Mark smiled. “I appreciate that. I’ll let you guys know.”
“And what about Drake? He’s been out of the service for a couple of years. Lucas and Drake were into doing woodwork, right?”
“Sure are, and I think this town of yours might be the exact setting they need to continue with their hobby. I guess a visit by them will need to happen. They might not feel the same way about Pearl that I do.” Mark glanced back toward the young woman Diane Mercury who worked with her sister Melissa at the specialty boutique in town, again.
Dale and Matt followed his line of sight and then Matt looked back at Mark and smiled. “I have the feeling they’ll love it, for the same reasons you do.”
Chapter 11
The week had passed, and Sage was back to work at the bed-and-breakfast. She was in the middle of the lunch crowd, her mind on the conversation the men had with her every day since she returned from Dallas. They wanted her to move in with them. She practically was already. She spent every spare moment with them, slept there at night, and only went home to grab clothes. She didn’t even shower at home. Why would she when she always had company at their house? She smiled to herself. She loved them all so very much. She wished they would talk to her about the conversation she started at the party last week. But as she thought about it, and about their resistance to hearing her out, she figured out their problem. They’d misunderstood her, and tonight, after she hung out with her friends for a couple of hours, she was going to explain things to them.
“It’s nice to see you back, Sage,” Mr. Pierson said, as she welcomed him to his table.
“It’s nice to be back, and to try and gain some normalcy again.”
“I couldn’t even imagine.” He looked around. “I don’t see any of your men around. They’re finally letting up their guard?” he asked and winked.
She smiled. “They are a bit overprotective, but that’s part of their appeal and line of work.”
“I know. I was quite impressed to see them all in action. I really love this town. I’m going to miss it.”
“Oh, that’s right, you’re leaving again. But you’ll be back in the fall, won’t you?” He took a deep breath and released it. “I’m not sure. Business has me traveling abroad, but I’ll try.”
“Well, we’ll miss seeing you, but remember that there’s always a place for you here at the Main Street Inn.”
“Oh, I will, and I appreciate that. Abigail is sending me off with a tray of her famous brownies.”
“Oh God, she must really like you.”
“She treats me like one of her sons.”
“Well, you’re just about their age, and are really nice. Plus, you were in the military. She has a soft spot for soldiers,” Sage said, and he smiled.
He gave her his order and she went to the kitchen to place it. As she came back out, she felt her cell phone vibrating against her hip. Glancing down as she stood next to Abigail, she saw that it was Virgo.
“Hey, baby, how is work going?” he asked.
“Good, kind of busy. How about you guys? Getting all the surveillance cameras up and running?”
“Yes, we’re just about done, and then I need to swing by and fix a few of the ones in town. Did you hear from Matt and Quaid?”
“No, why? Is something up?”
“Well, about an hour ago he heard from Mark. They got a lead on this guy Rye Salters from Dallas and a company that owns numerous shipping facilities across the state. Looks like this guy has been involved with the three men who went after you and who abducted Amanda and those other women.”
“Oh God, this is great news. That means that they can probably get this guy, question him, and see who else is connected.”
“Exactly. I know I’ll sleep a little better at night knowing those guys aren’t running around free.”
“Me, too. Thanks for the update. I need to get moving. I’ll see you later.”
“Yes, love ya.”
“Love you, too.”
Sage hung up the phone just as Brent Pierson waved her over.
“I’m sorry, Sage, I didn’t mean to interrupt your phone call.”
“Oh no, that’s okay it was just Virgo calling with an update.”
“Oh, good news?”
“Yep.”
“Good.” He glanced down at his cell phone and looked upset.
“Is everything okay?”
“I think so, just some trouble at work. Do you think you could get my order to go? I’m going to have to cut lunch short and head into Turbank early.”
“Sure, not a problem. I’ll be right back.”
Sage went into the kitchen to see if his order was ready. It wasn’t so she headed out to the three other tables she had and refreshed their drinks. She noticed that Brent was standing in the hallway by the exit door, talking on his cell phone.
“Is Brent leaving?” Abigail asked.
“Yes, he had something come up with work. I’m going to go grab his lunch order to go.”
“Okay, I’m going to bring him over these brownies for his trip. He’s such a handsome man, and so kind. I hope he doesn’t wind up moving out of the country because of business.”
“Oh, is he really? He mentioned something about not being sure about returning.” Sage added.
“Yes, he said it was time for some changes. I think he was hoping to find true love here in Pearl, but it didn’t happen.”
Sage felt badly for him. He really was a nice guy, very good looking, with a lot of money, and he was tough. She figured it had to do with him being in the military.
“I’d better go check on his order.”
As Sage put together his sandwich and fries in a container, she also placed some sweet tea in a to-go cup for him with extra napkins and hand wipes. She carried it out of the kitchen when she saw Abigail smiling.
“He’s right outside by the delivery door. I gave him the brownies.” Sage smiled as she walked outside and saw Brent standing by his car talking into the cell phone. He had a nice sports car, black, tinted windows and all fancy.
She walked down the steps and waited a moment. He looked at her, and covered the mouthpiece on the phone. “Can you put it in the back seat on the floor for me?” She nodded her head and walked around to place it into the back seat on the floor. The car smelled like brand-new leather and cigars.
She inhaled as she fixed the container of food she place on the floor. The moment she felt the prick to her neck, she fell forward in the seat. Gasping, Brent grabbed her legs and shoved her inside. She locked gazes with him, her body instantly numb and frozen. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t even feel a thing.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart, it will wear off in a few hours. I couldn’t take the chance that you would resist me taking you, after all, we’re meant to be together.” He shoved the door closed. She could hear and she could see, but she couldn’t move a muscle. Scared, unable to fight, she felt the tears leak from her eyes, as the door closed and Brent sped from the parking lot.
What was he doing? Why was he taking her? She felt her vision begin to get fuzzy and unclear, as her mind tried to understand what was happening here. But before she could understand her own thoughts, darkness overtook her vision.
* * * *
Brent sped his car to the open field out of town. The helicopter was landing there to take them out of the area and to a loading dock by the pier. They would travel to the boat by limo, and wait until he had the all clear to leave the marina in Corpus Christi. By the time he had Sage on the boat, she could fight him all she wanted to. There was nowhere for her to go other than into the Gulf of Mexico.
He smiled as he looked into the rearview mirror. She was already out cold. Her beautiful breasts were bursting from the confinements of the tight camisole she wore. He couldn’t wait to taste her, to kiss her and hold her in his arms. Now that he knew she shared her body with four men, he wouldn’t have to hold back on any of his fantasies. She was his now, and no one was going to get in the way of h
is plans.
* * * *
Abigail could hear the sirens blaring and then the vehicles pull up in front of the bed-and-breakfast. Wyatt, his deputies, Matt, and Quaid all rushed inside, guns drawn.
“Where is Sage?” Matt yelled, as he frantically looked around the restaurant. All the patrons looked frightened.
“Working in the back room, I think,” Abigail stated.
“Abigail, where is Brent Pierson? Is he still here?” Wyatt asked.
“No, he left about thirty minutes ago.”
“Shit,” Wyatt stated. Meredith came out of that room looking frazzled.
“Meredith, where’s Sage?” Matt asked, meeting her there.
“I have no idea. I’ve been covering her tables. One minute she was here and the next she was gone,” Meredith told them.
“Why are you looking for Brent? What’s going on?” Abigail asked.
“Brent is part of the organization that’s been abducting those girls. He’s the top guy in charge,” Kenny told her.
“Oh God, Sage went outside to bring him his lunch to go, after I brought out brownies,” she told them.
“Oh God, no. He fucking took her!” Matt yelled out as he ran toward the back door. There was no sign of anyone anywhere.
“We need the surveillance video from back here. Call the department, Wyatt,” Quaid stated as he pulled out his cell phone.
“Did he take her? Did Brent take Sage?” Abigail asked as she began crying. Kenny wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
“We’re not sure, but it looks that way.”
* * * *
Everyone gathered in the sheriff’s department as they put out an APB on Brent’s sports car. Twenty minutes later they received the call from one of the deputies in Turbank that it was found abandoned right on the edge of town behind an old farmhouse. The farmer told the deputy that they heard a helicopter way in the distance and it sounded like it landed.
“We need to track that helicopter,” Kenny stated.
“They must be heading somewhere close by. He wouldn’t risk trying to take her out of the state by helicopter. It must be a means of transportation to the next location,” Matt stated.
“Well, let’s look at the marinas in Corpus Christi. That’s where the main boats were supposedly loaded with these abducted women and then sailed off to Cuba, Haiti, and the Caribbean. Maybe he has his own ship, and is planning on taking her out of the country with him,” Wyatt said.
“That’s exactly what he’s doing,” Mark added, as he closed up his cell phone and walked around the table to the large map on the wall. He started pointing out points of interest and where his teams were located and going to check out.
“Okay, from the information received through our team, there were four main warehouses owned by Brent Pierson’s associate Rye Salters. They are strategically located in Corpus Christi in three different marinas. There is one shipping barge as well. We got men moving in on those now. They have reason to believe that a shipment of women is being moved as we speak. Now, if Brent shows up there with Sage to take one of his own boats out of port, then we’ll be there to stop him.”
“How the hell are we going to get out to Corpus Christi?” Virgo asked, sounding outraged.
Mark smiled. “The same way Brent did. Get ready, we’re meeting a military chopper at the end of town. We’ll land outside of the marina that Brent shows up at. We’ll have eyes on the entire place momentarily, so if he brings her there, we’ll stop him from taking her out of the country,” Mark stated, and Matt slapped him on the back.
“Damn, this is like fucking old times. I can’t believe this is happening to Sage again. She must be so scared. Thank you,” he told Mark.
Taking on a serious expression, Mark looked at all of them.
“I’m not going to lie to you. Brent Pierson is a very dangerous individual. I’ll explain on the way to the chopper,” Mark told them, and they grabbed their stuff and they all headed out of the sheriff’s department.
* * * *
“The only reason why he got the upper hand on her was because he knew her capabilities,” Virgo told Matt as Matt ran his hands through his hair.
“I can’t take this. I’m so fucking angry right now, and worried about her. How the hell is Sage going to handle this? You saw the fucking video. He doped her up with something. If we don’t catch this asshole before he leaves that port, we’ll never find her.”
The sound of the chopper traveling through the sky brought back not so wonderful memories from the war for him. One look at Dale, Virgo, and Quaid, and he knew they were thinking the same thing. It made them uptight. Made them feel confrontational. He looked at Wyatt, Mark, Kenny, and the three military soldiers with full gear and mics on. “We’ll get to her in time. She’s a fighter,” Wyatt stated.
“She’s fucking unconscious. God knows what the asshole shot her up with. My God, he has been coming to Pearl for three years. Three fucking years,” Kenny yelled out.
“I can’t believe the one fucking guy running this entire smuggling operation was sitting in your town, right under our noses. Of course the guy knew what was coming. He probably heard the talk around town,” Mark added.
“We have to find her. When I get my hands on that guy, he’s fucking dead,” Quaid stated.
“Get in line, Quaid,” Dale said, straight-faced, and Matt stared at him. If Brent Pierson hurt Sage in any way, he was definitely going to his grave.
* * * *
“What the fuck is going on? Now what are we going to do?” Brent yelled as he carried Sage into the building. He was yelling over the motorcycles and engines revving. They were mere blocks from the warehouse, and a mile from the boat launch. His crew had everything ready and was preparing to set sail.
“There are federal agents all over the damn place. Falcon pulled out. He heard that Scorpion was busted by the Coast Guard on his way to Haiti with the shipment of women,” one of his guards told him.
“Shit. What about the last shipment? The one that was supposed to go out over an hour ago?”
“Stopped by local Coast Guard. They got Salters, too. He was trying to skip town and the Feds got him in the airport.”
“Okay. I can’t believe this entire operation is going down like this, and so fast. I should have been out of here with my prize and already sipping cocktails on the fucking boat.” He laid Sage down onto a set of boxes. She was moaning and coming to. The damn tranquilizer was wearing off.
He was thinking of what needed to be done. He had a backup plan. There was the place in the woods, not too far from here. They could hole up there for however long necessary. He had it well stocked, they could hunt to get more food if they were still there come fall.
Sage tried sitting up, her blouse was undone, her cleavage deep and totally visible to the men. It pissed him off.
“Don’t look at her. She’s mine!” he yelled.
“Hurry up and pack up the Navigator. I want four men with me, the others travel behind us.”
The guys ran from the building as Brent walked closer to Sage. He cupped her face between his hands as her eyes slowly focused.
“It’s okay, Sage. Everything is going to be just fine. We need to go for another ride.”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t want to. Please, Brent, stop this.”
He shook her by her shoulders. “Snap out of it, Sage. You’re not going back to them. You’re mine now.”
He lifted her up so he could carry her to the Navigator.
She planted her feet into the concrete flooring and shook from his grasp. The move made her fall to the floor, she was still so dizzy.
He reached for her and she swatted at his shirt. “Stop it, Sage. You’re coming with me.”
She started to get up and attempted to run so he grabbed her, turned her around, and struck her against the mouth.
Sage screamed as she fell to the ground again.
He grabbed her shirt and pulled her close to him, ripping the blouse
, so his face was inches from hers. “I don’t care if I need to beat you into submission. You’re not leaving me. I waited too fucking long for you. Now move it.” He shoved her toward the Navigator and she nearly lost her balance. He grabbed her belt buckle and pushed her harder, this time and she hit the side of door to the SUV.
Grabbing her upper arm tight, he yanked open the door and shoved her inside. He hadn’t expected her to crawl so fast to the other side. When she pushed the door open, fell to the ground, and started running, he lost his patience.
* * * *
Sage ran as fast as she could for the door. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw Brent catching up. It was too late she saw the man to her left attack. He wrapped his arms around her waist and they tumbled to the concrete. Her knees and thighs scraped against the ground. She cried out in pain at how heavy the man was who was on top of her and how hard they hit the ground.
She couldn’t breathe he was so heavy.
She heard Brent yell, “Get off of her, you’ll kill her.”
He must have yanked the man off because she heard the guy yell, and then Brent reached down and lifter her up and over his shoulder. Her cut-up thighs and knees banged against his body.
She bounced on his shoulder and then he flung her into the car. Landing on her spine between the back seat. He jumped in with her, grabbed her by her hair, and screamed in her face.
“Don’t try that again. I swear I’ll kill you, Sage!”
She was shaking now, the adrenaline leaving her body, the aftereffects of the narcotic they’d injected weakened her muscles. She was breathing heavy, felt her swollen lip, and she must have hit her eye and upper cheekbone on the ground when that guy tackled her, because she could feel it throbbing and swelling.
She felt the hand on her thigh, as Brent gave the orders. “Move out of the garage slowly. If you see anything suspicious, step on the gas.”
She pushed his hand from her leg and he placed it back between her thighs.
Sage's Story [The Town of Pearl 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 15