Chapter 52

A look at Joe and he was slumped in his chair, to all intents and purposes passed out from too much alcohol. Having an idea that he'd probably turn up and probably make a beeline for me, Bobby had suggested slipping something into his drink just to keep him out of the way. Bobby had placed a half bottle of bourbon by his glass to complete the illusion.

As the lights went down ready for the next model to make her entrance I walked out of the room and into the lobby, heading for the stairs and suite 9. My heart was racing as the enormity of what I was about to do hit me. In some ways I held Ranger's fate in my hands and with that realization took in a deep breath to try to find that control and calmness that was needed.

Once up the stairs and heading toward where the suite was, I saw the two bodyguards on the corridor, almost sure that I recognized one of the big Asian men. Kosal, that was his name and he had been the one who had cut my arm. I was sure that he didn't recognize me especially dressed as I was. Hell, when I was at Ronteah I'd been dressed in combat trousers and cat boots with my hair in wild curls.

I didn't bother with knocking on the door to announce my arrival, instead I turned the knob and walked in, as though I had every right to be doing it. Neither man tried to stop me, and I was soon in a small hallway that had two doors leading from it. One door was open and that was where I wanted to be because that was where I could hear voices coming from.

Walking in I took in the scene in front of me, not at all surprised at who was there. The man from Ronteah, who I presumed was Coleman, was sat on the couch on his own, nursing a glass in his hand. In front of him on another couch was a woman who I guessed was Pagna with a man stood behind her, watching me.

All of them looked over to me as they became aware that I was stood there. Coleman was smiling but Pagna, man she looked pissed off about something. Desilva, well he had his FBI face on so was totally unreadable.

"Desilva, does Freya know who you are?"

I watched as he turned his head toward me surprise apparent in his features.

"Why would you say that?"

"Sean Daraldson spent a lot of money in the area of Soho, New York several years ago. It seemed too much of a coincidence seeing as that's where you and your mother lived"

I wasn't too sure if Desilva was annoyed at what I was saying or not, there was something in his eyes that just didn't add up, so continued with how I thought it had happened.

"Your mother started her working career as a secretary working in a paper mill"

Yeah, those financials gave me the key to discovering who Desilva possibly was. Daraldson had spent a lot of money at expensive restaurants and high end boutiques in Soho.

"Did your mother tell you who your father was?"

I had several ideas of my own but wanted to know, okay so I liked to have all the lose ends tied up and that was one lose end that had bugged me.

"He ended the affair with my mother when I was four years old. Apparently, he never came to the house so never knew that I existed. My mother said that a man who deserted a woman didn't deserve to be known as a father"

"I take it that the money from his wife's family was more important"

"So it seems"

What I was curious about, was whether Desilva was more interested in the money he might get or if lurking underneath was the man who had been an excellent cop and FBI agent.

"Does Freya know?"

A sound had me turning and both Desilva and I were looking at Freya stood in the doorway. Oh shit, not the way for Freya to find out that piece of information. I actually felt sorry for her as she stood there staring at Desilva.

"You're the son he wanted? You used me to get to him?"

I stood back putting distance between them, a little concerned at being caught in the middle of their discussion.

"It isn't what you think Freya. It was only when you asked me to look into your father's finances that I found out that your father had had an affair with my mother. I would never hurt you Freya"

I could actually see regret on Desilva's face, a face that probably resembled his mother far more than his father. As Desilva moved to approach Freya it was Pagna that shouted out.

"Enough. Both of you sit down. We have business to attend to"

The tone of her voice almost had me sitting down as well. She was a cold hard woman with a face to match and I shivered slightly as she turned that face on me.

"You need to give me the drive"

That brought out the Italian in me, and not knowing where it came from, I was suddenly glaring at her ready to stand up to her.

"The agreement was that Mr Manoso would be here. Where is he?"

I watched as Pagna nodded her head to Coleman and as he walked across to one of the doors, I presume maybe a bedroom. He opened it and spoke to someone inside returning to his seat on the couch. My mind was telling me to be calm, to not lose my cool. I had to keep control of my emotions especially as Ranger walked out of the room with another Asian wrestler behind him.

I was so pleased to see him standing there in a suit with no obvious signs of injury, other than some bruising on his cheek. He had his hands behind his back so I assumed they were cuffed or fastened but knowing Ranger so much better now I could see the tension on his face and how his eyes stayed on me.

Seeing him brought a sense of enormous relief but I didn't move toward him. I had to give the illusion of having some control if this exchange was going to happen with no one getting hurt. I knew that Ranger was going to be worried about me or at least worried if I had come here prepared to make a deal for him with the drive. I just hoped he knew me well enough to know that I'd have planned something out to ensure that never happened.

Of course, things are never as they appear. Stupidly I thought that the dilemma of who I was up against was resolved, then again this was me so I should have known that my plans never go quite the way they should. There was Coleman who apparently would manage and broker the investments from the drive and Pagna and Desilva who would benefit from the proceeds.

Imagine my surprise when Juan walked from the room where Ranger had been. I have to say he certainly cleaned up good as well, decked out in a dark grey suit with his face shaved and his hair neatly combed. As he stood between Ranger and the Asian wrestler, I was conscious of hearing doors open.

I knew that Les and Bobby wouldn't interrupt yet, the plan was to wait until Coleman had the drive and I had Ranger. I had a word that would tell them when I needed them. I turned as did everyone else as Narong walked into the room slightly amused at the intake of breath that came from Pagna. She obviously had no idea that he was so close by. And to be honest neither did I. Him being here was not in the plans.

Narong came and stood next to me, standing as tall and proud as a man of his age could do, I could feel the energy radiating from him as he out stared Pagna.

"Pagna I wasn't aware of how much you disliked me"

Oh, oh. I'd say that Pagna did more than just dislike Narong.

"You were never a brother to me. You left me and made sure that you were safe. You never cared what happened to me. Then you had the nerve to criticize me for trying to stay alive and keep my family together"

"Pagna we each chose our own paths"

Maybe I could understand where both of them were coming from, but I had to admit that what Narong had said was so true.

"You hated the Khmer Rouge and what we stood for"

"I hated what they did to innocent people Pagna"

"You weren't there. I married to keep my child safe"

I suppose that might have been the only option available to her, to stay on the right side of people who had all of the power. But her husband had died, though I couldn't find out how. Was she so damaged not to be able to rebuild her life?

"That man abused me, constantly. He was going to start on our daughter next, so I killed him. There was no one there to help me, to turn to"

Looking at Pagna as she said that I saw no regret at what she'd done and to be honest wouldn't blame her for killing the man. It must have been really hard to do that and to hide what she'd done from the people around her, especially from Maia her daughter.

I felt Narong deflate as he listened to her reasons, I suppose some guilt building up inside of him, but hadn't he said that he'd lost his wife? The repercussions from the past were certainly responsible for all of the ill feeling between them.

"I'm sorry Pagna. I didn't realize you were suffering. After I lost my wife, I had to flee the country with my daughter. There was still too much danger for me to stay"

There was maybe a change in Pagna's eyes as Narong gave his explanation, but it soon disappeared with the hardness returning. She stood up from the couch and stood in front of us, a crazy determination coming to her eyes.

"Give me the drive or that man dies"

This was what we'd planned for and I was about to slip my shoe off from my foot when Narong moved to stand in front of me. What the hell was he doing, this wasn't what had been planned? I was almost afraid that Narong was going to get Ranger killed.

"That drive, the program isn't what you think it is"

Was this Narong's idea, to try and downplay the how powerful having that drive could be?

"It is, Tao told me all about it"

Okay she cleared up that assumption that I'd made, her connection through her dead husband's brother.

"He didn't understand what he was seeing. Yes, it gave what seemed to be details of men who worked for various agencies around the world but what he didn't know was that they were all dead. The program only ever accessed intel from archived material, the security on that area isn't as thorough"

As I listened to what Narong described I really wasn't sure if he was giving details of the drive after he and Hector worked on it or if he was really telling the truth.

"I don't believe you. Tao saw names"

"Tao saw names for men and women who were never publicly announced as dead. Their governments chose for them to disappear"

"You mean what, like the USA labels a man as MIA, when they actually know that he's dead?"

I looked to Juan as he gave that explanation and to be honest it was one hell of a good way to rationalize it. As the conversation was going on, I hadn't noticed Coleman slide a laptop onto his knee and lift the lid. It was only as he said my name that I realized what he was doing.

"Miss Plum. The drive. We can verify what Dr Seang is saying"

I looked from Coleman to Ranger because I really didn't care if that was what he wanted to do, well I did if Narong was trying to bluff him.

"Release Ranger"

I wanted Ranger out of harms way first and was actually surprised when he brought his arms around to his front. There was a loud thump behind him, and the Asian man fell to the ground like a tree that had been felled, with Juan smiling as he moved to Ranger's side.

I was worried that Juan was now the one who would stop Ranger from moving so was surprised as each of them walked across the room toward me. With Juan on one side of me and Ranger on the other I was beginning to feel more optimistic with how things were going and was about to say my safe word when Narong turned to me.

"Stephanie, give him the drive. He'll discover how useless it is and then maybe we can all get back to our lives"

"Are you sure?"

Because I didn't want to be responsible for anyone to be in danger. As Narong nodded his head I held onto Ranger's arm and lifted my foot to remove my shoe. I was aware of eyes watching what I was doing, the only thought going through my mind being that the brilliant hiding place was now known by a lot more people.

Narong took the drive from my hand as I removed it from the wedge of my heel and waited until I'd replaced the shoe on my foot. He then walked over to Coleman and handed him the drive. I'd expected us to leave at that point, afraid that maybe Narong had done what I'd done and infected the drive with a virus.

Instead, everyone fell silent and stationary as Coleman inserted a cable from his laptop into the drive. I heard the laptop whirring into action though not being able to see the screen had me frustrated. It was Coleman who broke the silence as he looked around the room until his gaze settled on Ranger.

"I'll test it out on you shall I Manoso"

I heard him hitting the keys and closed my eyes, silently praying that what came up in no way damaged Ranger's privacy then a terrifying thought crossed my mind. Ranger had been declared dead so would his records come up as Narong had suggested? The wait was too long not to take a look only to see Coleman frowning.

"Nothing. Give me another name"

I think both Ranger and Juan lifted an eyebrow at the same time as to if to say, really, you expect us to give away the name of an active agent, or whatever they were called.

"I'll use your name then Juan, Juan Sullivan"

Juan just shrugged his shoulders but that did nothing to calm my nerves. The look on Coleman's face though was laughable. It made me wonder how Coleman had intended to use the program had it done what he believed it would do. I suppose a prospective client would give him a name to find, otherwise the program wouldn't know who to look for. Okay it was time to leave this little gathering because the way that Coleman was looking at Pagna didn't bode well. I needed to use my safe word to let the guys know that we were coming out.

"One hell of an enigma"

Was all I could think to say and was aware of both Ranger and Narong looking at me strangely.

"What are you talking about?"

Came from Pagna as she obviously tried to deflect attention away from her and onto me.

"Well, someone once told me that an enigma was something that was puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable and wasn't always what you thought it was"

Okay that wasn't exactly right but it sure explained that drive and the program on it. There was a myriad of expressions from the people in the room. Coleman was looking absolutely furious, Pagna was almost close to tears and Desilva had a smile on his face.

Desilva was the one that I was surprised at. I grabbed hold of Narong's hand and turned him to me as I started to move toward the door. Freya wasn't there anymore, and to be honest I'd forgotten that she was there, so maybe she'd heard enough and decided to leave. Ranger was in front of me as we approached the door, obviously worried as to what was beyond it and I had Narong with me and Juan bringing up the rear.

As we approached the door it opened to Les, Bobby, Tank and Arlo all ready to storm the place kitted out with Kevlar vests and fully armed. I wasn't too sure what they'd planned but was sure it was to get Ranger, me and Narong out of here but as we were led down the hall toward the stairs, I knew that I had one more commitment that I had to keep. Knowing that me just disappearing wouldn't work I caught up with Tank at the bottom of the stairs so that I was a few steps higher making our eyes level.

"Tank, get him out and checked up. I have one more thing that I need to do"

"I won't leave you in here on your own"

Shit, I had expected him to say that and dreaded the idea, but for once knew I couldn't get out of having someone watching me. I sighed deeply as I formed the words that I needed to say.

"Okay. Les and Arlo only. Tell them to stay in the main room by the exit because that's where I'm going"

Tank nodded his head before he turned walking with the others down the stairs. I saw Ranger turn and look at me, but Tank soon had him moving away from me. It seemed Les and Arlo knew somehow that they needed to have me in their sights because they waited at the bottom of the stairs until I was with them.

"I, err, have to speak with Brenda and collect my bag. Just stay by the door and Les?"

How did I tell him that if he told anyone what I was going to do then I would kick his ass and spread nasty rumors around the clubs in Trenton. Rumors that would have any woman running in the opposite direction when they saw him. I couldn't do that without giving away what I had to do and if they knew what I was going to be doing I wasn't too sure if they'd try to stop me. As Les stopped and looked at me waiting for me to finish what I was saying to him I shook my head and said instead.

"It doesn't matter"

Once through the door I could see Brenda at one side of the stage so started to make my way toward her. It was as I stood up from picking up my bag that a spotlight suddenly lit me up, blinding me from seeing anything. My hearing sure worked fine though as I cringed at what Brenda was saying.

"Ladies and gentlemen, though maybe I should just be talking to the men in the room, but who knows. Take a look and let your imagination start to work, let your fingers do the writing as you contemplate the possible outcome of our last auction"

The sound from the crowd erupted as Brenda winked at them and as she waited for the noise to quieten down, I held up all of my fingers of both hands implying that I'd need ten minutes before I would be ready. Seeing her response to that, I shouted out loud enough for the people sat closest to me could hear.

"Sing a song Brenda"

That certainly caught the attention of someone because as I walked through the curtain at the side of the stage, I could hear the crowd screaming for a song from Brenda.

I felt quite embarrassed as I came out from behind the drapes. There were rails with clothes hanging down and rows of tables with lights around mirrors, but it was the half-naked women and men walking around that had me coming to a stop. They seemed to have no awareness of how they looked, and no one seemed upset about it. A dressed woman came up to me, who obviously hadn't a clue who I was.

"You were supposed to be here hours ago"

Okay, I hadn't a clue what she was talking about and was about to ask her when she continued.

"All the models turned up on time, why the hell couldn't you. That dress would have been a killer out there"

I laughed as I realized what she was implying surprised at the mistake that she'd made.

"No, you got it wrong. I'm not a model"

"Well, you sure look like one to me and to be honest you'd put some of these to shame"

I think that what she said was a compliment so accepted it gracefully.

"I need to change. I'm Brenda's last auction"

"Change? Girl you look good enough to me"

I raised the bag in my hand for her to understand that I was going to change regardless of what she thought.

"Pick an empty space. We don't do privacy"

Great. Was the thought going my mind as I headed to what looked like a quiet corner. I removed my things from the bag and then began to remove any jewelry that I was wearing. Those along with my shoes went into the bottom of the bag. I bent over shaking my hair free and slipped the straps from my dress over my shoulders.

Being naked had to happen so I turned into the corner allowing the dress to fall to my waist and quickly pulled on a very sexy lace bra that added cleavage. Over that went a low-cut vest with buttons down the front that only reached part way down my rib cage. I had combat trousers that hung low on my hips and socks and leather boots with a four-inch heel. I turned to see one of the male models watching me as I fastened a holster around my hips tying it off around my thigh.

"I would never have thought that look would be so sexy"

"Thanks, that's what I was going for"

I added a utility belt that had two pairs of handcuffs dangling down and a knife slotted into one of the straps and making sure the gun was actually empty of bullets slipped it into the holster. A Kevlar vest was my final piece of clothing to complete the look, but I needed to see the final result before I went out front.

"Here, use these"

Looking at the reflection I saw the model pulling some sort of band over my arm and up toward my shoulder.

"Wow, it looks just like a tattoo, it's awesome"

"Sit down, I'll touch up your makeup"

I didn't have much choice as I was pushed backwards to end up sat down and then allowed him to do things with my eyes face and mouth. I even felt him add a false ring to my belly button.

"Stand up"

I hadn't realized that I had an audience now with several of the models stood around me.

"Something's missing"

"Yeah, but what?"

"I know"

Came from one of the girls. I watched amazed when she returned and placed a black fedora on my head, as another girl tilted it so that it was slightly forward to one side and a final man ran his hands through my hair enhancing the curls making it look extremely wild.

"Shit, you look amazing. Why this get up?"

I didn't have time to explain because I could hear the clapping from the stage.

"You'll need to listen and watch if you want to know. Guys, thanks for all the help, I couldn't have done it without you"

I received lots of hugs before someone was pushing me through some drapes out into the darkness. I could see Brenda to my right and had the horrible feeling that I was maybe center stage. All of a sudden that infernal spotlight was shining on me and Brenda had started to talk.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Our last auction of the evening, and yeah, I saved the best for last. Bring your hands together for our very own Bombshell Bounty Hunter, the woman who always gets her man or woman regardless of how down and dirty they are. You are bidding for one day with this vixen so let your imaginations rule your bank account and remember all proceeds go to the charity of the evening. Who wants to start the bidding?"

I think I was paralyzed with shock at what Brenda had said. How the hell had I agreed to do this and when did Brenda say it was for 24 hours? I could end up with a sex maniac or wanna be bounty hunter or even a sadist.

"$50 dollars"

Came from beyond the light which had me bristling. I was worth more than $50, wasn't I? Maybe I should have clued Les into what I was doing and asked him to outbid everyone else.

"60 dollars"

Was the final insult as I realized what I would need to do. I took up a pose and touched my hand to my hat before I started to walk down the catwalk. I have to say it was easier to do than I thought. The spotlights stopped me from seeing into the crowd so made me feel more confident. I had a swing to my hips and was swinging a set of handcuffs around in my hand.

As the bids continued to rise, I thought what the hell. If someone was going to have the pleasure of my company for 24 hours, then I'd make damn sure they paid through their teeth for it. I strutted, I bent down, I played with the cuffs and then took up a stance with the gun in my hand. I finished by blowing across the end of the gun and stood with my hands on my hips. I was hot and sweaty as I stood there and totally shocked when I heard the figure of 600 dollars being shouted out. Bending down and over to reveal my cleavage and blow a kiss to no one in particular I kept listening to the bids.

"1000 dollars"

"1500 dollars"

"Is that the best that you can do?"

Came the encouraging voice of Brenda.

"2000 dollars"

"5000 dollars"

Everything went quiet with the last shout and looking over to Brenda I could see that she was enjoying this far too much. Shit, did she see who gave the last bid? As she raised a hammer and held it over the podium in front of her the room was absolutely silent.

"I have 5000 dollars, is there anyone else out there who thinks they can tame this Bounty Hunter?"

The hammer came down again and the lights on the catwalk dimmed before turning off.

"Going, going"

"10,000 dollars"

Was shouted across the room amidst some oohs and murmurings.

"Going, going, gone for 10,000 dollars"

Now I was back to being nervous, shit, what if the person hurt me or expected hot sex?

What the hell would I do then? I had absolutely no idea who it was that bid such an insane amount of money.

"Would the winning bidder please step onto the catwalk so the Bombshell can arrange when the 24 hours will take place"