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Exact location: Classified, United Arab Emirates
Wednesday, 27 January, 9:07 p.m.
––––––––
Neither Rowan nor I bowed when lion-man made his way around the camp to greet guests. The man behind the mask said nothing but kept his eyes on me throughout dinner. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to lie about Kelly being hired to take him out. Or refusing to wear a mask like theirs. I'm a rebel.
Dinner was delicious. Rowan and I tried our best to appear in lust. Biggie remained at the entrance, from where he kept watching us.
The other women looked like porn star princesses, puffed up with colourful frills galore. I forced myself not to gag. So much colour hurts my eyes.
I climbed onto Rowan's lap and pushed my fingers through his hair. Leaning forward, I whispered, "It's time. I need a cigarette."
Rowan rested his forehead against mine, his hands moving up and down my back. We were careful not to let certain parts touch, yet still appear to be on the verge of ripping each other's clothes off. "Five minutes." His palm connected with my bum.
"Enjoy the show." I turned towards the stage. Two masked women started doing various things to each other on the very platform which had served as our dinner table. At least they wore less than I did. Their nether regions didn't stay covered for long.
Biggie's hands remained behind his back as I approached. Adrenaline pulsed through my veins. The three Walker brothers wouldn't let anything happen to me, but a lot could happen in the time it took them to come to my rescue. You're not a damsel, you're a weapon.
"May I please bum a cigarette from you?" I attempted my most innocent smile. "Stop looking so worried, I'm not here for anything other than to have some fun tonight."
Biggie reached into the front pocket of his black pants and pulled out a packet of cigarettes.
"Not here. Rob hates it when I smoke." I motioned with my head towards the vehicles. From there, Aidan would have a clear shot.
He glanced towards his boss, and then down at my breasts as I took another deep breath.
"Your boss won't even notice you're gone. His focus is on the women in front of him." The things they were doing to each other told me they had done this before, but I wondered whether they were here because they wanted to be. Some guests decided to either join them or start their own side shows. Rob Granger sat unmoving.
"He's going to taste the cigarette on your lips."
"Oh sweetie, that's not the lips he'll be tasting." I winked and walked to the Land Cruiser.
Biggie shook a cigarette out for me, and as I placed it in my mouth, he lifted a Zippo to the tip. I thanked him, and tried to remember when last I inhaled nicotine, first-hand.
"What's the deal with you and Granger?" Biggie lit his own and took a deep drag.
I shrugged and leaned back against the SUV, ensuring to arch my back just enough, and kept my legs apart.
"Dammit, woman, you're turning me on," Aidan mumbled.
"I'm going to do some work for him, and I like to get to know my clients first. Of course, it depends on the client. Rumour has it Granger's chuj is magnificent. You can't fault a lady for getting more than money for the jobs I do."
He stepped closer, and I reminded myself I needed information from him before I end his life.
"What's your name?" I took a deep drag, lifted my head to the sky and exhaled as slow as my lungs allowed without coughing. An aeroplane flew over and headed towards the lights on the horizon.
"Names are not important here." His eyes fixed on mine as I lowered my head.
"I guess not. Rob will appreciate it if I'm already wet when I go back to him. Do you mind helping me with that?" I dropped the cigarette butt and stepped on it, opening my legs a bit more.
He shook his head but moved closer after dropping his own cigarette to the sand. He squatted, picked up his and mine, and pushed it into his pocket. As he came to his full length, he dragged his fingers along my inner thighs, stopping short of brushing against what only Aidan may touch. If he didn't, I would've punched him in the throat. It isn't easy seducing a serial killer's assistant.
I placed my palms against his hard chest. "I have two rules. One – a man doesn't touch me until I've seen his hands. I have a hand fetish. Two – I never suck a man's chuj unless I've seen his face. If you want to be inside my mouth, take off the mask."
He did, letting it fall to the sand. I grinned and kept my eyes wide open.
"Pretty, pretty, pretty." I grabbed his hands and stared down at the black dragon with its distinctive tail. In one swift move Biggie's hands were on my bum, my legs wrapped around his waist. He pushed my back against the SUV and rubbed himself against me.
"Rowan, move," Aidan said in my ear. I stared into the darkness, feeling my husband's eyes on me.
While Biggie dry-humped me, I removed the earpiece in my left ear and placed it on my tongue. His earlobe tasted salty, but the faces of twenty-six people flashed through my mind. Rage coiled, ready to strike, as he kept thrusting against me. Every fake moan I made, a desperate attempt to remain in control of the darkness. She was desperate to play, and it took every bit of self-control I could muster not to break Biggie's neck.
Rowan swore to my right, and I almost kissed him when he pulled Biggie away from me. He rambled on in Polish and the expression on Biggie's face translated Rob Granger's every word.
I turned to Granger. "You don't own me. I didn't even have time to play with him." I pushed out my bottom lip and turned to Biggie. "I'm sorry, Piotr. We'll see each other again soon. And I promise when we do, I'll play with you for as long as I want."
Rob Granger yanked open the passenger side door and pushed his date into the Land Cruiser. The lion-man watched. Soon I'll see your face, and then you'll die.
Piotr, or Biggie as we had referred to him, shook his head. I blew him a kiss as Rowan reversed the Land Cruiser and we headed into the darkness.
"Damn, Eli's facial recognition programme works fast." Aidan had relayed the name when I placed the listening device behind Piotr's ear. Now we could hear whatever he did, until he showered, if he scrubbed behind his ears like a good serial killer's helper should.
Rowan kept his eyes on the dark desert as I shimmied out of the latex panties and pulled on a pair of jeans and a black tank top. Aidan could help me later to remove the few straps covering my torso. "Fin, are you okay?"
"Dandy, why?"
"You were violated by a killer."
I hadn't thought about it like that. Instead I kept my focus on the victims, and the reason I needed him that close to me. I reached into my right combat boot and pulled out two cigarette butts. In the glove box I found a plastic bag and sealed it. Piotr's DNA lay in my palm. The closest his will ever come to mine. Until the day comes when his blood drips from my hands. "For now, I'll bury it. When I plunge a blade into his kidney, I'll remember how it felt."
"If no one else will say it, I will. You were amazing, Fin."
"Thank you, Liam. Aidan, are you okay?"
Silence. I tried again. "Aidan?"
"Commander Walker approves, your husband doesn't. I'm going to kill Piotr with my bare hands."
"You can't blame the guy, any man in his position would've had Fin up against a vehicle like that."
I heard a fist connect with muscle, and then Liam apologised. Rowan and I laughed.
"I'm sorry, my love, but I've got his fingerprints and his DNA."
Aidan cursed. "That sonofabitch ejaculated on you?"
I gagged and swallowed dinner for a second time. "No, gross. I picked his pocket. Took the cigarette butt he had the foresight to pick up and drop in his pocket."
"Did you pick up yours?" Liam asked.
"Piotr picked up Fin's."
The men stopped talking. Silence. Darkness surrounded us except for the sand illuminated by the Land Cruiser's headlights.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Lion-man is pissed because Aidan shot out his back tyre," Liam chuckled.
"It was either the tyre or the back of Piotr's head, and that would've put Finley at risk. It's going to take a lot to forget seeing another man grind himself against you like that. Might've been less disturbing to see Rowan do it."
Rowan and I both shook our heads. No way Aidan would've been less disturbed by that. I asked, "Commander Walker, sir, where are you?"
"Two klicks behind you."
"Sir, when we get back to the house, I request you place me in a shower and scrub me down. I think a decontamination chamber might be an even better idea." I hadn't felt that dirty in years. Memories threatened to surface; I forced them back by focusing on the victims.
"I have every intention of washing every part of you."
"Aidan, distance from your rifle to the tyre?" I asked.
"One kilometre."
"Damn, babe, that's hot."
Aidan laughed; the sound chased away the feeling of Piotr between my thighs. "Babe?"
"My bad, boss, sir, Aidan. But it's hot, very sexy."
Rowan exhaled hard. "I'm going to pull over, then Fin can get in the G-Class with you and Liam can drive back with me. Then the two of you can find yourselves a dune and go at it like rabbits. Quinn was right."
"No can do, Ro. You're being followed, remember?"
"What? Who is following us?" I couldn't hear the information being relayed from the earpiece I had stuck behind Biggie's ear, but they could.
"A guard; you never thought to take your phones before you left."
I turned to Rowan. "I can't believe I forgot about the phones."
Rowan placed his hand on my forearm. "It doesn't matter. Eli already has all the information the decryption-thingy downloaded. Burner phones, so it doesn't matter if we don't get them back."
"We can't let that technology fall into the wrong hands. Fin's device is imbedded in her shoe, Eli cloned Piotr's phone. Brilliant move wrapping your legs around his waist, Fin." Aidan sounded too calm, but I appreciated his approval of my methods.
"Why isn't anyone freaking out about the fact that we're being followed?"
Rowan squeezed my arm and then instructed me to lift the back seat. I did and discovered an arsenal. I asked him what he needed and removed two HK416 A5 assault rifles, two Kevlar vests, his Glock, and my SIG.
I strapped the Kevlar to my chest and held the steering wheel as Rowan pulled his own over his head and fastened the straps.
"Aidan, plan?" Rowan asked.
"Baghdad won't work in the desert. Remember Somalia?"
Again, Rowan placed his hand on my arm. "I need you to get on my lap, I'll move out from under you, like you and Aidan did it."
"Okay." It proved a tad more difficult to do with Rowan being taller than Aidan, and us still trying to avoid certain body parts from coming into contact.
Rowan squeezed through the driver and passenger seats to the back seat. He asked me to slow down. I did. "Keep driving. We'll meet up at the house."
"Oh, hell no. You three will not have fun without me. After having a serial killer's helper, who has probably killed numerous people in his line of work, rub himself against me, I will shoot something or someone. I have my own strategy."
I told them my plan, they liked it.
––––––––
We waited. Headlights became visible and disappeared as the vehicle made its way across the desert. The dunes provided us with cover. Rowan bumped his shoulder against mine. "I think tonight might just be the best night I've ever had at one of these parties."
"Some of the other times you at least had sex. Tonight, you're on your own, buddy."
Rowan grunted a laugh. We lowered the night vision goggles. The vehicle approached. The night remained quiet, thanks to the silencers attached to the rifles. One bullet struck the back tyre; it took me two shots to take out the front. It had been a while since I last fired at a moving vehicle, doing 80km/h over desert terrain. At night, nonetheless. Sand filled the air as the vehicle came to a stop.
Rowan and I moved as one, heading down the dune. The butt of the rifle snug against my right shoulder.
I yanked open the driver's door, the guard's eyes big, his hands raised. "You forgot your phones."
"Who sent you?" I growled.
"The boss."
I motioned for him to step out and turn around. Rowan patted him down, finding only the mobile phones in his pants pocket. I glanced into the Pathfinder. A Caracal EF lay on the passenger seat.
I instructed the guard to turn around and lowered my rifle. Rowan kept his pointed at the guard's chest. "What's the boss' name?"
"I don't know," the guard said and pointed at his chest. I nodded, and he lifted his shirt. The boss was listening.
"You better call your boss and have someone come fetch you. Tell him, I don't take kindly to the help assaulting me. If I ever see his man again, the one with the dragon tattoo on his right hand, I'm going to cut his throat. Ear to ear."
The guard nodded.
Rowan pushed the rifle against the guard's chest, his finger not on the trigger. "Tell your boss I'm done with his ridiculous parties. It's boring, and not worth the money I've been paying. Whoever took a shot at Kelly and hit your boss' vehicle's tyre can expect a visit from me soon."
We left the guard and headed back towards the Land Cruiser where it stood on the other side of the dune. My breaths didn't come out hard because scaling a sand dune is much harder than it looks. The night's events had put a big target on Kelly and Rob Granger's backs. Perfect. We needed to get out of Dubai. Fast.