The Hunt for Xanadu

by Elyse Salpeter

  Desmond bent forward and kissed her again. He caressed her face and ran his hands up and down her body, his mouth never leaving hers. There was a strange familiarity to it and desire and pure need flooded her being.

  Reaching down, he pulled up her dress.

  Wait, wait! I have to stop! Why did she have to stop? She didn’t want to. Conflicting thoughts tore through her brain. No, you have to. Get yourself under control, Kelsey. You must. This isn’t the way it should be your first time.

  With effort, Kelsey pulled her lips away. “Desmond, please. I have to tell you something--before we do anything further.”

  “What?”

  She saw his pants fall to the floor. He was definitely ready. Oh my God. What am I doing?

  “I’ve – I’ve never done this before. Not really.”

  He laughed. “I know. This is the craziest thing I’ve ever done, too.” He planted his lips on hers again.

  She desperately needed to talk to him and simply explain herself, but she was having such a hard time. His smell and the way he touched her overwhelmed her. The way he felt as he pressed his body against hers was driving her wild. “No,” she said finally, between kisses. “It’s not… what I meant exactly. It’s just,” she paused, trying to speak.

  He wasn’t giving her a chance to answer. He ran his lips up her neck, right under her earlobe and she moaned softly. I don’t want this to ever, ever stop. “Oh… just forget it.”

  Desmond moved on top of her and it happened so quickly she flinched in surprise and winced for a moment in pain. At that moment, Desmond froze, apparently suddenly and completely aware what she’d been trying to tell him.

  “You mean you’ve never done this before? You’re a virgin?”

  Oh, the expression on his face! Kelsey shrugged helplessly. “Well… technically, I’m not. Raul and his men took care of that in Tibet.”

  Desmond immediately turned to roll off her, but she wrapped her legs around him. “No… don’t, please.”

  He stared at her in disbelief. “What do you expect me to do?”

  What did she expect him to do? “I don’t know. It’s … maybe you can show me… what the big deal is?” Oh, my God, she was so pathetic. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.

  He shook his head. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

  Grimacing, Kelsey nodded and released her legs. She felt Desmond stall in sheer indecision. She was about to ask him to get off of her when he bent down to her and gently ran his fingers against her jaw, making her shiver. Leaning in slowly, he kissed her again, but this time it was so much gentler than before. He began to move slowly and she felt her body tingle everywhere.

  It went on for excruciating, tantalizing minutes, and then Desmond upped his pace, watching her intently. Kelsey couldn’t catch her breath. It was as if her entire body was on fire, when suddenly she gasped and her entire being shuddered.

  She heard Desmond groan and felt him drop his head to her shoulders and press himself even closer to her.

  As they lay there, her senses slowly returning, she was keenly aware that she had let a man she hardly knew take her “virginity,” in a sex club, with Raul Salazar, her rapist and the murderer of her parents lying unconscious in the room with them.

  And she had enjoyed it.

  Disgusted wasn’t even the word.

  Chapter 15

  REPERCUSSIONS

  As gently as possible, Desmond rolled over and lay on his back atop the rumpled sheets next to Kelsey. Raul was still unconscious on the couch. Kelsey sat up and glanced at Desmond, staring at his nakedness. What did I just do? She wanted to talk to him and make sure things were okay, but when he didn’t move or say anything after a full minute, she scooted off the bed. The sudden awkwardness was agonizing.

  She quickly pulled down her dress, and grimacing, moved across the room to unzip Raul’s pants, pulling them down a bit. Part of her wanted to kill him right then and there. It would have been so easy. She glanced at the bed pillow, imagining shoving it in his face until he suffocated.

  Instead, she removed a micro-sized lipstick taped under her arm, quickly applied it and then leaned in and kissed Raul’s collar cuff, her lip-prints smearing and staining it. While he wouldn’t remember anything, he would have at least thought he had done something that night and wouldn’t get suspicious. She didn’t glance at Desmond, who still hadn’t said a word to her. She untied Raul’s shoes and then removed two micro tracking devices taped under her breasts and placed them under the soles. They were so small and flat, he would never even feel them. Lastly, she placed the key back around his neck.

  “We should leave. He’ll be coming around in a few minutes.” She couldn’t even look at Desmond, realizing she’d mistaken how he felt. He didn’t like her or have any feelings for her. He had just gotten excited by what she had been doing to him, the job, having sex with her, and now he was uncomfortable at the ramifications. Oh, she had made such a mistake. So stupid of her to let herself get out of control and finally let her feelings sway her.

  Desmond sat up and silently buckled his pants. Kelsey realized he was probably repulsed by her behavior. Could she blame him? How much class could she possibly have to allow this to happen? Letting men like Gino and Raul Salazar touch her, going out in public places without her underwear on. She’d acted like a promiscuous slut, so he’d treated her like one. What did she expect?

  When he finished dressing he turned to her. “Kelsey, can we talk about this?” He picked up the ashtray and put it in his pocket.

  She shook her head, embarrassed. All she wanted to do was get out of there and get as far away from Desmond as possible. “Not now, let’s just leave.” Without another word, she opened the door, planted a plastic smile on her face, grabbed his hand and they ambled slowly down the hallway, down the steps and across the club floor.

  They retrieved their cellphones and wallets and left the club. Their driver waited for them outside in the limo.

  He opened the back door and without a word Kelsey jumped in. Desmond moved inside and sat opposite her before the driver sped away. She laid her head on the backseat and closed her eyes so she didn’t have to talk to him. Not that it mattered. He never uttered a single word the entire ride back.

  Before they even came to a full stop in front of the hotel, Kelsey flew out of the car and raced up the front steps. Desmond shot out after her. “Kelsey, we need to talk about what happened.”

  No, we most certainly don’t. She stopped and turned to him. “Please, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.”

  His eyes pleaded with her. “I didn’t understand what you meant. You should have told me.”

  She shook her head. “I tried to, but it doesn’t matter. I could have stopped you. I just got carried away. Really, it’s not that big a deal. We’ve got the key and that’s all that matters, so let’s just forget about this and move on.” She held out her hand. “The cast, please?”

  Desmond took the ashtray out of his pocket and handed it to her.

  She turned and walked up the steps.

  Desmond wouldn’t let it go. “No, it is a big deal. Please, I’m so sorry, but I didn’t know what to do. I just felt so bad, I didn’t realize what was happening… and you looked so pitiful!”

  Revulsion tore through her and her stomach clenched violently. She turned to him, her features contorting. “You pitied me? That’s the reason you continued to have sex with me? Only because you felt bad for me?”

  He raised his eyebrows. “No, that’s not what I meant!”

  Get away, get away, get away. Without a word, she turned, opened the door to the hotel and ran to her room.

  * * * * *

  As Desmond watched her retreating back, he kicked himself. How many times was he going to screw up with this girl? He had never forced himself on anyone in his entire life and while he knew what happened wasn’t entirely his fault, it shook him to his very core. To be so torn between shock and incredulity, but at the
same time so flooded with desire, was something he’d never experienced. He had started to have feelings for this girl, strong feelings he hadn’t had since his wife had died, but he’d misjudged her. He would have bet everything he owned she was one of the most experienced young women he knew and then to find out it was all an act?

  Then he screwed it up further by not being able to explain himself properly. She must be mortified by his behavior.

  He rubbed his face with both his hands, and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m an idiot.” As he trudged up the hotel steps, he knew he had to explain himself. He went into their suite, but her bedroom door was shut and she was silent behind it. He decided not to make things worse and would talk to her in the morning.

  That never happened. When Desmond knocked on Kelsey’s door at ten o’clock to catch their flight home, he found she’d left hours before. She was probably already halfway home to New York by then.

  Chapter 16

  YOU DID WHAT?

  The screaming could be heard throughout the entire floor.

  “You slept with him?”

  The very air in the room seemed to ripple in waves of contempt and frustration as Ari hovered over Kelsey at the conference table. He was livid, his face a beet red and his body language so threatening, Dennis, Seung and Julia sat dead silent on the other side of the table, grimacing. Ari’s fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles were white and he slammed them hard on the tabletop on either side of Kelsey. She didn’t move, remaining as rigid as a stone statue.

  Ari hit the table again, toppling over the empty coffee mugs. The porcelain cups clattered on the glass top loudly. “That wasn’t part of the plan, Kelsey! What the hell were you thinking?” Infuriated, he picked up a set of binders and threw them violently across the room. They slammed into the wall and they could hear the scared shrieks of the interns in the cubes on the other side of the partition.

  Kelsey stared at him stonily. “You need to calm down. It’s not a big deal.”

  His eyes bulged. “Not a big deal? Are you out of your goddamn mind? You waited twenty-two years to have sex with someone on your own volition and you finally decide to do it in the middle of a stinking sex club with a guy you hardly know? Not to mention that disgusting pile of filth who raped you and murdered your parents in the same room? What? You suddenly decide to go slumming and become a goddamn slut?”

  Her eyes flashed. “It’s none of your business. You’re not my father.”

  He shoved a finger in her face and she smacked him aside. “Damned right I’m not your father. He would have kicked your ass and told you what an absolute and utter stupid fool you were. You acted like a stinking whore, Kelsey!”

  She flew to her feet and pushed him back. “Shut up, Ari. You don’t know how it was. I just got carried away. I liked this guy. And for god’s sake, I’m twenty-two years old. None of it matters. We got the cast of the damned key, so just leave me alone, because it’s over and it’s not going to happen again.”

  “Damned right it’s not, because I’m going to kill him before he ever gets within twenty feet of you again.” Ari paced the room, grabbing the baseball bat he kept in the corner. He regularly swung the bat to release tension and now he swung it with such force that it made a whistling sound as it whipped through the air.

  “Carried away,” he mumbled, taking a viciously fast swing. “You should have known better. You should have been able to control yourself.”

  Julia spoke up. “Ari, give her a break.”

  He pointed the bat at Julia. “Stay out of this, Jules. You’re the one who brought this up to me in the first place with your big mouth, and damned if I’m going to give her a break. She knows how guys act around her. Anyone in a ten foot radius of this chick wants to have sex with her and if she’s gyrating all over them half-naked, you think any guy is going to contain himself if she gives him the get go? So, it gets hot and heavy and instead of using her head like she usually does, and was supposed to, she acts like a promiscuous little whore and eggs him on. Mark my words, I’m going to rip that guy apart. I brought him into this to help her, not to fuck her. That wasn’t part of the plan!”

  There was a knock at the door and Ari’s secretary stuck her head into the room. She had obviously heard Ari screaming and was usually immune to his outbursts, but when he was like this she continued to watch for flying objects when she walked into a room. “Mr. Goldman, I’m very sorry to bother you, but you have a visitor. He said it was urgent.”

  “Clarice, tell him I’m busy.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said, but Desmond breezed by her and into the conference room.

  They all froze.

  Fuming, Ari clenched the bat and flew across the room. “You’re a dead man.”

  “Leave him alone!” Kelsey yelled.

  Desmond deftly dove out of the way, lightning fast as the bat swung and hit empty air. Even Ari seemed surprised that he missed. He righted himself, reared up to swing again, but Kelsey had made it to Ari by that time and shoved him roughly aside, screaming into his face. “Stop it! This was my decision and no one else’s and if I want to have sex with someone, I will, you hear me? It’s none of your business what I do. I’m not a child!”

  Ari and Kelsey stood there fuming at each other, each of them shaking violently. Kelsey finally turned to Desmond, her voice cold and clipped. “What do you want?”

  He kept his eyes on Ari and his bat. “Raul is getting ready to leave somewhere. He has a wooden box with him.”

  The very air in the room dropped ten degrees. It was still for mere seconds, and then everyone was in motion. Ari flew to Dennis and they booted up the live web cam, Julia started scouring the internet for any flights or travel sites Raul was tapped into and Kelsey raced over to Seung where together they started locating all the GPS tracking devices placed on Raul’s cars and clothing.

  “There he is leaving his office, complete with luggage,” Dennis said, as they all crowded around the screen. “He was supposed to leave next week for Colombia. Something’s happened to spook him.” He raised his eyebrows at Kelsey. “You sure he doesn’t know anything about the other night?”

  She shook her head. “No, he was unconscious the entire time we…” she paused and bit her lip.

  Ari glared at her. “Yeah, you’d think he’d have woken up with the sex show going on next to him.” He stared over Kelsey’s head at Desmond, his disgust apparent. “Have a good time breaking her in, Desmond?”

  Kelsey turned to Ari, her voice tight. “Shut. Up. Now. Raul has no idea we have the key. He’s probably just feeling the pressure about what happened to Ricardo and then the robbery at his office. It’s expected. It was your own damned psychological runs which declared it as one of the possible outcomes.” She turned back to the webcams.

  The GPS tracked him towards the Throgs Neck Bridge.

  “Looks like he’s going to the airport,” Kelsey said, turning to Ari. “Or do we need an in-depth psychological profile for that, too?”

  “That’s confirmed, Kelsey,” Julia said, ignoring the jabs flying back and forth. Travel logs filled her screen. “He’s on his way to JFK. Changed his flights from next week to today and is now on the 11:00 Avianca flight to Medellin, Colombia, and then on a connecting flight to Bogota.” Her fingers flew as she pulled up the reservation screen. She glanced at Kelsey. “Um, how many am I booking for?”

  “One,” Kelsey said.

  “Two,” Desmond said at the same time.

  “You’re not going anywhere with her,” Ari spit out.

  Desmond stared at both of them, his face a mask of conflicting emotions. “I’m going after him, whether you let me help or not. It would be better for all of us if we did this together. What happened at Garters was a mistake that should never have happened and it won’t happen again.”

  Why don’t I just slice open my chest and you can pour a bucket of salt on my heart, Desmond? Kelsey swallowed hard, her face reddening as he reminded her again of how much
he regretted what had occurred. How much he’d pitied her.

  He saw her reaction and tried to speak, but she put up her hand to stay him. “Just book two, Jules.”

  Ari grunted in frustration and tossed the bat wildly across the room where it crashed in the corner, overturned a garbage can and broke a clay planter.

  “Done,” Julia said. She turned to Kelsey. “Downstairs now. We’ve got twenty minutes to get you ready and then you’re out of here.” She eyed Desmond. “You, too. Raul’s seen you and we can’t risk him recognizing you on the plane. Seung, start getting the gear ready. Dennis, help him. Ari, if you can calm down, we could use your help as well.” There was a flurry of activity and regardless of the scene which had just happened, they all moved together fluidly and efficiently.

  Desmond braved speaking to Kelsey as they moved briskly across the floor. “These people all work here, just to help you get Raul? Ari’s entire business is a cover for this?

  She passed her hand over her eyes. She didn’t want to talk to him and couldn’t face even looking at him. She was so ashamed and disgusted with herself.

  Julia answered for her as they took the steps two at a time. “This is a legitimate, successful company, Desmond. Kelsey’s agenda is a side job and yes, his business is a cover for it.”

  They moved into a group of rooms in the back of Ari’s office--a top of the line design studio with mirrors, dressing tables, and clothing arranged by category on every available space. Against one wall were shelves filled with various weapons and cases of ammunition, military gear, tents, and any supplies needed for an advanced covert operation.

  Desmond whistled softly. Most of the stuff in the room was classified, even illegal. There was a shelf of improvised explosive devices, nunchakus, fiber optic cables, scopes and silencers.

  Ari walked in behind him, noticing his expression.

  “You even think of reporting any of this and I’ll have you taken out before you even get out of my building. You understand me, cop?”