“That’s none of your business. Do you want to make some cash or not?” They bargained some more and finally agreed on three thousand dollars. “Okay, but I want to see the goods first.”
“I’ll show them to you when I see the cash and not before.”
McGregor and his men were filming and recording the transaction as well. When Harmon handed over the thick envelope of blank paper and Phillips handed over the envelope of cash, Detective Samuels stepped in and arrested Phillips.
“You’re under arrest for conspiracy and drug tampering.”
John chimed in, “And I’m sure Mr. Court and his attorney will be bringing an action for malicious prosecution, abuse of process, and whatever else they can come up with. Your career in the federal prosecutor’s office is over.”
* * * *
Cassie Wright was about to start her third nightly shift at Eastern Shore Research Laboratory. So far it had been uneventful, and she was starting to get bored cleaning cages and stuffing fluff into packing boxes. She did notice that Steve Costa was becoming more and more interested in “young Cassie,” and she had spiced up her look marginally tonight. She couldn’t go too far out of character. He was a nice enough young guy, but she had picked up some vibes. She thought there was something he didn’t want her to know about the shipping department, and she hoped she might be able to play on his ego and stroke some more information out of him. That was going to be her goal tonight. She knew John McGregor was starting to get antsy. He desperately wanted to get results for Morgan Court. Now, there was a piece of eye candy, not that McGregor was a slouch in the looks and bod department. She wouldn’t mind getting to know him better. She had a feeling Court was currently off the market. She was pretty good at reading vibes.
As soon as she was done with the damn cages, she approached Steve in the storage room. “Steve, can I help you in here tonight? I’m getting lonely with only the rats and monkeys to talk to.”
“Are you done with the cages, and did you feed the animals?”
“All done.”
“Okay then. I have to restock some of the drug boxes. I’m running low on Maxprotem.”
Oh, my God! This is what I’ve been waiting for. I wonder what he’s going to do and how much he’ll let me see. Cassie smiled her innocent smile and vamped just a little. She shrugged her shoulders as though she wasn’t particularly interested in what she did as long as she was with him. As far as he could tell, he was the most interesting man she knew. Her ploy seemed to be working as his skinny chest expanded a little under his lab coat. “That sounds great. I’d like to learn the stocking procedure now that I know shipping. Do you want to take our break first?”
“Sure. I’ll meet you in the break room after I finish here.” Rats! She didn’t want him to get started without her. She might miss what she wanted to see most.
“Oh, I’ll wait for you. I really want to learn stocking.” Wow. That sounded lame, but she didn’t want to come on too strong and scare the poor guy off. “I’m really impressed that you run this whole place at night. That’s a lot of responsibility.”
“Yeah it is.” His chest expanded a little more. “There’s a lot more to it than you know.”
“Really?” She smiled up at him. Could this be it? “What? Tell me,” she said, feigning curiosity. “Mmm…that sounds interesting.” She was trying to look like a dumb, impressionable kid, and she hoped she was succeeding.
He hesitated. She knew he really wanted to impress her. “Well, I get paid extra…” She could see he wasn’t sure he should go on, and she smiled her biggest, dimpliest smile. Ugghh. She really didn’t like this part. “Well…I get paid extra to change out the Maxprotem trial drugs for some other ones. I don’t know what they are, but since half of them are placebos anyway, I don’t think it matters much.”
“Really?” She gave him another vapid smile. “Who pays you to do that? That seems like an easy way to make extra cash. Do you think I could get in on something like that? Maybe when you’re on your ski vacation?”
Steve looked doubtful. “I don’t think they would want to deal with anyone else, and I probably shouldn’t have told you about it. Forget I said anything.” He looked even more nervous.
“Oh, don’t worry about it. I just could use some extra cash. My mom’s having a hard time helping me with my school expenses is all. You know how it is.”
“Yeah, I know. That’s how I got involved in this in the first place. I had to pay tuition, and then all of a sudden I had car trouble.”
Oh, the poor bastard. They played him but good, and he wasn’t experienced enough to know it. And here she was about to do the same thing. It made her just a little queasy, but that was life in the big city. “Well, umm, if you could get me hooked up with that, I’d, like, really appreciate it, if you know what I mean. I have first quarter tuition coming up and all.”
“Maybe. I don’t know. The guy who brings me the replacements has to drop some off to me tonight ’cause I’ve run out. Maybe I could let him just meet you, so he knows who to talk to when I’m away. I’ll see.”
“Well, I’m going to the ladies room, and then I’ll meet you in the break room for coffee.” Cassie went into the ladies room and closed herself in a stall before she took out her cell phone and called John McGregor. She was really excited, but she didn’t want to blow it. She had to play it cool. If she screwed it up now, she would never forgive herself. This was her big opportunity to shine. “John, I’ve got something.” She told him everything she had learned.
“Great job, Cassandra. I’ll be sure to let Court know what a great job you’ve done. I’m tied up with another part of this matter right now, but I’ve got a couple of guys in the neighborhood. They will be close by when the guy makes the drop. Be sure to have your cell phone on record. My guys will be set up, but just in case, we don’t want to miss the audio.”
“I’ll be ready, John. I’m looking forward to being done with this. It’s harder than I thought it would be. I guess that kid, Steve Costa, is going to go down for this as well. I feel sort of sorry for him. I don’t think he really understood what he was getting into.”
* * * *
Morgan was excited when John McGregor called him on his cell with the news. He immediately told Harper what Cassandra Wright had discovered at Eastern Shore. They were having dinner just down the street from his office while they waited to hear what had happened with the Harmon Burke sting. It was amazing that everything seemed to be coming together at once after weeks of worry and no progress.
“Is this too good to be true? I can’t quite wrap my mind around it. Do you think one of the Brewsters will make the drop? I wonder how deep the conspiracy goes—if it goes beyond the immediate family members into staff.”
“We’ll just have to wait and see,” Harper said. “Too bad it would take too long to drive out to Eastern Shore to be on hand for the festivities.”
“You’re right. It would probably all be over before we could get out there, unless I call for a helicopter. They can pick us up on top of my building. There’s a helicopter landing pad up there.”
“Really? Do you think it’s worth it? That’s a big expense to just possibly watch some guy make an illicit drop.”
“Oh, yeah. It would be worth it to see the bastard who has been screwing with me get his in person. Up close and personal, if you know what I mean. I want to be there.” He picked up his phone and arranged for them to be picked up at the helipad on his building.
* * * *
Harper was just a little nervous as the Bell Jet Ranger copter lifted off the building’s roof, swung out over the city, and headed for Long Island. The trip was shorter than she had expected it to be, but relatively uneventful once her stomach settled down to a dull roar. The helicopter landed in a parking lot about a quarter mile away from the Eastern Shore facility, and they were picked up by two of McGregor’s men in a black Range Rover. They watched from the street as a sports car with one man in it was allowed entrance
through the electronic gates.
“How are we going to get in there?” Russell, the driver, looked over his shoulder at Morgan in the backseat.
Harper was getting a little nervous here. Most of her excitement happened at a conference table or in court, not in a dark parking lot in the dead of night.
“Drive up to the gate. I got in the last time with my ID. My name is on the list.” Morgan dug into his jacket pocket for his billfold. “Let the guy in the car get in, park, and go into the building before we pull in. We don’t want to spook him.”
They waited quietly. Everyone was too nervous for small talk. Finally, when the dark-haired driver of the sports car had entered the building, they pulled up, and Morgan handed his ID to the guard who said, “Busy night tonight. Two cars in two minutes. That’s got to be a record.”
“I’m here for a late meeting with someone inside. No big deal.”
Antonelli, McGregor’s second man, turned to Harper and Morgan and said, “Stay behind us. I know I’ll never talk you into waiting in the car. McGregor will kill us if anything happens to you guys.” They all walked up quietly to the back door of the building.
Russell stepped back and drew his gun as Antonelli tried the door. It opened quietly to their surprise, and all four stepped inside. Having been in the building before, Harper and Morgan led the way past the empty break room toward the shipping department and storage room. Harper was too excited to be scared. Russell and Antonelli could hear what was going on through their communication units, which were in contact with Cassandra’s cell phone. Russell repeated what he heard for Morgan and Harper’s benefit. “The kid introduced his friend Cassie, who will be covering for him in January when he’s out of town. The guy doesn’t sound too thrilled. He didn’t mention the guy’s name, just introduced Cassie. He’s about to turn over the substitute placebos to the kid and pay him.” Russell listened carefully. “I don’t know, but I think this might be going badly. I don’t think this guy liked having a second person sprung on him with no notice. I don’t like the way this sounds. Let’s move in.” Russell and Antonelli stepped in front of Harper and Morgan and began moving stealthily down the hallway.”
Suddenly there was the sound of raised voices and a scuffle. The two men bolted toward the storage room. As soon as they went through the door, they moved Cassie Wright out of the line of fire and took the dark-haired man down to the ground. They turned him over, but neither of them recognized him. He struggled but was mindful of the guns being held on him. Russell frisked him and came up with his wallet. He opened it and looked at the driver’s license. “Preston Brewster. Does that mean anything to anyone?”
“Yeah, it means a lot to me.” Morgan looked disgusted. “What’s the reason for all of this shit, Brewster? Our families have ancient history and that’s all. What’s it to you?”
Preston had recovered from the shock of being caught enough to spit out, “You and your family robbed my family blind. Just look at the bottom lines. Who ended up with the lion’s share?”
“That’s not true. Your grandfather was given first choice of the assets he wanted, and he chose the over-the-counter and patent medicines, thinking he could make a quick buck with them. He didn’t realize the real money was in the prescription medicines. But be that as it may, none of those old patents are still active. Our current pharmacopeia is composed of new medicines developed by my father and me. Your family would have no claim on any of them in any case.”
“I don’t care what you say, Court. Your family robbed mine blind.” His deep-seated bitterness and resentment was obvious.
Morgan shook his head in disbelief. “This all happened over ninety years ago. That’s a lot of years to carry around so much hate and jealousy based on an old, misguided family feud. Too bad you didn’t put as much effort into tending to your own business as you did into ruining mine.”
“Fuck you!”
“Let’s see what charges the federal prosecutor comes up with.” Morgan watched him as his face took on a smug look, and he grinned. “And don’t count on your cousin, Stanley, to get you out of this one. He’s already been arrested tonight. In addition to conspiracy, he’s been charged with corporate espionage, drug tampering, and attempting to purchase stolen merchandise. Same things you’re going to be charged with. Was fucking me over worth it? You’ll probably have a lot of years to figure that one out.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Friday night Morgan watched Harper descend the curved staircase into the living room of his apartment. As usual she took his breath away. The skintight, short black sheath worn with four-inch strappy high heels made her legs look endless. “How many of those dresses do you have? I’m looking forward to seeing every one of them,” he said with a lascivious gleam in his eye.
“Well, Morgan, are we going to try this again? You keep promising me a scene, and it hasn’t happened since Sugarloaf Island. I’m beginning to think…”
“That would be ‘Master’ to you, subbie, and don’t be snippy, or your butt will pay for it later.” He grinned at her. He knew just how hard to yank her chain and when to do it for optimum results. Baiting her was so much fun that he couldn’t help himself.
“One of these days you are going to bottom for me, and then we’ll see whose butt will pay. Then you will get your just desserts.”
“That is not going to happen, so don’t get your hopes up. But speaking of just desserts, I spoke with Jamie Devereau this morning and filled him in on everything that’s been happening. He was very interested in Harmon Burke’s transformation from dirtbag to semi-hero. He was just as surprised by it as we were. Harmon still has me shaking my head. I still can’t figure that one out.”
“Me, either. He resurrected his conscience, or sense of honor, or something during this entire process. It’s a shame he lost his job, although, I don’t think that was the right job for him.”
“Jamie Devereau is a very strange character with a Saint Michael the Archangel complex. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t come up with something. No one puts something over on the Devereau brothers and gets away with it. It just is not an option.”
“I’ll be interested to see what happens. Are we going, or are we standing around here all night?” She looked over her shoulder as he helped her on with her long black coat.
“Let’s go. Your doom awaits you, sub.”
* * * *
Harper’s stomach was jumping with nerves or excitement—she didn’t know which when they arrived at Le Club. She supposed it was because she just didn’t know what Morgan had in mind for tonight. He hadn’t given her a clue. It wasn’t as though she wasn’t comfortable here since this was her club as well.
Liam was on duty at the front desk, and Morgan shook his hand and thanked him again for his help with the Burke situation. They left their coats at the door. “We want a theme room tonight, Liam.” Harper was surprised. She had expected him to want to scene in the dungeon. She knew he was going for maximum impact. He took her hand and led her toward the back of the club where the theme rooms were located. “Nervous, subbie?”
“No, I’m fine,” she fibbed.
He squeezed her hand. “It’s okay. I’ll take care of you, and call me Master.”
She squeezed his hand back. “We’ll see.” She backed down when he just cocked an eyebrow at her. “Master,” she added belatedly. She wasn’t quite ready to give over all control to him yet. She knew she still had to make him work for it. Does that make me a control freak? She knew the experience she would have at his hands would only benefit her, but she still had a hard time letting go. She understood the D/s psychology, having been a Domme for several years, and she hoped she wouldn’t disappoint him or herself. Her personal identity as a woman and a Domme was at stake here as well, and she would have to battle herself more than Morgan before she could give it up.
“Better snap up your responses, sub.” She gnashed her teeth. She could see where this was going, and she was determined to retain a b
it of control over the situation. If that is topping from the bottom, too bad.
When they stepped through the door into the French bordello theme room, which was decorated in outrageous red and gold, Harper had to laugh. She had never seen this room before, and it was certainly an eye-opener. As French whorehouses went, it was definitely over-the-top. He closed and locked the door, turned to her, and said, “Strip and assume the position, subbie.”
She gave him a saucy look over her shoulder and began to slip off the sheath dress that had nothing under it. “Certainly, Master,” she said in a patently heavy French accent. When she stood before him in just her high heels, she could see that she was definitely having the desired effect on him. The front of his trousers was tented out, and he had a strained look on his face. “I might have a little more trouble staying in control of myself than I thought, subbie.”
“That’s just what I had in mind, Morgan.”
He reached out and smacked her bottom. “No topping from the bottom. Did you think I wouldn’t notice? I won’t tell you again. Assume the position, sub, or suffer the consequences. I can see I need to take control of this situation right now, or you’re going to be running the show. Believe me, that is not going to happen.”
She was tempted to reach back and rub away the sting of his swat, but she knew that would only get her another one, so she restrained herself. She could only push him so far before she would regret it. There was a fine line between saucy behavior and outright disobedience, and she really didn’t want to cross the line. She sank down to the floor but continued to watch him through her eyelashes.
“Eyes, sub. I’m not going to remind you again.” He walked around her while he firmly adjusted her position until he was satisfied. “Now, think about your behavior while I get this scene ready. Do you think you deserve a punishment for your recalcitrant behavior?”
Michaels, Skye - Harper's Submission [Golden Dolphin 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 18