The McGregor Affair
174
174
When he entered her room and found it empty he felt something was wrong. When he saw her purse still on the bed, all the contents still tucked inside, along with her room key, he knew something was wrong.
“Where is she,” Gavin snapped as he saw Warren sitting in the hotel meeting room going over the upcoming filming schedule with Jerry.
“I’m assuming you’re talking about London. I gave everybody the night off,” Warren didn’t bother to look up. “Maybe she’s in her room, or out on the town.”
Gavin was well past being the non-violent investigator here.
London was missing, and he wanted to know where she was. If he had to break a few of their bones to find out he would do just that.
“I saw her leaving with Nick,” Jerry looked over at him briefly.
“Sorry, Charlie, but I think maybe you’ve been replaced.”
“What are you talking about?” If they had done something to her not even Drake would be able to stop him from ripping them apart.
“He was holding her arm.” He turned his attention back to the meeting he and Warren had been having.
This was bad. They knew Nick was deeply locked in this game.
They had learned that much from their D.C. guy, but even he hadn’t known who the other players were. He didn’t know if the other contact on the show was the director, a lighting assistant, or the producer. All he knew was that it wasn’t London. He knew there had been a lot of Capri Montgomery
175
175
chatter about keeping her so busy she wouldn’t have time to notice the things that were going on around her.
“Drake, we have to find her.”
“She still has the necklace,” he reminded him. “If she’s wearing it, we can track her.”
“Let’s go.” He raced out of the hotel. Sully was still parked outside the door in the rental they had picked up.
“I swear if they hurt her I’m going to kill every last one of them.” He growled as he tried to get the computer to register her position faster.
“Calm down, Gavin,” Sully reminded him. “You have to keep a level head or you’ll blow this thing wide open.”
“I don’t give a fuck about this case. I need her alive and safe,” he barked.
“And without a level head you won’t get either.” Sully’s voice remained smooth and easily detached. Gavin nearly cursed the man.
Did he have any feelings for anybody? Was he that stone cold hard that he couldn’t care about a hostage? He shook his head. He hoped to God he never ended up like the man. He may be a world class warrior, but he had a heart of stone.
“We’re going to find her,” Drake interjected some civility in a situation that was about to blow like Mount St. Helens. “But when we do, we have to do this right otherwise she won’t make it out, Gavin. Do you understand what I’m saying here?” The McGregor Affair
176
176
Gavin ran his hand through his hair, blowing out a sharp breath of silent defeat. “Yeah, I hear you.”
“That’s not what I asked you. I know you hear me, but do you understand me, Marine?”
Drake taking him back to his full on military days was his way of telling him he needed to follow orders for the good of the team, for the safety of all of them, and for the success of the mission. He was appealing to him to remember that military training. He planed to remember it just fine. His hand to hand combat was top notch. He could think of more than a hundred ways to kill in five seconds flat. If they had hurt her, he wouldn’t hesitate to use the ones that would deliver the most pain.
“Do you understand me, Marine?” Drake barked the question as if he were leading his team through another war.
“Yes, Sir,” he saluted. “Just so long as you understand me,” he leveled his tone, trying to bring in his anger. “If they’ve hurt her you won’t be able to stop me from killing every single one of them.” He looked at the monitor in his hand and compared it to the map. “There,” he pointed. “The coordinates lead there.” Assuming she still had on the necklace they would be heading to the right location. He prayed that she was still alive by the time they got there.
Gavin watched from his hidden location, powerless to take action. Every part of him wanted to run down there and rescue her, but Capri Montgomery
177
177
he couldn’t, not without giving away their position. He was thinking clearly until he saw that bastard punch London in the face. That’s when he lost his level head, his attention to duty and honor became focused on revenge.
“No,” Drake put a strong hand over his shoulder to make him stay low. “We can’t make a move because whoever that is in the shadows has perfect view of our only way down.”
“He hit my woman,” the rage seeped from his voice.
“I know. We’ll get him, but we need to think clear. If we run down there now we risk everything, including her life.”
“I don’t have a clear shot,” Sully reminded him. “I can’t see the bastard in that corner well enough.”
“You stay,” Drake ordered.
He heard Drake’s words, he saw Sully confirm that things were as they had to be, but when the bastard hit her again he found himself having a hard time listening to those words.
They had clear view of a few of their enemies, including Nick and Michelle—he hadn’t seen that one coming after the intelligence they got in D.C., although he did suspect maybe she was involved.
Jack, now that was one guy he had almost dismissed from the list—almost, but Gavin never dismissed anybody until he had full conformation that he should do so. There were at least two others, and both were hidden in the shadows. Judging from the weapons perched against the wall he would say Drake and Sully was right, they needed The McGregor Affair
178
178
to think clearly because if even one of those bastards got a hold of that gun they could be dead in seconds—then where would that leave London? Dead; which is exactly what he didn’t want to happen to her.
He was trying desperately to remember the need for control—control that was in serious danger of breaking.
“Tell me what he knows about us!”
“I don’t know!”
But she did know, and it was only a matter of time before that jerk would figure it out. She knew almost everything. She knew enough to put those men on high alert, to make them scrap their plans and run scared.
He watched as Jack pulled a six inch blade from his briefcase.
“I could cut it out of you…piece by piece.” He slid the blade along her face, her collarbone, her breasts, as if he were just waiting for his pressure to take a slice out of her.
“Damn it Drake I can’t leave her down there.” He watched the blade being worked closer to her neck again. “If I knew I’d tell you! I swear if I knew I’d tell you!”
“Perhaps,” Jack backed away from her. “But perhaps you love him too much to think sensibly.” He placed the knife on the table before coming back to her and backhanding her.
“Why are you doing this? You were so upset about Grant’s death, about the accidents on the set.” Capri Montgomery
179
179
“Money, honey.” He laughed. “It’s always about the money.
And once I tie up loose ends I’ll have all the money I need.” He laughed once again. “I guess I was rather convincing wasn’t I? Maybe I should have been the actor and not the cameraman…but then I would have been prime suspect. Nobody would have ever suspected that Jack, the timid assistant cameraman who tripped over his own feet could be in control of the situation. Nobody would ever suspect that Nick answered to me, and not the other way around. Nobody would ever suspect that Michelle is my lover and not Jerry’s. No…I played my part well. Until Grant came along and fouled things up.” He reached out to touch her face and she immediately recoiled.
He laughed. “Thought I was going to hit you again, huh?” He laughed again as he touched her cheek. “Grant asked too many questions. He always asked them of you, the poor, unsuspecting damsel that he thought you were. He never suspected you. Although I had hoped he would.”
“You knew who he was from the start?”
“No, I suspected, but I didn’t know. I caught him following Nick one day. That’s the thing about being a one man operation; he didn’t have eyes in the back of his head. While he was shadowing Nick, I was shadowing him.”
“You killed him?”
“I just collect the money, honey. I leave the dirty work to the others. Nick took care of Grant. He took care of your friend too.”
“My friend?”
The McGregor Affair
180
180
“Climber guy…what was his name…” he paused for effect.
“Doesn’t matter. He was climbing in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and he saw something he shouldn’t have. Do you know he had made it all the way to the top? We picked that spot because it was isolated, and out of nowhere comes this guy. We couldn’t chance him talking, and climbing accidents…well they happen all the time. I’m sure you’re aware of that.” He stroked a hand through her hair, over her cheek and across her shoulders. “I have to admit, we owe this setup to him. With that kill we had the perfect idea how to conduct our business.
This travel show,” he laughed. “Warren thought it was his idea, but the right people planted the right messages and the show was born. It wasn’t hard to get ourselves on this show. I do have a Masters degree in film you know,” he laughed. He was obviously proud of himself. “I even made sure the possibility of a female lead was planted in Warren’s mind. You just have to know the right things to say to that man and he thinks all the ideas are his own.
“I thought a female lead would be easier, wouldn’t get suspicious, but I was wrong. You weren’t easier. You had this way of mentioning things—like our numerous disappearing acts over lunch.” He slipped his fingers through her hair again. “Your mouth got that Grant guy killed. You see, while you may have thought Jerry was in with Michelle all that time, Grant was smart enough to figure it out.
Jerry’s washed up. He was taking naps on his lunch break, not spending time with Michelle. Oh, we thought it was perfect that they be seen Capri Montgomery
181
181
going off together. Jerry loved the idea when she suggested it. He was so hell bent on nobody knowing he could barely keep his eyes open during the shoots that he didn’t question why she would help him try to deceive everybody.” He shrugged, very nonchalantly as if none of what they had done mattered. “If he only knew we already knew…but then that would have ruined our plans.”
He motioned to one of the men standing in the corner. “I’m done talking. It’s your turn to tell me what I want to know, or I’ll let Ranger take a crack at you. Trust me; that sweet little body of yours won’t survive him.”
Gavin watched as one of the men stepped into the dimly lit room. The big muscled baboon looked familiar—too familiar. “He’s one of Sabian’s, I’m sure of it,” he said. He remembered hearing that codename before…and the look of the man fit a description he had heard floating around. With that jagged scar down his right cheek, Gavin knew it had to be the same guy.
“Yeah, I’ve seen him with Sabian in the past…one of his soldiers.” Drake confirmed.
Minion was more like it, Gavin thought. A true soldier would never get involved in something like this, would never physically torture a woman. They were trained to have more integrity than that—at least he thought they were. Men like Ranger were a disgrace to the uniform, and to the country.
“If we can get to him then we can find out where Sabian is.” The McGregor Affair
182
182
“And we can kill him,” Gavin grumbled. He wanted Sabian dead, not alive. They just hadn’t been able to find him yet. Sabian was well shielded by government factions at the highest level. He wondered if those same men knew exactly what Sabian was planning…but then he remembered what had transpired with Thomas’ case and he was sure they had. Anything to start a war; that was their motto.
He watched the six foot four inch, three hundred pounds of muscle baboon walk closer to his woman, watched as he slid one massive hand up her thigh, over her breasts, squeezing and eliciting a sharp scream of pain from her.
“I’m going to kill him.” He tried to move. This time it took Drake and Sully to hold him in place.
“We might be waiting on Sabian, Gavin. Maybe he’s already here. I can’t make out who’s over there in the far corner. Just hold on.
Please? I know this is hard, but I promise you we will pick the bastards apart piece by piece as soon as we can.” Gavin felt the pressure of his hands curled into tight balls, ready to pummel somebody for what he was being forced to witness, and when the bastard punched London in the face again, when he saw the blood oozing out of her lip, he was ready to kill. He knew Drake and Sully were both right. There was at least one more person in that room.
Whoever it was had been standing in one of the darkened corners. He was smoking; Gavin knew that from the random glow that arched in a sweeping motion from his lips.
Capri Montgomery
183
183
Ranger wrapped his hand in London’s hair and yanked her head back. “You don’t have to be pretty for me to do what I plan to do to you,” he laughed.
She spoke in a dialect he didn’t understand, and neither did the two men with him. Gavin was sure it was Arabic. He had been in enough Middle Eastern countries to know the sound of the language, but he had never picked it up himself.
“What did you say?”
“I said, may the afterlife show you mercy, because God knows Gavin will not.” And then she spit in his face. Apparently not liking her words or her actions, the bastard hit her again, and again.
“That’s it. If you want to stop me you’ll have to shoot me.” He was nearly out of their hold when he heard her speak again.
“You can kill me, but you still won’t win.”
“I’ll win,” he heard another voice say before stepping into the light.
Senator McKinney? Was he seeing this with his own eyes?
“Guys?”
“Yeah, we see what you see,” Drake confirmed.
“I’ll get away, and you will die.”
“Gavin will hunt you to the ends of the earth and beyond,” she hissed.
“If it’s one thing I’ve learned over the years it’s that money will take you anywhere. He’ll never find me. besides, he’ll be too busy The McGregor Affair
184
184
regretting the fact that he couldn’t save you. Now, tell me what he knows.”
“He knows,” she grinned. “That you’re a spineless jackass.” That comment alone got her another slap in the face. He saw her head wrench to the side and then she straightened as if she refused to let the pain break her.
“Oh, my mistake. You’re a so-soon-to-be-dead spineless jackass.”
Once again she took a hand to the face.
She laughed. How could she laugh? “Hitting me won’t change what you are. Slime, lower than the dog crap on the bottom of my new boots—” She didn’t get a chance to finish her rant before he hit her again.
“You think this is funny? I’ll show you funny.” He hit her again, but when that didn’t seem to faze her he let Ranger take over again.
“Talk!”
When he eased up on the punches to her face and body she looked up, bruised and bloody. He had clearly taken pleasure in inflicting pain to some of her still existing bruises from her previous fall. “Why should I? You haven’t liked anything I’ve said yet.” One more heavy hand hit her, and hit her hard.
“Guys, please?” She wasn’t one of them. She wasn’t trained to stand up to torture. She shouldn’t have had to stand up
to it.
Capri Montgomery
185
185
“All right,” Drake snapped. “It’s clear to move. We get these bastards and maybe we can get one of them to tell us who the top man is.” Drake nearly barked. His tone was low, but no less lethal. “Sully cover us. Gavin, don’t go in there with guns blazing. We have to take at least one of them alive.”
“I’ve got Ranger,” he said. “And that bastard, Jack.”
“I’ll get the girl and the senator,” Drake confirmed. The girl in topic was their docile makeup artist, the woman who didn’t look like she could string a sentence together unless it involved makeup.
“I’ve got Nick and the other two guys covered from here. Any objections if I just shoot them all?”
“None,” they said in unison.
Descending the steps the old fashioned way went out the moment Nick alerted the preoccupied men that they had company.
Gavin jumped over the banister. He heard one shot from above and behind. That shot had stopped Jack from getting the gun.
It was time for a little of what he was known for, his hand to hand combat. Drake seemed to have the others taken care of, and considering the shots he kept hearing he would say Sully had taken out his share. Ranger was his.
He tossed his gun to the side just as Ranger looked as if he were contemplating going for one. He knew the action alone would prompt the man to reconsider. Ranger liked using his hands, liked inflicting pain. Well now it was his turn to experience pain.
The McGregor Affair
186
186
Just as he suspected, Ranger opted for a hand to hand battle, probably sure he could win.
Gavin instituted something he learned from his father—never attack first. If he attacked in anger then he gave Ranger the upper hand.
No, he would make the bastard come to him, on his terms. And when he did come to him, Gavin expertly evaded his first punch and returned the action with a solid open hand hit to his chest. The force of the contact knocked Ranger back. He was bigger, maybe even stronger, but Gavin was smarter. He would use all his training. He would kill him.
Men-of-Action-Seres-03 -The McGregor Affair Page 14