by M. G. Morgan
Playing fair hadn’t gotten me anywhere in the past and there was no point in my believing that it would change now.
I would keep my family safe and I would do it the only way I knew how.
Turning away from the reflection I moved out into the bedroom. The low murmur of David’s voice drew me out into the hall and I paused next to Jenson’s room.
He held his son in his arms and I watched his eyes filled with love and wonderment as he stared down into his face.
Would he look at this baby in the same way? An unflinching adoration that spoke of the lengths he would go to in order to keep him safe?
I couldn’t wait to see how David would be with our second child, there was an excitement building inside me that was hard to contain. And yet right along side it there was a fear, growing at twice the rate of my excitement.
A fear that I wouldn’t get to see David interact with our second child. That what we were caught up in would cost him his life all because he was too stubborn to ask for help.
If I could help it, I wasn’t going to let him throw everything away everything we’d worked so hard to build.
I pulled away from the door and started down the hallway, careful of the noise my footsteps made. If I could get away without ever having to answer his questions it would be easier.
Creeping down the stairs I met Marcus in the hall, his expression told me of his unhappiness over the plan I had concocted but it wasn’t his choice and I wasn’t willing to give him an opinion on the subject.
“Are they ready?” I asked, glancing around at the empty entrance hall.
“They’re waiting in the cars, I thought it was better to leave as quietly as possible. At least that way, Mr Ashcroft won’t be aware of anything being remiss until long after we’re gone.”
“And the guards staying behind won’t tell him where we’re going?”
“That I can’t promise you, the men are loyal to him and the last thing they want to do is blatantly lie to his face.”
“They’ll cave if he asks them, won’t they?”
“Definitely.”
I nodded, there was nothing I could do about it, if they wanted to tell him then they would. Threatening them with termination wasn’t going to work because if they lied to David then he would fire them on the spot.
Their loyalty was a good thing, it was hard won and David deserved every ounce of it that he could get from them. But it made life harder for me, especially when I was about to attempt something he would consider utterly reckless.
That’s exactly how he would describe it.
Reckless.
But what choice did I have left to me. Tamara was integrally connected to what was going on and she knew the people who had taken David well enough to know when they would release him.
There was even a possibility that she had been part of the reason they’d been willing to let him go.
“Marcus, am I doing the right thing?” The need for reassurance welled up within me and it was a struggle to think past the wall it created inside my mind.
He sighed and nodded, “I’d prefer not to lie to Mr Ashcroft but I can understand why you’re doing all of this. He had secrets that he kept from you and now you’re doing the same thing to him…”
“This isn’t tit for tat,” I said, my tone indignant.
“I didn’t say it was, I’m merely pointing out the obvious. You both want to protect each other but neither one of you wants to risk the other. It’s admirable but at some point one of you is going to wind up getting hurt. My job isn’t to reassure you, it’s to make sure that you’re not the one getting hurt.”
He was right, it wasn’t his place to reassure me and I knew he certainly didn’t agree with my plan. But at least he seemed to understand that I was doing it from a place of love. I wanted to keep David safe, I didn’t want him to always feel the need to risk his life to keep me out of harms way.
“We need to go before David finishes up with Jenson,” I said with a sigh.
Straightening the jacket I wore, I sucked in a deep breath and moved to the door. I couldn’t put this off anymore. Tamara was waiting for me, but for once she wouldn’t be the one with the upper hand.
Marcus moved ahead of me, his training kicking in as he surveilled the driveway and directed me to the large black sedan that stood waiting.
David would forgive me for this, as long as it meant we got the answers we needed.
Chapter 10
Standing next to the back door of the Sovereign Club I waited for Tamara to make her decision.
As expected she was less than thrilled over my appearance with a veritable army of guards.
“You cannot enter until you give up your guards, Mrs Ashcroft, the Sovereign Club is more than capable of guaranteeing your safety.”
I shook my head for the third time and folded my arms across my chest.
“Tell Tamara if she wants to see me, she can bend the rules. It’s something she’s intimately acquainted with.” I kept my tone as icy as possible and the young waif like man standing in my way shivered from head to toe before stepping back behind the Sovereign Club guards to consult with someone on a phone.
“Carrie, we can’t stay standing here, we’re very exposed and I’m not entirely comfortable.” Marcus leaned over my shoulder and whispered in my ear.
I knew he was worried, I could practically feel the tension rolling from every pore in his body.
“She’ll relent, she wants to see me.”
The young waif turned his attention back to me, pushing past the beef-cake that blocked the entrance.
“Tamara is willing to let you inside with five of your men but that’s it.” He said, his voice wobbling as though he expected me to lash out at him. I could see from the flinching around his eyes that it was something he was more than used to.
I shot a sideways glance at Marcus and he did a micro shake of his head.
“That’s fine, five is better than none,” I said much to the waif’s relief.
Marcus’ hand closed around my arm and he held me in place, preventing me from stepping through the back door.
“What the hell are you doing? We agreed it was all or nothing.”
“And I’m not willing to walk away with nothing, Marcus, you knew that when you came here with me. Five is a big step for Tamara.”
“She could let us in there with five hundred body guards and it still wouldn’t be enough overcome the security in that place and you know it.”
“Marcus, it’s just a chat. And five is more than enough to keep me safe. I’ve met with Tamara and had no protection, I came out of that unscathed.”
“Then why have the guards now?”
“Because I’m done with playing by everyone’s rules. I need to start making my own or everyone is going to keep walking all over me as though I don’t have a say in my own life.”
Marcus studied my expression for a moment longer before nodding slowly.
“Fine, but I’m one of the five.”
There was no point in arguing with him. It would have made more sense to keep him on the outside to coordinate in case something went wrong but I couldn’t exactly say that to him.
I had a feeling that he was already precarious enough, if I shared my thoughts with him then there wouldn’t be a chance in hell that I’d make it through the door. The only reason he was letting me do it at all was because I’d been persuasive enough with my argument.
If he thought for a moment that something might go awry then he would pull the pin on everything before I even had a chance to confront Tamara.
I stepped in through the open door and Marcus followed close on my heels. My boots made noise against the hard cement floor but I couldn’t even hear Marcus. Yet I knew he was keeping pace with me, his presence a comforting solid heat against my back as he moved silently behind me.
I’d never entered the Sovereign Club through the back door but from this position it was easy to see that the entire club was nothi
ng more than a huge warehouse converted into the debauched paradise Tamara had wanted.
We wound our way down into the building and I knew we were going to the room Tamara used as her office.
The young waif like man paused in front of a large steel door and knocked twice before placing his thumb against a small keypad imbedded in the wall.
The door swung inwards, its movements silent and I started to move ahead but Marcus was there before me.
He pushed me back behind him and stepped through the door using his body as a shield.
There was a split second of silence and my gut twisted painfully.
What would happen if Tamara decided to revoke her welcome? I knew what would happen but the question still played on my mind.
Marcus was the shield, his body the one that would take the first strike of Tamara’s temper if she chose.
The words he’d used earlier came flooding back to me and once again guilt washed over me. If anything happened to him it would be my fault, I’d put him in this position, I would be the one to blame.
The men he’d brought with him would do their best to protect me and I had no doubt in their skills. If Marcus trusted them then I knew I could too.
But Tamara didn’t attack and as the silence stretched on I felt my shoulders loosen, the tension slowly seeping out of my body as I followed Marcus into the room beyond the door.
Chapter 11
“Carrie, is this really how you treat those who want to help you? You know the rules of Sovereign, I provide the protection.”
“And yet here I am with five of my men,” I said with a smile.
“I don’t appreciate the invasion and such blatant disregard for my rules. You’re treading on very thin ice here.” Her voice was steely and I could tell from her tense body language that she was more than a little upset.
“You invited me here to discuss something, Tamara, so let’s get on with it. My time is just as important as yours and it’s not for wasting.”
She smiled and settled back against the couch she sat on.
“You’d much rather be at home with David, I can see how you’d feel as though you have lost time to make up for.”
She was deliberately baiting me, trying to pry into my private life in an attempt to draw my ire and attention. But what was the point? She’d arranged the meeting, what use was there in her stalling?
“How is David after his time away?” She asked, doing nothing to hide her curiosity.
“He’s fine. Is there a point to all of this? Or did you just ask me back here for fun?”
Tamara’s expression turned sour and she shifted uncomfortably on the couch.
“I didn’t want you back here at all…” She said, her eyes darting to something or someone behind me.
Turning I searched the area for the person obviously making her uncomfortable. But the only ones who stood in the room alongside me were Marcus, the guards and the young man who had shown us in.
Tamara’s own guards were dotted around the room and the young man who had brought me in stood awkwardly near the door we’d entered through.
“Then why ask me here, Tamara?” I said my eyes never leaving the young man’s face.
“Because he wanted to talk to you,” she said with a sigh.
“He?”
The young waif straightened up, dropping the fearful pretence, he rolled his shoulders back. The suit he wore suddenly seemed to fit him better and he met my gaze with his own steady blue eyed one.
“That would be me, I wanted somewhere neutral.”
“Why not just ask me yourself?” I said, clenching and unclenching my hands.
The entire thing was a set up, I could feel it and if I was honest with myself a part of me had known long before I’d set foot back in the Sovereign Club.
“Well I couldn’t exactly ring you up and invite you around to one of my establishments. You’d have turned me down flat and David would never have let you out of his sight.”
“Who are you?”
“I would have thought that was obvious?” He said, watching me with eyes that spoke of a level of intelligence I hadn’t been expecting of him from the initial impression he’d given me.
He sighed and pressed his hand back through his sandy blond hair, “ Carrie, you disappoint me, how can you hope to succeed at the game when you don’t even know who your opponents are?”
“I know you’re connected to Taylor S. Banks but I’m not foolish enough to believe that you’re one and the same.”
He laughed, a genuine sound that bubbled up from inside him as he threw his head back and let it wash across the room. But it didn’t put me at ease and I could practically feel the tension in Marcus’ body as he waited for the outcome of the meeting.
“No, Taylor would be my father. He’s not a well man and so I’m the one in charge.”
“What do you want?” I asked, doing my best to keep my voice as steady as possible.
It would go one of two ways, either he really just wanted the meeting to talk or he had something far more sinister in mind. It was hard to believe that Tamara would allow anything to happen in her club that would taint her reputation for neutrality. But the Banks clearly had enough clout to demand anything they wanted.
They certainly had enough power to bend Tamara to their will and that was worrying in itself.
“Straight to the point, I like that.” He smiled but it was far from a friendly expression. “What I want is to make my father happy, I want to give him the things he couldn’t achieve himself and that’s where you come in.”
“I don’t come in anywhere, I’m not a pawn to be used in your game and I certainly have no intention of helping you to achieve any goals for your father. By all accounts your father is a monster, I want nothing to do with him.”
“You know it never ceases to amaze me that even after everything you still think you have a choice in any of this.”
“I do.”
He shook his head and I felt the first stirrings of fear deep in my stomach.
“No, Carrie, you don’t. David doesn’t have a choice either but for some reason you make him feel as though he does. It’s your naive belief that everything will turn out for the best that has you in this mess.”
“And what mess would that be,” I said taking a small step back closer to Marcus.
“If you’d convinced David that there was no other way out of all of this. If you hadn’t insisted on poking your nose into places it didn’t belong, getting cops involved when the rules were very simple to obey then I wouldn’t have to take matters into my own hands. I wouldn’t have to take you as a guarantee.”
His words sent my fear spiralling into overdrive. My skin turned to ice and I shook my head far more forcefully than I intended blurring my vision for a second.
“I’m not going anywhere with you and you can’t make me. In fact, you’re going to get the hell out of my way and let me leave with my men.” My voice wavered despite my best intentions of trying to keep it panic free.
“Your men can walk out of here alive. Or they can die in a fruitless attempt to keep you from me. But mark my words, Carrie, they will fail. The only way you’re leaving is with me.”
“No,” I said, my body tensing as he moved towards me. “Tamara, you can’t let him do this, you can’t just sit by and let him take me.” I said, moving back into Marcus.
“I told you, this wasn’t my decision.” There was a slight tremor in her words and I chanced a glance over my shoulder to where she still sat. But instead of the relaxed pose she’d struck earlier, she was bolt upright on the couch, a heavy black gun pressed tight to her temple.
Her eyes met mine and I knew in an instant that this wasn’t her doing, that she was just as terrified as I was. Perhaps even more so, at least I knew they needed me alive, she had no idea what they had in store for her now that she’d served her purpose.
“When I say run, you run,” Marcus whispered against my ear and I felt the cold press of
his weapon against my back.
I didn’t nod, the last thing I wanted to do was alert anyone to what he had planned.
Taylor’s son reached us and held his hand out towards me. I stared down at it. What the hell did he expect me to do? If he thought I was just going to give myself up then he was the naive one.
“I’ve met people far scarier than you but none as delusional,” I said.
“Run!” Marcus shouted, pushing me aside as he pulled his gun and aimed it directly at Taylor’s son.
I didn’t hesitate as the sound of gunfire rang out. Reaching the edge of the room I chanced a look over my shoulder only to see Marcus dropping to his knees, a look of surprise on his face before he toppled to the ground. My heart stuttered in my chest as I realised he wasn’t moving.
It was his job to keep me safe, he’d known the risks but he was my friend and I’d dragged him into this mess. The guilt I felt was tempered by the adrenaline that coursed unrelentingly through my veins.
I tugged on the door we’d entered through but it was locked tight.
Taylor’s son caught up to me, his bony hand wrapping around my arm as he attempted to drag me back into the centre of the room.
I fought his grip, lashing out with my hand and catching him along the side of his jaw. The blow surprised him and he staggered back from me, a cruel look flashing through his blue eyes.
“Bitch!” He hissed, coming at me for a second time.
Grabbing the first weapon that came to my hand I picked up a broken piece of timber and swung it at him. It cracked into his shoulder and arm, knocking him off course and sending him sprawling to the ground.
Catching sight of a stairs I threw the board at his prone body on the ground and started up them, my unsteady legs carrying me forward. A gallery ran along the top of the room and I crawled forward, keeping my body low and out of sight from those below.
The first door I came across was locked but the next one swung inwards and I crawled inside, the sound of gunfire fading as I climbed to my feet and staggered forward.