Project Chimera: A Ryker Group Book

by S. M. Dapelo

  Rich smiled, “That makes two of us.”

  Ethan waved the server over. “Make it three,” he sighed as he gave the order.

  Chapter 40

  The conversations remained mild after that. I sat back and watched everyone as the men discussed investments and horseflesh. Who knew my brother was interested in that? I did notice one thing and turned to Ethan. “That waiter over there. He has a card skimmer. He’s not who you gave our information to, is he?”

  Ethan took a drink of his scotch and observed the man for a moment. “Give me a second,” he said as he stood and walked over to a small weasel looking man. A few minutes later he sat down again. Two large men approached the waiter and led him to the manager’s office. “We might have a new contract,” Ethan smiled at Tanner.

  “I don’t want it.” Tanner finished off his drink, “We’ll never be able to trust them. Not after who they’ve worked with in the past.”

  “Yeah but let them think we do.” Ethan finished his drink as well, “I want as many eyes as possible wherever we can get them. I’ll talk to my contact about taking this place over.”

  “The scotch was nice, but I didn’t taste that much of a difference,” sighed Tanner as we got up to leave.

  “Unfortunately,” agreed Rich. “I’m breaking off from you three in the casino. I want to lose a bit before I go to bed, or it’s not Vegas.” The men chuckled at that.

  We stopped on the way back to watch an impressive water show, then slowly headed back to the private elevator. Tanner fell back and leered at a woman walking the other direction, while Rich walked stopped to check out a slot machine. That’s when I noticed the man in a blue tracksuit following us. “So,” Ethan swung me around, so my back was to the wall. “I have plans for you tonight,” he started to lean forward to kiss me when there was a definite snick sound.

  “I’m sure you want to invite me into your room,” a nasal voice said. My eyes narrowed as I plotted the easiest way to disarm the man. I noticed Ethan was smiling.

  “We sure do,” I heard Tanner say with a click of a gun. “It’s awesome. I can’t wait to show it to you.”

  “His partner wants to see it too,” I heard Rich say. I looked around him and saw him leading a muscular man with a shaved head.

  “Well, new friends, after you.” Ethan smiled widely as the door to the elevator opened. Both men were marched into it with Rich and Tanner behind them. I was surprised to see Rich with a gun but kept it to myself. “We are going to get to know everything about our new acquaintances. I can’t wait.” Ethan kept a huge smile on his face and yanked me firmly against his side.

  Ethan walked me off the elevator with our guests being led into the living room by Tanner and Rich. Five guys looked up from their beers and the screen, “Hey, Ethan,” a dark-haired man with sharp cheekbones said, “we were just …”

  “Don’t worry about it, Jeff,” Ethan interrupted, “Is the pool tournament done?”

  “Yep,” Jeff smiled, “I won.”

  “You always do if Tanner’s not playing,” Ethan smiled. “These are our new friends,” he pointed at the two men, “They wanted me and Sam to invite them up, but Tanner and Rich beat us to it. Can you show them some of the high points of the Villa?”

  Jeff gave a smile, “Glad to.”

  “Oh,” Ethan started, “I was going to have Xavier watch Sam tomorrow.”

  “Cause I’m a child,” I said sarcastically.

  “Because she’s the most important thing in my life,” ground out Ethan with a forced smile. “But there’s now a better than average chance I’m going to need his skill set. Think you can keep an eye on her?”

  “Sure,” shrugged Jeff. “How hard can it be?”

  “Famous last words,” Tanner laughed as he led the two captured men into the other room. “I know you haven’t been with us long, but don’t underestimate her.”

  “I thought I was supposed to make friends with Xavier,” I groused.

  “Now you get two friends,” Ethan said as he tapped my nose.

  I glanced at Jeff. He stood about five-ten and had a leaner build, but there was something in his eyes that let me know he was more than qualified for what I had in mind. “Fine,” I rolled my eyes. “Prepare for shopping, lunch, and swimming. If there’s time, we might play blackjack.”

  “Do not let her play that,” Ethan started pulling me toward our room. “I’m fairly sure she can count cards. We don’t need to get kicked out of this place, like we did in Reno.”

  “I’m not stupid enough to win a lot,” I murmured.

  Ethan deposited me into the bedroom. “I need to oversee this. Why don’t you take a nice long bath? I’ll be back as soon as I get some answers.”

  “You know, they could just be normal thieves,” I shrugged.

  “I don’t believe in coincidences,” he replied. “I’ll be back as soon as I’m sure everything under control.”

  I shrugged and started to head to the bathroom when Ethan grabbed my hand and swung me toward him. “I wasn’t lying. I do have plans for you tonight. Try and wait up.” He leaned down and kissed me hard, then walked out of the room. I pursed my lips and thought, then grabbed my tablet and went into the server and started reviewing all the information we had on operations in Las Vegas.

  Ethan wasn’t gone nearly as long as I had assumed he’d be. I had just laid back in the bath when he walked in. “Well I timed this right,” he smiled as he started removing his clothes.

  “Did they crack already?” I asked.

  “No. But Tanner has everything under control.” He scooted in behind me. “Now there was a bath scene in one of those books we read together. I say we act it out.” He nibbled on my neck, causing me to giggle. I might be upset about being left out of the investigation, but I wasn’t willing to miss out of any fun.

  Chapter 41

  I stretched as I woke the next morning and Ethan’s arms tightened. “We need to get dressed and down to the license office. We’ll grab coffee from the lobby,” he murmured into my hair.

  I kissed his chin, “Sounds good. But why are we getting a new license? We already have one.”

  “I want you to experience everything. You need a complete memory, and this is the first one I want you to have.”

  “Oh, so do we get to redo my first time again?” I asked with a cheeky smile.

  He smiled softly, “Every night.” He kissed me soundly, “but right now we need to get dressed.”

  I sighed and got out of bed, dressing just as quickly as Ethan, in a simple grass green dress. Then we headed down to experience a ridiculously lengthy line. Finally, we were the recipients of a spiffy new marriage license and headed back in the rented Lexus. We walked into the room to the smell of bacon and the sound of an argument.

  “All I’m saying is maybe we should be considering something more permanent,” a yell came from within the villa. Ah, Berto’s here.

  “Oh, and I suppose now you’re going to say you never enjoyed it with the Chris’s?” came Lyssa’s raised voice.

  Tanner was at the front door looking disgusted, “Glad you made it back.” He shook his head, “Berto and Lyssa have been going at it since they woke.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Berto’s saying they should get serious and stop playing with others,” Tanner growled. “Lyssa, I’m ashamed to say, is not enjoying that idea.”

  “You’re so vanilla,” snorted Ethan. Tanner glared at him.

  Xavier and Jeff came into the entryway, “So, Sam, you want to go shopping now?” Xavier was forcing a smile.

  “I’m taking her, not you,” interrupted Jeff, “Ethan said so.”

  “Why don’t we all go?” Xavier glanced over his shoulder to the area the screaming was coming from.

  “Are all men cowards?” I looked between the three uncomfortable men and my husband who was leaning on the door laughing his ass off.

  “Not me, Sugar,” Ethan got out.

  I sighed and strode into the d
ining area. “Enough,” I yelled, startling Berto and Lyssa. “Everyone can hear you, and you’re making them uncomfortable. Including the bad guys.” I turned to Lyssa, “Do you care about Berto’s feelings?” Lyssa sat back and crossed her arms but gave a single nod.

  I turned to Berto, “And do you care about hers?” He nodded his head vigorously.

  “Then. Work. It. Out.” I gritted. “But quietly. So, no one needs to hear your business. Tanner’s about to fire whoever’s called Chris in our group and possibly have an aneurysm without the help of an electrical pulse generator in his head.”

  I turned to Lyssa, “I know you think being adventurous with sex is the ultimate proof that you’re an adult, it’s not. Not if the guy you’re into doesn’t want it. Figure out what’s more important; Berto or threesomes.”

  “Foursomes,” she muttered petulantly.

  “Because that makes it better,” I threw my hands up as I walked out.

  I walked past the surprised men in the entryway and into the room we had held the two from last night, and stuck my finger in the larger one’s face, “I swear to God, if you don’t answer the questions you were asked, I’m sticking them in here with you two. You can listen them fight. You’ll beg for death before they’re done.”

  “Sugar,” Ethan ran in. “I don’t want you in here.”

  “I don’t want to be out there. It was fun when it just made Tanner uncomfortable, but not so much anymore,” I jutted my jaw out. I turned to the men, “Tell us what we want to know, or you get to mediate that.”

  “You people are nuts,” the smaller of the two men said with big eyes.

  “You have no idea.” Tanner came in and handed me a cup of coffee, “That’s mild to everything else. So, why did you try to jump my sister and her husband the other night?”

  Ethan’s hands came up, “Just a minute Tanner.” He turned to me, “Aren’t you going shopping?”

  I took a sip of coffee. “Nope,” I said popping the “p”.

  “Sam,” Ethan warned.

  I spun on Tanner, “How long has she been playing this game to get your attention?”

  He turned pale, “What?”

  “That’s why she’s doing it. She’s been doing this since she was nineteen. That was before…”

  “No, that was right after you showed back up.” Tanner got in my face, “She’s been trying to prove she’s like you.”

  I scrunched up my face, “Are you saying I sleep with a ton of guys. Because I think my husband would have something to say about that.”

  “You slept with him the first day you met him. She imagined you doing all sorts of things once she found out what you were,” Tanner said. “While she’s always been aware of what I did, you never talked about your work. She just had her imagination. She thought you were the epitome of an alpha female. So, yeah, I’m sure she imagined you doing all sorts of things. None of us knew you were with Ethan until…”

  “Enough!” Ethan yelled. “Peace you two. We have other things to worry about.” He glared between the two of us, “Is it worth fighting? This is not either of your faults. Hell, it’s not really a problem. They’re consenting adults and can do what they want whenever they want, as long as they’re not hurting anyone else.” He turned toward the two men, “You two are a different story. Right now, I’m frustrated enough that I have no problem with either of these two taking their anger issues out on you. In fact, I’m thinking of encouraging it.”

  The larger man visibly swallowed, “We were just told to grab the girl and take her to a place in the warehouse district.”

  “Well, that was way too easy,” I muttered.

  “Why don’t you two try the truth now,” Tanner said smiling evilly. “We’ve been doing this a long time. No way do we believe that after the two of you refused to talk last night.”

  Ethan grabbed my arm and dragged me out the door. “I need Jeff in there. He’s better at interrogation. No offense Xavier.”

  Both men were at the door. “None taken,” Xavier smiled, “I’ll take Sam shopping. Looks like I have to leave all the bellowing behind.”

  “Whatever,” I sighed. “Give me five minutes to change and I’ll be ready.”

  “You’re not going to argue?” Ethan asked.

  “No,” I finished my coffee and handed it to him. “It wouldn’t help. So, I’m going to spend a large amount of money on the smallest clothes I can find.” I smiled at him as his mouth dropped. I just shrugged and headed toward the bedroom, and both Xavier and Jeff laughed.

  “Keep an eye on her,” I heard Ethan say. “She’s up to something.” I smirked. Well, he wasn’t wrong.

  Chapter 42

  The first thing on my list was a skimpy black lace bikini. I tried on several others but stuck with that. As I was changing, I could hear Xavier on the phone, “Dude, she’s pissed. I can’t figure her game but involves hardly any clothing.” I just chuckled to myself.

  So, because I was feeling evil, I walked out in the suit. “Xavier, would you pair this with a pareo or a kaftan?” He might be gay, but his eyes bulged.

  “A kaftan,” he squeaked out. I paused and tilted my head. I didn’t know a man that large could make that high pitch of a sound.

  I smiled, “The pareo it is.” I walked back in and changed into my regular clothes.

  “Your husband’s hot,” said the blond behind the counter as I checked out.

  “Oh, that’s my bodyguard. But my husband’s hot too.” I winked at her, paid with Ethan’s credit card and took the bag.

  “You know,” I said to Xavier as I waltzed out the store, “I would make an excellent wing-woman for you.”

  “Sam, what are you up to?” he whined.

  “Oh, where’s the fun in telling.” I smiled as I walked into the next store, which caused Xavier to grab me and drag me out.

  “You are not a stripper,” he hissed. “You are the wife of a billionaire.”

  I frowned, “No, I’m married to Ethan.”

  He rolled his eyes, “Sam, he’s a billionaire.”

  “Na uh,” I shook my head and walked to the next one. “However, if that store offends you, we’ll find another one.”

  “Thank you,” he sighed.

  He wasn’t thanking me twenty minutes later when I walked out with three of the smallest club dresses ever seen, along with two backless tops and three pairs of pants, distressed in various areas, and two pair of booty shorts. “Are you trying to get me killed?” Xavier asked.

  “No, of course not,” I smiled at him. “I already warned Ethan anything I bought would be tiny. We’re in Vegas; we need to blend in.”

  He appeared about ready to pull his hair out when his phone rang. “Yeah,” he squeaked into the phone. He nodded for a few minutes, then smiled and looked at me, “I’m supposed to meet Ethan and Tanner back at the hotel. Jeff and I are trading off.”

  “Sure, I’ll just …” I started.

  He frowned and shook his head, “You’re coming with me.” He grabbed my arm, walking us up the strip. “Jeff will be taking you to lunch and swimming.”

  “Okay,” I shrugged. A few minutes later we walked into the lobby. The other three stood there. “Where are Berto and Lyssa?” I asked.

  “Upstairs.” Ethan looked at my bags, “So what’d you get?”

  “I had no say in it,” Xavier blurted out, causing Ethan to frown.

  I kissed Ethan’s cheek. “Let’s just say you’ll enjoy it,” I said causing him to smile.

  “You’re up to something.” He kissed my nose, “Hopefully Jeff will keep the damage to a minimum.”

  “Sure, not a problem,” Jeff was looking at his phone. Oh, the innocence of this guy.

  “Stay out of trouble yourself.” I ran my hand down the front of his t-shirt. “We’re supposed to have a wedding tonight.”

  He gave me a wink, another kiss, then walked out the door. I looked over at Jeff, “Let’s go grab Berto and Lyssa.” I headed to the elevator. When the door closed, I lo
oked at him, “Then you can tell me how we know each other.”

  Jeff looked up startled. “I thought you had a memory problem,” he said thoughtfully.

  “A memory problem, yes. An intelligence problem, no. I already read all the files, and I recognize you. You’ve changed a lot since you were fifteen, but ears and lips don’t change. How are you still alive?” I asked.

  “I got the chip removed when I was twenty,” his jaw throbbed. “I remembered them putting it there. I’m immune to a lot of sedatives; I have to be given a lot more. They didn’t give me enough when they implanted it.”

  I winced. “We need to talk about this, but first I need Lyssa and Berto to run some things down.” The door opened, “Why didn’t you tell Ethan or Tanner?”

  “Do you trust them?” Jeff glanced at me as we walked down the hall.

  “One’s my husband; the other’s my brother, so yes. They saved me when mine went off in a different part of my brain. If those two wanted me dead, I’d be dead.” He nodded at what I said.

  “Lyssa and Berto,” I yelled, causing Jeff to cringe. “Sorry, but I’m not walking in on them.” He gave a strained smile. “What do you know about the General and Brock Peterson?”

  “Brock Peterson’s useless and the General’s evil. And Brock wishes he were the general,” Jeff said under his breath.

  “What do you need Sam?” Berto walked in from the balcony with Lyssa following.

  “I need to know what Steve knows,” I said.

  Berto shook his head, “Nope, you’re on medical leave.”

  “I wasn’t talking to you Berto.” I glanced at Lyssa, “What did you learn?”

  She gave a glance at Jeff, and I shook my head, “This is Jeff Adkins. He was one of the kids …”

  “You’re dead,” Berto glanced at him.

  “Yes, and we’re talking to a ghost,” I rolled my eyes. “I should have verified a lot earlier and let Tanner and Ethan know. Berto, I need you to get a hold of them and tell them now.” He nodded his head and walked out.