Yeah… my attraction for her goes way deeper than just her sex appeal, which is through the fucking roof. I search my memory and can’t think of a single woman I’ve ever been with that I wanted more than I want her. I can’t fucking help it… she’s a temptation that while I can’t have, I still desire very much. While I’m anxious to get this job over and get back to my life in the Outer Banks, I’m most anxious to actually part ways with Andrea so I don’t have to suffer from wanting that proverbial cookie in the cookie jar that I know I really can’t have.
“What’s the game plan if you can’t get information to me in time?” Mike asks, and this is something I’ve given some thought to over the last few days.
“I’m going to meet with Andrea tonight and discuss it. I’ll have both of us armed. Simon’s entrusted me to ensure she’s drugged properly. Then we’re just going to hope the element of surprise and quickly drawn guns works.”
“Clearly, that won’t be a problem if you can alert me to where the sale will take place. I can have a tactical team in place, but you two may have to do this on your own. At the very least, I can follow your GPS signal as long as there’s no jammer in use, and we can move in after you become stationary. Set up nearby but probably not close enough to help if things go sour quickly.”
Yeah, by sour he means if a shootout ensues. He could be half a block over and that wouldn’t be close enough to beat speeding bullets. This, I knew and accepted.
This could end badly for Andrea and me but that’s part of what you accept as a cop.
“Let’s just hope I can get you some details. If not, from what I gather, it’s just going to me, Simon, and Lance at the exchange with the buyer. The unknown is whether the buyer will have anyone with him.”
“Do the best you can, Wyatt,” Mike says. “We’re almost there, buddy. It’s almost over.”
“Almost over,” I concur. “I better get back in the club. Hope to talk to you soon, man.”
I disconnect and start toward the back door when my beeper goes off. Glancing down, I see the message.
Customer complaint. VIP 5.
“Fuck,” I mutter to myself as I unlock the back door and step inside. “Just another day at the office.”
I make my way through the club, past the stage where two of the dancers are grinding against each other. My eyes sweep the area, looking for Andrea. She danced about twenty minutes ago and wouldn’t be back on for a while. She was probably in the back changing into something so she could serve drinks until her next number.
I jog quickly up the stairs, turn left, and head down to VIP Room Number 5.
After giving a soft knock to announce my presence, I open the door and step inside. My blood immediately boils when I take in Andrea, naked but clutching a discarded corset over her crotch with her other arm covering her breasts. She looks fearful as she glances at me and then back at another man in the room.
My stomach tightens when I see Peter Cantz, one of Simon’s best friends and closest criminal allies. Lance told me once that he is heavy into the gun trade and he scratches Simon’s back with cut-rate deals on arms and munition, while Simon repays the favor by offering him in on his meth operation.
He’s a frequent visitor at The Platinum Club, and is one of the heaviest spenders.
My gut tightened when I first saw him because every time he visits, he ends up fucking one of the girls. He pays well because he always wants the dirtiest kind of kink, and he always walks away a happy man.
“Peter,” I say in a friendly tone as I walk over to him with my hand outstretched. “Is there a problem?”
He shakes my hand and gives me a tight smile. “Bitch over there isn’t willing to play. I put three hundred in her hand, and then she went all shy virgin on me.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I think back to that relief I felt when I realized Simon wouldn’t have an opportunity to get at Andrea, and it’s completely gone. I thought Simon was the only threat and never in a million years thought Andrea would be in any other type of danger while working here. Sure… a lot of Simon’s girls fuck the patrons for money in these VIP rooms, but that business is all very closely regulated by me. Because I am the one that approves which customers are allowed in on this action and the one that approves which girls whore themselves out, I just never worried that this would touch Andrea. The plan was for her to be one of the four or five girls that work here that don’t sell their bodies, and it was something that I just didn’t worry about.
Apparently… that was a critical error in not taking it more seriously.
Putting on my most apologetic and sheepish look, I say, “Sorry, man… Nikki here is new. She’s not aware of that part of the business.”
Peter’s face flushes red with anger. “She’s fucking aware of it now. I gave her my money and told her I want to fuck her bent over the couch. How much clearer does it have to be for her?”
“I’m sorry, Peter,” I say in apology but in a much-firmer tone. “She’s not part of that business. Simon entrusted me with making sure that all the girls are properly vetted for this line of work, and Nikki hasn’t been approved. Let me get another girl up here—”
“No fucking way,” Peter roars. “I want that bitch, and you know Simon doesn’t deny me anything.”
“Raze,” I hear Andrea say from behind me and by the tone of her voice, I know what she’s getting ready to do.