The rough pads of his fingers trailed her sides, lighting fire in the wake and finally reached the juncture of her thighs. She pleaded into his mouth while he growled. His body tightened over hers and then a solitary finger slipped directly into the heated center. He was knuckle deep as her muscles gripped him tightly. With a flick of his wrist and the right amount of pressure, she was screaming out his name.
Her eyes flew open as she gasped out loud in the dark room. Sweat drenched the twisted sheets and the region between her thighs was highly sensitive. Swallowing hard, Samantha tried to regain her breathing from the erratic pace. Running shaky fingers through her damp hair, she sat up slowly and took in her surroundings.
She was in her room, in an empty bed that, despite having fresh covers over it, still smelled like him. It was like he had just been in the room. The dream had been so vivid, the ache so real that she still felt the touch of his fingers on her skin. A sudden shiver gripped her. Forcing her legs off the bed, she stumbled towards the half open window which was streaming in moonlight and pulled it shut.
On trembling legs, she made it back to bed and sat up hugging her knees. Suddenly she was aware of the wetness on her cheeks and cursed herself silently. The pain in her chest had returned and got a tight grip over her. She missed him so much. Her head was foggy all day and her heart so heavy that just about anything set her off. Twice at work, she had to excuse herself to the ladies room when the talk brought Damien to her mind.
She was slightly disgusted at herself for turning into a blubbering mess. She had always been strong in her life. For the first time, she felt like she could not remedy herself of whatever was ailing her. Nothing helped. Alcohol was just as useless as throwing herself headlong into work. She just was not efficient at anything she did anymore.
Damien had called and called until she had switched off her phone. Then he had turned up at her doorstep begging her to hear him out. She had ignored him and when her neighbor stepped in to support him, asking her to hear the poor man out, she had pulled the police card. He had finally left but the look on his face had haunted her. He looked like a broken man. Now why would someone pulling a con look like that?
She got up and went to the bathroom. She was not going to get any sleep now that she was awake. She might as well make the most of the time and find out whatever the hell was going on. Splashing cold water on her face felt good to the heated skin. Now, time to get to work. Pulling the boxes from under the table, she started with the first file in the row.
The details of the bank robbery, followed by the two murders and sightings of graffiti at the crime scenes filled up a file. She kept reading until she came to the one where Haley connected Damien and his company to the crimes.
The two murder victims had had a cash inflow in their bank accounts just two weeks before the incidents had taken place. It was the exact same amount and it had come from one of the offshore accounts that the Sutherland Company used. Neither victim’s paths had crossed each other except for that one common money factor and the company involved.
Haley had been in the middle of a hack into the company’s servers when they had been discovered and blocked out, their system flooding with baby videos. The company had a computer tech who was just as good as their Haley was. Whatever files she had managed to download before the reverse hack had taken place were not of any use to them. This put them back at square one. They still had nothing concrete except for the possibility of the company being involved in shady business dealings.
Since the hack had backfired and they had got no usable information, their only card was to drop in on the CEO with whatever meager information they had and see if he reacted. Samantha came across Damien’s file and hesitantly opened it. Damien Black was a street kid who got involved in one of the most notorious gangs of the city. They were known for their graffiti work and public display of messages. While the rest of the file on him was sealed, Damien’s presence in Samantha’s life at the same time as the events happened did not reflect well. Worse were the photos Haley had found of him meeting Wayland and was seen in a heated argument just hours before his death.
Chewing on her lip as she did when she was deep in tooth, she almost drew blood before she jerked out of it. Maybe she should not be pushing him away. After all, she had a good sense about people and he had not rung any of her warning bells. If she loved him like she said did, she had to give him the benefit of the doubt. Getting up, she set up the coffee maker and decided that she would call him tonight to hear his part of the story. She knew Finn, out of the goodness of his heart, had confronted Damien before dropping the bombshell on her, so he was not completely blindsided by what was coming. She knew if she did not hear his side, she would regret it.
“Samantha…” Her name came as a whisper off his lips. Relief flooded him at seeing her standing there. He had spent the night outside her apartment despite her refusal to see him. When she had threatened to bring him in, he had made a show of leaving but returned after a while. He had no intention of leaving until she listened to what he had to say.
Surprise flashed across Samantha’s face followed by a look of deep sorrow which she immediately replaced with a carefully bottled up expression.
“I told you to go home.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I can’t just leave you with your doubt. I have to clear things up first. And my home is where you are. You’re not there with me. You won’t pick up my calls. You won’t even listen to me. Heck, you can’t even look at me right now. Samantha…please believe me when I say I truly love you and it was never my intention to hurt you. Just give me a chance to explain everything. It’s not what you think.”
Samantha took in the sincerity of his words and finally relented. Her heart hammering in her chest, she let him inside. He made a move towards her and she unconsciously stepped backwards then silently cursed at the look of hurt on his face.
“Coffee?”
“Sure, thanks.”
She quickly poured his coffee and then filled a mug for herself before settling down on the couch opposite him.
“What’s your connection with the Hellraisers?” She got straight to the point.
“I was one of them. Was is the relative term. I told you about being a foster kid, remember? Well, I didn’t last long in the system and I ended up on the streets somewhere in my mid-teens. I was struggling to make it each day until a man came out of nowhere and took me in.”
Damien poured out the entire story of his transition into the gangs rank and how getting taken care of meant getting in with them completely. He had been a terrified child so the temptation of a warm bed and fresh food had outweighed any moral feelings. But he found a way out of that darkness after he met Zack.
Together they managed to break him out of that life and into a new one. But the man who took him in did not let him go easily. There had been fights that almost cost him his life before he turned the tables on him. He provided certain information about them that led to a few arrests and great anger on the part of his benefactor.
When Finn had first confronted him about his involvement, he asked Zack to dig into matters and discovered his previous benefactor out of prison and ready for revenge. He knew the framing of the murders was his work. It was his style in the old days.
“How sure are you?”
“Very.”
“I can have Zack pass on whatever information he has dug up. This guy is clever. He has to have been watching me closely to manage to set the FBI on my tracks. And he’s good. If I didn’t have a few allies, I would be rotting in prison right now.”
“Okay, say I believe you on this. Then what about the money we found linking the Sutherland Company to our two dead guys?”
“Zack found out about that too. It was a matter of a simple hack and he had you running around in circles. I told you he was good.”
“So all this mayhem just to get back at you?”
“Oh no. It’s a two-in-one thing. He resolves gang conflict by doing in the ones who cross him and making it into one big artwork as a warning for others. At the same time, he’s playing his hand at trying to punish me for abandoning and then sending him to prison.”
“We found no indication of either victim’s involvement with the gang.”
“And you won’t unless you dig deeper and further back. I didn’t know them from back in my days, but they had to have been members who left like I did. Once you join, you can’t leave. It’s the rule you’ve to follow or pay the price. Just have your computer whiz go further back into their lives. Trust me, the pieces will start to fall in place.”
Chapter 4
“Damien Black, you’re under arrest for the murders of Alexander Wayland and Mathew Kingsley. You’ve the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You’ve the right to an attorney,” Finn read the Miranda rights to the grim faced man in an almost growl as he tightened the cuffs on his wrists. Giving him a disgusted look, he pushed him towards the car.
“Where the hell are you taking him?” a tall blond man yelled, pushing through the crowd but got held back by the officers who were on crowd control duty. “This is absolute crap. Don’t say a word, Damien, you hear. Not a word!” Finn slammed the door shut and climbed into the driver’s seat.
“Is all this necessary?” Damien said smoothly from the back seat.
“It’s the only way,” came the terse reply.
They got off the highway and took a detour. The road was clear and then suddenly a black SUV appeared out of nowhere tailgating them. Finn glanced in the rear view mirror and then caught Damien’s eyes.
“Ready?”
“I am if you are. But it’s still not a great plan.”
“Shut up. Your plan was worse. You’re not going to be the one who is getting his ass handed to him for this. So just go along with it. Don’t screw up.”
“I don’t see how I could,” Damien said smoothly.
The front lights of the SUV flashed once and then it picked up speed. Finn cringed before it happened. The bumper of the car met the rear of theirs once jolting them and then crashed into them again. Metal screeched against metal and Finn put just a little distance between them before it hit again.
“Son of a…,” Finn swore, as he stepped out of the vehicle to assess the damage to his car.
“Sorry, man.” Samantha stepped out of the SUV with an apologetic look on her face. “Got to make it believable.”
“You didn’t have to hit me so many times.”
She shrugged and then strode over to the back seat. Her expression was tight as she opened the door and looked at Damien. “It’s time.” He slipped out of the cuffs smoothly and gave her a little smile at the look of surprise she flashed him.
“The story is more real now. Felon slipped out of his own cuffs and made a run for it.”
“Alright. This is it. You know the rest of the plan. Get close but not too close. We’ll follow and stay out of sight until the right moment. Don’t engage too much. The man’s unstable. We don’t want his plan to come to life fully.”
He raised his arm and cupped her chin, looking directly into her eyes. “Don’t worry. It’ll go exactly the way we planned it.”
Samantha shuddered. She was letting him walk right into the lion’s den. Her gut twisted at the thought and for the first time she prayed. She prayed for his safety. She could not lose him. She leaned up and kissed him like her life depended on it. His hand gripped her flush against him while his other hand caressed her cheek, soothingly.
“Okay you two. Break it up. We have got to get a move on. We’re about to have company.”
They pulled apart and stared at each other, communicating through their eyes. Then Damien turned towards Finn and just said, “Got to make my escape look real,” before punching him right in the nose.
“Son of a…!” Finn yowled and glared furiously at the man while trying to avoid his lips from twitching.
Damien hightailed it out of there before back up arrived. The information he had provided Samantha with had resulted in her digging in like he had asked, which uncovered a whole lot of news. This ended in his name being cleared with the agency but did not remove the target that had been planted on his back by his old gang.
The plan was simple. He was to supposedly get outside help and make an escape from custody. The agency would not have allowed it but Samantha had pulled some strings and managed to get enough approval to carry out the plan. If things went south, it would be on her. The woman was sticking her neck out for him.
Zack had looked up the old Hellraisers haunts and had found only one in use. It was an abandoned shipping warehouse, one which Damien was familiar with. They had taken a gamble on someone from the gang being there waiting for him. Finn had sent an alert about his escape which was bound to be picked up by one of the cronies.
“Hello Damien,” a silky voice spoke up from behind a crate.
Damien spun around and came face to face with the visage that had haunted him for years. The man who took him off the streets and turned him into a complete savage. Or at least tried to. His lips curled in disgust at the smug look on his face.
“Hector. Should’ve known it would be you.”
Hector spread his arms wide and grinned evilly. “It was the perfect plan, no?”
“Except it didn’t work.”
“Oh it did. It brought you to my feet, didn’t it? You’re a disgraced man in the media now. Your death will not warrant much scrutiny now that they suspect you of double murder and various other crimes. But how did you know I was the one framing you?”
“So your plan was to bring me here and not put me behind bars?”
“My plan is to make sure you pay for what you did years ago. I knew even if you escaped, you would come back here. You were always smart. But not that smart.” The sound of the safety of a gun being released echoed in the space. “And now you’ve to pay for the betrayal. It doesn’t matter who kills you. If you had gone to prison, my people in there would have done the job for me. But I’m very happy to get the chance to even the field myself.”
“How did you know I would run?”
“Damien,” Hector chuckled, twirling the semi-automatic in his finger. “You forget where you grew up. I observed you. You’re flighty. If you see things not going your way, you run. Just like you ran years ago and ruined my life.” He raised the gun and leveled it at his head. “I took you in and raised you like a son. And what do I get for it?”
“You were never my father,” Damien spat. Hector’s face turned red and his finger started to squeeze the trigger when all chaos broke out.
“Freeze, FBI! Put down your gun, now!”
Hector’s eyes turned huge and spittle began to form at the corner of his mouth as anger took over him. Someone yelled Damien’s name and at the same time the sound of gunfire erupted in the room. Someone hit him hard in the middle and he landed on his back, briefly disoriented.
“We’ve an agent down.”
A female groan sounded by his side, jerking him to his senses. “Samantha?” He paled as he took in her prone form lying next to him. Frantically, he ran his hands over her body assessing for damage.
“I’m fine, Damien. It’s just a flesh wound.” Wincing, she lifted herself up and batted his hands away. “Relax…his shot was completely off.”
“You’re bleeding.” His vision darkened at the sight of blood on her arm. The asshole had shot his woman. He had been aiming for Damien but she had jumped in, taking the shot for him. “You took a bullet for me.”
“Hardly.” But she grinned up at him and accepted his hand as he helped her to her feet.
“You okay, Gideon?” An agent asked, as he led a handcuffed, red in the face Hector away.
“Perfect. What’re you doing?”
Damien strode up to the struggling man wh
o was yelling curses at him and pulled back his fist. There was a resounding crack of a broken bone as his knuckles met Hector’s face. “That’s for shooting at me.” He pulled back one more time and hit him in the stomach, leaving him wheezing. “That’s for hitting Agent Gideon instead.”
“Thanks,” Samantha said leaning against him as they walked out together towards the paramedics.
“What for?”
“For being you.”
“Never had anyone thank me for it,” he said, gazing fondly at her. “Thank you for saving my life.”
“It’s my pleasure. Literally my pleasure. What would I do with you gone anyway?”
He chuckled and kissed her before the paramedics pulled them apart to check on them. He felt a huge wave of relief go through him. It was over. The madness was finally over and things were settling down. At least he hoped they were. He kept his eyes on her as they patched her up. She was smiling at him when suddenly her features paled. He called out her name just as she collapsed against the gurney.
Chapter 5
“The blood work is normal. There is nothing to worry about. The exhaustion from the day hit you and your blood pressure dropped. Take it easy for a while, considering everything.” The doctor smiled and nodded at Samantha while Damien stood beside her bed, hovering like an overprotective mother over her cub.
“See? I’m fine. I just needed some sugar to get me back on my feet.”
Damien glowered. “You’re not getting on your feet.”
“Not yet, I’m not,” she muttered. “Okay boss. I’ll be the perfect patient. Now will you remove the frown and smile for me?”
His lips twitched and his forehead smoothened. “Do you want me to get you anything?”
“Some hot chocolate would be nice.”
“Okay.” He leaned down to place a sweet kiss on her forehead and squeezed her fingers. “Stay put. I’ll be right back.”
“Not going anywhere,” she smiled after him.
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