Rule 53

by Elaine Nolan

  “Sorry, didn’t realise it was this late,” she apologised.

  “S’ok,” he managed. “What are you up to at this hour?”

  “Work, real proper work, IT stuff,” she told him.

  “Oh, so your cover story is actually real?”

  “Of course it’s real. It should’ve finished hours ago, but we ran into a few glitches and compatibility issues.”

  “Good thing they have someone who knows this stuff.”

  “Yeah, good thing I know a thing or two. Em…” she broached the other subject she wanted to discuss. “About last night, I just wanted to say thanks again.”

  “Do you remember anything?” he asked.

  “No, very little. I’m not even sure how I got to your place,” she admitted.

  “You gave the taxi driver my name and address,” he filled in the details. “But, when he couldn’t wake you up, he used your phone to call me, and I carried you up. You own me $40 for the taxi.”

  “Send me the receipt, I’ll get you reimbursed.”

  “Oh no you don’t, sweetheart, pay up, or pay in kind.”

  She gave him a deep, throaty chuckle.

  “Hmm, I’m sure we could come to an alternative arrangement. What did you have in mind?”

  “Well… considering what you told me a long time ago about Jürgen, and you did succumb to your addiction last night…” There was silence on the other end, and thought he’d pushed too far, until she answered.

  “For starters, I didn’t succumb, I didn’t give in, and I didn’t take anything. To the best of my knowledge, I’m innocent.”

  “If I had a dollar for every time I heard that declaration… and I’m sure your former Master would agree. Will we call him?” More silence and he knew he’d pushed it too far this time.

  “I think we can leave him out of this, this time.”

  “You want to come over?”

  “Not now, not tonight. It will be another hour before I finish up here.”

  “Tomorrow? Your results should be back by then.”

  “Wow, that’s quick.”

  “Yeah, I know a guy. You want to tell me what’s going on between you and Rainey?”

  “If you get the results tomorrow, you’ll know before I do.”

  “Has it to do with Karl?”

  “I don’t think so. I’ve found no connection between the two of them, yet.”

  “Why do I feel you have a connection?” Silence again from her. “Why do I feel it has to do with your father?”

  “Has anyone ever told you you’re really good at what you do?”

  “Swayne tells me that all the time. Am I right? Is Rainey somehow connected to you?”

  “I don’t know Jake. Nathan made a claim and said the DNA would prove it. I want to wait until the test results come back.”

  He wasn’t going to get any more answers from her, but that knot in his stomach tightened another notch.

  “Ok. I’ll call you as soon as I get something back.”

  “Thank you.” To his ear, her gratitude sounded deep and sincere. Add in her temperament adjustments, and a different woman from the one he left behind in Ireland now spoke to him. He could only describe it as a level of maturity in her, knowing he’d lapsed in his own maturity. And what of Rainey? It only made Jake determined to get those results in the morning.

  CHAPTER 25

  Jake’s text gave the confirmation she needed.

  “He’s your fucking brother?” it read.

  “Apparently,” she texted back.

  “WTF?” she got back, and she didn’t reply. Instead, she sent a message to Nathan, to the number on the card that came with his gift.

  “Can we meet?” she asked of him and received a quick response.

  “Where would you like?”

  “Waterfront Park.”

  “At the Labyrinth. 3pm,” he texted back. She looked it up and updated her work scheduler with the location and with whom, knowing Donal had access to it, and would receive an alert whenever she made an entry. The route was only a 30-minute walk away, but she gave herself an added 20 minutes to do counter-surveillance and throw off any tail. She zig-zagged her way to the meeting point, arriving a few minutes early, but found he’d arrived first. She picked a public enough spot, but he’d picked a quiet time. The surveillance vehicles were easy to spot and given the test results, she guessed Jake would be nearby to find out what the hell was going on.

  Nathan stood at the railings overlooking the river, and in profile, he was undeniably Lee’s son. She squared her shoulders and walked towards him.

  “I’m guessing the test results came back,” he said, with a smirk, knowing it was the only reason she’d talk to him. She didn’t answer, confirming his guess. Instead, she took the vial of Ketamine from her jacket pocket and held it in her hand for him to see, anger clouding her features. “Did you know, you’re a short version of dad?”

  She smashed the vial on the ground between them as her reply. He stepped back as it shattered in front of him and he looked back to her.

  “Should I have sent flowers? I didn’t think that was your style.”

  “Why?” she demanded.

  “Why what?”

  “I’ve been clean for over ten years. Why destroy that? Were you trying make me dependent on them again, make me dependent on you for them? You could’ve gotten me fired. Was that your brilliant fucking plan?”

  “I’ll be honest, I had no real plan for dealing with you. I’m making most of this shit up as I go. I never expected to see you at the Embassy. But now that you’re here, it’s an opportunity for a family get-together that I couldn’t resist.”

  “So you thought drugging me, kidnapping me, and trying to get me addicted to hard-core drugs was the way to go?”

  “It was a way.”

  “You’re fucking insane.”

  “Again, it’s a family trait. You’re not the only sociopathic smartarse, sis. Should I have brought you to a bondage club instead? Yes, I know of your predilections. And I’d never have figured Jake as a man who liked to be collared and beaten like a dog.”

  The man in question felt an intense sense of burning humiliation as his co-workers in the surveillance van looked at him in stunned silence. He despised Nathan with a passion right now.

  “Oh! This is the line of attack you’re taking now, impugning the name and reputation of a friend?” she demanded of Nathan.

  “Only if it’s not true,” Nathan argued back, puzzled by her reaction.

  “Have proof of it, do you?” she challenged.

  “Maybe I do.”

  Leigh laughed. “Where did you learn your intimidation tactics,” she said.

  “Want lessons?”

  “Not from you, but maybe from someone who knows what they’re doing.”

  “Oh little sister, you’re mistaken if you think I’m bullshitting.”

  “I have no doubts you’ve been stalking me, but for you to have, and I quote: ‘hired the best around the world’, you’d have had to divert considerable funds from whatever scheme you’re trying to pull off here. You might be a man with a plan, but you’re not doing this alone, you’re not clever enough. No wonder dad didn’t want you. He didn’t want to waste his time and effort on a pathetic lost cause.”

  In the surveillance van, Jake closed his eyes and shook his head with a sigh. In hindsight, reflecting on his surveillance of Nathan and Leigh’s first meeting, he now wondered if she’d had an inkling even then.

  Or was her anger fuelled by Nathan trying to push her back into drugs? Jake admired how she took the fight to Nathan, even defended his honour.

  He glanced at the team in the van still giving him strange looks.

  “For the record, she’s never put a collar on me, but her spanking’s awesome,” he told them, making them blush in embarrassment more than him.

  CHAPTER 26

  Nathan took a breath after his little sister stalked off in anger, but it brought him back to that nig
ht, the one where Lee re-entered his life, if only for a few days. Lee Harte would never be dead while young Leigh was still alive, and Nathan knew he’d pushed her too far. Had he lost her? He didn’t know, but his scheme to be the badass big brother just backfired on him in spectacular fashion, and he would be licking his wounds for a while longer. Mark Bradford approached him from the riverside path.

  “You finished fucking around?” he asked.

  “Not even close,” Nathan answered.

  “Whatever this obsession of yours is, it has to stop. It’s distracting you, and the old man isn’t happy.”

  “The old man can go to hell,” Nathan shot back.

  “Will I tell him that?” Mark asked, but the wary look on Nathan’s face was enough of a response. Nathan might have swagger and balls of steel, but no one took on the old man, and won. “Who was that bitch, anyway?”

  “My younger sister,” Nathan answered.

  “I didn’t know you had one,” Mark answered.

  “She didn’t know she had a big brother either, but she’s an IT head, works in the Irish Embassy. She might be useful.”

  “You’ll need to run that past the old man, get his approval for that, though access to a foreign government official would be good to have,” Mark advised.

  “The old man already knows about her, but he doesn’t need to know I made contact with her.”

  “I don’t like what I’m hearing, Nate. Sounds like rebellion.”

  Nathan reined in his temper, and gave Mark a grin.

  “She’s of no concern to him. She’s my problem, not his.

  “Then stop fucking around,” he said. “You’ve a job to do.”

  CHAPTER 27

  The knock on his apartment door startled him. He wasn’t expecting anyone, not at this late hour, and no one buzzed up from the security door at the entrance. He checked the security camera, surprised to see Leigh standing on the other side, but relieved. It meant not having to dress and he opened the door to her wearing only his boxers.

  “Expecting someone?” she asked.

  “Just you, obviously,” he answered. “How the hell do you always manage to get past security?”

  “How come you don’t?”

  He stepped back, opening the door to allow her in, and she handed him the bag of takeout and beer.

  “Didn’t think I’d be seeing you for a while,” he said, setting out plates and cutlery.

  “Yeah, well, I figured I owed you an explanation,” she said.

  “Yes, you do, but I’m used to you keeping secrets by now. I’d like to understand how Rainey’s your brother.”

  “So would I,” she answered. “So I spent the day piecing together my dad’s timeline from that time.” She threw a thin file on the counter beside the food. “Because it happened at the time of the Troubles, a lot of it is still redacted, but he was undercover in one of the paramilitary groups.”

  “But Rainey?”

  “Before dad met my mum.”

  Jake flipped through the pages of the file while picking at the food.

  “Are you allowed to share this with me?”

  “Probably not.”

  “So why?

  She shrugged.

  “You got the tests done, I figured I owed you.”

  He opened and handed her a beer.

  “Yeah, well, I owe you thanks for standing up for me with Rainey. I always suspected he was an asshole, didn’t figure him as vindictive.”

  “You overheard? So, you were part of the surveillance team. On him, or on me?”

  “On him. You’re still considered an ally, for the moment.”

  “He’d no right dragging you into our mess, and I knew nothing about him until the night of Swayne’s fundraiser.”

  “Something tells me you had your suspicions before then. You two didn’t behave like best buddies, but then you left with him.”

  “I didn’t leave with him, not consciously.”

  “What drug did he gave you?”

  “Your tests didn’t answer that one?”

  “It only had enough for one test.”

  “Ketamine,” she answered, and he shook his head, knowing the dangers of it.

  “You were lucky it didn’t kill you.”

  “I don’t think that was his intention, but then again, I’m not sure what his intentions are.”

  “Whatever they are, you gave him hell.”

  “Since when have I ever gone down without a fight?”

  “That is true.” His answer was pointed, but had no malice in it. She played with her food, and he recognised it; something else, something deeper was on her mind. He took her hand, to stop her messing. “What else?”

  “What?”

  “There’s another reason you’re here.”

  “Is there?”

  “Leigh.”

  She sighed. “I thought on what you said, in our phone call.”

  “Which part?”

  “Jürgen.”

  “You know you can never go back there,” he cautioned, and she nodded.

  “I wouldn’t go to him, but… the Ketamine… Nathan sent me a vial, and I’ll be honest, I’m tempted.”

  “You didn’t, did you?”

  “No. But it felt better than coke.”

  “And you’re still tempted?”

  She nodded. She knelt, assumed the submissive pose he always adopted when they played. Only this wasn’t play. Not for her.

  “You’ve never let me dominate you before,” he said.

  “Since I got clean, I’ve never been this tempted. Maybe it’s a Pavlovian response, a reaction to how Jürgen trained me.” She then broke the submissive rule and looked up at him. “And I wouldn’t trust anyone else.”

  “I found a bondage club, it’s not that far away,” he said, but she shook her head.

  “For safety and security, they record everything, especially in the private play rooms. Can you imagine what would happen and the damage it would cause if footage of us in play, and taken out of context, was released to our respective employers? For a start, it would look like an American agent torturing an Irish one. Even if they believed it was consensual, you then have the minor problem of two agents from different countries engaged in a questionable act.”

  It gave him pause as he thought on her logic, but she was right.

  “Are you going to allow me to do this? Without telling me what to do? We both know you have a problem relinquishing control.”

  “I’ll try.”

  “And you have to call me Master.”

  “Don’t push it,” she growled, and he chuckled.

  “I’m going to gag you, just to be sure you don’t start barking instructions at me.” The flash of annoyance across her face, that she tried to control, told him she was genuine. He tried to hide his nervousness, not sure how to proceed, but thought back to their time together, to the times he’d been the one kneeling on the floor, and tried to emulate her.

  “Undress,” he ordered, and disappeared into the bedroom, looking for something to use as restraints. He’d brought them back with him when he returned to the States, gifts she’d treated him to, and used on him. He returned to her, finding her back in position and as he’d commanded. She didn’t resist as he tied her up, and he made it as restrictive as she’d trussed him in the past. He sat in front of her, the collar she’d never used on him in his hands, and her eyes narrowed. She hated it, and he knew it, but she wanted this, and he would push her to the edge of her tolerance. Her jaw clenched as he placed it around her throat and buckled it up at the back of her neck. He grabbed his bottle of beer and sat in front of her.

  Domination wasn’t always about kinky sex play or instilling obedience. Sometimes it was as simple as testing boundaries. He was going to push her to her limits, without lifting a finger to her.

  “How many intelligence teams are operating from the Irish Embassy?” he asked, and she glared at him, his question throwing her.

  “None.”
<
br />   He knew she lied, that they had at least one active team operating in the Capital, but he needed to establish her base line for telling the truth. It didn’t differ from any interrogation he’d ever carried out in the course of his official duties. He had no intention of torturing her for information, or pressuring her into betraying her country. But this was a part of her past she’d never spoken of.

  “How did this work with Jürgen?”

  She refused to answer, so he retrieved another of her gifts, a leather strap he’d enjoyed her using on him and placed it on the sofa beside him.

  “Every time you refuse to answer…” he hinted to the strap. “Again, how did it work?”

  “Whenever I wanted to shoot up or snort something, I had to go to him, even if he had other clients with him. He’d restrain me until the urge passed, then… reward with…”

  “With what?”

  “Various tortures.”

  “Which I’m sure you hated every second of.”

  Her smirk answered him, and he hid his own smirk with a sip from his beer.

  “And the times you gave into the drugs, what happened with him then.”

  “It wasn’t so pleasant.”

  “Explain.”

  “His restraints were more restrictive, more painful, and the punishments severe. Once…” she trailed off, and he toyed with the leather strap as encouragement. “Once I was too scared to go back after a week-long bender, and when I did show up at his office, he threatened to kick me out.”

  “Why didn’t he?”

  “I don’t know, but he was… sympathetic and patient, didn’t restrain me, but left me in a submissive pose while he dealt with his other clients.”

  “More appreciative ones?”

  “Yeah, that was his tactic, to prove he didn’t have to waste his time on a stupid little junkie. While his methods helped, it was his disappointment in me that had the greatest effect. As I got better, the pleasures got better.”

  “Positive reinforcement. But how did that help, because it just looks like you substituted one method of releasing dopamine and endorphins for another.” He knew from his own experiences at her hands what an amazing sensation it created, and the crash that followed as the hormones dropped in the body.