by Sharon Green
"A new drug," Jake said, suddenly getting a very bad feeling. "What kind of drug was it supposed to be?"
"It was a drug to make any woman do exactly as you wanted her to even if she didn't want the same," Rob said, the look in his dark eyes bleak. "The guy making the offer didn't seem to understand that that isn't what we're all about. When he got only a single offer for his new drug, he decided he was wasting his time, handed out cards with a phone number, then gathered up his friends and the women and left again. This is one of the cards."
Rob slid the card across the table to Jake, and when Jake picked the thing up he could see that nothing but a phone number was on it. Matt was able to see the same, and he nodded as he pulled out his cell phone. If it was possible to get an address for the number, Matt would do it. If the number was for a pay phone or cell phone, Jake would try to get them an appointment.
But whichever way it went, Jake knew they had to find the men with the drug. It might be a coincidence that the new drug sounded just like the slave drug from Oliven, but somehow Jake didn't have much confidence in that kind of coincidence…
Chapter Twenty-One
Jake was surprised when Matt actually got an address to match the phone number, but the dealer probably hadn't been worried about covering his tracks when the drug hadn't yet been declared illegal. He thanked Rob for his help before he and Matt left the club, and then they headed for the address Matt had gotten. Their destination turned out to be a small house in a shabby neighborhood, not at all the kind of place anyone with even a bit of money would choose to live.
"Looks like this guy thinks ahead," Matt remarked when he parked the car not far from the house. "He can let people know that this is his place of business, because once the money starts to roll in he'll be living somewhere else. If he ever has to abandon this place, no big loss."
"I was just thinking the same thing," Jake agreed. "That guy out front has to be their lookout, so let's take care of him only after he gains us access to the house."
This time it was Matt who agreed, and then he followed Jake out of the car and across the street. The lookout had been watching the two of them from a chair on the narrow porch, so when Jake got close enough he grinned at the man.
"Hi there," he called, stopping with one foot on the first of the house's wide steps. "Is this the place where we can get that stuff, you know, the new stuff?"
"That depends," the man in the chair answered, now leaning forward to rest his arms on his thighs. "What kind of stuff are you talking about and who told you where to come?"
"Oh, it was this guy who told us about where you were," Jake answered with a shrug, still grinning. "He said he got some of the stuff himself here, so that's why we came. There's this bitch who won't even look my way, and I want to make her sorry she turned me down. That's the kind of stuff I want, and that guy said it works real good."
"Do you know the guy's name?" the lookout asked, obviously not sure about letting the newcomers inside.
"Not a clue, pal," Jake admitted freely. "He just told us where to come and we're here. Besides, what does it matter? He said the stuff isn't illegal or anything."
"That's right, it isn't illegal," the lookout remembered aloud, and then he stood. "Okay, come on up and you can go inside. I'll keep your friend company out here."
"Good enough," Jake agreed without looking at Matt, immediately climbing the stairs. "I can do the buying for both of us."
Jake's instant and easy agreement must have lulled any suspicions the lookout still had. The man turned to the door and knocked twice, paused, then knocked a third time, which brought Jake the need to fight to keep a straight face. They had a secret knock, for pity's sake, when anyone else would have had sound and vision equipment for the man on the inside. Talk about amateur night…
The door opened to show another man, and as Jake walked in past the man he drew his gun without letting the man see him do it. As soon as it was obvious that there was no one else in the small living room the door opened into or in the hallway beyond, Jake turned to put the gun in the doorman's ribs.
"That's right, let's keep this quiet and peaceful," Jake said when the man froze in the act of closing the door. "We're not here to rip you off, we're just being cautious to make sure we're not ripped off. Open that door wider so our friends can come in."
The doorman followed orders, which let the lookout move inside in front of Matt. Matt also had his gun out, so the lookout had his hands raised in front of his chest and was being careful not to move too quickly. Once the men were inside and the door closed behind them, Matt put his gun away and took out the kind of kit Jake also had. The kit had a special gel that Matt smeared on his finger, then he touched the lookout on his arm. A second smear was transferred to the inside man's arm, and then both were told to sit down on the room's shabby couch.
"And that takes care of them," Matt said when the two men, first the lookout and then the other, both slumped back unconscious. "Someone once told me that they used to have to use a needle of some kind to do this kind of thing. I'm glad it isn't necessary any longer because I hate needles. I'll take the left."
Jake just nodded, already having learned that Matt tended to talk in a situation where there might be tension. It was Matt's way of calming things down, and Jake didn't mind the habit. They would have to check the rest of the house for whoever else might be in it, and there was bound to be at least one other someone. The two unconscious men were obviously no more than hired help, so that left the boss and any other hired help he might have.
The kitchen and tiny dining room were both empty, but the closer Jake and Matt got to the rooms at the back of the house the more they could hear small sounds. The closed doors to left and right led to empty bedrooms, which left only the closed door straight ahead. That was definitely where the sounds were coming from, so Matt stood ready while Jake eased the door open…
… to show a single man with three naked women. The women stood bent over with their backs to the door, the man pacing slowly behind them with a leather belt in his hands. He caressed the belt as he moved, and then he stopped and suddenly lashed out with the belt. The heavy leather struck the backside of the woman on the extreme left, and when she made a small sound the man with the belt laughed. It was perfectly clear from the heavy redness of the woman's behind that she would have preferred to scream or cry, but obviously that wasn't being allowed her.
"Now that was a surprise, wasn't it?" the man said, still enjoying his laugh. "You got the last stroke of the belt, so you didn't expect to get another so soon. Let that be a lesson to you, to all of you. I get to say what's done and what isn't, and you don't have a thing to say about it. Let's see if you can figure out who gets it next."
"My guess is that you're the one who'll be getting it next," Matt drawled just as the man began to pace again, drawing his immediate attention. "Let the belt fall to the floor and lace your fingers behind your head."
"Who the hell are you?" the man demanded, his hands closing tighter on the belt instead of letting it fall. "If you came to rip me off you can get the fuck out right now. I have protection, and there are only so many of us selling the shit. The minute you tried to move what you took you'd be found and then you'd be dead, so - "
"My partner told you to drop the belt and lace your fingers behind your head, not give us a lecture," Jake said with all the anger he felt. All three of the women had been beaten with that leather, and two of them had started to bleed. "Do it right now before I decide to help you."
The man began to curse Jake, and the filth spat at him erased what little patience Jake had left. Instead of saying anything else, Jake holstered his gun and moved toward the foul-mouthed slime, hoping the slime would be stupid enough to attack him. To Jake's delight the man raised the belt and tried to slash him across the face with it, but the move was never completed. Jake stepped in close to block the swing, then he did some swinging of his own. It felt good to hit the slime a few times, maybe more than a
few times, even when he had to hold the man's shirt with one hand to keep him off the floor -
"Jake, come on, that's enough!" Drawing back from the pleasure was hard, but it finally came through that Matt had been saying that same thing for a couple of minutes. Matt also held Jake's arm, and when Jake looked down at the man he'd been hitting he saw a smashed face and more than a little blood. The sight was enough of a shock to bring Jake completely back to himself, and that self was shaken.
"I'm - sorry, Matt, I don't know what got into me," Jake muttered, letting go of the shirt he'd had clenched in his fist. Jake's grip had been the only thing keeping the man in a sitting position; as soon as he let go of the shirt, the man fell the rest of the way to the floor. It was perfectly clear that Jake's victim was unconscious, and that caused Jake to silently curse himself.
"I don't really blame you for going off on this garbage, but now we'll have some trouble making him talk," Matt said, having cautiously let go of Jake's arm. "I'll put the cuffs on him in case he wakes up sooner than we expect, and then we can see about those girls."
Jake knew which cuffs Matt meant, and it was a good idea to get the scum ready to talk when he did wake up. The vibrational truth drug in the cuffs would do nothing harmful to the man even if he woke up with a concussion, so Jake was free to see about the women at once. All three of them still stood bent over where the scum had left them, so Jake moved a few steps closer to them.
"You can all straighten up now," he said to begin with, and then remembered something he'd gotten from Tain. "I'd like you to try not having hysterics, but other than that you can stop obeying any other orders you've been given. And the only one you have to listen to from now on is me."
One of the women collapsed to the floor where she lay crying softly, but the other two just stood where they were, looking deeply shell-shocked. It was fairly obvious that they'd been through worse hell than Jake knew, and he couldn't even coax them into sitting down. It would be quite a while before any of them would be able to sit without pain, so he settled for asking them if they'd like to lie down. By then Matt was there to help, but as soon as the men got the two women lying down the women began to cry the way the first one was still doing.
"If they ever get over what was done to them the time won't be short," Jake said very quietly to Matt once they'd moved away from the women. "Being savaged is bad enough, but not being able to do anything to defend yourself even when you aren't tied in any way… The experience is enough to make you seriously crazy."
"And you're speaking from experience rather than guessing," Matt said, his expression and voice both calm as he stared at Jake. "Can you tell me how you know so much, or is talking about it still too painful for you?"
"The memories are still painful, but you need to know what we're in the middle of," Jake answered, staring down at the man he'd made unconscious. "It happened during my last assignment off-planet, and I'll be curious to see if you come to the same conclusion I already have."
Jake then told Matt most of what had happened to him on Oliven, and when he'd finished Matt just shook his head.
"Man, I don't know what it would be like to be a slave like that and I don't want to know," he said at once. "But I'm having trouble believing that conclusion you mentioned. Are you seriously suggesting that the slave drug was brought here by Coleson, and that's what his great plan is all about? How could the fool think he'd get away with it?"
"If the man wasn't a halfwit he might have gotten away with it," Jake countered. "Don't forget that the only reason the Board started to look into Coleson's doings was because of that stupidity he pulled with Ennie. Coleson was trying to get one up on her uncle, but someone with two brain cells to rub together would have resisted the impulse in favor of lying low."
"Because if Coleson was still in charge of the department no one would know about this drug until its use was spread all across this planet and whichever planet the fool means to spread to next." Matt spoke slowly as he added details to the picture he and Jake were drawing, the picture no one was meant to see until it was too late. "But wait a minute. Ours isn't the only department involved, so what about one of the others? Why hasn't anyone else noticed what's happening?"
"Either they have noticed but have no idea what they're up against, or Coleson has partners in his scheme," Jake suggested. "It could even be a combination of the two, so we're going to have to get Rachel in on this. Keep an eye on the slime while I make the call."
Matt nodded his agreement, leaving Jake free to step out of the room before he used his cell phone. Rachel answered on the second ring, and once Jake told her what he thought was going on she began to curse.
"And I can't even ream you out for waking me up," Rachel complained when the cursing ran down. "You and Matt just saved me and my sister from a lot of useless work, but at the same time you've given us twice the headache. I'm going to have to wake some people up myself, and it might be morning before I get any firm answers. If you learn anything from that dealer you collared, just leave me a message."
And then she was gone from the line, the phone dead in Jake's hand. Rachel's reaction hadn't been unexpected, and Jake didn't envy her having to tell the Board his suspicions. It was bad enough that one department head had gone rogue; learning that others might be part of the same scheme would not endear Rachel to the Board members hearing the news.
But there was nothing Jake could do about the problem other than go back in the room and join Matt in waiting to see if the dealer woke up from the beating. If the man didn't wake up Jake was prepared to kick himself up and down the street for ruining the only link he had to the next man in the distribution chain, but the slime saved him the effort. It took more than half an hour, but the dealer finally groaned and opened his eyes.
Getting the small amount of information the dealer had was the easy part. Harder was arranging for the police and ambulances to come and collect the guilty and the innocent. Jake and Matt could have just walked away from the scene, but the dealer lapsed back into unconsciousness and the women were still deeply in shock. Walking away was out of the question no matter how eager Jake and Matt were to get on with their job, and they both knew it.
By the time the police had the two unconscious men awake and in handcuffs and their boss on the way to the hospital, almost two hours had been wasted. The women had been taken care of first, of course, the paramedics wrapping the three victims in blankets to get them out to the ambulances. Jake and Matt had had to show their ID's to stop the detectives from insisting on answers to their questions, and the detectives didn't like that one bit.
"Look, we know you're not happy about being left out of the loop, but there's nothing we can do about it," Matt finally said with all the exasperation both he and Jake were feeling. "You have those three on kidnapping and rape charges, not to mention assault. The rest of what's involved here isn't to be mentioned in your reports, and the … packages we found hidden in the basement are to be sent to the women whose names we gave you. You'll find out all about it eventually, but right now it can be my partner's neck and mine if word gets out. Do you really want our lives on your conscience?"
The two detectives had exchanged a glance, both of them obviously knowing what undercover work was like, and that was the end of the argument. Jake and Matt were able to leave the shabby little house, and their next destination was a lot more upscale. But the place was also better guarded, so they drove around to the back before parking, then got what they needed from the trunk.
"This Ricky Norstrom seems to be doing well for himself," Matt commented as they checked the loads in the dart guns they'd have to use on the patrolling guards. "Is it likely he's doing well enough to have centralized his security arrangements?"
"That's a very good possibility so we'll have to get inside as quickly as we can," Jake answered, putting down the gun long enough to recheck the positions of the guards with the device meant for that purpose. "You take the three on the left and I'll get the three o
n the right, and then you can turn off the main security system long enough for us to break in. But don't forget to see first if there is a central security post and where it is if there is one."
"Good thing you told me that or I would have forgotten about it," Matt returned dryly, giving Jake a look designed to make him feel ashamed for stating the obvious. Under other circumstances Jake might have felt chagrined at the very least, but tonight seemed to be different. He wanted to get his hands on this Ricky Norstrom very badly, too badly to worry about other, less important, points.
They checked the positions of the guards by their body heat one more time, then separated to take care of business. Jake finished off the last of the guards he was responsible for and got to the house to find Matt already there. Jake had enough time to take out a set of burglar tools before Matt spoke.
"The security field is down, but something strange is going on," Matt murmured as Jake bent to the lock on the door they stood in front of. "I could swear the field went down an instant before I made it happen."
"It's probably just your imagination," Jake muttered as he gave most of his attention to the lock he worked on. "Or else whoever is in the central security post put the field down himself to check it. Whichever, let's go make sure that person doesn't panic when the field won't go back up."
It had taken no more time than that for Jake to open the lock on the door, so the two men slid inside and closed the door behind themselves. A night light made the room fairly bright after the heavy dark of outdoors, and Matt quickly led the way in the direction of the destination they wanted. The first room led to a smaller second, which in turn led to a wide entrance hall. Matt turned left into the hall with Jake right behind him, both of them sliding toward a doorway on the left.
"The door's open," Matt whispered almost soundlessly as he paused a few feet from the doorway he was obviously heading for. "If that's really the security center the door shouldn't be open."
