Dangerous

by Sharon Green

  "I don't know who you assholes are, but I do know how much trouble you're about to be in!" he yelled, his fists closed tight as his voice got more and more shrill. "I happen to be under official protection, so it's your own boss who'll slap you down! Now put those guns up and get the fuck out of here!"

  "You'll notice he pretty much knows who we are, but even without details he still claims to be under protection from our 'boss,'" Riss pointed out without taking her gaze from the furious man. "If that isn't confirmation that Margate is in it right along with Coleson, I don't know what would be."

  "We can worry about that later," Killen said before anyone else could speak, his own gaze only on Ricky. "Right now we have questions for our prisoner, and I think we all know the right way to ask those questions."

  Tain could see the way Riss smiled as she tucked her gun into her belt and then reached for doses of the slave drug. Riss and Matt had to chase Ricky around the room a little before they could pin him and force the drug down his throat, but they finally managed it. The usual confusion hit Ricky hard, hard enough that Killen got the message at once.

  "It looks like it'll be a few minutes before we can question Ricky, so I'd like to use the time to tell you a couple of things," he said softly to Tain, who stood only a couple of steps away from him. "To begin with, I'd like to thank you for saving my life on Oliven. If you hadn't diverted Himlin when he attacked, he would have had me."

  "It wasn't really a problem," Tain said, paying very little attention to the words she spoke. She wanted to ask Killen what was wrong, but he hurried on without waiting.

  "The second thing I want to say is actually an apology," he continued, disturbance clear in his gray eyes. "Back on Oliven, when you said you were tired of waiting for me to offer to free you from the orders I'd given you in the beginning… You were right to be disgusted with me, just as disgusted as I am with myself. I was a damned fool on that world, but it took getting involved with this mess for me to understand why you turned and walked away. If I were in your place I wouldn't want to have anything to do with me either."

  And then Killen was the one who walked away to join Matt and Riss, leaving Tain all but open-mouthed. She had been annoyed with Killen for not offering to free her, but after thinking about the point for a while it had come to her that Killen could well have forgotten about those old orders. Considering what he'd gone through himself and then being under her control, it was surprising he'd remembered how to stand up straight and walk.

  And now he was beating himself up about what he had and hadn't done right. Tain wanted to go after Killen and do more than just stand and listen, but this wasn't the time or place for personal shit. There were a lot of others who had to be thought about first, but once they were all taken care of… It might be a good idea if she started out by apologizing for taking advantage of his helplessness just to make him want to lose interest in her…

  While Riss and Killen questioned Ricky, Matt joined Tain in gathering up the captive women. All the women had been badly abused, and it was very clear that most of them would be lost to hysterics as soon as Tain freed them. For that reason Tain got them lying down instead, making them understand that their ordeal was over and that medical help would soon be on its way. She and Matt were just finishing up when Tain saw Riss and Killen turn away from Ricky.

  "Hey, you guys, what did you find out?" Matt asked at once. "Does the asshole know where Coleson is hiding? And did you ask if Margate really is in it with him?"

  "We got more than we expected to," Riss answered while Killen simply looked bothered. "Ricky is the enterprising sort who finds out everything he can against a time when he might need the information to bargain with. Unfortunately for him we got everything he knows and didn't have to trade anything for it. Margate was working on Coleson's behalf, but not because she wanted to. She was the first one Coleson fed the drug to."

  "Son of a bitch," Matt stated, looking almost as outraged as Riss. "Every time I learn something new the need to get my hands on that slime grows greater. So Ricky doesn't know where Coleson went?"

  "Actually, Ricky made sure to find out," Riss answered with a mirthless smile. "It was his people who took Coleson to the port, and they were able to find out the name Coleson is traveling under. From the direction the slime took, Killen here is guessing that Coleson means to hide out on Oliven for a while. He probably intends to wait until everyone stops actively looking for him, and then he'll start up his drug business again on a different world."

  Matt's cursing turned more exotic, but Tain was too busy sharing Killen's disturbance to do the same. She and Killen had very unpleasant memories of Oliven, but that was where they would have to go if they wanted to catch up with Coleson - which Tain, at least, really wanted to do. Then Tain remembered that she had nothing more to worry about where Oliven was concerned, and let herself enjoy the thought of catching up to Coleson - and having a private talk with Killen…

  * * *

  Jake wasn't at all happy at the thought of returning to Oliven, but in order to find Coleson he was willing to follow the man to hell. When he did find the slime, Coleson would think he was in hell, that Jake promised himself. While Matt called the police and arranged for lots of prisoner transport and as many ambulances as they could provide, Jake used his own cell phone to call Rachel. He expected to have to leave a message, and was surprised when Rachel actually answered.

  "What have you got?" Rachel asked at once. "Did you get a line on where Coleson is?"

  "I've got a guess about where Coleson is, but that's not all," Jake answered. "We also found out that Margate isn't Coleson's partner, she's his first victim. Has she been questioned yet?"

  "Yes, but she's been refusing to tell us a single thing," Rachel answered, and Jake could hear the frown in her voice. "We thought she was playing dumb to protect herself, but now… It will take time to either get the counteragent from Oliven or have some made up right here, and I hate to waste that time. There's no knowing how many other dealers are selling the drug and using it on their own victims."

  "There are two other dealers, and I have their names and locations," Jake told her, finding it impossible to keep the satisfaction out of his voice. He gave her the information, then added, "And unless I'm underestimating Coleson, you won't have to wait for the counteragent to free Margate. First tell her that she isn't to take orders from anyone but you, then tell her that all the previous orders she's been given are now canceled. If you reach the point of wanting to free her completely, just tell her that she isn't to take any more orders from anyone at all. And I have a question."

  "How did you get the names and locations of the other two dealers?" Rachel asked while Jake pictured her scribbling down everything he'd said. "If there are any marks on Norstrom when they bring him in, we could find ourselves bothered by needing to defend against a lawsuit."

  "The only lawsuit good old Ricky will be able to bring will involve being fed his own drug," Jake told her. "If he ever tries to complain about that, he'll be laughed out of court. If there was nothing wrong with his giving the drug to this many women, he can't possibly claim it was wrong to give him the same thing."

  "Well, you definitely have a point there, and I happen to agree with you," Rachel grudged. "Whether or not our lawyers will agree is a subject for another time, so why don't you ask that question you mentioned."

  "Has the Board authorized that reward we discussed?" Jake asked without beating around the bush. "If they have then there are a number of us who want to claim it."

  "A number of you," Rachel echoed, now sounding as if she were paying even closer attention. "That sounds like more than just you and Matt, so who are we discussing?"

  "Tain Halliday and Riss Matthews from Margate's department found this place just about the same time Matt and I did," Jake explained. "We took it down together, and they have the right to go after Coleson if they want to."

  "That's another point I can't argue," Rachel said, having hesitated on
ly a couple of seconds. "All right, I'll make arrangements for the four of you to leave tomorrow - meaning later today. Get back to me after all the dust has settled, and I ought to have the details."

  And with that she simply disconnected the call, which made Jake smile to himself. She might have been afraid he would ask for something else, but she needn't have worried. At the moment, Rachel had given him everything he'd wanted from her. If anything else came up, it could wait until he'd gotten back from Oliven with Coleson.

  It didn't take long for the police to arrive, but that didn't mean everything was taken care of. A major problem developed when Jake and Matt went to tell the two female agents that their time for payback was almost over. They had their former tormentor bent over the wooden form one of them had been bent over, and they were alternately using the switches on his backside. The man's behind was so red it looked painted, and he danced in place as he screamed very softly.

  "Okay, ladies, we came to tell you that the police will be here any minute," Matt said to the women while Jake flinched from his own memories. "We can take this crumb and add him to the others in the big room."

  "Not yet," one of the women said without looking up, her switch hitting the man with all the strength in her arm and body. "We aren't finished with him yet."

  "He isn't bleeding yet," the other woman added, also not looking away from the man her own switch stroked hard. "He said he wanted us to bleed before he used us, so we have to return the favor. The police will just have to wait."

  Matt exchanged a glance with Jake, then he left the room to find Tain. The two female agents still had to obey Tain, so she was the only one who'd be able to calm them down. Or bring them back to sanity, if that was still possible. And then the man being switched started to scream out loud, undoubtedly due to orders given by one of the women. His shorts had been pulled down to his knees, which kept him from bouncing and dancing as wildly as he probably wanted to. Tain had been right to keep the women under her control…

  Tain. Jake turned away from the sight of a man being given what he'd earned, his mind trying to make sense of what he'd been doing. The more drug victims he'd seen the wilder he'd gotten, identifying with women more closely than ever before in his life. That's why he'd beat up on that dealer - and why he'd said what he did to Tain. His own unresolved fear-backed hatred had caused the violence, and had also made him say almost nothing to the woman he'd been searching for during the past three weeks and more.

  But what would be the sense in talking to her? Jake asked silently as he stared at the wall next to the open door. She probably hates me as much as I hate anyone who uses that drug on others, and I can't say I blame her. I treat her like dirt, and she ends up saving my life. How fair is that supposed to be?

  Jake already knew the answer to that question, so Tain's walking into the room didn't delay his getting a response. He simply turned to watch her, wishing he had the right to take her in his arms.

  "All right, sisters, that's all the switching we have the time for," Tain said to the two women, who had managed to draw some blood from their captive's backside. "Put the switches down now, and take pleasure from what you've accomplished. And remember that you'll also be able to testify against that slime."

  "Assuming he's stupid enough to demand a trial, we'll be there," one of the women said as they both stepped back, both of them also smiling. "If he does ask for a trial and somehow manages to get off, we'll be waiting when they turn him loose. We still haven't castrated him, you understand…"

  The man they'd been switching suddenly stopped screaming, certainly having heard what the woman had said. Jake knew the man's pain wasn't less, but now fear had overridden the results of the switching. And it was highly unlikely now that he'd try to keep himself from going to jail even on a kidnapping charge.

  "Killen, I need to talk to you," Tain said softly after telling the women to take their captive to the large room where the other captives were being held. "As soon as we can shake ourselves free from this horrible mess, can we sit down together somewhere?"

  "Well … sure," Jake answered, half wishing he could refuse and half loving the idea of being alone with her. "Is anything wrong?"

  "I guess we'll find that out when we talk," she answered with a strange half-smile, and then she turned to follow the two female agents and their captive. Jake didn't know what was going on, but it looked like he'd soon be finding out…

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Tain felt more than a little worn down by the time the police finally got everything sorted out. The detectives seemed to want to give Tain and her associates a hard time for breaking into the house without a search warrant, a carryover attitude from the old days when you needed to dot every tee and cross every eye or whatever evidence the house held was thrown out of court. Nowadays, anything found could be used against the residents of the house; if nothing happened to be found, the department or agency represented by those who broke in would have to pay a really big cash settlement to the residents whose privacy was intruded on. The practice kept break-ins without a warrant down to the bare minimum.

  But what Tain and the others had found was a lot more than nothing, so the police really couldn't complain. Not that they didn't still grumble some, and not just to Tain.

  "My guess is that they're jealous," Riss muttered to Tain when the detectives finally let Riss walk away from them. "You would have thought I was telling them about a bank I robbed instead of another location where women had been kidnapped and savaged. They demanded to know why we didn't report the place as soon as we took it down, then got all insulted when I said we didn't know who we could trust at that point. They choked when they had to admit that we would have been walking into a trap if Ricky had gotten word that we were coming, but I still say they're jealous. They couldn't have just carried on without reporting in, not and still have kept their jobs."

  "And I'll bet you didn't bother to mention that we would have called for backup if we could have," Tain said, keeping most of her amusement on the inside. "That would have spoiled the picture you were drawing of fearless agents who are licensed to do anything they damned well please."

  "Well, we can do almost anything, as long as our guesswork turns out to be right," Riss countered in a wounded tone. "Being right cuts anyone a whole lot of slack in this life, and those detectives know it as well as we do. So where do we go from here, at least for the next few hours? After that I hear that we need to be at the port."

  "Actually, I intend to sit down somewhere and have a talk with Killen," Tain grudged after a very short hesitation. "Something's bothering him, and I'd like to see if I can help him work it out. I've been … avoiding him since I got back from Oliven, but it just came to me that I don't have to do that any longer. We used to be in the same department, but now we're not."

  "So you don't have to worry about that bullshit that would have made one of you leave if you'd gotten together," Riss pounced, pointing one finger at Tain. "Is that why you really left Coleson's department? To put yourself in a better position to jump Killen's bones?"

  "Of course," Tain agreed with a very small smile, pretending that she was telling the truth. The idea of getting together with Killen still frightened her for some reason, but her hunger for the man was slowly overcoming the fear. Even though she still hadn't figured out where the fear was coming from…

  "Then let's all get out of here," Riss said, now briskly looking around. "You freed all the women completely and only have a single hold left on our sister agents, but you have to keep that hold until we find out what shape they're really in. Let's grab the men and make our escape, and I'll decoy Matt if he tries to horn in on you and your … former co-worker. How does that sound?"

  "It sounds like I'll owe you one," Tain told her with a chuckle. "But only if things go right with Killen. If they don't I just might have to hold your help against you."

  "Tain, why don't you call him Jake?" Riss asked, her former high spirits suddenly gone. "You'
ve been calling him Killen so I've done the same, but everyone else who talks about the man calls him Jake. Do you have a reason you can explain?"

  Tain thought about the question, then finally shook her head. She'd called the man Killen to distance herself from him, but she couldn't quite bring herself to admit that - and it didn't seem to be her only reason.

  "I didn't realize that what I called him was significant," Tain lied with a small shrug. "Do you really think the point is important?"

  "I'm not sure," Riss admitted, now looking uncomfortable. "I'm not a shrink, after all… Let's get out of here, and maybe you can find something else to call him after your … talk."

  That last comment put the grin back on Riss's face, not to mention returning her enthusiasm. Five minutes later they were all downstairs and ready to leave, but when Matt and Killen started for the back of the house Riss realized there was a problem.

  "You guys are parked at the back while we're parked toward the front," she said thoughtfully, then brightened again. "But Tain is parked about a mile up the road, and I'll have to take her there. That means Jake can come with us, and after I drop off the two of you Matt and I will be free to go home ourselves. Sounds like a plan."

  Matt looked faintly confused by the arrangement, but Riss got him moving toward the back and then ushered Tain and Killen out the front. Tain found the situation faintly amusing, and apparently Killen thought the same. His lips quirked into a smile as he let Riss hustle him out the door, all of them heading toward Riss's car.

  Even with all the uniformed police taking care of the unconscious guards Tain and Riss had put down, it didn't take long for the three to leave the grounds. The sun was just rising, turning the darkness into what promised to be a fairly nice day, and it also didn't take long for Riss to taxi her charges over to Tain's car. As soon as Tain got in and turned on the car, Riss waved and then disappeared up the road.

  "Did you want to talk here or somewhere else?" Killen asked from where he sat to Tain's right on his side of the car. "Speaking for myself, I could use a cup of coffee."