Their Improbable Mating [Paranormal Protection Unit 3] (Siren Publishing Allure) (3 page)

“Come closer. Feel free to inspect the merchandise however you wish. Each has been properly prepared according to our protocols so you needn’t worry about any possible contaminants,” l’Aurette told him, ushering him in closer to the women standing looking drugged out of their minds and naked to everyone there.

Stepping in closer, Allister zeroed in right off on the female that was predestined to be his. He passed a quick look over the others but he moved right to where she was positioned. Except for the reek of ketamine and something else permeating her skin, she was perfect in every regard, and she was his. Moving around her little platform, he paused here and there, tipping his head and considering before continuing around. “This one,” he said to the man before turning to walk back toward him and stopping. “My man here”—he waved a hand to Rainier—“will of course tend to all the minor details. I do have to request, though, that the merchandise be ready to go when I do. I won’t have time to return for a pick-up at a later date, unfortunately, for at least several months.”

L’Aurette looked at Allister and smiled. “That is the piece which I simply knew would fit your expectations.” He nodded to the unseen shadows. “Prepare the merchandise to move.” He waited until the light on her dais was off and turned back to Allister. “I should let you know, Mr. Fairbanks, that she has quite the, well, habit,” he said smoothly. “I’m more than happy to supply you with what she needs in order to function of course. However, it will be an additional charge.”

Snapping to his wife, l’Aurette pulled her close. “She willingly sold herself into this trade, you see. She found her debts so high from the dosage she appreciates to be able to function that she gave over the last thing she had left, her body. So you get the merchandise but it will need a small add-on in order for it to continue to function as it is now.” He smiled. “It was pure, however. The girl is the daughter of a priest, a runner actually, prize-winning runner, which I knew you would be looking for as well,” he added cunningly. “So, for an additional five thousand per month we will be able to ensure that your running pet is kept as she loves to be kept.”

Leaning in as Rainier, acting his part of advisor and money man, whispered to him, Allister nodded slightly and murmured some things back to him. Lifting his head, Allister looked at the man. “We’ll take one month’s supply but will not require anything further,” he said. “If it is required, I’m sure one of my labs will be able to recreate the drug, assuming, of course, you’d provide the recipe for a small fee.” Money in the man’s pocket without depleting his supply. “Now, where should we have the payment for the merchandise wired plus the one month’s supply of obedience?”

L’Aurette smiled that wide and sharklike smile. Offering a white card with only a series of numbers on it to Rainier, he said, “My routing and account numbers. If you will wire the full amount to me immediately, your merchandise will be ready to leave. Once I have the confirmation myself, of course, that the funds are there. I hope you do understand.”

“Of course, sound business practices only, after all,” Allister commented, taking the card. Rainier snapped open his briefcase and put it on Sully’s waiting arms. Holding the card up in a bored manner, he watched as Rainier typed in all the information on his mini iPad and sent off the money to the account. Skittles had tagged the funds so they would be instantly traced and from there he’d be able to find all of l’Aurette’s monies and various other nefarious things. A few minutes later, Rainier nodded and, almost at the same instant, l’Aurette’s phone beeped with a waiting message.

Lifting his phone, l’Aurette read the display and smiled, typing in a sequence to send the monies into his multiple accounts. He nodded and then bowed. “It has been a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Fairbanks. I hope that we will be able to deal well together another time?” He left the question open and then added, “And your merchandise will be by the front door waiting when you are ready to leave.”

“Good day to you as well, Monsieur l’Aurette,” Allister said and pulled out his sunglasses. Rainier snapped the case shut and they all moved toward the front doors as a unit. Once they were out and in the SUV, the clearing would begin. With what they’d just gotten for evidence, Interpol and the FBI would be able to feast on his carcass for centuries to come. Walking into the main “lobby,” he spotted his bond-mate standing by the door, held up by a goon with an empty expression on her face. She was dressed though, thank the Gods. Nodding to Mac, who took possession of her, they left and Allister pulled out his cell. “My meeting is concluded. Prep the jet. We are on our way back to the airport now. And tell Kat that we will need to schedule another meeting with l’Aurette at my earliest opening.” He waited and then grunted. The codes had been passed along and everyone was on standby as soon as they cleared the area.

Getting into the SUV, Allister kept up the pretense, as everyone else did, as he instructed his “driver” to return them to the airport and they pulled out. Only when they were beyond the designated kill area did he turn to the woman. “We need to get her an IV and get her rehydrated,” he said, getting out of the jacket and tie quickly. He felt strangled and smothered in such outfits. Taking the small penlight from Rainier, he checked her pupils. “She is three fucking sheets to the wind, doped out of her gourd,” he muttered, rolling up her sleeve for Sully to get the IV in place. “Rain, get that sample of the drug sent off to the labs. We need to know if there’s anything we can do to help counteract it.” Touching her cheek, he looked at her. “We’re going to help you, I promise.” He didn’t know if she could understand him or even hear him but he really hoped she knew he meant no harm.

Jackie jerked at the touch of the needle to her vein and wanted to stop it from happening but she couldn’t. God, she could barely breathe right now. Her mind was working sluggishly, but it was working, but her body wasn’t. She felt the bumps of the road and then out of nowhere heard her CO in her ear. “God dammit, Jackie!” he screamed and then again, “Jackie, what the fuck?”

* * * *

Somewhere in Washington

“She’s back online, boss,” came the relieved voice of one of the operatives in a seriously off-the-books white ops mission. “Goddamn, I don’t know how she’s alive though.” The vitals that suddenly began to pour across the wall-sized screen had every man in the office pausing.

Grabbing the microphone that was connected to the cochlear implant on his operative, he shouted, “Jackie! Goddammit, Jackie, talk to me! Jackie, what the fuck!” He couldn’t help it. They were seriously fucked because they had lost contact with their operative for two months. For two fucking goddamn months, he had been lying to the fucking head of his division. He’d lied about Jackie for the last week and he had been lying to her father, the fucking US defense secretary, for even longer. “Do you have a location on her?” he demanded to the men in the room.

“We do, boss. She’s on the move right now. She’s three fucking states away from where we last pinged her. How the hell did they override what the goddamn hell we had in her?”

“Don’t know, at this moment don’t fucking care. Prep the teams. Send the SEALs for her. Bring our girl home. Now,” the commander said and then spoke to Jackie again, “Come on, Jacqueline. Talk to me, honey.” He knew she hated to be called Jacqueline. It was “too feminine,” she had told him before. “We are coming for you, sweetheart. Know that. We are going to bring you home.”

* * * *

Back in the SUV

Fresh tears washed down her face. They were coming for her. They hadn’t left her for dead. If she could speak she would, but she couldn’t. Her tongue was so thick in her mouth that words simply wouldn’t form, so instead she forced a sound from her throat, hoping that her CO would understand it, know she wasn’t alone as well.

“All right, honey, just hold on.” The voice in her ear spoke in a quiet whisper of sound. “Hang on, Jackie. The Marines are coming for you, babe, and we will take care of you.”

“Okay seriously,” Mac said. “Is no one else hearing that annoying high-pitched whine?” he asked, looking around at everyone else. “Come on, I can’t be the only one here.”

“We’re a little busy, Mac,” Rainier muttered and shot a look to Allister, “but I am hearing something, too. Sounds like bitching if I didn’t know better.”

Shrugging, Allister wet a cloth and gently wiped her face with it. Dribbling a little water into her mouth, he watched to ensure she was swallowing and wouldn’t choke. “That’s it, darling, just a little at a time. We’ll get you cleaned up and safe in a hospital until all this crap is pushed out of your system.” He was ignoring his brother, who kept shooting him looks and was pestering him mentally about his slightly odd behavior. He didn’t care what it looked like. It was his mate, damn it.

In the darkness the helicopter moved silently, swiftly, the men on board all getting the same mission. Save the girl, no matter the costs. Save the girl. It wasn’t until the girl’s, well, woman’s, really, name was told and image shown that they realized just who it was that they were going in to save. She was one of theirs. She was an operative that went far deeper than the CIA or Interpol, but besides that she was the secretary of defense’s daughter. Fucking hell, every man there knew at least one of her brothers, her father, or had had their asses pulled out of shit by the same men. Wonderful.

Dropping low into the skies, the Apache AH-64D dropped from the highest part of the skies and down into the path of the oncoming vehicle, the men repelling down the ropes and the light suddenly flooding the SUV. Weapons drawn and black riot gear covering them from head to toe, the six-man squad raced for the vehicle when it stopped. From the helicopter came a calm voice. “This is the United States Marine Corps. You are ordered to stop your vehicle.”

Jackie heard him again, in her ear. “They are there, Jackie. Just stay low and calm.”

“Men are going to approach the vehicle. Comply with their orders,” came the voice from the helicopter again.

Aidan peered up and up. “Are they actually serious?” he asked no one in particular.

“It would appear so,” Mac said, shaking his head. “Why are humans so dumb?” he asked, again to no one in particular.

“They do mean well, I’m sure,” Aidan said, pulling off his tie and ditching the jacket, same as the other three men not including Allister, who had already done so. “But really, had they not had their heads up their asses we wouldn’t have had to save the pretty little thing’s butt.”

“True,” Sully said and put on comms to talk to Bulldog. “Bro, we’ve got the fucking Marines at our door. No, I’m not kidding, the Marines. Yes, the United States Marine Corps.” He rolled his eyes. “Why the hell would I make this shit up? Like I could have honestly come up with this tale. Look, get on the horn with whichever bigwig is in charge of these douchebags and tell them to fuck off or I’m pretty sure Allister is going to need a shit load of antacid when we get back. He’s found his mate and isn’t exactly in a forgiving mood.” He caught the look of the others. “Seriously, you’re all that dense?”

“But she’s a fucking kid,” Rainier said with a glance from the girl to Allister and back again. “Al, you are like a fucking brother to me, but she’s a kid,” he grumbled and shot a look to Sully again. “She’s not even fucking legal in any sense, no way,” he said and looked at the asshat who tapped on the window with a drawn weapon. Rolling his eyes, he growled. “Fucking humans. More goddamn trouble than they are worth, all of them.”

“Open the door,” said the man dressed in black head to toe. “Give us the girl and we will let you go on your way.” With a tag of course, so that the secondary team could pick them up. Their objective was the girl. Getting her to safety was their one and only mission.

“She’s my mate and if she’s not legal then I’ll wait,” Allister said and looked up, his Dragon very clearly in charge of things. “But she’s mine.” He breathed out, the temperature in the car notching up several degrees with that single breath.

“Dude, get some breath mints,” Mac gagged from the front and waved a hand before his nose.

“Seriously, Talon, these assholes mean business. They are all cranky and weaponed up. Allister is about one step from going Godzilla in the car, a vehicle we are all currently trapped in with him. Yes, I know you won’t get the deposit back if he does. The fact we’ll all be squished is actually my more immediate concern. What?” Sully paused and grinned. “All right, one second.” Passing the comms piece to Mac, he shrugged. “Give them the phone, please.”

Staring at Sully like he’d gone off the deep end, Mac shrugged and rolled the window down. “Yo, dude in charge of this asshattery, someone on the phone for you.” He held up the comms and wiggled it. “And he really hates waiting, so step to it, Marine.”

Taking the unit from the man after his second slid up into place, he held it to his ear. “Go.” No rank, no name. Just “go.” “Don’t know who you are, don’t fucking care. We have our orders,” he added. “And we do as we are fucking told.”

“Uh-huh, listen, gidget,” Bulldog said as he speed-dialed the White House. “I’m about to conference in someone that outranks every motherfucking one of you and every motherfucking one of your bosses and their bosses and…well, you get my point.” He put the other phone to his ear. “Hi, Clarice, is he in? I just need him for like two seconds on a quick conference call. Thanks, doll,” he said, and when he heard the voice, he connected the two calls. “Marine, I’d stand at attention for this phone call. Mr. President, if you would please,” he requested.