Unexpected Secrets Read online

  I obeyed.

  His fingers made that ‘come hither’ motion inside my pussy that had driven me wild last night. I felt my clit pulsing already, and he’d barely been fingering me for ten seconds before he pulled out and replaced his finger with his tongue.

  I bucked my hips up to his lips, and he sucked my clit hard.

  I came, just like that, thrashing back onto the bed, but he held my hips and kept licking. He kept licking through the first orgasm, that never quite finished, it just kept humming, and when he pushed the hood of my clit back and dragged his teeth across it, I screamed and came a second time.

  “God, Thea, you’re so sensitive. I could suck you all day.”

  “That sounds amazing,” I agreed, whimpering as he fingered my nipples and nipped my clit.

  I moaned loudly, as he circled my clit with his tongue relentlessly, occasionally swiping it directly on top of the nub, but mostly torturing me by doing everything but. Within minutes I was writing under him a third time, begging him to let me cum.

  My clit was swollen and sensitive, my pussy desperate to feel him inside me, and my nipples hard peaks, begging for his touch. He swiped his thumbs over them casually, while sucking my clit, and then he tugged both nipples, stretching them, and then twisted.

  I came, just like that, and then he latched onto my clit and sucked so hard I thought the Fourth of July fireworks were blasting off in my head.

  I couldn’t take any more—I couldn’t—as my body convulsed in the third and strongest orgasm of the morning, he came inside me with one swift move, filling me completely.

  “Fuck me, Gabriel. Hard,” I instructed, and so he did, and that fourth orgasm was the pinnacle of them all.

  He held me in his arms, his hands stroking my body, but in a caring, soothing caress. Regardless, I felt my body respond, and suddenly his fingers gently touched my nipples.

  I couldn’t believe how quickly my entire body responded to that simple gesture. They pebbled, and he groaned as he gently began to tug them, swipe them, tease them. My core creamed, and my clit began to pulse.

  “I didn’t know this was possible,” I moaned, pushing my ass into his cock.

  He chuckled against my ear. “What? Do you think we’ve done everything already? My sweet Thea, you haven’t seen anything yet,” he promised.

  24

  TWENTY-FOUR

  I groaned inwardly; it was day three after my hospital stay and I was finally allowed to go for a run. Not that I hadn’t been getting enough exercise, oh no, the good doctor had made sure of that. I sucked my lower lip into my mouth and smiled.

  Stretching before my run made me very aware of all the places my body ached from all that exercise, but in a good way.

  I waved to Fran on my way down the driveway, breaking into a slow jog.

  She held up her cell phone and pointed. I pulled mine from the zippered pouch around my waist and she gave me a thumbs up.

  The SOS Security team was fairly certain there was no danger to either Mackenzie or me, but Gabriel asked them to stay for a few more days just to be sure.

  I’d given my notice to the senator, and just as I suspected, they’d tried to convince me to stay on the project. I hadn’t told Gabriel that part yet, and I needed more time to process it before broaching the topic with him.

  I felt my rhythm kick into gear as I ran down Gilman Road and passed St. Bartholomew’s church, heading for Route 88. My body had been restless, and I couldn’t wait for this run, the familiarity of it, the routine.

  Running time was my time. It was sacred to me, and I guarded this hour diligently, even though Gabriel and Cox had both tried to convince me to let them join me. Nope. No way. It was a chance for my thoughts to roam, a chance to process and even meditate. Things became clearer, and I gathered internal strength from this time that I couldn’t seem to get any other way.

  I wasn’t letting anyone in on that.

  Last night Gabriel had approached the topic of limits in our sex life. I wasn’t quite sure what to think about it. His dominance during sex had surprised me—it was never inappropriate, and he always made sure I was comfortable with whatever he proposed—but it made me curious. Very curious.

  He’d awakened a hunger in me that I didn’t know was possible, and his uncanny ability to read my body and responses was disconcerting.

  I tried not to read into it, but there were times when I wondered if I was just another case study for him. Would he tire of me when he had me figured out?

  I could tell he was testing me, my limits, what I was comfortable with, reading every nuance of my response, and it made me wonder just how far he would go. How far did he want to go?

  The last three days had been like a fairytale, and I was more sexually satisfied while still being hungry for more than I’d known was possible.

  See? It was happening again. All I had to do was think about his hands on my body, in my body, and I started to respond. My nipples pebbled and my pussy creamed. I slowed to a walk, pausing to stretch by a tree.

  A white van pulled up beside me and the door opened. I glanced at it as I pulled my left sneaker up toward my butt, stretching my quads. Too little too late. The men were wearing masks.

  Before I could open my mouth two goons placed a hood over my head, I tried to scream—was this a nightmare? Was I dreaming? Because nothing came out of my mouth. I felt a prick in my neck, and everything went dark.

  “Where’s Thea?” I looked at Fran expectantly.

  “She went out for a run,” Fran paused to glance at her watch then paused again, “approximately ninety minutes ago.”

  “She’s usually back within sixty.”

  “Yes, she is, Gabriel.” Fran agreed. “I’ll call her.”

  Fran flipped her phone out of her pocket, scrolled, and then hit dial. Her eyes met mine. “It went straight to voicemail.”

  We moved simultaneously. She was on the phone to Cox next. “Cox, we can’t get a response from Thea. Meet us in Gabriel’s office, stat, and send two guys over to Mackenzie’s school to stand guard. Now!”

  Damn, she was good.

  Fran was just ahead of me, still working her fingers on her cell. “Allon, we have a possible situation. Gabriel’s nanny is off the grid, and we need to find her. We’ll call you from his office in one.”

  “Gabriel, pull up your security feed.”

  Cox burst into my office. “The guys are already at Mackenzie’s school, and the guard we had posted hasn’t seen anything unusual. When did Thea leave?”

  “Ninety-three minutes ago.” Fran and Cox exchanged a glance. “We need to call Allon, I gave him a heads up—“

  The phone rang in my office. I clicked the speaker. “Michael, you have Cox and Fran here, as well.”

  “We’re tapping into public cameras, but I have to tell you, Gabriel, there aren’t many of them.”

  “This is Yarmouth, Maine,” I agreed.

  “What’s Thea’s usual running route, do you know?” Michael Allon, CEO of SOS Security asked.

  “She would never let any of us run with her,” I grimaced.

  “I tailed her one or two days early on,” Cox admitted. “Her typical route on those days took her down Gilman to Route 88. At that point, I figured she’d be turning around soon, so I turned around before she did. I’m not sure how far she typically goes.”

  “What was she wearing this morning, Fran?” Allon asked.

  “Black running leggings and a gray Nike t-shirt. Her running shoes are also Nike, navy blue. She had her cell phone with her.”

  “I checked for a signal,” Allon confirmed. “It appears to have died just before Route 88. I’m sending the location to your cell. Get someone over there ASAP and let’s see if anyone saw something.”

  I paced the room. “I thought everyone was in the clear. I thought we were all safe.”

  “Everything indicated that you were, Gabriel. The senator admitted to having Thea followed, and we know that Mackenzie’s disappearance was se
lf-imposed. What do we know about the senator—or Thea’s role with him?”

  I sighed. “Very little,” I admitted. “Thea insisted it was ‘need to know’ only, and she never gave me his name, although I know he is on the Select Committee on Intelligence, so that gives us a place to start.”

  “Cox?” Allon asked.

  “I’m on it,” he confirmed.

  “I already have a team en route to PWM via a private jet. Let’s find her and let’s do it fast.” Allon disconnected.

  “How much time do we have?” I asked no-one in particular, already aware of the answer. I’d worked with the FBI’s BAU unit often enough to know.

  “We’ll find her, Gabriel. We’ll find her.” Cox insisted. “Fran, I’m going to ride the route I think she likely took.”

  “What about you?” I looked at Fran.

  “I’m staying with you. If you get a call, Gabriel, you need to keep them on the phone as long as possible to allow us to trace it.”

  My eyes trained on Fran’s. “We have to find her,” I whispered, my eyes moving to Allessandra’s painting above the mantle.

  25

  TWENTY-FIVE

  I struggled to remain calm.

  I had no idea where I was, who had taken me, or what they wanted.

  The only advantage I had was the fact that they obviously thought I was still out cold.

  My neck ached and it took every ounce of strength I had to remain still. My wrists were tied to the arms of a chair, rope circled my waist just below my breasts, keeping me upright, and my ankles were tied to the legs of the chair. A blindfold covered my eyes.

  The knots were tight, but not so tight that circulation was cut off.

  My feet were bare, but at least I was still wearing the clothes I’d put on for my run. Thank God for that.

  My mind raced a mile a minute. Was this CIA? Did it have to do with the SCI? Did it have something to do with Gabriel?

  It was professional, I was sure of that much. I’d barely had a sense that something was off when the two men bagged me and had me in the van.

  My instincts were good. Why had they failed me this time, and how long had I been unconscious?

  I struggled to keep my breathing even, to hear something—anything that could give me a clue as to where I was and why.

  My mind raced through possibilities and how to handle each prospective one.

  If this was a CIA kidnapping, and it damn well better not be after my adamant refusal to work with them, they would likely interrogate me to see what kind of information I would give up.

  If this was because of my work for the senator—I was likely fucked. I couldn’t reveal the research I’d done, I’d sworn not to, and letting whoever had kidnapped me know that I no longer worked for them might get me killed anyway.

  If this was because of Gabriel, I was equally fucked. I knew nothing, and wouldn’t be any use to them.

  Hysteria grew stronger in my stomach and I struggled to keep it at bay. I knew I was fucked, no matter what, and could only hope that Mackenzie was safe with the team—with her dad.

  I had another problem—I had to pee—badly. I wouldn’t be able to maintain my silence much longer if I didn’t want to wet my pants.

  At least I’d had the chance to think through possible scenarios, even if I didn’t have a solution to a single one of them.

  26

  TWENTY-SIX

  “We have a lead.” Cox barreled into my office, pushing Fran gently aside, picking up my office phone.

  “Allon—I found a videographer with a drone who just happened to be taking video footage of the coast along Yarmouth for a real estate agent. He captured Thea’s abduction without even realizing it. I’m sending it your way now for analysis.”

  My heart pounded in my chest. “She was abducted?”

  “Yes, now sit down, Gabriel. We need everyone calm.”

  I pulled a chair next to Cox and watched him pull up the footage on his laptop. The drone panned the coast, skirting around the power plant on Cousin’s Island and capturing just enough of the inland area. Suddenly Cox paused the video.

  “Right there,” he indicated with his finger, then zoomed the video in. “Allon, it’s a white cargo van, Maine license 1265897.”

  Two seconds passed. “Shit.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “That license plate number doesn’t exist. It’s a fake. Untraceable. But, we can tap into other cameras to see where it shows up.”

  “I’ll take care of that on this end, Cox, our computers can do it faster. We’ll give you a remote feed. In the interim, the team just arrived at the Portland Jetport and they’re standing by for instructions.”

  “Who’s lead?” Cox demanded.

  “Isaacs.”

  “Okay, good. I’ll reach out to him. I have two SUV’s on standby just in case we need to divide and conquer.”

  “Cox?”

  “Yea?”

  “I have a contact in the Maine State Police. I’ll reach out to him to see if he can have active duty troopers keep their eye out without an APB. We don’t want to alert the kidnappers.”

  “Think he’ll do it?” Cox asked, skeptical.

  “He will if he can. We served together.”

  “Keep me posted,” Cox clicked the speaker button on the phone, disconnecting the call.

  I looked at my watch. Three hours had passed. It seemed like a lifetime. My mind ran through all the possible scenario’s of what could be happening to Thea—none of them good.

  “How did you get the video?” I asked Cox.

  “I offered him double what the agent was paying him.”

  “Good thinking.”

  “We’re the best, Gabriel. We’ll find Thea.”

  Somehow I didn’t doubt him, but what condition would she be in when we did, and how was I doing to handle this with Mackenzie?

  Then it dawned on me.

  “Should I reach out to my contacts at the FBI?”

  “They won’t be happy that you came to us before them, Gabe,” Fran commented.

  “I can get past that. We didn’t know if she was officially missing, and if even we had, they don’t typically get involved for twenty-four hours unless there’s a—,” my voice hitched, “ransom demand.”

  “I think Hugh will be discreet,” Cox added. “Call him, but make sure he knows—.”

  I waved Cox’s words away. “I know the drill.” I grabbed my phone and moved toward the door.

  “Make the call from here,” Cox demanded. “No secrets.”

  Our eyes clashed, but I knew he was right. It was the only way they could do their job—and damn, I needed them to find her and bring her home.

  No sooner had Hugh picked up then a call came through my office phone. “Hold on, Hugh.”

  “We found the van.” Allon announced. “It’s parked outside a warehouse in Westbrook. It’s registered to an LLC, but looks like a shell company. Could be anyone.”

  “Did you hear that, Hugh?”

  “I heard it, Gabriel. Let me see what I can find out, and don’t worry, I’ve got the market cornered on discreet.”

  The call dropped. “So what’s next?”

  “Our team in Portland is en route to the location now. I have schematics of the floor plans and our guys have infrared, so we’ll know how many we’re dealing with. Then, we’ll go get her.”

  “I want to be there.”

  Cox studied me. “Fran, can you handle Mackenzie’s pickup?”

  “Of course.”

  “With me,” Cox ordered.

  I didn’t need to be told twice.

  27

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  My phone vibrated in my pocket. “It’s Hugh,” I spoke softly to Cox. We were a safe distance from the warehouse, but somehow I felt the need to be quiet.

  “What’s up?” I spoke softly into my cell.

  “It’s FBI.”

  “What the fuck?”

  There was a long moment of silence. I was p
retty sure Hugh had never heard me say fuck before.

  “It’s Counterintelligence. Somehow they got wind of Athena’s work with the Senate, they know she’s on the CIA’s short list of recruits, and something in her thesis about the changes in Russian politics and the future of where she thinks they are headed appears to have set them off.”

  “The FBI can do that? They can just kidnap an American citizen?”

  Cox motioned for me to put Hugh on speaker. I did.

  “They can. It doesn’t even require just cause, although I have to tell you, there must be something they’re concerned about if they’ve kidnapped her for questioning.”

  “What’s wrong with picking up the phone?” I asked derisively.

  Hugh chuckled. “Not how it’s done, my friend.”

  “Hugh, it’s Cox. How do we get her out of there without anyone getting injured—or killed?”

  “That’s the million dollar question. I have a few feelers out and expect to hear back momentarily. Until then, stand down unless they try to leave.”

  “10-4.”

  Cox looked at me. “We need to conference with Allon.”

  Sweat trickled down my spine. “Should we have an ambulance on standby?” My eyes bored into Cox’s.

  “We have a doc on the team. He’s probably better than any ER doc you’ll find in a hospital. Let’s hope we don’t need him, but if we do, he’s the best.”

  Cox hit speaker on his phone.

  “Allon.”

  “We have an update. Hugh, Gabriel’s contact at the FBI, confirmed this is an FBI Counterintelligence op. We don’t have specifics, and Hugh is trying to manage things on his end.”

  “It will not go over well if we take down FBI Counterintelligence agents.”

  “Noted, sir. Hugh advised us to stand down until we hear from him, or until or if they try to leave.”

  “Use your discretion, Cox.”