Everybody met everybody. Jen and Robbie went off to familiarize themselves with the grounds and the alarm system. Tina came to me and gave me a hug.
“Hi, hero,” she said.
I hugged her back. She felt good. “Hi your own self,” I said.
She pushed back and looked into my eyes. “I know we joke about it, but I really do want you.”
“I want you too, Tina.”
“But it’s never going to happen, is it?”
“No.”
She rolled her eyes. “Jealousy is a terrible thing,” she said. “You two are so liberal… how can you be so jealous, too?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, you need to work it out. We could all be on the same bed. I could hold hands with Tommy and you could hold hands with Dawn.”
I pictured it in my head. It might work. Then again, I might kill him.
“I dunno,” I said. “It might destroy the sexual tension between us. Maybe we should concentrate on enjoying that while it lasts. It doesn’t happen often the way our mates let us play with anyone we’re attracted to.”
“True enough,” she said, and hugged me tightly. “But my God, the pressure is building. The things I want to do to you, Johnny. The things I want you to do to me.”
This wasn’t helping my resolve. I reached up to push her away and somehow my hands magically wound up on her tits. She gasped. She was braless under a thin dress and she felt good. Very good.
“Sorry,” I said. But I hadn’t moved my hands.
“I’m not,” she said. “Keep doing that.”
I gave her tits a gentle squeeze and then let go. “I can’t,” I said. “I have people to kill.”
She stared at me. “You’re serious,” she said.
“Deadly serious,” I said. “They’re going to kill that nice couple unless I can find them and kill them first.”
“Okay, stud. Get to work. But make sure you bring yourself home safe.” She kissed me softly on the lips and walked away. I turned and saw Dawn staring at me. Fuck.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“No need to be,” she said. “You want her. I’ve already told you that you can have her. It would be hot to watch. The thing that’s stopping you is in your head.”
“Barker and I agreed…”
She threw her hands up in the air. “Jealousy! Do you think me having sex with him would dirty me for life in your eyes?”
“No,” I said.
“I was coming out to the kitchen and stopped when I heard you tell Meyer to proposition me. Do you really want me to have sex with Meyer?”
“No, but it would be okay.”
“But not with Thomas.”
“No.”
“And that’s why you won’t have sex with Tina?”
“Yes. No. Shit. Partly. I know how Thomas feels about her. I couldn’t do that to him. It’s the same way I feel about you. I would marry you if I could, and send everyone else away and live the rest of my life trying to make you happy.”
A lone tear rolled down her cheek as she looked at me. “You would send Mary Beth and Jay packing?”
“It would be very hard, but yes.”
“As if I’d let you,” she said as she caressed my cheek.
Barker cleared his throat behind me. I had no idea how long he’d been there.
“Peter wants to explain the equipment to you,” he said.
“Right,” I said. “Gotta go, Sweetie.” I gave Dawn a hug.
“I love you,” she whispered in my ear. “And I always will, no matter what.”
“Right back at you, lover,” I said, and walked away from her.
“Those two women are trying to wear us down,” Barker said as we walked.
“Yep.”
“I’ve got your back, though.”
“And I’ve got yours,” I said. “What do you think our chances are?”
He stopped. “Over the long haul? I think we’re toast.”
“Me too,” I said. “I like you a lot. It’ll be a shame to have to kill you.”
“It’ll be a shame to be dead.”
We shook hands and walked in to get our equipment briefing.
——————–
We were all dressed in black. We kicked Thomas’ pilot out and let Buddy fly the chopper. The fewer people who knew about this mission, the better. Buddy was rusty. We lurched all around. I thought Meyer was going to barf.
“You think you can maybe fly straight?” I said.
“Maybe,” said Buddy. “I’ve never flown one of these before. She’s a little touchy.” We were heading inland and really had no idea which way to go yet.
Meyer looked green but he was working the equipment. “Got the network he called you from,” he said. “And the location of the new phone. Buddy, fly one-eight-zero.”
We banked right. I stared at Meyer.
“What?” he said. “I watch war movies. He looked at the screen again. “We’re close,” he said. “Maybe 50 klicks.”
I rolled my eyes. “Klicks?”
“Just let me enjoy the moment, asshole, all right?”
Buddy talked over the radio to someone about intended altitude and heading. He had filed what he called a “joyride/check flight” flight plan, meaning that he could go basically anywhere as long as he used the right airspace. We were soon over the mostly dark hills east of Irvine.
“Getting pretty close,” Meyer said. I could see only one place on our heading that it could be. It was a big chunk of land and lights were on at the house. Buddy pushed it down hard before we got close enough to alert them. The landing was perfect. We sat there until the rotor noise went away.
“You should call,” Meyer said.
I put my cell on speakerphone and dialed.
“Johnny Dawn! What’s happening?”
“Let me talk to them.”
“How rude. You don’t want to talk to me at all?”
I was silent.
“Fine. Ron, bring her in here.”
Silence for a while. Then: “Johnny? Johnny, please get us out of here. Please help us, Johnny!”
“Yes, please help them, Johnny,” I heard the asshole mimic in the background. There was a scuffle for the phone and then the connection went dead.
Meyer was looking at his equipment. “That’s the place, all right,” he said.
“And that was the sound of a woman in serious distress,” I said. “I don’t know what’s happening but it’s more than just being held captive. Let’s roll.”
We put on the radios and checked them. Then I pulled the guns out of a gym bag: NATO 10mm semi-automatics with silencers. I hadn’t asked Thomas where they’d come from and he hadn’t volunteered the information. Better not to know.
I looked at Buddy. This was going to be tough.
“You’re not coming,” I said.
“The fuck?”
“You can’t come. You’re the only one who can fly this thing. You get killed, we’re all in seriously deep shit.”
“Aww, man, no! Please, Johnny!”
“Sorry, Bro. Is what it is. Meyer, you ready? We gotta go. Cyndi sounded bad.”
“Ready,” Meyer said.
“Fuck, you better come back safe. Or Jen will kick my ass.”
“That’s the plan,” I said.
——————–
Meyer was in pretty good shape. We moved quickly across the dark terrain and made our way to the house we’d seen from the air. We were surrounded by dark farmland. I started worrying about what might have happened to the owners of the farm. We ran up to the front of the house and hunkered by the wall in the dark.
“Take the back,” I said. “I’ll go in the front. Shoot anything bad that comes out your way.”
“Okay,” Meyer said, and moved off into the night.
I worked my way across the front of the house and stopped next to an open window. A woman was in there, screaming and fighting. I took a breath and stood up and looked into the room. Cyndi was naked on a bed. A large man was on top of her, thrusting into her. Richard Morrison was on the floor next to them. His arms and legs were bound with plastic ties and his mouth was covered with duct tape. He was fighting to get up to help his wife. He looked like he might be about to have a stroke.
Good call this time, I thought. They were going to kill these two for sure.
“She feels good,” the man who was raping Cyndi said. “Nice and tight. She’s gonna make me cum real hard.”
Richard banged his head into the hardwood floor. I heard him moaning through the duct tape. Cyndi was fighting with everything she had, but the guy was just too big for her.