“After that, Carter came to see me whenever he could, and I loved that Justin had a good, male role model to look up to as he grew. I was only nineteen, almost twenty, when Carter came back into my life. For the next few years my life revolved around Justin and my job as a high school social studies teacher. When Justin was ten, I tried dating this guy who one of my friends set me up with. He was nice, but when he wanted to take our relationship to the next level, I just couldn’t. I started to get stressed out over it. Here I was, twenty-six years old and thinking I was never going to have a normal relationship with a guy.
“One day, Carter was visiting and I broke down crying about it. He’d been in the lifestyle for a few years at that point and thought I’d benefit from it.” She snorted. “I thought he was bat-shit crazy. But then he had me research it for a few months and also hooked me up with a chat group where submissives interested in the lifestyle could ask questions of experienced subs. I found quite a few of them were victims of rape, and they explained how the lifestyle gave them the control they’d lost.” She took a sip of coffee, and Jordyn was in awe of how strong the woman was, and the lengths Carter had gone through to make sure his foster sister was taken care of.
“Once I finally agreed to try it, Carter vetted a few Doms who lived in the area who were looking for a submissive, and introduced me to them. That’s how I met Joe—we just clicked. At first, there was no sex—he showed me how I could release my stress with non-sexual play—exercise, yoga, meditation—and how to take control over my mind and body when it came to having a relationship. Over the months that followed, we fell in love, and I was able to overcome my fear of sex. Joe collared me a year later, and it was another year before we got married. There aren’t many clubs in the area, but that was okay with us—neither of us wanted to practice among others in the community. We were content to keep it at home.”
Vicki grimaced. “Wow, that was way more than you were probably expecting when I opened my mouth. Sorry. I just wanted you to know Carter is one of the most respectable, loyal, caring men in the world and he would never hurt you. I would love for him to find someone special—someone he can truly be himself with.”
Jordyn’s mind was spinning again. Here was a woman who’d been violated in the worst way a woman can be, and she found comfort and love in the BDSM lifestyle. Jordyn’s past wasn’t the same, but the lack of control over her life had been there. What would it be like to hand over all the stress of my past and my missions to Carter for him to ease? What would it be like to alleviate his stress, too? Could I do that? Jordyn wasn’t sure, but for the first time, she was seriously considering it.
* * *
“You didn’t have to come, Uncle T.” Justin was pale, and the whites of his eyes were slightly jaundiced. Hooked up to IVs, oxygen, and a bunch of monitors, the kid was taking it all in stride. He should be hanging out with his friends, dating some pretty girl, and planning his future. Instead, he was fighting for his life.
Sitting in the chair next to the hospital bed, Carter smiled at him. “Did you honestly think I wouldn’t, little buddy?” The old nickname no longer fit the young man who stood six foot one and would be entering his twenties next year—God willing.
“No. You’ve always been there for me.”
A knock sounded at the door, and Carter glanced over his shoulder. Jake stuck his head in. “Ready?”
He held up two fingers. “Give me a few, and I’ll be out.”
“Kay.”
Turning back, Carter nodded at Joe, who was standing on the other side of the bed. The man gestured with his hand for his brother-in-law to give Justin the news. Leaning forward, Carter laid his hand on top of his nephew’s. “Listen, buddy. We . . . um . . . found a donor for you.” He forced a smile and lied through his teeth. “He’s a nice guy, works in a prison in California, and was on the donor list—he’s sort of paying it forward.”
Despite his weakness, Justin’s face lit up. “Really? That’s great! Wow, we didn’t expect it to be that fast. Does Mom know?”
“Yes, she does . . . and it really is great. Anyway, instead of going to the hospital there, he decided to fly up here. He’s . . . uh . . . outside and wants to meet you first. Is that okay?”
“Yeah, of course! Why wouldn’t it be?”
Carter shrugged. “Just checking. Um . . . there’s one other thing. You know about my job with the government, right?” As far as Justin knew, his uncle was an FBI agent. Carter hadn’t wanted the kid to know he tortured and killed people for a living, so that was as close to the truth as he could get. When Justin nodded, he continued. “Well, this case awhile back . . . we think a guy wants to get revenge against me for putting his brother in prison.” Yeah, another lie. “I wanted to make sure you all were safe, so I hired a private security company to watch over you until we find this guy. The owners of the company are friends of mine, and they sent up a few men to be bodyguards for you and your mom.”
“What about Joe?”
The boy’s stepfather grinned. “I’ve got the whole Sheriff’s Department covering my six, kiddo, you know that. Like your Uncle T. said, we’re just taking extra precautions. Hopefully, it won’t be for long.”
“Right,” Carter agreed. “But this also means I can’t stay for the operation. We have a lead on this guy, and I’ve got to check it out. Joe and your mom will give me updates every hour until I get back, all right?”
Justin shrugged. “Yeah. I mean, it’s not like I’m going to be awake for it anyway, right? Yeah, Uncle T., it’s fine. You just be careful, okay?”
“You bet.” He stood. “I’m just going to check with the guards outside and then I’ll bring your donor back in.”
“What’s his name?”
Carter swallowed hard, averting his gaze so his nephew wouldn’t see the hate in his eyes. “Uh . . . John Osgood. I’ll go get him.” Not even blinking at the fake name, Joe just dipped his chin once, acknowledging he understood the reason Carter had given Osbourne an alias.
Striding out into the hallway, he saw Jake and Tap Corrigan flanking their charge who had a sweatshirt over his cuffed hands, hiding them. McCabe and Morrison stood on either side of the door to Justin’s room. Carter glanced around and spotted a linen closet. Grabbing Osbourne by the arm, he dragged the guy into it and shut the door behind him.
“What the fuck?” the bastard spat as he was shoved against a rack of clean blankets and sheets.
Carter got into the man’s face, letting him see the hate and rage in his glare, yet keeping his voice low and deadly. “This is just a fucking reminder. You have five minutes, not a second more. You don’t say one word about being related to him in any way and you’ve never met his mother or stepfather. His name is Justin. I told him your name is John Osgood, you’re a guard at Folsom, and you just happened to be on the donor list. Told him you were paying it forward for some reason—make up whatever you want. So help me, God, do not make me hurt you, got it?”
“Yeah, I fucking got it. John Osgood, prison guard, not related. Got it.” He held up his cuffed hands. “You going to take these off, ’cause they’ll be a little hard to explain, you think?”
Opening up the door behind him, Carter never took his eyes off Osbourne, while he raised his voice. “Reverend?”
Jake stepped into the doorway. “Yeah?”
“Got a key for these bracelets?”
The operative handed him a set of keys; the small, skinny one for the handcuffs was easy to spot. Carter gestured for Osbourne to hold up his hands. “Jake, this bastard makes one step in the wrong direction, shoot him in the fucking knee.”
“No problem.”
Osbourne smirked once his hands were free and followed Carter out the door, where Jake fell in step behind him. Opening the door to Justin’s room, Carter walked in and held the door open for Osbourne. Jake and McCabe entered as well.
Justin eyed the three strangers, clearly trying to figure out which one was his donor. Carter made the introductions,
pointing at the Trident men first. “Justin these are my friends, Jake Donovan and Tristan McCabe. They’ll be two of the men watching over you and your mom. And this . . . this is John Osgood . . . the man who is donating a kidney to you.”
Smiling, Justin weakly gestured for Osbourne to come closer, then held out his hand. “Mr. Osgood, I don’t know how to thank you. . .I mean, not many people would donate a kidney to someone they don’t know.”
Osbourne hesitated, and then to Carter and Joe’s amazement, the expression on his face softened as he laid eyes on his biological son for the first time. If they had any say about it, it would also be the last time. Osbourne reached out and shook the young man’s hand. “That’s okay, Justin. I-I’m happy I can do it. How-How’re you feeling? You seem to be hooked up to everything under the sun here.” He indicated all the monitors and IVs.
Justin laughed. “Yeah, kind of like Wolverine in X-men.”
“Ha! Yeah, great movie.”
“I know! The original was the best, but they were all good.”
Nodding, Osbourne sat in the chair next to the bed Carter had occupied earlier. The latter narrowed his eyes at the back of his former foster father’s head, but remained quiet as the man continued his conversation with Justin. “Totally agree with you there. So . . . um . . . I didn’t hear how you . . . um . . . why you needed the kidney . . . I mean, what’s wrong with yours?”
Justin didn’t appear to notice the tension rolling off the other men in the room as he explained about amyloidosis, the rare kidney disease he’d been diagnosed with several years ago.
The two then chatted about baseball and Osbourne’s alleged job at the prison—the man was, not surprisingly, skilled at fabricating a believable story. The five minutes went faster than Carter expected, and when the time was up, he cleared his throat. “Justin, you’re looking a little tired. Why don’t we let you get some rest? Okay?”
Joe stood straight from where he’d been leaning against the wall. “Yeah, son. The doctor said he doesn’t want you pushing yourself. Your mom and I will check back in with you later.”
“I am kind of tired.” Justin nodded and then yawned.
Osbourne stood, seemingly reluctant to leave the room. Carter would have no problem dragging his ass out of there if necessary, but the man extended his hand to Justin. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Justin. I hope everything goes well.”
Taking the older man’s hand, Justin clasped it with both of his. “You too, Mr. Osgood. Thank you. You’ll never know how much this means to me.”
Hesitating, Osbourne finally nodded and said, “I-I think I do, Justin. You just get well, you hear?”
“Yes, sir!”
Joe was the last one out the door as they all exited the room. While Jake placed the handcuffs on his prisoner’s wrists again for the trip back to his room, Osbourne’s gaze met Joe’s. “You’re his stepfather?” The man nodded. “It looks like you and his mother did a good job with him. Glad he didn’t inherit anything more than DNA from me. I’ll go through with this without any more demands or problems. He’s a good kid; he deserves it.”
Whatever any of them had expected Osbourne to say, it hadn’t been that. For the first time in twenty years, Carter didn’t have the urge to kill him. Hell must have frozen over.
Chapter 19
As Jordyn, Vicki, and their guards rode the elevator back up to Justin’s floor, Jordyn suddenly thought of something. “Vicki, you’ve known Carter for so long, you have to know what his first name is, right? All he ever tells everyone is it begins with a ‘T’ and he hates it.”
Vicki laughed out loud. “Oh, no, woman. There’s no way I’m telling you what it is. He’d kill me or, at the very least, not speak to me for a very long time. Sorry, but that’s his decision, if he wants to tell you. I owe him so much. I’d never betray him.”
“Damn! I’m going to have to pick up my game and come up with new names. I’ve been trying to guess since the day I met him.”
The elevator doors opened, and Carter was standing there waiting for them. He’d texted Mancini to let them know Osbourne had returned to his room, and the coast was clear again. Stepping out of the car, Vicki stared at him. “How’d it go?”
“Okay, I guess. He didn’t say anything out of line, and they chatted about a bunch of stuff. Osbourne said afterward he wouldn’t ask for anything else; he’ll donate the kidney. Dr. Schofield has ordered all the necessary tests, and we’ll know by tomorrow night if it’s a go.” His eyes shifted to Jordyn, then back to Vicki. “I’m sorry, Vic. We won’t be able to stay for the surgery—have to chase a few leads on this guy after me—but I’ll check in every chance I get. Hopefully, we’ll be back in a few days. All right?”
“You’re leaving tonight?” his sister asked.
“No. Tomorrow will be soon enough. I have someone checking stuff out for us, and we both need to get some rest. We’ve been on one plane or another for the past four days.”
“Then head home, relax, and meet us for dinner later at Roberto’s, okay?”
Carter’s hand went to his stomach as he licked his lips. “Jordyn, you’re in for a treat. Roberto’s has the best Italian food outside of Italy.” He bent his head and kissed Vicki on the cheek. “We’ll meet you there at 6:00.”
“Perfect. Now go. I’m going to sit with Justin for a while.”
After saying goodbye, Carter and Jordyn stepped onto the elevator, which had opened again to let two nurses get off. When they reached the first floor, he led the way to the security entrance where they’d come in. The four SUVs they’d rented were parked outside, and Carter pulled the keys to one of them out of his pocket. He clicked the key fob to unlock it, then held the passenger door open for Jordyn. Hopping in the driver’s seat, he started the engine, then steered them out to the main road.
When they passed the road to the cabin Carter had pointed out to Foster, where the teams would spend their downtime and take Osbourne when he was released from the hospital, Jordyn glanced at him. “We’re not staying at the hotel?”
“Nope. We’re going to my house.”
“Your house? You have a house here?” Jordyn knew he had apartments or condos in several cities around the world, just like all the other Deimos operatives did, she hadn’t expected him to have a house here in the middle of nowhere. She’d just assumed he stayed with the Underwood’s when he was visiting.
“Yup. It’s about thirty minutes from here in Florence. Designed it myself about eight years ago, complete with all the bells and whistles an international spy needs to feel secure. My property backs up to Joe and Vicki’s so they can keep an eye on it for me and use some of the acreage for their horses.”
Jordyn gaped. “Acreage? How big is it?”
“Forty acres—same size as theirs. Joe has a nice breeding program for Appaloosas and a foreman who runs it for him so he can focus on being sheriff. It’s an elected position so every four years he has to run for office again—he’s got a year left on his second term, and plans on running again.”
“Wow, he’s young for that, isn’t he?”
Shrugging, he stopped at a red light. “Joe’s actually a little older than he looks. Forty-three. Bastard aged very well. Before he ran for office, he’d been a deputy for a few years and before that, he was Marine Corps.”
“Is that how you met him? The Marine Corps? Or because of the lifestyle?” He raised an eyebrow at her, and she added, “Vicki told me how you introduced them and why.”
“Really?” He grinned. “She must really like you already if she did that. Anyway, Joe and I met on a few ops in Afghanistan. After a while, I knew he was a standup guy and wasn’t too surprised to find out he was in the lifestyle. He’s originally from Billings, Montana, and I thought he’d be perfect for Vicki—turns out I was right.”
For the rest of the ride, they discussed normal things most people, who weren’t government sanctioned assassins, chatted about. The weather. The Montana landscape and areas of interest. Movies
. Current events. Sports. It felt weird yet familiar at the same time. With each minute and mile that passed, Jordyn learned more and more about the man she was falling for.
After her talk with Vicki, along with the BDSM website she’d read through and the club, she finally admitted to herself she’d condemned Carter because of her ignorance of the lifestyle he enjoyed. She now understood the power exchange between a Dom and a sub, what safewords were all about, even what was involved in negotiations. There’d been a hard and soft limit list on BDSM 101. Hard limits where something the sub or Dom have no desire to try, while soft limits were something they were willing to explore. After speaking with Vicki, Jordyn wanted to go back onto the website and read more. She had a few questions she’d been embarrassed to ask Carter’s sister, but if she used an alias to sign up for the site, she could use that anonymity to find the answers she sought.
After leaving the highway and making several turns, Carter made a right onto an unnamed dirt road. Beyond the fence lines on both sides, dozens of horses grazed on green grass, with majestic mountains standing sentry in the distance. The scenery was so tranquil, and Jordyn fell in love with it. It was rare she ended up in a place as beautiful and soothing as this, spending most of her time in cities or third world countries.
The road bumped along until they reached a grove of trees. A quarter of a mile into them, a house appeared in a large clearing. From the main road, one would never know it was there. The beautiful, stained wood siding blended perfectly with its surroundings. Huge windows with tinted glass to prevent anyone from seeing in, yet letting anyone in the interior see out, ran along the wraparound porch.
Carter stopped beside an unassuming post with a gray, hard plastic box attached to it. Flipping the front panel up, he punched in a bunch of numbers on a keypad, then placed his hand on a scanner. Suddenly the double garage door on the left side of the house began to roll up. He drove them inside and killed the engine. Climbing out of the SUV, he hit a button on the wall, and the door closed behind them again.
Absolving His Sins: Trident Security Book 7 Page 19