by Taylor Lee
He’d already been warned by his interior team regarding the surprising equipment lining the walls of the elaborate room. He wasn’t surprised. He’d picked up on Deidre’s allusions to kink in their various encounters but hadn’t known that the rest of the dissolute group, in addition to a penchant for underage girls, was also into inflicting pain. Imagining Viviana’s surprise and the fear of the young girls when they saw the frightening equipment, Jax steeled himself to the sight. After calling for a sit rep from the operatives inside and the cops Mick O’Reilly had stationed surrounding the exterior, Jax flipped his screen back to the one from Viviana’s device.
He watched in amazement as Viviana huddled on the floor of the stripped van with the other young girls. If he hadn’t known who she was, he never would have guessed that the vampish-looking teenager lounging against the wall was a trained detective. Her long black hair was streaked with swaths of purple, gold, and green. Garish Lady Gaga-inspired tats decorated her arms, and when she turned, he saw the infamous treble clef on the small of her back. Only her voluptuous body gave her away to Jax. It would be hard to miss her lush beasts and tight ass in the revealing leather and lace garb she was wearing. To his chagrin, she’d added the sexy thigh-high boots that he knew would guarantee a rise from every disgusting man at the party. His aroused prick proved the point. The most remarkable thing about his undercover detective was that with her skillfully applied makeup, she looked as young and vulnerable as the cluster of teenage girls crowded beside her, none of whom was older than sixteen.
Jax closed his eyes, remembering her encounter with Santiago Lopez. Even knowing what an accomplished actress Viviana was, he was impressed as hell at her aplomb as she sucked in the dangerous pimp, leading him like a lamb to slaughter. Jax had chuckled at her insulting descriptions of him, knowing that soon enough he’d have his hands on her bare ass—at which time he intended to show her what a badass commander he truly was. She knew that Jax’s sniper team positioned on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings had Lopez and his goons in their sights. But Viviana had made it clear that she thought his sharpshooters were superfluous. Why wouldn’t she? She’d faced this feared criminal all by her lonesome less than a week ago. The thought of that dangerously daring venture sent bile bubbling up in Jax’s throat. But what had earned Santiago a vicious reprisal that Jax decreed he would deliver before the night was over was what had happened tonight. When the arrogantly elegant man bared Viviana’s lavish breasts, took the beautiful globes in his hands, and caressed her lush nipples with his expert fingers, the asshole’s fate was sealed.
****
Viviana braced herself against the scarred wall of the van. The seats had been ripped out, forcing the young girls to sit on the dirty floor, crashing into each other as the vehicle careened to its destination. Viviana counted fourteen girls, none of whom was older than sixteen. Several of them were likely fourteen, maybe fifteen. She could have told the teenagers that their garish makeup only served to make them look younger. Their wide-eyed, frightened expressions infuriated Viviana. The only way she could contain her rage was by knowing that by the night’s end, these girls would be free, and hopefully their would-be rapists would be rotting in jail.
Mimicking the girls’ provocative slutty clothes and makeup, Viviana was confident that she blended in. She wasn’t surprised to see Scarlet, the traitorous call girl who had thrown her under the bus with Jax, sitting in the front seat next to the swarthy driver. She wondered how much of the five thousand dollars she’d given Scarlet went to Santiago, her ultimate betrayer. Viviana knew that her carefully conceived disguise had worked when Scarlet gave Viviana’s lush body an appreciative once over but obviously didn’t recognize her. Rather, she merely lumped her in with the other young girls the brazen call girl was shepherding to their awaiting attackers.
The van slammed to a stop, throwing the startled girls against one another. At Scarlet’s sharp command, the girls’ surprised cries quieted. As the accomplished whore and the driver helped the girls out of back of the van, Scarlet pressed a baggie in each of the girls’ hands. Looking at the various pills, Viviana recognized Super 8, MDMA, and crystal. It was easy to see which girls had been to previous parties because they quaffed down the potent combo before they reached the massive doors of Deidre’s manor. Viviana pretended to imbibe the toxic cocktail but instead tucked the incriminating evidence in her miniscule bra. She sucked in a deep breath when none other than Paul Davis swung open the paneled doors. His florid face was alive with anticipation as he ushered the stream of barely clothed teenagers into the huge foyer. His fat belly rippling over his belt and sweat-soaked shirt sickened her. But it was his barely contained excitement as he gazed at the young women, who Viviana knew were the same age as Paul’s twin daughters, that had Viviana fighting to keep from reaching for her trusty blade and driving it into his fat gut.
Assuming the air of a teenager who was trying to look unafraid, Viviana took refuge behind Scarlet who was leading the group into what looked like a ballroom. To her surprise and from their gasps, most of the girls’, she saw that in addition to the crowd of stylishly dressed men, the room was filled with equipment. Staring at the garish apparatuses, she acknowledged that the panoply of equipment could outfit a high-end BDSM dungeon. In addition to spanking benches and restraints of all kinds, including a full-scale St. Andrew’s cross along one wall, Viviana saw a tabletop with whips, floggers, clamps, plugs of all shapes and sizes, various cock and ball cages, and the like. Viviana forgot the equipment when the door at the front of the room opened and Deidre Cummings made her entrance.
The shouts and whistles of the assembled men greeted the tall, dark-haired woman’s surprising appearance. Even Viviana was impressed. The exultant woman flashed a granite-hard smile as she stepped into the center of the room and cracked her steel-tipped whip with a resounding snap. From her lace-up corset, skintight leather pants and gloves, studded boots, and tool belt holding a mix of wicked-looking toys, Deidre looked every inch a practiced dominatrix. She left nothing to the imagination when she welcomed her rowdy guests with a throaty growl.
“Good evening, gentlemen. I’m delighted that you all were able to join us tonight. As I have been promising, tonight is an extra-special occasion. Some of you know my proclivities—from personal experience.” At the shouts of laughter from most of the men and the sheepish downcast eyes of the submissive ones who had gladly borne her whip, Deidre continued. “If dominance is your particular brand of fun—as is mine, I’m providing a wealth of devices and shall we say, enticements to satisfy the most deviant among you.”
Nodding to the line of wide-eyed young girls cowering against the wall, she said, “Any of you who enjoy the scene or have always wanted to try it, I will tell you as a longtime practitioner, nothing excites a true BDSM aficionado as much as a nubile young partner to practice on.” She added with a wicked leer, “The younger and more innocent the better.”
Viviana shoved at her rising fury upon hearing the outrageous men’s catcalls and stamping feet. She didn’t have to look at the girls, who were plastered against one another, to see their quaking fear. She wasn’t sure how she could contain her overwhelming rage when Deidre continued in her simpering mistress of ceremonies voice. “Here is my proposal, fellow revelers. We will have four rounds of ‘activity.’ For each round, you may select one of the young lovelies hovering against the wall. You may then choose an apparatus or a device or two to introduce your partner to. Each round will last a maximum of thirty minutes, so gentlemen, don’t dally.” Picking up a Chinese gong, Deidre struck it and over the loud clang, shouted, “Round one! Begin!”
In the flurry of stampeding men and cowering girls, each of the men managed to find a partner and head for an apparatus, picking up a whip or two along the way. Viviana should have been gratified that four men including the deputy mayor, Judge Mathias, one of the DAs, and Frank Reynolds tried to capture her. Frank, the youngest and most aggressive of the four men, managed
to yank her away from the others. As she was preparing to hold Reynolds off the best she could, Viviana caught sight of the irresistibly handsome man entering through the balcony doors. Recognizing Santiago Lopez, her stomach dipped wildly. As he made his way to Deidre Cummings through the agitated crowd of drunken men intent on ravishing the young girls they’d captured, Viviana spoke into her silver-bangled bracelet communicator. “Jax! Incoming. My eleven o’clock!”
Several minutes later, Deidre banged the gong three times hard. All of the activity stopped as the perverted men and their now mostly naked captives turned to the stony-eyed madam in the front of the room. Deidre’s expression would have done She-Hulk proud. Standing next to her was a dapper Santiago Lopez, whose expression, unlike Deidre’s fierce glare, was amused.
Deidre’s voice was crisp, thick with anger. “Stop, everyone. We have a problem, or perhaps we should call it an opportunity. It appears we have an interloper in our group.” Gesturing to Frank, she ordered, “If you would please, Frank, bring your young captive to the front of the room.”
Frank looked down at her in surprise, then dragged her through the crowd and stood her next to Deidre. The angry woman shot Viviana a scathing look that could have shattered Plexiglas. Her shrill voice mirrored her infuriated expression. “As I said, we have an unexpected guest. In the form of none other than the . . . Enchantress.”
As she ripped off Viviana’s wig, freeing a cascade of golden-streaked hair, a chorus of surprised shouts followed by groans filled the room. Regaining her composure, Deidre held up her hand and spoke to the clearly agitated men in the room. “Relax, everyone. Yes, this conniving bitch has managed to infiltrate our celebration. But please know, we have it on the highest authority that Commander Hughes has taken her badge, and the interfering cunt is no longer a cop. It also appears that, as usual, she is on her own.” Taking a deep breath, Deidre’s demeanor reverted to that of the fearsome dominatrix. “Apparently former Sergeant Moreau’s penchant to go it alone is to our advantage. Indeed, I suggest we take advantage of the little slut’s need for attention and create a pool of sorts. Everyone who wants a piece of Sergeant Moreau’s infamous ass, put your business card in this bowl. I will personally draw the names one by one, confirming the order in which each of us, myself included, will sample the Enchantress’s wares.”
As the men managed to overcome their shock and began to throw their business cards into the bowl Frank was passing among them, Santiago sidled up to Viviana. “I regret that I had to betray you, Viviana. You are a worthy adversary. But surely, my dear, you understand. You are unquestionably the most valuable piece of merchandise I’ve ever had at my disposal. The prospect of pimping you out to this group was financially impossible to resist.”
Once Frank had made the rounds and it appeared that all of the men in the debauched group wanted a piece of Viviana, Deidre hit her gong. She reached into the bowl and withdrew a card. She paused dramatically, then said with a triumphant grin, “Congratulations, Commissioner Davis. You are the lucky man who is first in line to sample the ever-available former Sergeant Moreau. Tell me, Paul, what implement or device do you choose to use in your rendezvous with the Enchantress?”
As the red-faced man stumbled to the front of the room, a clear voice rang out. “May I suggest handcuffs, Commissioner?”
Nodding to the man in the caterer’s uniform who had stepped up to the commissioner and pressed a Ruger LC9 pistol against the base of his skull, Jax strode toward the cowering man and said, “My colleague, Special Agent Dwayne Ambrose, whom you know well, will be pleased to put the cuffs on you, Commissioner Davis.”
By the time Jax reached the front of the room, all the perpetrators were surrounded by agents in caterer’s uniforms, aided by members of Mick O’Reilly’s SWAT team. Reaching for Viviana’s arm, Jax pulled her up next to him. “Nice work, Sergeant. You can lead my team anytime.” Glancing at an infuriated Deidre Cummings, who was purple-faced with anger, he nodded to Mick. “As you know, our Enchantress has ensured that there will be throng of media waiting for us when we drag this hapless bunch out in cuffs. I suggest you put Ms. Cummings in the front of the group. That costume deserves to be on the front page of every newspaper in the country. As well as leading the breaking news on every cable channel.”
Jax kept a protective arm around Viviana as they passed by Santiago Lopez, who was cuffed and surrounded by a phalanx of SWAT members. Viviana leaned over and said to the glowering man, “I agree, Santiago. It’s not wise to think you can pimp a pimp without being pimped.” She shrugged. “Worse is thinking you can play a player.”
Epilogue
Sergeant Moreau, over here!” “Viviana, look this way! How long have you been tracking this ring?” “Over here, Enchantress. Look at the camera! Smile for us, Vivi!” “Commander Hughes, is it true that Commissioner Davis was one of the ring leaders?” “Commander, what do you think of our Enchantress?” “Sir, is it true that Sergeant Moreau met with Santiago Lopez by herself? Twice? Wasn’t that a dangerous thing to do? Did she have your permission?”
Jax pulled Viviana closer to him and grinned at the crowd of reporters and other media thronging the front lawn of Deidre Cummings’s palatial estate. Watching the mayor field some of the questions, he shook his head and murmured to Chief McElroy, who was standing on the other side of Viviana, “Jesus, Mac, now I know what it’s like to be next to a true celebrity. Christ, man, there must be ten television stations represented in this crowd plus every damn newspaper in the country.”
Mac replied with a grin. “I told you she’s a media darling, Jax. A magnet for the press. They named her the Enchantress for good reason.” He added grimly, “Of course, the fact that fourteen leading citizens, including the deputy mayor, the police commissioner, three DAs, and a federal judge were picked up in the raid made this media circus a given. Fuck it all, Jax, this is the biggest scandal this city has ever faced. All I can say is that I’m sure as hell glad that you were in place. Captain Michels could never have handled this.”
In answer to a direct question from a CNN reporter regarding Viviana’s meet-up with Santiago Lopez, Jax replied, “Yes, Sergeant Moreau did meet with Mr. Lopez twice. And yes, it was not only a dangerous thing to do, it was also a courageous one. As for having my permission, yes, she did . . . for the most part. Although I think we all know that Sergeant Moreau doesn’t always ask for permission.”
At the laughter from the enthralled crowd, Jax, Viviana, and McElroy took question after question from the eager crowd. Several reporters burrowed in on the issue of Commissioner Davis’s involvement. Jax took the issue head on.
“It is always challenging when a member of the law enforcement community is involved in a crime. In the case of Commissioner Davis and the others, their actions are particularly egregious. These men not only disgraced themselves and their positions, they did it on the backs and bodies of innocent young girls, some as young as fourteen.”
One of the reporters pressed Jax for an answer. “Who is the next commissioner likely to be?”
McElroy stepped in. “Mayor Simpson has requested that I assume the duties of police commissioner. I told him that I was prepared to do that as long as I can convince Commander Hughes to take over my position as chief of the San Jose Police Department.” At the flurry of shouted questions, McElroy continued. “It should be clear to all of you that Commander Hughes’s leadership was instrumental in solving this hideous crime. It is especially noteworthy that we finally have a police commander who not only led the takedown tonight but had the wherewithal to allow Sergeant Moreau to do what she does best, which is to make the bad guys wish they’d never been born.”
Answering the shouted questions, Jax confirmed that he was considering accepting the mayor’s offer. When the media focused a fusillade of questions on the femme fatale in her outrageous outfit, McElroy turned to Jax and murmured, “Sorry to blindside you, Jax, but I’m hoping like hell you will agree.” At Jax’s frown, Mac continued. “Look,
buddy, you know damn well you’re the only guy who can lead this department in the way it needs to be led.” Looking over at Viviana, who was handling the barrage of questions from the adoring media like the pro that she was, he added, “Hey, we all know you’re a rule breaker, and if ever there was a reason to break rules, it’s for her. But at least as police chief, someone else will be her direct supervisor.”
As Mayor Simpson closed the press conference, Jax led Viviana away from the eager media throng that was still hollering questions. He whispered to her, “C’mon, sweetheart, you have to be exhausted.” At her grateful nod, he eased her over to where Mick O’Reilly was ensuring that the last of the perpetrators were loaded into the waiting police vans. Viviana was glad to see that Mick had done as Jax ordered, making certain that Deidre Cummings was at the front of the line of shackled criminals, ensuring that she would make the kind of news she deserved. Viviana saw several SWAT members and four medics loading Santiago Lopez into a police ambulance. From the blood on his bruised, swollen face and his twisted form on the gurney, it was clear that someone had attacked the infamous pimp.
Surprised, Viviana turned to her partner. “What the hell happened to Santiago, Mick?”
Mick O’Reilly shrugged and leaned in closer to Viviana. Glancing at Jax, who was talking with the mayor and Chief McElroy, Mick said, “I told you the commander was a rule breaker. Christ, Vivi, in three of the fiercest MMA moves I’ve ever seen, he put Lopez in the hospital with injuries I doubt the fucker will ever recover from. Given his fractured jaw, broken tailbone, and direct boot kick to the groin, sure as hell, he’ll spend a lot of his days regretting he took on the wrong guy.” At Viviana’s questioning frown, Mick said with a wide grin, “Apparently that son of a bitch pimp did the unforgivable. He manhandled the wrong guy’s woman.”