“You can. Have you?”
The smile disappeared, but there was still amusement in his eyes. He pulled a thick sheaf of papers out of an inner pocket of his jacket and reached across the desk to set it in front of me. I picked it up. It was a court order instructing me to inform him as to the identity of my tip.
I bit my lip, holding back a groan.
“You don’t understand what you’re doing here. You could be putting a woman’s life in danger.”
“So could you.”
I looked sharply at him. “You have someone in the club?”
“The Red Door?” He hesitated a moment before inclining his head in a slight nod. “I have a source there, yes.”
“Then you know what goes on there. You know what could happen to my operative.”
“I know that Rahul Rush and Case Michaels are very dangerous men.” He tilted his head slightly. “You managed to put most of their crew in jail last night, but they’ll be out by dinner tonight. And your operative—whoever she might be—will disappear the moment they put two and two together, the moment they figure out she gave you that tip.”
“If they figure out it was her. They could point the finger at your source just as easily.”
“Our source is covered.”
I was quiet a moment, trying to figure out who they might have in their pocket. If he was that confident, it probably wasn’t a dancer. But who else?
“I really don’t want to compromise your operative. I want to warn you that we have a major operation going on at that club and your interference could potentially ruin a year’s worth of effort. You need to pull your operative and close your case on this club.”
“And if we don’t?”
“I can have you arrested for interference in a federal case.”
“Can I ask you one thing?”
His smile came back once more, a slow smile that suggested he was amused by my persistence.
“What is that?”
“Are you after Rush for sex trafficking, or are you after someone else? Or something else?”
He was quiet for a long moment, his eyes dropping to his lap. When he finally looked up, there was a mask of resolve on his handsome face.
“All I can tell you is that we plan on taking down Rush, Michaels, and anyone else we can connect to the illegal business being conducted in that club barring any more interference from you and your firm.” He tilted his head slightly. “Does that answer your question?”
“Yes,” I said, a charming smile of my own touching my lips. “It certainly does.”
***
“That’s Rahul Rush,” I said, jabbing my finger at the television screen. “And I believe that’s Xavier Damico beside him.” The image was a blurry, but I was certain I was right. “We’ve been calling the operatives assigned to watch over Audra and they aren’t answering their phones. I think she was made.”
“What do you want to do about it?” Ash asked.
“There’s a little wrinkle.” I turned and wrapped my arms around myself. “The FBI is running some sort of operation out of the club. They have a snitch inside, probably a few undercovers as well.”
Ash and Emily exchanged a look.
“How do you know?” Emily asked.
“Special Agent Mike Spencer came to see me and admitted to that much, but not much more.”
Ash crossed his arms over his chest, too, watching me closely. “What did he say, exactly?”
“He wanted me to tell him who my source was on the shipment last night. Even had a court order. But he left without getting a name.”
“That’s strange.”
“It’s because he got what he wanted just through his questioning of me.”
“What do you mean?” Emily asked.
“I think he was more interested in knowing if we had an operative in the club, not who it was. My guess is, they already know who she is. And I think that’s because they know where she is.”
“How would he know that?”
“Because I think his inside person is the one who has her.”
I let that sink in for a second. Then I stepped back to the television and tapped my finger against the screen over the face of Xavier Damico.
“He mentioned Rahul Rush by name and Case Michaels, both former members of the Mahoney Cartel, both leaders in the faction we’ve been investigating in this case. He never mentioned Selena Mahoney or Xavier Damico even though either one would have been on the tip of any agent’s tongue in this case. They are both known associates of the Mahoneys, both likely involved in the illegal activity taking place in and around that club. Why not mention them?”
Ash shook his head. “I think you’re reading too much into it.”
“I don’t,” Emily announced.
We both looked at her. She scratched the side of her face, a gesture she often made when she was deep in thought. Then she met my eyes.
“I think you’re right. I think your FBI agent was trying to communicate something to you without actually saying it. I think he knows we can help each other.”
“How?”
That was the question. We stared at each other for a long moment as we tried to figure it out. Before we did, however, the conference room door burst open and Jules, her face pale, walked in.
“Two of our missing operatives showed up a local hospital with injuries consistent with a severe beating,” she said gravely. “Apparently, they were found in an alley because of an anonymous tip. If the tip hadn’t been called in, they might have laid there and died.”
I looked sharply at Ash. He nodded.
“Alright. But our priority has to be finding Audra Johnson.”
I didn’t stop to acknowledge him. I was out the door before he’d finished speaking.
Chapter 15
Xavier
I steeled myself as I marched up the stairs, tugging at my tie in fear that they’d be able to see something askew about my dress and figure out that I hadn’t done what I promised I would. Rahul, as I expected, was standing in the corridor by the one-way mirrors, staring down at Ali as he finished the afternoon prep. We were due to open in less than an hour. There were half a dozen waitresses down there setting up the tables, preparing for the night’s chaos, but Rahul’s eyes were glued to Ali.
“He’s odd. Have you ever noticed that?”
“He’s a good bartender.”
“He’s a fruitcake.”
I shrugged. “At least it keeps him from hitting on the girls like our last bartender.”
Rahul glanced at me, his eyes raking over my clothes like he was looking for a stitch out of sorts. “How did it go?”
“Fine.”
“You got rid of her?”
“I said I would.”
We’d argued about it last night. Rahul wanted to go to her apartment, gun her down in her own bed. I convinced him that it was a bad idea, that the police would come to The Red Door first, assuming it was an obsessed customer or one of us. A manager who was angry she wouldn’t put out. Either way, The Red Door would be the first place the police would sniff around, and that was something we couldn’t risk. He agreed, but then suggested we could steal her out of her bed and take her somewhere else, make her disappear.
“She’s mine,” I said. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Like I’d trust you to make a woman disappear.”
“I’ve done it before. I can do it again.”
And I did. Just not how he expected.
“If I find out she’s still breathing out there somewhere…”
“She’s gone, Rahul. She can’t betray any of us again.” I leaned into him. “Do you really think I’d let her go? I have just as much to lose in this as you do.”
Rahul studied me a long moment, then nodded, turning his attention back to Ali. “I still think there’s something odd about him. He’s so happy all the time.”
I turned to find Selena watching from the doorway of my office. I walked over to her, sliding my hand ov
er her hip. She followed me inside, closing the door firmly as she did.
“How did it go?”
“As well as expected.”
“How the fuck did you hire a cop?”
I spun on my heel and met her gaze, distrust glowing in her blue eyes.
“This is my fault? You didn’t see her that day, didn’t assess her alongside me?”
“It’s not my job to decide who’s corrupt and who isn’t. It’s my job to make sure you stay on the straight and narrow, so to speak.”
“You can tell your uncle everything’s still on track.”
“He won’t like this. He won’t like the idea that there was a cop in his club, even if she didn’t get anything more than that idiot’s shipment.”
“I don’t suppose there’s much he can do from where he’s at.”
“He doesn’t need to, sweetheart,” she said, moving up behind me again. I felt the distinct shape of a gun barrel against the small of my back. “There are still plenty of people out in the real world willing to do his dirty work. That includes my brothers.” She slid her tongue along the back of my ear. “And I understand they really like your mom. It’ll be a pity if they have to hurt her.”
I stiffened, my heart in my throat.
“Like I said, everything’s still on track.”
“It had damn well better be.”
She slammed the door shut, leaving me alone. But I knew I wasn’t truly alone. Rahul’s fancy detector may not have found them, but I knew there were bugs and cameras throughout the room. I knew they were watching me, both the bad guys and the good. And I knew the tight rope I was walking.
Thanks, Dad.
It was my father’s legacy that had put me here and it would be his legacy that would end it all. I just had to survive long enough to see the end.
For the first time since this began, I was beginning to doubt that I would.
Chapter 16
Joss
I stripped to my bra and panties and searched through my closet for something that would work. I needed sexy, but not too sexy. I wanted to look like a woman out on the town, someone who might be interested in walking into a strip club but not stick out like a sore thumb.
What did the hot, young lesbians dress like these days?
“Why the hell couldn’t you pick up Aidan today?”
I didn’t even look at him. I knew he was still angry with me from the other night, but I didn’t have time to rehash the whole thing right now. I kept searching through my clothes and that seemed to piss him off. He came over and grabbed my wrist, tugging me around so that we were standing face to face.
“What’s going on?”
“We had an incident at the office. I have to go out again.”
“What incident?”
“You know I can’t tell you.”
Carrington’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t or you won’t?”
“Please, don’t do this now. I don’t have time.”
“When would be a good time to do it, Joss?”
I tried to pull away, but he was holding my wrist too tight. I could smell brandy on his breath, knew he’d been drinking since he came through the front door. Had I kept him from some urgent appointment today?
“What’s her name?”
He shoved me as he let go of my hand with a look of disgust. “I’m pissed that you forced me to cancel an important meeting and you automatically jump to the conclusion that I was going to cheat on you again? The trust!” He waved his hands around himself. “It’s overwhelming, Joss, really overwhelming.”
“I don’t have time for this.”
I turned back to the closet and grabbed a simple black dress I hadn’t worn in a very long time. It was short, a sheer fabric that had just enough attached slip inside to cover the important places, but left a lot of skin revealed. I’d bought it to wear to a business dinner Carrington took me to not long after we’d gotten married. He couldn’t keep his hands off of me all night. I couldn’t remember how the meeting went, but I often thought about the passion that erupted in the back of limo that night.
I missed that part of our lives.
I slipped it over my head, working off my bra before slipping my arms through the cap sleeves. I bent to pick up a pair of heels and started for the door. Carrington stepped between me and the door before I could leave, his eyes dark, unreadable, as he looked me over.
“Where are you going dressed like that?”
“Out.”
“With who?”
“It’s business, Carrington, I told you that. I’ll have a couple of operatives with me.”
“There’s no business that could possibly require you to dress like that.”
There was something about the way he said it, the implication that came along with it. I raised my hand to slap him, but he grabbed my wrist and twisted me around, shoving me up against the door.
“You didn’t mind when I wore this to seduce your client!”
“It wasn’t the client you were seducing that night.” He moved closer, his lips so close to the side of my face that I felt bathed in brandy. “If you’d put this much effort into me these days…”
I cried out, trying to slap him again, but he had my arms pinned to the door. And then his lips were tracing a path over the curve of my jaw. I turned my head away, but that just gave him a longer trail to follow. He was patient in a way he hadn’t been in a long while, his lips teasing as much as taking as they moved from my jaw to my throat, the trail sliding down toward the heavy cleavage revealed by the built-in support of the dress. I couldn’t help the sigh that slipped from between my lips when his teeth found my hardened nipple, biting down hard enough to offer a slight bit of pain and pleasure.
He moved back up and stole my lips, his kiss hard and filled with need, his body just as hard, just as desperate for my touch. He let go of my wrists and I slipped my arms around him, my fingers teasing the hair at the back of his neck. He lifted me up and carried me to the bed, falling carefully with my body trapped beneath his. I tugged at his shirt, at his slacks, trying to get rid of some of the clothing that was keeping us apart. He did the same, his hand sliding under my dress to tug at my panties, his fingers brushing places that stood up and screamed for him to come back, for him to touch some more.
“Please!” I moaned softly against his lips.
After seven years together, he should have felt so familiar. But he didn’t. Not tonight. He was new and he was fresh, like it was the first time we’d ever touched. I ached everywhere for him and I’m sure he felt the same if the bruising touch of his fingers said anything. He ripped my panties at almost the same moment I finally managed to get my fingers inside his slacks, my hand seeking the erection I could feel so eager against my belly. I wanted him inside of me with a need I’d forgotten, a need that was dampened by the realities of life.
I drew him to me, cried out when he slid inside of my body. He lay still for a moment, his breathing so hard, his grip on my body tight. When he began to move, darkness threatened the edges of my vision, my need that intense. And the pleasure… how could I have ever thought this could be routine? Boring, even?
We rocked together, our bodies finding a rhythm that was ours alone. He kissed me again, his lips warm and kind, the kindest they’d been to me since everything exploded all those months ago. For an instant, we were us again, the Carrington and Joss we were before the disappointment of failed infertility treatments, before the betrayals and the lies. We were good again for those few, fleeting moments.
But then it was done and he lay back on the bed, his thoughts once again closed to me as he stared up at the ceiling. I reached for his hand and he pulled away, rolling into a sitting position.
“I should go check on Aidan.”
He left me there alone in the aftermath, the full intensity burning through me until tears began to burst from my throat. It took a moment for me to pull myself together. I got up and washed my face, reapplying what little makeup I wore with han
ds that shook. I slipped out of the house without seeing anyone, still wearing that sexy little black number.
Maybe it would make a difference at the club because it wasn’t doing anything for me here.
Chapter 17
Xavier
He was sitting in the same VIP booth he always sat in. I saw him eyeing one of the waitresses, saw when his hand snaked out and gave her a resounding slap on the ass. I flinched despite myself, wanting to go over there and tell that ass a thing or two. But I’d worked too hard to get to this point. I couldn’t blow it now.
I paused at the bar and signaled to Ali for a drink. There was a beautiful blonde at the far end, a black dress poured over her curves. She was watching me, a soft smile on her lips. I inclined my head as I picked up my drink and downed it in one swallow.
I was going to need fortification for what came next.
“Mitchell!”
I held out my hands as I walked over. He stood, smiling broadly, the kind of smile that came with a free bottle of vodka. Expensive vodka at that. I took his hand, intending to shake it, but he pulled me in for a hug.
“How are you, Xavier? Good, I hope. This club…” He looked around, waving his hand like he hadn’t just been in here a few days ago. “Your father would be proud.”
Bile rose in my throat. Like that was really something I strove to achieve.
“How’s life, Mitchell?”
“Good.” He sat back down, making room for me to join him. “The wife is pissed again, something about a dinner party I was supposed to attend. I gave her my gold card. That should shut her up for a while.”
I forced a smile, aware that he was looking for a male camaraderie sort of thing. But, again, the bile was right there.
The waitress came over and bent close, a smile on her pretty lips that didn’t quite touch her blue eyes. “Can I get you something, Mr. Damico?”
I shook my head quickly, wanting to move her on before Mitchell slapped her ass again. It was perfect timing because the lights dimmed just then and the MC announced the next performance: Marigold. Her real name was Edith. She was a tall, lanky woman from upstate New York, one of the few dancers who was American-born. But she was good, graceful, the kind of dancer that made the club look classier than it really was.
Gray Wolf Security: Back Home Page 11