by Linda Coles
The strong pulse of the dance music reverberated through his laptop and up his wrists as his fingers worked the keypad, and he found himself moving slightly to the beat as he typed. He looked up from his screen for a moment to take in the ambience around him. The electronic music was almost deafening, but he found it invigorating. PVC-clad clientele of all genders gyrated to the music, unashamedly rubbing themselves and others with gloved hands or peering out from behind leather masks, making suggestive gestures with their mouths and tongues. Later on, the dance floor would empty out as people found willing partners and separated off to get their own personal high together.
He felt good tonight, wired even, and judging by the swell in his trousers he thought he might get a little action himself later. He caught the eye of a woman stood a couple of paces further along the bar, hips moving to the beat ever so slightly, trying to attract the busy bartender’s eye to order her poison. Her hair was shoulder length and looked silky soft, as did the skin she had on display. She smiled seductively at Chris then turned away in an instant, her drink order more important than his company. He perused her body while she was preoccupied. She was encased in black leather from her chest to just below her buttocks; her shapely legs disappeared into the tops of thigh-length fire-engine-red boots. They had the highest heels he thought he’d ever seen. Around her neck was a studded black dog collar, with two rows of spikes running around the length of it. It looked lethal to the uninitiated. A moment later, another woman, dressed in a similar fashion though her dress was electric blue leather, joined her. Her buttocks were more visible than her friend’s, the soft flesh just begging to be touched.
The first woman passed a drink to her and caught Chris’s eye again as she did so, lowering her chin in silent acknowledgment, encouraging him. He smiled back, slipped off his stool and walked towards them both, leaving his laptop where it was. He sauntered over slowly, keeping eye contact with the lady in black, hoping he was reading the signals correctly. A stirring in his trousers reminded him of how he was feeling, what he might take later on. Standing beside her now, did he imagine her eyes twinkling in excitement as the strobe lighting flashed across her face? Was she feeling game too? He hoped so, and there was only one way to find out. He reached out his hand and gently ran the back of it down her leather-clad back. The woman responded like a cat being stroked, the telltale arch greeting him in response, and he heard her murmur something, though he had no idea what. Perhaps she was purring. . .
She turned her head towards him slightly, and he could see that she was smiling. Yes, she was encouraging him, enjoying the feeling, the attention. But her friend in blue wanted her turn, and she took his hand now and encouraged him to run it down her back, except this time she led the way with her own to guide him, guiding him all the way down, stroking the rise of her nearly exposed buttocks and then moving down, down to the flesh itself, the part that had caught his attention. She closed her eyes, enjoying herself, but she clearly wanted more.
She placed his hand directly on the bare flesh of her left buttock and then moved it lightly backwards and forward, moaning her pleasure into her friend’s ear. Her friend turned and stroked her other buttock seductively, nibbling on the earlobe of the lady in blue. Chris watched, mesmerized. He’d seen two women having fun on numerous occasions and it never failed to excite him. The woman in blue pulled away first, turned to Chris and fixed him with a smouldering gaze. This was all the confirmation he needed that she was ready to play, that they wanted to play. Taking the lead, the lady in blue led him through the crowd towards a set of swing doors at the rear of the club. Behind him, the friend followed, drinks in hand.
Once through the doors, the atmosphere immediately changed. The heavy, throbbing music was replaced by a quieter soundtrack, and under that he could hear languid moaning and groaning. Had he turned around, he would have noticed that the lady in black was having trouble not to stare as she walked and was doing her best to look as though she was a regular, came every month, knew her way around. Inside she was gasping with astonishment. In one corner, a man wearing a full leather gimp mask was tied naked to a bench face down and a woman with a leather riding crop was flicking his reddened backside with the tongue of it. In the centre of the room, a woman on all fours was being periodically slapped on the buttocks by a mystery bare hand and, judging by her cries, was enjoying every sting of it. But Chris was intent on the lady in black, just ahead of him, who carried on leading the way.
He knew where they were leading him: there was only one destination in the direction they were headed – the private rooms, where willing participants got their kicks together. As the woman in blue led him through the door of a dimly lit room, she winked to her friend and then turned to lock the door to make sure they wouldn’t be disturbed. She then approached him, drink in hand, and encouraged him to sip from the glass, which he dutifully did. Then between them, and taking their time, they seductively stripped him down to his underpants.
The lady in blue was playing her part perfectly, and Ruth let her take the lead. It was her show, after all. Only Chris was unaware of what was about to happen next. The lady in blue again offered her cocktail glass to his lips. He took two large gulps to refresh his mouth and reached out to kiss her as she rubbed herself up and down his naked thigh encouragingly, sensuously.
Inside the top of the fire-engine-red boots, Ruth’s phone line was open, and Amanda listened in from where she was hidden between Mackintosh coats in the cloakroom.
A striking woman, Chris had thought when he’d first seen her at the bar. He could see now that she had short-cropped dark hair with a white flick at the temple. And now he was in a private room with her and a friend and was about to have some kinky fun with them both.
And that’s about all he remembered as he passed out on the bed.
Chapter Eighty-One
“What the hell?” Ruth’s voice sounded strained.
Amanda pressed her ear buds more tightly into her ears. So far, things had been going well but now she wasn’t so sure. Ruth’s familiar voice didn’t sound happy.
“What the hell have you done, Jules? I thought we just wanted to chat when we got close, not knock him out.”
“It was.” Jules was speaking now. “But I thought in for a penny, in for a pound. We’ve got the bastard now and we can do one of a couple of things.”
Amanda couldn’t believe her ears. What the hell was going on in there?
“Oh? And what are the two choices, eh? Kidnap I’m guessing is one, like he did to the others, and what’s the other?” Ruth had raised her voice a couple of octaves. “Amanda, are you getting this?” Her voice came clearly to Amanda now as Ruth reached into her boots to retrieve the phone.
Amanda was livid. “Where the hell are you both? What have you done?”
“Head through the dance floor and keep walking to the rear. We’re in the room on the right. I think it had a shoe on the door rather than a number or name. It’s locked, so knock and I’ll let you in.”
Amanda grabbed her identification badge, flashed it at the gorilla on the desk and made her way towards the back of the club. Heads turned at the strange vision of a woman wearing regular street clothes wrestling her way through the gyrating bodies on the dance floor as best she could. When an anonymous hand reached out for her backside and squeezed, she shrieked but pressed forward undeterred. It was like cutting her way through dense forest with a butter knife. Nobody wanted to move; everyone wanted to party. Except for her. Strobe lighting played havoc with her sight, but she pressed on and finally came to the entrance of a much quieter space. Quieter save for the cries of those deep in their own individual pleasure zone. She didn’t hang around to watch as she headed for the door to the right. A stiletto platform shoe so tall that it could never be worn signalled the right door. Amanda knocked, Ruth opened, Amanda entered. Jules was sat on the edge of the bed. Smeeks was out cold.
“I’ll let you sort her out,” Ruth said through gritted teeth. �
�I’m going to see if I can at least salvage this operation and go and get his laptop off the bar. Hopefully, it’s still there.” Muttering, she pushed past Amanda and stomped back out into pleasure land.
Speechless, Amanda closed and locked the door behind her, then turned to Jules. It took all her self-control not to scream at her.
“I thought we had a plan, Jules? Did you have a different version to work from?”
Jules sat quietly as though realizing she’d gone too far.
“Speak to me. What have you done? What have you given him?”
“It’s only a roofy, nothing more. He’ll be awake in an hour or so.”
“Oh, well, that’s okay, then. A roofy. Bloody perfect!” She paused and drew in her breath. “And where the hell did you get a sodding roofy from?” she screamed. “You just happened to have one on you, did you? Do you realize what you’ve done? How this could royally screw things up? What is your plan from here then, eh? Do tell, because I’m struggling here.” Amanda sizzled like a sausage in a hot pan. “What will happen when he wakes up and realizes?”
“We’ll be long gone. He’ll be none the wiser. He doesn’t know we’re on to him, remember?”
“I’m a sodding detective, for heaven’s sake,” Amanda yelped. She could feel a vein pulsing in her forehead. “I can’t be a part of drugging a suspect, and he is only a suspect – remember? We have no actual proof of anything yet.”
A knock at the door brought her screaming to a halt, and she took the opportunity to catch her breath. From the other side of the door came, “It’s me, Ruth. Let me in.”
Amanda opened the door and Ruth strode past her, a laptop wedged under her arm.
“Oh great,” groaned Amanda, staring at the laptop. “Now I’m involved with theft as well as drugging and possible kidnapping. What else have you two got planned? Because I hope it involves finding me another career. I’m going to need it, since this one is over.”
Ruth spoke quietly as she opened the laptop and started tapping. “I’m a civilian and so is Jules, and you had nothing to do with this. Give me a minute to see if I can get in and take a look around, then we’ll talk, okay?” Ruth was doing her best to defuse the fireworks going off inside Amanda’s chest. “Give me ten minutes then we’ll talk.”
Amanda flopped down on the corner of the bed, exasperated and also more than a bit concerned. This had been a shit idea. Smeeks’ bare feet hung over the bed and were level to her knees. She moved away a little, not wanting to be part of this stupid plan gone wrong.
Ruth said, “It’s password protected, as you’d imagine. I’m going to need some help.”
“You can’t take it out of here, Ruth!”
“Then we won’t take it out. I’ll get help to come here.”
Jules spoke up now. “I know someone, a person to help if you don’t have one. Shall I call him?”
Ruth frowned at the laptop. “If you have someone in cyber intelligence someplace, then yes, go ahead.”
Both women looked at Amanda for confirmation. Amanda threw her hands in the air.
“Oh, what the hell. I’m screwed anyway. May as well solve the case while I get my arse kicked from high above to hell and back. But tell them to hurry. That laptop isn’t leaving this building, understand?”
Jules nodded and dialled. A brief conversation ensued and then she hung up.
“He’s on his way. I have to take it to his car, though. He’ll never get in here. I’ll slip out the fire exit out the back and bring it back as soon as he’s done.”
Amanda ran her hands through her blond hair. She felt like tearing it right out, clump by frustrated clump. What choice did she have with the laptop now?
“Well, while we wait, can I suggest you put his clothes back on? He doesn’t need to know you stripped him. Whatever the reason, the plan – I don’t want to know what it was. So much for a simple look-see.” Looking around the room and up at the ceiling she added, “I hope there are no cameras in this room.”
No one had thought of that.
Chapter Eighty-Two
What a complete screw-up. This was not how she ran an operation. Why the hell had she thought involving a couple of civilians was a good idea? Yes, Ruth was smart and resourceful, but she was probably also in big trouble along with Jules though not as much as she herself was. She’d be lucky if she were put on traffic duty with new recruits, if she even had a job anymore. The whole mess needed salvaging somehow, so at least she could get the culprit in the shambles. At least that might appease the DI a little. She checked her phone for the time. Jules’s contact would be here any minute.
“So how do you know this guy, Jules, and does he have a name?”
They’d been sat in contemplative silence since Amanda’s outburst.
“Valance Douglas. He’s a private investigator who deals in cyber intelligence – off the books.”
“Great – he’s a hacker! Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse.”
“He prefers to call himself a forensic PI. He runs a legitimate business. He was the one I turned to see if this louse was still getting access.” She flicked her thumb over her shoulder to Smeeks, who was still out cold on the bed. Thank god. Jules’s phone buzzed with a text and she looked at the screen. “He’s out the back now.”
Ruth stood up. “I’ll go with you in case you have any problems. You might need a hand. And he needs to know what he’s looking for.”
Amanda stood by and watched, pretending she had no part in what was about to happen. In her mind she had her hands over her ears like a child, saying La la la out loud. It had always worked back then and she hoped it would now.
“We’ll be back shortly. He shouldn’t wake up yet,” Jules said, and the two women left the room, leaving Amanda and a comatose Smeeks alone. Shouldn’t? Amanda hadn’t thought about what she’d do if he did wake up in their absence, but since he was now fully dressed again, she supposed she could badge him and tell him he’d fainted. Since she was a police officer, he might believe her lie.
She looked around the room again for possible hidden cameras but couldn’t see anything. The key, of course, was the word ‘hidden.’ She sighed. Passing the time in the room was painful and she was tempted to ring Jack, but it was nearly midnight and he’d be fast asleep. And what could he do, apart from berate her and ask if she’d lost her marbles? There was no point. He’d get his chance tomorrow when this all came out and he was looking for a new work partner. Amanda squeezed her eyes tightly to get rid of the image. A knock on the door brought her back to the present situation and she got up and opened it.
Two leather-clad women rushed back in and it took Amanda a moment to realize it was Ruth and Jules. No, she’d never get used to this. Both were breathless with excitement.
Ruth spoke first. “We’ve got him! It’s all on there. His client list, a list of operators and a nice bit of software where he watches the whole thing unfold. And video recordings of events. Obviously, we couldn’t look too deep because we only had a few minutes, but yes, Amanda, you’ve got him!”
She and Jules beamed at Amanda, who stood dumbfounded. “And the list goes back more than fifteen years – that’s how long he’s been supplying victims to high rollers who could afford it. Oh, and this room and the others are recorded so we did delete that little file.” She grinned self-consciously.
Amanda groaned and closed her eyes, then opened them again. Nope, she was still inside the room. No magic fairy had intervened and whisked her away.
Ruth carried on. “There are going to be some embarrassed individuals when this all comes out.”
Amanda thought about that for a second. “Why would they be embarrassed? Why would their names be made public?” What was she missing?
“That’s the only way to get Smeeks without you getting into bother with all this mess. It was Valance’s idea, actually, and it makes total sense. We leak it. Remember WikiLeaks? We’ll do the same here and find a reporter, too. That way, you’re in the cl
ear. It just means a couple of embarrassed faces, but that can be their punishment for their purchase.”
Amanda had to agree: on the surface it made sense and would keep the sticky mess away from her front door. She’d need to percolate the idea first, though, to be sure. “What’s the plan from here, then? I’m assuming you’ve got one.”
“First off, we get the hell out of here, and leave Smeeks where he is. He’ll have a sore head when he wakes, but that’s tough. I’ll slip his laptop back where I found it. Valance has what we need on a drive, so we can look at it when it suits. I suggest you and I meet him tomorrow first thing and hatch out a plan properly.” She stopped for a moment to collect her thoughts. “Or I can do it on my own, now that I think about it. That way, you can truly deny all knowledge and involvement. And don’t tell Jack. He doesn’t need to be a part of this, and no one else needs to know.” Ruth beamed from ear to ear, as did Jules. Amanda looked from one to the other. It sounded so easy, so simple. Jules went on,
“That should work, and none of us will get into bother. It will have to stay our secret, though, so if any of us is thinking of coming clean, don’t bother. I shall deny all knowledge of my part. And I suspect you two will as well. Let’s keep this quiet.”
