the protection of myself and my team, and I or a member of my team have been with her every hour of every day. Does that answer your question?” The man didn’t need to know details of Dottie’s protection services.

  “Why would a simple reporter need Secret Service protection round the clock? Seems like a waste of the tax payers’ money to me.” The little weasel looked at Derek like he was an idiot.

  Derek blew out the breath he had been holding and answered, “That is classified,” holding Dottie tighter to him.

  “Not so classified that I can’t find out,” Preston said, walking away with his radio.

  Derek knew the arrogant asshole wasn’t going to find anything out. Turning his back to the twerp, he walked Dottie to her desk area to check for missing i
tems.

  Still holding the radio mic in his hand, Officer Preston hurried back to Dottie and Derek. “Hey, I didn’t dismiss you.” He practically squealed.

  Derek just ignored the squawking man. Looking at Dottie, he sat her down at what was left of her desk and said, “Honey, why don’t you try and figure out what might be missing while Officer Preston, his superiors, and I all have a talk.” Derek was dealing with this ass and now. When he was done, the jerk was going to be back on street patrol.

  * * * *

  When Derek walked back to where Dottie was sitting, he was alone. A couple quick phone calls on his part and a quick talk with a few supervisors and bye-bye officer Preston. With that stress gone he could concentrate on Dottie.

  She was sitting at her desk, her head in her hands again. Walking up behind her, he started rubbing her shoulders and back soothingly. “Have you found anything missing, baby?” he asked, quietly trying to keep some calm.

  “Both my flash drives are gone, all my personal pictures and everything I’ve been working on for the past months. All the information on the General, all my stories, everything,” she answered, shaking her head and wringing her hands.

  “Baby, was all that stuff backed up on the drives you had in your purse?” he asked, still trying to keep his voice calm.

  “Everything but the work I did the Friday I interviewed the General. My notes from that night are still at your place, I haven’t taken time to transcribe them.” Her voice was full of despair. Losing her work wasn’t really a big deal, she did have backups, but her pictures and some of her personal things really bothered her. Most of the pictures were her only copies. They were just pictures of her with various celebrities and dignitaries, but it was her history. The story of her career. Her climb up the ladder.

  She was proud of how far she had come. The pictures showed her in various countries on assignment and held a lot of memories. She had always planned on scanning them onto one of her flash drives, but now it was too late. All she had left was her memories. Why would someone do this to her?