by Dee, Bonnie
No! A primitive howl rose inside Ian. The prime imperative to protect Mira from harm swelled in him.
“Murav, hold off.” Brody held up a hand. “Help Mr. Black back into his seat.”
Breathing heavily from his workout, Murav did as he was bid.
With his eyes cast down, Ian could only see Brody’s legs approaching him. The charcoal gray pants and black dress shoes stopped several feet in front of him then Brody crouched down to look up into Ian’s face. “Now you have an idea of what will happen if you don’t comply with my wishes. On the other hand, I want you to know what you could earn if you choose to work with me.” Brody’s voice was almost magical, soothing and trustworthy, warm and comforting. “I could pay you well for giving me the box and then release you, but I have something even better in mind. You seem like a clever, quick-witted fellow, the kind of man I could use on my team. If you prove your loyalty to me, I would reward you with my trust and a high position in my organization.”
Ian breathed slowly, waiting for the ache in his balls to die away and the black specks in his vision to clear.
“Think of it, Mr. Black. No more nickel and dime cons and hustles. I have the power to make you a person to be reckoned with. I have the power to give you … well,” Brody chuckled, “power. And respect.”
Ian drew a shaky breath. Quick-witted. Yeah, that was him. He always managed to end up on top. Nobody could keep Ian Black down.
Brody laid a hand on his knee. “Will you think about it?” He smiled. “But don’t take too long or Mr. Murav will be forced to influence your decision.” He rose to his feet.
Ian blew out his breath on a sigh. “All right.”
Brody froze, surprised at his easy capitulation. “Pardon me?”
Ian lifted his chin and looked up. “I said, all right. I’ll tell you where the box is and you decide what the information is worth to you.”
A bright smile spread across Brody’s face. “Excellent. Trust me, you won’t regret your choice. You could very well end up my right-hand man.”
Ian looked past Brody to Justin Foster, still bound in the corner.
Foster’s eyes were closed, a frown creased his forehead and he shook his head slightly.
Then his gaze slid to Mira. He could only meet her wide, horrified eyes for a moment before he had to look away. His heart ached at the shock and betrayal he saw there.
Chapter Nine
“Welcome!” Ray spread his arms wide in an inclusive gesture. He gazed around the auditorium, making eye contact with a select few, but beaming his warm smile on everyone. “I’m pleased to see so many of you here today. This retreat is all about you, empowering you, giving you a new view of life and casting away all the negative energies that have been holding you back.
“In today’s fast-paced, competitive environment, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s important; family, friendship, peace of mind. The Center for Human Wellbeing is a place where you can reflect, review your life and move forward with a renewed sense of strength and purpose.”
Ray spun his message of hope like a golden net cast over the crowd, drawing them to him. The spiel was second nature to him now. He almost got carried away by his own powerful rhetoric and extravagant promises. He gazed with empathetic affection at several key people in the audience: a woman who was a cosmetics mogul, a businessman with numerous offshore accounts, and the middle-eastern prince of an oil rich kingdom. Ray wanted to win the hearts and minds of every member of the audience, but it didn’t hurt to give the wealthy ones extra attention.
“The so-called natural disasters that plague our world today have their root in mankind’s own negative actions. There are implications in everything we do and the law of cause and effect is reflected in the physical world around us. What we do is intrinsically tied to nature.” Ray liked to toss in a little bit of every kind of philosophy he’d read. His path was all-inclusive and targeted at every cultural, sexual and economic demographic. He was an egalitarian when it came to winning followers.
As he spoke, Ray thought about his men retrieving his father’s box from its hiding place in the woods. Perhaps he might even keep his promise to Black and bring him onboard. Sometimes a grateful man could be incredibly loyal even if that loyalty had been bought. Black seemed smart and desperate for power and respect. Brody understood that hunger.
“In these next few days we spend together here at the Center, you will learn practical methods for bringing peace to yourself and to the world around you. Only when we share a world of peace, health and prosperity will we find the joy we seek.” Ray wrapped up his speech, keeping it short today. He was impatient to leave the stage. He still had the meet-and-greet to get through before he could take a break and find out if his men in California had secured the box. He was surprised they hadn’t found it earlier when they searched the area. With Black’s further information the box should be on its way to Indiana within the hour.
Ray raised his arms in a gesture of blessing over the crowd before exiting the stage to thunderous applause. Flanked by two aides, Ray left the auditorium and walked to the dining area where he would shake hands and schmooze with the guests for the next half hour or so.
Walking swiftly down the hall, he checked his cell. There were no calls yet.
Ray smoothed his hair and suit in the mirror of the restroom before stationing himself near the door of the dining hall to greet people as they entered. He turned to one of his aides, a slick, young man with almost as much charm as Ray himself. “When Prince Hassid comes through I want you to distract everyone else and give me a solid five minutes to talk with him alone.” Ray didn’t want to appear to give some of his followers more attention than others, but clearly a crown prince and a retiree from Omaha didn’t merit the same amount of his time.
“Ah, Ms. Clark,” he greeted a shapely middle-aged woman with pale blonde hair and bronzed skin. She owned the third-largest cosmetics company in the world, an empire built from scratch by sheer willpower. Ray admired that. “It’s so good to finally meet you in person.”
“Mr. Brody, your talk was wonderful, absolutely inspirational.” She took his hand in both of hers. “It’s an honor to meet you. I didn’t realize what my life was lacking until I discovered your path. I had everything and yet I felt hollow and completely alone.” Tears shimmered in Cynthia Clark’s eyes. “Your message saved me.”
“Not my message.” Ray squeezed her hand. He lifted his eyes up toward heaven and nodded. “I simply pass on what knowledge I’ve been given. The ultimate power of change is in you.” He tried that last line again in his head and liked the sound of it. He may have discovered a new slogan for promotional materials. The ultimate power of change is in you.
Ms. Clark moved on and another body took her place. It never ceased to amaze Ray how easy this was. Spout some sincere platitudes with conviction and people flocked to you like sheep. They wanted to believe, to be saved and given a new and better life. And they would receive it—starting with their first meal here at the Center.
The sedative Ray used was a formula invented by his pet scientist, Dr. Rivera. In just a couple of hours all the people now entering the dining hall would feel unaccountably sleepy and would decide to retire early. They would sleep long and deeply and have absolutely no memory of anyone entering their room and administering a tiny pinprick to the back of their necks. The microscopic implants injected beneath their skin were another of the brilliant Dr. Rivera’s creations.
Thousands of people were now registered in the database and he could pinpoint the location of any one of them at a given moment with the simple click of a mouse. Currently the implant was merely a tracking device, but soon Rivera would perfect a more complex unit, which would allow Ray to control behavior remotely. The concept was staggering. Smiling, Ray shook the hands of a frail elderly couple, accepting their gratitude for his inspiration. He glanced down the line to see Prince Hassid approaching. No special provision had been made for his royalty. In democratic f
ashion, he was just another one of the crowd. His black hair was slicked back. He wore a sharp, navy suit with a flamboyant cravat instead of a tie. Eccentric was good. Ray could work with eccentric.
His cell phone vibrated against his leg and he signaled his aide to greet for him and walked a few yards away to take the call. “Yes.”
“I’m sorry, boss. We couldn’t find it. We found the log like he said, but we excavated the whole area and there wasn’t any box buried there. Either he’s lying or somebody moved it.”
Ray’s stomach rolled over with a sickening lurch. He’d been so certain that this nightmare was almost over, that the box would be back in his hands today and Father never aware of the loss. “All right. Keep searching the area and the cabin too.” He closed the phone and slipped it back into his pocket. For a second he thought he might faint as the buzz of the crowd grew louder and higher-pitched until it filled his head like a swarm of bees. He would torture his prisoners until they begged to tell him the truth and then he’d have them dismembered slowly, limb by limb.
Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply and regained control over himself before turning to face the people with his smile firmly fixed in place.
He was just in time to greet his most important guest. “Prince Hassid, so glad to have you here. I hope your retreat brings you the peace you’re looking for.”
* * * *
Mira shivered, freezing from sitting on the cold metal chair for several hours in the air-conditioned room. Her bare arms were goose-pimpled and the tiny hairs stood on end. With her hands still fastened behind her back she couldn’t rub them to take the chill away.
Big baby. Mira chided herself for letting a little cold bother her when Ian had undergone torture. Yes, he’d cracked, but he had held out for as long as he could bear it.
Poor Ian. Her expectations had been too high. He wasn’t as strong-willed as she had hoped. She should have listened to Justin when he reminded her of the kind of man Ian was.
Once more she looked across at him, slouched in his chair. He wouldn’t meet her eyes. When she mentally broadcast her forgiveness of him, she met a wall of silence. He had shut down and was staring dead-eyed at the floor.
Only one guard remained with them in the room, the young man in a suit who looked more like a political aide than a bodyguard. Mira glanced over at Justin, who was also slumped and staring at the floor. Although his gag had been removed when they got in the room, the Protector hadn’t said a word since.
Mira returned her gaze to Ian, examining the burns and the red marks from punches to his face and stomach that would be bruises by tomorrow. He must be much colder than she was, sitting half naked in this chilly room. His vacant eyes stared at the discarded coat lying on the floor near his feet.
Although she would rather not speak in front of the guard, she had to let him know she didn’t blame him for giving in, for being weak and human. “It’s all right.” She spoke softly, but her voice seemed to fill the quiet room. “I know you didn’t want to tell.”
He glanced up at her then dropped his gaze again.
“But he did.” Justin’s hard voice came from across the room. “It’s what you do, not what you wish you’d done that matters in the end.”
Ian laughed, a harsh, bitter sound.
Just then the door burst open and slammed against the wall so hard it bounced off it again. Mira jumped and her pulse raced.
“Where is it?” Brody stormed into the room. “Where the hell is my goddamn box?”
She caught a glimpse of his wild eyes before he attacked Ian, lifting him from the chair and throwing him up against the wall. The metal chair was crashed to the floor with a clang. Ian grunted as he hit the wall. Brody gripped his neck, choking him. “No more games. Tell me where it is right now or I’ll have you killed—all of you.”
Ian’s face turned deep red as Brody’s hands gripped his throat tighter and tighter.
“Give me my box and maybe, just maybe, you can still walk away from this.”
A guttural sound came from Ian’s mouth. Brody seemed to realize he was about to lose his most likely informer and released his grip.
Ian slid down the wall until he’d regained his feet. He coughed and gasped for air. “Jesus, I wish you people would quit choking me!” He drew in a wheezing breath. “Yeah, I sent your men on a snipe hunt to buy some time.”
“Time’s up, Mr. Black. Give me what I want!”
Mira tried to make sense of what was happening. If he hadn’t buried the box, where had he hidden it?
“Take off these fucking handcuffs and I’ll tell you my demands.” Ian pulled himself up almost straight and glared into Brody’s eyes.
There was a long, pregnant pause then Brody burst out laughing. “You cocky son of a bitch!”
“You want the box?”
He continued to laugh a little crazily for a moment before stepping back. “All right. Murav, release him.”
The man had followed Brody into the room, although a little less dramatically. He turned Ian around and unlocked the cuffs.
Taking his hands from behind his back, he rubbed his wrists. “I’d like a bottle of water, too, please.”
“Are you deliberately trying my patience? You know I could just as easily torture the information out of you.”
“Yeah, and it’d probably be more fun for you, but it’d take a lot longer. And just so we’re clear, neither of them knows where the box is.” Ian nodded at Mira and Justin. “I took it and put it someplace safe in case we ended up in a situation like this.”
“What did you hope to accomplish?” Brody folded his arms and stared at him with a mingled expression of irritation and amusement.
“To save my ass and come out ahead.” Ian stooped, picked up his T-shirt and pulled it on. A hiss of pain escaped him as he lifted his arms over his head. He righted the fallen folding chair and sat down in it, legs sprawled wide. “This is what I want. You let those two go free. I want them out of here and dropped off in a public place. I want to see it happen on a remote camera. When I’m satisfied they’re safe, I’ll tell you where the box is.”
Brody paced around Ian in a half circle, a puzzled frown on his face. “How does that help you?”
“Because, after I tell you what you want to know, you’re going to let me go with five thousand dollars for trauma suffered. You’re going to do this instead of killing me because I’ll be working for you. Think about it, Mr. Brody, who would I go to about this? The police? The press? They’d think I’m crazy. I’m in no position to harm you in any way, but I can help you—as an independent contractor.”
Brody stopped walking.
“Your business is people, right? Building some kinda army or whatever it is you’re doing? I know a lot of people. I could turn business your way and if you find what I’m doing valuable, you’ll pay me more.”
“Interesting, but criminals and drug addicts aren’t exactly the kind of followers I’m interested in.”
“Every army needs cannon fodder.” Ian shrugged. “If you really have the power to mold people, you can make some kind of use of them. Think how good it will make you look in the press, cleaning up the streets of all the lowlifes and thugs, turning their lives around and freeing up prison space. Fucking Saint Raymond Brody. People will worship you for it.”
Brody tapped a finger against his lips. “Here’s a thought. Why don’t you give me the box and I’ll still make that deal with you? What do you care if these two are set free or not? Having a live Protector and Keeper in my possession is very useful to me. I don’t particularly want to let them go.”
Ian stared up at Brody with one eye. The other was beginning to swell shut. “That’s my deal. Take it or leave it.”
The Destroyer turned and looked at Mira. Her skin crawled as he looked her over. “It’s her, isn’t it? You have a crush on the Keeper. You want to be a hero and save her.” He turned back to Ian. “But she won’t thank you for it, not when you’ve let the ‘bad guys’ win.�
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“Don’t, Ian,” Mira said. “Don’t deal with him.”
“See.” Brody smiled. “Maybe I should simply use the woman as leverage to make you give me the box. A little whipping, a little burning, a lot of nudity and bondage. Could be really hot, don’t you think?”
Ian gazed at him impassively. “Do what you want, but I’m telling you your way’s gonna take longer and I don’t think time is something you want to waste.”
Heaving an exaggerated sigh, Brody walked over to Mira. He stared at her a moment, reached out a finger and stroked her cheek then pulled away quickly as though remembering how she’d manipulated him last time he’d touched her. “The things a man’s cock makes him do.” He shook his head. “All right. I’ll free the Keeper and Protector.” He nodded at Murav and Mr. Suit. “Take them someplace in downtown Indianapolis and set them free.”
“No, Ian,” Mira pleaded again. “Don’t do it. Don’t tell him.”
“One more thing,” Ian cut across her pleas.
“There is an end to my goodwill and you’ve about reached it,” Brody snapped. “What do you want now?”
“One kiss before she goes.” Ian’s voice was low.
Brody grimaced. “Oh, please, show some pride, man. She doesn’t like you. You’re not the hero of the piece. You’re embarrassing yourself.”
“Please. It’s nothing to you, and it means … everything to me.”
Brody shook his head, but signaled Murav to release Mira. “All right, have your Hollywood ending.”
A moment later Mira felt the handcuffs drop away. She brought her aching arms around to the front of her body and rubbed her wrists. She stood and walked toward Ian. “I know you think you’re helping, but it’s not the right thing to do.”
Ian crossed the room to her. He took hold of her upper arms, leaned in and kissed her. His lips were dry and cool against hers. “Sorry. This is all I could come up with,” he whispered, as he pulled away. His hands skated up and down her chilly arms. “God, you’re so cold.” He turned to Brody. “Can I give her my jacket? She’s cold.”
