The Virgin Master (36 page)

Frank wondered why his uncle had seen fit to send them now. He knew better than to ask for names; inanely he started
             
thinking of
them as Thing One and Thing Two
. T
oo much time with Dr. Seuss and his grandchildren, he supposed.

Thing One, bald with an emerald accented platinum grill, gave him a large disconcerting grin as he chewed his appetizer. “Good
.
Very good. I will tell your uncle you have not
             
forgotten hospitality.”

“Thank you.” Frank bit his tongue.

It was not his place to
ask questions. He didn’t want to appear at all nervous or defensive about this visit, he would give up any strength he had by appearing anxious. Before either of the two could take offense he poured himself
a
small
vodka and tossed it back. Things One and Two favored him with toothy grins. For several minutes the only sound in the room reflected energetic chewing. Frank twiddled his shot glass and looked at his watch surreptitiously.

Thing One belched and laughed. “I guess you wonder
             
why we are here.”

Frank smiled, praying that he didn’t appear as nervous as he felt. “Any friend of my uncle is always welcome here.”

Thing Two glared at him. “You fail to show your uncle proper respect.”

O
h, God. What now?
“I’m sorry he got that impression. He knows he has my deepest regard and I admire him above all other men. What have I done, or not done to leave such a regrettable impression?”

Thing One cocked his head. “You say you will control your company months ago. Still not done. You break your word. Uncle Yuri has made many deals based on your assurance that he will have access to transportation and storage in key locations, as well as worry-free passage through customs. These deals have matured. But you have not given him these things as promised. Uncle Yuri wants to know what he has done to make you think you can break your word. He likes you. He offers you one opportunity to explain.”

He nodded at Thing Two, who reached inside his coat pocket and produced a cheap cell phone. One of the disposable pay in advance type that left no record; just like the ones he got once a month in the mail. He offered the phone to Frank.

“Only one number in
contacts list
. Uncle Yuri. He say call whatever time we get here.”

Frank took the phone and made the call without any outward signs of hesitation. He cleared his mind and tried to think only in Russian.

“Da.”

“Uncle Yuri? This is Alexei.”

“Have my two friends arrived then? Good. Good. What can I tell you, Alexei? I relied on you and you let me down. Can you tell me why? Who else are you working for?
"

Good God. I don’t think I’m going to live through the morning.
“What do you mean? You know I’m working for no one else, Uncle Yuri. I know you monitor all my financial transactions and if that were so, you would know, right?”

“Not if you deal only in cash.”

“I very nearly have what I need to take down the company. Young James has proven to be much harder and smarter than I ever knew. But, I will break him this evening. I will kill what he loves. He barely survived the last time he lost a loved one—and that was to cancer. This time, it will be clear to him that this death will be his fault. He will crumble and I will be able to take over the company. In a matter of two weeks, maybe less, it will be done. I’m sorry Uncle. I had no idea the boy had this kind of fight in him.”

“Two weeks.” A heavy sigh accompanied the statement. “Two
more weeks
for the sake of the love I have for my sainted brother, your father. But, Alexei? If this is not done in two weeks, my business associates, who will remain there in your house, will take your head. I will have to show it to my partners in Columbia and
China to save my business. You understand; nothing personal---just business.”

“I understand. Give my love to Aunt Elena.”

“Give the phone back to
Ilya
.”

Assuming that
Ilya
was Thing Two, Frank handed the
             
phone back to him and watched while Yuri gave instructions, mind spinning furiously. He would have to get into the Office of Slave Regulation Detention Center and kill Jeremy as painfully and messily as possible. He ran down a list of possible assassins until he realized that he already had an acceptable pair, sitting on his sofa.

He had a lot of work to do. He would have them film their work and send it to young James as the Detention Center would be sure to block him from visiting the crime scene, and prevent the security footage from being viewed. He laughed. He would have to get them to film a good-bye from the slave. Yes. Better yet, he could go with them. The most he could be charged with, after all, was destruction of property, and breaking and entering.

*****

Evan
was
totally wrecked when he left the Detention Center. Seeing Jeremy without being able to touch or talk to him, turned him inside out. He shook visibly as he and Tom entered the elevator to descend to the lobby. Jeremy had only looked him in the eye once and that look had enough force behind it to stop his breath and cause him to break out in a cold sweat. He couldn’t even figure out how to “accidentally” touch him.

Tom gave him a concerned look. “Are you all right, Evan?”

“No. I knew it would be hard to see him without being able to
c
ommunicate with him, but I didn’t know it would be
this
hard. Tom….if anything happens to him, I’ll die. I know that people say that all the time, but really…I might not die literally, but…” Evan struggled for words strong enough to convey his fear.

Tom patted him on the shoulder. “I can’t begin to understand what you’re going through. I tried to imagine how it would feel if Alexa
were just taken away from me like that. All I can tell you is what I’ve
been telling you, and what, I suspect, Sean has been telling you.
Don’t let it show. I don’t think anybody viewing the tape of today’s visit would find anything they could use, but man…if they could see you right now? It’s all over you.”

“Tom, I don’t know how much longer I can stand this. Can I tell you something?”

Tom looked uncomfortable. “Evan…I’m in pretty deep already. I don’t know…
.
”

“I need to tell somebody not at the company in case anything happens to me.”

The elevator stopped and Tom headed out, remaining silent until he and Evan were outside on the sidewalk. He faced Evan. “What do you mean, Evan? I thought this was just about Frank being mad at you for not sharing.”

“Sean thinks, and I’m starting to agree with him, that it cuts a lot deeper than that. Frank Owens’ real name is Alexei
Pleshenko
, son of Major
Pleshenko
and nephew of Yuri
Pleshenko
the head of the Russian mafia. Since I drive profit at James, Sean believes that Frank is trying to use Jeremy and my grief over losing Justin as wedges to drive me out. I’m not blowing my own horn or anything, but with me gone, profits will fall and the price of stock will spiral down with it. Frank can attain majority status and control of the company. I didn’t think about this before, but James has special import licenses with the federal government. Our cargo doesn’t get searched, because every employee and manager is vetted and given security clearance. Think what the mafia could do with that
. E
ven if it only persisted for a short time.”

Tom looked stunned.
“And this business with Jeremy?"

“They almost had me out based on psychological evaluations. Then I got Jeremy and I got better. A whole lot better. Frank figures if he takes Jeremy from me, I’ll fall back into a pit of depression. He’s not wrong, except now I know why.”
             

Tom narrowed his eyes in thought. “It would sure help if we knew what kind of timetable Frank is on.”

Evan lost his breath again. “You mean he might be on a deadline or something?”

“Yeah. He didn’t expect you to get better. He thought he had you out at the time of the suspension, right? So
…
has this
             
t
hing with Jeremy put him behind?”

Evan’s mind raced. “If it has
he’s going to be looking for ways to accelerate my psychological decay. The quickest way would be to
.
…”

“Kill or hurt Jeremy.” Tom’s face went white. “Call Sean. That hearing has to happen as soon as possible.”

*****

Jeremy had looked forward to just
seeing
Evan so desperately that the actual experience had been anticlimactic. Both men had been too afraid that surveillance coverage would show too much emotion. Evan had not been allowed to speak to him or touch him. He had expected as much, but he hadn’t been ready for how the reality would affect him. Jeremy had hung his head, peering at Evan through his bangs, fighting back an almost unbearable desire to call out to him; to just touch his hand; to be able to see him smile. Evan adopted a thoroughly bored mien
. He even
looking at his watch and glar
ed
at Tom as the vet went through his examination protocol.

Finally, Tom called Evan over and had Jeremy strip so that Evan could satisfy himself that his property remained undamaged. Totally embarrassed, because Jeremy had been achingly hard since he saw Evan, he dared to raise his eyes to Evan’s. Their eyes met and Evan mouthed “love you,” to Jeremy causing him to blush spectacularly. Tom casually punched Evan in the side hard enough to drive the breath out of him. Jeremy turned slowly trying to draw the moment out
,
but with one final near desperate flick of eye contact, Evan was leaving.

Unless the hearing could be set soon, it would be another long, lonely, thirty days until Jeremy would even be able to look at Evan again. He sat down with his lap top. He had asked for, and received, access to Yahoo and Google claiming research needs for work. Feeling as if he were about to commit a heinous crime he set up a
gmail
account.

He had already sent one test email to Jeff to see how closely he was watched. Nothing happened. He booted up and decided to take a chance and email Evan.

[email protected]
:
So good to at least see you today. Can’t even begin to describe how hungry my hands were to touch you. Just to look in your eyes for a fraction of a second—to see that you still want me
…
I’ll have to live on that. Please, I know Sean is doing all he can but, God, I want to come home. You have all my love forever. J

He
knew Evan hadn’t had time to get back to the office and it was likely the spam filter would just quarantine the message anyway; but he felt a little bit better for being able to express something. He laughed at himself for how his heart pounded with fear just from sending an email. Sighing he opened his work folder and found several letters Jeff needed help answering and over a dozen financial reports to analyze. He threw himself thankfully into his work.

Chapter Twenty-
T
wo

When Evan got back to his office he had a minor melt-down. Jeremy had lost weight he didn’t have to lose and looked so hopeless. He trembled from the aftermath of exerting ruthless self-control. Sean had warned him not to even smile at Jeremy. He had mostly obeyed, but
dear God, I need him back with me.

He lay down on his couch and tried to slow his heart rate. Misery welled up from deep inside. He had probably been right to bury himself in work after Justin’s death. Living
,
at least right now
,
hurt entirely too much. He had bought Jeremy with a clear plan in mind that had gone totally to hell.