Atlas (Billionaire Titans) (12 page)

W
e woke
up on the couch in a mahogany office that overlooked the ocean. We were in a room with floor to ceiling windows all along one wall, and the office was part of a building that towered above the rest of Dubai.

Atlas had stirred before me, his hand meeting mine.

“Baby,” he whispered. “Are you okay?”

“My head hurts,” I said. “But I’m okay. I feel like we were only out a second but now we’re…Well, I don’t know.”

“Headquarters,” Atlas sighed. “Dubai is headquarters. And he’s my old boss.”

Atlas was pointing across the room to a man I hadn’t noticed. He was smiling behind an expansive desk, a wide and charismatic smile. He had a thick mane of white hair and a thick, but trimmed, white beard. He reminded me of Santa Claus, or at least someone who could have been related to him.

“That’s right,” the man said, his voice curiously friendly and lacking the sinister quality of Malcolm’s. Now that I had my bearings I could see that Malcolm was in the room too, sitting on a chaise in the corner, a malicious smirk on his face.

“Okay,” I said. “I’m not sure what else to say.”

“There’s nothing to say, sweet girl,” the man said. “It’s what I have to say that matters, by the way. And then how Atlas responds is what will really be the most telling. But anyway, I’m being incredibly rude. My name is QB. Because that’s what I am here. The QB. The one who calls the shots.” QB looked at Atlas. “And Atlas Titan is one of my most prized receivers. And he’s come home again. Something that delights me more than he’ll ever know.”

“Wish I could say the same, Boss,” Atlas muttered, holding his head in his hands. “Was the tranquilizing really necessary? It’s a fucking hell of hangover.”

“You can thank Malcolm for that,” QB said, standing up and walking from behind his massive executive desk. He was a short man, stout, but sturdy. He stared at me a moment, smiling.

“Piper Kipton,” QB said. “You’re very beautiful. I can see why Atlas fell so hard for you. We knew it as soon as our people saw him lay eyes on you for the first time at Old Ebbitt. Spencer had his doubts that you’d be able to seduce Atlas but look at you! You sure did. He hasn’t been able to keep his hands off you since that very day.”

My jaw had to be on the floor. How did he know all of this? And Spencer? He was involved.

Atlas was just as surprised. “What the fuck? Spencer? He’s with you? You hate him. You called him a sniveling swine that wouldn’t be able to pour piss out of a boot. When the fuck did you recruit him?”

“After you left,” QB said coldly. “He was more than happy to take your place. And he’s done well for us. And will continue to do well for us as he rises through Congress and then the Senate. In ten years that boy will be on the ticket for the big show. He’s ended up being much more useful than I ever imagined.”

I didn’t know what to say. Spencer Cameron was part of SOG. I thought back to the months before, when we’d met. How he’d always seemed to know where I was, even when I didn’t tell him. How he came out of nowhere to ask me out in the first place.

Spencer had never wanted me.

He’d wanted Atlas.

I was a pawn in a bigger game. I’d fallen right into the trap.

But how could they have predicted Atlas would fall for me? How could they have known? I myself still didn’t understand how I was worthy of the great Atlas Titan.

Two days ago I would have wept. Broken down right in front of everyone. But I wouldn’t. Not now. I had to be strong and I had to be like Atlas.

I too had to hold the heavens on my shoulders. To keep us from sliding straight into hell.

“
E
nough of the games
, Boss,” I said. I was done. I just needed to know what the fuck they needed from me so I could move on. If they needed me to kill someone in order to keep them from killing Piper? Well, so be it. What was one more soul on my tally?

I had no chance of going anywhere good after this life anyway. But I could still save her. I could still at least do that.

“You’re right,” QB said. “No more games. It’s time to get down to brass tacks.”

QB moved toward Piper and I was immediately on alert. He took her by the shoulders and patted them. She stiffened beneath his wrinkled touch.

I wanted to slice him open right then.

“Piper here,” he said. “She represents your choice. We have a job for you. The most difficult job of your life, but the man we’ve assigned you to is a very difficult man to get to. He’s beyond rich, surrounded by security, and he’s fucking harder to get to than the president.”

A rolodex of names went through my head of who it could be. Senators, Governors, dignitaries, cabinet members, hedge funders, corporate big wigs. There were many possibilities but this was clearly personal. An assignment only for me. To remind me I was still under the thumb of Headquarters. That at the end of the day I was a killer.

Before anything else.

“Okay fine,” I said. “You’ve got me. Who’s the poor schmuck that I have to murder so you’ll leave me the fuck alone.”

QB’s wide smile brought caused a chill to go up my spine. He smoothed Piper’s hair down making her flinch.

“You know him very well, Atlas.” QB walked around Piper’s chair and stood in front of me.

“Your assignment is your father, Atlas. You are to kill Emerson Titan or Piper dies. And if you don’t do it, they both die anyway.”

Piper’s scream echoed across the room. It sounded far away.

I could barely hear it over the destruction of what was left of my already broken spirit.

P
resent-Day
…

I
clung
to the thick right biceps of Atlas Titan with my left hand and with my right I had a death grip on the cold steel of a tiny, yellow buoy bobbing in the water. We were somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, I knew that much, but otherwise I was completely lost, out of breath, soaked to the bone, and shivering.

Atlas scanned the horizon and his eyes locked on a plume of black smoke off to the right of us, the distance impossible to gauge with nothing but water in every direction.

I didn’t even realize I was doing it, but the events of the past few hours finally caught up to me and I was sobbing. Atlas turned his attention to me and wrapped himself around me in a comforting, protective hug.

“Shhhh. Piper, I’m going to get us out of this. You have to trust me. You’ve done great so far. I have a plan.”

He punctuated his words with tender kisses on my forehead and the bridge of my nose, his stubbly face tickling mine.

It was then that I noticed he’d lost his shirt somewhere and that he was bleeding. He had a gash across his left shoulder and another had ripped through his pants and his left thigh.

“Oh my God, Atlas, are you okay?” I tried to mask the fear in my voice, but I knew I was doing a poor job of it. I was completely terrified.

“I’ll be fine. A few more scars to add to my collection, that’s all. But we got lucky. Those guys probably expected quite a meal. A few more minutes and we’d have been dinner.” Atlas pointed just a few feet out into the sparkling blue where a pair of sinister dorsal fins knifed through the water.

I gasped and felt faint, my weight collapsing against Atlas.

“Hey, easy, everything out here isn’t so scary, Piper. Look over there.” Atlas motioned out in the opposite direction of where the plume of smoke was softly dissipating and I gasped again, but this time a gasp of joyous surprise. “Those are right whales, if I’m not mistaken. A mother and calf.”

I watched as the immense shapes glided through the water, oblivious to us and to the sharks who menaced us, circling closer, trying to decide if we were worth the trouble.

“Sit right here in the center, Piper. You’ll be safest there.”

I climbed into the middle of a yellow metallic disk, maybe ten feet across, and pulled my knees to my chest. I marveled at the shirtless Atlas Titan as he went to work on a small control panel on one of the three columns that went from the perimeter of the disk to an antenna array in the center. He’d produced a small knife he was using to pry open the box and then he began exploring the wires inside. His muscles rippled with each motion, seawater dripping down his delicious abs.

“North Carolina should be…hmm…” He looked up at the sky and then pointed into the distance. “That way. This is a weather buoy. I should be able to send a message if I can get these wires to do what I want them to do. Not exactly the proper tools, but if there’s one thing SEAL training stresses, it’s improvisation.”

“Atlas, Spencer, is he…” My voice cracked. Not out of concern for Spencer so much as my mind’s inability to cope with the events since waking up in that office back in Dubai.

“He’ll never hurt you or anyone else ever again. I promise you that. But this isn’t over. The Coast Guard are on their way here right now. Hell, once they realize a Senator was on board, the Navy will be heading this way, too. Air Force, whatever’s in the area. Which means it’s imperative that I get this message out and we disappear. You’re a great swimmer, but I don’t think either of us can go one hundred and fifty miles right now, do you?”

Atlas looked so magnificent I’d have believed him if he told me he was going to jump in the water and swim clear back across the Atlantic to the coast of France. He pulled several wires free, stripping them with his blade and twisting them together. He touched two bundles of wires together in a series of tapping motions.

“Morse code,” he explained. “Hopefully somebody nearby will recognize it and rescue us before the military does – if not, we’re probably better off trying our luck with them.” Atlas motioned toward the sharks, five in number now.

T
wenty-four hours ago
… (Dubai)

I
rose to my feet
, trembling with rage. I wasn’t sure who I wanted to defenestrate more – Malcolm or QB, but I’d already made up my mind that they were both going out the window, bulletproof glass or not, and going to be splattered all over the pavement in about five seconds.

Before I could take a step, however, Malcolm reminded me who was in charge.

“Easy, big fella,” he commanded, fingering the trigger of a .50 caliber Desert Eagle. As fast as I was, there was no way I could get to either one of them before I had a hole through me large enough to drive a bus through.

I stared long and hard at QB, knowing full well that no amount of macho posturing was going to intimidate him. He smiled as he spoke.

“I’ll give you, hmm, what seems fair…seventy-two hours to complete the job? It’s not like you need to plan infiltration. Do it any way you want to. We’ll hold onto Piper, call it an insurance policy. As soon as the job is done, we’ll release her and you two lovebirds can be reunited. If, after three days your father is still walking around, I’ll assign the work to someone else. And you’ll still be reunited with Piper, but she won’t be nearly as pretty. Oh, or breathing, but you know how this works.” QB made it sound like he was sending me to the grocery store to pick up a gallon of milk and not to assassinate my own father under threat of having the woman I loved meet a gruesome demise.

Piper was frantic, choking back sobs, and I felt my own throat closing and my heart racing.

“Why? Why, dammit? My father has nothing to do with this world. And Piper certainly doesn’t.”

QB smiled, playing up the wise, kindly old man charade. “Oh, Atlas, you know there’s never a ‘why.’ There’s simply an order and a good soldier who obeys the order. But it’s not personal, if that’s what you mean.”

Malcolm spoke up from his hiding place behind the cannon in his hand. “Let’s just say that your father has made some large investments into industries developing technology that threaten the fortunes of some very influential people.”

I wasn’t sure precisely where my dad invested all of his money, but I recalled seeing more than one prospectus for companies innovating in alternative energy sources. I knew how this game worked. I’d played it. Offers to acquire the companies or stifle the research had probably been made and rejected, thanks to the financial backing of Emerson Titan. Killing my father was an intimidation tactic. Rather than go after a dozen scientists and startup CEOs, just cut off their funding when they’re at their most vulnerable. Early days, when ideas outnumber patents and everything that looks great on paper has yet to go into profitable production.

QB quieted Malcolm’s outburst with a wave of his hand. “Now Atlas, Piper will be leaving us. Say your farewells. Whether this goodbye is the permanent kind or you’ll be seeing each other soon is entirely up to you.”

A door opening behind us caused Piper and I to both turn our heads to witness the arrival of a smiling Spencer Cameron.

“Hello, Boss.” Spencer greeted QB warmly, turning on the full politician’s charm. He nodded to Malcolm, who returned the silent gesture. “And hello to you, Piper. It’s wonderful to see you again.”

Spencer stood just out of my reach, in a position that afforded Malcolm a clear shot at me if I threatened any of them in any way. I turned my attention to Piper, who looking like she might vomit at any moment. I only had a few minutes left. I had to tell her as much as possible before they took her away from me.

“Piper, look at me. Look in my eyes. I can’t do anything to stop them from taking you out of this room right now. But I promise you. I guarantee you. I
will
get you out of this. And every man in this room who’s threatened you will pay for it. We’re going to be apart for a while. A short while. But I will save you. Do you believe me?”

Piper wiped a tear from her cheek and nodded her head.

I took her face in my hands and kissed her, a kiss I never wanted to break. And then she was gone, along with Spencer and QB, leaving me alone in the room with Malcolm and his gun.

“We’ll give them a few minutes to be on their merry way, Atlas. Then I’ll leave you alone. You have some work to do, probably some calls to make.” Malcolm reached in his pocket and produced a phone, my phone, and tossed it to me, casually. I couldn’t use it; he knew I knew that anything I did on that phone would go directly back to QB, but they hoped I might slip up out of desperation.

Malcolm glanced at his own phone, cracked a smile, and stood up, his gun pointed at me the entire time.

“This is where we say goodbye, big fella. But no kiss for me, thanks. Don’t forget, the clock is running.”

With that, he was gone. And there I sat, in Dubai, with nothing but the clothes on my back and a bugged phone. Oh, and an order to kill my own father. Under threat that the woman I loved would be killed should I fail.

I hadn’t felt so lost, broken, or hopeless since the early days of SEAL BUD/S training. But if could make it through that, I
would
make it through this. Or die trying.