Alpha Agency Protectors 8
Witness Protection
By:
Scarlett Winters
Copyright 2020 Scarlett Winters
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any way or by any means. Including but not limited to recording, photocopying, any electronic methods, without the prior written consent of the publisher. This book is strictly a work of fiction, any references to persons, places or things are all completely fictional.
Warning: This book is for adult audiences.
Contents
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Chapter One- Elise
Chapter Two- Jason
Chapter Three- Elise
Chapter Four- Jason
Chapter Five- Elise
Chapter Six- Jason
Chapter Seven- Elise
Chapter Eight- Jason
Chapter Nine- Elise
Chapter Ten- Jason
Epilogue ~Elise
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Chapter One- Elise
I am walking down the hallway when I hear my name spoken. I stop outside of my stepfather’s office. I need to be quiet, I don’t want him to hear me outside of the door.
“I think it would be an excellent match. She is petite but curvy, with long curly brunette hair, brown eyes, and pretty features. She would make the perfect trophy wife.” He says and I watch as a slow smile crosses his face.
He is using me as barter in one of his deals and I don’t know what to do about it. This life is the only one I have ever known, the only home that I have ever had that had any kind of stability in it.
My mother has the worst taste in men, and we were always bouncing around from jerk to jerk until she landed Craig. He was everything that she ever wanted rich, powerful, and handsome. She didn’t care that he made his money in the illegal drug trade she just liked what he would buy for her and this mansion that we lived in. All of that changed on my 17th birthday.
I woke up to Craig standing over my bed, the menace in his face frightening.
“Where is she?” He had asked me through clenched teeth.
I told him I didn’t know what he was talking about and he told me that my mother was gone. She had stolen money from him and taken the clothes and jewelry he had bought her over the years and split.
I told him again I had no idea that she had left tears rolling down my face. He looked at me hard for a moment and then walked out of my room. I cried myself back to sleep. She had never returned. It turns out that she had hooked up with another dealer just a bit higher up on the food chain than Craig. She was untouchable. He couldn’t get revenge, and that made him fume. I was worried that he would throw me out, but he didn’t. I assumed her role in his life as hostess and the running of his home. He never tried to touch me, but he made me hostess at his parties and be on his arm during dirty business deals.
In exchange, I was allowed to buy whatever I wanted and live in style and wealth. We flew all over the world on a private jet and I had seen more of the world than most people years older than me. The one catch was that I was followed everywhere and not allowed to leave the house on my own. Now at age 19 I’m still under Craig’s thumb. I had no skills, no family, and nowhere to go. He had me right where he wanted me, and he knew it.
“This will set us even correct? The girl for the forgiveness of my debts.” He nods.
“Yes, of course, if you find that she is what you are looking for. I promise she is meek, beautiful, and an excellent hostess.”
I bristle as he describes me as meek. I can feel the barely contained violence in Craig, I have seen what happens when someone causes him displeasure. I am not meek, I am smart. Just biding my time until the right time to escape presents itself. Knowing that he is trying to sell me to the highest bidder that time might be now.
He finishes the conversation and hangs up the phone. I tiptoe my way back to my room. I don’t want him to find me eavesdropping, he will put a guard on me immediately and I will have no time to escape.
I walk back down the hall and see a tall dark-suited man standing outside of my room and feel my heart sink. It has already happened, he has posted a guard at my door.
Smiling at the man, I walk into my room and shut the door pulling my journal out from under my pillow. I love to write it is the one thing that keeps me sane in this strange existence of mine. One day when I am free of this place, I am going to write books. Reading and writing have been my solace, a way to get away from my regular life and fall into a better one.
I need to think of a way to getaway. Being homeless is better than being sold to someone to cover Craig’s debts.
*****
I stand with Craig on the steps of a magnificent home on the other side of town. Next to the beach I can hear the waves crashing. My escape attempt was foiled before it even began. It was as if he could read my mind. A guard was next to my bed when I awoke this morning, and someone was with me the entire time I was getting ready. There was no way I would be able to get away from them.
I smooth my hands down the ice blue of the satin dress I am wearing. He brought in hair and makeup people, a couture dress. I am all dolled up like the Barbie doll that I’m meant to represent.
“You look beautiful Elise.” Craig murmurs to me as we walk through the house to meet the man that is going to be my husband.
Craig calmly explained this to me before we left the house. I had two options to marry this man or die.
I agreed with all the meekness I could muster. Once Craig was gone, I would find a way to escape if it took months, even years, I would make my escape. My resolve is strong as we walk into a masculine study and I get a look at the man I am being forced to marry.
He is tall and slim with jet black hair and pale blue eyes. As I look into those eyes, there is nothing there. Like a shark they are cold and dead. A shiver runs through me. This is not a man to be trifled with. I am going to have to tread very carefully.
Chapter Two- Jason
I feel the adrenaline pumping through me and jump up and down a little in place to dispel it. This is always how it is before an op or before going into combat. The combination of thrill and worry that comes with going into a situation that you are not sure that you will be able to walk out of.
“Ok team this is the last debrief before we hit the house.”
“We are lucky tonight Bates is having dinner with Craig Fortini, another high-ranking member of the Bates crime family. We are getting two big fish for the price of one.”
I grin a little, this is my favorite part of the job getting to help the FBI take out slimeballs like these two. They use innocents for their own gain. Taking down these two players is going to cripple their organization.
I tune back in as the commander continues the briefing “Word from our informants is Fortini is setting up an arranged marriage for his daught
er, one Elise Stuart. She is the daughter of his former wife, Jessica Stuart. She ran off on him a few years ago and married up into another crime family. He has kept Elise and now is using her to pay off his debts to the Bates family. We aren't sure of her involvement in the illegal activities, but for our purposes she will be treated as an innocent. She might be able to testify and help put at least Fortini behind bars.
The commander flashes a map up on the screen of the large mansion where Bates and Fortini are having their dinner. It is the residence of Bates and heavily fortified. There is a good chance that a firefight will break out, but that is what we are trained for.
“All right team let’s move.” I hustle out to the waiting vans and get in with my other teammates.
“You ready to lock and load big daddy.” My best friend Chase and teammate says holding out his knuckles.
“Let’s do this,” I say knocking my knuckles against his.
****
I creep across the lawn of the expansive mansion, my commander whispering through my earpiece. The two front guards have been taken out, and we are quickly moving forward.
We bust through the front door, and the firing starts. The team leader is screaming orders in our ears and I duck behind a door, feeling bullet whiz by me. I take a quick look around for Chase, but he is nowhere to be seen. I hope he is ok and moves from my hiding place, taking out one of the guards and moving swiftly down the hallway. Bates will have a bolthole a different way out of the house and we need to get to him before he uses it.
I hear voices coming from a closed door. I kick it open and point my gun into the room. Three of my team spread out behind me, pointing guns at the occupants of the room.
“Commander we have them.” I keep my gun pointed at the men in the room. I recognize them from the photos at the briefing they weren’t able to escape in time. My eyes scan over them and then stop on the other occupant of the room.
Bates brings up a gun from behind his back. I take him down before he has time to get it past his waist. The sharpshooter training I had in the marines comes in handy in this job.
I swing the gun to Fortini and dare him with my eyes to make a move.
“Don’t make a move or you will join your, friend.”
I take my eyes off Fortini as agents and soldiers flood the room and get my first good look at the other occupant of the room.
I feel my breath whoosh out of my lungs as I take a long look down her body.
She is beautiful with long curly hair and curves to die for. She is dressed in a body-hugging ice blue gown that leaves nothing to the imagination and her large brown eyes are wide and scared.
This must be Elise Stuart, the daughter that Fortini was using as a bargaining chip. I knew that looks could be, but she looks innocent and scared.
The other members of my team cuff Fortini as I walk over and take Elise lightly by the arm.
Fortini looks over at her, his gaze hard on her face, “Not a word do you hear me? Not a word. Call my lawyer.” He says as he is dragged out of the room.
She looks down at the floor and just nods. Seeing her this way it makes my heart hurt. She waits until his back is turned, and then she lifts her head and glares at his back. This is no little damsel in distress, this girl has fire in her. The feeling of protectiveness inside of me grows. There is something about this woman that just calls to me. I want to protect her and make her mine.
It is a strange feeling I have never felt for a woman before and this is not the place to explore it.
I need to get her out of here and somewhere safe so she can be debriefed. If she is willing, she might be the key to taking down two of the biggest drug runners in the city.
“Miss, my name is Jason Archer I need you to come with me,” I say this gently, and she looks up at me. I am suddenly drowning in a big pair of chocolate brown eyes.
“Am I going to jail?” She asks looking from my hand on her arm back to my face.
I quickly take my hand from her arm and shake my head, “No, you are not going to jail I just want to take you somewhere safe.” I tell her, escorting her out of the room and out of the mansion.
She comes willingly and I slide into the waiting vehicle next to her. I am not leaving her, she needs to be protected and I know that I am the one to do it.
Chapter Three- Elise
It all happened so fast. One minute I am standing in the study being talked about like I am some piece of art and then next moment a handsome man is busting in and changing the course of my entire life. It happened so fast and it was frightening. He stood there with his gun pointed at us and I wasn’t sure if this was the end of my life or the beginning.
I can feel the warmth of his body as he sits next to me in the vehicle. My head is spinning with all that has just happened. Bates the man that I was being sold to for Craig’s debts was lying on the floor in a pool of blood, having been shot by this man who had entered the room swiftly and with the air of command.
I sneak a peek at the man he has dark close-cropped hair, gray eyes, a chiseled jaw, and muscles for days.
I feel a thrill run through my body. This man saved me, I hope that this is the first day in a new life and not just an interruption of my old one. I saw the way his eyes swept my form after Craig was handcuffed and led away. I have seen that look of lust on other men’s faces before, many times in my position as hostess. It is actually a surprise that this is the first time Craig has tried to sell me to the highest bidder. I contemplate that it may not be, and a shiver runs up my spine. The possessive way that this man looks at me though it makes me feel safe and protected unlike the way I felt when other men looked at me in the same way.
I know that Craig has money and power if he is released and I talk to these people about what I know, what I have seen, and overheard in the past few years I’m a dead woman. I need to get to my suitcase before anyone else does. It has proof of Craig’s bad business dealings an insurance policy I have been building since I was seventeen.
If Bates’ men go through my luggage….
“What are you thinking about so hard over there?” He asks putting his large warm hand over mine.
“Am I going to jail?” I asked, voicing the first fear that comes to my mind.
“Have you done something that warrants you going to jail?” His gray eyes bore into mine as if he can mine the truth with his stare.
“No, I had nothing to do with the illegal activity. I hosted a few, but that was it.”
I wasn’t ready to tell him about the evidence I gathered against Craig. He might make me feel safe, but this situation did not.
“Then you don’t have anything to worry about.”
“What about my things? My clothes, my journal.” I gasp out thinking about the journal that means more to me than anything tucked into my bag in the trunk of the car.
“We will retrieve your belongings. Can you tell me where they are?”
“They were in the back of Craig’s Mercedes the last time I checked. All I really want is the journal and maybe some clothes to wear.
My insurance, as well as all of my stories and thoughts, are in that journal, I need to get it back.
“I think that can be arranged.” He touches his ear and communicates to the agents still at the house to bring my things to what he calls the safe house.
“They will have to search for your luggage.” He says watching me for any signs of distress.
I shrug, “That’s fine. They won’t find anything interesting.
I had bought the journal from a local artist that I favored. Going to him and telling him what I needed. The flash drive was cleverly concealed in the spine of the journal, invisible to the naked eye. They wouldn’t find it and I wouldn’t give it to them until I was sure I would be safe.
“I am going to keep you safe. Nothing bad is going to happen to you Elise.” Jason says looking at me again, but with a softness in his eyes. There is something there between us, a tension that I can’t describe. All I kn
ow is that I feel safe in his presence and I desperately need to feel safe right now.
“Will you stay with me once we get to this safe house?” I ask, hating how weak and dependent I sound.
If this goes well and I get my freedom back I am going to throw off the mantle of the weak willing woman, I have portrayed these last few years and reveal the sassy and independent woman I am underneath. I will thrive in this new life and I am willing to give up anything about Craig to get it. I know that he has murdered people, I know that he lied, cheated, and stolen and now he is going to pay for his sins, and I am going to get a new life.
“Yes, I will stay with you no matter what,” Jason says, his mouth set in a firm line. I relax against my seat secure in the belief that for whatever reason this man feels as if he needs to protect me and for now until I know what is coming, I will take that protection but I am never going to be fully dependent on a man. I have seen what that got my mother and by extension me. I am never going to live that life again.
Chapter Four- Jason
We drive through the checkpoint on the base and drive up to the safe house that will be Elise’s home at least until it can be determined what if any role she played in the illegal activities of Craig Fortini.
“This way please,” I say to her, taking her arm and leading her inside the safe house.
“Someone will bring your bags over from the house after they are searched. Can I get you anything?”
She shakes her head and sits down on the couch in the living room of the safe house. I look down at the perfunctory surroundings. It isn’t what is she is used to I am sure of that but she doesn’t seem to even notice the surroundings she looks at her hands and seems lost.
Witness Protection (Alpha Agency Protectors Book 8) Page 1