Mystique Rogue (8 page)

             
Carmen reached out to touch the cub, stroking his fur. “You want to tell me what the hell is going on? First the garbage at your house, now this? The same person is behind all this?”

             
He nodded. “As far as I can tell, only she would be this demented. She has partners in every country. Women who train men and women for absolute subservience, to crave the taste of pain.”  His head lowered so he stared at the floor. “To break a person’s will so there is no will but the Mistress’s will.”

             
Reaching over, Carmen put a hand underneath his chin. “Does this woman have a name?”

             
He smiled. “Most call her Mistress. The world would know her as Princess Yasmeen.”

             
“Then let’s show her how we ignore such things.  But, you do know we have to get the cops in here to get this mess cleaned up.”

             
Nodding, he sighed and stood up. “I know.  But we’ve got two days to make it to Vegas. But…” He looked at the tiny body. “Don’t let them know about the cub? I’ll take care of the poor thing.”  He reached for it, only to have Khan step in the way to take the tiny body, gently, between his jaws.

             
“What the...” Sean’s words were interrupted by a soft chirrup from the bundle and the waving of a tiny paw. Gently, Khan laid it back down on the ground to paw at the tight chains.

             
Carmen scooted forward. “Let me. I’m good at picking locks. The faster we can get them off the cub, the faster we can find out just what damage has been done which caused him to appear dead.”  Slowly, she reached into her back pocket, pulling out what appeared to be a small pen. A twist of the top caused the pick to appear out the other end. Approaching Khan and making no sudden moves, she reached down to the barely breathing tiger cub, “Easy Khan. I won’t hurt him.” 

             
Khan looked into her eyes as if searching for answers. He must have seen something as he leaned forward to nuzzle her face and nip her jawline before backing away. Turning, he curled up around Sean’s body and watched her intently.

             
A few moments later, the restraints fell free and Carmen gathered the cub in her arms to cuddle it close.  The pulse of the animal beat a frantic tattoo against her chest. “I’m going to have to get Michelle
in here and get a vet to help out, and someone to decipher the stuff on the walls.”

             
A new voice intruded from the door. “I think I can help you with that.”

Chapter Five

             
All of them turned at the voice and Khan snarled at the strange man, making motions to lunge at him. Sean, back in his persona as
Rogue
barely had enough time to grab the neck fur and wrap a forearm around his throat. “No, Khan!  This is not who did this and you know it.”

             
Carmen stood up with the cub in her hands. “Dad?”

             
“Yeah, baby, it’s me.”  He looked at the angry tiger. “Back off, fur face. You have no idea what you’re dealing with and, if you want this youngster saved, you’ll calm down and let me do my job.”

             
Khan actually backed up into
TheRogue
, who blinked then looked at her. “Dad?”

             
Carmen nodded. “Yeah, the man who took me out to the obstacle course when I was a kid and had me working around the big boys until they dropped from exhaustion.” A grin lit up her face. “It’s good to see you, Dad. After this, though, you’ve got some serious explaining to do.”

             
He nodded. “Fair enough.”  He reached over to gently run his hands over the white and black fur. Slowly, he began to gently apply acupressure to certain areas.  “He’s been kept in a form of suspended animation with a combination of acupressure and acupuncture.” Opening his hand, her dad revealed five tiny pins. “Placed in the right spots in his nervous system, it made him appear dead.”

             
In her arms, the cub began squirming and growling, waving his paws about.  Khan moved over
and gently placed a huge paw on Carmen’s leg.  She knelt and let the cub roll out of her arms and onto the floor.  “Take care of him, Khan. Dad and I are gonna go have a small talk.”  She looked meaningfully at
The Rogue
, who had remained quiet, watching. “The team will take you to Vegas. They know the routine and I guarantee you will be protected within an inch of your life.”

             
His eyes went dark. “What about you?”

             
Carmen moved over to
The
Rogue
and laid a hand on his masked face.  Smiling. “Don’t worry. I just have to check up on a trump card I happen to have laying around.”

             
Rogue
rose up on his knees and drew her head down so his lips claimed hers.  The moment they touched, heat arched between them, like lightning only with a pleasurable ache. As the kiss deepened, the world fell away until only the two of them remained. Nothing else seemed to matter in the entire universe.  She raised her hands to run them through his shoulder length brown hair, carefully avoiding the ties which held his mask on. 

              Suddenly the door behind her dad burst open, sending him flailing into her. Not even thinking twice, Carmen turned and caught him. As he scrambled for balance, her fingers removed the small knife in his belt and made an underhand throw at whoever had come through the door. In the blink of an eye, she had her dad’s combat knife in her right hand before stalking towards the doorway even before the cursing started.

             
There, laying on the floor and clutching the inside of his thigh, lay Sam Lodina. Michelle lay unconscious with a nasty bruise blossoming on her jawline. The rest of the team had just rounded the corner and, having seen one of their own down for the count, were advancing on the manager.  Logan, face suffused with rage, led the pack.  “Stand down, boys and girls. He’s mine for the time being.  Logan?”

             
Logan kept coming.

             
“Logan!” Carmen raised her voice, “Do not make me angry.”

             
He looked up at her, eyes shimmering with barely suppressed violence. “What?”

             
“Tell the Black Angel we need his wings.”

             
Sam made to get up, only to have Carmen place a booted foot on his chest. “Oh no you don’t, you little prick. You’re going to stay right there and bleed until I get damned good and ready to let you up.”

             
Louis blinked at her. “Carmen? Uh, you sure you want BA in on this?” 

             
She looked at him. “We’ve got a psychopath stalker who’s willing to hurt animals and break the will of human beings to do it.” Her emerald green eyes turned glacial as she looked down at the man under her foot. A moment later, she glanced at the rest of the group. “We’ve got a job to do and there’s just so much we, as a crew can do. Black Angel owes me a long list of favors and it’s time I called in one of his specialties.”

             
“I’ll kill the little pimp bitch! I swear it.” Michelle jerked awake with vengeance in her eyes.

             
“You can have him after a bit. He’s mine first. Now, you guys get
Rogue
and his people to Vegas. 

I’ll be there in two days. Tell BA to meet you there. And if he asks, tell him,” Carmen grinned impishly
.
,

             
“Tell him the brat is pitching a tantrum and needs to be spanked. My play on words to tell him we have a bitch of a problem on our hands, and it needs to be handled.”

             
They all laughed.

             
“Right. Now, get
Rogue
out of here and go carefully with the tiger and I want the cub pampered
to a fare thee well. Get the roadies and the stage hands in gear. I want him out of here and on the highway as soon as possible.”

             
Logan handed her a disk before leaving and smiled. “A gift for you.”

             
Once the corridor was cleared out, she reached down and hauled Sam to his feet. “Quit your whining, Lodina. I am my father’s daughter. If I had wanted you dead, you would have been impaled by my knife throw and castrated before you could even start screaming.” She turned and walked him into the room where her dad and Sean still stood. “I believe,
Rogue,
you need to keep a leash on your manager. He almost got hamstrung.”

             
“I’ll sue you! You horrible woman!” Sam’s face turned an interesting shade of red and the veins in his neck looked like they were going to burst out of his pale skin at any moment.

             
“Oh, I sure hope you try, Sam. As a matter of fact, please do. Then you can explain why you hit one of my people, rendering her unconscious. Also, I want to hear you explain to the cops why you attacked Miss Deveau without provocation or warning.”

             
“I did not!” He glared at
Rogue
. “I don’t know what she’s talking about. The woman told me I couldn’t come in here to listen to this meeting.”

             
Rogue
looked at me and arched an eyebrow over his mask. 

              Carmen laid the tip of her knife on the inseam of Sam’s pants and explained to everyone in the room. “Michelle Deveau is an expert in self-defense, knife fighting and is an expert in firearms. If she had seen you coming, we would not be having this conversation. Most likely you’d be cupping your nuts and we’d have to remove her boot from your ass.  Be thankful Logan didn’t get to you.  He's more than a little pissed off at the moment.  I won’t go into what he’d like to do to you because it isn’t necessary.”                She looked over at her dad. “Maybe I should get my old teacher to come down here by telling him he has a new practice dummy waiting for him. I’m sure he’d love to experiment with his acupuncture methods.”

             
Carmen’s dad opened his mouth to say something until she winked at him. With considerable effort, he nodded sagely, “Master Chang is always eager to exploit his…” his lips twitched as he controlled the laughter. “Talents.”

             
Sam blanched and looked to his boss for help. “They wouldn’t.”

             
Rogue
hadn’t missed a single exchange between father and daughter. “She would, Sam, trust me.  So, for your own protection, you’re going to be by my side at all times. No more going out for drinks with your boyfriends, no stepping outside the room unless one of Miss Marshall’s team is with you.”

             
“But, but….”

             
“No buts! You’ve managed to alienate yourself from this team at each turn. So far, they’ve done their job despite your efforts to sabotage their authority and get me to fire them. Now, before I find the hot pink duct tape, we’re going to head over to my hotel room and get it packed.”

             
Carmen turned him loose and watched as even the tiger snarled at Sam As
Rogue
passed her, he took her hand and lifted it up to his lips, nibbling them lightly before leaving. Checking her watch,  she saw it was almost midnight, then looked up at her dad. “Well, I know you aren’t here on a social call just to visit me, so call in your people and get this place photographed and cleaned up.”

             
He looked shocked, “How did you know my team was here?”

             
Laughing, Carmen nodded to the doorway where his people hovered. “Do you think I wouldn’t know?
Puhleeze
, Dad. You don’t go anywhere without them. Now let’s go get something to eat and drink.”

             
“You heard my daughter. Get in here guys and get everything tagged and bagged.”

             
The team erupted into laughter and headed in. Her dad looked around, then smiled. “You still like Spanish Guitar music?”

             
“You know I do.”

             
“Good. I’ve got just the place. Come on.”

             
She stopped a moment to scoop up her radio and took one last look around. “I want copies of the pictures, guys. No editing out, no withholding stuff.  This is my client
,
and his protection is my job. I can’t do it if I don’t know what’s going on.”

             
“You’ll get it, Carmen. You have my word.”

             
                                                                                    *****

              The strains of the Flamenco guitar floated in the air around them half an hour later.  In front of them were the steaming dishes her dad had insisted on paying for. Two bottles of beer were on hand as they sat and watched each other like wary adversaries until the waitress left them alone. Carmen grabbed a piece of garlic bread
.
and looked him in the eyes. “I’m not going to beat around the bush like Mom normally does.  Why are you and your team suddenly showing an interest in my client?”

             
He sighed and leaned back. “No, you never were one to pull punches.  We were ordered to investigate the slave trade. White slavery to be exact. The files we were handed included
The Rogue
.  For some odd reason, no one knows what he looks like and...”

             
Carmen held up a hand. “I’ve probably got the same stuff you do.” She sighed and placed her fingers theatrically over her forehead. “Allow the Great Madame Forlessa to tell you what your file says.”  She paused in her cheap gypsy accent for effect.

             
“Oh, and what does the great Madame Forlessa see in the files I have.”

             
“Because he wears a mask and appears to be such a mysterious figure, and because his troupe is such tight lipped and loyal, he has come under suspicion of certain government agencies. Women have been known to throw themselves at him and are rebuffed or are ignored.  Known associates of
The Rogue
include one Mistress Yasmeen, whom he absolutely loathes.”  She looked him in the eyes, “The dressing room was her doing, by the way.”

             
He nodded. “Almost word for word. Actually, it’s this Yasmeen lady we want, not
The Rogue
.  Our records actually have him as one of the good guys, even if he’s a bit weird and has a white tiger as a pet.” He took a drink of his beer. “Yasmeen is loaded and has contacts throughout the world.  She’s got a reputation of being a bitch if she can’t get what she wants.”

             
“You’re preaching to the choir, Dad. According to
Rogue,
she’s been after him for a while now.  The mess you walked in on was one of her more... creative tendencies. I need to review the surveillance disks to find out who walked in and did it while he was on stage. Whoever it is, I’m going to have words with them about obeying my orders.”

             
“There’s a few rumors floating around the office he’s screwing his manager.”

             
Carmen choked on her drink, prompting a waiter to come over and pound on her back until she got her lungs cleared. “If I know you, you’ve been laying bets on this. Which way are you betting and how much is the wager?”