Black Tie

by Lynn Raye Harris

  “Exactly. Brett is exciting. He’s tall and dark and dangerous. You’re turned on by all that danger.”

  Tallie wished she could tell her friend everything, but she was conscious of the fact she wasn’t supposed to. Not while Ian and Brett and all the people at BDI were working to find the money behind the operation that had abducted and sold her.

  “Who wouldn’t be?”

  Sharon picked up her water glass. “Some people want quiet, dull lives.”

  Tallie gave her a look. “Quiet and dull and rich, perhaps?”

  Sharon laughed. “Guilty. I’m attracted to Robert anyway, but the money doesn’t hurt.”

  “What does he do? Did you ever figure that out?”

  Sharon nodded as she set her glass down. “Medical equipment. He’s a doctor and his company is working on a lens that’s supposed to help blind people regain some of their sight. It’s all very high tech.”

  “Good lord, that’s incredible.”

  “Yep. He pioneered some sort of surgical technique, which is where the money comes from, but it’s the company’s work on vision technology that drives him now.”

  “Why Williamsburg?”

  “He wants to be somewhere near major airports, but also far enough removed from the bustle of a big city to get some relaxation. His parents emigrated from Spain when he was five, which is why he has a slight accent, but he loves American colonial history. Makes our city a huge draw for him.”

  Their food arrived and they waited for the waitress to get everything settled and walk away again. Tallie picked up her spoon and dipped it into the crab soup she’d ordered.

  “I told Robert about your heterochromia. He’s seen it before, but I think he’s looking forward to meeting you at least partly for your eyes,” Sharon said with a laugh.

  Tallie’s belly squeezed. She was used to people staring at her eyes and asking questions about them. She’d lived with it long enough. But since her experience in Europe, and the knowledge that her eyes were at least partially responsible for her abduction, she felt sort of funny about any attention they got her lately.

  She’d put her contacts in this morning but then had to remove them when she got dust in her eyes while unpacking a shipment. She’d cleaned them but her eyes had felt so scratchy she hadn’t put them back. She thought about doing it before they reached the house, but Sharon would probably be insulted if she did.

  “Wait,” Sharon said when Tallie didn’t say anything. “Are you upset by that? You never seemed bothered before. Not since we were kids, I mean.”

  Tallie rushed to soothe her. “No, not at all. I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve felt a little self-conscious about any attention since everything that happened in France. When we were being held, well, it wasn’t a good idea to draw the terrorists’ notice.”

  Her cheeks heated at the lie, but it was the closest she could come to explaining herself without telling the truth. Sharon frowned and shook her head.

  “Oh Tallie, I’m sorry. I didn’t think about any of that. It’s just that Robert, well, he’s a doctor and when I told him about you, he was interested when I mentioned your different colored eyes. I wouldn’t have done it if I’d known it would make you uncomfortable.”

  Tallie reached out and grabbed her friend’s wrist. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it, okay? Brett told me it would take time to readjust to everyday life, and I think this is one of those things. I’m overly sensitive. And I have to get back to normal, so I’ll be pleased to meet Doctor Robert and let him view my eyes. It’s not like he wouldn’t have noticed, so at least now he’s prepared, right?”

  Sharon nodded. “I don’t really know what you went through in France. If you ever want to talk about it…”

  “Thank you, sweetie. But I’m fine right now. I’m having lunch with my bestie and we have work to do together.”

  “I also haven’t forgotten what day it is. I should have been a little more sensitive to how you might be feeling. I think I was just trying to distract you a bit.”

  “And I love you for it, but it’s okay to talk about it. I’m feeling a little raw inside, to be honest, but I think that’s to be expected.”

  “Of course it is. How’s your mom today?”

  Tallie thought of her mother this morning. Cool, collected, the quintessential steel magnolia. Mary Claire hadn’t mentioned the anniversary at all. She was no doubt saving herself for the visit to the cemetery next week.

  “You know Mom. Focused on work. Strong as steel. I expect she’ll have a quiet breakdown tonight, and then she’ll put it behind her. She’ll be stoic and controlled at the cemetery and no one will ever know what she’s feeling inside. Not even Bill.”

  Sharon signaled the waitress. “Let’s get a bottle of champagne and toast Josie. We can Uber to the house and Brett or Robert can bring us back for our cars.”

  Tallie started to refuse but then she thought, why not? A couple of glasses of champagne wasn’t going to hurt. And she wanted to do something to mark today that wasn’t work and wasn’t just her going about her normal life.

  “Let’s do it,” she said. “For Josie.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Brett found the house where he was meeting Tallie and Sharon easily enough. It was a big house set on about five acres of land, with a long driveway that turned into a circle in front of the house.

  The house was two stories, brick, with two smaller wings that perched on either side of the central portion. There was a bronze statue at the center of the circular drive, with a fountain feature, and a motor court off to one side of the house with wrought iron gates that stood open. There were no cars in either the circular drive or around the side of the house where the six-car garage sat inside the motor court with doors lowered.

  Brett checked his watch. It was twenty after four. He’d gotten stuck in traffic, but he’d sent Tallie a text to let her know he’d be along. She might have already left, though. He picked up his phone to check his texts in case she’d replied and he’d missed hearing it. There was nothing.

  Brett sat in the truck, one hand hanging over the wheel, one holding his phone, and stared at the house. An uneasy feeling chipped away at his gut, but he told himself there was no reason for it. There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary here, other than Tallie’s car was missing. But since he was late, she’d probably already left and she’d be texting him soon enough to tell him where to meet her.

  He decided to call her, in case she was driving and couldn’t answer texts. He dialed her number and waited.

  It went to voicemail.

  Brett lowered his phone and frowned. Then he opened the door and got out of his truck. He didn’t know why he did it, other than that feeling digging away at him, knocking on the foundations of his calm.

  He checked the garage doors first, peering through the glass at the top of the wooden doors. The garage was empty so he strode over to look in the windows along the back of the house.

  The first room he saw was a mudroom. There was nothing there. He moved along the rear of the structure and looked into the next window. It gave way to a large kitchen with a huge island, white cabinets, and a massive professional grade stove perched beneath a custom hood.

  There was a table at one end with at least twelve chairs. It sat on a huge oriental rug. Brett peered at it. Something wasn’t quite right—

  There were feet at one end of the table, the far end, lying on the carpet.

  Fuck!

  The unease in Brett’s gut flared into full blown panic. He sprinted for the door and twisted the handle—but nothing happened.

  It was possible the house was alarmed, but he didn’t give a shit. He shoved his phone into his jeans pocket, withdrew his Sig, and smashed the glass with the barrel, then reached inside and twisted the locks until he could yank the door open.

  He entered the house, sweeping the pistol left and right, looking for an intruder. No one emerged to threaten him and he made it around the table and
dropped to his knees beside Sharon.

  There was tape on her mouth, and her arms and legs were bound. A chair lay on the floor and he could see that her legs were tied to it. Her eyes were closed.

  “Sharon?” Brett said, smoothing her dark hair from her face. “Honey, are you okay?”

  Her eyelids fluttered and then snapped open, fear evident in the wide-eyed look she shot him.

  “It’s Brett, Sharon. You’re safe now. I’m going to peel the tape off, okay?”

  She nodded as her eyes filled with tears. He peeled the tape slowly. As badly as he wanted to rip if off so he could find out if Tallie had been with her, he had to be gentle.

  Brett eased the tape from her mouth and a sob escaped her. “Brett—he took Tallie. It’s all my fault. He took her,” she wailed.

  Brett’s blood turned to ice. But as much as he wanted to leap up and go after Tallie, he had to take care of Sharon. And he had to find out what she knew.

  “Who took her?”

  “Robert. His chauffeur pulled a gun on us and then they made me sit in that chair while Robert bound me. He seemed to know Tallie, but I don’t see how that’s possible. She didn’t know him.”

  Rage and fear boiled in Brett’s gut as he slipped his pocket knife free and cut into the zip ties that bound Sharon’s hands. Then he cut through the ones binding her to the chair and helped her sit up. There was the beginnings of a bruise on the side of her face where she’d hit the floor when she fell over. She lifted her hand to gingerly touch it.

  “Look at me, Sharon.”

  She did and he asked her a couple of quick questions to test for concussion. She didn’t hesitate to answer about the date and her name and who was president, but he still wanted her checked out.

  First, he had to ask her about the man who’d taken Tallie.

  “I need you to tell me everything you know about Robert. His name, his address, where he works, where he lives—everything, Sharon.”

  Tears rolled down her cheeks. He smelled a hint wine on her breath, but she wasn’t drunk. “I thought he was interested in me. I should have known. Oh God, I should have known something was wrong. He was too good to be true—the money, the houses, the interest. He was so concerned about getting a decorator and he wanted my recommendations—I should have known.”

  Brett put his hands on her shoulders to steady her. “You couldn’t know, honey. He tricked you. But right now, I need to know what you know. It’s the only chance we have to save Tallie. You have to calm down and tell me everything from the moment you met him until now.”

  She nodded, her sobs turning to hiccoughs. Brett took his phone out and dialed a number that he knew would get an immediate answer.

  Ian picked up on the first ring. “What’s up, kid?”

  “Someone took Tallie. I’ve just found her friend tied up in a house this guy was buying. They were supposed to measure it for a decorating job.”

  “Fuck. Okay, I’ll get a response team together. Anything else?”

  “I’m questioning her friend right now. I’ll let you know.”

  “Roger. Call me as soon as you’re done.”

  “Copy.”

  The call ended and Brett stood, helping Sharon up with him. Inside, he was anything but calm. Outside, he did his job. Because that’s how you found people. You focused on the work and you performed coolly and calmly.

  He sat Sharon gently in a chair and dragged another out to face her.

  “Shouldn’t we call the police?” she asked. “They’ve been gone a while. It feels like I’ve been here for hours, though it can’t be, can it? An hour, maybe. I was trying to scoot over to where I’d left my purse on the bar, but I fell. I don’t know how long I lay there.”

  “It’s four-thirty. I just called for help, and the man I called is better than the police. Just tell me everything you know. Everything you can think of. Everything he ever said to you.”

  Sharon closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was trying to focus and be calm, and that was a direct result of his being calm with her.

  “Okay, I can do this. I can.”

  “You definitely can.”

  Sharon had a methodical mind that catalogued facts and recited them in order. Brett appreciated that more than he could say at the moment. She made it easy for him to pull the necessary information from what she said. When she was done, he called Ian, desperately pushing down the panic and focusing on the facts as he did so.

  “I want you to stay in Williamsburg until we know more,” Ian said. “If he’s still in the vicinity, I need you ready to lead a team to capture him and free Tallie.”

  “Copy that, boss.”

  “When I know more, I’ll call.”

  Sharon had stood and was hugging herself, waiting patiently for Brett to finish his call. When Ian hung up, Brett felt lost. Empty.

  “There were no French terrorists, were there?” Sharon asked.

  Brett focused on her. “No.”

  “Tell me, Brett,” she forced out. “You aren’t telling me everything.”

  He hesitated. And then he decided that she deserved to know. Without her, they wouldn’t know who’d taken Tallie. They didn’t know Robert Cortes’s true identity yet, but they had enough to look for him. Thanks to Sharon.

  “Tallie was abducted by a human trafficking organization and sold into sexual slavery. Fortunately, I’m the one who bought her as part of an undercover operation. We thought she was clear of it, but I think Robert must be involved with the group who took her.”

  Sharon made a sound of horror that moved Brett into action. He went over and caught her shoulders, squeezed reassuringly. “It’s not your fault, Sharon. You couldn’t have known.”

  Her eyes filled with fresh tears. “I delivered her to him.”

  “No, you were doing your job and she was doing hers. He used you to get to her.”

  Sharon’s eyes widened. “Oh my god—I have a picture of him, Brett!” She rushed over to her purse where it sat on the counter and dumped it out, scattering everything until she found her phone. “I almost forgot because he didn’t want me to take any pictures of us together, but I was snapping the restaurant’s decor when he took me to dinner last week and his profile was reflected in the mirror. I didn’t tell him he was in it because I thought he’d make me delete it. It’s not a great picture, but it’s something.”

  She pulled it up with trembling fingers and thrust it at him. Brett stared at half of a shadowed face, a knot forming in his gut as he remembered the last time he’d seen that profile.

  The night he’d spent one million dollars to buy Tallie. His competition had been Heinrich von Kassel—and this man.

  “Where are you taking me?” Tallie asked, trying to be calm, though inside she was a mess. She kept thinking of Brett and how coolly he’d charged into danger back in Bavaria. Or how he’d faced Natasha across a table when he’d thought she had a gun pointed at him. He’d stayed rational and cool and everything turned out okay.

  Tallie’s heart hammered in her chest. She didn’t know how this could turn out okay. Her wrists were cuffed in front of her body, limiting movement. Robert had slapped tape over Sharon’s mouth, but he hadn’t taped Tallie’s.

  Yet.

  Robert lifted a thin eyebrow. He sat across from her in the limo. He was wearing dark trousers and a crisp button-down. He looked rich even without the limo. He was a good-looking man—not as handsome as Brett—but there was something creepy about him. The way he looked at her made her skin crawl. It had done so even before his chauffeur entered the house with a gun.

  When that happened, Tallie had known in her gut what her mind refused to acknowledge. That Robert knew who she was and had romanced Sharon specifically to get to her. He had to be a part of the group that had abducted her in France.

  “I am taking you to my laboratory, Miss Grant.”

  Tallie shivered and clasped her hands tighter. “Laboratory? Why?”

  An unholy light lit his face. “Becau
se you are interesting, and I like to study interesting things.”

  “Are you really a doctor?”

  “Oh yes. I can give you bigger breasts. Plumper buttocks. A trimmer waist. Even a new face.”

  “I don’t want any of those things,” Tallie said, her throat tight.

  “We shall see.”

  Her heart flipped. Her belly sank. “Do no harm. Isn’t that part of your oath?”

  He laughed but he didn’t answer.

  They reached the airport then, pulling up to a guard shack before driving through a gate and toward a jet that sat on the tarmac. Tallie berated herself for not screaming when the driver talked to the guard, but it happened so fast that she hadn’t realized what was going on until they were through the barrier and the window was up again.

  The driver parked at the foot of the stairs. Tallie’s heart squeezed. She could see men working in the distance, loading luggage onto another plane, and she decided to scream the instant the door opened.

  She didn’t get the chance. Robert picked up the roll of tape he’d used on Sharon and tore off a strip, then pressed it over her mouth. Hard.

  Harder than necessary because her jaw ached where he pinched. His dark eyes glittered. He liked causing pain.

  “I can see your thoughts, Miss Grant. Every one of them. We’re going to have fun together, you and I. By the end, you’ll beg me to ease your suffering. You’ll beg for my touch, and for the comfort I can give you.”

  The door opened and Robert dragged her out of the car, then up the steps. He thrust her into the plane and toward the rear of the cabin, past a flight attendant who didn’t glance twice at Tallie.

  It was a small plane in the sense it wasn’t like a commercial jet, but it was spacious and long. There were four club chairs that sat on either side of the cabin and faced each other, with tables in between, and there was a couch with a television that was mounted on a long console. There was another section to the interior, behind walls that cut it off from the first section, and Robert pushed her back there and thrust her into a chair beside a round porthole.