7. April 13th

APRIL 13TH

TB

TB jerkedhis head in the direction of Waters.

The fuck?

In the background, Nemo did his best porn music imitation.

Steel smacked him upside the back of the head. "Quit fucking around, this is serious."

Waters checked his watch and read from his notes. "Just over four hours ago, I fielded a client by the name of Nathan Moll, a tech-mogul out of Silicon Valley. His daughter, Matilda, lives with her mother, Brandy, in Los Angeles full time. He travels back and forth for his work. On the tenth, Tilly went to the kink club known as The Library, and as far as anyone can tell, she never returned home."

Tilly's picture flashed up on the telescreen behind Waters.

"Who reported her missing?" TB asked, his gut rolling. When he hadn't heard differently, he had hoped that meant she had been found.

Obviously not.

God piped in over the speaker, his speech distorted by the ever-present caramel apple sucker in his mouth. "Their head of security contacted her father when no one could find her after several hours of looking. Even a complete search of the premises after it had closed for the night yielded no clues of any kind. One of my informants tells me four additional women, all members, have gone missing over the past five months."

Five pictures of young women flashed up on the screen in order of their disappearance. A slither of unease traveled down TB's spine, his mind reviewing the last moments he saw Tilly two days ago. The stranger. The spilled drink. The crush of people. No trace of her. He, along with Loki and Tripoli, had spent several hours looking for her, which included the after-hours search Waters had mentioned. Eventually, the head of security at the club, a computer whiz kid named Triumph, had taken over and was combing through security footage, trying to establish when she'd left the club and with whom. Last he knew, he'd made no progress. Obviously, the man took the next step when he ran out of search options.

"How did the father know to come to us?" TB asked.

"Word of mouth. Friend of a friend kind of thing," Waters replied.

Waters picked up the thread. "The previous disappearances have been unpublicized until now. No one has been pressing the police for results, so they've kept it quiet. According to the most recent police report, even the club owner appeared to be in the dark until the police were called in."

Midas joined back in. "Since I just found this out with all of you, I haven't had a chance to delve deep. My initial look into the police records just now shows that no one has seen any of the other four for a while. Common thread is the last place any of them was confirmed being seen was the club."

Steel muttered something in Spanish under his breath. "Everyone see what I'm seeing?"

Nemo piped up. "All in their early to mid-twenties. Red hair. All short and stacked."

"A little respect, dude," his brother hissed.

"What? They are."

Midas shook his head and looked back at his screen.

"Are any of the others who are missing high flyers?" Steel asked.

"They come from money since the club membership pretty much guarantees an exclusive clientele, but nobody of the same stature as Tilly."

Steel followed up. "No ransom call?"

Midas shook his head. "Not even a hang-up call. There's nothing connecting the five missing girls other than all were allegedly last seen at The Library, and there's been no suggestion that this is related to Tilly's father's work."

"And no ransom call means it's not money-related," TB added.

"Correct," Waters confirmed. "So with ransom out of the picture, we're left with the usual round of reasons someone is kidnapped. Stalkers, sex trafficking, or the possibility that she disappeared on purpose."

Midas scanned his screen and answered the questions about to be asked. "Family and friends report that Tilly was her normal self prior to her disappearance. No depression, paranoia, or tension. No change in spending habits, no excessive purchases in the days or weeks prior, which her bank account and credit cards support. No current boyfriend, and the ex-boyfriend claims it was an amicable split over six months ago when he took a banking job overseas. And before you ask, the ex has an alibi. He's in France on business, which is also where he was the night she disappeared. No police reports of any kind. The worst thing she had going on was a reprimand from her boss that day, and his alibi checks out as he was at a business dinner that night. Seen by a whole restaurant of people. She was known to be partnering with another regular at the club, a Dominant named Cosmos. He is also out of the country in England. They weren't dating but were on some sort of club exclusivity contract."

"That takes care of the stalker and planned disappearance angles," Steel said.

"Affirmative," Midas agreed. "So, we're left with the sex trafficking angle."

Waters continued, "That appears to be our direction. Once Midas does his magic, I expect we'll see that the first four women were all pretty much loners, possibly all from other states originally. Also betting that there will have been no close family or friends they talked to recently or on the regular, so it wasn't really concerning when there was no word from them. I was able to confirm that missing persons reports were filed haphazardly and not by people close to them. One report came from a letter carrier when she saw the mail piling up and told a police officer whom she happened to see on her route."

TB scowled when he looked at the girls. "These girls were targeted. But what's more concerning is that Tilly is famous, at least in certain circles. People would have noticed very quickly that she was missing. Why the change in his type?"

"Got tired of no one recognizing what he was doing?" Demon offered.

Midas nodded. "Classic narcissist would want people to see how clever he's being. Would want the recognition. If he's not getting it, taking someone more recognizable would certainly get attention paid to him sooner."

"Perhaps it's more about the location than the girls themselves." Waters closed the folder in his hands and set it on the table, then folded his arms across his chest. "Anything you want to share with the class, TB?"

TB looked his team leader straight in the eye. Then he looked to his right at Midas.

Midas shrugged. "I didn't tell him. Spidey senses, man, I'm telling ya."

Well, shit. Here we fuckin' go.

"This is the first I've heard of missing girls. They're all regulars. I know all of them, but not… well. I actually spoke to Tilly on the night she disappeared."

Nemo squinted at him. "What do you mean you ‘know all of them, but not… well'?"

Inwardly, TB sighed. He was never going to hear the end of this. "I'm a regular at the club."

The silence was near deafening until Nemo leaned forward on the table and asked, "Come again?"

God, their boss, crunched something hard, uttered an expletive, and mumbled something about calling the dentist, while over the speaker, everyone heard the sounds of more crinkly sucker plastic being torn through. Distorted articulation due to something in his mouth, the man said, "Well, this has been dumped in our lap now, so while Midas is working his voodoo on the Ka-Bar situation, we'll be working on the disappearances of the women. TB, is there anything that you've seen there that might pertain to what's going on?"

All eyes turned in TB's direction. "Being in Roatán for fifty-three days makes it difficult to know what's been going on. I didn't even know any girls were missing."

Waters prodded. "You have the best angle here. I need you to talk with the owner." He reached down and flipped open a second file folder. "Tabitha Winchell?"

TB nodded.

"Okay. Talk with Ms. Winchell today and collect whatever information she has, both in terms of the police investigation and the missing girls. Discreetly," he reminded TB. "I'd prefer we stay unexposed for now. Mr. Moll signed the NDA. I stressed to him the importance of remaining quiet, or we will fade away. He's frustrated, but he'll toe the line."

Nemo leaned back in his chair, tipping it on its axis, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "I'd like to hear more about your connection to the club."

Of course you would, dickhead.

"It's not pertinent to the investigation," he replied evenly.

"Oh, I think it is. I need the full lay of the land. For background purposes, of course."

Fuck.

"Okay, let's get this all out in the open so I only have to say it once, and everyone's curiosity is put to rest. The owner and I have participated in scenes together in the past. I haven't played at the club in months, although I have been in there when we've been home to have a drink. I know nothing personal about the owner. That's it. Nothing more."

"I'd say you know some pretty personal things if you've played together," Nemo corrected.

Waters cut in. "We have more important shit to get done than you two assclowns bickering over this."

TB noticed him wince at his swear word.

Yet another reminder of Kubrick.

"TB, while you've been at the club, in hindsight, have you seen anything that now looks like it might have any bearing on our missing women? Anything that might raise a red flag of any kind?" Waters asked.

TB shrugged. "It's a kink club. There are red flags everywhere. Just not the kind you're referring to."

"What kind of red flags are you seeing?" God asked.

"It's rare, but sometimes the lines get blurred between longtime couples, and they tread into domestic abuse.

"The Library has a strict drugs and alcohol policy, which they enforce to the letter since safety's such a huge part of the BDSM world. But like anywhere else, there are still issues. There's an employee who was caught dealing, mostly Molly, just before we left for Roatán. He was let go."

TB looked up at the screen again. "But my gut is telling me that something there isn't right. Why aren't the police treating this like a serial killer? There are certainly enough grounds here, flimsy though they might be."

"No bodies equals no killer," Waters confirmed.

While Waters continued to brief the room on what little the police had found, TB's cell phone vibrated in his pocket. His cell phone never rang unless it was one of the guys, but they were all here with him in the meeting.

Except Demon. Shit.

He slipped just the screen out of his pocket and gave it a quick glance.

CHERRY

Someone named Tabitha called your "work" number. I informed her you were out of the office but you would call her when you returned.

He slid the phone completely out of his pocket and rose from the table. Waters' eyes lifted from his notes.

"Cherry texted. The owner called my work line."

Waters frowned. "Why would she be calling you?"

"I don't know. She never has before. It can't be about this, so it must be personal. She must have pulled it from the application to the club that Midas put together for me back when I joined."

Waters considered quickly then hit the blue button on the starfish, and the room went back to normal mode.

All talking ceased while the other men around the table glanced at TB curiously, but no one said anything as he left the room.

Once he had exited the room, TB heard the security protocols go back in place as Waters sealed the room.

He texted Cherry to let her know he got the message, then he entered the code on his phone to make it look as if his call was going through his fictitious work number.

She picked up on the second ring, but he barked out, "What's wrong?" before she even had a chance to say hello.

"Hello, Lobo, I'm fine. Thanks for asking," the voice purred teasingly on the other end of the call. "Nothing's wrong. I have some news, and I apologize for sneaking into your application to get your number, but I assumed you'd want to know this right away." She paused, then dropped the bomb on him. "Flame called me. She wants to come to the club. Said you invited her."

His mouth went desert dry instantly, and he nearly swallowed his tongue. When he finally was capable of responding, he had to clear his throat twice so that his voice sounded normal when he spoke. "When?"

"Tonight at ten o'clock."

Closing out the call, he let his arm drop to his side, and he stood in the hall staring into space.

Tonight.

He was going to see Flame tonight.

Lost in thought, TB knocked on the conference room door. The security measures kicked off, he went into the room, and the security measures went back on as soon as the door closed behind him. His eyes caught the screen, and that's when it hit him.

TB had never believed in coincidences, higher powers, serendipity, fate, or anything like that, but today, he was not going to look this gift horse in the mouth.

I am never going to live this down, but here goes.

"I may have us a gateway to gather some intel the police can't get."

He sat back down at the table.

"What's that?" Waters asked.

"A while back, Tabitha, the owner of The Library, asked me for a favor. She had an author friend, a woman who writes romance novels, who wanted some research for writing a BDSM romance novel. They're all the rage right now, apparently. Anyway, over the past couple of months, she's been interviewing me about the lifestyle. I've never seen her, but Tabitha just called to tell me she's coming to the club tonight for the first time."

"Fifty Shades of Total Bastard." Nemo started up the porn music again.

"Shut it, Neanderthal," TB warned.

"What are you suggesting?" Waters asked.

"She's new to the scene. I've laid out the foundation of the lifestyle to her, but seeing it in action is a whole other thing. She's going to have more questions. As my guest at the club, she could be the key to getting information from other club members that I can't easily get."

"So, you're suggesting you use her as a cover story," Steel connected the dots. "You're a regular at the club, and people know you, so you're not out of place. But if you asked about people's personal lifestyles, activities, connections to the missing women, and so on, it would be a red flag that something was out of the natural order."

"Correct," TB confirmed. "For a first visit, a new member has to either go with a mentor, or they have to be a guest of an established member for more than six months."

God chimed in. "And if she goes in as your guest, you can introduce her to people and features of the club that will allow you to potentially check out members you normally wouldn't come into contact with. She can ask a lot of questions of members that won't seem out of place."

"Yes," TB acknowledged. "She's always got another question to ask, and since she's new, if it's improper, they'll let it slide. It will pass off as a newbie error, and they'll know I'll correct the behavior as her Dom. They'll never know anything hinky is going on."

"Hinky?" Nemo asked. "Is that the technical term? Thought it was ‘kinky.'" He cracked his gum with a smart-ass grin.

"Watch it, mister, or I'll put you back in that locker, and this time I'll solder the lock," TB warned.

"All right, children, settle down," Waters urged.

"So, the current plan would be that TB has his author friend as his guest and squires her around the club. He becomes a repeating non-repeater," Midas summarized.

"Exactly," TB confirmed.

Nemo sat up straight with an exaggerated, innocent schoolboy look on his face, his hand raised. "I have a question."

Waters looked at him warily. "What would that be?"

He looked up at TB with an evil twinkle in his eye. "Would you rather… be tying people up or be tied down?"

There were snickers all around the room. Even Waters was having difficulty keeping the corner of his mouth from upturning.

Nemo shrugged. "Inquiring minds want to know."

"Shut the fuck up, Nymphomaniac."

"It's a serious question." Nemo held his hands out, palms up, to his left and right. "Gentlemen?"

There was a chorus of "tying people up" in perfect harmony from around the table.

Nemo's expression was squared up and serious, but his blue eyes sparkled just a bit too much for TB's liking. "After all, we need to be read in on all aspects of the project."

TB looked at Waters for saving, but no such luck.

Waters shrugged. "He's not wrong. I'd be lying if I said watching surveillance of your sex life doesn't fall into the TMI area, but we should at least have some idea of what the plan is so that we can discuss contingencies if this doesn't work out as you propose. I mean, you're going to be forced to interact with her in public. Are you up for that?"

Nemo muttered, "Oh, I'll bet he's ‘up' for it."

TB bristled. "You want to find out how good my knots are? Keep this shit up, and I'll tie you up in unreleasable knots and string you up in the gym like a pinata to use you for punching bag workouts. Even an EMT's scissors won't be able to cut you loose."

"Kinky," Nemo sniggered. "Are you going to use that on her when you interact at the club? Cuz I want a video."

"For fuck's sake, what is the matter with you people? There won't be any video. I'm not interacting with her one-on-one. That would raise eyebrows as I've not been participating in scenes lately."

So, what would you call the night before last, if not "interacting" with her?

"You've been chatting with her online. That's definitely an interaction," Steel pointed out.

"Also not wrong," Waters agreed.

TB rolled his eyes. Waters just couldn't resist getting in a reciprocal jab, could he? Fucker. "I'm not interacting with her publicly," he emphasized the last word.

Which, technically, is not a lie because it was cyber-sex and in private.

"I'll give you five hundred bucks for a copy of their chat transcripts, bro," Nemo begged his brother Midas.

"No," Midas firmly replied. "But for a thousand, you can ask me again when I get video of inside the club."

"Cool. This is going to be educational."

TB exploded. "Are you two brain damaged? Did you kick each other in the head while you were in the womb together?"

Waters tried to get them back on track. "All right, ladies, let's be professional about this."

"The point is," God interrupted from over the speaker, "the introduction of this woman—" A clang on the other end of the speaker preceded the crinkling noises of a new sucker being opened. "What's her name again?"

"No clue. Her online name is Flame."

"Okay, Midas, see what you can dig up on her just to cover our bases. In the meantime, this Flame woman facilitates TB being able to move freely and talk to members he wouldn't normally be seen talking to. Will you be able to get her to the club frequently as part of your cover?"

"Actually," TB reluctantly admitted, "I think my recent disappearing act has helped the situation. She's a bit more…" He searched for a word.

"Eager?" Nemo taunted.

"For lack of a better word, yes."

"Awww, she missed her big, bad Dom," the jokester teased.

The irony of the Big Bad Wolf reference was not lost on him. There was no way Nemo could know TB's club name, Lobo, but the teasing remark still hit the target. "My being gone has held up some of her work, so yes. I'd say she's eager to get moving in that direction. It has nothing to do with me personally."

That almost sounded convincing.

Waters concluded, "Okay, so TB will continue down that pathway. Next up…"