His Darkest Desires

by C. M. Allen

  Slade's and I exchanged looks once again, knowing just who the forth was he wanted to bring into the partnership. "I can't think of anyone I'd rather have added to the mix then Riker. He’s been very devoted to the company and has done what's best for it since before he even stepped through those doors. His connections and technical knowledge are just an added bonus to the stand-up guy we would be getting." I said, answering first.

  Dalton looked at Slade for his input. "Yeah, got to say I'm not surprised by this at all. I've always looked at him as an equal in this company with us anyway, so it's about damn time we made it official."

  Reaching over, Dalton hit his intercom. "Hey, Murph? Can you come up to my office for a minute? I want to run something by you."

  "Sure thing, Dalt."

  Hanging up, he told Slade. "There's champagne in the bar over there and some glasses."

  Walking over to the bar, Slade got everything ready before sitting back down again as a pair of knuckles rapped on the door. "Come on in, Murph." Dalton answered.

  When he strode in and noticed all of us sitting there, he looked at each one of us questionably. "So, what's up, guys? Is there something big going on you need my help with?"

  Dalton gestured to the empty seat between Slade and I, and when he sat down, Dalton told him. "As a matter of fact, we do need your help on something."

  "Well, you know me, I'm always ready for whatever. So, what do you have for me?"

  Looking to Slade and myself, Dalton redirected his attention back to Riker. "Well, the boys and I were having a discussion this morning about what we think this company needs to keep building it bigger and better well into the future. And we decided that it’s you, Murph."

  Riker looked back and forth between the three of us before he finally asked. "Are you guys fucking with me?"

  Unable to hold in our laughter, I answered him. "No man, we want you to be our fourth."

  "And you're all okay with this?" All of us nodded in agreement when Slade said, patting him on the shoulder. "More than okay with it, no one deserves this more than you, brother."

  "Well, fuck. Hell yes then, I'll be your fourth. Thanks, man."

  We all got up and hugged Riker before toasting his induction into the partnership with a glass of champagne. "To the best fourth we could ever ask for." Dalton announced as we all raised and clanged our glasses together. "And on that note, this Friday will be the official party at the Penthouse Lounge to welcome our newest partner." Slade added.

  CHAPTER

  30

  Sloane

  My day at the café was finally coming to an end with only a half hour to go before I was off. And as per usual, I had my bodyguard waiting just outside to bring me home, safe and sound. Archer and I went rounds about this whole guarding me thing, but once he explained it to me from his perspective, the fear he had of losing me, I caved in and decided to let Gage tag along with me every day. Besides, it worked out great for McKenzie as well being able to see him more.

  "Did Gage go back out to his car?" She asked me, looking around the seating area of the café.

  “Yeah, he did, said he needed to make a few calls."

  "Okay, can you hold down the fort while I go talk to him for a minute?"

  Seeing a distressed look in her eyes, I asked. "Sure, is everything okay with you two?"

  "Yes. No. Actually. I'm not sure. We’ve been disagreeing on a lot of things lately. He's just so damn domineering that it drives me absolutely insane sometimes, like I just can't breathe, you know?"

  I couldn’t help but giggle at the similarities between us. "More than you will ever know. And yes, I can watch things in here while you two go talk."

  "Thank you so much." When she headed out the door, I noticed Logan on his way in.

  Thinking to myself that I hadn't heard back from Janessa in the last two days when I'd texted her, I made a mental note to remember to ask him if he had before he leaves. "Hey Logan, how's things going?"

  "Pretty good. I'm just trying to help Margo locate Janessa and wanted to stop by and ask if you've seen or heard from her lately?"

  "No, I haven't. In fact, I was going to ask you the same question, because I haven't heard from her or seen her in two days. She does travel a lot, but she always answers my texts."

  "That's what Margo was saying, that no matter where she goes, she always stays in touch."

  "Yes, she does...." The door opening drew my attention to Gage walking in. "What's up, Gage? I thought you were talking to McKenzie."

  "I just wanted to come in and check on you, see if you were ready to get out of here soon," he replied, looking Logan over, seemingly trying to figure out if he's a threat of any kind to me.

  Knowing I needed to defuse Gage’s suspicions I said, "Gage, this is Logan. Logan, this is my bodyguard, Gage. Logan is just trying to locate my friend Janessa."

  As Logan reached out to shake hands with Gage, he questioned. "Bodyguard? Is this because of what you saw the other night in the club?"

  "Yeah, and you know just how protective Archer is."

  "Yes I do, I can't say that I blame him."

  "Your friends with Archer?" Gage inquired as Logan and I exchanged looks. "Yes, we've been acquaintances for quite some time now."

  The tension in Gage’s shoulders relaxed a bit. "Okay, well, I'll be waiting outside and see you in ten, Sloane."

  "Okay, I'll be right out." I assured him as he walked back out to talk to McKenzie.

  "All right, thank you for your help. I'll let Margo know that I spoke with you. I'll give you my number and if you hear anything from her, please let me know," he said, pulling out his phone. "Shit."

  "What's wrong?"

  “Sorry, my phone is dead, and I wanted to give Margo a call. Do you have a phone I can possibly use real quick and a piece of paper so I can write my number down for you while I call her?"

  Looking out the front window, I noticed Gage on the phone, no doubt talking to Archer about Logan before he hung up, redirecting his attention to McKenzie, guiding her back towards the café. "Sure, let me show you where it is in Haiden’s office." As we walked into the back, I suddenly felt a sharp pinch in the side of my neck, and then heard a loud thump sound like a body falling to the floor as everything turned dark.

  CHAPTER

  31

  Archer

  Sitting in Dalton’s office, finalizing all the paperwork on the partnership agreement with Riker, my phone buzzed with a call. "Jennings here."

  "Hey Archer, it’s Gage."

  "Is everything okay?"

  "Yeah, I think so. I just wanted to check out an acquaintance of yours that's in the café talking to Sloane right now. Says he knows you."

  "What's his name?"

  "Logan."

  "Yeah, I know him. Why is he talking to Sloane, though?"

  "Sloane said that he was looking for a friend of hers. A Janessa?"

  "Oh, okay, yeah, he's a decent enough dude, but I don't want him around Sloane by himself. He's made it more than clear to me a couple of times that he finds her attractive, so go back inside and wait for her to leave."

  "You got it." Hanging up, I directed my attention back to the contracts and scanned through the last two documents when my phone buzzed again. Seeing it was Gage again, a spike of panic reared its ugly head inside of me. "What's wrong?"

  "She's gone, Archer."

  "The fuck you mean she's gone?" I snapped back, standing to my feet with my phone in a death grip.

  "I mean gone. Her and that Logan guy are both missing."

  Running my hands over my face, I tried to calm the fear that something bad had happened to her. "Then you find her! Search every alley way and building in the area, I'm on my way." Turning to bolt out of Dalton’s office, I heard chairs moving and footsteps following behind me.

  Turning around, I saw all three of them lined up and ready to go. "You know we're with you man, let's go make sure Sloane’s okay," Dalton said, patting me on the back as we headed out
the door.

  Getting into the car, Slade drove as I made a call to Gage to check for an update. "Masters here."

  "Anything yet?"

  "No. It's like she's disappeared into thin air."

  "Shit!" I shouted out, pounding on the dash.

  “I'm so sorry, man.”

  “I know. Just find her. Did you call Hamilton yet?"

  "Yes, he's on his way. Should be here when you get here."

  "Good." I disconnected the call.

  "Nothing yet?" Slade asked.

  "No." Hearing Riker tap away on his laptop, I turned to look and see what he was doing. "Tell me you have her bugged."

  "Well, I did have her phone bugged, but it's still at the coffee shop, as well as her car, I put a GPS tracking device on. Now I'm going to see if I can locate Jared."

  Shocked that he bugged Jared, I asked. "When the hell did you bug his ass?"

  "Last week when I did all that research on him, I paid his car a visit one night. Figured it might come in handy one day."

  "You are a fucking genius brother, you know that? At least we can know if it's him or not."

  "I've got a location on him. It says he's about five miles away from the café. The car is moving and heading into the city."

  Pulling my phone out again, I called Kurt, putting him on speaker. "Wolfe here."

  "Kurt it's Archer."

  "Did you find Sloane yet? Gage called me about fifteen minutes ago, said he might need my help."

  "No. That's why I'm calling you. Riker put a GPS tracking device on Jared Knight’s car, and I need you to track him down. Make sure he doesn't have her or Logan, he's missing, too."

  "I'm on it. Just have Riker send me the coordinates of his last location and keep me updated."

  "Already on it," Riker called out from the back seat. Hanging up with Kurt, I silently prayed that we found her before whoever had her did anything to my sweet angel, knowing full well that I would kill them if I had to in order to get her back into my arms safe where she belonged.

  CHAPTER

  32

  Sloane

  "Sloane. Sloane are you okay? Please wake up."

  Hearing a woman's voice break through the fog clogging my head, I cracked my eyes open to find I was in a dimly lit room, lying on a cement floor. Trying to sit up, I found that my wrists and feet were bound together. "W-what's going on? Where are we?"

  "I'm not sure, I woke up in here last night." Recognizing her voice, I asked. "Janessa, is that you?"

  "Yes, it's me Sloane, are you okay?"

  I propped myself up as best as I could. "Yeah, I think so. Just a headache."

  "It's from that shit he shot into you. I had the same thing when I woke up."

  Getting a good look at her, I could see her across the dirty cement floor, tied up like me, sitting on the ground. Looking to my left, I saw the small window that was letting in the little bit of light we had. "Who is he? Did you see him? And how long have I been here?"

  "No, he wears a mask every time he comes in here, and you've been here about three hours now. What's the last thing you remember? Do you think anyone will know you've gone missing and come find us?"

  Thinking back, I remembered Logan coming into the café, looking for her. "I was at the café, and Logan came in asking me if I had heard from you lately. He said Margo sent him because she hadn't heard from you and I was thinking the same thing. And then he asked to use the phone, so I was taking him in the back to Haiden’s office when I felt a pinch in my neck, and then I woke up here. And yes, Gage was there. He'll tell Archer that I'm missing, and he will find us." Just as I was about to ask her if she thought Logan had anything to do with this, we heard the door creaking as it opened. Not able to see who it was, all we heard was a dragging sound, and a moan that sounded like it came from a man. Hearing the body thumping down onto the floor, Janessa and I both held each other's stare with fear, as well as our breaths.

  Footsteps getting closer, a large masked man came into view, stopping for a moment, then looked at Janessa, then me before he walked over and lowered himself down to look at me. Fear ran ramped through me as I tried to figure out who he was, and what was about to happen next. When he reached out towards me, I flinched at his sudden movement. He roughly grabbed a hold of my chin, moving my head back and forth, seemingly to check me over.

  No longer able to go without answers I asked. "Why are we here? What is it you want?" Chuckling in a deep voice, he released me, then stood and moved over to where Janessa sat. I tried to use the light that came through the window to get a better look at his arms or legs for any tattoos, but found that he wore jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt, covering his whole body, "shit."

  Trying to search around the area to see if there was any way to escape, I heard Janessa whimpering and it brought me out of my thoughts. Looking back towards her, I could see him lifting her up as she struggled against him. “Get your hands off of me! Leave me alone, asshole!" She screamed at him, trying to hit him with her clasped hands as he picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder fireman style, then turned to leave with her.

  "Don't you hurt her! Put her down!" I screamed at him, trying desperately to get to my feet.

  "Sloane! Help me please! No! Don't do this to me please! Please don't hurt me, I didn't do anything!" She shrieked, as he carried her towards the door he came through.

  Stopping short, he turned to look back at me as Janessa continued to struggle in the hold, he had on her. "Nosey bitches need to learn a lesson," he said in a garbled voice, before reaching out and back handing me so hard across my face that it caused my head to smack against the cement wall, knocking me out cold once again.

  Feeling my body being bumped, I awoke to Logan, crouched down next to me, with worry etched in his expression. "Oh, thank God you're okay, I didn't know how bad that knock to your head was."

  "Logan?"

  "Yes. It's me, Sloane. We need to try and figure a way out of here." Looking him over, I could see that he'd been tied up as well. "What's going on, Logan? Who is this guy?"

  "I have no idea, but I just want to get the hell out of here. Do you have anything sharp on you to cut through these cable ties?"

  "No, anything I had that would help us is in my purse, which is at the café still."

  “Shit! Okay, we need to try and find something to cut these cable ties off with. Maybe I can find a sharp edge on one of these corner walls in here," he said, getting to his feet and trying to hop over to one of the wall's edges.

  "What happened when we went back to Haiden’s office, Logan? Did you see anything or anyone?"

  "No, just got hit on the back of my head, really hard. Are you sure you never saw that guys face when you were in the club that night, Sloane?"

  Puzzled by his sudden turn of questioning, I replied. "No. I told you that he had a mask on the whole time, so I couldn't see his face."

  "What about his tattoos, did you see them at all? I know the police can check local tattoo shops to see if they might be able to place who came in asking for a certain tat."

  Frowning at his line of questions, my suspicions started to rise. "No, I couldn't describe the tattoos he had on his arms to the police because I never got a good look at them. Why are you asking me all of this, Logan?"

  Turning around to try and scrape the cable tie around his wrists on the edge of the wall, he scrunched his face at me. "Because, I would really like to get the fuck out of here Sloane, and I'm wondering if the cops or Archer has anything to go on to catch this asshole and find us for God’s sake!"

  Feeling bad for thinking he was the one behind this whole thing, I let out a heavy sigh. "No. Unfortunately, they have very little to nothing to go on. They never caught a clear image of him on the cameras, and I didn't pay enough attention to what he really looked like because I was so worried about the woman, I saw him kill. My focus was mainly on her face, so I could try and tell if she was okay or not."

  "Don't be so hard on yourself Sloane, you
couldn't have known what was going to happen that night."

  "I know, I just feel so helpless, you know?"

  "Yes, well now that we know no one is coming for us I guess getting out of here is all we need to worry about now."

  "Yes, it is. Are..."

  "Oh, he's not talking to you, honey." I heard a familiar female voice say from beside me.

  CHAPTER

  33

  Archer

  Arriving at the café, I spotted Gage, McKenzie, and Detective Hamilton huddled together outside as we pulled up. Turning to open my door and get out, I felt a hand wrap around my elbow, stopping me from exiting the SUV. "We're going to get her back, man. Just believe in that, okay?" Slade tried to assure me, before patting my shoulder.

  "I'm trying man, but I'm holding on by just a thread. If I don't get that woman back... I-I don't know what I will do honestly, because if anything happens to her it will destroy me."

  Hearing a throat clear, I turned to see both Dalton and Riker looking at me with understanding in their eyes. "No man, or woman left behind, Jennings. Words we live by. We. Will. Get her back," Dalton stated with sureness in his tone, and I thanked God right then and there for these brothers of mine who had never let me down since the day we met.

  I nodded my head as I got out of the SUV and headed over to meet up with the others. "Any new information yet?" Just as I had asked Gage the question, my phone went off, and I was hoping it would be Wolfe with something for us. Stepping away, I answered. "Jennings here."

  "Hey, it's Kurt. I found Jared’s car from the GPS tracker. It's over here on South York Street, but it's empty. I've checked every building in close proximity of the vehicle and found nothing. But now I'm going to start checking further out, so I just wanted to keep you updated on my findings and see if we can get Hamilton to send over someone to run prints on the vehicle."