Reckless (Benson's Boys Book 1)

by Janet Elizabeth Henderson

  “She’s only two years older than I am,” Megan whispered.

  Dimitri totally understood Megan’s shock. At twenty-five he’d been on his second tour of Afghanistan. He’d seen a lot of things that had changed him, hardened him. But Katrina had been sheltered. Her world consisted of college classes and fun with her friends. So yeah, she was young. Way too young to be out there on her own, dealing with an evil bastard like Abramovich.

  “When she finished her Master’s degree at Brown, she decided to take some time out to travel before going back for her PhD. She’s smart.” He smiled, but the action hurt. “She got a job as an au pair in Germany for six months, to raise money for travel. In February last year her job wound up and she decided to backpack through Europe for the rest of the year.”

  “Was she alone?” Megan asked.

  Dimitri shook his head. “She’d made friends with two other au pairs who were placed by the same programme, both of them American.”

  Two more images of young women flashed on the wall. Their smiles seemed to mock the people watching.

  “Did they go missing too?” Megan said.

  “No. They’d split up for a day in Greece. The other two wanted to visit museums, but Katrina wanted to visit the refugee camp.” He felt a tiny smile break through his pain. “She majored in development policy and international politics. She wanted to see the problems first hand. She wanted to change the world.”

  The look in Megan’s eyes was the same as the one she’d had in Scotland the first time he’d told Benson Security about his sister. It was the look he’d seen before she held his hand and offered him comfort. A kindness that had almost broken him. Dimitri tore his eyes from her to look back at the image, which had changed to a candid shot of his sister posing in front of the Acropolis in Athens. Her arms were wide and she was grinning.

  “She didn’t make it back to the hotel as they’d arranged.” Dimitri focused his comments on Callum. At least there was no emotion in his boss’s eyes to derail him. “The guide she’d hired to take her to the refugee camp disappeared off the face of the planet. When the agency she booked him through was questioned, they had no records of Katrina’s booking or the guide.”

  “Abramovich’s organisation was using it to target tourists,” Callum said.

  “That and several other tourist agencies on the same street. The police found discrepancies in all of them.”

  “More missing women?” Ryan asked.

  Dimitri nodded. “At least eight over the past three years. All tourists. All travelling alone. All women in their twenties.”

  “And nobody noticed they were missing? Surely family or friends would lodge a complaint.” Megan’s outrage was a reminder of how sheltered and naive she was. “What about your parents? They must be going nuts.”

  “They died in a plane crash on a holiday to Alaska six years ago.” He kept his tone even and focused on the table in front of him rather than on the sympathy, or pity, he knew he’d see in Megan’s eyes.

  “People go missing all the time.” Joe rescued Dimitri from further questions. “Tourists run out on their bill and leave without checking out. How do you know if someone is really missing or has just moved on to the next stop on their tour? Only five of the women had anyone looking for them. The complaints weren’t investigated properly. No one connected the women.”

  To everyone’s surprise, it was Julia who spoke. “I don’t understand. How is that possible?”

  Dimitri sat up straighter in his seat. “It’s more than possible in a country where there’s a high turnover of tourists. Where the borders are weak and refugees are flooding in. A country where the economy is a mess and all public sectors are underfunded and run by people who are scraping by. The police are overwhelmed, overworked and lack the resources they need to follow everything up properly. Cases like this fall through the cracks.” He looked back at his sister’s smiling face. “People fall through the cracks.”

  “Did they do anything to find her?” Megan said.

  “They did what they could initially. The time and effort they put in dropped off dramatically after the first couple of months. I realised then that there had to be a private investigation, but I was on assignment and couldn’t get away. As soon as I was able I resigned my commission with the US Rangers, headed to Greece and started digging. A couple of months in I noticed one name kept coming up—Rudi Abramovich. I did more digging and discovered he’d built an empire on trafficking women. He targets tourists, homeless and poor women who won’t be missed. His speciality is educated, western women. If you want a particular type of woman, he’s the man to go to. He kidnaps to order.”

  His stomach turned at the thought and he was comforted to see the same looks of revulsion on his teammates' faces.

  “You’re sure he took your sister?” Rachel sounded sceptical.

  Dimitri took a moment to gain control of his anger before he answered. The woman didn’t seem to realise how her words cut through the people around her. Or she just didn’t care. “I found the tour guide who was supposed to take her to the refugee camp.”

  There was a heavy silence as Dimitri’s memory replayed the screams the man had made when he’d beaten the information out of him.

  “He was working for Rudi?” Joe said.

  He noticed no one asked what happened to the guy.

  “He was working for a middleman. I worked my way up the chain until I knew for certain Rudi had her.” He turned to Rachel. “So, yeah, I’m sure he’s behind my sister’s abduction.”

  “Did you get any idea where she’s been taken?” Callum said.

  “No.” Dimitri ran a hand over his hair which was growing out from its military buzz cut. He suddenly felt exhausted. No, not exhausted, worn out. “That’s where I ran aground. Then I heard about the job Reynard Durand was putting together and manoeuvred to get on his team. Word was the guy had a straight line to Rudi and I wanted to get on that line.”

  “Instead you ended up in Scotland.” Megan glared at him. “Trying to kidnap my sister.”

  Yeah, that had been the job.

  “Hey.” He held up his hands, hoping the gesture would make him appear non-threatening. Megan didn’t seem to buy it. “Don’t blame me for the plan to kidnap your sister. That was all Rudi and the idiot he hired.”

  “The idiot who then went on to hire you,” she pointed out.

  The woman would not let this issue go. Every time he turned around she was needling him about it. “I. Was. Under. Cover.”

  “Which brings us to the second aim of this mission.” Callum glared at Dimitri and Megan, making it clear their argument was over. “Rudi wants Claire Donaldson.”

  “Claire Dayton,” Megan interrupted. “She married that freaky man mountain. I don’t know why, but then Claire has always had a thing for lunatics.”

  Callum raised his voice, “As I was saying, Rudi wants Claire and will go to any length to get her. That means this mission has two aims. We need to retrieve Katrina and eliminate the threat to Claire.”

  “And by eliminate you mean—” Megan made a slicing motion at her throat.

  Everyone stared at her.

  “Why is she here?” Rachel pointed at Megan. “She knows nothing about security. She has no training, or experience. She’s a liability.” She turned to Callum. “Does your boss know she’s here?”

  Callum looked like he’d had his fill of Rachel. “Lake isn’t my boss. Benson Security is owned by three partners now—Lake Benson, myself and Harry Boyle. Who, if you care to remember, is your direct boss.”

  The woman rolled her eyes. “Harry is more like my younger brother than a boss.”

  “And now Harry, Lake and I own Benson Security and you work for us.” Callum leaned forward. “If you don’t like the new situation, I’d be happy to accept your resignation.”

  “Like that’s going to happen.” She tossed her expensive haircut. “Someone needs to stick around to pick up the pieces once you screw up.” Her eyes
narrowed. “And when you do, I’ll be waiting in the wings to take charge.”

  “Or, I could fire you,” Callum said softly.

  “You can try.” Rachel tapped her talons on the table in front of her before turning to Joe. “Why on earth does this Rudi person want Claire Donaldson?”

  “Dayton,” Megan said again and was ignored.

  “Claire is married to Grunt,” Joe said. “Grunt and I helped Rudi’s wife escape him and get back to America. We think Rudi wants to take Grunt’s wife from him as payback.”

  Rachel held up a hand to stop Joe. “What on earth kind of name is Grunt? Is that one of those Highland things? You’ll have to forgive me if I’m not up to date on the goings on in Invertary. Unlike some people, I actually like to spend my time in civilisation.”

  Dimitri was pretty sure he could actually hear Callum grinding his teeth.

  “What?” The woman smirked at Callum. “Am I disrupting this extremely professional briefing?”

  “Professional or not, after the meeting I want you in my office, Rachel.”

  “Of course, boss.” Rachel’s tone made it clear she’d do exactly what she felt like after the meeting.

  A threatening rumble sounded from Callum just as loud music blared throughout the room. It took Dimitri a few seconds to realise it was Bette Midler singing Wind Beneath My Wings. He fought a grin as he watched Megan cover her mouth with her hand to stifle her laughter, at the same time as Ryan turned his into a cough.

  “Julia!” Callum roared.

  The music stopped dead.

  “Sorry,” Julia said. “I told you there were gremlins in the system. I will make a note of each one and personally ensure they’re dealt with. There are more pastries in the kitchen, if anyone is interested. Along with another pot of coffee.”

  “I’ll get them.” Ryan’s chair scraped the floor as he rushed to get at the food.

  “I’ll help.” Joe followed their teammate. “If we let you get them they’ll be gone before you get back.”

  “I can’t help it if I have a better metabolism than you.” Ryan grinned. “It’s age. I bet you could eat what you liked when you were my age.” Joe swatted the back of Ryan’s head.

  “Bring me a Diet Coke,” Megan called after the men.

  “Honestly.” Rachel’s voice had all the subtlety of a PA announcement. “It’s like being back in kindergarten. There is nothing professional about this new business. Harry should never have joined forces with Benson Security. It will damage his reputation.”

  Callum growled again, but this time Julia was smart enough to keep her finger off the media controls. The guy stared at the ceiling. Dimitri bet he was praying for help. He recognised the action because he’d used the same one quite a bit since he’d met Megan.

  Megan clasped her hands and leaned onto the table. “Tell me,” she said to Rachel. “Are you even aware just how bitchy you are?”

  Rachel gasped, her hand flew to her chest. “I’m bitchy?”

  “I’ll take that as a yes. You really don’t give a crap, do you?”

  “Darling.” Rachel smirked. “I care about things that matter.”

  Before Megan could waste any more breath on the woman, the guys came back with supplies. Joe carried a coffee pot and two cans of Diet Coke. He put the pot onto the counter, tossed a can at Megan then headed for the huge plant. He crouched down in front of it and smiled as he offered Julia a drink.

  “I like your conflict management style, babe,” he told her.

  A timid hand appeared and took the offered drink. Joe sat back in his chair, his legs stretched out in front of him. He reminded Dimitri of a leopard he’d seen on a stint in Africa. He looked relaxed but he could pounce without a hint of warning if the need arose.

  “As I was saying, before you and Callum got into a pissing contest,” Joe said to both of them, earning almost identical death glares which made him grin. “Grunt is a nickname because the monosyllabic bastard barely talks. His wife calls him Samuel. She’s the only one who does. Well, she’s the only one who’s been allowed to live after calling him Samuel. Anyway, Grunt and I were in the marines together. When we got out, we partnered up to work private security. One of our first jobs was to escort a woman back to the States from Romania. Her father wanted to help her escape her abusive husband. He told us she was married to a business man, someone who owned a chain of coffee shops. We didn’t do more than a surface check and the information was solid. Speaking of coffee…”

  Joe waved his empty mug at Ryan who was over at the snack table, working his way through a platter of pastries. With a sigh, Ryan lifted the coffee pot and sauntered over to Joe.

  “What did your last slave die of?”

  “Heart attack,” Joe said solemnly. “Too many baked goods.”

  Ryan gave him a one fingered salute before he headed back to the pastries. Joe’s amusement faded as he looked back at them.

  “We thought the job was a straight bodyguard deal—protect the woman while she got the hell out of there. We were wrong. When we met with her, all hell broke loose. She was being followed by a whole load of Rudi’s men. I grabbed the wife while Grunt stayed behind to deal with the assholes that jumped us. That’s probably how they got Grunt’s ugly mug on camera. Knowing Rudi’s rep, he’ll think it’s quid pro quo to take Grunt’s wife away from him. Poetic payback, so to speak—a wife for a wife.”

  “Did you get Rudi’s wife to safety?” Ryan sat back down beside Joe—with a plate piled high with snacks.

  Joe nodded. “But it was a total cluster f—”

  Julia cleared her throat loudly, cutting him off. Joe grinned at the plant.

  Clearly, Callum’s patience had reached its limits. The guy stood, folded his arms over one of the many Henleys he owned and wore like a uniform. He was six foot of honed instincts and sharp muscle. If you didn’t know the guy was walking around on two prosthetic legs, you would never have guessed.

  “We all up to date now?” It was clear his question was purely an exercise in sarcasm so there were no replies. “Great, then maybe we can get down to business. As Dimitri said, with Durand out of the picture his investigation’s hit a brick wall. That’s where we come in. Lake is working his London contacts to see what info he can dig up as to Rudi’s whereabouts. Abramovich moves around a lot. For Dimitri to set up a meet with him, we need to pin down a location fast.”

  “The plan,” Dimitri said, “is to get a personal meeting with Rudi, disable him and access his files for Katrina’s location.”

  “Disable him in a way that will make sure he keeps away from Claire,” Megan added.

  “But no killing.” Callum stared her down. “We’re security professionals, not hitmen.”

  She waved the words away with a flick of her hand, making Dimitri worry about exactly what was going on in her fluffy little head. He made a mental note to grill her about it later. It was important that the whole team were on the same page when it came to Rudi. They couldn’t afford anyone to go off plan—especially not when his sister’s life was at risk.

  “Even if Abramovich is in one place long enough to arrange a meeting with,” Rachel waved her phone in Dimitri’s direction, “what makes you think you can get close enough to him to access his records? He doesn’t know you from Adam.”

  He swallowed his irritation at her condescending tone. “Because, I have something he wants. Rudi Abramovich wants Grunt’s wife, Claire. He’s desperate to get her. And Claire is an identical twin. So…”

  All eyes turned to Megan who gave them a royal wave.

  Rachel’s glee was almost palpable. “You’re going to give him Megan and pass her off as Claire.” Her grin was face-splittingly wide. “This is so much better than I could have imagined it would be. Well done, Megan. You do have a purpose on the team. One totally befitting your station in life—you’re bait.”

  Chapter Two

  Rachel’s laughter was still ringing in Megan’s ears hours later as Dimitri navigated their car
through central London’s traffic. They were on their way to meet up with one of Lake’s contacts. Someone who had a lead on how to get to Rudi.

  “I don’t like being called bait.” Even though that was exactly what she was.

  “You’re not bait. You’re my partner. We’re in this together. You saving your sister. Me saving mine. Partners.” To his credit, Dimitri even managed to keep a straight face while he said it.

  They were stuck in the endless traffic around Piccadilly Circus. “Why is this called a circus anyway? I don’t get it. It isn’t a square, or a roundabout, so I can understand that the town planners wouldn’t want to call it that. But circus, that makes no sense at all.” She turned in her seat to face Dimitri. “Do you think there was an actual circus based here at some point?” She couldn’t see it. The grand Victorian buildings, with their white stone facades and weird little turrets and domes, didn’t look like the sort of place you’d house animals.

  “Can we focus on the job?” Dimitri swerved around a double decker bus and into Shaftesbury Avenue, the home of London theatre.

  “I came down here to see a play once, when I was in secondary school,” Megan said. “Shakespeare. I can’t remember which one. I was more interested in getting the attention of Hamish McIntosh at the time.” She remembered the kiss they’d managed to sneak in, in the theatre foyer when the teachers weren’t looking. Good times. Now Hamish was a farmer up near Aberdeen and Megan was bait.

  She spotted a large banner over a theatre. “Helen Mirren and Libby Collins are doing a play.” With a grin she turned to Dimitri. “When this is all over we need to go. They’re two of my all-time favourite actresses. Helen Mirren especially.”

  “Who?”

  “Seriously? How can you not know who Helen Mirren is? She’s like acting royalty.” She gaped at him. “You’re one of those guys, aren’t you? I should have realised.”

  He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, irritated with traffic, and probably with her. “What guys?”

  Poor ignorant man, he needed her help. “Guys fall into two categories. Die Hard and Star Wars.”