Deadly Target [IAD Agency 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) (22 page)

Son of a bitch.

They hadn’t seen it.

No one had thought that the missing inventory at Cryton Dynamics had anything to do with the missing women, but if what Robert Ellis was saying was true, then it was. It was all connected. This was turning into a nightmare of epic proportions, and she was smack dab in the middle of the clusterfuck.

A door banged open, and Mikayla heard the doctor jerk to his feet at the sound. Heavy boot treads came toward them and she could smell the cigarette smoke lingering on the newcomer.

“Is she awake yet, Doc?” a deep voice asked.

“No, Carl,” Robert replied quickly, his voice shaking slightly with intimidation. “I was just checking her vitals. I told you it would be several more hours until she was awake again.”

“She’s already been out for almost seven fucking hours. She’s hot. She’s a little older than the others, but I can see why the boss wants her so much. I can’t wait to try her out.”

Mikayla forced herself not to jump as a rough hand pulled down the sheet and pinched her nipple, hard. Another hand slapped the hand away from her and raised the sheet over her again, covering her.

“Don’t move her. I need her completely still during the healing process.”

A pain-filled cry sounded out and Mikayla guessed that Carl had struck Robert for his small kindness to her.

“Don’t push me, you little shit. Damn, if the boss didn’t need you I’d gut you like a fish,” Carl snapped.

“Hands off, Carl. The boss needs him and so do I,” another voice said. “Besides, we’ll still have plenty of time to play with our new pet before we hand her over.”

Another man entered the room. By the sound, she could tell that the newcomer wasn’t as heavy as Carl, but the authority in his voice told Mikayla that he was the more dangerous of the two. Icy fear slid down Mikayla’s spine as she fought back a shiver at those ominous words.

“I was just checking her vitals, David. The cryo-fix has done wonders to repair the damage done to her leg, but it’s still working and she shouldn’t be moved.”

“You’re too damn soft, Robert. This is why you’ll never get anywhere without me. It was stupid to let you talk me into giving her that shit before we tried her out. I don’t care about her damn leg,” David Henley said. “The only thing I care about is that she can spread them so we can fuck her.”

“Can’t you just use one of the other girls you’ve drugged for now? It’s going to be several more hours until she’s better. Days even—”

“Tomorrow.” David interrupted Robert with finality in his tone. “You have until tomorrow to record your data then she’s ours to play with. I’m leaving with George, Tim and Derrick to take the girls and the shipment of LD to the buyers. We’ll be back around noon tomorrow. Don’t try anything, Robert. I warned you after last time. Asset or not, if you try to escape again I’ll have Paul or Carl kill you. You understand?”

“Yes,” Robert whispered.

“Carl?”

“Yeah, Doc?”

“Make sure this bitch is ready to party when we get back.”

“Sure thing. Do you want her tied to the bed or strung up?”

“Hmm,” David murmured as he thought about it. “Tied up, I think. We can always move her for round two. Or three or four.”

Oh yeah, this mother fucker is going to die.

Carl laughed. “Yeah, once we have her shot up with LD she’ll be begging us to fuck her anywhere we want. I’ll have her ready.”

“The boss isn’t expecting her till Saturday night, so we’ll have time to enjoy her before we have to hand her over. We just have to make sure we don’t leave any marks on her body,” David added.

Vile, loathsome little fuckers.
When Mikayla was back on her feet she was going to put a bullet in his head. She’d kill him. She’d kill them all.

That was a promise.

“Are you taking the other girl with you to sell with the others?” Carl asked, his voice growing softer as they moved away from the bed where she lay.

Oh god, they were talking about Katie. Mikayla practically held her breath while she waited for the asshole to answer and breathed out in relief when he finally did.

“No, I’m still recording the data of how she’s reacting to the LD. I have a special buyer in mind for her. We can get a higher price if we sell her as a virgin still, so no touching while we’re gone. Tell Paul too.”

“Got it,” Carl agreed.

“We’ll be back soon,” David said in warning then strode from the room.

They left Mikayla in her silent prison, trapped in her own body with nothing but her own rage and fear to keep her company as she thought about what was to come.

* * * *

Gage pounded on the cabin door.

Over the last several hours worry had turned to fear, making him almost rabid with the need to see Mikayla and Katie so he could kill them both for doing this to him.

He and Mikayla had plans that evening after she had gotten back from Denver with his sister and he was done for the day with his client on the ranch. She had said she would call as soon as she got home, but there had been no call.

At first he had been pissed that they had extended their trip without informing him. When he had gotten his head out of his own ass, he had started to worry. It wasn’t like Katie to take off without telling them where she was going. It had been hours since anyone had spoken to either of them and after repeated calling and getting both of their voice mails, that worry had turned into fear. As evening faded to the dark of night Gage couldn’t wait any longer.

“They’re not here,” Nick said from where he was standing next to Gage on the porch. His voice rang with his own fear that he tried to hide.

“Damn it, where are they!” Gage raged as he rapped his fist against the door again.

He was about to pound on it again when the door swung open and an extremely pissed-off Slade filled the doorway.

“You,” Slade growled. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you? I just had a very long day and if you were smart you’d leave before I make you pay for waking me up and what you put Lynx through.”

“Mikayla and Katie are missing.”

Slade’s face went blank of all expression and he simply stared at Gage for a moment before turning around and walking away. Gage and Nick looked at each other. Nick shrugged then gestured impatiently for Gage to follow Slade into the house. Nick closed the door behind them as Gage walked into the kitchen.

Slade ignored them as he picked up his phone and dialed. When it went straight to Mikayla’s voice mail, he hung up and dialed another number.

“Is Lynx with you?” Slade asked as soon as Adrian answered.

“No, I haven’t seen her since she left Cryton Dynamic to go to lunch with Gage’s sister. Why?”

“They’re missing.”

“The fuck she is!” Adrian exclaimed. “Hold on, let me go get Rock in the other room.”

Gage bristled with barely restrained energy as Slade stared back at him then pressed a button on his phone set it down on the counter. “I’m putting you on speaker here. Gage and Nick are here with me. Go.”

“Okay. You’re on speaker and Rock is here with me,” Adrian said.

“Give us the goddamn sitrep,” Rock barked out.

Slade nodded to Gage. He leaned into the phone and spoke clearly, knowing that the other men would be able to hear the edge of panic that sharpened his voice. “Mikayla and I were supposed to have dinner after I finished work today. She told me that she’d call me when she got back, but she never did. No one has seen or heard from my sister either. Both of their phones go straight to voice mail and it’s not like Katie to stay out without telling one of us where she is.”

“I ran a trace on both of their cells but got nothing. They must be turned off. Katie wouldn’t turn her phone off,” Nick said. “Her family has a rule that she is always supposed to leave it on when she’s out. She wouldn’t forget that, and she never forgets to keep it charged either. Something must have happened to them.”

“I called Lynx and it went to voice mail, too,” Slade added.

“So did I,” Rock said over the line. “Reboot her phone.”

“What do you mean?” Nick demanded. “I just told you their phones are off.”

“That’s what I was planning to do,” Slade said, ignoring Nick. “Let me call you back in five.”

“Got it,” Adrian confirmed. “We’ll be waiting.”

Slade hung up the phone then turned to Gage, studying him.

Gage wanted to punch the bigger man for looking so damn normal. So damn calm. He didn’t seem worried that his friend was missing when Gage felt like he was going out of his mind.

“How much do you care about Lynx?”

“What the fuck? Seriously? You’re standing here asking me that when I feel like I’m going fucking crazy because I’m afraid something’s happened to them and you don’t seem like you give a damn? And don’t call her that.”

“I’ll call her whatever I fucking want. Lynx is family to me, now answer the question,” Slade snapped, finally showing some expression.

Gage blew out a breath, wishing he could punch the other man. He struggled to control himself and leash the crazy so he could focus on what was important. He needed to find Mikayla and Katie. That was all that mattered. “I think I’m falling in love with her. Christ, I know I am.”

Slade nodded. “Good answer. Come with me.”

“Where?” Gage asked, grinding his teeth as he was forced to ask the question to Slade’s back since the man was already walking away again.

They followed Slade into the main foyer and watched as he went to the wooden paneling under the large staircase. Slade pressed on a panel of the wood, and Gage watched in amazement as the wall slid open to reveal a hidden elevator. They got in and Slade pressed his palm down on the blank panel that looked like glass. The glass panel lit up and scanned his palm. He lifted his hand as numbers appeared on the screen and quickly pressed in a sequence.

The door of the elevator slid shut and with barely a jerk, the elevator sank two floors below the house without seeming to move. When the doors opened Slade moved fast, leading them through to the security center.

“I’m showing you this because you love her,” Slade said. “But remember, there are about a hundred different ways I can kill you without leaving a mark if you ever tell anyone what you’ve seen here.”

“Yeah, like that is something I’d ever forget,” Gage muttered as looked around the security center below the cabin in awe. Both he and Nick stared at the arsenal of weapons on the back wall with trepidation.

“Who the fuck are you people?” Nick demanded. “As an officer of the law I—”

Slade turned to him. “We’re IAD.”

“Shit,” Nick growled. “I knew it. I fucking knew it!”

“What?” Gage asked, gripping his hair with his hands in exasperation. “What the hell does that mean?”

“It means your girlfriend is a spy! A goddamn super secret spy!”

“So the fuck what? All I want to know is how to get them back!” Gage yelled out.

“Don’t you understand? Mikayla probably put Katie in danger!” Nick explained to Gage then glared at Slade. “Are you running some sort of operation right now? You son of a bitch, if you put Katie’s life at risk because—”

“You’re going to want to be very careful about what you blame Lynx for.” Slade spoke softly, but the tone of his voice was clear. He was getting pissed off, and they didn’t want a pissed-off Marco Sladerman to deal with. “Lynx is on medical leave recovering from an injury. She’s not involved with anything that could have caused someone to take her. Now, if you are done bitching perhaps we can focus on finding them.”

Ignoring Nick’s glare, Slade turned to Gage. “What car did they take?”

“Katie’s. But the title is under my name,” Gage answered. He gave the information and Slade entered it into the search program, remotely turning on the vehicle’s GPS system. His fingers flew over the keyboard then typed in another set of numbers, startling Gage and Nick as Adrian and Rock Savage’s faces popped up on one of the monitors on the wall.

“I’ve got their vehicle tagged and I rebooted her phone. Both at the same location. I’m sending you the coordinates now,” Slade said, avoiding any greetings and jumping right to the salient information.

“Got it,” Adrian confirmed. “I’m heading out to go check it out. Tag me on my phone and keep me updated.”

Slade, Gage and Nick could see Adrian leave the room behind Rock, who frowned back at them. “Why take them? At first I thought this had to be connected to the thefts at Cryton Dynamics. Lynx did a walk-through this morning. The VP of logistics Arvan Kelner rang her bell, but I did some cross checking this afternoon, and the guy is clean. Now, I’m not so sure. But even so, she is just consulting. We’ve been on this case for a week. Why take her?”

“What is Cryton Dynamics?” Gage asked. Rock quickly explained what he and Adrian were working on and why they were in Denver.

“You’re right, that doesn’t make sense. I think this has to do with the missing women,” Nick said, calmer now as he slid into cop mode. “There’ve been twelve missing women in the Denver area in the last two months and this is too similar to the other cases to ignore.”