I Beleive Now (11 page)

He sighed as he remembered one particular partner who had decided Max's feelings were actually more than they were. Faren had evidently felt she needed to gain a better foothold in Max's life. She thought getting another man interested in her was the way to do it. Unfortunately she decided "just another man" was not good enough, so she ended up trying to start a turf war, pretending to have been attacked by one of Max's self-proclaimed enemies. In truth, she had seduced the man and she had the idiocy to think Max wouldn't find out. Faren expected Max to be jealous and, in a rage, take out the other man. But since Max never actually fell in love with any of his sex partners, it was not hard for him to walk away from them. He tried hard to make sure each and every one of them understood that simple fact.

He had taken Faren with him when he met with his supposed-to-be rival for a friendly brandy. And right there in front of everyone, Max offered up his "
ex
-partner", and yes, he emphasized that title, as a sacrifice for the "sake of peace". He was never going to forget the look on her face as his rival made it perfectly clear, not only did he have no
past
interest in the woman but absolutely no
present
interest either, and he politely rejected the offer.

It wasn't that she was unattractive. Max was quite sure his rival enjoyed himself immensely with Faren in his bed. He wasn't sure what Faren had told the man and truthfully didn't care, but the man seemed to understand immediately what was expected of him and was grateful to be given such an easy out. After the man shook Max's hand and quickly darted out the door, Max leaned in close to Faren's ear and whispered, "You don't screw with me, then screw with me." He threw a hundred dollar bill on the table, gracefully rose to his feet, brushed his perfectly pressed pants into place then walked out the door alone, leaving her there, sputtering and seething.

There were no emotions involved, because emotional involvement basically led to bad decisions and he just didn't do that.

But now there was Asher. This exasperating, irritating, infuriating, annoying, frustrating…breathtaking Asher!

And it was good. He felt good about this emotion stuff.

But he shivered nonetheless. This feeling—as new and different as it was, as wonderful and exciting as it was—was debilitating in its effect. He could not move forward until he knew Asher was safe. All thoughts, all plans, all attention was on the path of bringing his young man home.

Alive.

So that is what he was going to do.

Max's sources said Jackson was most likely going to set it up to try and shoot him again, once he knew Max was carrying the flash drive with all the information concerning the route. He probably wouldn't send in a bunch of snipers like he did last time. If Max didn't miss his very well-experienced guess, Jackson planned to have only one man, very possibly two, positioned on a roof or in a building and it was going to be up to Max to know where. He could work with it. He'd have to. Jackson had to know Max would expect it. But then again, they were supposed to be allies this time. Even though Max was basically buying Asher's freedom—or at least that was what he was supposed to believe he was doing—going forward, they were theoretically business partners.

Plus, of course, Jackson was setting up the location. Max knew it was going to be an airport because of the need to transport the merchandise, but not the exact one, nor the specific spot. Since Jackson's man, or men, was likely to have the information in advance, they could set up at the last minute. Max, of course, wouldn't be given enough time to figure out where the site was. That's why Jackson was going to have only the one or two shooters. If he were to send in a half dozen idiots like he did last time, they'd need to arrive early, and since Jackson needed to keep the location secret for the moment, he'd shy away from that kind of a spectacle. He was probably thinking how clever he was, changing it up like that. Again: overconfidence. So even if Jackson knew Max was aware, he would know there really was little Max could do. And that was what Max wanted Jackson to continue believing.

In order to make sure of his plan, Max had to have his people take out the shooter. That in itself was not an issue. It was just messy and Max liked things to be clean. Lately, leaving loose ends had come back to bite him hard and he resolved he'd no longer tolerate them.

Figuring out the airport Jackson was likely to choose was doable but tricky. Jasper surmised that obviously in this case it had to be a small airport capable of handling cargo planes. A small airport because obtaining clearance in a large one would attract too much attention and, since cargo planes were quite huge, finding all of the airports that took them was not that difficult. Plus, they knew Jackson probably wanted to stay in the area, which brought the choices down to only a few. The tricky part came from having to hack into the computer systems of those airports and acquire the list of flight plans but since the flight plans originated with Max, they knew what they were looking for when they went in. From there it was almost too easy to find the actual plane and even the hangar it was housed in.

He smiled when he remembered asking for volunteers to seek out the shooter locations. They all jumped at the chance. Max knew their exuberance was to prove to their boss they were still worthy to stand by his side but they all understood Asher's life was at stake too and he knew his people were going to do anything and everything for him as well—mainly due to the fact they understood their boss's connection to him, his obsession with Asher.

So, it was fine.

Or rather it would be, once Asher was back in his arms.

One of the other tricky parts was going to be switching the truck for the one behind the fake wall, but Max had that all worked out as well. Sleight of hand. Distraction. While they were all looking somewhere else—a place to which Max directed them to look—the switch was to be made. The switched-out truck, the one with the dummies, would be loaded onto the freight plane Lucca and Jackson ordered. For some reason they hadn't allowed Max to provide that particular transportation. Something about losing it in the air since it'd have to fly below the radars of both countries.

Once the plane was in the air, Max had said he'd give them the flash with all the information they needed to go forward. Max had to have some sort of a carrot to dangle in front of these people, showing indeed he believed he could force them to give up Asher.

Asher's release. It was what this was all about. Asher alive, well, free. One flash drive. Real names, real places, real information. It had to be real because they'd check it out. Max knew Jackson would bring a computer and plug the thing right into it. He also knew it was probable they'd recognize the names off of the original contact. If they didn't, no problem, but the strong possibility Lucca remembered made it necessary that the information was real and correct.

"So the deal is that I get the information after the plane takes off?" Jackson sounded confident.

"After I get Madden back," Max answered quickly.

"Yes, yes of course. But not until after the plane takes off, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Well, since we should be fairly safe by then, I don't see any real problem in having your Madden returned at that point. However, I don't think I will bring your little lover to the airport. For a little bit of added security, I think I'd feel much better if we released him in another location, still one of my choosing." Max heard Jackson chuckle. "You can have one of your men confirm it if you like before handing over the…what is it on again? A flash drive?"

"Yes."

"Fine. Yes. A flash drive. I will need your agreement on this."

Max had another plan in place so this shouldn't make him as irritated as it did right now. "You want me to agree to you releasing Madden but not at the airport? Why?"

"I just feel like it's a safer arrangement for the kid. Just in case."

"Just in case of what exactly?"

"Nothing. Let's just say it's the way I want it to happen. How about that? I hold all of the cards, right? You need to do things my way on this. I have followed you right along on everything else."

Like hell you have.
But Max had to tamp down his annoyance at this idiot or Asher could suffer. "What makes you think I will double-cross you at this late stage in the game? These yakuza have been difficult at best to deal with, especially this Kyo, who seems to have a whole other idea of how to do business. I really don't feel like pissing them off any more than I already have. However, if you insist on this then I will also insist on being where Asher will be released." But there was no way something like that was going to be allowed. Jackson needed Max to be at the airport. It was just that having the exchange happen somewhere else was a deviation. He quickly switched things up in his head, calculating this change in plans.

Damn it!

If indeed they could not find where Madden was being held and soon, Max had to put plan B into motion.

Jackson sounded positively giddy when he heard of Max's woes with the Japanese crime lords. "Yes, I will allow for one man, Tyler. Just one and that man will not be you. Otherwise that will no longer be a safe place either. You will be at the airport to hand over the all-important flash drive to me." Max almost heard it in Jackson's voice, the fact he didn't care one wit whether or not Max gave him the flash drive. Even so, he knew Jackson still planned to take it. They could not risk the flash falling into the wrong hands. They had to make sure it was in their possession—or as good as—before their next attempt on Max's life.

The lump in Max's throat made it impossible for him to answer.

"Tyler, you need to agree to this or Madden will disappear forever. Do you understand?"

Max wanted to reach through the phone and choke the life out of the asshole on the other end. "Fine. I will choose a man to be at the release site. I will be at the airport with you." He permitted no emotion in his voice, not even the incredible anger he was feeling. He had allowed for perhaps too much emotion already. Any more and even Jackson would start to question him.

"Good, good! I will be in touch with the locations." Jackson was the first to hang up.

Max closed his eyes when he heard the click in the receiver. He was lucky this man was an idiot. Max would deal with this change. It wasn't that he hadn't figured on this very thing happening. He had. Somewhere in the plans, contingencies had been made for this very thing. But things would have worked so much better had that asshole not done this. Max felt out of control and he did not like it. So many things had already gone wrong.
Why?

But, just like these yoyos, he had become cocky.

Jackson should
never
have been that close to Asher in the first place, especially since Max had ordered tighter security. He was irritated he had kept Cadum with him when he allowed for others to protect Asher. Yes, they should have been better trained, should have known better.

But Asher was a force unto himself. He did not blame Asher. Not at all. That trait was one of the things Max loved about him. When Max was with him, he realized life was more than figures on a spreadsheet or files with information. When he was with Asher, he found himself smiling and laughing at Asher's lame jokes, his explanations of life, his pure innocence, and just how sexy he was when he was pissed off. God, Max missed him. He wished Asher was here right now so he could yell at him for being so stupid as to go into a public bathroom in the first place much less by himself, not allowing it to be checked out first. He wished Asher was here so he could hold him again, tell him it was going to be all right, kiss him into submission and take him right here on the floor. He wished he was here…period.

Max had always thought he was in control of his feelings. He thought he had been the one who actually made those decisions. On occasion he almost felt lonely when a sex partner tried to be more to him than just sexual release. He always pulled back at that point. He thought he was making a decision to keep it superficial and to leave the relationship when it seemed the other was becoming too attached. He honestly thought he was choosing to
not fall in love
. He simply thought he'd never allow it for himself.

But then it had been made very clear to him by this young man—this kidnapper of hearts—he made no decisions where Asher was concerned. Asher was the one who was in control here and thankfully he had no idea. If he ever figured it out, Max would be finished. But maybe that wasn't so bad either.

However, he had to get Asher back first. Then he could worry about how to keep such information away from him. When he did have him back, when he did have him
right here
in his arms, he'd make him understand Max was the one in command. Whether or not Asher ever actually
believed
it was a whole other conversation completely. He only hoped and prayed he would be given the opportunity to have that conversation.

Hoped and prayed?

Wow.

He slowly shook his head. He never hoped and prayed. But it seemed he was doing it now. Yet another first. He found himself smiling. He sure did not understand this, but it didn't matter. Not anymore. He needed to navigate through this and bring his lover back home.

So all plans were moving ahead. He was going to be at the airport and Cadum would was going to be where Asher was, tonight at eleven pm,
if
they couldn't find him sooner. Now they needed to wait for that hour.

* * * *

Back in his hiding place, in an out-of-the-way warehouse, Jackson smiled to himself. He was pleased he had Tyler believing Madden would not be at the airport because it simply was not the truth. He fully intended on killing the man in front of the irritating brat right after he made a big show of giving Asher over to Tyler's contact, his so-called comrade. He had imagined the delicious chain of events so many times that his face actually hurt from the constant smile.

One of the reasons he had told Tyler what he did was to keep him off balance. Plus, he also thought the man was planning an attempt to find and rescue the kid prior to all of this going down, and Jackson was not going to allow that to happen. A little smoke screen would be fun though. Of course it helped Jackson let a few little things leak as well. He wished he could see the face of his enemy when he learned Madden was not where he was supposed to be. Then when Tyler saw his gagged and tied up little lover being shoved out of a car and onto the ground right at Jackson's feet, it was going to be one of the most delectable moments of Jackson's life.