Confer, Lorelei - Deadly Deception (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Deadly Deception (lit)

  He felt alive again, as if a teenager having sex for the first time, exhilarated and liberated, unburdened with the unwelcome baggage of Rachael’s betrayal and consequential death, as well as the deaths of his parents.

  He lay by her side watching the sun glint off her dark auburn hair. He gently stroked her cheek with the knuckles of his hand, and she moved closer to his side. He ran his fingers down her arms. His hand surrounded her breast, gently kneading, squeezing the nipple, which instantly became hard and stiff.

  She moaned, pushing herself against him while reaching for him. He quickly entered her, pumping into her while she matched his every thrust. He kissed her eyes, neck, and breasts. Their pace accelerated, both breathing rapidly.

  She called out his name.

  “Say it again, Isabella. I love to hear you say my name.”

  She obeyed, right before bright lights exploded before her eyes and she climaxed. He soon tensed and then he released.

  They lay in each other’s arms while the bright green leaves in the trees danced in the bright, clear sunlight pouring in over them. Wyatt finally got up, pulled on his jeans, tossed another log on the fire, then made his way to the kitchen to get a pot of coffee going. Isabella wrapped herself in the blanket and sat in wonder in front of the fireplace. She wanted to ask Wyatt what he meant last night when he said, “I want to keep you,” but she feared his answer, especially in the light of day.

  After some fresh coffee and toast, they showered and dressed. Wyatt took his laptop to check e-mails and again checked the monitors while Isabella went to get comfortable with a good book.

  Chapter 43

  Wyatt sat with his laptop on the couch near Isabella. Wyatt’s cell phone rang startling them both, and they jumped apart.

  “Wyatt, we’re about ten miles out,” Dave said.

  “We’ll be waiting,” Wyatt told him before he snapped his phone shut.

  Wyatt greeted both Dave and Sam and introduced Sam to Isabella. Sam was middle-aged with shoulder-length light brown hair, bluish-green eyes, and he wore a diamond stud in his left ear. His tight t-shirt revealed his well-toned pecs, and the rolled tight sleeves of his shirt exposed his large biceps. His tight-fitting jeans and tall biker boots added to his scary-looking, but handsome, appearance.

  “Please, sit down. Would anyone like some coffee, hot tea or something to drink?”

  “I’ll take a coffee, Wyatt. I’d love something stronger but I’m still on the clock,” Sam answered.

  “Me too,” Dave said.

  “I’ll get it, Wyatt. Do you want a cup as well?” Isabella asked.

  “Sure, that’s great. Thanks!”

  “Wow, this is a real nice place you got way up here, Wyatt,” Sam said as he looked around the house.

  “Thanks, Sam, I like it and its privacy, and I want to keep it that way,” Wyatt said, staring at Sam.

  “No problem with me, Wyatt. I wore a blindfold on the way here and will leave no footprint when I’m gone.” Sam stared into Wyatt’s eyes as if making a pact.

  After coffee for everyone and a little chitchat about the drive up, Dave and Sam looked at each other.

  “Dave and I talked on the drive here. We’ve already gotten all the necessary approvals like we discussed on the phone earlier, but there’s just one detail we need to consider and finalize.” Sam looked back and forth from Isabella to Wyatt and settled on Isabella as if waiting for a response.

  Isabella looked at Wyatt, who was pacing in front of the fireplace, refusing to look at her. “What is it?” she asked Sam.

  “Isabella has to do it,” Sam said.

  Wyatt and Isabella looked at each other. She jumped up and exclaimed, “What are you talking about? What do I have to do?”

  Wyatt grabbed Isabella’s shoulders and gently pushed her down into a chair, calming her down effortlessly.

  “Let me explain,” Wyatt said, soothingly. “Sam’s been able to infiltrate Spike’s organization. He knows how he works, how he thinks, and which leg he puts in his pants first. Based on all the information and evidence he’s gathered, we have reason to believe Spike hired people to abduct not only you, but others as well. And he’ll pay those people handsomely once you’re delivered. We’re still trying to put all the pieces together as to why he chose you but I’m sure that’ll come out in the end.”

  “Anyway,” Sam interjected, “I have to deliver you, the girl Spike’s paying for, to Norfolk by midnight tonight.”

  Sam began outlining the detailed operation while Wyatt paced in front of the fireplace, one hand in his pocket and the other hand playing drums on his lips. He rubbed the back of his neck with hands as if trying to remove a stubborn pain.

  “I don’t like it. It’s too risky and too dangerous. We’ll get a female officer to do it. What if Spike goes berserk and hurts her? What if something goes wrong?”

  “Wyatt, she’s all we’ve got at this time. You know better than anyone else how hard it is to get cooperation from witnesses. They’ve been through so much and their lives threatened and their families lives, threatened...”

  “You’re preaching to the choir, Sam. I know, I know. But we’re talking about Isabella here. Not just some woman they picked up…” Wyatt let his words drift off as he realized what he had said.

  Wyatt looked at Isabella. She looked numb and confused. She probably couldn’t fathom doing what Sam suggested she do. She sat in the chair as if she were watching a scene in a movie about somebody else’s life.

  Dave and Sam looked at each other, then at Wyatt.

  “I think we need to talk, Wyatt, alone,” Dave said as he grabbed Wyatt’s arm and headed out to the porch.

  Wyatt looked at Dave and Sam authoritatively. “I don’t think that’s necessary at all.” He dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

  “You’re too close to the subject. I don’t think you can be as objective as necessary, Wyatt,” Sam said, risking Wyatt’s wrath.

  Wyatt stared at Sam until Sam looked away. No one said a word, while Wyatt stared in the front window, his fingers rubbing across his lips.

  She finally stood up and opened the closed front door. “I’ll do it. I’m the one who was abducted, who has to be delivered, bought and paid for. I should be the one making the decisions, completing the plan and making this whole thing work out, not you. I’ll go undercover. But you have to promise me you’ll be on hand to rescue me at a second’s notice if I say so,” she exclaimed.

  Dave, Wyatt and Sam all exchanged glances. Wyatt stared at Isabella. Had she lost her mind? He was having second thoughts. What if something did go wrong and he couldn’t get to her in time? Feelings needed to be kept personal and failure was not an option, he reminded himself.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Wyatt finally acquiesced.

  “Yes, I’m sure. My life will never be the same after everything that’s happened, after everything he’s done to me, my mother, and so many other women. Just think of poor Megan. Where she might be now? I want to make sure he doesn’t have the opportunity to do the same thing to anyone else.”

  Wyatt continued his pacing while Isabella sat anxiously, staring, wide-eyed at him. Sam finally interrupted the deafening silence in the room.

  “Okay. We need a minimum of an hour to get to Norfolk and get set up, right Dave?”

  Dave nodded and Sam continued.

  “We can have the warrants and teams ready and in place within the same time frame. I have the necessary equipment in my car parked in Norfolk. We can stop there, get ready, and get to Spike’s around eleven p.m.”

  “We also need to get someone up here from the forensics team to go over the squad car before it’s moved,” Wyatt said.

  “I can take care of that with a phone call so there won’t be any invasion into the compound. I’ll have them come in off the main road and forensics should run into the car shortly afterward,” Dave said.

  Wyatt agreed. He liked the idea his safe harbor would not be compromised.


  “We better get going then,” Sam said. “Dave can make his calls on the way, and I have to make a switch before we get near the city. Don’t want to be identified and lose my cover yet, you know.”

  After making arrangements to meet at a designated place and time, Dave and Sam left.

  * * * *

  Isabella sat confused, stunned. So much happening and so fast. She didn’t understand the plan in detail since they talked so much cop mumbo-jumbo, so she kept running their conversation around in her head.

  Wyatt startled her when he came up behind her as she stood on the front porch watching Dave’s car drive away. Wyatt put his hands on her shoulders, and caressed her arms. She leaned back against him and he asked, “What are you thinking about?”

  “How confused and scared I am. I know I can’t run away from this anymore, and I really want to put this behind me but only parts of it. I want to keep the parts with you in it. And it’s so beautiful and peaceful here. I’m not ready to leave this part yet either, but I know I have to.”

  “You play your cards right, after all this is behind you, you can come back, how about that? I know the owner and can get you a really good deal. I’ll even go further and make it a promise.” Wyatt turned her around to look at him.

  “It’s a deal but only if the owner tags along!”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way!”

  He retrieved their bags, and after a quick security check, they left, leaving the property from a different, but similar, entry or exit gate.

  They talked about different sites along the way, and as they neared Norfolk, they both became quiet.

  Isabella asked Wyatt something she had been thinking about for quite some time. “What happened with Rachael? I know you said you were engaged, but what happened?”

  He looked straight ahead for a moment. At just about the time she thought he wasn’t going to answer, he said quietly, “She was an undercover operative in a prostitution ring we busted. She got killed during the sting operation. I found out then she had been prostituted herself, got caught in the crossfire, on the wrong side of the law.”

  Isabella was shocked. She had assumed Rachael had died a hero’s death in the line of duty. While he had so much integrity and honor, and Dave and Sam looked to him for answers and assurance, she didn’t understand why Wyatt would feel responsible for her death.

  “Why do you feel her death is your fault?” She studied his face.

  “I talked her into it. I talked her into going undercover, playing the part of a prostitute. I never thought she would go to the other side. So I blame myself for maybe pushing her over the edge so to speak.” He didn’t seem able to meet her eyes.

  “Wyatt, it’s not your responsibility to take care of everybody, and you’re certainly not responsible for their actions. She knew the rules, and she chose to break them, not you.”

  Isabella checked the time, which had passed quickly. Her thoughts of the plan and its many pieces were coming together as a jigsaw puzzle in her mind. And there couldn’t be any missing pieces.

  “Are you sure you want to do this, Isabella? You know you don’t have to, you can opt out at any time.”

  “Yes I’m sure. I’m scared but I want to do it. Just tell me what I need to do.”

  “Sam is very good at what he does. You need to follow his lead in everything. You need to be afraid of him even though you know he’s there to protect you. Otherwise, his cover could be blown, endangering his life as well as yours and everybody else’s on the task force. The entire operation could be jeopardized. Part of his persona is mean and rough. After all, he is a hit man and therefore lacking in compassion concerning anyone’s life.

  “Sam will have some sort of video recording pin or button for you to wear, and we’ll be able to monitor you both by sight and sound through the laptop inside the car. And at the first sign of any danger to either you or Sam we’ll abort the mission and come in and get you both out.

  “You need to come up with a code word or phrase you can use if, for example, you take your jacket off and the camera is removed or if you fall and you’re in greater danger than we think. You just need to say the word or words, and we rescue you and abort the mission. Do you have any ideas?”

  Isabella thought for a few minutes and then said, “Vancouver.”

  “What? Vancouver? How did you arrive at that word? I’m really curious.”

  “Because I’ve always wanted to go there, and when I say, ‘Vancouver,’ I want you to come and get me immediately so I can make sure I’ll have an opportunity to get there someday.”

  “Okay, so even if things look really bad from our end unless you say, ‘Vancouver,’ we don’t make a move until we have all the goods on them, right?”

  “That’s right.” Isabella nodded.

  “Also, there will be disguised operatives and team members all within two to three blocks with hearing capabilities, and they’ll do whatever has to be done to save you and complete the mission.”

  “So let’s make sure I have this straight. All I have to do is pretend to be afraid of Sam? I think that will be the hardest part of it all.” She said with a smile on her face.

  “You’ll have to tell me once you see Sam in full undercover mode.”

  “And then I’ll wear a button or pin that’ll record everything I say and do. You’ll be able to hear and see it too so you can help me if I need it, right?”

  “That’s right.”

  “And if something goes wrong I say the magic word and you come and get me.”

  “Right again.”

  She asked a few questions for clarification throughout the conversation. And after Wyatt answered them he said, “I really admire you. You are a very strong and gutsy woman and I am very proud of you.”

  “Thank you. Are you sure you’ll be there if anything goes wrong?”

  “I promise you, I will not let anything happen to you. And Dave and Sam wouldn’t let you participate at all if they thought you would come to any danger. So they will be looking out for you too.”

  Chapter 44

  A short time later they arrived at the rendezvous location, which appeared to be an underground parking garage deep within the city. They parked behind Dave’s unmarked car, parked beside another newer model car with the trunk open.

  Wyatt got out of the car and talked to both Sam and Dave with frequent glances from all three back at Isabella still sitting in the car.

  She finally opened the door, slowly got out and walked to stand beside Sam.

  “Are you sure?” Wyatt asked her one more time.

  She nodded. “Let’s get it over with. The sooner I get this behind me, the sooner I can get back to my own life.”

  Wyatt looked into her eyes, and when she looked at him, she saw sadness. She wasn’t sure why.

  “Okay, Isabella, let’s get you ready,” Sam said.

  Isabella glanced at Sam. Pure and true fear washed through her at the change in his appearance. What she had thought to be a rather attractive smooth face now appeared rough with pox scars as well as a large ugly scar running from his forehead, down across his left eye, and ending at his chin. His hair on the top of his head was mussed, and the longer part was pulled back into a ponytail at his nape. He had added a gun to his waistband and held a long-barreled pistol or a cutoff shotgun—she didn’t know which. She hardly recognized him. He had definitely become a formidable foe.

  Sam handed her what looked like a clear button cover. “Fasten this onto the second button of your jacket. The camera/microphone will be able to pick up all conversation within fifty feet, as well as video.”

  Sam and Dave checked the feedback on the laptop, made a couple adjustments, and then checked with each member on the mission.

  Dave received a call on his cell. He said, “Okay,” and closed the phone. He looked at Wyatt. “Everybody’s in place and we need to get going.”

  Wyatt looked at Isabella.

  “Now remember. Dave and I’ll be just down
the street. We’ll be able to reach you within a matter of seconds. As soon as we have a viable confession, we can move in and I’ll say when. Nobody, and I mean nobody”—as he looked around at the other officers in hidden spaces—“moves before I say so, okay?”

  Wyatt went to Isabella and took her in his arms. “Are you still okay with this?”

  She nodded and he kissed her.

  “I’ll be right here waiting, listening and watching,” Wyatt said reassuringly.

  Sam beckoned for Isabella to come to him and when she did he turned her around and roughly tied up her hands. He smeared some dirt on her face and ran his dirty fingers through her hair.

  “You have to work with me, Isabella. If I shove you or say something nasty to you or about you, take it personally. Pretend you don’t know me and you definitely don’t like me.”

  “Right now, I don’t know you at all,” Isabella said, “and I don’t think I like you much either.”

  “That’s good. Let’s keep it that way.”

  Sam led her to his car and helped her get into the backseat. He jumped in the driver’s seat and they quickly drove off.

  Chapter 45

  Isabella lay on her side in the backseat, her heart beating so loud in her chest that she thought certain Sam could hear it. She was scared, no doubt about it, but she was more determined now than ever. She was in too deep to turn around. She couldn’t if she wanted to.

  Wyatt and Dave trailed a short distance behind and parked a few cars behind Sam. They watched as Sam helped Isabella out of the car and then roughly took her arm to lead her into the house.

  A small, narrow, Tudor-style house with large windows to the left of the front door had a small amount of light shining out through the drawn shades.

  Roughly gripping Isabella’s arm, Sam opened the door, pulled her inside into a foyer, and shut the door. To the left of the front door stood a young swarthy-looking man to whom Sam said, “Hey, kid, Boss around? He’s expecting me.”