Belong to Me (51 page)
Authors: Shayla Black
“C’mon, man!” Xander tugged on his arm. “The one in the suit could be Sire. We’ve got to get in there and save the women before something bad happens to them.”
Just like that, the pieces of the puzzle snapped into place. Before her death, his mother had organized a neighborhood effort to locate a missing teen. Sterling, with his law enforcement connections, would have had access to the investigation. Maybe Amanda had gotten too close to the truth. Since Adam had killed his mom so brutally, Logan knew the bastard was capable of most anything. That he was in the Pit, now fondling the “products,” told him that if the man wasn’t Sire, he was up to his neck with the bastard in human trafficking. Rage screamed through Logan’s brain, and he wanted to kill Adam Sterling.
And when Tara learned all of this . . . Logan almost hadn’t wanted to be right about Tara’s stepfather, for her sake. If his assumptions were right, Sterling’s involvement in this sex ring, in Darcy’s abduction, was going to absolutely crush her.
Cold fury swept over Logan as he pulled the semi-automatic from his waistband, checking the ammo clip. “The fucker in the suit is mine.”
Xander studied him with a nod. “I’ll mop up the other one.”
As soon as they rounded up these two, he’d have to get to the sat phone, call the Feds, get them in here to start making arrests. They already had a small team waiting after conferring earlier today, so they could swoop in and arrest Kantor, Jordan, and Sterling—if he was still alive.
“Any other guards in there?” Logan gestured to the cameras that captured Adam Sterling’s face in crisp black and white.
Xander shook his head. “There were two earlier. Now I only see one.”
A lucky break, except that meant there was a handy exit inside that room. He had to hustle now.
Logan ran out of the guard station, Xander following on his heels. He grabbed the key card and swiped it through the device. Surprising them wasn’t possible with the clanging metal door announcing their arrival, but he backed against the adjacent wall, gun drawn, hoping to draw the guard out. If they could take him out quickly, Adam Sterling would be all alone with Logan and his wrath.
As the door clattered up, and the dungeon monitor pulled out of Allison’s mouth and wandered out of the cramped holding area, zipping up his leathers and looking mighty pissed. Xander glanced at Logan, who stood on the other side of the door and mouthed,
Go
.
Go
.
With a nod, Xander pushed away from the side of the cave and met the other dungeon monitor. Logan peeked around the corner.
When he recognized one of his own in the uniform of the Fantasy Key dungeon, the guy relaxed slightly. “What’s going on?”
“Jordan sent me to check on things.”
The other man raked a hand through his blond waves, blue eyes narrowed. “You’re the new guy. When did he let you in on this?”
“You haven’t been here long.” Xander leveled the statement at the other Dom as if it was obvious.
“A few months.”
“Yeah, I worked here for years before. Took a break for a bit, but I’m back. Of course I know about all this.”
“Oh.” He frowned. “Kantor didn’t tell me.”
“Kantor doesn’t tell anybody shit.” Xander rolled his eyes.
“Yeah!” the other man agreed. “Like we’re not important. Without us, how would keep the pussy subdued long enough to make money on it?”
“Good point. So, the girls are okay?”
“Jordan is a suspicious asshole. I didn’t fuck them. You tell him that.”
Xander shrugged. “Let me see for myself, and I will.”
Logan listened, thankful again for his friend. Without him, this investigation would have taken much longer. Xander was a natural bullshitter and his connections had proven very useful.
The dungeon monitor scowled, then sighed. “See, they’re here, mostly unharmed. Help me clear a space. Sire just left and said to make room for another last-minute delivery.”
Logan’s blood ran cold. Another delivery? And Sire had left? It had to be Sterling. God, this was going to destroy Tara. But now everything made sense. Kantor and Jordan had backed away from Tara so fast because Sterling had told them she was FBI and to keep their distance. If her stay ended without incident, then Darcy would be sold, Sterling would be richer, and it would take the Bureau more time to amass another investigation. By then, Tara’s stepfather could have hidden his tracks—again.
Fuck!
Logan clenched a fist. He had to get to Cherry before Adam did.
Logan clenched a fist. He had to get to Cherry before Adam did.
“Where is he getting the other girl?” Xander asked.
The other guy shrugged. “The usual, I guess. Some slut dumb enough to come here with an inattentive Dom, and no one back home to care what happens to her. Help me move this body.”
Body?
Fighting the fear that he was too late to save Darcy, Logan shoved down his anxiety as Xander, walking beside the guy, stuck out a leg. The other man stumbled, and Xander grabbed his hair, shoving his forehead against the wall. The dungeon monitor slithered to the ground.
Fighting the fear that he was too late to save Darcy, Logan shoved down his anxiety as Xander, walking beside the guy, stuck out a leg. The other man stumbled, and Xander grabbed his hair, shoving his forehead against the wall. The dungeon monitor slithered to the ground.
That obstacle cleared, Logan ran into the little room, hurdling over the fallen man to the two shackled women. He couldn’t stay long, but he had to make sure they were okay—and find out about that body.
Xander rescued Allison, swiping the keys from the unconscious man to unshackle her. As soon as he’d finished, he tossed the keys to Logan, who hustled to the other woman. The second he got a look at her, even beneath her dirty face and red nose, he recognized Darcy from her picture.
“Agent Miles?” he prompted softly.
Her head came up as he released her wrists. She wiped her tears away. “Who w-wants to know?”
“I’m Logan Edgington, a Navy SEAL, here to rescue you.”
“Yes, I’m Miles. Help me. They k-killed Robert.”
“Agent York?” Shock reverberated through him.
She pointed to a bundled blanket in the corner. Horror whitened her face, and she looked like she was torn between racing to the body and fearing to set her eyes on her dead coworker and boyfriend.
Darcy began sobbing. “He abandoned his assignment as Tara’s pretend Dom because he knew it would never work. He took a job as a waiter to save me, but they discovered him.”
And killed him. That’s who they’d been talking about when he and Cherry had broken into Kantor’s office.
Logan made his way to the rumpled blanket and pulled it up, shielding Darcy’s view with his own body. Sure enough, York had been double-tapped in the back of the head. Half his face was gone.
Grimacing, he covered the body again. Darcy began sobbing uncontrollably.
Logan went to her. “You’re safe. More agents will be en route soon. I’m here with your friend, Agent Jacobs.”
Darcy’s blue eyes widened. “Oh God, Tara
is
here? Her stepfather is—”
is
here? Her stepfather is—”
“Sire. I know. I’ve got to go hunt him down.”
“Quickly! I think he means to grab her and sell her with the rest of us—tonight!”
KANTOR stared at her through accusing eyes while Jordan fawned over her barely clad body. Tara held in her nausea and terror. The resort manager knew exactly who and what she was; Tara could see that all over his face. The dungeon master didn’t have a clue.
Her heart broke into a gallop in her chest as she considered her possible methods of escape. They were absolutely limited, but she had to wait, give Logan and Xander as much time as possible to locate Darcy.
Surreptitiously, she stared at the clock on the wall. They’d been holed up in here for nearly thirty minutes. She and Logan had agreed to rendezvous back at their suite at eleven, twenty minutes from now. She racked her brain to come up with some other distraction to keep the two men busy, but she’d nearly overplayed her pitiful sub hand, dragged out her medical attention, and Kantor would never believe it if she came on to him. So now what?
The phone at the manager’s belt rang. At the distinctive ring, a
smug grin uglied up his face, and he all but jumped to answer. “Yes.” He paused, listen. “Yes, right away.”
As Kantor slipped the phone back into its carrier, he smiled. “Jordan, take a spin around the Pit and check on things.”
Oh, hell no
. What had just happened? Had someone caught Logan and Xander? Was that why he’d looked so self-satisfied? Just in case, she couldn’t let Jordan go down there and sound the alarm. And God knew that she had to avoid being alone with Kantor at all costs.
. What had just happened? Had someone caught Logan and Xander? Was that why he’d looked so self-satisfied? Just in case, she couldn’t let Jordan go down there and sound the alarm. And God knew that she had to avoid being alone with Kantor at all costs.
She clutched Jordan tighter and batted her lashes at him. “Don’t go! I’d love to play, Sir. I would be more than happy to continue my submissive journey with someone as experienced as you.”
Jordan’s chest all but puffed up, and he turned Kantor. “I’ll take her with me.”
“Get your brains out of your dick and get the hell out,” Kantor snarled.
Jordan released her and left with a scowl. Tara backed away from the manager.
“Now, you’ll come to my office with me,” he demanded, gesturing impatiently.
“No.”
God, she wished she’d been able to hide a weapon anywhere on her body. Now being in character was really going to come back to haunt her.
“My dungeon master may be fooled by a pretty face and a submissive disposition, but I’m a businessman, not a Dom.”
Then he pulled a Glock from the back of his waistband and pointed it at her. “You and I both know that you’re here to bring me down. I won’t let it happen. I didn’t tell Jordan about you because he’s a terrible actor. He would have given us away. Come with me now.”
As he grabbed her wrist and pulled, Tara’s mind raced. She had no doubt that if he got her alone, he’d either kill her or sell her. No way was she going down without a fight.
For a moment, she dropped her gaze and her shoulders in defeat, let Kantor get comfortable with the thought that the little woman wasn’t going to struggle. As soon as she drew closer, she shocked him with a knee to the balls, then delivered a round kick to his face. He stood as much as his aching testicles allowed and threw her a mean right cross. Tara bobbed out of the way, sent her left fist screaming into his jaw, then her right into his nose in a nasty one-two. When the impact of the blow shoved his head back, she charged, grabbing his salt-and-pepper waves, then slammed his forehead onto the desk beside him once, twice.
With a grunt, he fell to the floor.
Panting, her fists hurting like hell, Tara took a moment to shove Kantor under the desk, throw the blanket on the cot over him in case someone peeked in, then looked around for some rope or cuffs to secure him with, but found none. With time of the essence, she could only pick up his gun that had skittered across the floor, then shove her way into her sheer dress, which Jordan had left behind.
Turning off the light to the little room, she locked the door behind her and rushed out onto the dungeon floor. She had to find Jordan and occupy him before he reached the Pit. But she also had to get that backup out here pronto. The second Kantor woke, he’d be screaming for her blood. Their cover would be blown, and they’d be unable to go back to their room and contact Bocelli and the team for help. Outnumbered and outgunned, they’d be toast.
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