“Yes. That’s a very important principle to follow, for any submissive.”
The implication was that he and Rob were waiting until she trusted them—at least that was the impression her mind conjured. She didn’t doubt the information they’d already imparted, namely that submissives were really the ones ultimately in charge and nothing happened without a sub’s permission.
“So, when you begin to help me find my inner submissive, is it going to be done the same way as Mercy and Bradley began—without sex?”
Daniel stopped at a red light. He turned his head and met her gaze once more. “Not a chance in hell, pet. How do you feel about that?”
How did she feel? On the one hand, sex had never held that much allure for her. On the other hand, the thought of sex with Daniel and Rob did something to her insides. She was a surgeon. She knew there were no butterflies in her stomach, but that’s what she felt right then.
“You said a submissive could stop everything with just a word?”
“I did, and yes, that’s true.”
Colleen licked her suddenly dry lips. “All right. I’m willing to explore…things.”
Daniel lifted her hand to his lips. “I’m looking forward to exploring, too, and not only your submissive side but every single inch of your delectable body. I’m looking forward to giving you everything you need in every aspect of your life.”
Colleen shivered. He’d promised to always tell her the truth. At that moment, she had no doubt whatsoever that he’d done just that.
Chapter Six
“Come and have some lunch, love, and tell me what you discovered.”
Colleen wasn’t the least bit surprised that Rob, along with Daniel, would do his best to take care of her. It was difficult to mind so much when she understood she had been neglecting her basic needs—like food and sleep—because she’d been so stressed out about her sister. On top of a lack of food and sleep, she’d guzzled far too much coffee.
When she sat down at the kitchen table, Rob set a bowl of soup before her. He’d also placed a fresh green salad on the table. There was a small plate of sandwiches there, as well.
“Ellie is off getting groceries, but she made this chicken soup before she left. I’ve been smelling it all morning and salivating,” Rob said. “So, I’m glad you’re back.”
“Ellie is a really good cook. I never managed more than the basics in the kitchen.” Colleen spooned some soup and closed her eyes as the liquid saluted her taste buds then slid down to comfort her tummy. “Ellie has been my savior over the years, in more ways than one.”
“I’m not much use in the kitchen either,” Daniel said. “Rob, however, has the knack for it. He’s an accomplished cook.”
“We should all play to our strengths,” Rob said. “So, Colleen, what did you learn?”
She blinked, somehow pleased that he asked her instead of Daniel. “Mercy’s boss at the e-paper confirmed that she was working on a story, but she wasn’t certain what it was about. Mercy said if what she was investigating played out, it would be huge.” She spooned more soup. “I didn’t get the sense from Anne that she thought Mercy had been hyperbolic.” Colleen knew that when she’d been younger, Mercy had tended toward superlatives, but she didn’t think that trait had carried over to adulthood. “The few friends we were able to track down reiterated that they haven’t heard from her since she’s been missing. They also all told me she was still very upset about Julie Armstrong’s death. That she’d not just been grieving, but angry.” Colleen set her spoon down. Ellie’s soup was wonderful, but she felt a clutching within her.
She looked up, first at Rob and then Daniel. “I didn’t realize she was still that upset. She…she had seemed better to me. Not so down, and I seriously never saw that anger, although I’m well aware that anger is a step along the grieving process.”
“Do you think that maybe she was deliberately hiding her anger from you?”
Rob’s question could well have been asked by Daniel. Colleen was beginning to understand a little of what that man had meant when he said he was paying attention to her. Rob must be, as well. They knew she was tense about this new information.
“Why would she have done that?” She must have been a horrible sister if Mercy didn’t feel she could even confide in her.
“Human nature being what it is, my best guess would be that it was because she’d decided to do something she was pretty certain you wouldn’t approve of.” Daniel nodded to her spoon. She picked it up again and took another sip of her soup, even as his words hit hard. “And not because she was afraid of you or felt you were judgmental or that you wouldn’t understand. Because she knew that she was about to do something she really should not do. She hid her emotions I would say because of a guilty conscience.”
“What? What could she possibly have decided to do?”
“We don’t know yet,” Rob said. “But I’ve run into something that backs that very recently formed theory up.”
Daniel forked some salad onto her plate and moved the dressing server close. Robert passed the plate of sandwiches and then poured some milk into her glass.
Colleen felt like sniping at them but was able to control the urge. It would be foolish for her to do that when she already felt better for having eaten in the last twenty-four hours. She’d slept like a rock last night, too, and knew, deep down, the reason for that was that Daniel and Rob were there. Daniel had held her and told her that he had her, that she was safe. She’d responded by dropping off into a deep, healing sleep.
Colleen would think about the implications later, but one fact could not be disputed, even if she was of a mind to do so, which she was not.
Colleen Duncan, surgeon, former alpha of her own small pack, wasn’t alone anymore. Former alpha? Collen was self-aware enough to recognize the hope that surged through her with that realization.
“Now finish your lunch, pet, because Rob won’t tell us what he’s discovered until you do.”
“I feel a little bit like I’m being treated like a child.”
“Yes, but only a little bit because you’ve displayed the great good sense not to argue with us, for the most part, so far.” Daniel smiled when he said that.
“Notice he said, ‘for the most part’?” Rob grinned. “That’s to let you know we’re both fully aware that once you’ve recovered your equilibrium, you’re as likely as not to start doing just that—arguing with us.” Rob tilted his head and appeared to consider her. “I doubt you’ll ever be as much of a brat as Mercy will prove to be for whichever Dom or Doms eventually take her on, but we’re very much looking forward to the…arguments as we go along.”
“Indeed we are.” Daniel met her gaze, and a ribbon of heat snaked through her. “And when you have to be spanked in response to your bratty behavior? Well, I believe you will like those arguments more than just a little.”
Colleen growled, and both men chuckled. She would have protested louder, but she was suddenly eager to finish her lunch. Not so much because she was hungry, and not only because she really wanted to know what Rob had discovered. But because she needed time to shore up her physical responses to Daniel’s spanking threat.
It would be really hard to say “no way” when her nipples had peaked and her panties were now damp. I’m more aroused with these two men who’ve not even really touched me than I’ve been, naked, with any lover in my life up until now.
There was no doubt about it. Colleen’s life was being upended, and she couldn’t do a damn about it. Not until Mercy was back home, safe and sound.
And when she was, well, Colleen suspected that she wouldn’t do anything about these changes heading for her except embrace them.
* * * *
Daniel couldn’t cook—he’d admitted as much—but he was quite adept at making coffee and brewing hot tea. It delighted him to find several herbal blends of tea amassed in Colleen’s kitchen cupboards. He’d see to it she had that instead of coffee after supper. For now, he didn’t want to en
courage another headache. She’d had only one cup of coffee that morning. Another now, after lunch and heading toward one in the afternoon, would allow him to feed her caffeine addiction sufficiently at the same time as he reduced the amount of coffee she drank.
Daniel was quite certain that, on a normal day, by this time in the afternoon, she would have racked up five or six cups of the brew.
He brought the pot to the table then sat down again. He poured coffee into his and Colleen’s cups. Once he’d put the cream and sugar into Colleen’s cup, he nodded to Rob. “Now that lunch is done, and the coffee made, please tell us what you discovered.”
“I’m not certain if it’s good news, or not. But while I was setting up my electronic surveillance nets, I stumbled onto something interesting. We’re not the only ones looking for Mercy. I found electronic fingerprints in some of the sites I was on.”
Colleen sat straighter in her chair. “Well, that’s good, isn’t it? That means the police are on top of things?” She looked to him, and it did Daniel’s heart, among other parts of him, good that she already had begun to automatically turn to him whenever she needed something.
Rob looked at him before turning his attention back to Colleen. “Those fingerprints weren’t left by the police, love. And, according to the file I have from the HPD, they really haven’t done much toward trying to locate your sister. That’s changing, by the way, beginning today. Detective Morrissey was really not very happy at what she learned when she opened the file.”
“So, if it’s not the police looking for my sister, who is?”
“That’s a good question. There isn’t, unfortunately, any way for me to know that, not until we get a hit on either Mercy’s credit cards, her cell phone, or her bank account.”
Daniel could see Colleen was confused. “Rob has a program that will allow him to trace the user when someone logs onto a site to retrieve data. He wrote the program, and aside from him, the only other people who can use it work for our government. The purpose of this program is specific. What it means for this investigation is that when whoever’s looking for Mercy responds to an alert and attempts to follow the source—when her phone, cards, or bank account have activity—his program will trace back to them. He’ll have an IP address and identity number that will let us find them.”
“So, if whoever it is that left that…fingerprint…follows the trail…assuming it’s Mercy who, say, activates her phone or uses a credit card, then this other person or persons…” She stopped speaking, likely because she realized where her logical conclusion was headed.
Daniel moved his chair a bit closer, making it easier for him to touch her. He laid his hand on her shoulder, his caress gentle. “When that happens, there will be a race between us and them to get to the source of the alert.” He didn’t want to tell her that, very likely, whoever had taken Mercy might well have taken possession of her cell phone and her credit cards.
He hadn’t wanted to tell her earlier that the entire situation didn’t look good because Mercy had been missing an entire week and there’d been no ransom demands. This new information from Rob gave him hope. He thought it might be possible that Mercy had found out she was in trouble and was in hiding so whoever had been after her couldn’t find her.
Daniel had discovered he really didn’t want to say a damn thing that would cause Colleen to become upset, that would give her more nightmares than she already had. Likewise, he didn’t want to give her false hope.
Rob nodded then continued with his report. “I’ve taken over one of the upstairs bedrooms and brought more of my computer equipment over. I have programs running, so I’ll know if there’s any activity. I’ve also got one running, checking all the registered—and some of the unregistered—surveillance cameras in the city. I’ve narrowed the timeframe, going over archived tapes, looking for Mercy’s car around the time she went missing, because her car hasn’t been found.”
Rob kept his focus on Colleen. Daniel knew what he wanted to do with this investigation now, the same thing Rob was, he knew, about to tell Colleen.
“I don’t like the feel of this situation, Colleen. So, I’ve contacted a friend to help us out.”
“What kind of friend?”
Daniel didn’t know what Colleen was thinking, exactly, but he thought she might be envisioning some sort of back-alley gutter crawler who gave tips and performed small recon jobs in exchange for a few dollars or a bottle of whiskey.
“The kind of friend who has more resources than we do—and one who owes us a favor or three.” Rob reached over and took her hand, a clear sign he was as much attuned to her emotions as Daniel was. “He also works for a government agency that sometimes operates under the radar.”
“Another player, other than the one who is responsible for your sister’s disappearance, is trying to find her.” Daniel waited until she met his gaze before he continued. “There’s something at work here that we don’t understand. Until we get into your sister’s computer files, we won’t have a clue what it is.”
“You think she poked into something she shouldn’t have?”
“We’re both pretty certain she did,” Rob said. “All we have to do now is find out what that was and hopefully turn up evidence that will point us in the right direction.”
“So…you believe there’s still a chance we can find her? That she isn’t…” Colleen didn’t finish that thought aloud, and Daniel, responding to the pain in her voice and the stress on her face, did the only thing he could do. He reached for her and scooped her onto his lap.
“We’ve seen no evidence to tell us your sister is not alive, pet. I do believe she’s somewhere, and I also believe she’s being held against her will. We are going to do everything we can to find her. That’s why Rob reached out to Damion Quest. We’re good, but Quest is better. He has contacts not even his bosses know about. And while this case isn’t likely in his agency’s wheelhouse—while he normally would never be assigned to this investigation—he’ll do everything he can to help.”
At that moment the doorbell rang. “That’s likely him now,” Rob said. “I’ll go let him in.”
Colleen’s gaze followed Rob until he was out of sight, and then she turned her attention back to him. “Which agency does Mr. Quest work for?”
Before Daniel could answer her, Damion Quest filled the kitchen doorway. “If he told you that, Dr. Duncan, I’d have to kill you both.”
Daniel could tell the man’s smile and slight laughter threw Colleen. She’d set her left arm around his neck the moment he scooped her onto his lap. Now she flexed her hand, increasing her grip on him.
Daniel held her close. “It’s all right, pet. He has a horrid sense of humor, but he’s a good man to have on our team.” That was the best endorsement that Daniel was going to give her.
There was another, but that he decided to keep to himself for the time being. He recalled that night Mercy was at the Lyon’s Den as if it had just happened. And he recalled the two other Doms that Bradley had introduced her to. He’d watched because she had been under his protection for a time that night, but since he knew the two men in question, he’d let them be.
Chance Carter and Damion Quest had made a connection with a newbie sub that night, enough of one that he knew they’d be fully invested in finding Mercy and bringing her home.
Chapter Seven
Damion focused on the keyboard, his fingers an extension of his mind, as he accessed the network of security cameras that most people in Houston had no idea even existed. He was well aware that doing so was stretching his authority more than just a little. Fortunately, his boss, Porter Wells, was the understanding sort. Sometimes, in the course of events, an agent would have the opportunity to either do a favor for someone in another agency or be the recipient of one. Such opportunities were to be sought out and utilized, something Porter had told him the day Damion had joined his small, elite team.
Rob Conrad had developed some damn fine bits of spyware—gadgets and computer prog
rams and the like—that he’d given to Porter and, by extension, to Damion to be tested in the field. Most everything worked like a dream, and their small division of the NSA got to keep those devices for free—and were first in line for newer innovations.
Damion closed his eyes for one moment. He’d taken on several long-term, deep-cover assignments in his career. Only a certain kind of person could successfully do that. A person had to have nerves of steel and balls of titanium. A person had to be able to lie and keep up that façade of untruth under the most extreme circumstances.
It had taken all of Damion’s considerable skill to argue his participation in this case, based solely on paying back Rob, who had a personal interest in the disappearance of a female civilian. Now that Damion thought about it, he wasn’t altogether certain Porter didn’t know something else was up with his request. He’d agreed, for which he would be forever grateful.
Damion Quest had not lied to his boss, exactly. He just hadn’t told the man the entire truth. If the shit hits the fan, I’ll deal with it. Nothing is more important right now than finding Mercy.
He put his emotions on ice—a more difficult proposition than usual—and focused on the work. He input Mercy’s vehicle plate number into the program and set it to run. The program would search all the available data from all the cameras in the grid, over the specified three-day period of time. It would run while he got busy elsewhere. Switching to his second laptop, he logged into the file storage site both Mercy and Colleen used, and thanks to the Duncan women’s proclivity for preparedness, he logged on as Mercy.
“The fact that whoever else is on the trail doesn’t have this site under surveillance tells me they don’t have much specific information about her at all. Cell phone, credit cards, and banking info can all be snatched if you have a social security number, and we both know there are more of those bits of info floating around on the dark web than people want to think about. All you need is a name and an address and a connection.” He looked over at Rob.
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