by Taylor Lee
Hoping that she’d conveyed enough information for Jase to know that Noah was outside, she added sprightly, “If you’re not careful, Roberto, I’ll start thinking you’re afraid to be alone with me. Some dominance that would be.”
Ignoring her prattle, his voice was as ominous as his question.
“What are you doing at my desk?”
Sapphire sighed audibly and shrugged.
“Okay, fine. You outed me. Since you asked, I was looking for some blow. Thought you wouldn’t mind if I had a little before you got here.” She giggled. “I like blow in the morning. It wakes me up—all over, if you know what I mean.”
She glanced at the desk and confirmed that the file had downloaded. She wrinkled her brow and frowned.
“You’ve got a messy desk, Mr. Ventrilo. I think you need a secretary, or maybe a better maid.”
Ventrilo leaned against the door, an ugly smile playing across his lips.
“And I think you need to be fucked.”
Placing her elbow on the top of the desk covering the port, Sapphire slipped the flash drive out of the computer. Continuing to smile at Ventrilo, with one stealthy finger, she closed the document file as she pushed away from the desk and leaned back in the chair. With an audacious wink she put her feet up on the desk, crossing them at her ankles. She swiveled from side to side, ensuring that her short skirt was riding high enough to reveal a good bit of her toned thighs and that he didn’t see her drop the flash drive into her pocket.
She cocked a brow and pretended to be considering his bold observation.
“As for thinking I need to be fucked, I respectfully disagree. It’s early in the morning, and, as I indicated, what I really want is a little blow.”
She sighed and smiled dreamily as if remembering a sexy scene, then shot him an impudent grin.
“Besides, Jase wore me out last night. I didn’t think you were the kind of man who likes sloppy seconds, even if you are playing second fiddle to a man as righteous as Jase.”
She glanced at the obvious arousal tenting his trousers and said with a condescending smirk, “Tell you what, big guy, why don’t you save that little pistol for the kiddie cunts I hear you favor.” She snorted derisively, “I think I can see why you do prefer them.”
Ventrilo’s face flushed a dark dangerous purple. With a visible effort he controlled himself.
“You just screwed yourself, bitch. I thought I would play with you before I send you to your fate. But now, I think I’d rather see you humiliated, begging for mercy. Nothing gets my wick harder than seeing a bitch bleed. Especially after she’s been brought to heel—with a whip.”
Sapphire swung her legs off the desk, ensuring that Ventrilo saw a flash of her lacy underwear. Assuming a nonchalance she was far from feeling, she rose to her feet and sneered at him.
“That’s too bad, Mr. Drug Dealer or Big Bad Pimp or whoever the hell you are. I think I’ll be going if you don’t mind. Before I came here I thought that the ‘Dom/Sub’ thing would be fun. Maybe I could get spanked once or twice, or get it on with a couple of men. But I’m not into blood and I’ve decided I definitely don’t like bossy men.” She tossed her head as she moved toward the door. “Oh, and by the way, big guy, I don’t beg. Men beg me.”
Clamping down on his bottom lip that was quivering with rage, Ventrilo spit out. “That’s about to change, bitch.”
The door swung open and six burly men swooped in. Roberto stepped to the side to let them through. Making an obvious effort to control his anger, he sneered.
“We have another prime pussy for tomorrow night. I’m going to make sure this bitch gets the kind of master she deserves. Haul her away!”
Noah led the group of men, followed by Manuel. As Noah grabbed for her, Sapphire slipped the flash drive into his pocket. Too late she saw the syringe in Manuel’s hand. She struggled to avoid the needle, but the rest of the men piled on top of them as Manuel shoved the sharp point into her arm. Within seconds the shouts and outcry lessened, and the room swirled in front of her eyes, dimming to a cloudy gray, and then to black.
~~~
Jase was nearly hysterical. With a supreme effort, he got his voice down to a roar.
“Goddamn you, Noah. You never should have let her go in there alone. You should have stopped her.”
Over the communication device, Noah was firm, calm in contrast to Jase’s fury.
“I couldn’t do that, Jase, while maintaining cover. You know that. You know what she’s like.”
Jase forced himself not to yell. “Yes, goddammit, I do know, and so do you. You should have figured out a way to go in there with her.”
Ian put his hand on Jase’s shoulder and spoke carefully. “This may be the best thing that could have happened Jase, given the situation. Think, Jase. The fact that they drugged her and dragged her out of there saved her from Roberto’s certain assault.”
Jase ran his hands through his ragged hair, remembering the brazen way that Sapphire had taunted the hardened killer and psychopathic madman.
He groaned. “Jesus, Ian, you’re right. That’s exactly what she was trying to do. Get him angry enough that he would call his men to haul her out of there, knowing that her best chance was to get Noah in there with her.”
Ian agreed. “I gotta tell you, man. I haven’t seen balls like that on a three hundred pound body builder. She is even more formidable, smarter than we knew.”
Diamond sneered. “I knew. Why do you think I let her go on the mission? And don’t forget that while taking more chances than I ever would have allowed, she also managed to do what she was supposed to do. Get herself captured and taken to where they’re hiding the girls.”
Jase closed his eyes to shut out the hideous images playing across his rattled brain. He forced himself to focus on the mission. Diamond was right. Sapphire had done what she needed to do to get with the girls.
Noah interrupted. “One other point, man, while you’re beating yourself up, you should also give yourself a pat on the back. I learned from Mason that where they were taking her has the highest security available in the underworld. The fact that you outfitted her with untraceable coms and those subdermal tags, means that we now know where she is and where the girls are. Don’t forget that while she was ‘disobeying orders’ she managed to download the fucking file on Ventrilo’s computer while he stood five feet away from her. I’m sending you the file now. You’re not going to believe it, Jase, when you see what’s on it. I’m telling you, we now know more about the auction than Ventrilo does.”
As angry as Jase was, he couldn’t deny that Sapphire’s information gave them more than a leg up. With the info, they now knew where the auction would be held, the names of the captured girls, the grotesque bastards who were coming to buy women off the auction block, and the makeup of their security teams. He had to admit that with her “lone ranger” move, Sapphire had given them a virtual 3D look at the once highly secret auction.
Trying not to think about Sapphire being drugged and captured, Jase reminded himself that, except for the drugs, this was part of their plan. They had all agreed, after heated discussion, that Sapphire had the best chance of getting into the auction site to work with the girls. And by God she had done it—and more. Jase did his best to breathe through his constricted chest. He was sure he wouldn’t be able to breathe normally until he had the feisty woman he loved in his arms.
He muttered to no one in particular but over the com, “I never thought I’d agree with Roberto Ventrilo on anything. But, I gotta admit, he was on target when he said someone needs to beat the hell out of that woman. When this is all over and I’m holding her in my arms, I can tell you—I’m just the man to do it.”
Noah spoke for the group when he shouted, “Right on, man! But you better be wearing armor, Jase, and a cast iron cup protector if you want to come out of that tussle the same man that you were going in.”
The group-wide laughter spoke to the admiration and concern they all felt for their fello
w agent who was now in the lair of one of the most dangerous international terrorists on the planet—who also happened to be a misogynistic psychopath.
Chapter 30
Sapphire pressed her aching forehead on the floor. The cold cement eased the throbbing pain, if only a little. God, what had they given her? Whatever it was had done a number on her. In addition to feeling as though someone had inserted an anvil in her brain and was systematically banging on it with a sledge hammer, she had to fight the nausea threatening to overtake her. She did her best to shake off the grogginess, even though the price she paid for clearer vision was that it intensified the shooting pain in her head and neck. Forcing herself into a sitting position, she leaned against the wall and tried to get her bearings. She was in a small empty room no bigger than a coat closet. A ten by twelve inch grated window in the cinderblock walls let in a shaft of sunlight. The walls and cement floor confirmed that she was in a basement.
Fighting the debilitating pain in her head and swallowing the bile coursing up in her throat, Sapphire forced herself to her feet. Leaning against the wall to keep from falling, she stumbled to the iron door. She didn’t need to try the knob to know that it would be locked. Instinct made her reach for the knife in her boot, but she wasn’t surprised to find it gone. They had obviously confiscated that knife and the other two that had been in her waist and thigh sheathes. Fortunately they hadn’t taken her boots. Pressing the hidden latch in the heel of her left boot, she was gratified to feel the handle of the blade inside the heavy boot heel. She left it in place, knowing that her task wasn’t to escape. Except for the debilitating nausea and hammering in her head, she’d done exactly what she had planned. Let Roberto Ventrilo’s thugs capture her. Essentially, she was a human communication device. With all the electronics Jase had buried inside her, it was a wonder she wasn’t lit up like a Christmas tree. Instead, she was the connection between the good guys and the bad guys. Now all she had to do was get out of this cell and go find the captured girls. Oh, and somehow keep from blowing her cover and bringing the whole damn mission crashing in defeat.
Hearing the sound of male voices and heavy footsteps, Sapphire sank to the floor and crawled back into a corner. Curling herself into a ball she pretended to be unconscious. She needed to convince the men guarding her that she was thoroughly compromised and not a threat to them.
A key turned in the lock and a man grunted. Sapphire recognized the ugly voice as her nemesis Manuel.
“Whadda you know. The bitch is still unconscious. Good to know that as feisty as she is, even she couldn’t fight the GHB I shot her with.”
Relief flooded Sapphire when she heard Noah’s distinct tones.
“You think it helped that you gave her a dose that would have taken down an elephant, much less a hundred and twenty pound woman?”
“Christ, if it was up to me I would have tripled the dose. OD’d her. She’s a troublemaker. No bitch has three knives on her slutty body unless she intends to use them. I don’t know what the fuck her game is but I can tell you she’s playing one.”
Noah responded, “Then why was the boss so keen on bringing her here? Plus, I thought she belonged to that Malone guy.”
Manuel snorted. “Even Mr. ‘Ain’t I the Most Handsome Asshole in the World’ couldn’t control this bitch. I heard him and Roberto making a deal. The boss man invited Malone to the auction. Offered him his pick of the pussies we’re putting up for sale in return for the haughty cunt.”
Noah’s voice was thoughtful. “Hmm, I thought Roberto liked them young. Untouched, or at least almost untouched.”
Manuel agreed. “Hell, yes. The boss man insists on the real thing. Pure as the driven snow if you know what I mean. Ones that never had a dick inside them, and not a mark on their bodies.”
His ugly laugh reverberated against the cell walls.
“Of course when he’s done with them, even their mommies and daddies wouldn’t recognize them, and probably wouldn’t take ’em back if they could. Whew, I never thought I’d see what our guy can do in a couple nights of sustained ‘use’ and his collection of whips. It’s damned impressive if you like that sorta thing. And I gotta tell you, it sure makes my pecker hard.”
“I don’t get it. Why did he want us to bring her here if neither he nor Malone wants her?”
Manuel grunted, his satisfaction apparent. “A couple of our invited guests rank among the world’s greatest sadists. They insist on the unruly ones. The ones who fight back, need to be tamed.” His voice struck a note of wonder. “You know, I thought Roberto knew how to use a woman, but these guys add in humiliation along with instruments you ain’t seen since the Dark Ages. The result is one broken bitch. Roberto plans to make a killing on Blondie. Set up a rivalry between those two Russian pricks. If he’s right, he could make as much on her as the whole damn lot of the kiddie cunts.”
Sapphire did her best to ignore the disgusting and frankly terrifying images the sadistic man’s descriptions invoked. She moaned when he kicked her in the side but maintained her false unconsciousness and was gratified when Noah reached for her.
“Here, man, let me get her. You lead the way. I presume we’re gonna put her in with the rest of girls, wherever you guys have them stashed.”
“Yeah. We’re shipping them all out within the hour.”
Sapphire kept her body limp when Noah tossed her up over his shoulder and slung her upside down against his muscular back. It was all Sapphire could do to keep from kissing the agent’s coffee-colored skin in relief. When he patted her butt, she would have smiled except that it was all she could do to keep from vomiting from the remains of the drug. She closed her eyes fighting the dizziness and prayed that Noah would be one of the men guarding the merchandise. Having a member of the team with her was better than they could have hoped for. But that was not to be.
“Put her here, man. We’ll box her up with the others. Sure as hell hopes she wakes up soon. Roberto wants them on-site within the hour. And hell, it takes at least a couple of hours for the women to get them dressed and made up.” He cackled an ugly laugh. “Correction, it takes more time than you can imagine getting them undressed and looking like the innocent little sluts that they are.”
Noah squeezed her arm as he laid her gently on the linoleum covered floor. At Manuel’s order he leaned her against the wall and followed the tyrant out the door. Sapphire did her best to shake off the rest of the effects of the drug, gratified that she could open her eyes without the room reeling crazily in front of her. The only sounds she heard were soft snivels and an occasional sob. Glancing round the room Sapphire’s stomach turned in a series of gut wrenching somersaults. Fighting the nausea threatening to undo her, she studied the silent girls she saw cowering on the floor of the barren room. She forced herself to ignore the fact that none of the stark white, wide-eyed girls were more than eighteen, if that. She knew that Aimee Carpenter was seventeen and the trembling young woman she recognized from her photographs had to be the oldest girl in the room. It was obvious from their vacant stares that their captors had used medicinal restraints to keep them quiet and malleable.
Sapphire eased across the room on her hands and knees, then sat cross-legged in front of the cowering girls. She put her finger to her lips, cautioning them. Ensuring that the door was closed she tapped on her com. She knew that Noah had already assured the team that she was in place; nevertheless, she knew it was important that they—make that Jase—hear her voice.
She spoke softly. “Listen to me. I’m here to help you. No, no. Don’t say anything. The guards will be back any moment. They’re going to take us somewhere. I don’t know where, but I’ll be with you. Do you understand? But please, don’t let them know that I’m helping you. We need the bad men to think that I am just like you. Please nod if you understand.”
When all the girls nodded in response, Sapphire breathed a sigh of relief. At least whatever drugs they were on had made them docile, easier to manage. Her relief was short-lived, when the
door banged open and four large men barreled in. Several of the girls began to cry. One of the youngest-looking ones began to rock back and forth moaning, a frightening sing-song sound. Sapphire moved next to her and made sure that she stayed at her side as the big men herded the stumbling group to the door. Sapphire forced herself not to resist when one of the men yanked her hands behind her back and secured them with a zip tie. Before she could resist, he’d dragged a blindfold over her eyes and shoved her forward. She would have fallen if it weren’t for the strong arms that caught her and murmured against her ear. Relieved that Noah was with the hideous men, she tried to ignore the frightened cries and sobs of the young girls around her.
The roar of the engines and rush of air that met them as they were dragged outside, confirmed that they were likely at a heliport. Strong arms picked her up and tossed her inside of the helicopter. She tried to break her fall but smashed her head against a steel beam of some sort, sending shock waves of pain through her head.
An angry voice she didn’t recognize shouted.
“Dammit! Be careful. God help us if we get so much as a mark on any one of these pussies. Especially her. Hell, the boss man has big plans for her!”
After what seemed like hours, but was more likely thirty minutes at the most, still blindfolded and tied, Sapphire was dragged out of the transport vehicle along with the sobbing girls bedside her, across what felt like a lawn and into a cool tiled room. A big man ripped off her blindfold and cut the plastic ties binding her wrists. Five large men shoved the cowering group into a cavernous room smelling heavily of perfume and hair products, and slammed and locked the door behind them. Glancing around the room, Sapphire saw make up stations like those in a beauty salon lined up against three of the four walls. Staring at the reflections in the multiple mirrors, Sapphire turned to the obviously terrified girls huddling around her and motioned for them to be quiet.
