Chapter 9
KYLIE
Amonth ago, I was strategizing on how to get closer to the Grants, gain access to their organization, and bring them down without getting myself or the women they have taken into their care killed.
Today, I was in a conference room with Kyler, Chandler, Josh, Patrick, and a few more names I had scribbled on a page in my notebook.
Randall joined by video conference, which was strange because his backdrop was a picture window with a view of a mountain range from the south side of the Quadrangle.
The same view I was looking at now from a slightly different angle.
Collin said he didn’t leave his place much, only when his brothers made him. It was for the best. I had met him, of course, about six months ago in a briefing with Agent Stanley. His intensity was overwhelming, making it difficult to meet his gaze.
It was my fourth full day at work. I spent the first three getting to know my new surroundings.
The room they gave me was not a room. It was a two-bedroom condo with a state-of-the-art kitchen and the most comfortable king-size bed I had ever slept in.
My favorite thing was taking a running start (because the room was that big) and leaping in the air before landing on the cloud of white duvet and an unnecessary number of pillows.
And the best part, I had daily housecleaning, so I didn’t have to make the bed.
I also had laundry service twice a week and, as far as food goes, anything I wanted was a phone call away from any restaurant on the casino floor. It was so surreal.
And the meeting wasn’t just about my focus; it was a weekly executive meeting where everyone shared projects and their concerns.
Josh ran the meeting, but Kyler was super engaged and asked questions.
Besides Josh and those who shared a last name with him, the rest of the people in the room seemed slightly terrified of the man, including me.
I still hadn’t forgiven him for basically calling me out in front of everyone.
Well, just four people, and those people were daddies and littles themselves.
So perhaps not everyone, but it felt unnecessary all the same.
“Welcome, Kylie,” Josh’s voice rose.
I blinked. “Um.” I looked at Patrick. He nodded as if giving me permission to speak.
“Why don’t you tell the team a little about yourself and what brought you here.” Josh continued.
Randall scoffed. I gave him a sideways glance.
“Yes, of course.” I leaned forward. “Thank you for the opportunity. I am grateful and excited to make a difference. As an analyst for the FBI, I have worked exclusively on the sex trafficking task force both in Eastern Europe and in the United States. I left hoping to get more involved with fewer restraints.”
The group collectively nodded.
“Kylie will also be training and working with security, although with the FBI's continuous training, she could probably teach us a few things,” Patrick added.
“Welcome to the team, Kylie.” Chandler’s booming voice filled the room.
His smirk filled his entire face. Chandler was the playboy of the brothers, and his handsome face lit up every room.
He was also the most personable. Despite my better judgement, I liked him.
I nodded and smiled. He winked at me. Patrick stiffened next to me.
“All right, does anyone have anything else to add?” he asked.
Heads shook.
“Have a good week, everyone.”
“Patrick, Chandler, Randall and Kylie, can you stay? The rest, thank you.” Kyler said, his voice softer than I’d ever heard. It threw me. I felt like I was being held back by the principal. The rest of the room was more than happy to scamper out.
Josh remained even though his name wasn’t called. He was, apparently, a given.
“Tell me more about the littles’ weekend events. There’s some excursion Rayna has been going on about for a couple of weeks.” Kyler stood and walked over to a sidecar and poured himself some water.
“The theme for the weekend is a Trip to Oz.” Chandler stood up, clapped his hands together like he was about to tell us a story.
“Starting on Friday, we bought out the 3:30 pm showing of The Wizard of Oz at The Sphere. We have about three hundred people signed up. We will transport the guests to the private screening and then back to the hotel. That night, we’ll have a dessert dinner and activities, and entertainment.
The decor for the evening is Emerald City.
Littles and bigs can dress up like their favorite character from the movie.
Then, Saturday night, the party theme is Follow the Yellow Brick Road, where the littles can stop at stations along the road and collect coins with a scarecrow, tin man, and lion on them.
Once they collect them all, it unlocks a special present for each guest.”
He was probably giving more detail than was necessary. He seemed excited.
“300 hundred guests, but how many littles?” Josh asked.
“I’d say more than half of them are littles,” Chandler answered. He had yet to look at any notes or refer to his phone. He came off as unserious, but he had a handle on the goings-on at Quad IV.
“Security at The Sphere was amenable once we described our concerns.” Patrick chimed in. “It’s been seamless. All the guests have been security checked and vetted. All members and special guests of Quad IV, no surprises expected.”
“There are always surprises,” Kyler chimed in.
“And we will deal with them.” Chandler said it, but Kyler looked at Patrick and me.
“We still have a few weeks before the event. We've got it covered. We’ll have a full briefing Tuesday, the week of, and maybe a discussion with Rayna and Tinley the morning of the scheduled outing. Have Kylie reiterate the rules,” Patrick answered with confidence.
“And Daddies will reiterate what happens if they are broken.” I’d never heard Josh’s Daddy voice. It had me sit up and pay attention. It was kind of hot.
“This is Kylie’s first outing. Should she be in on their detail so soon?” Randall interjected. My hackles rose. He didn’t seem like the social type, and he wasn’t a Daddy nor was he a little. Why did his opinion matter?
“It’s what we hired her for. Might as well jump in.” Josh’s eyes fell on me. “If you’re ready.”
“Of course. I will be,” I answered. I appreciated Josh addressing me directly.
Kyler nodded and said softly, “Thank you. Rayna and Tinley will be excited to join.” And with that statement, he nodded toward the room and walked out the door.
The rest of the room filed out.
“What did I just agree to?” I asked under my breath.
“What was that?” Patrick asked.
“Nothing.” I gathered my stuff.
“See you at 2 p.m. in uniform. Time for you to meet the whole team.” An alert popped up on my phone as he finished his sentence. It was a training session. I was being thrown in headfirst.
Back in my office, chatter on the dark web about an LA gang member had my attention. The morning rushed by. My uniform was back in my room, which was in the next building a few floors up. And I needed to have lunch before training.
A knock at my open door pulled me out of my to-do list.
Patrick stood with a paper bag in one hand and a smoothie in the other.
“I thought you might need to eat before training.” He set the smoothie on my desk and pulled out a sandwich wrapped in parchment paper with the Lefty’s logo stamped across it in red.
It was my latest favorite. Their spicy Italian subs were to die for, and they cut them into small sections. A treat for my little that I allow.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“That way you don’t have to rush.” He sat down and unwrapped his own sandwich.
“There are uniforms in your closet, too, and there’s a locker in our training area assigned to you.
We meet and go over any special training once a week.
I was going to give you a week to get settled, but with The Sphere added to the mix, you might as well jump right in.
” He gestured toward the sandwich. “Eat.”
I unwrapped my sandwich–and it was the one I loved, cut the way I liked. I shook my shoulders but stopped, remembering I wasn’t alone.
Not that anyone here would bat an eye at a little’s tendencies. It was challenging to act like a mature professional when these dominant, caring figures were so kind to me.
Stop it, Kylie.
“You okay?” Patrick asked.
“Oh, yeah.” I sipped my smoothie.
“You were a million miles away.” He took a bite of his sandwich. I watched his cheeks turn pink. He had an obvious tell when he was enjoying something.
“Good sandwich?”
He nodded and took another bite.
“What kind did you get?”
“Same as you.” He took another bite. A piece of salami stuck to his lip. His tongue swiped at it. My heart skipped a beat.
He coughed, pulled a soda out of the bag, and downed it. “It’s spicy.”
“You haven’t had it before.”
“No, thought I’d try it. You have had it a few times since you’ve been here.” He shrugged.
I dropped my sandwich on the desk.
“You guys are monitoring my food intake.” I wiped my mouth and looked out the window.
“No.” He blinked. “God, no. I just like knowing what you like.”
“Oh.” I turned back toward him. My mouth suddenly dry. I grabbed my smoothie.
“It’s my job to make sure everyone on my team is in the best condition possible to do their job.” He picked a pickle out of his sandwich and popped it in his mouth. “That includes making sure they are eating and drinking properly.”
“Of course.” I went back to my sandwich. I’m sure he monitors Mr. Martin’s hydration, too. But I kept that bit of snark to myself.
“How are you settling in?”
“Fine.” I picked up another section of my sandwich. “There’s a lot to learn. The FBI assigned you one task, which you then completed before receiving another. Here there’s a lot of different balls in the air.” I giggled.
Patrick did not. “Well, if it gets overwhelming, you are required to let me know.”
“Is that one of the so-called rules I keep hearing about?” It was fun snarking back and forth with Patrick.
His expression softened, and he studied the sandwich in his hand as if he wanted to say more.
Maybe I’d said too much. We continued to eat in silence.
My phone beeped at fifteen minutes to two. Patrick stood up. “You know your way to the security offices.”
“Yep.” I stood. “See you there.”
Turns out I did not know where I was going.
I changed into the less formal security clothes and headed down to the lobby and over to Quad IV, but every door I tried to enter was restricted.
Employees’ access to certain sections was restricted by their positions, so I anticipated this.
Collin hadn’t answered my text. I followed two guys in my same uniform into Quad I, but they were going to lunch and not training.
I barely staved off a panic when my phone rang.
“You are about to be late, young lady.” The voice was familiar. The caller id said the call came from inside the hotel. “If you are lost, perhaps you should ask.”
“Who is this?” I turned around as if I were being watched.
“Randall.” He sighed as if talking to me exhausted him.
“How do you know I’m lost?” My eyes scanned the casino floor until it landed on a camera in the ceiling. It blinked as if it were winking at me.
“You enjoy spying on people from that situation room of yours.”
He chuckled. “Actually, I do, but be nice, or I won’t give you directions.”
“Fine.” I huffed. “Which way do I go?”
“Say please?”
“Please.” I sang.
“Head toward the lobby.”
I looked at my watch and then scurried towards Quad I lobby.
“See the door to the right of reception.”
“I don’t have access to that area.” I stopped.
“You do now.”
I swiped my badge against the reader, and the door opened into a long, brightly lit hallway. “Start walking and at the first turn, make a left, then enter the third door on the right, and the security area will be on your right.”
“I hadn’t come this way before. It’s not exactly helpful.”
“As I previously stated, if you get lost again, you can ask for help.” His voice in a sing-song tone made it more obnoxious. I could picture his smug face. “Say thank you, Randall.”
“Thank you, Randall.” My voice heavy with sarcasm.
“I wonder about something.”
“What?”
“Does Patrick know he hired a brat?” He let out a low, humorless laugh. “Enjoy the rest of your day.” I hung up the phone, but his cackle echoed off the walls.
I am not a brat and didn’t find his remark amusing at all.
I made my way through the labyrinth of behind-the-scenes Quad Vegas. Once I pushed my way through the last door, Patrick stood in the open hallway looking frantic.
“Kylie.” Patrick approached the security area. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” I stepped around him and into the security department. It was an open room with cubicles scattered across the floor. About twenty people stood in the same uniform of black polos with the Quad Logo on the left chest and black slacks. I wasn’t the only woman.
“Come with me.” Patrick pulled on my sleeve. His fingers grazed my arm and sent a jolt through me. It got me moving and prevented me from staring.
The room settled and turned toward Patrick in front of a podium, with me standing to his right. Two others of Kyler and Josh’s security team stood to the left.
“Okay, let’s get started.” Patrick looked over at me. “First, I wanted to introduce a new member of the team. Kylie Stands.”
Some in the room nodded; others stood with curious stares.
“Kylie’s a former analyst with the FBI, and she will be working with Team One, specifically with Ninja 1 and 2.”
The team chuckled at the silly nicknames for Rayna and Tinley. It was all in good fun.
Patrick went over some general weekly stuff. He recognized some members of the team with special achievements. Birthdays, birth announcements. One of the security guys had proposed to his girlfriend last week, and Patrick played the casino floor camera recording for everyone to see.
The entire room laughed and offered their own narratives to his special moment. The friendly teasing suggested a strong bond within the team. It didn’t mesh with the idea of them being a criminal organization; little of this did.
He finished the meeting with a brief reminder of the littles’ weekend coming up and announced Rayna and Tinley would be attending. Some in the group smiled at the news. The girls had charmed the security team as well. It all seemed so strange. Unless . . .
“We scheduled a site visit for when?” Patrick asked.
Martin flipped through his notes. “Monday afternoon, the week of.”
“Okay, we’re going to brief Kyler and Josh on Tuesday.”
“Rayna’s going to be all over the place.” Martin added. “Tin, we’ll see how she does. Keep a close eye on her, yeah?” He nodded toward me.
I nodded back while reeling on the inside.
The team’s sole objective was to keep Rayna and Tinley in check.
The outing may be just the right time to help them escape.