Plenty to Give [Plenty, FL 7] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Lara Valentine

  She was too far away to tell if the voice was the same. The man in the suit smiled and shook his hand. Both of the fire inspectors turned and that’s when she felt the blood drain from her face. It was the cable guy. The one who had ruined Meyer’s systems. She started to dig in her purse for her phone to call the men, when his eyes landed on her. His jaw went slack but he recovered quickly.

  She sucked in a breath as he headed straight for her, grasping her arm with a smile.

  “Don’t say a word. Come quietly and everything will be okay.”

  “Why should I come with you? I could scream this bank down.” Sadie had somehow found her voice and forced the words out her tight throat. This man was supposed to be a dangerous international criminal.

  She felt something poke in her ribs. “Because I have a gun pointed at you. Just smile and act as if nothing is wrong.”

  The object poked harder and they started walking toward the exit. Her heart was beating a mile a minute and her hands were shaking. Part of her contemplated running and yelling, but if they really had a gun, she’d be dead in seconds. If they were criminals on the run, they’d have little to lose by getting rid of her and shooting up the bank, possibly killing or hurting innocent people.

  “Where are we going?” They exited the bank and pushed her toward the van.

  “Shut up.” The young man she recognized had dark hair while the other one had red. They both didn’t look a day over thirty. In fact, they were probably close to her age.

  They pushed her into the van, and the redhead climbed into the driver’s seat, starting the engine and shooting into traffic. She was sitting on the dirty floor in the back of the van with her captor and something pointed to her back. She was in deep shit. It only got deeper as he grabbed a roll of duct tape from an open toolbox and taped her hands behind her back.

  Shit.

  When the van was safely out of town, the blond pulled it over to the shoulder of the road and turned around in his seat, his face pale and panicked.

  “Jesus, Joseph, and Mary, Brandon. What the hell are you doing? We never talked about taking a fucking hostage. What do we need her for? What are we going to do with her?”

  The young man named Brandon let several expletives fly from his lips. “She was at the investigator’s house. She can identify me. I couldn’t let her call the cops, Paul.”

  Paul shook his head. “I told you that was a stupid stunt. Holy fuck. What a cluster fuck. What are we going to do with her?”

  Good question. Sadie turned to Brandon. His face was pale and his expression grim. This didn’t look good.

  “We’re going to have to kill her. We don’t have any choice.”

  * * * *

  Logan slapped Pierce on the back. “Glad you’re back. I hope you have something to share.”

  He, Quinton, and Ryker were back from New Jersey with information on the family of the elderly couple who owned the house. Meyer was at his laptop, as usual, but his attention was on their three new employees.

  This time it was Ryker who leaned forward in his chair, and handed Logan a folder. “We found out quite a bit about this couple and I think the grandson is someone we need to find. According to the people we talked to, he’s something of a computer genius. He might be working for Jean-Luc.”

  Ryker was a massive man, easily six four or five with wide shoulders. He barely fit in the office chair, and he always seemed slightly ill at ease, as if he was afraid he would break something if he touched it. His menacing features added to the overall impression of one badass dude. Logan would want Ryker on his side in a dark alley that was for sure.

  Logan thumbed through the folder and came to the photograph of a young man with dark hair. “Brandon Colson. How old is he?”

  “Twenty-seven,” Ryker answered. “He did his undergrad and graduate work at MIT. Graduated with honors.”

  Meyer’s eyebrow quirked up. “Impressive. What does he do now?”

  Quinton grinned. “That’s what’s so interesting. He doesn’t do anything. At least, he doesn’t do anything we know about. He appears to live in his parents’ basement, travel, and play video games. And the travel part is the most damning of all.” Quinton stroked his chin. “He’s traveled to every city where there has been a cyber robbery. That would be one hell of a coincidence.”

  Logan felt the adrenaline pumping through his veins. Brandon Colson was somehow involved with Jean-Luc. If they could catch him, then they would be one step closer. Closer than they had ever been.

  Logan leaned back in his chair. “Dazzle me. Where is this guy? You don’t appear to have brought him back with you.”

  Pierce chuckled. “He wasn’t in New Jersey. Records show he flew out of Newark and into TIA a week ago. The story was to spend Thanksgiving with some college friends.”

  Meyer flew out of the chair and started pacing. “He flew into Tampa? Fuck, he could be in Plenty. Shit, he could have been the cable guy who was here on Wednesday.” Meyer looked up at the ceiling. “We are so fucking close, I can feel it.”

  A knock at the office door interrupted their discussion. Sami and Lacey were standing there looking uncomfortable. Logan tossed the file on the desk and stood up.

  “How can we help you?”

  Lacey’s eyes were wide as she took in the three men. “Um, we were wondering where Sadie was. Is she here?”

  Logan frowned. “She was going to meet you for lunch. She didn’t show up?”

  Lacey chewed on her bottom lip. “Kind of. She came to the bank, but before I could clock out, she left. She hasn’t sent a text or called. It’s weird.” Her eyes kept darting to Pierce, Quinton, and Ryker.

  Meyer and Logan exchanged a glance. Something wasn’t right and Logan always followed his gut reaction. He wasn’t in panic mode but he was worried. Sadie wasn’t the type to not show up somewhere when she had definite plans. “See if you can track her cell,” he said to Meyer. Meyer nodded and sat down at the laptop, his fingers flying over the keys.

  Sami’s eyebrows shot up. “I’ll never get over how you can track people through their phones.”

  Logan picked up the photo of Brandon Colson and held it up. “Have either of you ladies seen this man around town? Think hard. It’s very important.”

  Sami shook her head and Lacey squinted at the photo, her brow furrowed. “He was in the bank today.” Logan’s heart slammed against his ribs. Meyer whirled around in the chair, and the other three men hopped up. “He’s the local fire inspector. He came to the bank today and looked around. You know, checking fire extinguishers and stuff like that.”

  Logan cleared his throat. “Was he there when Sadie was there?”

  Say no. Say no.

  Lacey nodded and his stomach twisted into a knot. Shit.

  He turned back to Meyer but his lover had already resumed his search for Sadie’s cell phone. It was their only link to her location.

  Logan tossed the photo back on the desk. “He’s not a fire inspector. We have reason to believe he’s a criminal who works with an international cyber bank robber. We also think he’s taken Sadie.”

  The women’s shocked expressions matched his own churning gut. Sadie and Meyer’s parents were possibly the only two people who could identify this guy. Luckily, Brenda and Carl were safely in Palm Beach at the moment. Sadie was a different story. If Colson had seen Sadie in the bank and thought she was a threat, her life was most certainly in danger.

  “I’ll call Ryan. Maybe he can put up some roadblocks. We’ll need backup if we have to go after her.”

  Meyer’s fingers were no longer moving over the keyboard. Logan peered over his shoulder. “Where is she?”

  Meyer pointed to a map on the monitor. “Outside Plenty. It looks to be in the middle of nowhere, off the main roads.”

  Sami came up next to him. “That’s the old limestone quarries area.”

  Meyer reached for his keys. “Then that’s where we’re going. Logan, you can call Ryan in the car.”

  R
yker stepped forward. “We’d like to help.”

  Logan scraped his hand down his face. “Yes, that’s a good idea.” He couldn’t let his emotions make him do something stupid, but the thought of the woman he loved being in danger was scrambling his brains and making it hard to think straight. It would be good to have backup that wasn’t emotionally involved.

  “We’re not sure what we’re going to find. Do you have guns? Can you shoot?” Pierce asked.

  Meyer nodded. “Normally, I would simply be a mild-mannered computer geek. Mess with someone I love, and I’m going to channel Rambo.”

  Logan remembered one particular Halloween when Meyer had dressed up as Rambo. He’d had the physique but had to wear a wig for the long hair. Logan had dressed up as Hugh Hefner.

  “Let’s get what we need and get out of here. Every minute we lose puts Sadie in more danger.” Logan headed for the gun safe. They had to find Sadie and make sure she was okay. Nothing could happen to her. She was their love and their lives.

  * * * *

  Her captors were arguing. It appeared Brandon was the leader of the two, but Paul was no pushover. He was arguing to keep her alive so she was rooting for him. Paul pulled into a cluster of trees and parked the van. Brandon pulled her from the van and walked her over to a tree, pushing her down to the ground so she was leaning back against it. She started rubbing the duct tape against the rough bark hoping to cut into the bindings.

  They’d been camping out here complete with a tent, a propane stove, and a large cooler. She’d remained quiet all this time hoping to hear what they had planned and learn more about them that she might be able to use to convince them to let her live. So far, she hadn’t learned much except that they were two young men who were obviously way over their heads.

  Paul was pacing back and forth, a muscle working in his jaw. “I didn’t sign up for killing anybody, man. We were just having some fun. Hacking some networks and showing everybody that cyber-security is a joke. You know, like Anonymous. I’m not going down for a murder. No way.”

  Brandon scraped his fingers through his hair, his expression grim. “We can’t just leave her. She knows too much.”

  Paul stopped and whirled around. “This is your fault. You had to pull that damn stunt in the investigator’s house. All to get him back for finding our servers. Fuck you, asshole. You think you’re a fucking genius. You’re a fucking idiot.”

  Paul was yelling at the end, his face a bright red. Brandon marched up to Paul and grabbed him by the arm. “Shut the fuck up. You thought it was as funny as I did. We’re both in this deep. Nobody’s innocent here.” Brandon turned on his heel and walked a few paces away. “I have to think about this. I need time to think.”

  “Let’s just leave her tied to the tree, man,” Paul urged. “We’ve got more money than we know what to do with. We’ll get a plane to the Cayman’s today. It’ll be okay.”

  “I don’t want to live the rest of my life on some fucking sand bar.” Brandon practically growled the words. “No one knows who we are except for her. If she’s gone, we’re home free.”

  “Did you really have a gun in the bank or was I fooled?”

  Both men turned in shock at her query. Apparently, they thought she was scared silent. She was terrified but she wasn’t going to die without trying to talk to them first. She wasn’t going to go quietly. She would scream and yell, kick and struggle for all she was worth.

  Paul shook his head. “It was a thumb drive in Brandon’s pocket.”

  Brandon shoved Paul’s shoulder. “I didn’t have a gun in the bank. But rest assured, I have one here at camp.” He strode into the tent and then back out, holding up a handgun. “I know how to use it. My Grandpa showed me, so don’t try anything.”

  Sadie shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant despite her pounding heart and sweaty palms.

  “You don’t seem like a guy who would shoot someone. You seem smarter than that, actually.”

  Brandon straightened. “I’m a genius. I have an IQ of 160.”

  “Very smart,” Sadie approved. “I never went to college. My IQ is probably average.”

  That’s it. Make friends with the man with the gun.

  “IQ doesn’t have to do with education,” Paul replied. “It’s different.”

  “So you were able to use your genius IQ to rob banks through the computers.” Sadie kept rubbing the duct tape against the bark. She couldn’t tell if she was making any progress but her wrists were definitely scraped and raw. “That’s pretty amazing.”

  Brandon preened. “It was easy,” he bragged. “Like taking candy from a baby. I’ve been hacking systems since middle school. People think they’ve set up secure computing but they’re fooling themselves. Anyone determined enough can get in.”

  “And you were determined?”

  “We were going to be super criminals.” Paul grinned. “Sort of a cross between James Bond and Anonymous.”

  Sadie wasn’t familiar with Anonymous but she’d seen several James Bond movies. These computer nerds weren’t even close. They looked more like Bill and Ted right before their excellent adventure.

  And one of them might kill her. Shit.

  “Well, you’ve certainly succeeded. Is it just the two of you?” Sadie asked. She hoped to keep them talking and engaged so people would have a chance to realize she was missing and come look for her. Meyer had told her once he could find her through her cell phone. Luckily, it was turned on, charged, and sitting in her purse in the van. Hopefully, he could quickly locate her and come to the rescue.

  Paul shrugged. “We didn’t need anyone else.”

  “Who thought up the name Jean-Luc?”

  Brandon’s face split into a grin. “It’s for Jean-Luc Picard. You know, the captain from Star Trek.”

  If her hands weren’t tied behind her back, she would have slapped her forehead. Her heart was starting to go back to normal and her stomach was slowly untwisting. Something told her these young men weren’t capable of murder. Now she only had to convince them of that fact.

  “I haven’t watched much Star Trek. Can you tell me about it?”

  Brandon scowled. “No. You’re just putting off the inevitable.” Brandon raised the gun and pointed it straight at her. Her heart, which had slowed down only a moment ago accelerated to a gallop. It was hard to breathe and she had to force words past a huge lump in her throat.

  “You don’t want to do this Brandon. If you kill me, you’ll have to live with it for the rest of your life. Think of the guilt you’ll carry. You’re young. That’s an awful lot of years.”

  He shook his head, his eyes bright with tears, sweat running down his face. His face was contorted as if he was in great pain. “I don’t want to go to jail. I’ll die in there.”

  A young man like Brandon probably would die in prison. He was right to be afraid, but it hadn’t stopped him from breaking the law, not once, but several times.

  “I don’t want to die, Brandon.” She kept saying his name hoping to make this personal for them. She decided to go for broke. “My name is Sadie, by the way. Sadie Stewart. I moved to Plenty recently. I’ve had some really crappy minimum wage jobs and I had a chance at a better life.” She strained to hear oncoming cars or footsteps but there was nothing. She was on her own. “I’m in love. I’ve never been in love before. It’s wonderful. I want to have a life, Brandon. My parents were really crappy to me. I was conceived to provide my brother with life saving bone marrow.” Her voice had grown thin and desperate.

  Brandon’s hand was shaking and his face was filled with anguish. “I don’t want to go to prison. I can’t go.”

  “I won’t tell anyone about you and Paul. I swear. Please don’t kill me, Brandon. You’re not a killer. You’re not a killer.” She squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t look at him after he took a step forward, towering over her, the gun aimed straight at her head. It would be all over in a moment. She thought about Meyer and Logan and how much she loved them. She wasn’t going to see
them again. She wished she could just one more time. She’d kiss them and tell them she would love them forever.

  She jumped when a shot rang out and then a thud of bodies on the ground. Her eyes flew open and Paul was on top of Brandon. He must have tackled him at the last second. She quickly did a mental inventory and didn’t feel anything on her body. No pain. He’d missed her. God only knew where the bullet had gone, but as long as it didn’t hit her that was the important thing.

  Paul rolled off Brandon, his hands over his stomach. Blood oozed between his fingers and he looked down in astonishment before his eyes rolled back in his head and he fainted. Brandon threw the gun down on the ground and hovered over Paul, shaking him.

  “Wake up, man. I’m sorry! Fuck! I’m so fucking sorry. Just wake up, okay?” Tears were streaming down Brandon’s face and his hands were covered in blood. He looked at her, his chest rising and falling rapidly. “What the fuck do I do?”

  She licked her dry lips, her stomach roiling at the sight and smell of blood. She still wasn’t sure Brandon wouldn’t pick the gun back up and finish what he’d started. “You have to call an ambulance, Brandon. If you don’t, Paul will die.”

  Brandon rubbed his face, blood smearing on his skin, but he seemed oblivious. “I can’t. We’ll get caught.”

  “He’ll die,” Sadie insisted. “Is it worth Paul’s life? Was he that bad of a friend that you’d let him die?”

  Brandon was staring at Paul’s pale face. “He’s the best friend I ever had. My only friend. Everyone else was too cool or stuck up to be friends with me.”

  “Then call an ambulance. Now!” Sadie barked out the last word and it seemed to pull Brandon out of his stupor. He nodded and stood, heading for the tent and what she hoped would be a cell and not another gun.

  “Freeze!” A flurry of footsteps on the ground and then suddenly they were surrounded by Logan, Meyer, Ryan, Jason, Pierce, Quinton, and Ryker. They were all brandishing guns and for a moment she was afraid Brandon would try to make a run for it and get himself shot. Instead his shoulders slumped and he held up his hands, tears still running down his blood-stained cheeks.