2
“Why the fuck would you send Grit’s submissive into this clusterfuck?”
“Because clusterfucks are what she thrives on,” Anarchy said as though it was blatantly obvious. “They’re basically her reason for living. Or were,” she corrected with a thoughtful hum. “Grit seems to calm some of her nastier murderous urges.”
Mind blown, sure they were yanking his dick, Merrick stared at them. “Tiny blonde Tabitha, barely reaches the middle of my goddamn chest, murders people.”
“Assassinates,” Anarchy informed him soberly. “She doesn’t run around executing people randomly. She has a specific list of requirements a person needs to meet before she goes in for the kill.”
“Of course, she does,” Merrick murmured weakly, feeling his world suddenly rewrite itself to accommodate this new information. “And I suppose Grit is her accomplice?”
“More like partner in crime now, I guess. We feel a lot better knowing she’s got someone invested in her safety covering her ass on missions.”
All he could do was laugh. “Fuck me.”
She waved a hand. “Ask Jasper. He shares occasionally, but you have to ask real nice.”
“That wasn’t what I… Very funny,” he said when she grinned at him from behind the laptop. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with sending a woman into a place where they murder them for fun.”
“Not your call. Ultimately, Tabitha chooses her ops, and she’ll be all over this.” Jasper’s eyes glittered with amusement. “Besides, while she mainly works alone, if Atticus requests her on a job, he sends in a team with her. It thoroughly pisses her off.”
“Your doing?” Merrick asked, recognizing the glint of evil humor in those blue eyes.
“I do love pissing my baby sister off at every opportunity,” Jasper mused, bending to kiss his wife’s head before moving to the end of the couch to sit. “But the fact remains she is my baby sister, and while she’s probably the most capable person in the business, I still worry about her. She’s one of the only living members of my family I tolerate.”
“You like Darius,” Anarchy piped in absently. “Troy, Wesley, and Ashford are decent guys when they’re not swinging their dicks around trying to measure up to you.”
“I don’t need to swing mine around.”
“No, you do not, Sir.” She glanced up. “Call Atticus, ask him what he wants us to do. I can freeze their assets now, but that’s going to put them on alert, especially with Tamsyn missing.”
“Is that an order, kitten?” Her husband purred in a low, dark voice.
“Absolutely not, Master Sadist. A request.”
Laughing, Jasper hitched his hip and reached into his back pocket for his phone, pressing a couple of buttons and setting the device on his knee. It rang for ten seconds before it was answered.
“Homesick yet?” The voice was rumbly and tired.
“Missing your beautiful face, you big bastard. You answered the phone, so I’m presuming that’s a good sign Kaylyn hasn’t taken you hostage yet.”
“Your child is a demonic genius, Jasper. Somehow, she figured out how to summon the elevator in my office and went to introduce herself to everyone downstairs. Not only that, she convinced two members of Alpha team to give her the grand tour of the facilities, where she spent the afternoon riding on Derwent’s shoulders, giving orders to everyone in earshot.”
Anarchy choked on a laugh. “She rode Derwent like a pony?”
“I thought you’d find that amusing. Yes, like a goddamn pony. Alpha team thought it was hilarious, have now dubbed her Kickass Fairfax, and adopted her as their mascot.”
“Put her in as team leader,” Jasper suggested.
“Kaylyn doesn’t need to be sent into conflict, Jasper; she is the conflict.”
“Can’t argue with that.”
“We have more important things to discuss than Kaylyn’s future as the next scourge of the planet.” Shaking her head, Anarchy gave her husband an impatient glare.
“Hmm. We have an update on the woman found at Serenity, Atticus.”
“Good. A successful outcome, I hope?”
Jasper met Merrick’s eyes. “Not really. Judging by the information Archie’s dug up, it might be in our best interest for Alpha team to head out for an extermination mission.”
Flat silence.
“Atticus?”
“How the hell,” their boss said slowly, “do you two go on a simple case like this and end up turning it into a goddamn mission? Fuck, at least now I know Kaylyn’s a product of both of you instead of guessing where the trouble gene originates.”
Archie visibly shuddered. “Don’t use the word product ever again, Att.”
“Am I going to need coffee for this?”
“After the day you’ve had, scotch would probably go down better,” Jasper advised.
“Wonderful. All right, let’s hear it.”
Faster than Merrick anticipated, both Jasper and Anarchy became utterly professional in a heartbeat. It was like their boss was standing in front of them, waiting for their report, instead of being back home in Phoenix.
Anarchy laid out the facts quickly, precisely, while simultaneously sending emails to Atticus to back up her findings. It became apparent—if it hadn’t before—that she was absolutely a force to be reckoned with when armed with a laptop and the internet.
“Jasper, what’s your recommended course of action?” Atticus demanded.
“Given the evidence we’ve found and the presumption we’ll find more when Tamsyn points us in the right direction, I think breaching the compound might be our best shot at minimal damage. There’s nothing pointing to anyone but the security team being armed, although that can never be taken for granted.”
“Could you disable the surveillance systems remotely, Archie?”
“I haven’t managed to locate them yet. It might take me a day or two; the guy who designed the website is smart, not putting all his eggs in one basket. I might have to hack the security company, and if that doesn’t work, gain entry into the companies these assholes have invested in.” Her fingers were flying over the keyboard. “I did track the financials, but I’m guessing it’s only one piece of the pie. It was almost too easy to get in. I’ll clear the accounts once I’ve found them all, but if I start picking them off one by one, it’ll tip them off.”
“Identify them all and wait.”
“What do you want me to do with their ill-gotten gains, Att?”
He grunted, sounding far too much like Merrick. “Funnel the money into one of our spare accounts. Do we know how many women and children are currently on site?”
“No idea. Until we get the full story from Tamsyn, I think we’re going to be twiddling our thumbs for a while. It’s too risky to send up a drone, and there’s no telling when she’ll regain her voice.”
“Have you run any of this by Tabitha yet?”
Merrick scowled. Were they all so quick to throw her to the wolves when they needed something dangerous doing? For fuck’s sake, she was tiny . Sure, she had an attitude the width of Nebraska, but there was no way of telling how far the entitled pricks at the top of the mountain would go to protect their dirty way of life.
“Merrick has reservations about us sending my sister in as a sacrificial goat,” Jasper said with a perfectly straight face.
Atticus groaned. “We’re divulging classified data now?”
“To civilians, no less. Pretty sure he’s not going to broadcast it all over the state.”
“Not unless he wants a midnight visit from her,” Atticus stated with a laugh. “Got your hands full with the little mute, Merrick?”
“I’m keeping her.” He didn’t know why he felt compelled to say it, but it felt damn good to hear it aloud.
“Sounds like she’s landed on her feet, then. We need to decide what to do with the other victims still on the premises. We have enough safehouses scattered around to relocate them, but it appears the majority have been born into the fucking place, so we don’t have families to send them home to for support. Add in the legalities of no official documentation or identification… this is one hell of a clusterfuck.”
“Main priority is getting them out alive before we worry about the rest,” Jasper pointed out. “The elders may have a contingency plan in place like those assholes in Detroit. They all popped cyanide capsules as the team breached,” he explained in a quiet voice, his eyes sliding over to Anarchy as she sniffled. “Polygamous dynamic with one husband, three wives, and seven children. The youngest was three.”
Well, fuck. It beat Merrick how two seemingly normal people like these could bear witness to atrocities like that without taking a massive hit to their personal lives and mental health. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that one such incident would probably scar him for the rest of time, especially if there were dead children involved.
Women were to be respected and protected.
Kids were on another level entirely.
“You promised we wouldn’t talk about that again.” Swiping at her eyes, Archie swallowed back tears. “Especially not when my hormones are running riot and I cry if there are no pancakes for breakfast.”
Jasper was on his feet in an instant, elegantly rising and crossing over to his wife in a couple of long strides, setting his phone down on the arm of her chair before wrapping himself around her from behind. He kissed the side of her neck. “Sorry, kitten. I’ll put it back in the vault.”
She leaned her head against him, her eyes still shimmery. “That was a bad day.”
“It was.” He closed his eyes and they were quiet for a moment before he sighed softly. “I think in the interest of being cautious, we need to get more intel, Att. Archie can keep digging from here, hunt down the bank accounts, see if she can root out any protocols for what happens in case of a perimeter breach or emergency. We need to get eyes on the place, get an accurate number of security personnel and civilians.”
“They might keep records of their internal population,” Archie said, shaking off her moment of weakness. “I mean, judging by how they operate, I can’t see them having a list of women they have in stock. They really don’t give a shit about them, unless one does the unthinkable and runs.”
Merrick cleared his throat. “They don’t have tech within the compound, at least not where the women have access to it. Tamsyn’s been fascinated with the TV for weeks, didn’t have a clue how to use it, and cell phones are a foreign concept to her. Pretty sure she’s never seen a laptop before, either,” he added, lifting his chin toward Anarchy’s. “If they’re signing contracts, my guess is they’re on paper. She doesn’t know how to read or write, so either they don’t bother getting the women to sign or they just force them to make a mark.”
Atticus sighed down the line, but it held a growl of frustration. “We’ll give them a week. I’m going to pull in Sonic and get her to access satellite images. Check and see if they’ve established a no-fly zone; it might not be something they’ve thought about. If the skies are clear, we could maybe drop a couple of Alpha team out of a plane as adrenaline junkies. Give Tabitha a poke, J, and see how open she is for some reconnaissance work.”
Jasper rolled his eyes. “I get the fun task.”
“She doesn’t hate you as much as you think she does.” Anarchy reached up and squeezed his hand. “She just believes you and her brothers don’t value her skills as much because she isn’t hung like a donkey. It doesn’t help that you know far too much about her secrets.”
“They’re hardly secrets anymore,” he huffed, “and we don’t value her any less because she’s not a man, for God’s sake. She’s the best of all of us.”
“Maybe tell her that,” his wife suggested brightly.
Merrick pinched the bridge of his nose.
“We need the girl to talk. Would flying Connie over help?” Atticus asked.
Who the hell was Connie?
“I don’t think it’s that she doesn’t want to talk,” Merrick snapped defensively. “I think she physically can’t.”
“Hmm. A doctor then.”
“That just makes her worse. She ends up being sedated.”
“That’s understandable. If she’s married, it’s likely she’s been through… well, I wouldn’t presume to guess what the fuck she’s been through.”
“She isn’t married.” And she wouldn’t be unless she made that choice of her own volition, Merrick vowed. He’d sworn off marriage after the disaster with Helena, but if Tamsyn wanted that security, he would bend over backwards to give it to her.
“Oh.” A note of surprise rang in the single word.
Archie’s head popped up, her eyes bright and aware, while her husband’s eyebrow arched over blue eyes darkening with knowledge. Before his wife could speak, he covered her mouth with his hand. “I think the details of Merrick’s personal relationship with the girl are best left private, kitten. However, it might be prudent to offer some advice.”
Ready for battle, Merrick squared his shoulders. “You gonna piss me off, Fairfax?”
“In all probability. If you’re planning on fucking the girl—”
Rolling her eyes, Archie wrenched the sadist’s hand off away and sighed. “Men. Merrick, these guys see women as their property. They take measures to ensure they remain virgins and kill them if they’re not. We’re going to shut them down, permanently, but with all these gaps in the data, it might take longer than we’d like. Even a week opens up a window for them to pinpoint Tamsyn’s location—they’ve been searching for over a month, and my gut instinct is telling me they have connections in the area. Police, search and rescue, maybe even locals who benefit from a wad of cash thrown their way to keep an eye out for threats to the community. There is a net waiting to come down on her, and they’ll be tightening it as they narrow down how far she can get, the most likely places she’ll be. If they didn’t have dogs, they might have brought them in by now. The scent trail will be old, but who’s to say they won’t get lucky?”
“We have security.”
“Excellent security with Grit in charge,” she agreed, “but the system is new and still has minor flaws. He hasn’t cemented a solid, trustworthy crew yet, and the reality is, Evander and Elias haven’t designed the security to stand up against a threat like this. I know additional measures were put in after the shit with Tabitha went down, but I’m still not convinced they’re prepared for what these assholes could do.”
“Jasper, request a meeting with Eli, Evander, and Grit. Explain the severity of the situation and suggest bumping up their security. Tell them we’ll provide whatever they need.” Atticus took charge again. “I can deploy Beta team today. Grit knows most of them. Once we have enough intel to move on the community, I’ll send Alpha team in.”
“How many teams do you have?” Merrick asked. “Won’t that leave you short-handed?”
“We’re in the process of expanding. Alpha team will remain here in case we get an urgent situation, but as of now, we’re in the planning stages of several operations. I can spare Beta team.”
“We’ve gone off point,” Anarchy interjected. “What I’m trying to say is, if Tamsyn’s father and his creepy friends manage to retrieve her—which is a long shot—they’re not going to be happy if she’s… you know, not a virgin. That’s going to seriously cut down our window of time to save her.”
Jasper shook his head. “Kitten, despite everything, you are still so na?ve. I love you for it. If they take her, they’re going to kill her anyway. Groups like this who have their hands on the reins from conception to death won’t tolerate disobedience of this level. They’ll kill her and use her death as a warning to the others—either murdering her in front of the other women, or parading her body to send the message.”
“I… fuck.” Eyes softening with tears again, Archie scowled. “In that case, go for it, Merrick. Show her what she’s missing. Life is too fucking short not to be loved for whatever time we get.”
Truer words were never spoken, he thought as Anarchy rubbed her face against Jasper’s arm. In this case, it wasn’t going to be an issue, because there would only be one murder if Jedidiah Drake and his cohorts tried to get their filthy hands on Tamsyn.
Cut the head off the snake, and all that.
“On that note,” he stated, “I’m gonna go sit with her awhile. Stay as long as you want; help yourself to food and whatever.”
Running his hand down Archie’s arm, Jasper shook his head. “Thanks, but this is a good time for us to take a break. Grit hooked us up with a room in the clubhouse, so we’ll get settled in for the long haul. I know someone else who could use a nap to recharge her batteries.”
“He only recharges them so he can beat my ass when the urge strikes,” she said dryly.
“It strikes often with a brat in the vicinity.” Jasper smirked, but Merrick was starting to read him now, and there was a brutal kind of love inside the man. As cold as his eyes could be, that love burned twice as hot. “Pack your gear, kitten, we’ve imposed on Merrick long enough today. Att, I’ll work on getting Tabitha on board and keep you updated on everything we’ve discussed so far.”
“All right. I’ll brief Beta team later on this afternoon and ship them out. If Evander has any recommendations for accommodations nearby, let me know. If not, I’ll find them a motel as close to the resort as possible.”
“How many are coming?” Merrick asked, rising from his chair.
“Twelve.”
“Talk to Grit,” he suggested to Jasper. “There’s a bunkhouse on the west property line reserved for security personnel. There should be enough room for your guys.”
“Good work.”
“Daddy.” A cross voice came down Atticus’ side of the line, female and oh so Little. “You promised you’d come play tea party with me and Mr. Bear.” The with sounded like wiv . “You’s very late.”
Atticus heaved a sigh. “Sorry, princess. I forgot all about the tea party. How about we order in pizza for the horde and have a movie night instead? I just have a few details I need to clear up here first.”
Suspicion leaked into the woman’s voice. “’Mergency?”
“Yeah, Alicia. An emergency.”
“M’kay, we has movie night instead, Daddy.” There was a smacking sound, a giggle. “I go wake up the horde!”
“Oh hell, no. Lisha, don’t you dare!” Atticus made an exasperated noise. “That’s me signing off before she has the house in chaos.”
The line went dead before anyone could say goodbye, but Anarchy was already laughing. “Poor Atticus. Next time we have to leave on assignment, maybe we should ask Zeke and Olivia to watch the kids.”
“Zeke spoils them. Braun might be the better choice.” Jasper leaned forward and snapped the laptop shut, plucking it off her lap. “We’ll see you later, Merrick. I think we’ll be taking advantage of the facilities while we’re here if you and your… girl,” he decided after a moment’s thought, “are up for a drink.”
“If it involves leaving the cabin, probably not.” Merrick didn’t mention the near-miss with Blake and the orgy.
He watched Jasper grasp his wife’s arm gently and lead her toward the front door. She was obviously tired—he didn’t know much about the stages of pregnancy, but he imagined growing another human being was a huge drain on the mother’s energy and physical resources.
What struck him most was Jasper’s way with her. He used his words, quite effectively, not only to keep her to a certain line—which she tested frequently, given the fact she wasn’t afraid of him—but to tease her as well. For a sadist, he seemed remarkably even-tempered, although those eyes did suit him.
Merrick got the distinct impression the man would step in front of a bullet without hesitation if it saved the woman he loved. Still, there was a sense of relief when they left, as though a subtle tension dissipated with their exit. Maybe the guy just vibrated at a certain primal level, subconsciously warning off any potential threats through sheer will alone.
Once, he’d believed his love for Helena was that strong. Maybe it had been, at least on his side. But now Tamsyn was in his life, he was beginning to realize Helena was right when she’d told him he wasn’t mature enough to commit to her back then, even though he hadn’t particularly felt the desire to sow his oats with anyone but her.
In the back of his mind, a tiny kernel of resentment he hadn’t known he still felt toward her loosened and broke apart. He wasn’t a man who believed over much in fate and destiny, but it felt like he’d been touched by both when he was in Tamsyn’s presence.
Maybe Helena’s rejection was meant to be; a sign of better things to come, a hint that almost perfect wasn’t right for him. A silent message telling him to wait for the impossible to find him.
The one who captured not only his interest, but his fascination.
The one who caught his attention without saying a word.
The one who gave him her heart without asking for his in return.
There was no regret in letting Helena go, free and clear. She’d made her bed and she was responsible for everything that happened from then on. She was his first love, but not his last, and that was okay.
Loving Tamsyn was proving to be a whole new experience, one he was enjoying despite the challenges—or maybe because of them. She didn’t want to be with him because of his money—how could she be when she didn’t know about it? She sure as hell wasn’t after his dick and a few months of fooling around in the sheets; hell, if she stuck around once she saw what he’d been cursed with, he’d feel a lot more secure in their future.
Time would tell where they’d end up, he supposed.
Marriage and kids really didn’t sound like a bad idea right about now.
All he needed to do first was find a Dom he trusted to get the hardest part out of the way so they could move on to the rest. Luckily for him, he had just the guy in mind.