Triple Team- Reverse Harem Series

by K. C. Crowne

  “Oh,” she said, sounding uncertain. “Well – is Mallory around?”

  “I'm afraid not,” I said as a lump formed in my throat.

  “Jacklyn and I have been worried about her. She hasn't been answering our calls, and her partner called me asking if I knew where she was at. Apparently she’s late for her shift,” Sarah said, her voice sounding weary. “Is everything okay?”

  Sarah was a lot like Mallory. She worked in fire and rescue and was tough as nails. For whatever reason, it seemed like the Spencer women were drawn to being heroes. Hopefully, Mallory wouldn't die as one.

  “Everything is going to be okay,” I said.

  “It's going to be okay?” she asked. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Jason?”

  “Yeah, that's all I can really say right now Sarah,” I said. “I'm sorry, but trust me, it's going to be just fine.”

  “I don't like that tone, Jason,” she said, her voice with a hard edge to it. “Should I be concerned for my sister's safety?”

  “No,” I lied. “I promise, you'll hear from her soon.”

  I hated lying to Sarah, but I couldn't bring myself to tell her the truth. To admit that because of me, her sister might be in danger. That she might have been fighting for her life as we spoke. I had to hold it together though. I couldn't lose it or Sarah would know I was lying. All I could think about though, was that Seth had been right – I should have tried harder to keep Mallory back.

  “Tell Jacklyn I said hi and that I hope she's enjoying the ranch.”

  “I will,” Sarah said, still sounding uneasy. “Tell Mallory to call me asap.”

  “I will.”

  She hung up and left me staring at the phone in my hand. The reality of the situation hit me hard, and I knew that we had to save her. Not just for Sarah and Jacklyn's sake. Not just for her father's. But for all of our sakes. Mallory was loved by so many – especially the three of us standing there in that hotel room – that we couldn't let her life be snuffed out. Not now and not ever. She was far too important to the world.

  “We managed to save Samantha,” I said slowly, looking at both Seth and Liam in the eye. “We can save Mallory too.”

  “Except, of course, they're expecting us now,” Seth said, his voice still tinged with anger. “There's no way we can pull that kind of job again. Not twice in one night. Hell, probably not twice anytime.”

  “I know,” I said. “That's why we're going to need a different plan.”

  I pulled up a number in Mallory's phone and dialed it. It went straight to voicemail. Fuck. I hated when people didn't answer me. It was getting to be so damn annoying. I left a message anyway.

  “Julia? We need to talk. If you know where Chris is, by God, we need to know now,” I said, my voice colder than an Arctic wind. “If he's in trouble, we'll help him get out. Just tell him to call us. If you meant what you said about still loving him, call us back as soon as you get this message. It's important.”

  I disconnected the call and slipped the phone back into my pocket, cursing under my breath. I collapsed onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling, feeling completely and utterly hopeless, as if my entire world had just fallen apart and I didn't have the first goddamn clue how to go about fixing it.

  First, my best friend since childhood went missing, and then Mallory had been taken. I still partially blamed myself for what happened to Chris, even though it appeared he had some real secrets of his own. Maybe if I hadn't pushed him so far away from Mal, told him he needed to back the hell off, he wouldn't have done what he'd done. Maybe if I'd have let them be together – or even better, agreed to what we'd done the other night – he'd still be there with us and none of this would be happening.

  Until we could talk to him though, there was no way of knowing for sure.

  There was a loud knock at the door and I sat up quickly, my pulse racing. I feared it was Santiago's guys until I realized it was coming from the adjoining door between our rooms. Liam crossed the room and opened it up. Lois and Frank Sturgeon stood there, with their daughter between them, holding tightly to her. Samantha stared at me, fresh tears in her eyes and a soft smile on her race.

  “I didn't get a chance to thank you guys yet,” she said, sniffling.

  “It's alright, no need to thank us,” I said. “You've been through a lot. You should probably be resting.”

  “Sure, but you guys – well, all of you,” she stammered. “You all risked so much to save me, and now Mallory is –”

  “We're going to get her back,” Liam said. “One way or another, we're going to get her back. We are not going to leave her out there in the hands of those sons of bitches.”

  “She's a tough woman. Resourceful. I'm sure she'll find a way out on her own,” Lois said

  As she spoke, Lois looked so hopeful that I found myself wanting to believe her. I knew the reality of the situation though. I knew what she was up against and what she would have to face if she tried to escape.

  “I'm sure we’ll have her back in no time,” I said.

  Lois looked relieved as she hugged Samantha close to her small frame.

  “Any word from Chris yet?” Frank asked.

  “Nothing. Still no clue where he might be,” I said.

  “I wonder what kind of trouble he's gotten himself into,” he muttered. “I just hope he's okay.”

  I had an idea about the kind of trouble he'd gotten himself into, but I didn't want to tarnish the old man's view of his son. That would not only accomplish nothing, but until we had actual proof of him being a drug mule, I wasn't going to convict him of it.

  Instead, I shrugged. “I'm sure it's all a misunderstanding,” I said evenly.

  Lois nodded, agreeing with me. Samantha looked at me with wide eyes though. Her stare was direct and penetrating. It was as if she knew the truth. Maybe she'd overheard something, but she didn't want to say it.

  “Sam? You didn't happen to hear of anything while they were holding you, did you?” Seth asked, reading my mind – he must have noticed the look on her face too.

  “Not really,” she said. “Just that – well – ”

  She looked at her parents and stopped.

  “You can tell us, sweetie,” Frank said. “It might help us find him.”

  “I just heard that they suspect his ex, Julia, was involved with him disappearing somehow,” she said. “They kept saying if they could find her, they'd find him and the shipment. Whatever that is.”

  “What shipment, dear?” her mother asked, stroking her face as if she were a baby.

  “I don't know,” she said.

  We both knew that was a lie. She was still trying to protect him, and I couldn't blame her. In fact, I was downright thankful for it. We all were. Even though it appeared he was ass deep in trouble, we still wanted to pretend that Chris – my best friend—wasn’t capable of getting involved in an illegal drug smuggling ring.

  “We need to find Julia then,” Frank said.

  “Yes, but we also need to save Mallory,” I said. “Let's face it, Chris would want us to rescue her first. Just like he would have wanted us to keep his sister safe.”

  “I tried calling Julia, left a message. I bet she's not going to get back to us anytime soon,” I said.

  “Then we should call the cops now,” Frank said.

  “No,” all three of us guys said at once.

  “Remember what they said before? We get the cops involved, they'll kill her,” Seth said. “Just like they said they'd so with Samantha.”

  “This has gone way too far,” Frank said.

  “You call the cops, you put her life in danger” I said. “Chris is safe, as far as we know. Let us get Mallory, then we'll get the cops involved, okay?”

  He didn't look certain, but nodded, scowling as he did so.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and glanced at the display. A blocked number. I picked up and put it on speakerphone.

  “Yes?” I said.

  “You left something
behind,” a man with a Hispanic accent said. “Fuck with us again, and you'll lose everything. We will kill her if necessary. We aren't going to hesitate. Give us Chris and we will let her go. You have twenty-four hours to deliver or she will die.”

  The line went dead.

  15

  Seth

  “Fuck this, I'm going to find her,” Jason said.

  “Find her? How?” I said. “And you heard what he said.”

  “What else are we going to do, Seth? Because finding Chris is even less likely than finding where they're keeping Mallory,” he said.

  He had a point.

  “Either way, she's dead,” he continued. “I'd rather us go down fighting, personally. And I sure as hell know Chris would want us to fight for Mal's life.”

  “We don't even know where to look,” Liam argued.

  “I might have an idea,” Samantha said, her voice barely above a whisper.

  All of us turned to her – honestly, in the wake of that phone call, I'd almost forgotten all about the Sturgeons still being in the room with us until she spoke up.

  “When they first picked me up, they took me to a hotel outside the city,” she said. “They owned the place, I guess? We were there for a few hours. They had blindfolded me, but it fell off at some point, and I got a look around a little. Not great, but – well – I think I could find it again, if I had to.”

  “No, absolutely not,” Frank said.

  “Daddy, they saved me,” she said.

  “And we didn't do it so you could throw yourself back into danger either,” I said.

  “I want to do this. For Mallory,” she said as she turned to face her parents. “I'm not a child anymore, mom and dad. I'm in medical school. I know what I'm doing. I need you to trust me.”

  “This is the drug cartel we're talking about, sweetie –”

  “I know. Trust me, I know them better than any of you. I've spent time with them,” she said. “Mallory was the one who got me out of that house and I want to help save her. Chris wouldn’t forgive me if anything happened to her, and I wouldn’t forgive myself. I want to help if I can. The hotel was off I-80.”

  “Remember the name of the hotel?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “There were no signs, no ads – no nothing. I didn't see much or for very long, but I got the idea that it wasn't operating any longer. That it was just used to hold shipments until they could figure it out what to do with them. I thought that they just used to place to run their business out of. Antonio argued with another man about whether we could stay there or not, and they ultimately decided to move me. I don't know why.”

  I looked over at Jason and Liam. Taking a civilian, an innocent, back into that mess was a scary, nearly unfathomable idea. Especially since we'd literally just saved her from them. To take her back and put her within arm's reach of the men we'd just gotten her away from seemed risky as all hell. It also seemed like the only option we had.

  “We can't go in there without some sort of weapons this time,” I said. “We learned our lesson the last time.”

  “You're right,” Jason said. “And I know just the man who can help us.”

  I cocked an eyebrow at him.

  “Don't worry, it's legal – mostly,” he said. “I call it, legal-ish.”

  “Legal-ish?” I repeated. “Come on, banker, does a little arms dealing really freak you out that much?” Jason taunted.

  “I'm not a banker, I'm a – never mind,” he snapped. “If it’s how we save Mal then I don’t give a fuck.”

  * * *

  Jason took us to a place that looked just like a black-market gun dealer should look. It was pretty much right out of central casting for a shady arms dealer's place of business. Tucked away in a trailer park, in the very back, was the home of a guy Jason called Melvin. Said they went to high school together.

  In all the years of knowing Jason though, I'd never once heard him mention anybody named Melvin. But, I was assuming they didn't keep in touch – no adding each other to Facebook or whatever it was normal people did these days to stay in touch.

  We parked outside the trailer and climbed out of the truck. I looked around at what was undoubtedly the darkest night I'd ever experienced. No porch light, no lights on inside, nothing to signal that anyone was home. There was nothing but that pure darkness that enveloped us.

  Still, despite the air of desertion and desolation that seemed to permeate the place, Jason walked up to the door, and I followed. Liam stayed back with the Sturgeons for now. Jason said he could go alone, but I figured after the last stunt he pulled when he stepped out alone, he needed some company. Just in case.

  “You sure about this guy?” I asked.

  “Do you doubt my judgment, Seth?” Jason asked.

  “After what happened earlier with Mallory? A little bit yeah,” I admitted.

  “Stop being a dick about that. You're not the only one who loves her, you know,” he said. “And it's not like there was anything I could to stop her from coming.”

  “I know I'm not the only one who loves her,” I snapped. “Never said you didn't love her. Just that you made a stupid fucking mistake. Because, you did.”

  “We all made mistakes,” he said. “Don't you think I'm beating myself up enough already?”

  He stopped in his tracks, before we made it to the front door. His voice rose, and even though I couldn't see him in the pitch-black night, I knew he was full of rage. We stared hard at each other for a long moment and for the first time ever, I thought we might actually come to blows. Something I really didn't want to happen because once you started throwing punches, you went down a path there was no coming back from.

  “Yeah, well, you asked if I trusted your judgment,” I said. “I gave you my answer.”

  “Fuck off, man. I don't have time for this shit,” Jason said.

  The door of the trailer opened up just as I started to argue back. A man stepped out, with a halo of light illuminating him from the open door so I couldn't see his face or what he looked like. He was nothing but a five-foot-eleven, thin dark silhouette.

  “Is there a problem?” the man asked, his voice low and deep.

  “No, no problem,” Jason said, turning on his heel and walking toward the man.

  “You sure about that, Jason?” the man asked. “Because I don't need no trouble.”

  “I'm telling you, there's no trouble,” he said. “Just bullshit bickering. Shit happens.”

  I took a few steps closer and got away from the glaring light, finally got a good look at the man. He was about our age, though honestly, it was really difficult to tell. He looked older. His face was pockmarked. His hair was long, pulled back into a ponytail, but his hairline had receded, giving him the illusion of an extra long face. I couldn't make out the color of his eyes, but he glared at me, looking me over carefully, his eyes moving up and down as he took my measure.

  “This your friend?” he said.

  “Yeah, my best friend,” Jason mumbled. “Believe it or not.”

  “You trust him?”

  “With my life.”

  Melvin nodded and motioned for us to follow him inside. Jason went first, and I was a few steps behind. Once through the door, I closed out the darkness and entered into a whole other world than I was used to. I was about as far away from my cushy, totally predictable and boring finance job as I could get now. Sure, I'd been around weapons a lot while I'd been in the Corps, but not so much since I’d been home.

  For as dirty and dingy as the place looked on the outside, it was the exact opposite indoors. It was pretty well spotless inside. His trailer was set up much like a gun shop, except for the fact that it featured a wide variety of guns that weren't legal in the United States. Automatic weapons, sawed off shotguns, AK-47's – even some goddamn grenade launchers and Stinger shoulder-mounted missiles. You named it, he had it. All behind glass cases, locked and secured. Bullet-proof glass too. The man seemed to take his business very seriously.

  “W
hat are you looking for?” Melvin asked. “If you need it, I got it.”

  “We just need some basics,” I said. “Nothing fancy.”

  Jason chuckled to himself as he walked over to the case.

  “I'd consider this basic, wouldn't you, Melvin? Every man should own one of these babies,” Jason said.

  He was staring down at a fully automatic AR-15 – something that was completely illegal in the United States. Not the rifle itself – that was legal enough. It was the fact that he'd modified them to fire fully, rather than semi-automatic.

  “Couldn't agree more. Just wait until you shoot her,” he said. “It's like a dream.”

  “Oh, I have,” Jason said. “Legally, too.”

  “Oh yeah?” Melvin asked.

  “We're former Marines,” I said, standing at Jason's back.

  “Didn't know that,” Melvin said. “So you already know all about how to use one.”

  “I do,” Jason said.

  I tensed up beside him. I hated that we were there in the first place given that the entire operation seemed sketchy as hell. Now, Jason was looking at an illegal weapon. First Chris with the drugs, now Jason and the guns. Made me wonder if I ever really knew my best friends.

  “I think we should stick with legal weapons,” I whispered to Jason. “We're already ass deep in trouble, the last thing we need is to get caught with a fully auto AR-15 on us.”

  “Of course not,” Jason said, moving away from the case and patting me on the back. “We just need the basics. I'm sure he has a semi-automatic version around here.”

  16

  Liam

  The next morning, we pulled to a stop down the road from an abandoned building.

  “Are you sure this is it?” I asked.

  Samantha stared at the decrepit, empty looking building and nodded. Her face was tense, her body tight, and I could tell she was terrified. To her credit though, she was determined to see this through. She was a strong girl. A brave girl.