Surpassing Pleasures

by Anny Cook

  While she kept Cage occupied, Seb crept up to the house and crouched in the bushes under the window. There wasn’t any problem hearing what the two men were saying as they were shouting at each other. It was quite an eye-opening yelling fest. As he squatted under the bush, he contemplated the inner workings of the local law enforcement. Deputy Joe-Bob Harris was in the process of shaking down old Cyrus Chamfers.

  His phone vibrated on his hip. Flipping it open, he smiled when he read the message from Quill. Warrant on the way. Ten minutes to go.

  So. Quill’s uncle Kenaniah came through. His daily chess games with the county judge, Walker White, had paid off! Seb was still amazed at the close relationships people had in small counties but whatever worked was just fine with him. He quickly texted a message to Suko and sent it off. If everything worked out, they would have Penny back by the end of the day. If everything worked out.

  In the barn, Zip left Cage in the loft while she filled in Seb’s team. When she went back upstairs, he was gone. Micajah Jericho, what do you think you’re doing?

  Finding Penny.

  Cage! Wait for Seb! Her frustration threatened to explode in a spectacular fit of temper. Stomping over to the open window at the back of the barn, she saw the dent in the fluffy snow where his bundle of clothes had landed and the jaguar tracks that led away into the woods.

  Leave him alone, Zip. Quill’s calm mental voice in her head settled her temper. If he finds her, we’ll be right there. In the meantime, he’s keeping busy and feels like he’s doing something useful.

  With a heavy sigh, she sat down on the hay. How in the world will we find her?

  Maybe Cyrus Chamfers has the answer. Uncle Kenaniah’s here with the warrant. We’re rolling down the driveway.

  Time seemed to speed up and slow down at the same time. Delilah drove Zip’s car down the road and parked it next to the barn. Zip sat in the car with Ellie and her momma while they waited to see what would happen next.

  In the house, Seb and Michael talked to Cyrus Chamfers while Quill and Suko dealt with Joe-Bob Harris. Cyrus stubbornly kept his mouth shut. Seb had to give him high marks for understanding the deep crap he was in. If they prosecuted him, he’d go to prison for a long time, likely for the rest of his life.

  On the other hand, Joe-Bob was a few bricks short of a load. In a very short time, he couldn’t talk enough. Eager for the investigators to understand that he hadn’t had anything to do with Penny’s disappearance, the words spilled out so fast that they ran together. “I seen them carry her out to the van,” he boasted loudly. “Right away I told myself that there was suppin’ funny goin’ on.”

  “Uh-huh. Then what happened?” Suko inquired while studying his fingernails.

  “Then I told Cyrus I’d tell if he didn’t gimme money.” Joe-Bob sat back and folded his hands over his ample belly. “No flies on me, no sirree. I knowed what was goin’ on. And Cyrus paid up.”

  “Really?” Suko frowned down at Joe-Bob. “I can’t see that happening. If it was me, I would have told you to take a hike.” He picked at a loose thread on his jacket. “Say, are you sure you don’t want a lawyer?”

  Joe-Bob flapped his hand at Suko and smiled. “Don’t need to be payin’ no lawyer. I’m a poe-liceman. You just ask whatever you want.”

  “So how much did Cyrus give you, Joe-Bob?” Quill asked quietly.

  “Hunnert dollars. I ast for fifty but Cyrus, he done me right proud. Said as how I was gonna help him and tell the sheriff that Penny done run off ’cause she’s knocked up and all, I done earned it.”

  Quill stared out the window, facing away from the deputy so he wouldn’t see the fury on his face. “Wow. I didn’t know Penny was pregnant.”

  “No, no. That’s jus’ what Cyrus was gonna tell ever’ one. Boy howdy, was he pissed off when he found out she weren’t no cherry anymore. I never seen anyone so mad.”

  Suko tapped his pen on the table. “How did he find out about that, I wonder?”

  “Reckon it were that little Chinaman poking his fingers in her pussy. Cyrus said they went right in. Said that now her ass was the only thing worth selling.” Joe-Bob shook his head in amazement. “Sure don’t unnerstand why anyone would want to fuck a woman in the ass. That’s jus’ disgustin’.”

  “Where did they take Penny?” Suko asked finally.

  “Shorely don’t know. Cyrus done shut his mouth about then.”

  “I wonder why.” Suko’s tone was so dry it tugged a smile from Quill even though he was in a rage.

  “I’m going outside for a minute,” Quill announced abruptly just as Marty, their computer tech, poked his head through the open door.

  “I need to take the computer back to the lab and Jackie says she needs you and Seb to come look at the stuff she found in the safe.”

  Leaving Suko to keep an eye on Joe-Bob, Quill joined Seb in the study. Together they contemplated the contents of the safe. Then Seb slapped a hand over his face and groaned while Quill silently flipped through the pile of photographs. Little girls in various poses—all naked, all blonde.

  Very carefully, he placed them back in the safe face down and went out into the woods far enough away to prevent him from wrapping his hands around Cyrus’ scrawny perverted neck. As he paced up and down, working on his anger management, Tate’s deep voice interrupted his thoughts.

  A very large blond Viking just broke down the door to the cabin.

  Where are you? Hiding in the woods?

  Actually, I’m sitting in the doorway, listening. He’s taking Unity out of the shower. Sounds like he’s planning on taking her somewhere. What do we do?

  Quill considered quickly. They’re not likely to kill her there. Go with her.

  As what?

  Frustrated and angry, Quill snapped back. Do whatever it takes, Tate. Make sure you stay with her. I’m willing to bet that they lead us to the hideout where they have the girls stashed.

  Yeah, well I hope you show up with badges before we’re stuck standing around with our dicks in our hands!

  Impatiently, Quill paced in the woods waiting for Tate or Rack to report in. His skin felt too tight. His gut roiled while he paced back and forth past the old fallen log where his parents sat waiting patiently. Time was running out.

  Tate and Rack were rattling around in a filthy bucket—as chipmunks—in the back of the beat-up white van. After morphing into different animals a couple times so Unity would see them and realize that she wasn’t alone, they settled down in their hiding hole for the rest of the trip. When the van slammed to a stop, Tate and Rack shifted to squirrels and scampered out the open driver’s window into the trees. Once safely behind a line of pines, they scouted their surroundings. Quill?

  Quill didn’t remember when he’d been so glad to hear Tate’s voice. Where are you? he demanded quickly.

  I think this is the old Clapsaddle Cabin.

  That place is falling down! Are you sure?

  Pretty sure. The cabin has certainly seen better days. If we get a strong wind this winter the roof will go for sure. Tate hopped across the clearing and skittered up on the windowsill. There was very little light inside but he made out the sprawled forms of several naked women. How many women did you say were missing, Quill?

  We know of six.

  Quill, Zip, Seb, Michael and Suko were already dashing through the woods toward the old Clapsaddle Cabin. While all of them were decent runners, it would still take time to reach the cabin through the woods but that was the most direct route.

  Pentecost and Cage were riding in Penny’s pickup. Cage had trotted out of the barn the minute he heard the news. Delilah drove Zip’s car, leading the group around the long way. Ellie drove her father’s truck. There was a general consensus that they were going to need transportation for the captive girls. Delilah considered the problem of several cold naked girls and gathered up a pile of Penny’s quilts and stacked them on the front seat.

  Tate counted everyone he could see. I count ten women. One of them is
Penny. And one is Unity. That leaves eight. He studied the big blond man and the man sitting down. There are two men. One is a big blond guy with a nasty scar running down his face. He looks like a Viking throwback. The other one is a little Asian who looks to be running the show. I would keep Cage away, Quill.

  What’s going on? Quill’s voice rose in anger.

  At the moment he has Penny on her knees in front of him with her hair wrapped around his hand. Do I need to draw you a picture?

  No. When Quill shared Tate’s report with his team, Zip was so angry he could feel her vibrate. He stopped long enough to caution her, “If you’re not in control you can blow this for us. I don’t want to just catch them. I want to put them away.”

  “I’ll put them away,” she growled.

  He looked at his younger sister with affectionate worry. “My way,” he reiterated.

  “Your way they’re back out on the street in a couple of years. Unity and Penny will never be free. My way they don’t have to be looking over their shoulders.” Zip bared a mouthful of sharp white teeth and flipped her dark brown braid down her back. “My way is better.”

  “Zip—”

  “While the two of you are arguing, time’s wasting,” Seb pointed out impatiently.

  Snarling, Zip rounded on him and stopped dead as he held out a bared dark brown arm. “Take a bite if you’ll feel better,” he offered. She turned away and walked off in the direction of the cabin.

  Quill stared at him in astonishment. “What did you just do?”

  Seb shrugged and bit his lip to keep from smiling while he jerked his jacket sleeve back down. “If she wants to nibble on a man, I have plenty of territory to cover. I’d love for her to put her mouth on me—anywhere her heart desires.” He quirked an eyebrow. “Any objections?”

  Quill shook his head and turned away. “No. No objections. Let’s get this over with.”

  “Yo, partner!”

  Quill turned to face him.

  “I bought her a diamond ring for Christmas,” Seb revealed with a serious expression on his dark face. “She’s going to wear it—even if I have to tie her down to put it on her finger.” He frowned uneasily. “She’s a hard woman to pin down.”

  “Good luck, partner.”

  Seb stared as Quill walked away, wondering why he had the firm notion that Quill was laughing at him. Shaking his head, Seb trailed behind him, determined that when they were through with this mess, he was going to get some answers.

  Quill pressed his hands to his head as though one of his major headaches was coming on. He paused and signaled Seb to fall in next to him. “Call in the troops. It’s getting messy. As soon as they show, the Jericho family will bow out.”

  “You’re sure?” Seb shot him a worried look. “What’s going on?”

  Quill swiftly filled him in as they approached the back of Clapsaddle Clearing. “A green truck with a camper shell just showed up and there are more girls in the truck.” Through the trees they could see men carrying naked women to the truck and shoving them in through the low door. “We need backup now.”

  Seb stopped and called in but the unit was twenty minutes away by chopper. It was going to be up to the team in place to take the kidnappers down. He caught up with Quill and shared the latest developments with him. Quill nodded but his expression said he was wondering what else could go wrong.

  When they reached the edge of the clearing, Seb tried to see where Zip had gone off to. The rest of the team was huddled at the back corner of the cabin but she was nowhere in sight. “Where’d Zip go?” he demanded in a fierce whisper.

  The men shrugged and one pointed across the clearing. Seb caught a fleeting glimpse of her moving through the trees on the other side of the camper truck before she abruptly disappeared.

  The sun was going down, leaving the woods in deep shadow. Seb squinted through the trees, nearly positive he could see a woman’s silhouette undressing. He shook his head and looked more intently. His eyes widened when he realized he was gazing at a full-grown tiger. “Uh, Quill?”

  “I see her,” Quill muttered beneath his breath.

  “Her?” Seb inhaled sharply.

  Quill reached out and squeezed Seb’s arm tightly. “Later. We don’t have time for this right now.” In his mind he was pointing out with bitter sarcasm, Good choice, little sister, since everyone knows tigers are indigenous to the tropical state of Tennessee!

  Oh, stuff it in your ear. Zip morphed into a large, dingy mixed-breed dog. How’s that? Better?

  Too late. Seb’s already seen you—or was that the idea? Now’s not the time to screw with his head. Keep your romance problems out of my case!

  Seb shoved the extraordinary display to the back of his mind and concentrated on Quill’s plan. There was no time, no place to deal with the shocking new information bombarding him. Even as he listened to Quill, his mind was racing off in all directions, connecting bits and pieces of information stored over time. “Hell yeah. You bet, partner. There will be a whole lot of explaining to do later!”

  “I’ll take this side. You go around the other side.”

  Grimly he moved along the building until he was in the place assigned to him. Oh yeah, there was definitely going to be some loud talking when this was all over.

  Chapter Eight

  Well crap! Zip trotted to the edge of the woods, keeping her eye on Seb as events suddenly took on warp speed. Why couldn’t he be blind in one eye and as oblivious as a butterfly? That’s not the way I wanted him to find out. I should have gone deeper in the woods.

  Edgy and nervous, she sidled closer to the truck, alertly watching the clearing as a huge blond man carried a limp naked woman to the truck. Then a short oriental man walked out on the porch. Without warning, the action stopped in a clear snapshot.

  Quill shuffled along the side of the cabin until he had a clear line of sight. Resting his gun on the porch railing, he cleared his throat and observed, “So, Cho—still up to your old tricks, eh?”

  All activity in the clearing ceased as everyone froze in shock. Then Cho turned to face Quill and smiled. “Well, well. Mr. Angelo. We must stop meeting this way. People will talk.”

  The blond giant edged closer and Quill shook his head in admonishment. “Don’t move, Brian. I might have to shoot you and Cho wouldn’t like that. He would have to do his own dirty work.” When Brian dumped the woman he carried on the ground Quill breathed a silent sigh of relief. As long as he wasn’t using her as a shield, it made it easier to control him.

  Cho shook his head in disgust. “Idiot! He would not shoot you as long as you had the woman!” He shot an angry glance at Quill. “You see what I must work with!”

  But Quill refused to be distracted. Unity had crawled close enough to grab the young woman’s ankle and was dragging her away from Brian. Already Michael and Suko had cuffed the men who arrived with the truck. All that was left was Cho and Brian.

  Seb held his gun pointed at Cho and motioned for him to get down on his knees. “Down, Cho. Flat on the ground. You’ve done this often enough, you should know the position.” He scowled at the smaller man. “Keep the hands where I can see them!”

  No one paid attention to the two squirrels that chattered at Brian’s feet but Rack and Tate were prepared. Brian was too calm, too prepared. When he lunged for Unity, Zip, snarling angrily, shot out of the woods and leaped for his shoulder. Growling and snapping she distracted Brian long enough that Unity could scrabble beyond his reach. The squirrels bounded into the woods. Seconds later Zip was joined by Rack and Tate who had morphed into dogs. Zip felt the sear of a knife on her flank and then saw the flash of the knife as it sliced across Rack’s chest. In sharp, bloody moments, Brian was dead.

  Cho took advantage of the seething, shocking events to roll to his feet and dash into the woods. Seb turned to pursue him but Quill called him back.

  “What! He’s getting away!”

  Quill shook his head before saying only one word. “Cage.”

 
There was a lone howl from the trees followed by a terrified, high-pitched scream. Abruptly, the scream cut off and silence fell over the clearing except for low sobs from the terrified women. Delilah and Ellie began handing out quilts and comforting those of the captives who were conscious. No one seemed to notice when the dogs quietly trotted into the safe anonymity of the woods.

  Seb scrubbed his dark face and demanded, “What the fuck am I going to write in the report?”

  Tilting his head back and pursing his lips, Quill replied, “I didn’t see anything unusual. Did you guys see anything?” Michael and Suko shook their heads and carefully looked away from Seb.

  Michael scratched his head. “Not me. I didn’t see a thing.”

  Carefully brushing the dust from his dark blue blazer, Suko concurred. “Me, I saw nothing. Some dogs dashed into the clearing and attacked that one,” he jerked his chin toward Brian’s ravaged body. “Then they ran off.” He looked around him at the cold woods. “Probably in Kansas by now. Better be in Kansas!” Raising his voice, he made sure that it reached the woods.

  Delilah snorted. “The way they were running they’re most likely in California. What are we going to do with these young women?”

  “Seb’s unit is on the way. I’m taking Unity home with me.” Quill’s cold tone allowed for no objections as he walked across the clearing where she still crouched naked on the ground. He peeled off his coat and shirt and handed the shirt to her before slipping his coat back on. As soon as she was covered, he wrapped her with the quilt Del handed him. “You’ll know where she is. And I would imagine that Cage will insist on taking Penny home with him.”

  At that moment, Cage stalked out of the woods, dressed but still vibrating with raging violence and went directly to Penny. He picked her up in his arms, quilt and all, and silently carried her down the track to the truck. No one asked where they were going. No one tried to stop him. Pentecost tossed him the keys to the truck as he passed and Cage caught them one-handed.