Saving Brigit (18 page)

“Do you know how long it took to develop a cover to get you into the compound? How careful those dipshits are about who they let in as buyers? Do you have any
idea
how much is at stake?”

Derek mentally rolled his eyes at the rhetorical questions. Of course he knew what was at stake, damn it. He’d been in on the operation’s strategy from the beginning, weeks ago in the States, before anyone was even certain the Claw had the stolen missiles. With or without them, the Claw had been a thorn in democracy’s side and a danger in the area for long enough.

“I can still tag the weapons. The change in timeframe doesn’t affect that,” Derek said. He’d explained Thia to Harrington as one of his operatives when he returned to his team’s house the night he went to her.

Harrington told Derek in no uncertain terms that the military was responsible for following the mission as outlined. If Derek’s operatives become entangled with the Claw, Harrington informed him, he hoped they knew how to handle themselves because nothing was going to change as long as he was in charge of the mission.

“And I can release the women the Claw has imprisoned. Not a problem.” He hoped that was true. He’d have to find a way to make it true, damn it.

“Like hell! And even if you can, it isn’t your decision.” The colonel heaved a sigh and ran his hand over his hair and down the back of his neck. “Jesus Christ, Derek, what possessed you to demand seeing the Claw tomorrow?” His voice dropped to its normal range, the anger gone. “We talked about this. We decided we didn’t need to push as long as the missiles were still there.”

Derek knew if he told Harrington why he’d changed the plans on his own, that Thia had been given like a common hooker to a band of thugs and animals, he’d be fucked. As it was, he was lucky Harrington hadn’t threatened to toss his ass on the next military transport home.

“I’ve been hanging around there playing the game for weeks. Either the prick is ready to do business or he isn’t. Nothing gets a salesman off the dime faster than thinking the customer will go somewhere else.” Derek stopped to study the colonel’s face.

“This ploy will work, Colonel. It’ll stimulate action on the Claw’s part. Then we can nuke this shithole and get home.” They weren’t quite going to nuke the compound, but by the time they finished destroying the missiles, the results would be the same.

“What about the principals?”

“Same as before. I attach a homing device to the missiles when he shows them to me, and our planes will know where to drop their loads. At the same time, America’s finest converge on the common area and rounds up the Claw’s lieutenants and anyone else interesting they find. I’ll take care of the Claw after…” He closed his mouth and stared at Harrington.

The tight line of the colonel’s jaw told Derek he knew the next words. “How do you plan to get your operative out? If she’s with the other women, we have very little intel. Our only contact with any of them has been in those pleasure rooms. No one even knows where in the compound they’re bivouacked.”

“I’ll know that in a day or two.” He held the colonel’s gaze. “Look, we should have thought about this as soon as we knew there was a group of women housed there. We need to find a way to get them out before the major assault or else the whole world will be seeing dead bodies all over FOX News and CNN the next week. Even if the usual bad guys can’t prove we set the bombs, the speculation will be that we did. We don’t want any more collateral damage than necessary. Especially not young women.”

Harrington shook his head. “This needs to be fast, sharp, and under the radar all the way, Derek. We won’t have hours available to search that whole goddamned region of caves under the mountain.” He gave Derek a pointed look. “Not even for an
operative
.”

“We won’t have to. Any day now I should be able to make contact with Mrs. Williams. Within the same time period, the sale should be a sure thing, and I’ll have tagged the missiles.”

“Do not be too certain of that.” The voice came from the doorway. Derek and Colonel Harrington turned to see Rashid.

“How’s that?” Derek asked.

“I stayed after you left. A buyer from Iran was heard boasting that he would soon have American missiles for his political masters.”

“How confident was he?” The colonel was all business, his earlier ire with Derek seemingly forgotten.

“From what I heard, he’s already sent a message saying he would be returning with them by the end of the week.”

Shit!
“Sounds pretty fucking sure to me,” Derek muttered. He faced Harrington. “Still think my change in tactics is bad?”

Harrington just frowned. “How should we work this?” He looked at his watch. “I have to shove off in half an hour. All hell will break loose if it gets out we have a paramilitary mission set up on this side of the border.”

The three men bent over the table and examined the map they’d developed of the mountain fortress. Derek’s gaze slid to the section of the Claw’s compound they knew existed, but not what it held.

Somewhere in that mountain, hidden from America’s probing, spying eyes, Thia was being thrown to the dogs. He couldn’t imagine what she was going through—or more to the point, he didn’t want to imagine.

He never should have let her walk into the Claw’s palace. Like Rashid, he’d watched her “capture,” but from a greater distance. Ever since, he’d beaten himself up over it. She had no idea what she was getting into. He should have hog-tied her and sent her back to Islamabad with one of his men, but she might have hated him for doing it. Derek only hoped she wouldn’t hate him now for not saving her from herself.

Time had no reality for Thia, only men using her. When she’d last slept or eaten, she didn’t know. The questioning had continued after she’d been used for some time, but in her haze of utter exhaustion, she had no idea what she’d babbled to the interrogators.

She only knew that, at some point, she was half carried, half dragged back to the room where she started. Exhausted, looking up through eyes that barely stayed open, she saw the bastard who had banished her to hell. Behind the Claw stood a young woman, beautiful and dark, dressed in a see-through, flowing gown. She kept her eyes cast down, though as Thia watched, she glanced up. Their gazes met. The younger woman’s eyes held fear with a tinge of curiosity. Thia knew hers held only fatigue.

“Well,” the Claw said cheerfully, one gloved hand clutching his string of beads and the other stroking his beard. “You return, none the worse for wear, as you Americans say.”

“We also say ‘Go fuck yourself,’” she shot back. The woman gasped. Her eyes widened, and she stepped back as though to separate herself from Thia’s blasphemy.

Instead of replying with anger, he chuckled. “If that were anatomically possible, think of all the fun we would miss. Fun like my guards have had with you for the last two days. They report very favorably about you, by the way, saying you satisfied them with vigor even when you were barely able to hold up your head or spread your legs. Very good, my dear, very good.”

He stood in front of her, and suddenly his expression changed from jovial to threatening. “Did you enjoy being the bitch for my men?”

“Not much, no.”

“Do you know there are worse places for a woman to be sent in my world? If I think you’ve lied to me, I can put you somewhere the lowest men go for relief.” He stroked one gloved finger down her cheek. She wanted to recoil from the contact, but with force of will, she stayed still. “Some of the men who frequent there are criminals, murderers, rapists.” He chuckled again, a deep, ugly sound. “They make my men look like angels.”

He waited for a response, but Thia couldn’t speak. What she’d endured with the guards had been all she could take. Only the memory of what she’d pledged to July and the knowledge that Brigit could be facing something as bad or worse kept her from breaking. If she was sent to a place like he described, she would die, or want to. And Derek would never find her. Involuntarily, she shuddered.

“It’s safe to say most of them are sadists.” He smiled, his voice filled with satisfaction. Thia struggled to mask her fear. “None of them care what they do to the woman they are with. Your life would have no meaning for them.” His smile was ugly. “And thanks to the jackals in the surrounding mountains, we have no trouble getting rid of the bodies.”

He stopped, letting that sink in. Her heart pounded. She licked her lips and then wished she hadn’t. Dried cum flavored her tongue and flooded her taste buds.

“What do you want of me?” She struggled to find the right words and not sound as frightened as she felt. “I’ve told you the truth of why I went to Pakistan and how I found that bastard Omar. I told
them
every time they stopped fucking long enough to ask me.” Nausea from hunger and tiredness almost overwhelmed her. She swayed in the chair, preventing a spill onto the floor only by catching herself on the table. “How can I prove it to you? I don’t know who you are or what this place is. I just want my niece. If you’ll let us go, I promise not to tell—”

“You will remain. And so will the girl you came for.” He studied her eyes for long minutes. The room was deadly silent.

Thia tried to calm her breathing. She stank of sex. Every part of her body ached. She wanted nothing more than a bath and then to close her eyes for hours. The men had used her pussy and ass so much, she didn’t think she could walk to the door unassisted. Still, she forced herself to remain upright and alert. This man’s whim determined her fate.

His stance relaxed. A good sign—wasn’t it? She dared a sigh.

“My scouts have detected no one following you,” he said. “No strangers have been seen in the area, and you performed well for my men. I will follow your progress with interest.”

He moved to the other side of the table and gestured the woman forward. With a fearful glance at the man, she took timid steps until she stood beside Thia.

“You will do as I instructed earlier.”

“Yes, my lord,” the woman said. Eyes still focused on the floor, the woman handed Thia a folded garment. It turned out to be a soft, dun-colored linen sack. Thia stood and pulled the thing over her head. With her height, it hung just to the top of her knees, but at least she was no longer naked.

“My name is Fatima,” the woman said in a lyrical, low voice. “You will come with me, please.” She placed a noose made of leather around Thia’s neck and cinched the choke knot.

“Wait a minute,” Thia protested. “I’m not some animal you can lead around.”

The man slammed his hand on the table. Both women jumped.

“Do not question! Disobedience on your part will bring my displeasure.” His face split into a sneer, and his gaze shifted from her to Fatima and back. “You
and
your friend will feel my wrath.” The woman next to her trembled so hard the leather leash shook.

“Master, she is new, but she will learn to serve. I promise.”

“See that she does.” He strode from the room.

The hulking guard who had first fucked Thia came into the room. He leered at her, but gave only a passing glance to Fatima. He motioned them out the door and then commanded, “Look down. Do not speak. Keep up.”

He opened the door and exited. Fatima followed, giving Thia no choice. It was walk or strangle on the leash around her neck.

She had never ached so much in her life or been so afraid or humiliated. All she knew was that she must keep up and keep on. There had to be some way she could make contact with Brigit, to send word that help was on the way.

She prayed she was right about that.

Nothing’s ever felt as good as this.

Thia floated in warm, scented water. If she held her eyes shut and discounted that she didn’t understand a word the female voices said around her, she could almost believe she was visiting a spa. Then she moved one of her legs, and the ache of being used spread through her.

When they reached this place, a combination of low-ceilinged, stone-walled rooms with toilets, pools, and dressing rooms, Fatima immediately took her to one of the toilet rooms. There she gave Thia an emetic and held her head while she heaved out her guts. She then douched her and performed a purge on Thia’s colon.

Thia, tired and weak from being emptied, let Fatima lead her into a pool. Water cascaded into the pool from some unseen source. Fatima gently pushed Thia under the rush of water. She washed Thia’s body and hair, using fragrant soaps. Thia came back to life as the scum and residue of the past two days sluiced off her body. Fatima took a long time cleansing Thia’s body, tenderly rubbing and caressing her arms and legs, and particularly her sex.

Finally, Thia stepped into the pool where she now floated. If only she could spend her time here until Derek’s plan executed. But she couldn’t.

“Fatima,” she called softly, “I’m looking for my niece, a young woman named Brigit.”

Pool water lapped over her breasts and mound as Fatima moved through the water toward her. “Brigit was with me for a while.” Fatima spoke just above a whisper. “She is now a true pleasure giver, very popular with the men.”

Thia experienced both elation that she wasn’t too late, that Brigit was still alive and well, and dismay that she had been thrust into the forefront of the sex business.

“How can I talk with her?” She switched from floating to treading water, before facing Fatima.

“You are forbidden,” Fatima said, treading water beside Thia. “You will remain with me to learn about pleasing our clients. As a novice, you will not be allowed to speak freely with the other women.”

Thia nibbled on her bottom lip. “But I have to get a mess—” She stopped, not knowing if she could trust Fatima. “I have to let her know I’m here.”

Fatima looked around the pool room. Wary, Thia did, too. They were alone.

“I will tell Brigit you are with me. You must make no move toward her.”

“Why not? They already know I’m her aunt.”

“In this place, they manipulate us. If we make friends, they use one to hurt the other. If we band together to talk or play, they pose us as enemies.”

“How do you survive?” Thia whispered.