The wind is whistling eerily through the bullet holes in the glass windows. But I realize that no oxygen masks have fallen out of the ceiling.Come to think of it, I have no idea if small jets like this even have that capability – but then I decide they must. Billionaires are even more invested in keeping themselves alive than airlines are.“How come we can still breathe?” I call out.“We’re flying relatively low. We can’t go too high or we’ll depressurize,” Mike shouts from the cockpit.“Just as long as you can get us to the Channel,” Grant yells back. “How long till we’re there?”“Ten minutes.”“Can’t we go any faster?”Mike looks back over his shoulder in irritation. “Ten minutes is pedal to the medal, bud! We’re flying full throttle here!”Grant walks up to the cockpit. “Can you do me a favor?”“What, besides flee the French authorities and get myself shot at?”“Five million should buy me that and more,” Grant retorts.“You’re going to milk that for all it’s worth, aren’t you.”“Y
We’re back in the cockpit, where Mike is giving us last-minute instructions.“Once you crawl in there, tie yourself to each other. When you’re ready, yell, because I’m going to open the door. That’s your cue to jump. You ready?”“No,” I say. I’m literally shaking.“Oh well,” Grant says good-naturedly, and takes me by the hand. “Thanks again, Mike.”“For five million, you’re welcome.”“Pleasure doing business with you.” Then Grant drags me into the cabin towards the Black Hole of Doom.“Oh God, oh God…” I moan.Jumping out of the skyscraper was bad enough. It was horrible, actually. But the time span from when I found out we were jumping to when we actually jumped was one minute, maybe two at most. I’ve known we’re going to parachute for ten minutes now, and that ten minutes is the killer. My dread has built up so much that I literally feel like I could puke any second.I’m terrified. In fact, given the choice, I might just go down with the plane.Grant’s not giving me that choice, t
The beach house is a snap for Grant. No alarm, just a deadbolt. Within 45 seconds we’re inside.It’s deserted. There is evidence of a family – pictures on the walls of smiling parents with three small children – but the house feels vacant. There is a chill everywhere: the cold, damp staleness of salty air bottled up for weeks on end. Grant leads me to a laundry room off the kitchen and snaps on the light. “We have to hurry,” he says as dumps the parachute on the linoleum floor. “A shower to warm up, then we need to hit the road.”“In what? There’s no car.”“There’s an old Mercedes a quarter mile away that I can definitely hotwire. I’d like to be a couple hundred miles from here when the owner gets up and reports it stolen.”“What about our clothes? They’re sopping wet.”He points to the dryer. “Voilà.”I arch an eyebrow. “You’re going to put your $5,000 suit in a regular dryer?”“We’re on the run from the police and a serial killer, we just parachuted out of an airplane into the Engl
“Just making sure the important parts are clean.”“I think they’re clean.”“No, they need extra special attention.”One of his hands slips down between my legs and begins to soap me up down there.Not only are his fingers caressing my strip of hair, they’re brushing against my lips……the hood of my clit…UnnnnHHHHH.I can feel his cock, slippery yet hard, sliding across my ass.I can’t help myself. I reach behind me and touch it, encircle it with my fingers, run my hand slowly up and down its length.He begins to kiss my neck. I close my eyes, transported by the heat and the sensual feel of his wet skin on mine, his hands on me, his hardness pressed against my body.“But the cops…” I murmur.“They think we went down with the plane miles from here.” “…this is crazy…”“Maybe. But it could be the last chance we have for awhile.”His lips are nibbling my earlobe.His finger is very deliberately stroking my clit, soft and hot and soapy.“…we could get caught…”“Which makes it kind of hott
A little over an hour after we entered the house, we’re on our way. Our clothes are dry, and Grant’s suit survived in good enough shape, even if it is a little rumpled.We leave the house in relatively good order. The owners will be quite surprised to find the parachute when they open up the laundry room, though – plus a couple of thousand dollars from the backpack.We walk down the road in the dim light before dawn and find the Mercedes Grant mentioned. It’s got to be at least 20 years old. I heard once that Mercedes in Europe are like Hondas in America: one of the most common cars on the road. I silently hope that’s true, because it would work in our favor during the drive to Paris.Grant easily opens the car door, but then he directs me to sit in the driver’s seat. “Put it in neutral and take off the parking brake.”“What? Why?”“Because I’m going to push it away from the house before I start it up.”It takes a little while, but the road is flat and Grant is strong, and he’s able t
In all of our conversation, there is a technical question to be settled, too. Grant waits to broach it until we’re well into Paris.I’m transfixed by the scenery – a mix of modern apartments right next to monuments, statues, and buildings straight out of Les Misérables – when he finally breaks the news.“I need to make a phone call.”“No,” I say, shaking my head.“Why not?”“If Epicurus knows we’re in France, which he probably does because of whoever that was at the airport, there’s a good chance he’s hacked into the phone systems. And if he’s done that, there’s an equal chance he’ll be running some sort of voice recognition software.”“On millions of phone calls?” Grant asks dubiously.“So far, he’s demonstrated almost unlimited resources. And if I had unlimited resources, that’s exactly what I would do.”“Well, we’ll just have to risk it. There’s no way to get in touch with my contact otherwise.”I stare at him. “What?”“He has a number set up for just this sort of – ”“You don’t kn
Montparnasse is a surprising neighborhood to find a criminal mastermind. By that I mean that I expected one of two extremes: either an enclave of the super-rich, or a seedy little neighborhood with lots of shady characters.Montparnasse is neither. It has its fair share of 17th and 18th century buildings, for sure, but it has a lot of modern touches, too, including a 60-story black skyscraper that sticks out like a sore thumb amongst all the Louis-the-Whatever style of buildings. There are also plenty of cell phone stores and fast food places, although they tend to be located in the fanciest buildings you’ve seen this side of a Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The blend of old and new gives it the feeling of an upper-crust, bustling, business-oriented neighborhood.Grant gives me a mini-tour as we drive along the tree-lined boulevards, just like he did back in New York City. He throws around the terms Rococo, Neoclassicist, Beaux Arts, and Art Nouveau like I would say ‘Sunset’ and ‘San
Grant hastily pushes the woman away. He doesn’t reciprocate the kiss, either; I’ll give him that much. I’m about to go nuclear on his ass, but I’ll give him points for trying to keep up appearances.The woman is obviously irritated that he’s distancing himself, and starts rattling off French phrases like machine gun fire. “Qu’est-ce que c’est? Qu’est-ce qui ne va pas?”Grant sweeps his arm out towards me. “Dominique, this is Eve – ”“No last names,” I interrupt, annoyed as hell.“Ah heu heu heu heu…” JP chuckles from over by the door.Dominique turns and looks at me for the first time. ‘Glares at me disdainfully’ is more like it. The sheer magnitude of haughty contempt on display is pretty spectacular. If I weren’t so pissed off at her, I might be intimidated.She’s absolutely breathtaking. I hate her, but I can’t deny reality. Tousled auburn hair, dark blue eyes, a spectacular pout. Tall, lithe, graceful – a dancer’s build. She’s wearing a silk scarf tight around her neck, paired wit
The only part that was slightly sad was that Connor’s mother and brother didn’t attend. His mother was still under heavy psychiatric care. She wouldn’t have even known what was going on, according to Connor. As much as I disliked Lenora Templeton, that news saddened me. I only wanted her out of my life. I didn’t want her to end up like this.His brother had checked himself into rehab. Though he sent his congratulations, Vincent told Connor that he didn’t think he could attend, knowing what Miranda had done and how she had met her end. He felt he was still in too precarious a situation emotionally to leave the safety of the rehab center.I know that Connor still bore a lot of anger and hurt towards his mother and brother, but he would have liked to have had them there – as long as they behaved themselves.Things were improving, though. His mother was gradually getting better, and Connor had worked out a deal to take over as interim CEO of the Templeton Group while his brother was in r
But as far as wedding days go, it wasn’t the only one.Come on, I’d gotten married in sopping wet clothes, on a deserted island in the Caribbean, with only four people total in attendance.Did you really think I wasn’t going to have a billionaire-style shindig, with all my family and friends?Connor and I decided on it spontaneously, as soon as we got back home. But rather than hold it in New York City, with all its bad memories from the last couple of weeks, we held it two weeks later in Lake Cuomo, Italy. Have you ever seen pictures of Lake Cuomo? It’s like an Italian Renaissance fairytale. George Clooney bought a residence there, with good reason – it’s one of the most beautiful places on earth. And that’s where we had our wedding.There was only one shadow hanging over the entire day.After we were escorted back to St. Vincent by the policemen, Connor immediately hired a team of divers to go down to inspect the yacht’s wreckage. There was one body in particular he wanted found.B
It turns out Johnny was right: we didn’t see a single shark the entire way.That doesn’t mean it was a piece of cake. What with Johnny and Connor’s wounds, and my needing to rely on their help when I was tired, it took us almost an hour. By the time we got to the island, we were exhausted. But Sebastian was there to greet us. As we approached where the waves started to break, he saw us and started yelling and waving ecstatically from the beach.“A little help!” Johnny shouted at him. Sebastian immediately raced out into the waves and dragged me to shore. “Thank God, thank God,” he kept sobbing as he helped me lie down on the sand. Then he went back out and helped Johnny and Connor limp their way onto the beach.We all collapsed next to each other. Connor and I held hands as we stared up into the blue sky, too weary to speak.“I thought I’d never see you again,” Sebastian said, wiping tears from his face.I was touched; it was the most vulnerable I’d ever seen him.“No such luck,” Co
The happiest moment of my life was when Connor proposed to me.The second was when he burst through that door.And the third was seeing the look of surprise on Miranda’s face when she realized what I had done to her.While Connor kept her talking, I picked the lock and undid the handcuffs from my right wrist. (Bobby pins to the rescue!) Then I grabbed Miranda’s arm and slapped the cuffs on her.Anytime I’m ever depressed about anything from now on for the rest of my life, I’m just going to remember the look of surprise on that murderous bitch’s face, and everything will be better. Instant anti-depressant.Miranda yanked her arm up with a clank! of the chain, but she was locked to the metal armrest of the chair – which was bolted to the floor.She screamed in fury, and pulled the gun’s trigger.BLAM!But I’d purposefully bumped her aim away from Connor – so all that happened was one of the creepy glass spider cases shattered into tiny shards.The gunshot hurt my ears, but I’d been expe
I couldn’t take the shot. I wasn’t Johnny; my aim was good, but not stellar, and the floor was already at a 20 degree tilt. Miranda had her gun at point blank range to Lily’s head. If she pulled the trigger before I got her – I slowly held my .45 away from my body and let it fall to the floor.All the ugliness I knew was inside Miranda revealed itself on her face. It was the evil leer of a serial killer, the grin of a Great White Shark.“I win,” she gloated.My heart sank.It was over. I had failed.I looked at Lily, both sorrow and love welling up at once. She was seated in some sort of chair bolted to the floor, and was handcuffed to the metal armrest.Lily’s eyes were frantic, but her lips were moving. She was mouthing something…Keep her talking.I couldn’t tell for the life of me what she had in store, but I complied. I looked up at Miranda. “You win. You can do with me whatever you want, but please – let Lily go.”“Don’t waste your breath,” Miranda snarled. “Walk towards me w
The door suddenly burst open, and there stood Connor with a gun in his hand, just like the star of an action movie.My heart soared with love – and fear. Because Miranda was standing behind my chair, just like the villain in an action movie.I was between them – Miranda’s human shield.I felt the barrel of Miranda’s pistol jam against the back of my head.“Drop it,” she commanded, “or I kill her.”Connor looked at me helplessly.“Don’t worry about me – shoot her!” I begged him.But he wouldn’t take the chance. He held the gun slowly away from him and let it fall to the floor. CLUNK.I felt Miranda’s pistol stop pressing against my scalp, then saw it appear next to me as it pointed at Connor.“I win,” she said, and I could hear the sneering triumph in her voice.
I rushed over to Leo’s body, staggering in the tilting hallway as I ran.He was lying face-up on the ground, a pool of blood spreading out beneath him on the floor.He saw me coming. Tried weakly to lift his AR-15 – I put two more rounds in him with my .45.BLAM BLAM.He lay still after that.Adrenaline coursed through me like a drug, sharpening my senses while making everything unreal.I felt sick. I had just killed a man. I had just taken a life. He was a traitor, yes, and someone who was planning to hand me over to be killed – but still, I felt queasy.Lily.She was all that mattered. I pulled myself together.“Nice shooting,” Eve said in my ear. “Oh ye of little faith.”“What?” At first I thought she meant something about me doubting my abilities to shoot someone, which didn’t make any sense.“You thought I was a turncoat? AGAIN?”“Oh,” I said sheepishly. “Sorry about that.”“Hmph. We’ll talk later. Go down the hallway the way you were originally heading – there’s a half-dozen g
BOOM.There was a massive explosion somewhere on the ship. Every glass pane in the spider terrariums rattled, and a couple cracked.“What the hell?” Miranda said, and stumbled to her feet as the yacht began to tilt to one side.After my initial shock from the blast, I watched Miranda’s face. She was reacting with more fear – in fact, with more emotion – than I’d ever seen her display before.She looked back at me, her eyes wide with surprise.After all the indignities the bitch had put me through, I couldn’t resist. “Guess my fiancé’s here,” I said, and gave her a little smile.
I was halfway down the deck when Eve spoke in my ear. “Connor, there’s a problem.”“What?” I whispered.“Juan and Leo are on the other side of the yacht, but I’m not getting any video feeds of them.”There was a dull WHUP in the distance, then another one a few seconds later.Not like gunshots, exactly. But they did sound like a heavy book being dropped on a wood floor.I ducked into an alcove with a door in it, and hunkered down into a squatting position. “Juan? Leo?”“We separated, and Juan ran into a guard,” Leo’s voice said. “Juan’s dead, but I got the other guy before he could sound the alarm.”SHIT. Already things were going to hell, and we’d barely engaged the enemy yet.But… something didn’t make sense…I frowned. “I heard two silenced shots. How come I didn’t hear any regular gunfire?”“They’ve got suppressors, too. The first one was the guy shooting Juan, the second was me shooting the guard.”I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something seemed off. I just chalked it up to