“Not yet. I was going to when I get home today.” Good, he thought. He also wanted to ask her about the thumb drive but decided that he could do that too when they got home. Climbing the stairs to the fourth floor, he certainly hoped this went much better than his meeting. Of course, he thought, they were at a hospital this time.
There were several people in the room that he knew—a lot more that he didn’t. His father was there, but he wasn’t sure why until he asked him to fix his tie.
“You sure made good time, Dad.” He flushed brightly. “What are you all dressed up for? You headed someplace after this?”
“No, I’ve got it in my head that I can do a damned sight better running this place than they did. You think I can do it?” Thatcher told him he’d be a shoe in. “Yes, well, I might need you to vote or something for me. Dawson said he might, but he’d have to think on it. I swear, that boy gets more smart assed every time I see him.” They both laughed. “But son, I really think I can do this. I have the smarts for it.”
“You do. Never doubt that, Dad. You’re the only person I know, besides Mom, that can raise six boys on what little you made each week, and still have some money left over for important things, like life with us.” Dad smiled at him. “I love you, old man.”
“And I love you very much, dick head.”
They’d been saying the same thing to each other since Dad and he had watched a movie about this sheltered young man. It was the first time he’d heard his dad laugh so hard that he had tears in his eyes afterwards. But he never said anything like that around Mom.
The door opened behind him and he turned when everyone else did. It was the three board members. They had planned a meeting this afternoon, but it wasn’t going to go as they had thought it might. The man in charge, Agent Carl Jamison, asked Elizabeth Slone, Cartwright Phillips, and Donald Wind to have a seat.
“I’m sorry, but we’ve booked this room for a conference call out of state. You’ll have to wait until we’re finished here.” Elizabeth looked at him. “Thatcher? What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be cutting costs in your department? I would think that a man with time on his hands would be better served in trying to keep his job.”
“Are you threatening me?” She just waved him off. “I asked you a question, Elizabeth. Are you threatening me about my job?”
“While I don’t know who any of these other people are, I won’t air out dirty laundry here. So, if you’d like to set up a meeting with me tomorrow, I’ll talk to you. Until then, be on your way and take your little friends with you.” She sat down, fully expecting, Thatcher thought, for him to comply with her wishes. “Well?”
“Well, what?” She huffed. It was cute really, but only because he knew what was coming next. “I think I’ll stick around for the show.”
The conference phone rang, and Cartwright answered it, telling the man on the other end to hang on a moment, they had company. He’d only gotten out a word or two before he was cut off by Donald. He told him again to hold on, they had company.
“I’m sure you do, you fucking bastard. Is it the FBI? The police and whatever else these people with letters on their jackets are with? You fucking bastard, you told me that this was a done deal. That the hospital was losing money every fucking day. And now that I’ve wasted all my time on trying to get you to deal with me, I find out that you’re all going to prison.”
Dawning hit all three of the board members at once. Thatcher laughed. It felt good to be on the other end of their comments and snide remarks about him taking things home with him. Wasting the hospital inventory.
“You really didn’t think you’d get away with this, did you? I mean, the hospital is more profitable now that I’m in surgery, a place that you didn’t want me to be. You said that I was too flamboyant. Too much of a hot dog. I was never sure what you meant by those remarks, but I have a few for you three. Thief. Embezzler. Liar. And here’s one that is perfect for summing it all up. Convicts.”
~*~
As soon as they were in their room, Thatcher went to take a shower. He had told her about what had happened at the mayor’s house, and she didn’t blame him at all. But she needed him. Not just sexually, though that would help, but she wanted him to hold her. It had been a long day so far, and she wanted him to touch her.
“You scrub my back and I’ll scrub yours.” She smiled at him. “You’re incredibly beautiful, did you know that? I love the way your hair is all mussy when you wake in the morning. The way all those curls seemed to be straining to corkscrew all up again when it’s wet. I’m in love with the way that your waist seems to slide down into your hips with the curves of a sexy woman.” She kissed him hungrily. “You didn’t scrub my back, love.”
“I have something else to scrub, thank you very much.” She reached to his front after turning him around. Rogen’s hands were soapy, his cock hard and slick now. Touching him this way was a treat for her. He couldn’t touch her and hurry her along. “You are so full, I can feel you just wanting to release. Would you like for me to help you with that?”
When he turned around, Rogen went to her knees in front of him. He handed her a large soft sponge to kneel on and she did that now. Taking his cock into her mouth, Rogen couldn’t help but moan. He was hard, thick, and all hers.
“With you like this before me, it’s all I can do not to come all over you. Just pull from your mouth and spray my cum on your body and face.” She moaned again when he started to move. Rogen noticed too that he was holding onto the wall, the other hand gripping the nozzle tightly. “Rogen, please, let me come on you.”
She pulled from his cock and opened her mouth to him. The water was hitting mostly the floor now. Rogen hadn’t even noticed it being turned that way. And when the first hot stream of his cum hit her in the face, without anyone touching her, she came with him, screaming out from the release that startled her as much as it felt wonderfully fulfilling.
When he jerked her up from the floor, Thatcher slammed her body to the wall of the stall, his cock so quickly sliding into her that she came twice more even before he moved. Her breasts were abused by his mouth. His teeth grazed her throat, and all she could think about was the climax that was building up. The way her body seemed to be stretching toward some unknown finish line that she needed to reach first. And when Thatcher bit down on her throat, she did come.
But to call it something so mundane as that was a gross understatement, as it had her holding onto Thatcher’s shoulders, digging her heels into his tight waist so that she’d not float away. And as soon as Thatcher came, filling her with his hot seed, Rogen just blinked out. Like he’d stabbed her right into her heart.
When she woke, he was beside her, his eyes closed in what seemed to her as a peaceful sleep. Looking at the clock, she knew that when it said that it was two, it was two in the morning and they’d slept through dinner again.
Getting up so as not to disturb Thatcher, she showered and dressed. The note that he’d left her on the counter said that he’d gotten called in last night again and didn’t get home until just before eleven. Leaving the room, she let him sleep and headed to her offices.
The phone ringing an hour or so later made her realize that she’d not eaten much. Tossing away the nutrition bar wrappers, Rogen answered the phone. It was Donaldson.
“I have two questions for you. One is personal, so I’ll leave that until last. Can you please look up something for me? An address on the street view.” She pulled the place up he asked her about. “Do you see anything wrong with this place? Something that the rest of us here cannot see?”
“Such as?” While he asked someone else for a list, she began searching the exterior of the house. She found a camera on the front porch and hacked her way into that. It was then that she found out the entire house was wired. “The house is one I can look inside of as well. I don’t have the connection as yet. Tell me what you need.”
“I need you inside the house. But before you do that—” Rogen told him
it was too late. “I’m so sorry, Rogen. I did mean to warn you first. Are they...honey, are they all dead?”
Rogen always tried to detach herself from what she looked at for the government. There had been times when it had been impossible for her to see anything more than they did. But this time, she was seeing it all. And there hadn’t been time to isolate herself from the bodies that were present. Rogen was going to be professional about this even if it made her sick later. Pulling on her headset and hanging up her phone, she was speaking to the room Donaldson was in.
“There are four dead in the living room where I’m starting. Two head shots, both male. One female, execution style. Hands tied to her front…legs? It looks like tape was used. The other woman, I can’t tell—her face has been destroyed. Hands tied as well and her legs taped to the chair. Are there more in the house?” Donaldson said there were people missing. “Children?”
“Yes. Four of them. The SWAT team is on standby. No locals involved. There is also a group that you’re familiar with just about four minutes away.” There was no guessing time with Donaldson, he knew they were four minutes out. “Check all rooms on this floor, then the upper levels. If there is a basement, check it last.”
The kitchen, dining room, as well as both powder rooms were clear. A great deal of blood in the kitchen, but no bodies. Rogen clicked on the cameras for the upper floors. Nothing in the hall, but there seemed to be as many as six more rooms up there.
“Master is clear, but someone was looking for something. I would say safe by the way they tore things off the walls. Floor is covered, but no ripped up carpet.” She made her way to the next room—the nursery—and she had to breathe in and out before she could continue. “Nursery is clear, but the room has been trashed as well. Clothing torn from closet. There are two cameras in this room—the other shows that whoever came in shot a great many holes in the closet. Do you know if there is a panic room?”
“There is no mention of it, but that might be because it was added under private contractors. I’m checking that now.” Rogen thanked him, her mind on auto pilot now. “It’s in the sub levels. I’m hoping you can unlock it for me.”
“I’ll try. The next bedroom is clear. Two beds, two dressers, and a closet that has been done the same way as the baby’s room. They seem to have wanted the children badly.” Donaldson said something, but Rogen was breaking into the next camera. “This bedroom is clear as well. The closet and dressers are in worse shape as they’re going along. I’d say that they’re getting frustrated.”
“Check the living room again. I have your team right outside the front door, and I want to make sure that they’re going to be alone.” Going back, she cleared it so that they could come in. They’d not make a noise since she was still searching the house. “They’re going to stand where they are, Rogen. You tell me when you’ve finished.”
The next two rooms had been destroyed. There was no other term for it. Beds were broken into splinters. There were gunshot holes all around the room this time. The dressers looked as if they’d been cut up with an axe. Rogen clicked into the last room on the floor.
“Bathroom, large, with a closet in the room. There is a woman there. Looks like a domestic. She’s been raped if I’m seeing this right, and her throat cut. Donaldson, the presence of the domestic means the children were home, doesn’t it?” She felt panic roll over her for the children. If she counted right, there were four children by the number of beds in the house. “I’m breaking into the basement. I need a minute. Just a minute.”
“We don’t know until you open the room for us if they’re in the panic room. Just breathe, Rogen. You’re doing a good job. Just breathe.” She had an odd thought. Donaldson was a great deal nicer to her since he’d been dating Winnie. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” She looked up at Thatcher. He was wearing his jeans without the snaps done. His shirt was in his hand. She was sure that she’d frightened him and was glad for his company. “I have Thatcher here now. I’m doing better.”
Breaking into the camera in the basement was easier. The rest of the codes had been the same, so she didn’t think this one would be any different. Bad move, and she’d have to tell someone that it had probably helped the bad guys since they’d gotten in. She told the team to go down, the basement was clear.
“I need for you to bring in a rescue person, Tillson. I don’t know that the children are in there, but they might need someone.” Roger Tillson, one of her best men, said he had his medic with him. After thanking him, she zeroed all her efforts on the key lock on the large metal door. “I get one shot at this opening, so it might take me a minute or two to make sure I get it. It’s been locked down. I’m betting by the domestic in the upper levels.”
The program that she was using was written by her. She knew that it was possible that she could sell it off to the bad guys, but there was no reason for her to do that, not that she ever would. But she had enough money, support, and love now that little else mattered but helping people. When the program told her it had a match, she told the team to stand back, just in case it wasn’t right.
“You think it’ll blow?” She told Tillson that she didn’t have any idea, but if it did, then it would be them and the house. “Good point. All right, we’re back. Go ahead.”
She coded in the key lock and waited. Rogen did wonder if she should have given someone there the code—it might have a remote lock out. But when her computer told her it was processing, she looked over at Thatcher.
“I want a baby in my arms. Someone that I can hold and cuddle after a day like this one is turning out to be. Soon. I don’t care if it’s ours or we raise someone else’s. But I also want to have a child with you.” He told her he was fine with that as well. “Guys, this is taking a long time. I’m worried.”
“No worries. And if you want to have a child and don’t care what kind of shifter it is, my sister is giving up her child for someone to raise. She’s too young anyway.” She asked about the father. “He’s no longer a concern to anyone.”
Rogen only looked at Thatcher, and he shook his head. Whatever had happened, she knew that if he wanted her to know, Tillson would tell her later. If not, then she’d be in the dark. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t dig around and find out what had come down, but she’d not do that. Not to him. Tillson, for all his bad boy vibes and the fact that he carried more weapons than a whole street of people might have, was a shy, funny man. She liked working with him too.
The lock disengaged and she held her breath as she watched the door swing open. It seemed to take forever, and she was sure that the children were all going to be dead. But when one of the men cried out that they had them, the cheers going up were loud and continuous. The four children of the house and the domestic’s child were all unharmed.
Chapter 12
Morgan was in his office when he got a phone call. He was always tickled when he had to answer the old rotary phone. But then his office was one of the first ones built on the campus, and he loved to look out through the old bubbled windows that had stained glass pictures at the top of each one. Then he nearly fell off his chair when the dean, his boss, asked him if he had a few moments.
“Yes sir. Anytime for you.” He meant it, of course, but he was worried that he sounded like a total suck up. “I’m just finishing up the paperwork for the next semester. I should have you a class itinerary as soon as the end of the week.” Glancing at his calendar, he had to smile. It was only Monday and he could turn it in today, but he was going to make himself wait until Wednesday at the earliest.
After he turned off his laptop and locked up his office, he was nearly all the way to the dean’s office when he thought of what he might be talking to him about. Christ, there had been that woman, kid really, who had wanted him to give her a higher grade for a little head. That’s what she’d called it too, a little head. He liked to think that he was above average in that department, but thankfully, she’d never know.
His steps slowed
when he saw that all the department deans were in the office. A small space like this one made it seem as if about two hundred people were in the room. But he was shoved inside and asked to have a seat. Morgan’s mom had always told them, keep your mouth shut until you know the rules of the game.
Morgan felt the need to ask what he’d done, or even to explain about using too much paper on the copier. Even not finishing his meal the other day because he’d had to leave for the day. All kinds of things, most of them silly and not very trouble worthy, made their way not only through his thought process, but also to the tip of his tongue to tell on himself about.
Finally, Dean Sheppard cleared his throat.
“Jack Damion died last evening.” He knew the man. Hated him too. Morgan and him would butt heads daily when the old geezer would find him in one of the halls. “I’d like to tell you he will be sorely missed, but I’m not going to lie to you, Morgan. You didn’t like him any more than any of us did.”
“No sir. He wasn’t really willing to see my side of anything he cornered me on.” He realized after he spoke that he shouldn’t have. “I’m sorry. That was out of turn. He was a good man?”
Dean Sheppard laughed. “No, he wasn’t a good man. Even before he bought his way into being on the board of deans, none of us cared for him.” One of the men behind him cleared his throat. “If we’re going to work with this young man, we need to have him telling us the truth when he knows it. Damn it, Jacobs, now you made me forget where I was.”
“Working with you? Did you need me to take over his classes? I have taken over several of them now, but I can squeeze a few more in if need be.” Holliday laughed and said he was ever polite. “Okay, I’m already carrying his load with mine. But I enjoy the classes. It’s sort of a change of pace for me to teach microbiology with finance added in for fun.”
“No, it’s not. He was a bastard for taking advantage of you. And to hear him tell it, he was doing you a favor. Something about you having too much idle time on your hands.” The dean shook his head. “Deans are not required to teach any classes at this college. It’s been that way from the beginning. When you’re dean here, you spend your time getting to know the students, helping them out when they need it, as well as trying to come up with ways to raise money.”
Thatcher: Robinson Destruction – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Page 14
