“Detective Miller, do you want to do this the hard way or the easy way?” the muscled officer demanded.
“Fine, fine,” Dan agreed, raising his hands in surrender, suddenly believing fate had miraculously intervened to get him away from David Clark, and possibly even Conchello. “I suppose things are done differently down here than they are in L.A.”
“You can explain yourself to the chief.”
“I understand,” Dan said calmly, moving to the closet by the door and taking out his coat. “You’re just doing your job.”
With one of the cops in front of him and the other behind, they left the room, but stepping outside, the lashing wind and rain blasted across Dan’s face, instantly clearing his head.
Reasoning with Conchello had been absurd.
The drug lord killed first and asked questions later.
Abruptly realizing he had a chance to escape, a wave of elation moved through Dan’s body—then quickly faded. With no money in his pocket he didn’t know where to start.
* * *
Scott and Jack had just finished driving around the hotel deciding where they should enter the building when the police car rolled in. As two officers had stepped out, Jack had immediately pulled into a parking space and cut the engine.
“The best laid plans,” Scott grunted. “I’ll check Dan’s room and see what he’s up to.” But as he pulled the phone from his pocket a call came in. “It’s Elizabeth,” he muttered. “I’d better take it.”
“Scott, I’m so glad you answered,” she said urgently. “The police just walked into Dan’s room, but David Clark is there too, hiding in the bathroom. Conchello sent him to make sure Dan didn’t take off.”
“David Clark is with Dan,” Scott repeated, staring at Jack. “Elizabeth, I’m putting you on speaker.”
“You have company?”
“Yeah, I’ll explain later,” he replied, hitting the icon. “Go ahead. What happened?”
“David Clark showed up about five minutes ago, then the cops arrived. I know you can see all this with your camera feed, but when I saw David go into the bathroom I thought I’d better warn you in case you missed him.”
“Thanks. What’s happening now?”
“The police want to take Dan to the station. It’s about the complaint you filed, breaking into your boat and harassing you. They’re leaving with him right now.”
“I’m glad you called,” Scott said gratefully. “You were right. It’s entirely possible I might not have seen David Clark.”
“I’m so relieved you got there safely.”
“I told you it was no big deal.”
“It looks like a big deal from where I’m standing, and it’s getting worse.”
“Don’t worry about me, just keep watching.”
“Okay. Good luck.”
“You like her,” Jack remarked with a grin as Scott ended the call. “You like her a lot.”
Scott rolled his eyes.
“Hey, I think it’s great,” Jack continued. “It’s about time you—”
“Jack, look,” Scott interrupted, spotting the two officers leaving the hotel with Dan between them.
“Shit. Are we screwed? Who’s David Clark? Do we know anything about him? Can we use him instead?”
“I haven’t had a chance to tell you,” Scott replied. “Elizabeth recognized him. He was one of the guys who searched my yacht, but he worked for the DEA under the same guy she did. He must have flipped to the dark side, so yeah, the plan is still doable.”
“Damn. How many of these crooked bastards are there?”
“Too many, are you ready?”
“You bet. Let’s roll.”
As the police car left the parking lot, Jack drove to the back of the hotel and stopped next to an outside stairwell. With the wind and rain whipping around them, they trotted up the emergency stairs to the second floor, pushed open the steel door, and moved swiftly down the passage to Dan’s room. With Jack keeping his eyes peeled, Scott tested the door.
Unlocked.
Luck was on their side.
Pulling out his phone, he checked the camera feed.
A stocky man was bent over a dresser rifling through the drawers.
After quickly showing the image to Jack, they donned balaclavas, drew their weapons, and crept inside. While Jack softly closed the door, Scott stole forward.
David’s body jerked.
With lightning speed Scott flew across the room, yanked David’s arm up behind him and slammed him against the wall.
“You’d better back off,” David snarled. “You don’t know who you’re messing with.”
“Wrong,” Scott growled, pressing his forearm against the back of David’s neck. “You’re David Clark, a DEA agent now working for Sonny Conchello.”
“Stop! You’re breaking my fucking spine,” David croaked. “What do you want? Who are you?”
“I’m your worst fucking nightmare, and if you don’t do exactly as I say, I’ll leave you with a bullet in each of your knees, then my friend will break your fingers—one by one. Do I make myself clear?”
“Fuck.”
“I repeat, you’ll do exactly as I say, capeesh?”
“Yeah, yeah, okay, just get off my fucking neck.”
* * *
Jim Parker couldn’t sleep.
Insomnia had plagued him since accepting one hundred thousand dollars from Sonny Conchello years before.
And the money had kept coming.
Jim loved the oodles of cash.
It made the restless nights tolerable.
But now Elizabeth had disappeared.
The thought of her being in Conchello’s clutches was almost too much to bear.
His cell phone rang.
Bleary-eyed and wide awake, he almost welcomed the distraction.
“Why don’t you turn that damn thing off and give yourself a break once in a while?” his wife grumbled as he sat up.
“I wish I could,” he replied, lifting it off the nightstand and frowning at the screen.
His heart skipped.
Unidentified caller.
Conchello?
“Hello?” Jim muttered, hastily climbing from the bed and leaving the room.
“Jim, it’s David Clark.”
“What the hell? Why are you calling me?”
“Our boss says you have to come to the islands right away.”
A cold chill pricking his skin, Jim tried to control his panic as he hurried down the stairs and into his study.
Conchello had just restructured his organization.
Jim was now in charge of the street dealers’ network.
He was about to become filthy rich, but it required him to remain in Los Angeles.
Why was the drug lord suddenly demanding his presence in the islands?
“Jim? Jim, are you there?” David asked urgently. “Hello? Are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m here,” Jim replied, entering the small office and quickly closing the door. “Let me speak to him.”
“He doesn’t want to talk. You have to catch the next flight out.”
“That’s impossible,” Jim exclaimed, breaking out in a cold sweat. “There’s no way I can just leave at a moment’s notice. It’s out of the question.”
“Hold on.”
With his heart racing and his hands shaking, Jim splashed bourbon into a glass and downed a large swallow. Not only did the summons contradict everything Conchello had told him, the drug lord didn’t want to speak to him.
“Jim, listen,” David began, his voice oddly hoarse, “he says if you’re not here by tomorrow night he’ll fly to L.A. and come to your house. He’d like to send your wife and daughter on a trip to the monastery.”
Horror rippling through his veins, Jim flopped on the couch.
“Did you hear what I said?”
“Yeah, I heard,” Jim managed, a terrifying tightness moving through his chest. “I’ll be there.”
“Grab a pen.”
“Uh… wai
t…” Jim mumbled, his entire body trembling as he moved unsteadily behind his desk. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Fly into St. Thomas. Text the arrival details to the number I’m about to give you. Someone will be there to pick you up.”
“Okay, I’ve got it,” he stammered, wishing his heart would stop its wild thumping. “So, uh, what’s this about?”
But David had abruptly ended the call.
Jim closed his eyes, praying when he opened them he’d find the entire episode had been a bad dream.
His prayers were unanswered.
A dark frown carved deep lines in his forehead.
What the hell could have happened?
He thought about the1962 Studebaker Hawk sitting in his garage. He’d been working on the project for years. Hidden under the back seat were brown paper bags full of precious cash.
He’d give every penny back if it meant returning home from the Virgin Islands alive, his limbs intact, and his wife and daughter safe and waiting for him.
* * *
While Scott had held a gun at David’s temple while he’d spoken to Jim Parker, Jack had dropped a pill into a glass of whisky. As the call came to an end, David gratefully accepted the drink, downing it in one gulp.
In less than a minute he was out cold.
Quickly retrieving the wad of money and lifting out the tracker, Scott popped it open, removed the tiny battery, placed both into a small envelope, and stuffed it into his zippered pocket with his phone.
Moving David’s unconscious body down the slippery steel stairs through the wild weather proved challenging, but the worsening storm had kept everyone indoors, leaving the rear of the hotel desolate. Placing him in the SUV’s cargo hold and tying his hands behind his back, they left the parking lot and headed out of town.
After a harrowing drive up a steep hillside, the wind and rain pounding the vehicle and lashing the tropical forest surrounding them, they turned down a winding, unpaved road, splashing through potholes and over ruts. As the modest home finally came into view, and the garage door rolled up, the two men breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Transporting their prisoner into the kitchen, Scott left him slumped in Jack’s arms as he unlocked the door to a subterranean, windowless room. Carrying him down the stairs, they left him on the floor with a low wattage lightbulb burning overhead.
“I’d better get back to the Shady Shack and check on things,” Jack declared as they returned to the kitchen. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Don’t forget the keys to your yacht.”
“Thanks for reminding me,” Jack said, reaching into his pocket and handing them over.
“Thanks. I won’t start interrogating him until you get here.”
“He’ll be easy to break,” Jack remarked with a grin. “He looked like he was ready to spill his guts before we even left the hotel.”
“I was tempted to let him. I’ll see you tomorrow. Drive safe out there.”
As Jack headed into the garage, Scott moved into the comfortable lounge, started the gas fire, dropped into an easy chair, then pulled out his phone and called Elizabeth. She answered just as a roar of thunder boomed overhead.
“Whoa, that sounded like a bomb going off,” she exclaimed. “I saw sheet lightning over the water a few minutes ago.”
“Yeah, this storm has picked up strength. I didn’t expect it to be this bad. Lower the window covers just in case.”
“I was thinking about that. Please tell me you’re not sailing back in this.”
“No, I need to stay here overnight.”
“That’s a relief,” Elizabeth said, letting out a sigh. “Where have you taken David? I saw you carry him out of the hotel room.”
“He’s in a place we can question him without being interrupted. I’m sure he’ll be very forthcoming.”
“Uh, Scott, the way you pounced on him. You were so fast. Where did you learn to do that?”
“How did you know it was me? My face was covered.”
She laughed.
It made him grin.
“Your body, of course,” she replied, still giggling.
“Ah, I see.”
“Speaking of which, I can’t wait to see it again, naked and about to jump my bones,” she murmured, lowering her voice.
“It won’t be long, and I will, but that’s not all I’ll do.”
“Tell me more.”
“Not now.”
“Then you have to tell me where you learned to fight like that.”
“I don’t have to do anything.”
“If you want to jump my bones, you do.”
He paused. “Elizabeth, that sounded like a challenge. Are you sure you want to go there, little girl?”
“Stop calling me a little girl!”
“I’ll make a deal with you—little girl,” he retorted. “I’ll tell you about my training, if you tell me why you pulled that stunt on my boat six months ago.”
“Stunt?”
“Walking out on deck without your lifejacket after I’d told you explicitly to put it on. Why, Elizabeth?”
She paused. “Tell me about your training first.”
He was about to refuse, but he was weary. “I was a Navy SEAL.”
“Wow, that’s awesome,” she exclaimed. “No wonder you have such an amazing body. I take it that’s what you’re involved in now. A covert op to bring Conchello down?”
“Something like that,” he replied vaguely. “Now tell me why you blatantly walked out on the deck without your lifejacket.”
“Shit.”
“Tell me.”
“Uh, well, uh… God, this is hard.”
“Out with it.”
“I, uh, I wanted to find out if you meant it,” she said softly.
“Meant what?”
“You’d threatened to spank me.”
“You were testing me.”
“Yes, Captain, I was testing you.”
She’d breathed the words.
He smiled.
“Will you be doing that again, Elizabeth?”
“Um… I don’t know.”
It was an honest answer.
Testing was in her nature.
Chapter 14
With the steel covers over the windows muting much of the noise from the ferocious weather, Elizabeth climbed into bed and reached for a pillow to snuggle. She missed being next to Scott’s warm, hard body, but exhausted from the drama, and relieved he was safe, she closed her eyes and quickly fell into a deep sleep…
Determined to find the cave rumored to hold a long-lost treasure, she trampled through the thick, lush foliage, but it was hot, and holding up her skirt became tiresome. It was already torn in several places, so she paused her step and impatiently ripped at the fabric, tearing it away to leave only shreds hanging around her pantaloons. The air on her bare legs below them was such a welcome relief, she unlaced her bodice and pulled it down to hang around her waist.
“There you are!”
Startled and pivoting on her toes, she found the captain striding toward her.
“Foolish little wench. These tropical forests may look pretty, but they can be deadly. Where are you going?”
“To find the hut. I’m sure it’s here somewhere.”
“I ordered you to stay by the fire.”
“But I—”
“And look at the state of you,” he exclaimed, eyeing her up and down. “If I wasn’t so fond of you I’d leave you to your own devices. As I punish you, remember that.” Grabbing her by the elbow and jerking her forward, he circled her waist with his arm and ran his large, rough hand over the thin underwear. “It’s been too long since your last walloping. That’s the problem, you forgot your place. I won’t let that happen again.”
“But, Captain—”
A solid smack from his hard hand cut her off.
“Please, Captain, I’m sorry.”
“Of course you are, but sorry you were caught, not sorry you disobeyed me,” he sco
lded, raining his flattened palm in an endless volley of hot, stinging smacks.
Though she squirmed and begged, he remained unmoved, continuing to reprimand her as he delivered his discipline. Finally removing the blousy underwear, he pushed her to her knees, placed his rampant manhood at her entrance, and plunged forward.
There was no escape and no stopping him, nor could she control her body’s response to his erotic attack. As he gripped her waist in a fierce grasp and rammed his rod with robust strokes, she let out howl after howl. In spite of her protestations, his fervent pumping was hurtling her into a powerful orgasm. As if sensing her looming climax, his groans and grunts grew louder and his pace quickened.
“That’s it, little wench, you will scream loudly as you yield to me,” he growled. “I gladly accept your surrender.”
Wailing out as the spasms rocketed through her body, his words rang in her ears, an unexpected epiphany washed over her. That’s what she did every time she climaxed at his hands… she surrendered…
Her eyes popped open.
Her body tingling and limp, her fingers were against her clit and her pussy was soaked.
She’d just rubbed herself to climax during the decadent dream.
Sinking into the mattress and savoring the post-orgasmic bliss, she glanced at the clock on the bedside table. The bright red digits read 8:03 a.m. She’d slept ten hours.
Slipping from the bed and ambling to the bathroom, she showered and dressed, then grabbing her phone, she wandered off to the kitchen and munched down a bowl of cereal. Disappointed there was no word from Scott, she made a cup of tea, carried it into the security room, opened the cabinet on the wall and pressed the purple button. The metal window coverings moved away to reveal a pristine morning.
But drinking her tea and gazing down at the sparkling aqua water, she spied three departing speedboats. A frown crossing her brow, she placed the cup on the desk and moved quickly to the telescope. Zeroing in on the fast-moving vessels, she watched them veer to the left and disappear, but not before she caught sight of one of them sporting a black streak running along the side.
An inspired thought floated through her mind.
Her Very Strict Captain Page 11
