Dare
Kruna Day 3
The partner meeting started at noon. It was closed door, no slaves present. I didn’t have Angel with me. She was in our room and I’d asked her to stay there.
Before I went in, I snipped the piece of one of her bras out that had the bug and stuffed it in my inside pocket. If they thought to frisk me at this point, better me than her. If they had eyes on our room when I’d done it, in the bathroom, then I was doomed.
Expansions to the building, more assets, more members. Possible plans to start a small US-based satellite branch of the club. A program, too, where members who were adequately vetted could have access to have girls sent to them for short periods of time. Gan Chen described it like borrowing library books. I fought the urge to break his face.
Some of the expansion plans were a few years out but they wanted to move forward soon to expand their stable of slaves, start the satellite branch, and begin planning for this lending program, which concerned a few members, but got voted in.
I gave it a yes vote because I was trying to appear as on-side as possible without making it look like I was kissing ass. These people had to take me seriously. Not only was I new, I was also the youngest partner.
When asked my views on it I’d replied that the right security in place to keep assets in and non-members out, it’d work for a satellite branch. As far as sending girls out to member homes? We’d need to be extra careful about that.
The shortlist was then explained to me, as if Angel hadn’t already told me about her being on that list. Only exceptional slaves were on that list and only those assets would be considered for any off-site servicing of members.
This meeting, though?
It was the sort of thing that would’ve been fine to dial into. Two people did dial in and their voices were on speaker. Their first names were spoken. Edward and Sylvia.
Sylvia mysteriously dropped off the call half way through and the meeting carried on after an attempt to reconnect her.
All this?
It was an excuse to party, take part in excess hedonism, and exert our power as Kruna partners, trade stories over how powerful, wealthy, and autonomous we all were.
It wasn’t my scene, even with the sex slave stuff aside, if I’d been serious about remaining a partner with these guys in anything, I’d have sent Stan Smith in my place. I didn’t need to take part in this pissing contest. I didn’t fuckin’ like these guys. At all.
You’d think Joseph Lucas had some redeeming qualities on the surface but his eyes lit up around the slaves like a junkie about to get a hit. He was evidently part of their crowd, not part of mine, despite how he seemed.
Delgado was a sick fucker, a game player. Outside of this world, he and I would’ve been enemies. Knowing it was his connections that got my wife’s sister sent to Romero? I wanted to make that sick fuck bleed.
And one thing was certain; the stuff that had been gotten via wire the last few days would be usable to that task force. The shit that’d been said around the wires? Gold to them.
I was hoping they’d do their thing with leaving our names out of it, my wife never having to see a witness stand. Somehow.
Maybe if it wasn’t lookin’ that way, we’d fuck off and change our names.
Tommy and I had talked about that possibility enough that we were prepared for it.
I left Angel in bed that morning, after we had breakfast together, watching cartoons. She laid on my belly and I played with her hair until I had to go.
“You wanna watch something else?” I asked.
“Why? Are you sick of this?” she asked.
“No, not at all. You like cartoons. I don’t mind.”
She’d nodded, “They remind me of a simpler time.” And then her face changed and she winced, like she shouldn’t have said that, in case someone heard. I kissed her nose and held her close, until I had to go be with those fucking scumbags again.
The plan was that the next day, we’d go meet up with Zack and from there we’d hopefully go home with them having enough to take this place down. Without us.
***
When the meeting was over, there was a lunch. More listening to these fuckers try to show how big their dicks were.
I fetched Angel to bring her to the dining room. Before we left the room, my phone buzzed with a text.
It was Zack, telling me I could leave any time. He and that taskforce shithead Randall wanted to meet with me ASAP. He asked if I’d come to Chon Buri City a day early or if I was staying until the following day.
The sooner I could get me and Angel out of this joint, the better. But if I left early, how would that look?
And more importantly, what had changed with the task force?
I didn’t say anything to Angel about it. She was quiet today so far, subdued. We hadn’t had a chance to talk about her father’s name on that plaque. I didn’t want to go back to the beach again. If we were there constantly, they might get suspicious and try to find a way to listen to us out there.
She was dressed in a pretty blue dress the color of her eyes, her hair straight and in a ponytail. She and I went to the dining room and had lunch with the other partners. A few had their slaves present, on the floor. I took my assigned place at a table with a bunch of partners I hadn’t spent much time with yet. More assholes. More bragging. More pissing contests.
Delgado, Lucas, Chen, and Shaw were all mysteriously absent.
***
Later, we were at one of the pools with other partners and a couple members had shown up for regular visits. Angel and I were in the pool, hanging out on a raft, when people who had just arrived started fucking poolside. I tried to ignore it but that was impossible, so we were getting ready to head back to our room when Joseph Lucas and Delgado strolled out, narrowly missing getting jizzed on. This fuckin’ place.
“Can we meet for a conversation?” Delgado asked, “Gan Chen’s office.”
“Yeah. I’ll just go get dressed.
***
Angel was in our room, I was in Gan Chen’s office with Chen, Joseph Lucas, and Delgado.
“We now have a confirmed membership spot opened up. Your brother? We want him to come talk about taking it,” Delgado said.
“When?”
“As soon as he can get here,” Joseph Lucas said.
“I’ll talk to him, arrange a meeting,” I said, “What’s changed?”
Gan Chen piped up, “One of our senior partners has recently died.”
“You’re kidding. Which one? Happen here?”
They were all here other than the Hollywood guy and Sylvia Frost.
“It’s hitting the news around now,” Delgado said, “Sylvia Frost is dead. Shame.” He wasn’t even trying to hide his dark glee.
I didn’t show them a reaction. They’d had her killed. I was as sure of it as I was of anything.
Gan Chen didn’t react to Delgado’s demeanor. Joseph snickered and rolled his eyes.
I gave them a quizzical look.
Delgado spoke, “Long story, Dario, lotta history, but Sylvia Frost’s departure was inevitable. This way, just makes it easier on us. Her shares would’ve gone to her heirs but as Jason Frost is no longer our problem, thanks to you, and no one else in that family is aware of our existence, the membership is either absorbed to equal dividends paid out to all current members or we vote someone in. This way works out well. For all of us.”
Partners were starting to leave. I’d seen several leave the building with luggage already that day, so I said, “I’ve got something to take care of so my wife and I are headin’ out. I’ll reach out to Tommy and see if he can get here and talk. Maybe let the front desk know I’ll hang onto our room a few more days? Find out about booking one for Tommy?”
“I’ll take care of that for you,” Gan Chen said and dialed on his phone, “Traveling alone?”
“Most likely.”
He nodded and put his phone to his ear.
I got up and did my blazer up, “All right, gentlemen. I’ll see you later this evening or first thing tomorrow and get you an update then.”
“How are you travelling?” Joseph Lucas asked.
“I was gonna get a cab to town and arrange to rent a car,” I replied.
“You want to borrow one? We have a dozen here for members. Want a driver or your own car?”
Fuck. Shit. I didn’t need a Kruna employee with me for this.
“Sure,” I said, “My own is good.”
Fuck.
They offered us buy-in for him of just $20million. They told me that it was a fraction of what they usually wanted, but they wanted a Ferrano in that other spot.
They’d heard about Tommy’s knack for getting things done and wanted him in. He and I as part of their inner circle? They were sure it’d mean big things for their personal interests as well as for Kruna. These men wanted to associate with likeminded people and they liked Tommy and my list of connections.
“With both of Tom Ferrano’s sons? We’ll be laughing,” Delgado had said, pouring glasses of top shelf bourbon, passing out $50 cigars.
I hated this fucking guy. I hated them all. I had a quick drink and told them I was heading out.
***
She had her purse with our passports in them, plus an overnight bag that had all her wired bras and bathing suits in them, just in case anyone nosed around in our room.
I dumped the car a few blocks away from the rendezvous point, in case there was a GPS. We hadn’t talked personal, at all, on the ride in case the car was bugged. Like a perfect angel, she didn’t ask me questions, just let me lead the way.
When we got to that restaurant a few blocks from where we were to meet Zack, we took a walk along the beach, where I filled her in, and then slipped back into traffic on foot, texting Zack with our location.
It wasn’t long before Hal pulled in and we got into his car with him and he drove us to a strip plaza where we climbed the stairs beside a tea shop to find ourselves in a small second floor office filled with mostly white middle-aged suited guys. A couple of them were taping up boxes. This was their task force’s headquarters. What the fuck?
Zack approached and shook my hand and then gave Angel’s shoulder a squeeze.
“This way,” he said, and ushered us into a small board room.
Randall was sitting there with three other guys. They were all in suits and they all looked like they hadn’t slept in three days.
“Fuckin’ great job, you two,” Randall greeted with an enthusiasm I hadn’t seen from him before.
“Uh, what’s up?” The vibe in the room was weird.
“Well… Sylvia Frost is dead.”
“I heard.”
“We know. We heard you hearing that. Though we already knew. We, uh… listen, things have changed. I just got orders. Your help was invaluable. All this information is being kept securely, you have no worries about that, but the task force is being dismantled and the investigation is being put on hold.”
“Oh hold?” Angel squeaked.
“Indefinitely,” Randall said and his face was red.
There was major shit going on here. He had a shitty poker face and I knew he wasn’t happy about this.
“What the fuck?” I asked.
“My boss, Barry Dresden, he sent the orders down about ten minutes after Frost’s death hit the news.” Randall slammed his laptop shut.
My eyes moved to Zack. Zack was standing there, his arms folded across his chest, his face like stone.
“What the fuck?" I snapped.
“These things happen sometimes. Priorities change. These guys are all being reassigned. That’s all I know,” Randall waved his hands and shrugged.
“What the fuck?” Angel shrieked. I was in agreement with my wife. And I’d never seen her so visibly pissed.
“I’m sorry, Dario. Your immunity agreement stands. I suggest you hang onto it in case this resumes.”
“Hang on a second. What the fuck happens now?” Angel demanded.
“Nothing. Nothing happens now,” Randall said, and aggressively threw his empty take-out coffee cup in a trash can. “All our work, how far we’ve come, it’s all …” he threw his hands up in the air.
“So, what happens to us?” I asked, glaring at the guy.
“You? You’re on your own. Sorry to say that. I suggest you hang onto your NDA and immunity deal. In case things change. I don’t really know. If things resume, someone will likely be in touch.”
“If things resume?” Angel crossed her arms, “Unfuckingbelieveable.”
My eyes moved to her. My jaw ticked. I was gonna explode.
“Do you people have any concept of what you’ve put us through?” Angel demanded.
“You’re hanging us out to dry, basically,” Angel snapped.
“A minute?” Zack requested.
He walked out of the room we were in and I saw that people were packing up their desks. Some of them had faces like, I’d imagine, mine looked like.
But they didn’t have the personal stake in all this that I had.
Zack pulled us into the coffee room and shut the door, “Dresden’s main objective was to fuck over Sylvia Frost. Kruna killed her. Dresden ain’t so focused. This investigation was bleeding money. He’s an idiot who is being watched for his department’s spending.”
“We gave you a shit load of solid evidence…” I pointed out unnecessarily.
Zack nodded, “This shit happens sometimes.”
“So I’m supposed to go back to being a silent partner? They want to recruit Tommy and me even deeper with another fuckin’ voting membership.”
“I know. I’ve heard the audio.” Zack pinched the bridge of his nose.
“These fuckers can’t get away with this. I can’t be tied up in this shit much longer,” I clipped, “My actions in this meet, for this fuckin’ task force, it got us deeper. I did what I did, getting us deeper, for this fuckin’ cause. I’m here with my wife, sneaking around. Fucked if they’re looking at her tracker data or some shit. This shit, Zack?”
“What can I do to help?” Zack asked.
“You serious?”
“As a heart attack.”
He was. He was almost as pissed as I was. We had some nonverbal communication and I knew he would help. I just needed a plan. I was already beginning to work it out.
“Let’s go, my baby. We’re getting a motel room here for the night. Zack, I’ll text you where to meet me.”
Zack gave a swift nod and he and Hal walked out.
I texted my brother,
“Can you come to Chonburi?”
He answered,
“You ok?”
“Need you. All = fucked. FUBAR!! I’ll explain when you get here. Bring Nino and Tino. Get ready to call in favors.”
“Got it. I’ll get there asap. Call you from the flight.”
“Thx.”
As we walked out, I saw Randall, sitting on the edge of a desk, on the phone, in a pose of defeat. His hand was on the back of his neck and he looked at me with what looked like apology. The guy had no power to do anything about this cluster fuck.
But, I did.
***
Zack was standing there, outside the car, eyes on me.
“I have resources,” he said, “They’re at your disposal.”
“Good,” I said, slapping his back.
“I’m making another call and suspect you’ll have even more resources,” Zack added. I nodded, not sure what he meant. He drove us back to near where our borrowed car was.
***
Angel and I were on the beach near our motel, alone. No wires. No wires ever fucking again. I leaned back on the sand and looked up at the beautiful blue sky.
“They’re all gonna pay,” I told her.
She was sitting beside me, her arms wrapped around her knees, holding her skirt carefully around her thighs, her chin on her knees.
"Which ones? Which of them touched you? Hurt you? Tell me and before this is over I will fucking make them hurt.”
“All of them, Dare. Every single one of them.”