The HiT Series

by Margaret McHeyzer

  “Umm no, Katsu!” I match his tone.

  “We may not have made love yet, but you belong to me and I watch out for all my possessions and ensure their safety.” He’s so laid back about the concept of me being his property. It raises the hairs on the back of my neck.

  “I’m sorry, have you not met me? My name’s Anna Moore. I’m not a whore and I can’t be bought. You can, however, date me if I choose it. Not because you think I’m a fucking animal who needs micro-chipping.” I’m going to piss him off right now because I need to push him and make sure he believes he has control over me.

  He turns to me and grabs my upper arms. His grip is tight and I’ll certainly have bruises there in a day or two. His face is within inches of mine and his eyes show only one emotion – rage. “You’ll do what I say! This isn’t a topic I’ll waver on.”

  “Nor will I,” I grit my teeth and spit the words out to him.

  And before I manage to add to that sentence, he raises his hand and slaps me across the face.

  “I’m sorry, Anna,” he starts apologizing immediately. “You just made me so angry.” He’s rubbing his hand up and down on my cheek. “Don’t talk to me like that, okay?” He grabs me and pulls me to him and I slide across the seat into his arms. “We’ll talk about security and everything else over dinner. I’m so sorry, Anna.”

  Something tells me he’s done this many times before. A man who beats his partner and then apologizes, making it appear to be his partner’s fault. Coward. Abuser.

  “You scared me, Katsu,” I say playing right into the palm of his hand, I even let out a whimper.

  “I know, Sweetheart. I’m sorry. Come on, let’s go for dinner. I was so proud of you in there. Your answers were perfect.”

  “Where are we going for dinner?” I change the subject and lower my tone to show my submission to him.

  “Somewhere special.” It’s a quiet ride and we don’t bother making conversation.

  I look out the window and will myself to stop cringing every time he touches me or shifts to be closer to me. We’re in the car for ninety-three minutes before it stops in front of a multi-story building in St Paul. There’s loud music emanating from inside the building, so I assume we’re at a nightclub.

  “Katsu, I really don’t feel in the mood for dancing. It feels like my cheek has begun to bruise.” He’s out of the car now and is holding his hand out for me.

  “We aren’t going dancing, treasure, we’re going to the penthouse. For dinner, of course.” He winks, leans in, and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

  “Unless you also want dessert,” he says in a sensual tone.

  Internal cringe.

  “Let’s see how dinner goes first, and we’ll go from there.” I reciprocate the kiss but this time I find his lips. It’s a slow kiss and he grumbles as he holds my head in place.

  “Tomorrow, Sweetheart, you’ll accompany me to a business meeting.”

  I breathe a sigh of relief.

  Finally, now we’re getting somewhere.

  Ben

  It’s been two weeks since I’ve heard from Anna. I can only assume she has kept out of trouble regarding whatever she’s involved in. If anyone lays a damned finger on her, I’ll rip the motherfucker’s head off.

  There’s been another three assassinations since the time Anna left. And they’re all the same, husband and wife, killed in their sleep, the front door blown off.

  I’m at the station looking over the latest assassination, trying to piece them all together, when Ophelia walks into my office and leans up against the door frame.

  “What do you need, Ophelia?”

  “I’ve been thinking about these assassinations.” She crosses her arms in front of her while she’s leaning up against the door frame.

  “And what have you concluded?” I try not to sound impatient with her, but sometimes I just can’t help it.

  “They’re all the same assassin. Plus, these people all seem unrelated except for the fact they’re all married and have small businesses.”

  “Go on.” I lean back in my chair and steeple my fingers under my chin.

  “What if, this is a clean-up situation? What if these people aren’t unrelated? What if these people all worked for the same bad element and now that they’re no longer needed, are being taken care of.” I lean forward and put my elbows on the desk and bring my hands to my hair. I think I need to get Emily to do some work to investigate these people to see what she can uncover.

  “I think Ophelia, what you just said makes a lot of sense. Let’s try to find the link.”

  Ophelia smiles and winks at me as she leaves my office. It looks like she shakes her ass at me and I can’t help track her with my eyes for an extra second. I snap my head away and take my phone out. I close my office door because I don’t want to be interrupted.

  “Hey, big brother.” Emily sounds almost cheerful.

  “Listen, I need to give you four sets of names and date of births. I need you to find out what they were involved in.”

  She laughs. “I’m not the police officer, Ben. You are.” I can feel her rolling her eyes at me and putting her hand on her hip.

  “Not that sort of information, Emily.” I growl with frustration at her.

  “I know, I know, give me the names and I’ll see who knows what.”

  “How’s everything in New York?” I don’t dare get specific over the phone, but Emily knows what I’m asking.

  “Everything’s going as we need it to. It’s on the quiet side, but apart from that, the tenants are fine.” Tenants is our code for our distributors.

  “Well that’s positive if they’re behaving themselves. How about over at Claire’s?”

  “Yeah, I mean the tenants are good there too.” She sounds bored with the conversation, exactly like we’ve discussed so we don’t raise awareness if anyone’s listening.

  “Good, I need you on Skype tonight say around 10pm? Let Claire know too please.”

  “No worries, big brother. Talk tonight.” We hang up and I get back to these assassinations.

  The one thing that sticks out about the victims is they were all owners of successful businesses in the area, small businesses, but still incredibly successful.

  The day moves along and I’m cemented to my desk. The minutes drag on and the hours seem to be going backwards. I need to get home to talk to my sisters. As I’m trying, once again, to make sense of these assassination cases, my phone beeps with a text message. It’s an unknown number.

  Hey do you miss me? – A.

  I don’t need a number or a name to know it’s from my girl.

  More than you can imagine. –B

  Two more weeks til I see you again. –A

  I’m counting down the hours –B

  Have you got any further with all the assassinations? –A.

  Of course she’d know there are more assassinations. She is after all, Anna Brookes. The legend.

  No baby girl, nothing further. Are you safe? – B

  As safe as I can be. Love you. –A

  I love you too. –B

  Anna doesn’t send any more text messages, and the day resumes its slow progress. Finally, my police work day concludes and I’m able to go home and Skype with both my sisters.

  “Ben, we have movement in Salt Lake City,” Emily starts.

  “What sort of movement?” Claire chimes in.

  “The James family has disappeared. No one knows where they are. The entire family’s gone,” Emily says.

  “This isn’t good, if the James family’s gone. Either they’ve packed up and left, or they’ve been taken out,” I rub my hands over my eyes as I say that.

  “Ben, I went there to check it out and it looks like they’ve packed up and moved, which means they can be anywhere. Their operations are fairly vast, but they lack the unity we have. If Claire can come to Salt Lake we may be able to find out a bit more about the James family and what the hell’s going on.”

  Claire’s been fairly q
uiet, the way she always is, just sitting back to assess the environment and the situation, only speaking when necessary.

  “I can do that,” Claire speaks again.

  “Alright, Claire. Go see what you and Emily can find out in Salt Lake, but whatever you do, don’t use force unless it’s necessary. Emily, hold Claire in check. We both know how she gets.” Both Emily and I chuckle, but Claire glares at us through Skype.

  “I’m not that bad,” she shouts.

  “Really, Claire? We are related, you know? Ben and I have been there when you’ve lost it. You become someone that scares even us. Claire, we know you!” Emily doesn’t even blink when she describes how Claire gets when she goes into terminator mode.

  Claire snorts and looks away with an eye roll.

  “I’ll be leaving first thing in the morning, Emily. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She doesn’t confirm or deny the behavior we just outlined for her.

  “Claire, you can leave now. There are some names I need to give Emily, and she’ll fill you in tomorrow.”

  “See ya’, Boss and sis’.” Claire signs out leaving Emily and I. I really hate it when she calls me ’Boss’.

  “Look, Emily, make sure she doesn’t lose it out there alright?”

  “No worries, big brother. She’ll behave. Now about these names...”

  We stay on Skype for another few minutes as I give her the names and birthdates of the assassination victims. Emily’s no Agent, but she’s still pretty good at finding information. I wonder if I can speak to Anna about using Agent, but that would mean I’d need to tell Anna who I really am and what my sisters and I actually do.

  Anna

  Once we arrived at the penthouse, Katsu had arranged a dinner that was just so scrumptious that all the flavors danced like perfectly rehearsed ballerinas on my palate.

  After dinner, Katsu lead me to the bedroom. I was able to avoid having sex with him. I know, however, I’ll eventually have to give in to him to prove my loyalty.

  I simply turn my face and innocently state I don’t feel beautiful because of my bruised cheek. Katsu doesn’t push, but I can tell he’s frustrated with my lack of interest in the intimacy he so desperately wants to share. I know it’s only a matter of time before I have to give myself over to him, and I was dreading it.

  That night, even though we didn’t have sex, we did spend the night together in the same bed. Katsu kept me in the protective cage of his arms. He fell asleep, but I lay in bed thinking of Ben and wishing it was Ben’s arms holding me so tightly.

  My heart skips a beat when I think of him, and when I close my eyes it’s his beautiful, deep blue orbs I see behind my own heavy lids. His cinnamon scent has managed to fuse deep in my core and is all I can smell. I have to force myself to not think of him because I was here with Katsu to protect Ben. I won’t be able to do that if I slip up and Katsu finds out about him. Katsu will happily kill us both if he suspects anything.

  I awake in the morning with Katsu sleeping behind me, his chest to my back. His right hand is on my left breast and his right leg is between my scissored legs. I try to gently break his hold, but he just tightens his, beginning to stir.

  “Good morning, treasure.” He starts kissing my back and maneuvers his body so I can feel his erection. “I can’t wait to make you mine in every sense of the word, sweetheart”.

  “Good morning, honey.” Katsu immediately rolls me to my back and starts kissing my mouth and my neck. Internal cringe.

  “You called me ‘honey’. Thank you, Anna.”

  “Is that okay?” He told me he wanted me to give him a pet name and that’s the one I picked. I don’t think he would have cared for me calling him ‘dead mother fucker’.

  “Thank you.” He keeps kissing down my neck and starts lifting the t-shirt I’m wearing. His hands were starting to become too adventurous. I let out a small sigh and he stops immediately. He looks at me with hurt in his evil eyes.

  “I understand you’re not ready yet, but I’m not going to wait too much longer either, Anna”. Thankfully he gets up and leaves me lying in bed, while he goes to the bathroom to have a shower.

  I’m still in bed when Katsu comes into the bedroom with a towel slung low on his hips, barely held up by his defined V. If he wasn’t so evil, and if I didn’t want to kill him, I probably would have found him insanely attractive.

  “Today you need to go shopping to buy a dress appropriate for the meeting.”

  “What’s wrong with the clothes I have?” I sit up in bed as he strolls over to the walk-in wardrobe to get his clothes. When he turns, I see the tattoo covering his entire back. The tattoo is very intricate and I don’t get a chance to study it.

  But seeing as Katsu’s Yakuza, the tattoo might hold the key to what role he plays and how high up in the organization he actually is. I’m going to have to get him out of his shirt so I can examine the complex and tangled work of art.

  He comes back out holding a suit and sees me still in bed. He smiles at me and places the suit on the chair before he saunters over to the bed. He sits next to me and starts kissing down the side of my neck. I tilt my head to give him better access.

  “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with those gorgeous dresses you wear for me, but they’re not appropriate for the meeting I’m taking you to. I’ll have a store account set up for you at Prada. Please purchase whatever you want. However, whatever you choose must show respect and not too much skin. Your job is to be at my side for this meeting. I’ll fill you in on more of the rules later. Please have a shower while I get breakfast organized,” he says in his usual commanding tone.

  I smile and decide not to say anything, because I really need to be involved at this meeting to find out what the fuck this man’s doing in St. Cloud and how much danger Ben is in.

  I take my shower at record-breaking speed. I really want to get back to Katsu, so we can get this day started and get to the meeting sooner.

  Katsu tells me that until we discuss a security detail further, I’m going to have at least one Security Guy near me. Today, he assigned the guard that had driven me in the cart at the airport.

  I came to learn his name’s Tyler.

  Tyler has dark hair and brown eyes. He’s taller than I am, six feet tall. His complexion is fair; his body’s toned and very muscular. His eyes, though, tell me he’s very aware and wary of all his surroundings. They hold suspicion and questions; they dart everywhere, and he barely makes contact with me. I know he’s hiding something from me, and from Katsu.

  Now I’m going to do what I always do–observe and gather information.

  “If harm comes to Anna, harm will come to you. Do you understand?” Katsu warns Tyler.

  Tyler nods in the affirmative and stands two feet behind me.

  “Take her to Prada. Do not let her out of your sight,” Katsu orders Tyler. Katsu strolls over to me and gives me a kiss on the cheek. “Buy whatever you want. I set up a Prada account for you while you were in the shower. You can buy as much or as little as you like. But you must purchase something special for the meeting later on. Make sure it’s respectable.” Katsu ends the conversation and turns to exit the room leaving me and Tyler standing there. What a fucker.

  “Honey,” I start before he reaches the door, “thank you.” I wander over to him and give him a chaste kiss on the lips. He pulls me to him and deepens the kiss.

  “You’re more than welcome,” Katsu whispers in my ear before he leaves.

  Tyler and I silently make our way down to the parking garage. Tyler’s looking everywhere but at me.

  What is it about Tyler I just can’t place? Why is he so evasive and almost nervous?

  “Tyler, seeing as you and I will probably be spending a lot of time together, let me introduce myself properly, Anna Moore.” I put my hand out to shake his. I expect that ever familiar snake-bit feeling of dread and evil when he takes my hand.

  “Tyler,” he says and offers me no surname. But what surprises me most about this encounter, is I don
’t get that serpent bite reaction. As a matter of fact, his hand is cool and clammy. Just like Agent’s was when I first met him.

  “How long have you worked for Katsu?” I’m totally intrigued and now my interest in Tyler has increased.

  “Long enough.” His response is neutral.

  “Do you know who I am?” I’m interested in his reaction.

  “You’re Mr. Vang’s very close companion,” he answers discreetly. He doesn’t meet my eyes and his response is still restrained.

  “What else do you know about me?”

  “Nothing.” His reaction is almost immediate, but his eyes widen a touch, his shoulders tighten and he holds in his breath. Tyler’s lying about something. I need to know who he is.

  We get to the bullet-proof car that’s been assigned to me and he doesn’t say a word. His face is impassive, but his eyes tell another story. I try my hardest to get a read on him, but he’s a very difficult person to see behind his coffee-colored irises.

  Tyler ignores traffic rules and parks right out in front of the Prada store. The store front is simple and elegant. It takes up the entire bottom floor of the building and has crisp lines of white and various creams.

  The carpet’s rich and luxurious and the walls filled from top to bottom with back-lit, thick-cut glass shelves. The shelves hold bags, totes and clutches in an array of colors sitting at exactly the right angle to capture a shopper’s eye.

  There are two large, blush-pink sofas to the right, and to the left there are two more sofas in the identical shade. On the right of the store there are racks and racks of shoes.

  Behind the counter, a well-dressed woman who appears to be in her early thirties, is finishing up a transaction with another customer.

  Tyler stands at the door in a foreboding stance. Arms by his side, chest out, and feet hip-width apart–definitely a military bearing. Curious. The scowl on his face leaves no doubt he’ll hurt anyone who crosses him or me.

  The woman who was serving the other customer approaches me, and her eyes don’t leave mine. She’s assessing me, but isn’t forming an opinion about me yet.