by Dee Dawning
"Wow, you guys are good. Did you find my safe?"
"Uh huh. We found a hundred twelve thousand and a journal. We haven't had time to go through the journal yet."
"Good work. The journal contains all the information of the prince's white slavery operation. The proof is in a safe deposit box in the Wells Fargo Bank on Santa Monica Blvd near the 101 Expressway. There's a key to the box in my safe. You can retrieve it or you may be able to get the bank to give you access. That should give you what you need to put Prince Ali away for life. I've got to go. I have a long drive ahead of me. Nice talking to you. It sounds like Paige is in good hands. Bye!"
"Mr. Stevens? Wait…are you there?" He looked at Paige. "He hung up. Get dressed we have to go to Las Vegas. We have to intercept him before he commits suicide."
"Suicide?" asked Paige.
"He's going to try to free Mallory by himself. It's a suicide mission. We've got to stop him. While you're getting dressed, I'll call Goodwin."
~* *~
"What will we do?" repeated Morina, "I guess we will head down to the garage and get the hell out of here."
"NO! We can't leave. We can't leave him behind. They could've moved him and if we leave without him, he could lose his beautiful head."
Campbell stepped up to Mallory. "Honey, we've got to leave. We tried and he's not here. If we don't leave now we may never get another chance."
"I don't care. There's no way I'm leaving without Drew."
Morina joined in. "He may have escaped. That would not surprise me. He is a resourceful man. Even if he hasn't, you may better be able to achieve his release from the outside. Mallory, I did not want to worry you, so I did not tell you. You are scheduled to be married to my father this afternoon—in ten hours. If you go back, by this time tomorrow you will be married to him and in his bed."
"I'm not going. That's all there is to it. I love Drew. If I have to, I'll make a deal with your father. I will marry him and willingly share his wedding bed if he will free Drew." Mallory shivered as the idea of marrying the Prince chilled her. "In the meantime, you and Campbell can go and get help from the outside." "Campbell, take the Hummer and go to LA. Look up my best friend Paige Dillon in Glendale. Her phone number is…Anybody have a pen and paper."
They looked through the drawers of the dresser and nightstand and found nothing.
Morina spoke up, "In the Hummer is a cell phone. You could call your friend, then we could come back."
"Morina, you should go with Campbell, help her expose this viper's nest."
"Na, I will not leave you here alone with my father. He can be a mean, temperamental person and my mother told me his sexual appetite can be deviant."
"I can vouch for that," exclaimed Campbell. "Don't worry Mallory. You need whatever protection Morina can afford and I can certainly blow the whistle on this operation. I've had three long years of dreaming up ways to do that."
Chapter Twelve
Drew opened the bedroom door stepped into the living room.
"Ah my friend, I see you have awoken,"
He froze. It was Jamal, a Berretta 9mm in his lap, his dark eyes cutting into Drew's psyche.
Drew wasn't expecting to run into Jamal, at least this side of the Babylon Hotel. "Cut the friend crap, cousin. You know damn well that my mother is Ali's sister and your Aunt Magda."
Running a hand through his straight black hair, Jamal said, "Yes, but blood relatives can and should be good friends."
"If you were really my friend, you wouldn't be sitting there with a gun in your lap."
Jamal lifted the gun up and pointed it. "It is precisely why I am here. Toss me your weapon."
Drew frowned and reached behind his back. He threw the Walther automatic to the man.
"If I was not your friend, would I care if you went back to Vegas in a fruitless attempt to free the woman and get killed trying. In twelve hours, it will be all over and your lady friend will be married and safely out of the country. Then I can go home and get some sleep and leave you alone."
"You know that wouldn't be the end of it. I would go after her. I would find her and, if you or anyone else got in my way, I would kill them."
"Yes, I imagine you would. With your connections in high places both here and in the Gulf area, you could probably manage it. But then what? You are like the irresistible force and my father is like the immovable object. What are you going to do? What can you do?"
"You're right. You're always right cousin. That's why I'm going now, because as bad as the odds are, they will never be better." Drew turned and headed for the door.
"Khalid! Wait!"
Drew turned back partially. "What?"
"I could shoot you."
"I know."
"Aren't you worried?"
"Even I know you're not going to shoot me to keep me from being shot."
"No, but I could wound you." Jamal pointed the gun at Drew's leg. "In the leg maybe."
"I have nothing to lose. I love Mallory and the idea of her being married to your father, no offense, makes me want to kill." Drew turned back and headed toward the door.
"Khalid, please wait. Please."
Drew turned again and looked at his cousin. "Yes?"
He threw the gun to him. "Here. The odds are bad enough. With your bare hands they are zilch."
"Thanks Jamal, I owe you."
He smiled. "I did not, you know."
"Didn't what?"
"Did not take offense at what you said?"
Drew didn't recall what Jamal was referring to and his confused face showed it.
"My big prick of a father. Now, go, get your lady."
Drew turned once more.
"Fuck it. Hold on, cuzz. I am coming with you. I need a ride back to Vegas anyway.
~* *~
"Hey, Goodwin. Got a job for you."
"It's two-forty, Ritchie. Take pity."
Carboni heard someone softly ask, "Who is it." Then he heard the phone juggling around.
"Are you with the bartender?" he asked.
"Ahhh. Er . . ."
Carboni smiled at his partner's discomfort. "If you are, I assume it's for a good reason, like guarding her, making sure nothing unpleasant happens to her, just like I'm doing with the Dillon woman."
"That's right, Kelsey asked me to stay. I slept on the couch."
"Very chivalrous of you. Anyway, things are popping on our case. The short version is our shooting vic, Stevens, surfaced, apparently in decent shape, and told me quite a story about kidnapping and white slavery. I'll fill you in later, but in the meantime, he's on the way to Vegas on a suicide mission. We've got to get there before him. I'm leaving shortly and taking Paige with me, since she can recognize Stevens. Kelsey has seen him and can recognize him, too, so since we might need to split up, I want you and her to meet me at the Babylon Hotel."
"Fine, partner, except I don't have a car."
"Does Kelsey?"
"Hold on." After a minute, Goodwin said, "See you in Vegas."
~* *~
"Boy, that was close, eh, Jamal? A hundred three miles per hour, even at four thirty in the morning is reckless driving the officer said." Drew thought the officer was going to take them in but he fast-talked him. It was a gift he had, a knack to do or say the right thing.
Like with Mallory. That silly little card brought down her defenses and made her pliable. Not pliable enough, he chuckled. After all, she had him tied up in her bed like a dominatrix. He liked that. He liked a challenge and Mallory was the challenge of his life. He never dreamed when his uncle set him up with the assignment to learn all about her that he'd fall in love with her from afar. When he realized he was setting her up for a kidnapping, he had to help her somehow. That's when he decided he had to meet her.
He knew she kept going to this pickup bar, only she always left alone. He thought he needed something to break the ice, something to begin a conversation about so he made up a silly little card on his computer about oral sex. He was going to te
ll her his old roommate in college gave him the card years ago. He said it never failed, and what was her opinion, but it worked! She got so flustered, before he knew it, he had her on her back in a back room and was giving her a facial. So much for the prim and proper, Mallory Robbins, supermodel, that's only a façade.
He'd discovered and brought out the hidden repressed side of Mallory Robbins—a sexual tornado! He wondered what would have happened if Jamal and the two brawny thugs hadn't shown up. With his talent for sweet-talking, he probably would have talked her into not only releasing him, but making love again. There's an experience he was looking forward too—making love to the woman he loved again. I hope I can make her love me as much as I love her.
~* *~
Detective Goodwin looked over at his newfound riding and carnal companion. He was having a hard time getting a handle on her. He just met her, but in addition to being wild as the hills, she seemed loving, tender and needy. "Since we're on a five hour drive and can't have sex, we might want to converse and get to know each other."
She glanced at him, but didn't answer.
"By converse I mean –"
"I know what converse means! Do you think I'm a retard? It means talk, as participating in verbal interaction. She reached over and set her hand over Goodwin's crotch.
She stole a look at him while he shifted his position. He began to stir.
"We could, you know."
"What?"
"Have sex. Well, you could have sex. I could lean over the console and give you a blow job."
Goodwin did a double take. No stopping this shy thing. Blood surged into his penis at the thought of her mouth on his meaty member. She began to rub his member through his thin slacks and soon, it was fully hard. She unzipped his fly and began to release his burgeoning erection from its confines, when he put a hand over hers. "It sounds wonderful, but I'd like to wait until we're not moving. I just finished reading Thinner and bad things happened to that guy after getting a blow job in the car. Besides, I'd really like to talk. Now, that we've shared our bodies, I'd like to share our minds. I guess what I'm saying is, I want to get to know you."
It was obvious Kelsey did not like rejection. She pulled her hand out from under his and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine! You're the one who was going to get the pleasure. What the fuck would you like to know?"
What do I want to know? "I guess I'd like to know about your family, your childhood. Where are you from? Did you have a nice childhood?"
"Well, yes, I suppose I did, if you throw out the fact that my stepfather and stepbrother used to pass me back and forth. At least they never forced me into a threesome. I suppose that's good."
John was stunned. He was sorry he'd brought up the subject. "Your step-father and brother had sex with you? How old were you?"
"Thirteen through sixteen."
"That is horrible. That's statutory rape and incest. Have you been to a psychiatrist?"
"You mean now?"
He nodded.
Her voice sounded hurt. "What for? There's nothing wrong with me. Besides, psychiatrists are worthless. They just want to prescribe drugs. When I was fourteen, about four months after my stepfather started, I tried to tell my mother. She didn't believe me. Swore I made it up. She sent me to one psychiatrist and then another, claiming I was a compulsive liar. I figured I could tell them about my stepfather, but they didn't want to hear it. They merely wanted to give me drugs, so I wouldn't have to remember getting raped." Kelsey turned and questioned him. "So, tell me John. Why do you think I should see a psychiatrist?"
"It seems like things are still bothering you."
"What do you mean?" Suspicion etched her pretty face.
"Well, you're different than anyone I ever met."
"Is that right? How so?"
Goodwin didn't want to answer.
With tension in her voice, she repeated, "How am I different, John?"
He wished he'd never asked to talk. "For starters you're forward."
"Since when is that bad?"
"By itself, I suppose it isn't but you're also sexed up."
"Sexed up! Since when is liking sex abnormal? I didn't hear any complaints twelve hours ago. All I heard was you panting and moaning."
"I didn't say you were abnormal. I said you're different."
"Don't split hairs on me, Goodwin. Abnormal and different are two sides to the same coin. Let me tell you something, in the hundred or so times they raped me, I began to see sex in a different light. Sex makes the world go around. You may not agree with that but it does. It's why John Doe cheats on his wife, Jane, and why Jane Smith cheats on her husband, John. It's why on any given night, there are over six thousand hookers walking the streets of LA. It's why there are over a five hundred girlie clubs in metropolitan LA. It's why there are sex clubs where men and women go to fuck strangers and why twenty-five percent of the population visits a porn site at least once a week."
Goodwin risked a glance from the road. Her face revealed confluence of hurt and rage.
"I learned a long time ago as a victim of this sex-crazed world that it's easier to go with the flow than fight it. It helped that I liked sex, anyway. Now, I've grown to love it—crave it. Is there anything else you'd like to know, Professor Kinsey?"
~* *~
Mallory glanced around. "What floor are we on?"
"The twenty-eighth," Morina answered, "Why?"
"It seems silly to descend twenty-seven flights of stairs to make a phone call then turn around and ascend the same stairs."
"No, we will take the stairs one flight and take the elevator from there."
"Since you have a passkey, why not find an empty room on the twenty-seventh floor and call from there?"
"First of all, twenty-seven is all suites, as is twenty-five and twenty-six, all booked solid and occupied. Secondly, would you want a record of your phone call to your friend? She could end up dead or worse."
Campbell frowned. "Worse?"
Mallory shivered. "Here!"
Campbell asked, "Morina, how come you left the cell phone down there. Why didn't you keep it with you?"
"I suppose I could have if I kept it turned off. But the minute I activated it on our floor, security would have picked up the signal and I would be in detention. Of course, I could use it here, but that is a moot point since I didn't think of it. Well, should we get our early morning exercise?"
~* *~
Goodwin snuck a glance at Kelsey. "We could put them in jail, you know."
"Who?"
"Your step brother and father."
"Oh, that's in the past. Don't worry about it."
"But you were betrayed by your whole family. Even your mother."
"I know. I don't like to think about it. It was my stepbrother who betrayed me the most. I was fourteen and he was sixteen. I thought we were close so I told him what his father was doing. He convinced me to tell my mother. When I told him she didn't believe me, he came into my bedroom that night.
"And he had sex with you?"
"Ah-huh. At least he wasn't fat with bad breath. It got worse on my sixteenth birthday."
"How so."
"He brought me a birthday present. It was wrapped up all nice and pretty. Pink paper with red hearts, a red ribbon and bow, like an apology. I was excited. I thought it signaled things might end. I never stopped hoping before. Inside the box, was a skimpy, thin, see-through, little nighttime dress." She glanced at Goodwin. Tears were in her eyes. "Are you sure you want to hear this?"
Goodwin nodded, but didn't—couldn't say anything.
"He told me if I didn't put it on and lie on my bed, he'd call my stepfather, so I did. He tied me to the headboard and the footboard, then blindfolded me. He left, then came back." She stopped and shook her head, "This is so embarrassing. I can't go on."
"Kelsey baby. I'm a cop. It's like talking to a priest."
"But I've already told you too much. You won't want me anymore and I wouldn't like that." She sobbed
.
This tough little thing was weeping. Her façade of brave and sassy strength crumbled to tender and scared. He saw a rest stop coming up and pulled in. After he parked, he pulled her close and hugged her. Goodwin wiped her tears away, then kissed her gently.
She responded by kissing him back hard. She pulled away and said, "I know you think I'm oversexed, but I… Could we go in your backseat. I need you to hold me."
Goodwin pulled out his cellphone. "Okay. Go ahead and get in back while I call my partner."
~* *~
"Ginger. Boy, am I glad I caught you. This is Lt. Carboni. I need you to get some information for me. Like immediately."
"Hi Ritchie. I'll certainly help if I can. What do you need?"
"We're on our way to Vegas."
"You and Goodwin?"
"Yes and a couple of witnesses. We're chasing down a person of interest who's heading to Las Vegas, but we have no idea what kind of car he drives. Look that up and pull a sheet on him too, will you?"