Chapter Six
Uinta Mountains, Utah
The Garden of Divine Light
George Bennington, rechristened and redeemed as Gideon, sat at his desk, staring fixedly at the video recording of that traitorous bitch Iris. On repeat, over and over, he watched her waltz around his woman-servant’s dormitory, waltz into his library and take his money, waltz on out of his sacred compound. Over and over, he watched her give him a huge smile and then flip him her middle finger.
Who the hell did she think she was? No, scratch that – what the hell was she doing thinking at all? Who the fuck gave her permission to do that?
Yes, the dumb slut had only been one of his flowers for a year, and as such she was the last and least-important of all his property. She’d been a drug-addled wreck when she’d arrived at the Garden, hollow-eyed and shaking but still stunningly gorgeous with that midnight hair and those winter sunset eyes. She’d been raw and angry, wilful and challenging, and he’d had to remind her several times that she had, in fact, chosen to come to the Garden. He’d enjoyed reminding her.
Despite all of her rough edges, Gideon had hoped for Iris to quickly move up the ranks of his women if she worked hard to win his favor and approval. All of the little flowers in his Garden were true beauties, slim and delicate and demure, and he’d found Iris’ dark fire stirring. Her pale, haunting beauty had been intoxicating, and the more he sensed her struggle to bend to his will, the more he wanted to break her to submission. He was determined to mould her into the perfect woman-servant, totally under his control.
So yes, he’d definitely had big plans for Iris to serve him in all the ways that made him the most happy – and then she’d just walked away from all his wants and desires, literally given them the finger and stomped away into the night without so much as a glance over her shoulder. She somehow thought that she had that right; she actually thought that she had a say in how things went.
She thought wrong.
“Master?”
Right-Guardian Zachariah’s voice pulled Gideon out of some very pleasant thoughts of torturing Iris with a whip until her skin was broken and bleeding; done right, the long, thin marks would be delightful. They’d be vibrant red on her snow-white skin, and they’d be absolutely beautiful. The thought of tying Iris to his bed and running his tongue over the blood had made him rock-hard, right in front of his Guardian.
“Yes?” he snapped, his erection deflating. “What is it?”
“Master, Guardian Daniel just told me that the tire tracks on the side of the road are definitely from Grandtrek AT20’s. He says they’re most commonly used on vans.”
“Not cars?”
“Definitely not, Master. Occasionally on smaller trucks, but nothing very heavy. Pick-up trucks, maybe.”
“So Iris’ footprints stop where this vehicle was parked at the edge of the forest?”
“Yes, Master. Guardians Noah and Daniel trekked on foot and Servant Iris’ prints ended about ninety minutes north on a backroad that none of us even knew was there. It’s way off the beaten path and never used, but the woods behind the Garden lead straight to it. Whoever it was that left the tire treads, Servant Iris certainly went with them.”
“Tell Guardian Daniel good work.”
“Yes, Master. One more thing…”
“Which is?”
“Guardian Noah followed a second set of footprints away from the road and deeper into the woods. From their size, they’re almost definitely a man’s.”
“And?”
“Well… they lead to what looks like an area of disturbed earth and snow.”
Now Gideon was paying complete attention to his Right-Guardian. “Disturbed?”
“Yes, Master. As if somebody had been digging and then covering up a hole or an object. Guardian Noah said that he sent you a photo.”
“To my phone?”
“Yes, Master.”
Gideon grabbed his cell and sure enough, he’d received a text with an attachment. He opened it up and stared at what was clearly a large spot of forest floor that had snow stomped down flat. This wasn’t from any kind of natural snowfall, and no animal would leave the area like this.
“Huh,” he said. “Interesting.”
Guardian Zachariah was looking to his left down the hallway and Gideon heard approaching footsteps. “Master?”
“What else?”
“Briley Cross is here, Master.”
“Ah, yes. You may go. Wait downstairs.”
Guardian Zachariah bowed, then backed away: nobody turned their backs on Gideon, not ever. It was a rule that was strictly, rigorously, violently enforced.
After his Right-Guardian had gone, Gideon sat silent and for a full minute, observing Briley standing in the doorway, knowing that the scrutiny made her uncomfortable and jumpy. He liked knowing that, and he liked putting her firmly in her place right from the get-go. It was always important to remind her that although she was a respected police officer out in the world, a strong woman who could take down a man twice her size, here in this room she was just another one of Gideon’s toys. Just a dumb whore who carried out his will and bowed to his wishes.
“Well?” he said at last. “What did you find out?”
“The traffic cam footage shows seven vehicles last night that don’t belong to anyone in town,” Briley said without preamble. She knew better than to do anything more than just answer his questions. “Four of them entered the town limits and went straight through and out again, while the other three stopped. The time stamps between their entrance and exit of the limits are several hours in one case, and two days apart for the other two.”
“Show me the three vehicles that stopped and stayed.”
She nodded her blonde head and approached him, holding an iPad. “I made a copy on here for you.” She stood beside him, trying not to get too close. Lazily, taking his time and making his point, he ran his hand up and over her firm ass and although she jumped, she said nothing. “This is the first car.”
“No.”
“…No?”
“No. I’m not looking for a car.” He slid his hand down the backs of her thighs and between her legs, his other hand moved to his cock. “A truck or a van.”
“OK,” she said. Her whole body tensed as he started to rub himself and he smiled as she forced herself to relax. “Well, this one looks like a long-haul trucker who stopped at the Gibson Motel for two days. I asked Meredith at the front desk, and she told me that the guy had engine trouble and so Bob fixed it for him down at the garage. He left town around seven o’clock last night.”
“No. It’s too big of a vehicle. Also, that’s far too early in the evening.”
“So that leaves this one.” She fast-forwarded the video several minutes. “Here. A black van.”
His hands stilled. “Where did it stop? Where did it go?”
“I prepared notes about all that for you. They’re all here in the file called ‘G’.”
“Did you?” he said in a low voice. “Such a good girl.”
“The thing is that the video quality isn’t great, so you can’t see the license plate number. I’m sorry, Gideon.”
“Hmmmm.” He undid his button and zipper, pulled his thick, hard cock out of his pants. “What are we going to do about that, Officer Cross?”
“I’ll check it with some software at work,” she said, knowing full well that the question was double-edged; she was already resigned to what was going to happen in the next few minutes, and Gideon loved that despite her belonging to the world outside the Garden, he was slowly wearing her down to nothing more than an object. “It can really zoom in on details without losing too much quality. I can probably get at least a partial plate for you.”
“That would be very helpful. Now…” He reached for her long ponytail and gripped it hard, then leaned back in his chair. “Get on your knees.”
**
Ten minutes later, Briley was gone and Gideon was staring at the video intently. He squinted as hard as he could, but he couldn’t make out the van driver’s face at all.
His main goal was retrieving his runaway property, of course, but because of Guardian Noah’s photo, Gideon found his interest in the driver piqued. Whoever he was, he had been in those woods for more than just picking up Gideon’s wayward woman-servant – and it looked like the driver’s other reasons were possibly criminal. Gideon would have some of his Guardians dig up the ground, see what had been thrown down there and covered up. Maybe they’d unearth something useful.
For the moment, Gideon could say that he knew one definitive thing about the man who had helped Iris flee the Garden. According to Briley’s detailed notes about the white-and-green license plates with the distinctive Rockies image, the driver was from Colorado.
It wasn’t much to go on, but it was a start.