Read I Spy a Naughty Game Online
Authors: Jo Davis
Tags: #Erotica, #General, #Sexual Dominance and Submission, #Erotic Fiction, #Fiction
I Spy a Naughty Game (8 page)
“We have five primary suspects who are possibly providing Dietz with monetary backing and who may know where the weapon is being hidden. Ralph Meyer, Landon Hart, and Augustine Kosta are businessmen, all three powerful movers and shakers. One is a woman, Nicole Andrews, who is Hart’s sub. Her involvement is a question mark, more so than the others.”
“Why is that?”
She held her boss’s gaze. “Because she’s only been with Hart a few months.”
“Correct. Go on.”
“The last and most important player is Major Reed Fontaine. He and Dietz are old acquaintances. Eight years ago, there was a whisper of an accusation that the major was overheard having a private conversation with an unknown person in which he sympathized with Al Qaeda, but he was considered so far above reproach that the matter suffered a swift death. He has not, however, received a rank advancement since then, which may have further fueled his desire for retribution against his own government.”
“Good work. What is the thread that ties all of these people together?” Michael asked her, continuing his quiz.
“They are all part of the D/s scene to varying degrees and have met with increasing frequency at one particular club, Velvet Underground. Outside of the club, they have little or nothing in common in their personal and professional lives. For this reason, we believe they’re using the D/s scene as an excuse to meet and conduct their business regarding the weapon, and possibly other illegal activities as well, with none the wiser. If they’re meeting at another location besides the club, we’ll follow them and find out where.”
“Pretty clever,” Bastian put in. “If not for Dietz’s connection to the major, we might never have caught on.”
“True, but it’s still theory,” Michael reminded them. “We need proof, which is why I’m sending you all in. If Major Fontaine isn’t Dietz’s right hand, the one who provided the bastard with the inside information he needed in order to steal the weapon in the first place, he might know who did.”
Blaze spoke up. “My money’s still on the major. Despite his ‘untouchable’ status, inside sources say he’s a ruthless fucker with a God complex nearly as big as Dietz’s. If anyone in the government could’ve helped Dietz pull this off and had the motivation to do so, it’s him.”
“With any luck we’ll know soon enough.” Michael shifted his attention to Ozzie and Willis. “You two will spend most of your time in the van on surveillance, listening in. If and when it’s necessary for you to observe from a closer position, Emma will work her magic to help you blend into the crowd.”
She nodded. “Most of the makeup and costume changes I’ll bring, except for what we need ourselves, should fit in the van. Blaze and I definitely don’t want to be caught with that stuff.”
Michael leaned forward, an eager gleam in his eyes. “Good point. We’re all on the same page?” The question was met with a round of affirmative answers. “All right. Ozzie and Willis will keep me informed. One hint that anything has gone wrong, Bastian and I will bring in the troops, so don’t give us cause for worry. Be back here in forty-eight hours, ready to go, wheels up. That’s all.”
Emma rose and followed Blaze out, leaving their counterparts, who stayed to ask their boss and Bastian a couple of questions. Blaze turned around, walking backward, a smirk on his face.
“Getting nervous yet?”
“No. I’m a professional, so why should I be?” Annoying man.
“Gee, I don’t know. Maybe because in forty-eight hours you’ll have to convince a roomful of dangerous men that you live to serve me?”
A thrill shot through her at the image, but she rolled her eyes to cover the sudden, confusing reaction. “Get over yourself, hotshot. I can act with the best of ’em. How hard can it be to go through the motions?”
He laughed, the deep, smooth sound stroking her nerve endings like a lover. “Oh, honey. After the way you responded to me last night, I don’t think acting is going to come into play. And I’ll prove it.”
“How?”
“At the end of this assignment, if you can look me in the eye and honestly say you didn’t love every single part of your role—minus the bad guys, of course—then I’ll be
your
sub for as long as you want.”
your
sub for as long as you want.”
She stared at him, incredulous. A man like him would never make a bet like that if he thought there was a chance in hell he’d lose. “You’re on,” she heard herself say, the lure of the wager too much to resist.
What? You idiot! You played right into his hands!
“Great! Dig around in that costume box and get your leathers polished, baby,” he said in a low voice, raking her from head to toe with a heated look. “We have some . . .
research
to conduct in the name of national security. See you when you get off work.”
research
to conduct in the name of national security. See you when you get off work.”
He spun and jogged off, and she spent a few moments watching his fine ass disappear down the corridor before the clearing of a throat snared her attention. She turned to see that Ozzie and Willis had joined her and were grinning like Cheshire cats. How much had they heard? Her face flushed.
“Shut up,” she said, pointing her finger at Ozzie, before he could even open his mouth.
She marched away, heading for the sanctuary of her office, their snorts of laughter at her back.
Jerks. Must be part of the male DNA.
No wonder most of the world was at war; men were in charge. And she, a strong, competent professional woman, was about to abase herself at the feet of one of their nutty population.
You had to love irony.
Robert Dietz sat quietly on the metal bench in his barren white cell, legs crossed and hands clasped in his lap, the picture of the perfect gentleman.
Why shouldn’t he be calm and polite toward his guards? It wasn’t as if he’d be here much longer. No, this was and always had been strictly business. He harbored no real animosity toward anyone at SHADO.
Except for Michael Ross. Him, he’d gladly consign to hell.
If only poor Maggie’s untimely death had kept Ross from the helm a while longer, SHADO would’ve been firmly under Robert’s control by now. A near-invincible force of surveillance experts, combat veterans, and assassins—his to direct to his causes at will.
For that loss alone, he’d triple Ross’s suffering.
A pained grunt and the sound of footsteps running toward him along the corridor broke into his thoughts. He stood and moved to the cell door, the anticipation of probable danger singing in his blood. He hadn’t been behind a desk so long that he’d forgotten how to fight when necessary. He’d require all of that experience now, and then some.
Avery Hanson appeared at his cell door, shouldering an Uzi submachine gun and fumbling with a ring of keys. “Shift change. Took out the new guards and the security camera just like you told me,” he panted, young face pinched in anxiety.
“Well done. We have perhaps forty-five seconds to a minute before someone comes to check on the glitch. Surprise is our best advantage on the way out, so we have to move.”
“Yes, sir.” With a twist of the key, Hanson unlocked the door, and the wall of bars slid sideways automatically. Reaching into the back of his fatigues, he removed a Glock and slapped it into Dietz’s waiting palm.
“Tio?” Dietz barked at the younger man.
“On the roof. He slipped onto the compound with the fake ID I made for him and commandeered the helicopter, just like you ordered.”
“Excellent. Let’s go.”
Ross would shit brass monkeys when he got wind of this, in mere moments. Even though Ross had to know there was a mole in SHADO, he would never expect a direct assault from the inside. The idea made him smile.
At this hour there were few operatives in the building; it was the lull before the morning bustle, which was precisely why he’d chosen this time. Casualties were unavoidable, such as the two guards on his cell block that Hanson had dispatched, but would be kept to a minimum. He wasn’t, after all, a vicious man—simply a practical one.
Waste not
was his belief.
Waste not
was his belief.
He and Hanson made their way cautiously down the corridor, passing the other cells, all vacant. He supposed that as their sole guest he should feel special.
The first guard lay prone at the end of the corridor. Dietz stepped over his bulk, noting a curious lack of blood. He directed a sharp look at Hanson as they continued on. “Did you kill him?”
“I incapacitated him. He’s out for a while.”
Killing a man who posed an imminent threat was not wasteful. It was one thing to act in an expedient manner, quite another to act in cowardice wearing the guise of mercy. Dietz wondered which described Hanson’s reluctance to permanently remove the guard as a threat. That was the chance one took when trying to mold someone so young and inexperienced. He’d have to address the issue with the man later.
They stepped over a second guard, also unconscious, he presumed. At the elevator, Hanson swiped his electronic card to gain access, and they rode up in tense silence. The true test was yet to come—he’d leave either in the helicopter or in a body bag. But one way or the other, he
was
leaving.
was
leaving.
As a security measure, the elevator from the basement jail ascended only to the first floor. From there, they’d negotiate a couple of corridors to reach the elevator that would take them to the helipad on the roof. Perhaps luck would remain on their side and they would get away cleanly.
As if the thought had conjured them, a handful of agents jogged around the corner at the end of the hallway, weapons drawn. Spitting a curse, Dietz raised his arm and fired several shots at the group, scattering them. The agents took cover in open doorways and returned fire, bullets slamming into the wall as he dove to one side.
The bastards, firmly entrenched and blocking the route to the elevator, had him and Hanson pinned. Unless he did something fast, this was going to end badly.
He ducked through the open doorway next to him and looked into a woman’s shocked face dominated by huge blue eyes, and grinned.
“Hello, dear,” he said, leveling the gun at her heaving chest. “Let’s go for a stroll, shall we?”
Emma stared into Dietz’s smug face, unable to comprehend for a second, but catching on fast. The sound of guns that had drawn her from the office, not to mention the one in his hand, told most of the story. “How the hell did you escape?”
He advanced quickly, moving to stand behind her and shoving the muzzle into her right temple. “We’ll have plenty of time to chat on our helicopter ride. Let’s go.”
She held fast even as a chill swept through to her bones. “If you kill me, you won’t make it out alive, and I’m not planning to cooperate. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Yes, you are. Otherwise, I’ll be forced to negotiate a hostage to take your place. Are you the sort of woman who would send a man in your stead? Can you live with the death of a fellow agent on your conscience?”
“Robert Dietz, throw out your weapon and come out with your hands up!” an agent shouted from the hallway.
The disgraced leader whispered in her ear. “Well?”
Loathing for this worm filled her, and a sinking sense of helplessness. She would never allow one of her comrades to be hurt if she could prevent it, and he knew it. “I guess I’m going for a ride,” she hissed.
“Good girl.”
The praise, a twisted version of the same words Blaze had spoken, sickened her. Coming from his lips, it sounded perverse.
“Hold your fire!” he yelled, then urged her forward. “Move.”
She did as she was told, heart pounding wildly in her chest. He guided them into the corridor using her as a shield, and she was greeted by the horrible sight of a young agent lying on his back. Avery Hanson. His body was riddle with bullets, blood spreading across the tile, eyes staring heavenward. From his position, opposite the agents’, it appeared he’d been with Dietz. She’d never have believed this man would be a traitor.
And now he was dead because of his choices.
“Lower your weapons and give us a clear path to the roof, or I’ll splatter her brains all over the place,” Dietz said to the closest agent. “Make sure everyone knows.”
The agent complied, carefully reaching for his cell phone. Tears stung Emma’s eyes as she continued forward, hardly aware of anything except how surreal this felt. Two minutes ago, she’d been safely ensconced in her office, nervous about the upcoming mission. And yes, excited. She had to admit that now, since she might not get the chance later.
Would Dietz kill her as soon as they lifted off? Or would he keep her around for a while? She didn’t want to die, but some things were worse than quick death. Anyone who betrayed his country by selling out to terrorists could do terrible things to a lone woman under his control.
Blaze.
More than anything, she wished for his protective embrace and scent wrapped around her. His cocky attitude and quirky personality. She’d wasted seven months when they could’ve been together, and now ...
Dietz shoved her into the waiting elevator, and the doors slid closed, creating an ominous silence. Much like a tomb.
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