ALPHA (Dark Waters #3)

Chapter 1

Eric

“You’re never gonna make it,” she snarled from the back seat, and I stole a hasty glance at her pissy face in the rearview mirror. I needed to concentrate on the washed-out road in front of me and knew I didn’t have much time. Normally, I’d be thrilled the rain had returned to cool off this Godforsaken country, but the thought of who I had in the back had me in more of a sweat than I cared to think about. I needed to get behind the protected gates of my house. The wipers beat across the windshield, and I squinted at the quickly forming river ahead of me. My phone rang, and I stuck it between my shoulder and my chin as I quickly put the car in reverse.

“Stick to the opposite shoulder, gun it, and get the f**k out of there,” a voice screamed at me. One of Castillo’s men, I assumed. I tossed the phone on the passenger seat, lined up my wheels on the shoulder, and gunned it. Water started to seep around my boots as my passenger shrieked, and I could feel the pressure of her feet as she propped them up out of the water.

“You’re crazy!” she yelped.

She had no idea.

I shifted into four-wheel drive. A plume of water flew out behind me as I plowed along the edge of the steadily rising water. Finally, all four wheels were clear, but I never slowed down until I hit the city limits. I took the turns hard as I wove up the hill and finally took a deep breath as I drove through the wrought iron gates to my house.

I reached for my phone as my men approached the car, but I hopped out and held up a hand to stop them.

“I got her.” I opened the door. “How do you wanna do this?” I immediately saw fight flicker in her eyes as she took me in. “You’re highly outnumbered, so we can get you inside, cleaned up, and settled, or you can make a scene. Believe me, lady, you’ll be the one who’ll end up getting hurt. Your ass’ll be inside one way or another. It’s up to you how.” I watched her weigh the odds. If I’d learned anything over the years about the kind of woman Blackstone attracted, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. These women were a tough lot, and if I gave her an inch, I knew she’d take advantage of it. I had to set the ground rules now.

When she didn’t move, I reached for her hand. She’d been waiting for that and tried to headbutt me. I wasn’t stupid and was ready for her. She wouldn’t be the first woman who’d tried that one on me. What I didn’t expect was as she fell, she twisted hard and caught me with her shoulder. I stepped back quickly and let her fall to the ground hard. Her knees hit first and then her hands. She spat like a cat and screamed obscenities. I was impressed by her repertoire, but I was done with her, and I was pissed when I heard a snicker from one of my soldiers.

“Done yet?” She tried to kick out, but I carefully stepped out of the way. Her feet were still tied, so she could only do so much. Rain beat down on her as she looked up at me in fury and her hair hung in strings over her face. I’d had enough, so I grabbed her and threw her over my shoulder and carried her kicking and screaming toward the house.

“Get your asses back inside,” I yelled at the men as I went by them.

Alejandro gave a quick, low whistle as I entered the house and I glanced at him. He moved his gaze to a few men I hadn’t met before. I wasn’t a newbie in this business and immediately understood what I was up against. They sat at a table pretending not to notice me. Smoke from their cigarettes swirled thick above them as they played a card game.

I glared at them as I hauled the woman through the room and down the stairs. I dumped her on the bed in the cage and held her still with my foot. Leo, one of my men, had left the needle on the small table ready for me, and I grabbed it and gave it a flick.

“No, no!” She started to panic, but I grabbed her arm and injected the drug under her skin. Within seconds, she went limp, and I sat beside her on the bed to catch my breath.

“Little wildcat,” Leo chuckled, “hope this cage holds up.”

“Take off her shoes,” I ordered as I ignored his comments about what she might look like underneath her clothes. “Socks too.” I cut the ropes and examined the raw marks on her wrists and ankles. I rubbed cream into the red areas, then, satisfied, I decided to give her a second shot that contained pain meds. I knew the journey wouldn’t have been easy, and the bruises on her arms and cheek told me she she’d put up a fight.

I didn’t know who grabbed these women from the streets, and I didn’t need to know, but it pissed me off when they were marked up. Time was money, and it took time to get them ready for sale. This particular woman concerned me more than usual, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to be blamed if she was scarred up.

“What about her shirt?” He grinned at me.

“No.” I shook my head. When she woke, I didn’t want her to find herself undressed and think I was some kind of creep who did s**t to her while she was drugged.

“Whatever. I’ll just watch the reruns.” He chuckled, and as I shot him a questioning look, he pointed at a camera in the corner of the room. I didn’t react but swept my eyes around the room. I could see a few cameras had been installed while I was away.

Fucking Castillo.

I stood, about to rip them out of the wall, but stopped myself. Who was to say there weren’t any more? Maybe this was a test, and if there were cameras, maybe there were mics around too.

Castillo: I need a proof of life.

Eric: I said no cameras.

Castillo: It’s merely a precaution.

Eric: Bullshit.

I thought for a moment then took out my switchblade and carved an oval on the wall then cut in my recently designed signature tag. I stepped back and snapped a quick photo of her with my mark in the background.

“Why’d you do that?” Leo came up behind me.

“Proof of life, amigo, and I feel like playin’ the game this time."

“The game?” He looked puzzled.

“Who made the biggest score, who made the loudest noise. You know, like in the media. This,” I snapped a few photos, making sure the light was perfect, “is for braggin’ rights. You never heard of a tag?” When he shook his head, I pointed to the oval with my initials inside. “It shows she’s held by me,” I rubbed my finger over the engraving, “Eric Noah’s possession. Braggin’ rights.”

“Kinda like a signature on artwork without sharing your name.”

“Precisely, and if she isn’t art in our world, I don’t know what is.” I laughed and sent the photo to Castillo and a few others then flipped on the TV to an American news channel.

“Impressive.” He grinned and went to slap me on the back but thought better of it and backed off.

I dragged over a plastic tub and set it next to her bed. I pulled out some clothes, a water bottle, and a pair of flip flops.

“A tracksuit?” He looked at the black pants and oversized hoodie with a raised eyebrow.

“Do you ever shut the f**k up?” I’d kept enough women here to know they were more comfortable in sweats. Something warm that didn’t show their womanly shape. It was too tempting for the men around them, and I didn’t need the hassle. My part of the operation was to keep them as clean and safe as possible until they were sold off to Chili, who could do whatever the hell he did with them.

“I’m just sayin’ maybe something silky would be better.” He reached out and fingered her shirt.

“Know your place,” I warned him and batted his hand away. I wasn’t sure I could trust him with a caged woman in the place. “You touch her, and I’ll break your fingers, individually, with a hammer.”

“Sure, sure, I hear you.” He put his hands in the air. “I’m just sayin’.”

“Well, don’t.” I pointed at the door, and he left with a quick glance back at her. My gut told me he shouldn’t be allowed down there at all, not even with someone else. I had a reputation to uphold, and I wasn’t about to let some punk kid ruin it for me.

The woman stirred just as I stepped out and locked the cage using a five-digit code. I didn’t trust she couldn’t pick a lock, and at least she couldn’t see when I entered in the numbers. Only a few would know the code. One could never be too careful.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she shot straight up, then heaved over and gagged. I knew after the drugs she’d had, she might get sick. I could have warned her to take it slow, but I knew it would be pointless. Her feet hit the floor, and she tried to stand then fell forward on her hands and knees with a moan. She put a hand to her head and sat up.

“If you sit still and take small sips of water, it’ll help with the side effects,” I said calmly.

Her head whipped over to me, and her hair fell over one eye as she blinked her anger at me.

“Or maybe you don’t drug me at all.” She lowered her head and tried to fight it.

“Okay, look.” I eased onto the table and felt a weariness come over me. This part of the process exhausted me. “Let’s look at this from my point of view. You’re here in a cage, and I’m here outside the cage. Clearly, I’ve done this before. I’m very good at it, by the way. I know what I’m talking about. So, if you just sit back and drink some water, maybe you’ll see I’m just trying to make this easier on you.”

“Screw you.” She puffed and managed to stand for a moment then allowed herself to sink to the bed.

“Fine.” I sighed deeply. “Clean clothes are there, water is there, and there’s food on the table.” I pointed. “If you’re done trying to prove to me how tough you are, I’ll leave you be. In the meantime,” I stood, “smile for the cameras.”

I waved over my head and as I walked out. I eyed the cameras to see how they were being used.

“Wait.” She called me back. I almost kept going but thought about it and turned around, then as I walked toward the cage, I nudged a paintbrush forward a bit on the floor with the toe of my boot. “Can I get some sugar?”

“Sugar?” I pretended to entertain her odd request so I could take a moment to move the bucket that stood against the wall a bit closer to the cage. “Why would you want sugar?”

“I have low sugars, and I faint easily.” I could see the lie but used it to my advantage as I pretended to think about it. I scuffed a mark in the dust with my heel.

“I’ll see what I have.” She nodded, and I headed back toward the stairs.

Pedro, one of Castillo’s higher-ranked soldiers, watched me as I came toward him. He put his cards down on the table. I grabbed him by the hair and yanked his head back, and with the other hand I snatched the cigarette from his mouth and put in out on the side of his neck. He bucked straight up, but I used my weight to slam him back in the chair.

“Have some f*****g respect in someone’s home,” I hissed and tossed him backward in his chair. He toppled onto his back then leapt to his feet where he was met with my gun in his face. “You’re here to watch over this place, so f*****g do it!”

I pulled out my phone and called Castillo.

“How’s she settling in?” Castillo mused from wherever he was.

“If you insist on your dogs being here, they stay outside,” I seethed inches from Pedro’s face. “This is my house, and you hire me to do my job, now I have to have your pets and your cameras invading my space?” I shouted and knew I hovered the line of disrespect, but I didn’t care. “We had a deal, and you broke it.”

He went quiet, and I half expected him to walk through my front door with guns blazing.

“Eric,” his tone changed to a quieter one, “the cameras are for us.”

“I don’t seem to have a link to the feed.”

“I’m sending it now.” A moment later, my phone vibrated, and I saw a link had been shared with me. “I know things are different with this one, but you must understand, Eric, one can never be too careful. She is, after all, a Blackstone bitch.”

“Yeah, thanks for the heads up on that one, by the way.” While I talked, I motioned with my gun to Alejandro, and he stepped forward and began to herd Pedro and his buddies outside. I gave him a nod as I moved to my office. “The b***h told me on our drive here.”

“Interesting.” He seemed amused. “Was she feisty?”

“A bit.” I knew I’d better feed him the truth on that. I still wasn’t sure what he could see and hear. I also knew he liked his women a bit wild, and I didn’t want to stimulate his imagination. I used my fingerprint to open my Mac and clicked on the link. It brought me to the basement cameras.

“Hang on. I have a call coming through,” he rasped, and I rolled my eyes as I was placed on hold. While I waited, I grabbed a pencil and sketched out the basement room in my notebook. Then I quickly made notes of all the blind spots the cameras couldn’t see. Only half the bucket could be seen, the paintbrush was in full view, but the line next to the cage where my chair was tucked in the far back corner was completely hidden. Whoever installed the cameras didn’t put much thought into where they were pointed. I turned up the volume, and it crackled a bit then cleared, and I could only hear some white noise. All of that told me it wasn’t hardwired. The fact that it was more than likely wi-fi connected worked in my favor. The phone in my ear went live as Castillo clicked back on.

“I have some guests arriving soon. I have to go.”

“Wait, what’s her name? Which Blackstone member is her husband? How can I sell her with no information?”

“You’re not selling her.” He chuckled. “We’ll pump her for information then dispose of the bitch.”