by Hannah Ford
Protected? Since when was Club Alpha protecting her from anything?
She thought these things, but kept silent, guessing that asking such questions might be bad for her health at this point. The goal now was to say anything she needed to say to get the hell out of the car alive.
“Sir,” she began.
“Call me Zeke, please,” he smiled.
“Zeke, I’m fine staying ignorant. Really.”
“Yes, they say ignorance is bliss, so I can understand why you say that. But you must know that if we’ve gotten to this point, all possibilities have been explored and we’ve arrived here out of necessity. As I said, the time for you to walk away blissfully unaware has now expired. So you must tread very carefully, now, Raven.” Zeke once again looked up into her eyes. “Very, very carefully indeed.”
“I’ll never speak a word about Club Alpha,” she said, her throat tightening. “Just please don’t hurt me. Jake is out of my life. I promise, I swear.”
Zeke exchanged a bemused look with Max Mendez.
“Jake won’t be out of your life for very long,” Zeke replied, giggling slightly. “You see, this has become a very fluid scenario. One moment something is asked of you, the next, something different.”
“I thought you wanted me out of the limelight,” she said. “I was told that my very presence in Jake’s life could compromise the secrecy of Club Alpha.”
“That’s very true,” Zeke said. He nodded thoughtfully. “However, the risks and rewards are constantly being weighed and sometimes a new consensus is reached.”
“Please,” she begged. “Can you just let me out of the car?”
“Stop asking that,” Max warned, his voice gravelly and angry. Suddenly, Raven realized that tough Max Mendez was also terrified, and that made her so frightened that she almost threw up.
If I say the wrong thing, Zeke will kill me, she thought. He’ll kill me as calmly as he sits there clipping his nails.
It’s really true, and that’s why Max is acting crazy. Max might be mean, but he doesn’t want my blood on his hands.
“It would appear on the surface that Club Alpha is nothing but a glorified escort service,” Zeke said. “And in fact, as far as most everyone involved is concerned, that’s exactly what we are. Our function is to service our rich and powerful clients with the kinds of women who meet all their needs, and provide discretion and secrecy that guarantees those same powerful men won’t have to worry about any messy scandals.”
“But that’s not really what Club Alpha is,” Raven said, her mouth as dry as desert sand.
Zeke’s smile died on his lips. “Oh, no. No, we’ve never been anything as simplistic as a brothel. In point of fact, we have never wasted our access to the personal lives of the most powerful and influential men the world over. In reality, Club Alpha is and always has been primarily an information gathering service.”
The enormity of what Zeke was telling her dawned on Raven, and her stomach dropped, as if she’d just been pushed off a ledge and into an abyss.
“Club Alpha is full of spies,” she said.
Zeke smiled. “Let’s not get carried away,” he said, but his eyes told her that she was correct in her conclusion.
“So now you want me to be a spy?”
His heavy-lidded eyes fixed on her, his pupils seeming to get larger as spoke. “Jake Novak engaged in a particular mission his last week in Afghanistan. Our intelligence tells us that it is of the utmost importance that we find out exactly what that mission was in as much detail as possible.”
“Jake would never tell me about any top-secret mission in Afghanistan,” she said, her voice rising despite her best attempts to keep it under control. “Jake wouldn’t even tell me what he had for breakfast.”
“Be that as it may, you’d better find a way to learn about his breakfast, and whatever else we tell you to learn about Jake Novak.”
“Jake’s not speaking to me,” she said. “He sent me away, he broke off our relationship.”
Zeke’s dead eyes just stared at her. “Our sources tell us that’s not the case.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means we know that Jake Novak is still susceptible to your power of feminine persuasion. It means that he has a weakness for you, and you only, as far as we can determine. Therefore, you will find a way to rekindle your relationship with him, and you will begin telling us everything he tells you.” Clip. Clip. Clip. “That means you’ll dig for the truth about what Jake did in Afghanistan, and you won’t rest until you find out. And I won’t rest until the truth has been told to me,” Zeke said, spittle flying from his lips.
Raven looked down and saw that he was gripping the nail clippers so tightly that his hand had gone white around the knuckles.
He’s crazy, she thought. Whoever this man is—he’s completely out of his mind.
“I’ll…I’ll think about it,” she said softly.
“No, you’ll do it,” Max told her.
Zeke glanced at him and slightly shook his head before turning to Raven with a renewed smile. “I’ve laid all of our cards on the table,” he said. “I didn’t need to do that, but it’s my way. I presented you with the opportunity, and I explained our point of view. Now it’s up to you, Raven.”
“I don’t seem to have much of a choice,” she said.
“Oh, but you do. Everyone has choice.” He went back to clipping his nails. Clip. Clip. The thumbnail, in particular, seemed to be getting rather short. “Everyone has a choice,” he repeated.
“Will you kill me if I don’t help you?” she asked.
He didn’t even pause. “Not at first.”
“But you will eventually.”
“No, I believe that eventually we will convince you to do what’s needed.”
Raven’s insides felt wrung out, empty and barren. “What if Jake turns me down?” she asked.
“That would be very unfortunate for you,” Zeke said. “It would be unfortunate for you, and your friend Skylar, and your mother, your father, even your brother Daniel.”
Raven was frozen from the coldness of Zeke’s eyes, and the chilling words that had crossed his lips. He had just threatened everyone in the world that was close to her without hesitation.
“Leave my family out of this,” she whispered.
Zeke sat up in his seat and craned his head. “Oh, look what we have here. Some kind of concert? See all the teenyboppers running around—what a silly thing it all looks from a distance. And yet, this silly little event is worth millions of dollars.”
Raven saw that they had been driving quite a distance, and she’d been so engrossed in the conversation with Zeke that she hadn’t noticed where they were even going.
But now she realized that they’d arrived at Jake’s concert. In fact, the concert was due to start soon. The parking lots were already filling up with cars and there were people everywhere, walking around, eating, drinking, playing Jake Novak songs, even carrying signs.
There was even a fairly large group of a couple dozen protestors, picketing the concert. Their signs said JAKE THE SNAKE and WE DON’T PAY FOR BULLIES TO PLAY and things of that nature.
More than a few cops were patrolling and walking around, keeping an eye on things in case they got out of hand.
“What are we doing here?” she asked.
Zeke finally put his nail clippers away and brushed the trimmings from his pants. His motions were short, brusque, and economical. “We’re here to start you back on the right track, Raven. I like to give my employees a helping hand whenever possible.”
Max gave a signal to the driver and the car stopped in its tracks.
Zeke pointed toward the front of the car. “If you were to walk a few hundred yards past this car, straight towards the arena, you’d eventually run into a member of Jake’s security team. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
“Yes,” she said, although she wasn’t certain of why he was giving her this information.
“Good,” Zeke said a
pprovingly. “In a moment, you’re going to get out of the car and walk directly over to a member of his security team and say you were just mugged, and you need to see Jake immediately.”
Raven turned her head and looked at him. “Mugged?”
“Yes. And you have been.” Zeke gave an ever so slight nod of his head to Max, and then suddenly Max had grabbed her purse and ripped it off her shoulder.
Raven shrieked, as the contents spilled across the bottom of the car.
A second later, he flung the back door open, got out, grabbed Raven by the arm and flung her out of the car, where she landed on the pavement hard, smashing her elbow and knee and rolling onto her back.
A moment later, her empty purse landed beside her, the strap snapped, completely useless.
“Remember, it was a mugger. He was wearing a hoodie and you didn’t get a look at his face,” Max growled, as he got back in the car. A second later, it sped away, leaving her there.
A few of the people nearby that had seen what happened came over and helped her up. “Are you all right?” they asked.
“I’m fine. I just fell.”
“That guy pushed you—“
“No,” she insisted. “I fell. Please leave me alone.”
“Hey, aren’t you Raven Hartley?” someone said, and she started to run.
Eventually, she ran straight into one of Jake’s security team, just as Zeke had promised she would. The man looked surprised to see her there.
“I need to see Jake right away,” she told him, looking back over her shoulder.
“Mr. Novak has a show—“
“Just tell him I’m here, okay?” she cried. Tears were streaming down her face now.
The security guard turned away from her and spoke into a headset microphone he was wearing. She couldn’t hear what he said, but a few seconds later and he was escorting her quickly through a back entrance away from the crowds.
Everywhere she went, people seemed to be staring at her. The guard maneuvered her through the maze until she finally reached Jake’s dressing room.
There were two other members of the team stationed in front of the door.
“We’re right in front,” the security guard said into his mic, and then knocked.
When the door opened and Jake was standing there, Raven didn’t know what to do. She was terrified that he was going to yell at her, ask her what the hell she was doing, even threaten to call the cops.
Instead, he only looked concerned. “Are you all right? What happened?”
She broke down into tears, unable to answer. All she knew was that Jake didn’t hate her, he actually did care, and the relief was so strong that she couldn’t even talk.
“It’s okay,” Jake told the security team. “I’ll take it from here. Come on, Raven,” he said softly, taking her by the arm and leading her back into his room. He shut the door and led her to the couch. “Sit down. Sit down. Let me get you some water.”
He grabbed a cold bottle of water and handed it to her.
“Th-th-thanks,” she said, still crying. She opened the bottle and drank a sip.
Jake was watching her very closely. He was wearing a black leather jacket, black jeans and black boots. His brown eyes were concerned, but he was managing his emotions. “Tell me what happened.”
“I got mugged,” she said, hating the lie, but knowing she didn’t dare tell him the truth right now. Not after what those men had said and done to her.
Jake’s eyes flashed. “Who did it? Someone from Club Alpha? Your ex? Who?”
She shook her head. “I’m not sure. He came from behind and he was wearing a hoodie. I got knocked down and then he ripped my purse off my shoulder.”
Jake peered down at her pants. “You’re bleeding around your knee,” he said. “Damn it.” He knelt down and gently pulled her pants up over her calf and past the knee. “It’s scraped really badly.”
“I’m sorry I bothered you. I just—I wasn’t sure what else to do.”
“Don’t apologize,” he said. “I’m glad you came, Raven. And when I find the guy who did this to you, I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“No, you don’t need to do anything,” she whimpered.
Raven’s emotions were a complete and utter mess. She wanted desperately to unburden herself, to tell Jake exactly what had occurred. After all, she hadn’t done anything wrong.
The problem was that she was scared of what Jake might do if she told him the truth. The last time she’d confessed about Club Alpha’s threats, Jake had jumped the CEO in the bathroom of a fancy restaurant and nearly strangled him.
Obviously, that little stunt hadn’t deterred the thugs at Club Alpha one bit. No, they’d come back with a vengeance, and Raven had the sense that they were no longer playing games.
This was life and death.
This was incredibly dangerous, for Raven and Jake both.
If what Zeke had told her was true, than Club Alpha was much more than just some swanky underground escort service. Club Alpha was using its call girls to gather information from the most powerful and influential people in the world.
Club Alpha had access to investment bankers, heads of state, movie stars and rich business owners. She had no doubt that they might very well place their “exclusive” girls with men who worked in the FBI, NSA, CIA and more.
Their operation wasn’t restricted to America, either. No doubt they had girls working in China, Russia, Japan, Latin America.
Where did it end?
Who did they give the information to?
She had no idea, but she did know that Zeke was a cold-blooded psychopath and he’d been brought in to make sure that Raven got the information they wanted out of Jake.
Jake had gotten involved in something very serious in Afghanistan. Either that, or the Club Alpha thugs were just lying to frighten her.
But she didn’t believe that was the case. She thought they were telling the truth.
“Raven,” Jake said, studying her face, “you don’t look so good.”
“I’m okay,” she lied. Her heart was suddenly racing. “I’m really all right. I—I should go.”
“What?” Jake said.
She got off the couch and was about to head for the door, but then the world swam in front of her eyes and there was a loud ringing in her ears.
And then she fell into the depths of blackness.
* * *
Everything was blurry at first, and then the blobs of shapes coalesced into what looked like human faces staring at her.
Their black mouths opened and closed but all she heard was buzzing at first.
It was nice in a way. There was a peaceful sensation involved in not knowing who or what anything was.
But then the human faces got even clearer, and Raven realized she was lying on the ground, on her back.
Jake, his manager Kurt, and another man were staring at her.
“Raven?” the man said. “Raven?” He snapped his fingers first over the top left corner of her field of vision, and then to the bottom right corner.
“She’s following, she’s tracking,” Jake said, breathing a sigh of relief.
Kurt stood up, shaking his head. “This is just drama queen bullshit, Jake, and it’s the last thing we need right now.”
Jake was kneeling over her, but he glanced up at Kurt. “Say one more word like that and see what happens.” His jaw muscle twitched.
“Take it easy,” Kurt said. “I didn’t freaking mug her.”
“Are you sure about that?” Jake said, his voice edgy.
“Hey, fuck you,” Kurt replied.
“Raven, I’m Doctor Phelps,” the stranger said. “I’m one of the medical staff here at the show. Can you hear me?”
Raven nodded. “I’m feeling better. I must’ve passed out.”
The doctor helped her sit up and then he took her vitals. He checked her eyes, her head for any signs of trauma, and then asked her some basic questions relating to memory. When he was done, he turn
ed to Jake. “She checks out okay. We could always bring her to the ER and get some scans done just to rule out anything we might have missed.”
Jake looked at Raven with deep concern. “I think we should take you just to be sure.”
“I didn’t hit my head,” she told him. “Unless I hit my head when I fainted.”
“No, I caught you,” he said. “You’re light as a feather.” His mouth twitched into something that almost resembled a smile.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I should go home now and let you all get back to work.”
“We can have a few members of the team bring her home,” Kurt said. “We’ll put someone out in front of her building if you want. Just to be sure.”
“No,” Jake told him. “I’m not letting her out of my sight again.”
The doctor looked uncomfortable. “I’m going to step out and let you folks talk amongst yourselves.”
He left the room as Jake helped Raven over to the couch. She was fine, steady on her feet. But Jake was treating her as though she was made of porcelain.
Kurt, meanwhile, was watching her with barely repressed disdain marking his features. “Brother, we have a show to put on. There’s a sold out crowd waiting for you to come out there and knock their socks off. We need this to go well tonight.”
“Yeah, I’m aware of that,” Jake told him. “But at this moment I really couldn’t care less about the concert.”
Kurt’s face went so red it was almost purple. “You don’t care? Are you kidding me right now? Do you have any clue what your antics have cost us these last couple weeks?”
Jake turned away from Raven to face Kurt. “If you have something you want to get off your chest,” Jake told him, “then go ahead and do it. You seem to have a lot of opinions about me.”
Kurt’s chest puffed out. “I’m your best friend. I’ve been through shit with you that nobody’s been through. And you think you can just treat me like I’m your maid, or your personal assistant.”
“You work for me,” Jake told him, walking closer. “Don’t forget your place, Kurt.”
“The only time you ever question my loyalty is when she’s around,” he replied, pointing at Raven.
“I know you don’t like her,” Jake said. “And I understand you don’t approve. But you know what? I don’t give a shit what you think anymore.”