Barrett, Julia Rachel - One Four All (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read online

  Chapter Three

  “What the hell do you mean we’re not allowed to speak to her? We’ve been pulled off the front line to protect this woman, and we can’t even talk to her?” Kepp was furious. Before he and his men could even get out of the heli-jet, the guards had greeted him with a list of rules they were to adhere to religiously.

  “You will not speak with her,” the guard repeated in a stubborn voice. “If you encounter her in the hallway or anywhere in the compound, you will avert your eyes.”

  “Now wait one fucking minute,” interrupted Red from over Kepp’s shoulder. “How the hell are we supposed to protect someone if we can’t speak to her…if we can’t even look at her? Captain Kepp, this is idiocy.”

  “I agree,” said Kepp. “We need to meet Lisa Regnan. For fuck’s sake, how are we supposed to avoid a woman if we don’t even know who she is? We need to check out the compound and assess the area for any potential threats. In other words,” he looked at the guard’s badge, “Mr. Speth, we need to be allowed to do our job. Sergeant Till, Arms Master Watso, stay where you are.” Kepp crossed his arms and blocked the open hatch.

  “With pleasure,” agreed Wat. Both he and his friend, Red, sat back and buckled their safety harnesses.

  As Kepp watched, nonplussed, the two guards retired into their bulletproof Plexiglas booth to discuss the situation. Kepp and his men didn’t give a shit. They could wait or they could leave. Leaving would be preferable, and they weren’t willing to wait for long. One of the guards picked up a com unit. Kepp turned around and winked at his friends. “Fifty bucks says we get the hell out of here. Tell the pilot to warm her up.”

  The guard slammed down the headset and stomped out of the booth.

  “Follow me,” he growled.

  “Fuck.” Kepp rolled his eyes. “Grab the gear. We stay.”

  The three men followed well behind the guard.

  “We trying to keep someone in or out?” Wat asked in a low voice, nodding his head at the high, slick-metal, electrified inner walls.

  “I agree with Wat,” commented Red. “Somethin’ ain’t kosher ‘round here. Look at these gardeners cringing. I can smell the fear rolling off them from fifty yards.”

  Kepp slowed his stride. “Keep your eyes and ears open and your wits about you. Watch your back, and whatever happens, we keep each other in the loop. Leave these asshole guards out of it. I don’t like this any better than you do. You’re right, something stinks to high heaven.”

  The guard pressed a button, and the heavy doors leading to the private quarters opened. Uniformed domestic staff, both men and women, scurried out of sight, heads down.

  “What kind of crazy rich bitch are we dealing with?” Red hissed in Kepp’s ear.

  The captain muscled his friend behind him and kept walking, wondering exactly the same thing. The men climbed up three stories along a grand, sweeping staircase and followed the guard down a series of corridors. Kepp noted everything they passed so he and his men could find their way out in a hurry if need be.

  “Speth,” Kepp called out. “Hold up a second.” The guard stopped but refused to turn around. “Where are the emergency exits?” Kepp continued, “I can’t believe that staircase is the only way in or out of this place.”

  Impatient, the man sighed and faced them.

  “We entered through the main door and climbed the main staircase. There is another entrance through the kitchen and a set of servants’ stairs. That will be how you enter and exit the premises. After I show you to your suite, I’ll give you a tour of the areas you’ll need to become familiar with. Do not assume for one minute that you’ll be allowed to roam free. You’ll go where I say, and you’ll follow my instructions.”

  If Kepp had been a dog, every hair on his body would have stood on edge at that moment. In the thick silence that followed, the two men faced off. Red and Wat reached for their knives.

  Kepp’s words, when he finally spoke, were clipped and tinged with menace.

  “General Battarq asked us to leave our platoon to do this job. Your master,” he spat the word, “came to camp to speak with me himself this morning. Now, either you and your men stay the hell out of our way, or we radio for air transport out of this fucking place. That heli-jet can turn around and be here in ten minutes. Have I made myself clear, Mr. Speth?”

  The other man paled but didn’t back down. He opened his mouth. “Fuck you.”

  “Wrong answer,” said Kepp, and his big fist nailed Speth in the jaw, slamming him into a closed door. The door crashed open beneath his weight, and the man fell onto his backside into the room beyond.

  “Fuck me,” hissed Wat.

  “Fuck me, indeed,” added Red.

  Her back to them, a woman rose from a pool of steaming water sunk into the floor of the room. Kepp noticed a number of things about her all at once. Her movements were as graceful as those of a ballet dancer, her ass was wondrously round and shapely, and that same ass, along with her lovely, slender back and shoulders, was covered with wide, purple bruises. Without a hint of embarrassment in her posture, the woman turned to face them. Kepp sucked in a breath at the sight at those high, pert breasts with their puckered rosy nipples, and he muttered a prayer that his army fatigues were baggy enough to cover the size of his sudden erection.

  A small woman came running from an adjacent room, carrying a flimsy wrap of some sort. She handed it to the taller woman, but it was too little, too late. The gauzy wrap stuck to her wet, naked body like a second skin. Kepp, along with Red and Wat, who had crowded into the doorway beside him, had no difficulty viewing every single inch of her long, lithe frame.

  “Why does Mr. Speth lie on my floor?”

  “What?”

  “Mr. Speth.” She motioned with a graceful wave of her hand. “He lies there, bleeding.” And she smiled.

  Kepp looked down at the prostrate man. He’d forgotten all about him.

  “I’m sorry, ma’am. I don’t…” Kepp lifted his eyes. “Who are you? And who the hell beat the shit out of you? Pardon my language, ma’am.”

  The woman glanced from Kepp’s face to Mr. Speth and back again. Kepp felt as if he could read an entire world in that one look. Before she had a chance to answer, the guard lurched to his feet.

  “Mrs. Regnan,” the man growled, holding the back of his hand to his bleeding mouth, “and she fell down the stairs yesterday.”

  “Isn’t that always the story,” commented Red, staring daggers at the guard.

  “Tell them,” Speth ordered.

  “You always speak to your mistress in that tone?” asked Wat. “Secretary Regnan know how disrespectful you are to his wife?”

  “I’m not…” the man muttered, “I’m not the one throwing punches and knocking down doors.”

  Kepp walked forward. The woman clutched the wrap with her left hand. She didn’t wear a wedding band. He reached for her right hand and clasped it in both of his. She squeezed back with surprising strength.

  “I’m Captain Tanner Kepp, ma’am. This is Sergeant Redda Till and Arms Master Cer Watso. We’re from the Seventh Squadron, and we’ve been assigned to protect you in your husband’s absence.” The woman shook hands with both Red and Wat.

  “Protect me from what?” she asked, a hint of warning in her voice.

  “Perhaps we’re here to see that you don’t,” Kepp cleared his throat, “fall down the stairs again.” He watched the woman close her wide, gold-brown eyes, and he could feel her inner struggle. When she finally opened them, the pleading she radiated pierced him to the core.

  “Thank you, gentlemen. I’m sure my…my husband will be pleased by your concern for my well-being. Where are you to be housed?”

  “Next to you.” Speth’s voice sounded harsh. Kepp saw him jerk his head at the smaller woman, and she ran to fetch a towel from a neat stack on a table. Speth grabbed it from her and pressed it to his bleeding mouth. “That way, they’ll be able to keep an eye, uh, it will be easier for them to protect you, Mrs. Reg
nan.”

  Kepp watched as the woman’s delicate, pink tongue flicked out to touch the tip of her teeth, and his lust for her flared in tandem with his fury at whoever had beaten her. Mr. Speth stepped between the woman and the three soldiers. The woman backed away, and over Speth’s shoulder Kepp watched her disappear into the adjoining room. She walked with dignity, hips swaying gracefully despite the pain he knew she must feel from the beating. The shorter woman followed, closing a door behind them.

  “This way.”

  Speth led them out the open door and into the hallway. He’d told the truth, their suite of rooms did adjoin hers. Kepp looked around. He spotted a connecting door in the wall, and he wondered on which side the door locked, but he didn’t bother to ask the guard. He and his men would figure it out quick enough. The men remained curt as he showed them around.

  “Here’s your video cam, your com link to the guard stations…”

  “Guard stations?” interrupted Kepp. “I only saw one.”

  “There is a small side entrance for the hired help. Delivery trucks pull up there to drop off foodstuffs, linens, and other supplies. I’ll be back later to show you.”

  Red flipped on the video cam. “What’s this for?”

  Speth rolled his eyes. “So you can watch her, idiot. What do you think?”

  “What the hell? You’ve got a camera in her room? Why would you have a camera in her room?” Wat asked. “Exactly who do you think is going to bust in there? The Zealots?”

  Kepp could tell that Speth had had enough of them and wanted to get as far away as possible.

  “Look,” the man said, “just do your job. If General Battarq sent you, then he must have briefed you. When my master returns, he’ll want his wife here and in one piece. Think you three can manage that?”

  “Sure,” replied Kepp, “as long as you stay the hell away from her.”

  “It’s my job to…”

  “Beat her?” interrupted Red.

  “I do as I’m told,” shouted Speth.

  “Like a good little sadist,” commented Wat.

  Kepp intervened. “I guarantee she’ll be here and in one piece when your master returns. I’m afraid I can’t say the same for you if you don’t get out of my sight.”

  Speth stalked to the door.

  “Oh,” called out Kepp, “send another man to give us a tour of the place and introduce us to the staff. I don’t want to see your butt-ugly face unless it’s absolutely necessary. Got it?”

  The man nodded, but he didn’t turn around. He vanished down the hallway. Kepp made certain the man was long gone then closed the door. He motioned to Wat.

  “Get out your gear,” he said, his mouth against Wat’s ear. “Sweep for bugs. They got eyes on her, you can bet they got eyes on us. I want them found, and I want them smashed.” Wat nodded and went for his bags.

  Kepp walked over to the video cam and adjusted the picture. Red stood beside him.

  “You think you can tell from the angle of this shot where they stashed this camera?”

  “No problem,” Red mouthed in reply.

  “There are bound to be others,” Kepp said. “I want them all ripped out of her rooms. We set up our own equipment and link it to our portables, with her permission, so we can tell if those assholes try to get into her room.”

  “You think she’s his wife?” Red asked, his voice a mere whisper.

  “Fuck no,” replied Kepp. “His prisoner, more like.”

  “Catch the tat on her right wrist?” Red continued.

  Kepp nodded his head.

  “I’ve seen one like that before, just once, in a training session. It’s called an Ouroboros, a snake biting its tail. Only women of the Royal House of Zhinshu are allowed that specific tattoo. They have it put on when they, you know, when they first start to bleed. Shows they’ve come of age or something. It’s a symbol of infinity. You have any idea what we’ve gotten ourselves into, Captain?”

  “Not a fucking clue,” whispered Kepp. “No fucking clue.”

  * * * *

  “Those men have shamed you, my lady,” whispered F’yit, her lips barely moving.

  “Shamed me? In what way? You believe these men have shamed me and the guards have not?”

  “They’ve seen you, Princess. They’ve seen your body. It’s shameful to openly display yourself like that to the enemy.”

  Lira shook her head.

  “Oh no, F’yit. I had my reasons. Those men saw me. They saw the bruises. They looked into my eyes. One of them even stared at the serpent. He recognized it. I’m certain of it. No, F’yit, you are wrong. These three men are sent by the gods. They will be our salvation.”

  “How?”

  “Isn’t it the duty of the heir to the throne to choose three men or women as consorts? Isn’t it my duty? One to guard the right hand, one to guard the left hand, and one to guard the back, always. That is what we say. It is the law of our land.”

  “But mistress,” F’yit hesitated, “mistress, we are not in our land, and I repeat, these men are the enemy.”

  “I know what they are, F’yit, I know, may the Gods help me. But I believe in the saying, “The honor of a righteous enemy is worth the weight of a thousand friends.” These men may be my enemy, but they are righteous. I read it in their eyes, in their very stance. In the crash of Mr. Speth through my doorway.” Lira allowed herself a small smile.

  F’yit fell silent as she helped Lira to dry her long hair and began to plait it.

  “I am afraid of these men,” she whispered at last.

  “Why would you fear them? They will help us.”

  “But what do I do now?”

  “You do nothing more than before. You remain mute when you are among the staff, and we play the same game. We keep our heads down. We wait for an opportunity. I will bring these men to our side, I swear it.” Lira laid a gentle hand on her maid’s bowed shoulders. “Perhaps you will not have to swim after all, F’yit.” Her voice very soft, she added, “Now, I will bare my breasts for the guard’s camera and distract them, while you unlock the adjoining door. Then leave me. Make certain the men in the other room see you leave. If one follows after you, he will try to get you alone, ask you questions. Only answer if you are isolated and there are no prying eyes and ears. Keep your answers short. I will tell them whatever truth they need to know. Do you understand?”

  Lira saw the fear in her maid’s eyes, but the woman nodded her agreement. Lira depended upon F’yit to do as she was told.

  * * * *

  All three men heard the snick of the latch being unlocked. They deliberately ignored the sound and went about their business. Out of the corner of his eye, Kepp saw the smaller woman, the one he assumed to be a maid, tiptoe past their open doorway. He flicked a glance at Red, who gave him a slight nod and went after her. After tossing a few items of clothing onto one of the beds, Kepp crossed the room to stand close to his friend, Wat.

  “What you turn up so far?” he asked.

  “One lens here, one in the other room. Amateurish jobs. They didn’t work too hard to hide them. Nothing wired for sound, other than the com link to the guard house. I’ll rewire ‘em tonight, short ‘em out.” He tilted his head toward the adjoining door. “Hers will be tougher. Might want to leave it alone. We can probably get away with shutting the vids down in here because of your rank, but removing the video cams in her rooms will just arouse suspicion. You want me to do it anyway?”

  Kepp rubbed the stubble along his jaw line. “No, you’re right. Take these out now. Leave the video cams in her rooms. Chances are she already knows the cameras are there anyway. Wonder how she distracted the guards so the maid could sneak over and unlock that door?”

  “How do you think? Showed off those sweet tits of hers. Jesus,” Wat muttered. “That first look at her had me about coming in my pants, bruises or no bruises. I’d like to beat the shit out of that fucker Speth. You know he did it.”

  “He said he was following orders,” replied Kepp. �
��Her so-called husband’s, I imagine.”

  Wat straightened up and stretched. “What do you think? You met him.”

  “Regnan’s a fucking weasel. The kind who wouldn’t do it himself, but he’d get his jollies watching someone else do it.”

  “So what do we do, Captain? Radio Commander Grange? Tell him there’s a pile of shit here that stinks to high heaven?”

  Kepp looked around the suite. “No. Not yet. We get our gear unpacked, take our pick of beds, and find the kitchen. Make friends with the staff. What they don’t say is every bit as important as what they do say. If we get the chance, we check her for broken ribs. Make sure her injuries are superficial. We all have medical training. She didn’t show it, but she’s gotta be in some kind of pain.”

  Wat grinned, showing his very white teeth. “We can try, but I doubt I can trust myself to just check her ribs.” He glanced around. “Pretty luxurious digs, eh? Look at this shit. Sure beats curling up in the mud with your poncho for a bed. Go take a piss. The bathroom will rock your world.”

  Kepp laughed. “Guess it doesn’t take much to make you happy, Wat.”

  “Nope.” His friend’s grin widened. “A soft bed, a clean place to take a piss, and the sight of a beautiful, naked woman. A man can’t ask for much more.”

  Chapter Four

  Lira faced the open window and stared out over the channel. Anyone looking on would assume she watched the water, but she saw nothing, heard nothing. The princess had fallen into a meditative state as she prepared to practice Kinji Watah, the Death Dance. Today, she would practice with more vigor and more enthusiasm than she’d felt in months. Hope had filled her at the sight of the three men, three big, strong, righteous warriors. The fact that they fought for the other side meant nothing. Very soon, they would fight for her. She felt it with every beat of her heart. The tall, lanky one with the long red braid and the dimples, the one called Redda Till, he would fight on her right hand. The handsome dark man with the very white teeth, Cer Watso, who wore his hair in what his own people called dreads, that man would fight on her left hand. And their fierce, blue-eyed, golden-haired commanding officer, the one called Captain Tanner Kepp, he would guard her back and hold the Ouroboros, the circle, together.