“You’re also my brother,” she said with a grin. “I’m bringing you back with me from Austin. I have all the information for your cover on a thumb drive if you’re interested. And I told them you would bring your own sub. I thought that would make it easier. The more people we can bring in, the safer we’re all going to be.”
Who the hell would he take in as a sub? “Why didn’t you just say I was your old Dom? That would have been simpler.”
Her face screwed into a mask of horror. “Oh, no. You’re going to be expected to have sex with your sub. I can’t have sex with you. That’s just horrible.”
He wasn’t that bad looking. Not that he would have sex with her. “I’m not exactly chopped liver.”
“They think I’m a sweet little lesbian. It was easier that way. Until I met a Domme. She was scary and very aggressive, so now I’m a celibate lesbian because my lover died in a car crash and I can’t get over her.”
That didn’t seem fair. “So you don’t have to have sex, but I do? That’s nice for you.”
She shrugged. “Hey, what can I say? I’m saving myself for someone special. Come on. I’ve done my research on you. You’ve been a Dom for over a decade. You can handle it. And you regularly attend a club called Sanctum. Very private. Very selective.”
“Yes, my partner Ian Taggart and I founded the club when we moved here and started our company. We’re serious lifestylers. The idea of a bunch of tourists playing at D/s in a bar scares the shit out of me.”
Kristen seemed tenacious. “This is the best way to get you in and you know it. Chazz doesn’t need a new bouncer. He needs something different. None of the other clubs have tried this. It’s going to get Evans’s attention. Come on, Alex, you know you want to.”
Alex shook his head. “I don’t know that I’ll be willing to do this. I need to take a look at your research.”
“Of course, you’re careful. But in the end you’ll come back to Florida with me.” She sat back, her smile that of a woman who knew the outcome was certain.
“Florida?”
“St. Augustine to be precise. We’re set up in the Old City. You’ll like it. I’ve got a nice-sized condo in Palm Coast that will function as our base. I’ve been staying in a craptastic apartment in order to look like I need a bartending job, but I can sell you as a wealthy man who just enjoys his kink. But you really do need to bring a sub with you, preferably someone trained in both investigative techniques and the lifestyle. There are a lot of people in and out of that club, and they’re a bit on the scary side. I would be happy to have a couple of people watching my back.”
He was not going there. He was not taking her with him. Fuck no. “I’ll see what I can do, but it might be hard to find a sub who meets your demands.”
She frowned and then looked at him as though she was trying to figure him out. “You work with her every day, Alex. I don’t know that this can happen without your ex-wife.”
He stood up. “Then we’re done here. If I can’t come up with someone and I can’t go in alone, then the whole op is off.”
She held up her hands in supplication. “Whoa, there, big guy. Let’s not jump to conclusions. Take a look at the research and my plan and then make a decision.” She reached into her big bag and pulled out a thumb drive. “Here it is. I’ll be in town all weekend. I would love to bring you back to St. Augustine with me. I promised Chazz I would try to fill the empty positions. He trusts me, but if I don’t he’ll do it himself and I’ll lose out on the chance to put my own people into place.”
She picked up her sandwich and dropped what was left in the trash before shoving her book into her bag. “I sincerely hope you’ll reconsider. I think Evans is going to move soon, and I don’t know that I can do it alone.”
“Why not bring the feds in?” It was the only thing that made sense. If she really had all the information she said she had, then they would be all over the case.
She was quiet for a moment, as though trying to decide just how much to say to him. “The minute we bring the feds in, we lose control of everything. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve studied all their case files. I have them back at my place.”
“Those files are confidential.” And wasn’t it interesting that she had them?
Kristen grinned and shrugged a little. “Nothing is confidential if you have the right skills. I need those files. They’re important. I keep studying them because they might tell me what Evans is planning next. I also worry that Evans maybe had someone on the inside. Maybe at the prison, but I can’t discount that he might have had someone in the government, too. His prison break had to be expertly timed.”
His brain rejected the notion immediately. Evans was smart. He could have handled everything on his own. He had a legion of crazy minions willing to do just about anything to please him. He could have talked to other prisoners. One of them could have known about the routine maintenance.
“Think about it,” Kristen said with a grim nod of her head. “Call the feds if you like, but I have zero use for them. They’ll just muddy things up and then I won’t get a story out of this. You caught him once without their help.”
It had been a little more complex than that. “I still had access to the case files and the databases. I don’t anymore.”
She winked. “Then aren’t you lucky you have me? You can reach me at the e-mail address I gave you.”
“Why can’t I just call you?”
She wagged a finger at him. “No, no. This girl doesn’t just give out her number to any guy who comes along. It’s best we keep things nice and easy until you decide if you’re in or you’re out. And even then, I don’t want to meet with anyone but you and your sub. I don’t want to be exposed to the rest of your team. I understand you’ll bring backup with you, but they’re yours, not mine, and I can’t risk getting in close contact with them. This is a dangerous story I’m working on.”
“All right, but it would help if you would come in and meet the team. You don’t have to be involved once we get there, but they would feel better meeting you.”
“I’m not here to make your guys feel better. No contact with anyone who isn’t working in the club. That’s a deal breaker.” She nodded and started to walk off before turning back abruptly. “I’m going to be waiting for that e-mail, McKay. And in the meantime, I’ll try to find the last member of the team. Cuffs is down a cook. I don’t guess you know anyone who can play chef? Chazz is trying to spruce up the kitchen staff. The last guy barely knew how to work a fryer. I think it would be great to have someone in the kitchen. Those guys love to talk.”