Page 25

S omething doesn’t feel right. And I’m not just saying that because I’m dressed like a sacrificial virgin—which, after the way Casper had me last night, is something I most definitely am not. We chose white to be enticing, but I wish we went with warmth. Who cares if I stand out? At least my ass wouldn’t be frozen like it is now.

When the host graciously accepted me as his latest auction item, the guy was downright giddy. Probably hoping for a bigger payout, as I saw in this morning’s itinerary that they’re accepting both cash and card payments. No IOUs here, just a simple transaction with the proceeds going into “club improvements.” More like someone’s pocket, but whatever. It got us an in. One that has me cold as a bear with no fur in winter.

The guy who agreed to show me to the fitting room took me down the same hall and staircase as I went with Casper. We even went by where the animals are kept, but no one was on guard duty this time. We seemed to have walked half the property before going down another set of stairs. It’s that second set that really put the chill in the air.

I’ve kept my mouth shut like a trained submissive would, but my eyes are taking in everything. No one has told me different, so I’m following my Dom’s orders: eyes level and only speak when spoken to. We haven’t run into anyone. Not a soul. When we stopped, the guy told me to sit on a bench and then left. It’s been about twenty minutes, and not a sound has made it to me.

And I’ve had enough. My ass is frozen. My fingers are getting tingly. This isn’t how you treat a submissive in this lifestyle, even if you’re a masochist. Freezing to death isn’t a good look for a Dom’s sub. It can only mean one thing: they know I’m here. They might know everything, but they’re worried enough to keep me away from others. And if I’m down here by myself, I can only imagine what Casper is facing up there. Alone. Without backup.

Rising, I wiggle my body out a bit. I’ve already looked up and down this hallway enough to know there’re no visible cameras on me. Doesn’t mean I’m not being watched. I take the time to get the blood flowing again before I go down the hallway the guy used. It’s opposite of where we came from, and I already know what’s back there. It’s what’s ahead that’s the true mystery.

Walking slowly, to both listen and make very little noise myself, I notice the hallway curves till it splits off. Taking a gamble, I go left. I’m worried about Casper, but I also have a job to do. I have to trust that he can take care of himself, just like I hope he’s focused on the mission right now and not on me.

The path splits again, and I go right this time and come to a door. With a prayer to someone in the universe wanting me to succeed, I push the door open with a minimal squeak. Not enough to get anyone looking my way. I’m out by the docks, right along the water. A respectable distance from the house. I can see this dock from my room, but there were no boats here when we left it earlier. I checked. Once Bane said some boats came in overnight, I took a peek to see what we were working with. I saw nothing, and Casper assumed they must have been at the other dock that we couldn’t see from our window.

Either new boats arrived, or they moved the boats to this location. Doesn’t matter how or why they’re here, just that I know about it now.

Before I slip out of the hallway, I check the door handle and see I can turn it from the other side. Good. Don’t want to be locked out. There isn’t much cover, especially with me in white, but I hide among the brush as I inch close enough to get a better view.

Three speedboats, and they look fancy, so I’m betting they go fast. I never had to learn about boats before other than how to drive one. Thankfully, they’re like cars, all operating the same once you understand the basics.

I only see four guys lounging about, but four is enough to be a problem. Especially since each has a gun strapped on their belt, and all I have is my shoes for a weapon. They seem to just be waiting, so I have to assume they don’t have Candy or the rest of them. Which means I need to get back inside and keep looking.

Slinking to the door, I ease it open and look around. No one’s nearby. Once I dart back in, I don’t take that second left but rather go back to the first turn and take the right fork. I’m assuming the other leads farther out to another access point on the property, as it was a bit of a walk. If I’m lucky—which I rarely am, but here’s hoping there’s a first time for everything—this will get me either closer to the house or maybe a holding area. The blueprints Bane gave us only went down to the first level with the animals we found. This second lower level is unfamiliar territory, and map skills weren’t my favorite subject. At least I know where I am. My eidetic memory not only helped me get through school fast, but it’s kept me from ever getting lost. I remember every turn we made, every slow curve and downward staircase. If I had to make it back to the house at a moment’s notice, I could do it at a sprint and never doubt my decision at each turn.

A noise has me stilling. I don’t hear it again, but I slow my pace even more as I come to the next turn and poke my head around the corner. There are two doors opposite each other and another staircase just ahead. The other end of the hallway is empty. I duck back as I hear a door opening. I can’t look and I hold my breath to keep any noise from coming out of me.

I hear feet shuffling as a door closes and another opens. Gradually, I move my head out just enough to glimpse the door closing on the right after a man. Didn’t get much more than that, but it’s enough to have me looking at the door on the left. It’s a gamble. What door do I try? If Jack were here, she’d go with both. But then again, she would have at least four weapons on her.

Unless someone knows I’m the threat, I’ve got to think I have a bit of time on my side if I run into anyone. I can still play the auction card with getting lost and cold down here.

I try the door on the right and see it’s locked. That alone tells me this is a better shot than the other door, as I didn’t hear any keys before the guy went through it. You don’t lock doors unless you don’t want anyone going in or coming out.

Using my hairpin once again, I make quick work of the lock and get the door open, walking in once I see it’s dark. Shutting the door softly behind me, I put my back to it and give my eyes a second to adjust. The hallway didn’t have amazing lighting, but I got used to it. Even when I went outside by the docks and came back in, my eyes had time to adjust from daylight to the dim light, and now to almost no light. There’s a bit coming off the smoke detectors on the ceiling. Not a ton, but enough to make out that there are eight single cots in here, four on each side, with people sleeping in five of them.

I walk down the center aisle between the cots, noticing more things as I go. It smells horrible in here. Trays with food are on the ground, but from the smell, it seems like the food was prepared badly or has been sitting there for a while. At the third row, a color catches my eye, and I move to the person on my left and roll them over. I’m close enough to see the red hair and oval face, and I smile despite everything.

It's Candy. I finally found her.

“Candy, wake up. Candy.” My voice is hushed, but it doesn’t even rouse her a bit. I say her name again with more force as I look around the room to see if anyone stirs, but they don’t. No one is moving at all.

I feel for a pulse, finding one to let me know she’s still alive. Checking her over, I realize she’s not tied to the bed, not even cuffed. The only thing connected to her is the needle that’s injecting something into her arm from the clear bag hanging behind the bed. I can only assume it’s filled with drugs to keep her in this sedated form.

“Sorry, sweets,” I say a second before I pull the needle out and try to lift her. I can’t hold up more than one, even though I want to save them all. I’ll get Candy out, find her a place to hide, and then I’ll come back for the rest. It’s the best I can do. We weren’t even able to bring comms with us, so I have no way of reaching Casper right now. We expected I would be sent to a back room and catch a glimpse of Candy just before the auction. That plan went out the window the second I went down the stairs and knew I was going somewhere else.

She’s heavier than a sack of potatoes as I drag her off the cot, but I wasn’t only watching Rue train. I was there beside her every step of the way. If she ran four miles before breakfast, I did too. She had weight training for two hours before bed? So did I. C8 isn’t a dictatorship. We get in the muck and the mud with those we work with. In every aspect, we’re beside each other. We’re a team, not a company that pushes the work down to those new and eager. We all do it, or no one does. Even those on paper duty and in HR are trained to handle any situation. Sure, they might prefer to deal with payroll and spreadsheets, but that doesn’t mean they can’t kill a man while wearing heels and still go out dancing later.

Turning her around, holding most of her weight, I stoop and put her on my shoulder. I fireman-carry her as quietly as I can to the door. Not a single person stirs, not even Candy, but at least she twitches. Not sure what was in the drugs, but I can only hope it’s meant to just keep them calm and silent and isn’t potent enough for them to be out for days. They’re meant to be sold, after all. They needed to stand on their own so no one would be suspicious. Unless, of course, the auction is just meant for club members and the rest of them here aren’t going out onstage. Maybe someone already bought them, and this is just a waiting area until transport arrives. There are too many variables and not enough time to think through them all right now.

Inching the door open, I count my lucky stars. The hallway is clear. I get us through and shut the door quietly, only to have Candy moan loudly. I make to cover her mouth with my hand, but from the angle I’m at, her mouth is at the back of my shoulder, and I can’t reach her. Hearing a noise from the other room, a jingle of a belt or keys, I don’t push what little luck I’ve stumbled into and just start heading for the stairs. Originally, I planned to go back the way I came, to find a place for Candy to hide opposite the boats, but now I’m out of time. Carrying her down the long corridors will only get me caught if they radio for those on the boats to come inside.

If I can get us out of the basement level, I’ll have a better chance of getting help, or at least finding Casper. Two heads are better than one, and he’s the one with the panic button in his pocket. Mine didn’t come with the dress. Sure, we still have a camera on, but we already know Jack can’t get a clear picture when I’m down this far. She didn’t even know about the animals we found till I told her. Girl would have blown the entire mission if she saw those cages. She’s a sucker for protecting animals. I might like the job as a vet, but it’s Jack who loves the animals; she’s never met one she didn’t instantly fall in love with and vow to protect.

It’s a rounded staircase but big enough for me to carry my sleeping beauty without hitting her head—much. I’m hanging on to the railing, and I’m really trying, but no matter how much I’ve worked out, I’m going up several flights of stairs, and I’m winded. I expected a few, but this just keeps going. I keep looking down to see if anyone’s noticed us, but no one is there other than my active imagination that we’re about to be caught. It’s that fear that pushes me to keep moving, apologizing softly each time I tap Candy’s head on the circular walls as we ascend to who knows where.

The air gets warmer, but that’s the only thing that gives away that we’re back in the house and not under it. I don’t think we’re at the front of the house, maybe to the back or off to one side. I might be able to get back to the place I came in, but that doesn’t mean I know where the hell I am compared to the rest of the house. The tunnels went on for forever, and I could have doubled back for all I know.

When we reach the top, there’s a port window that shows I’m far higher than I thought. Lowering Candy for a second, I sit her on the floor against the wall, then stand on my tiptoes and look around outside. We seem to be in the highest point of the mansion. Maybe the fifth floor, meaning I climbed up seven flights and not the million it felt like. We’re also on the opposite side from where my room is, so I can see the other side of the docks. Docks that are also filled with boats.

At least we know Bane was telling the truth.

Going back to Candy, I see some movement out of her, enough for me to get her to stand and put some weight on her own feet.

“Hey, babe, need you to walk for me. We’re getting you out of here.”

She hears me, since she’s able to put one foot in front of the other—well, drags them in front—but I’m not sure if she knows it’s me. We’ve worked together a few times, so I know she’ll remember me even if we aren’t that close. But I doubt the drugs are freeing her mind enough to do anything but the basics, like walking.

With her arm over my shoulders and mine around her back, my other hand on her waist to hold her steady, we start down the hall. We make it a few yards before my luck runs out and the guard from the other day and his partner find us.

Delight replaces the guard’s surprise after half a second. “Well, well, well, what do we have here? Aren’t you the one who likes to get into trouble? And what trouble have you found? Is this your friend?” Of course the jerk who gets off on forcing himself on another would only see this as an opportunity for himself.

I don’t answer right away.

“She’s the product,” his partner, the one who had the extra protein bar, says as he looks over Candy and notices the blood seeping from where I pulled the needle out.

This has the other one raising his eyebrows. “Oh, really?” He tsks at me, and I grind my teeth. “That really is naughty of you.”

Protein Bar guy yanks Candy out of my arms, and I don’t fight it, as I need both my hands as the other one approaches.

“Maybe I should give you that lesson about what happens to naughty little girls. Especially when they take something that doesn’t belong to them,” the other sneers as he takes a step to me.

I don’t think, just let my training take over. He takes another step toward me, and I throat-punch him, causing him to stumble back as he grabs for his neck. His protein partner is slow to react, giving me enough time to kick him in the face and knock him against the wall. He pulls Candy with him, but drops his hold on her when his head hits and she falls to the floor in a heap. Not the best way to land, but I rather she be bruised up and alive than in one piece and sold off to God knows who.

Both recover faster than I expect, Protein Bar a second sooner than Lesson guy. I block Protein’s punch and counter, only to get kicked in the stomach. I stagger back a step and land on one knee as they draw closer. Unlike the movies, they don’t give me time to get my bearings before coming after me again. I don’t mind, though. I’ve practiced this part several times.

As Lesson reaches for my hair, I use his angle to grab his hand before swinging up to wrap my legs around his neck, twisting as I go and not caring as he rips out my hair. His scream makes it worth it as I break his hand and then his neck. He falls, and I roll off him to land in a crouch.

“Who the fuck are you?” asks Protein in a bit of awe but also anger.

“Crazy,” I say as I grab my shoe, my movements concealed by the position I’m in, and pull the blade out of the heel. With ease from years of practice, I throw it and hit Protein in the eye. The heel of the blade going through his eye socket. He wails in pain before going down. Not dead, but mostly.

I don’t get to rejoice. No, that’s taken from me when clapping starts at my back. I turn to look and stumble to my knees before landing on my ass.

The man in the shadows creeps forward, followed by three flanking him. “Impressive. Very impressive.” He leans down to my level, pushing my hair out of my face.

I don’t look away, don’t want to show that he affects me at all. But inside I’m screaming victory.

I knew it. I fucking knew it.

Cast Off smirks a second before I see his fist and then nothing.