Reckless (Benson's Boys Book 1)

by Janet Elizabeth Henderson

  “It’s going to be okay.” He tried to reassure her. “Just stick to the plan and everything will be fine.”

  “I’m okay. Don’t worry.”

  He wasn’t reassured. As they pulled into a quiet leafy street near Rudi’s house she suddenly bent double.

  “Pull over. I’m going to be sick.” She slapped a hand over her mouth.

  “Hold it together,” Dimitri barked.

  “I’m sorry. I need to stop. I’m going to be sick.” She looked around frantically. “There. Over there. Pull into that drive.”

  He looked where she was pointing. It was a discreet treelined entrance to a private clinic. Dimitri swerved the car into the drive and pulled up on the grass behind the wall.

  Megan scrambled out of the car. She ran to the back of it, bent double and started retching. Dimitri pulled out the throwaway cell phone they’d bought for the car. He dialled Callum.

  “We’re a few minutes behind. Megan’s being sick.”

  Callum swore. “Nerves?”

  Dimitri clasped the back of his neck. “Yeah. Shit. I don’t blame her. But…”

  “Aye, but. You’ve got time. Not much. Sort her out and get back on track. We’re in position. Nothing unusual happening at the house. Call me if there’s a problem. If she can’t hold it together we’ll need to abort.”

  Dimitri swore loudly. “I’ll make sure she holds it together.”

  He shut off the phone and threw it on the dash. This was a complete and utter balls up. He was so close to finding out where his sister was and now this. He took a deep breath and went round to the back of the car to pull Megan together. She was tough, smart. She could do this. It was just nerves. It happened to all of them first time out. Once he assured her she was safe with him, she’d be fine.

  He hoped.

  He found her bent double, clutching the boot of the car.

  “Hey.” He ran a hand over her back, in what he hoped was a patient and soothing gesture. “You okay?”

  That’s when he noticed something was wrong. It took a second for his brain to register it, but by then he was too late. As fast as lightning she spun towards him. His vision blurred and a prolonged agonising pain made his body spasm and freeze. Then everything went black.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “This is all your own fault,” Megan told the writhing hulk as he thrashed around in the boot of their car.

  Dimitri grunted loudly against the pink ball gag she’d bought especially for him. She had her twin sister to thank for knowing about ball gags and restraints. Claire was going through a cowboy-BDSM romance novel phase and seeing as they shared a Kindle account, Megan got to read what Claire read. Hence her knowing to buy a soft leather harness for Dimitri that neatly tied his hands and feet behind his back without putting too much pressure on his joints. It was amazing what you could find in a good lingerie shop these days—especially one in Soho. Since kinky sex had gone mainstream it was trendy to stock things like pink ball gags. The world was a strange and delightful place.

  “I should have bought a different type of gag,” she told him as she placed some cereal bars and a bottle of water beside his head. “This one causes you to drool and it isn’t attractive.”

  She was pretty sure the words he shouted from behind the gag were curses. She patted his head to comfort him and then reached behind him to the small black clutch bag Julia had put in the trunk earlier. She pulled out her mobile phone and sent a text to the rest of the women.

  Dimitri disabled. Plan on track.

  Rachel replied. Callum getting anxious. Speed things up.

  Julia replied next. Taxi on its way. 2 minutes.

  Lastly she heard from Elle. Am in position.

  Megan sent a smiley face and a thumbs up to all of them. Then she eyed the man beside her and took a couple of photos of him. After she sent them to her email account, to add to her memory book later, she ran to the front of the car to retrieve the disposable phone. Once back at the boot she swapped out her cell phone for the throwaway one. She wasn’t stupid enough to take her own phone into a dangerous situation.

  “I know you’re a big bad ex-army ranger and you’ll probably figure out a way to get out of your restraints before someone comes to rescue you, so I’ve left you a snack and drink for while you wait. I’m sending Callum a text telling him you need to be picked up. You shouldn’t be in there too long. Just enough time for me to get into the mansion.”

  There was more muffled shouting and cursing. Dimitri liked to give orders. Pity she couldn’t hear him—she’d bet these ones were particularly creative and very alpha male. She didn’t worry about anyone hearing the noise he was making. They’d parked in the side entrance to the private clinic and Elle had been out to disable the nearest security cameras the evening before.

  Dimitri grunted a panicked question. His eyes were wide and there was sweat on his brow. She checked his ankles and wrists to make sure she hadn’t cut off circulation. Nope, he was good. He was just being a drama queen. He shouted the muffled question again and she was pretty sure he was demanding to know what she was doing. He didn’t need to know.

  “Okay, babe, I’m going in. Wish me luck.” She patted his cheek. He went crazy under her touch. “How do I look?”

  Dimitri exploded again, struggling against his bonds and hitting his head off the side of the car. “Yeah, I know. Freaking awesome. Right?” She grinned at him. “Now stop thrashing around, you’ll hurt yourself.”

  She flicked her phone on and sent a message to Callum—remembering to write in full sentences as he didn’t speak text.

  Dimitri needs rescuing. She added two smiley faces, the photo she’d taken of him earlier and the address.

  Callum’s reply was quick. What the hell?! Stop whatever you’re doing. Now!

  “Callum seems worried,” she told Dimitri.

  She leaned forward to place a kiss on his stubbled cheek. Her bag spilled into the boot. “Oops.” She grinned as she stuffed everything she needed back into the bag. Not the most reassuring of starts to her first job as an undercover gun-for-hire, but whatever.

  With one last smile at the man, she closed the boot. Megan straightened her dress, ignored the thuds coming from the car and headed through the gate as her taxi pulled up. She climbed in the back, gave the driver Rudi’s address and settled in to watch the cherry tree lined street pass by. It was the middle of March and spring had hit London early. It was still chilly though, and Megan wished she’d planned for a coat in her disguise. Part of her brain acknowledged she was focusing on the mundane to stop herself from freaking out. She shoved that part down deep.

  She saw the large ornate gates before she spotted the no-neck behemoth guarding them. He was dressed in a black suit, black shirt and black shades. He didn’t smile when she climbed out of the cab. Megan didn’t let it faze her. She looked up, up, up at the man and cocked her head.

  “Take me to your leader,” she ordered.

  And then she grinned.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Dimitri fought and struggled against his bonds. He was going to kill her when he was free. No. He was going to torture her, then kill her. What was she thinking? She was untrained, inexperienced. She was going to get herself killed. Fuck. She was going to get herself killed. He’d lose her. The same way he’d lost Katrina. No. No.

  His forehead fell to the carpeted interior beneath him. Okay. He needed to think. She was only a few minutes ahead of him. He just had to get out of the car, get to her and put a stop to this insanity. He concentrated on the feel of the leather straps around his wrists. They weren’t too tight. Sure, they were attached to ankle straps and there was a ball gag in his mouth, so that made it difficult. He had a sudden flash of an image of a pig on a spit roast with an apple in its mouth, and groaned. He needed to get out of there. Get out. Save Megan. Then kill her personally.

  His muscles were still shaky from the Taser blast, but he pulled at his restraints, focusing on the weak points. Nothing
happened. He let out a blaze of curses and tried again. Nearly there. Nearly there. He’d just about dislocated his shoulder when the boot popped open. The light made his eyes scrunch tight.

  “Well, that isn’t something you see every day. You’ve got yourself in a bit of a spot there, son.”

  “You shouldn’t mess with women. It never ends well.”

  Dimitri blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light. Bill and Bob Granger were staring down at him with matching grins. Dimitri shouted at them to set him free. The words were a garbled mess, but the old men got the point. As Bob unclasped his gag, Bill worked on the buckles holding the rest of his restraints.

  Bill held up the pink leather harness as Dimitri climbed out of the car. “Mind if I keep a hold of this?”

  “I don’t give a crap what you do with it,” Dimitri snapped.

  “The missus might get a kick out of this kinky stuff,” Bob said. “You can keep the gag though. That’s just unsanitary.”

  “You’re lucky we were at the office,” Bill said. “You could have been stuck in there for hours and that would have been murder on your back.”

  Bob nodded. “When Callum called we were happy to help out. This job is the most fun we’ve had in years.”

  “And we can keep an eye on young Ryan,” Bill said.

  Bob nodded. “That boy needs supervision.”

  “We need more men,” Dimitri muttered as he reached into the boot for the phone Megan had tossed in beside him.

  “What are we? Chopped liver?” Bill demanded.

  Dimitri stared at them as he hit the speed dial for Callum on his throwaway cell. “Security specialists. We need more security specialists.”

  “Well why didn’t you say that?” Bill grumbled.

  “What the hell happened?” Callum shouted in Dimitri’s ear.

  “She Tasered me and took off on her own.” Dimitri could barely get the words out of his mouth, he was so furious. But rage was good. Rage was better than the fear that threatened to overwhelm him and leave him helpless.

  “You let her get the drop on you? Did you learn nothing in the rangers?”

  “I know.” It was all he could say.

  “She just climbed out of a taxi in front of the house. They’ve taken her into the guardhouse.”

  Dimitri’s jaw clenched so tight, he thought a tooth might crack. “She’s going to get killed. We need to get her out of there.”

  “We can’t. We’ll put her in more danger if we rush in now. She has twenty minutes, like we agreed.”

  “You can’t give her twenty minutes. You know what can happen in that time.” Images Dimitri didn’t want in his head flashed in front of his eyes. The ones from yesterday’s impromptu slide show were uppermost in his mind. They had to get her out of there.

  “Interfering with her plan will jeopardise her more. We need to let this play out.” Callum didn’t sound any more pleased about that than Dimitri felt. “The boys have gear for you. Suit up and get over to Joe. You two will be first in if there’s trouble.”

  “When there’s trouble,” Dimitri corrected.

  “I’m going to kill her,” Callum said.

  “Get in line.” Dimitri ended the call and tossed the phone back into the boot. He turned to the two men. “What you got for me?”

  Bill handed over a bag. Relief hit him when he saw his gear. He took off his denim jacket and tugged on his shoulder holster over his T-shirt. Once he’d shrugged back into his jacket, he filled the pockets with extra clips. Next he strapped his knife, in its leather holder, to his ankle under his jeans. He grabbed the earpiece, switched it on and inserted it in his ear.

  “Dimitri on,” he said.

  “Glad you could join us,” Joe drawled. “Now get over here so we can cover your girl.”

  “On my way.” Dimitri nodded at the two old men and climbed into the driver’s seat. “What’s happening?”

  “Nothing,” Joe said. “She’s still in the guardhouse.”

  “This is a total clusterfuck.” Dimitri pulled out into traffic and fought the urge to speed all the way to Joe’s position.

  “You said it,” Joe mumbled.

  “I can’t get a response from any of the women.” Callum’s tight voice cut in.

  “None of them?” Joe’s tone was deadly.

  “None of them,” Callum confirmed.

  “They’re all in on this,” Dimitri said.

  “Even Rachel?” Ryan joined the conversation.

  “My last communication from the women was a text from Rachel telling me to calm down, that they had it under control.”

  The men spoke all at once as curses filled the line. Dimitri spotted the house Joe was parked in front of and pulled his car in beside him.

  “You okay?” Joe asked from his position near the gate.

  “I will be once this is over.” He moved to stand beside Joe, pulling his gun from its holster as he did so.

  “I see movement.” Callum’s voice made Dimitri’s stomach roil. “She’s being escorted to the house. She’s smiling. Looks relaxed. The guards look relaxed too.”

  Good. That was good. It bought her more time. She’d made it this far. She had to be okay. He closed his eyes. What if she didn’t get the info on his sister? His whole world was lying in the hands of a twenty-three year old ex-hairdresser with no sense of fear.

  “Breathe,” Joe ordered. “You need to be on your game.”

  “I’m good.” He could compartmentalise with the best of them. With one deep breath he tucked his emotions away to deal with later and concentrated on the task at hand—to be ready when Megan needed him.

  Things were going much more smoothly than Megan had expected. The guards had taken her into their building, where they’d gone through her tiny clutch bag. They’d removed her phone, keys and wallet, but left the roll of bright pink tape (although that one got a confused look), the sparkly pink marker pen, the half dozen condoms and her red lipstick. The guard examined her cheap little MP3 player before tossing it back into her bag. It was a relief when she realised she wouldn’t have to argue to keep the thing.

  Her bag was tossed through the x-ray scanner near the desk. A guy monitoring the screen studied it.

  “All clear,” he said.

  Slowly, the bodybuilder ran his eyes down the length of her body. “We need to check you out. Stand with your legs apart and your arms wide.”

  He ran a metal detecting wand over her body without problem. He placed the wand on the desk behind him. The guy was big, and didn’t have much of a neck, but if she’d seen him in a nightclub she would have given him a second glance. Pity he was one of the bad guys.

  “I need to check physically,” he leered.

  Of course you do.

  Feigning interest in him, she cocked a hip. “Be my guest.”

  It took concentration to look relaxed when all she wanted to do was vomit at the thought of him touching her. What happened to chivalry? Wasn’t he supposed to find a woman to pat her down?

  “Step out of your shoes,” the bodybuilder ordered.

  When she did, he passed them to his colleague to be put through the scanner. Megan concentrated on the guy in front of her. His fingers wound through her ponytail. Looking for pins? She wasn’t sure. They trailed down her neck, over her shoulders and straight to her breasts—surprise, surprise. She worked hard to keep her body relaxed and a half smile on her face while he groped her in the name of security. And he was thorough in his groping. What he thought she was keeping in her G-string, she didn’t know. She forced herself to smile when all she wanted to do was kick his dick into next week. When this was over, she’d have to shower with Lysol. Even then, she wasn’t sure she’d ever wash the memory of his touch from her body. Instead of gagging, she tried to look as though his assault was turning her on. No point in making an enemy this early in her plan. As her mother always said—you catch more flies with honey.

  When he’d finished, she resisted the urge to shudder and instead winked
at him. He handed over her shoes and bag. Deliberately holding on to his arm she put the shoes back on, she let her hand trail over him before she released him.

  “Maybe later, when I’m finished with your boss, you and I could have a private meeting all of our own.” One where he helped her escape, maybe?

  “I’ll escort you to Mr Abramovich,” the big guy said.

  His grip was firm on her arm as walked her to the front door of the house.

  “You must work out.” Megan batted her lashes at him. “I bet you’re just mouth-watering without a shirt on.”

  The bodybuilder’s eyes darkened as he looked down at her. He opened the door and gestured for her to go on through. As she did, she glanced in the direction she knew Callum was perched and winked.

  With a deep breath, she walked into the house.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The house was a palace. Marble and gold leaf everywhere, but still remarkably tasteful. Uniformed staff scurried about the place, dusting, carrying trays and generally keeping busy. Guards were posted at various points. There weren’t as many as expected. By the time she reached Rudi’s office she’d only counted four. They were dressed in black, armed and wired for communication. She pretended they didn’t exist for the most part, but smiled when one caught her eye.

  A hand at her elbow led her through the house, past the staircase to a large wooden door on the right hand side. Another guard stood outside the door.

  “I’ll take it from here,” he told her protector.

  With a nod, she was handed over. Megan smiled at the bodybuilder as he left, hoping her flirting would help her get out of there later. Twenty minutes, that was all she had before the guys came storming in. A glance at the face of her cheap plastic watch told her she had nineteen minutes left.

  The door swung open and Megan swallowed her nerves. Clutching her bag with shaking hands, she was led into the room. She reminded herself to swing her hips and act relaxed. Yeah. Not easy. Especially when, behind the vast wooden desk that dominated the room, Rudi Abramovich stood watching her, like a lion stalking prey.