Chapter 10

Chapter

Ten

A very woke to the sound of her landline ringing beside her bed. Her mouth tasted like cotton and the ache in her stiff muscles said she’d probably been slumped in that chair for at least two hours. By the time the phone started ringing again several minutes later, she had managed to squeeze out of one zip tie, break through another, and she was well on her way to loosening the rope around her middle. She didn’t even have to break the chair.

“Avery? What the fuck?” Noah snapped angrily once she made it to the phone. “I thought you and Thom were going to get the team together so we could go over what Zara and I picked up about Fariq and Christian. I get that the two of you want some time, I do, but it’s going to have to wait or at least get interrupted.”

Glad as she was to hear his voice, Avery could have done without the yelling. Her muscles ached; her head hurt. She had no idea if she was going to follow Christian’s orders yet, but she needed her head to clear long enough for her to at least know what she was doing… and the consequences that would inevitably follow.

“Right, I know,” she said as soon as he was done yelling at her. It was all she could do not to sound as drugged as she still felt. “But Thom said you said it could wait and so we thought what’s one more day. I mean it’s not like this is a paying gig. Besides, you and Croft can keep Finn and Zara safe.”

“You may have a point,” Noah said grudgingly. “I gotta hand it to Thom, he seems to have gotten a handle on your attitude about me more quickly than I thought he would.”

“Don’t kid yourself, Taylor… you won’t know when and you won’t know how, but when it happens, you’ll know why.”

Noah laughed out loud. “Careful, Avery, your daddy might not approve of you talking to me like that.”

“That is so not fair,” she said, forcing herself to laugh so she would sound normal. “You guys can’t gang up on me.”

“Sure we can, sweetheart. In all seriousness, I think Thom could be the best thing that ever happened to you. You are happy about it, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” she said softly, and she didn’t even have to fake the sincerity. “I love him, and for reasons I’ll never understand, he loves me too.”

In that moment, her head cleared. She didn’t care what Fariq wanted with Thom’s expertise, Zara had said that Fariq was first and foremost a businessman and Christian seemed to think this was a straight up business deal. Avery didn’t care if whatever Thom did meant that Fariq could get a stranglehold on the international arms dealing industry. As long as she got Thom back, relatively unharmed, she didn’t care.

Avery knew before she made any final decisions, she needed to talk privately with Finn and Zara. She and Finn had become good friends since Finn had moved in with Croft. And if Noah loved and trusted Zara, which he had to if he was marrying her, then she felt she could trust her too. Besides Zara and Finn had been close friends for years.

“Thom’s in the shower, do you want me to give him a message?”

“Yeah, tell him I told him it’s a lot more fun to shower with your woman than alone. Damn it, Zara, don’t kick me. Careful, woman, or your ass is going to be as red as I suspect Avery’s is.”

“You’re an asshole, Noah,” said Avery.

“I love you too, Avery. Zara says hello.”

“Tell Zara I said hi and that Finn and I will call her about five our time to discuss the final plans for the color scheme… or I could have you relay what I found out to Finn and Zara.”

“Good God, leave me out of it. All I need to know is when and where and that Zara’s not planning anything that’ll get her ass beat on our wedding night.”

“Are you freaking kidding me?” Zara half laughed, half shrieked just as the phone disconnected. With any luck, as soon as Noah relayed what she’d said his soon-to-bride would figure out that something was up. The color scheme for their wedding had been decided months ago. The two women had teased Avery that she and Thom could have her wedding that evening. If things went right, there might be a chance of that happening. In some ways Thom was very traditional. In fact, if one didn’t think too hard about his rodeo riding, he was probably the most traditional of the lot.

Hoping Christian knew enough about whatever he’d given her to time how long she’d be out, she ran to get her phone from her cellphone charger. After that, all she could do was sit and wait, and will the phone to ring. It was the longest wait of her life, but eventually it did.

“Look, you sonofabitch,” Avery snapped, answering on the first ring. “I meant what I said, if you’ve hurt him…”

“Princess? I thought we already talked once about your language.”

Had she not been sitting, she’d have fallen to her knees. “Oh, God, Thom. Are you all right?”

“Daddy’s fine, baby. Don’t you worry. Fariq and Christian just need me to do some programming for them. It’ll only take me a couple of days. I need you to remember all the rules, especially rules eight, ten, and eleven. I want you to call Mandy and let her know you and I are taking a couple of days off to go where the water and the sun are mild so we can enjoy ourselves. Can you do that for me, princess?”

Certain he must be telling her something, Avery agreed. “Yes, Daddy.”

“That’s my good girl. I’ll see you in a few days. Fariq is going to have you come pick me up in the corporate chopper so it can just be you and me. Okay?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“I love you, baby. Be a good girl.”

Before she could finish saying, “I love you too,” the line went dead.

Avery replaced the receiver in the cradle, took a deep breath to steady her nerves, and ran to grab the copy of the signed contract they had posted on the back of the door to the walk-in closet. She pulled it down and went to sit on the bed searching for the section that delineated the rules:

Rule One: When alone with Daddy and in trouble, I will address Daddy as Sir or Daddy only.

Rule Two: I will modify my language and stop swearing.

Rule Three: I will not level a weapon at Daddy or any of our friends.

Rule Four: I will not do any bullfighting or rodeo clowning from this moment forward.

Rule Five: I will not threaten or carry through on injuring any of our friends or co-workers, most especially Noah.

Rule Six: I will communicate to Daddy all my likes and dislikes.

Rule Seven: I will tell Daddy whenever I am aroused as soon as I start feeling that way.

Rule Eight: Only Daddy can touch, play with, or use my princess parts.

Rule Nine: I will sleep naked with Daddy and I am only allowed to wear panties Daddy has given me with his permission; no other panties will be worn.

Rule Ten: I will not argue with Daddy. I can express my point of view respectfully but whether Daddy decides to negotiate will be decided solely by him on a case-by-case basis.

Rule Eleven: No dangerous activities, as decided by Daddy, will be allowed.

Rule Twelve: I will take care of myself in all ways, e.g., eating right, getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, no negative self-talk, etc.

Rule Thirteen: All of my orgasms belong to Daddy. I will not fake or withhold orgasms from Daddy.

He’d said rule eight, no playing with herself. She smiled, sure he’d said that only to make her laugh and so she wouldn’t worry. Rule ten, no arguing. That didn’t make sense… no, wait. It wasn’t arguing that he meant. He was reminding her that Wild Mustang didn’t, for the most part, negotiate. Whenever hired in a K keeping their presence a secret until the last minute would be relatively easy. Additionally, the corporate helicopter was fully equipped with stealth technology and was fully armed with a variety of guns and missiles. What he didn’t know about her private, two-seater chopper was that it too had stealth technology, and while it only carried one missile, it did have several mounted and fully functional guns.

The last of what Avery believed to be the advantages of going in alone was that she had more speed alone. She could be ready to go before dawn and hit wherever they were holding Thom hard and fast, getting him the hell out of there before he was forced to un-cripple their criminal enterprise. Thom would stall as long as he could, but the longer they held him, the more pressure he would be under to help them rebuild their illegal empire.

She had to move fast. She couldn’t afford to wait. Avery was decided. She would leave a message for the team so they could stand as backup. If all went according to her as-yet undeveloped plan, her chopper’s smaller, faster flying capability meant she could get them out of the way and let the Wild Mustang team come in behind to mop up what was left of the operation.

What she needed was information she was fairly sure Zara could get her, but Zara would be easy to get on board. Finn would need to be told the plan, but she would have no trouble convincing Zara that this rescue mission was best carried out without the guys’ knowledge or assistance. All she needed now was to know where Thom was being held. She was pretty sure Zara’s friend, Ghazil Assaraf, could help with that.

First things first, however. Picking up the phone, she called Mandy Hampton, who helped run the administrative side of the business. “Mandy? It’s Avery.”

“What’s up?” came the perky redhead’s greeting.

“Look, I could bullshit you and tell you I’m under the weather and then have Thom call in to say he’ll be working from home, but it isn’t true.”

The other woman laughed. “Do tell! I’m so glad the two of you finally figured out you’re perfect for each other.”

“Geez, who knew everyone was pulling for us? You might have let me know,” groaned Avery.

“Well, it was just us girls and Noah. And Noah only knew because Thom had told him. So, you guys want to take a few days?”

“Yes… if that’s all right.”

“Sure. Now that Baez and Junior are back, we should be fine.”

“Thanks, Mandy.”

“Anytime I can help in the course of true love, I’m ready, willing, and able.”

Feeling more than just a twinge of guilt for putting Mandy unwittingly in the middle of things, Avery hung up. Next up, she had to call Finn. That would be harder. Tap dancing around Finn’s sixth sense wouldn’t be easy or even possible. Avery picked up the phone. No, she was going to have to be honest with her, especially if she was going to win the other woman’s help in getting Zara to join them, not to mention getting Croft to bring in the boys once Avery had time to get to Thom.

“Croft!” came the answer when Avery had dialed Finn.

“Hey, Croft, it’s Avery. Do you always answer Finn’s phone?”

“If she’s got her hands in bread dough, I sure do. What’s up, blondie?”

“Tell her she and Willa need to quit making the rest of us look bad in the Suzy Homemaker contest,” Avery tried to inflect laughter in her voice. “I talked to Zara and Ghazil about colors for the wedding and need her input.”

Just as with Noah, Croft wanted little to nothing to do with the actual planning of the wedding. Both had retreated to simply agreeing to whatever made their intended brides happy. Avery could hear Croft getting Finn.

“Avery, let me step outside.” She heard her do so. “What’s wrong? Zara texted me you said something to Noah about wedding colors when those were decided months ago and now you mentioned Ghazil to Croft. I know he’s handling some of the moving parts of the wedding and is planning to run the show during both our weddings so none of us have to, but she figured you were trying to get a message to us.”

“You know about Thom and me and can probably guess that there is an element of power exchange involved,” Avery said, letting the fear creep into her voice.

“All right,” Finn said after a brief pause. “Now you’re starting to scare me. I thought you were happy about it.”

If Noah was the one that Thom preferred to confide in, it was Croft’s fiancée, Finn, who Avery always went to. “We did—do—I mean, are. Yeah, we finally figured out what apparently a lot of you already had. Finn, this isn’t going to be easy.”

“Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it. If Zara and I need to knock Croft’s and Noah’s heads together to back Thom off, we will.”

“It’s not that. I almost wish it were.” What she had to say was about to hit her friend hard, but Avery could think of no way to soften it. Despite what Finn had said about disowning her brother, Avery knew Christian’s actions still left his sister emotionally reeling. “Finn, I saw Christian today.”

“What? Where? Why hasn’t Thom called the guys together?”

“Because when I saw him, he was with a guy who had a gun pointed at Thom’s head.”

“Holy shit! Is Thom all right… are you?”

“I’m fine and I think Thom is relatively safe for now. But they have him—Fariq and Christian. They kidnapped Thom from my place and have him. They need him for some kind of computer programming. I was tied up and tranq’d, but…”

“Oh, my God, Avery! Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. Most of the grogginess has worn off and doesn’t seem to have had any lasting effects. They arranged for Thom to talk to me so that he knew they didn’t harm me.”

“That makes sense. They need you to leverage Thom. But why are you talking to me and not Noah or Croft?”

“I don’t think sending the team in with guns a-blazing is the best idea. I think a quieter, more surgical strike makes more sense.”

“The old scalpel versus a chainsaw argument?”

“That’s the one,” answered Avery.

“My fingers are crossed that we’ll actually be the scalpel,” Finn said, letting Avery know without doubt that she was in. Her relief was almost crippling. “So, how are you going to find out where they’re keeping him? Is that why you mentioned Ghazil?”

“Yes. I’m hoping he’ll have an idea where to look. By the way, your brother is a sonofabitch.”

“I know. I still can’t seem to wrap my head around who he’s become.”

“The creep grabbed my boob and pinched my nipple right in front of Thom and then seemed to want to call both of our attention to it.”

“Wait! Why would he do that?” Finn asked, her surprise palpable through the phone line. “Okay, this is weird, but did he leave something behind? Something that might tell us where Thom is? I know it sounds like I’m grasping at straws, but Zara has convinced me that Christian may be playing a very dangerous game. Both she and Ghazil think at worst that Christian is trying to play Fariq, and at best that he’s working against him, perhaps even for an intelligence or law enforcement agency.”

Avery liked Finn too much to want to dash her hopes. Looking down into her dressing gown, she examined the place where Christian had fondled her. There it was… a little black dot where it didn’t belong. “Holy shit. Finn, I think they might be right. I think your brother may have planted a microdot on me. I’m running out to my garage. I have a high-end magnifier for when I’m cleaning old parts…”

Racing out the French doors and down to the garage, she flipped on the light at her work bench and pulled out her magnifier. Carefully she peeled off the microdot and held it under the glass.

Picking up the landline extension, she said, “Sonofabitch!”

“Avery, please tell me you found something that explains Christian’s actions.”

The desperation in her friend’s voice was as heartrending as Avery’s own involuntary grin was broad. “Unless I miss my guess, your brother planted the location on me.”

“How did he do that?”

“When he pinched my nipple, he must have slipped this little microdot on me. It appears to be geo coordinates. It doesn’t make sense for him to give me locations to anywhere except where they’ve got Thom.”

“Do you really think so? Ghazil and Zara have been hearing things they think only make sense if Christian is working for somebody.”

“I really need to talk to them. I think I even recognize these coordinates. I’m pretty sure they’re somewhere in Morocco. Isn’t that Ghazil’s stomping grounds?”

“Casablanca or Marrakesh, I think,” Finn said. “I can’t remember which.”

“I don’t think it’s either of those.” Grabbing her cellphone, she got on the internet. “I’m punching it into my GPS locator right now. Marshan. They’re in Marshan. There’s a ferry that runs from Marshan to Tarifa. I can get into Spain…”

“Do you speak Arabic or Berber?”

“No, but I speak Spanish.”

“That’s fine for Tarifa, but you’ll need someone who can speak one of the others for Marshan. Zara is fluent in both.”

“I don’t want you or Zara involved.”

“Too late. If you’re not going to involve the boys, I’ll be damned if you’re going in there alone. Besides which, I’m already involved and if I don’t tell Zara, she’ll have my head on a platter.”

“It’s one thing for me to risk my neck, and not to put too fine a point on it, my butt, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to ask anyone else to do it.”

“Girlfriend, you’ll be lucky if all he does is beat your ass. Don’t get me wrong, Z and I both love our men fiercely and we both knew what we were signing on for, but both Croft and Noah keep us on pretty tight leashes. It’s time we flexed a little girl power. Besides, it’s my brother that got us into this mess and I agree this is probably better handled with a deft touch rather than a sledgehammer.”

Avery shook her head. “I’d like to argue with you, but I don’t have time and I doubt I’d be successful.”

“You wouldn’t.” She could hear Finn grinning through the phone.

“Tell Zara to meet me at the Barcelona airport tomorrow at this time. I’ll get there earlier than that, but I can do some preliminary work about renting a jet to get us out of Dodge while I’m there.”

“She’ll be there. Take care, Avery. We’ll get him back…”

“And if we can, we’ll see if we can’t help Christian.”

“Thanks. Good luck. I’ll keep the boys here at home busy.”

Avery hung up the phone. Deciding that whatever else was on the microdot could wait until she got on the plane, she got dressed and flew her chopper to the airport where she was just able to catch a flight for Barcelona that connected through Paris.

She had long ago schooled herself to sleep whenever she could when going into a mission. This was no different, but the twisting of her heart and gut told her she was wrong. It wasn’t just another mission. It was Thom’s life, and still all she could do at this point was close her eyes and will sleep to come. This was not going to be easy, but she would be ready for it.