Allure (Mercenaries Book 1)
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Description
The Nest
Part I - Exposure
Chapter One - Cari
Chapter Two - Doctor Stone
Chapter Three - Preparations
Chapter Four - Arrival in London
Chapter Five - The Retro Place
Chapter Six - Mike’s New Experience
Chapter Seven - Exotic Dancers
Chapter Eight - Stonehenge
Chapter Nine - A New Plan?
Chapter Ten - According to Plan
Chapter Eleven - They’re Gone
Chapter Twelve - Grouping for the Attack
Chapter Thirteen - Luxury
Chapter Fourteen - Werner arrives
Chapter Fifteen - Inside the Mansion
Chapter Sixteen - Massage
Chapter Seventeen - Saved From
Chapter Eighteen - Mike and Melissa
Chapter Nineteen - New Terrors
Chapter Twenty - Twelve Liters of Water
Part II - Evaluation
Chapter One - Wendy
Chapter Two - deVeel in San Diego
Chapter Three - Meet the Groves
Chapter Four - Decisions
Chapter Five - Beth Talks to Sue
Chapter Six - Ian Talks to Beckie’s Parents
Chapter Seven - Beckie and Dad
Chapter Eight - Bomb
Chapter Nine - To New Mexico
Chapter Ten - Wanna Swim?
Chapter Eleven - Rancho Paradisio
Chapter Twelve - Freed
Chapter Thirteen - Change of Attitude
Chapter Fourteen - Playpen
Chapter Fifteen - Wild Shots
Chapter Sixteen - Beckie Takes Up the Slack
Chapter Seventeen - The Boss and Money
Chapter Eighteen - The Nest
Chapter Nineteen - Trillian
Chapter Twenty - Ian’s Meetings
Part III - Closure
Chapter One - Welcome to Phuket
Chapter Two - Werner Meets Beckie
Chapter Three - Headed Home
Chapter Four - The Nest; Ian and Trillian
Chapter Five - Beckie’s Meeting
Epilogue
While Beckie is in Thailand
At the End of the Year
Appendices
Cast
About This Book
About the Author
Excerpt Freedom Does Matter
Allure
By
Tony Lavely
Cover Photograph by Mikhail Malyugin/123RF.com
All Maps by Tommi Salama
tommisalama@gmail.com
Copyright © 2013, 2015 by Tony Lavely
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Edition 151223.1
All rights reserved.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite e-tailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from Tony Lavely.
Dedication
THIS WORK, LIKE SANDFALL, IS dedicated to my friend, Nick Myrman, who helped me more than I was able to help him.
Nick, you left us too soon.
Acknowledgements
GREAT THANKS TO MY WIFE and family for their support!
For many, many helpful comments on the revisions, I am indebted to Carol.
Also, to Critters.org and the several critters who added their suggestions and comments to improve my work. Among them are Bill, Krissy, Sarah, Sharon, Zvi and especially Carol and Phil. Without their efforts, I can’t imagine the problems this story would have.
As do many impoverished authors, I depend on Google Street View and Maps to add verisimilitude to my work. Any errors in the fictionalization of these images are mine alone.
Description
BECKIE SVERDUPE IS READY FOR April vacation at her church’s Spring Week Camp until Ian Jamse, the only man who had ever depended on her, asks for her help. She still had nightmares about digging out of the sand, but she’d succeeded.
Should she listen to his plea? Of course. Or was it more of a pitch than plea? He had a job, so yes, probably it was. Could she help him? Maybe. Would she?
Yes!
Beckie’s answer launches her on a three-month journey to save children she’d never met. Along the way, she poses as an exotic dancer in London, a cowgirl in Arizona and an ingénue in Thailand. Each stop brings her closer to her family, her friends and to Ian Jamse, the man who’d believed in her. Each stop brings her closer also to a personal meeting with the man who could end it all, with death.
A romantic thriller set in an approximation to the real world, Allure is the lead book in the Mercenaries series. The events portrayed in Sandfall precede Allure by eighteen months, and introduce Beckie and Ian.
Allure is recommended for Adult, older Young Adult (16+) and New Adult readers for language and mature situations. Real language is used, as are fictional depictions of child abuse.
Bonus: An excerpt from Freedom Does Matter, the second book in the Mercenaries series, is included.
Publishing history: Allure was originally titled Mercenaries: A Love Story and included what is now Sandfall. This edition has a new cover, and is retitled and heavily edited from that version.
Part I: Exposure
CHAPTER ONE
Cari
IN THE DARK, THE SLIGHT young woman ran quickly from the small stage to her tiny dressing room. The room was as hot as the stage had been, surprising for London this early in the year. She was exhausted after the second of the eight minute dances she did before the lonely men in the audience. Sweat dripped from her, some droplets beading up on her chest, some only going as far as her nipples before falling to the dirty floor, some running down to the shaved area between her legs. She closed the door, then hurried to the makeup table, reaching for the only clean item in the room, a large towel that she had brought with her. She began to wipe the sweat and dust from her skin.
She had finished her upper torso and was toweling her thighs when a quick tattoo on the door brought her up sharply. She called out, “Who’s there?” but heard only another blow on the door, sufficient to rattle it on its hinges. As she backed away from the noise, grasping for clothes while gaping with wide eyes, the door burst open and two men rushed in. The first was grossly fat; the other was more usual in size, if not in appearance. He had dark hair, spiked and shaved on the sides, resulting in a Mohawk adding about six inches to his height. In contrast, the fat man wore a tailored suit, his hair was neatly combed, and his hands were perfectly manicured.
She cowered further away, the back of her legs pressed against the little table. Questions caught in her throat. Forgotten, the towel trailed in front of her, caught between her legs. New sweat glistened on her body in the harsh light. Fear overwhelmed her astonishment and anger at their invasion, and kept her silent as she watched the two men look at her, then at each other. A strident voice from the hallway goaded them on, “Get moving! Grab ‘er and let’s get out of ‘ere. We �
��aven’t time to stand around, ‘ave we?”
CHAPTER TWO
Doctor Stone
TWO DAYS LATER, IAN JAMSE ducked through a doorway, his helmet clearing the frame by a fraction of an inch. Susan Jinet waved to him from across the room.
“Mr. Jamse, there’s a message from Boynton. Something to do with Liam Stone, whoever he is.”
Jamse’s mind flickered back in time to South Africa, when he and Kevin deVeel had attended school together. And where they had had a few adventures. Doctor Liam Stone had not only been their headmaster, he had saved their bacon the week before graduation. Jamse remembered him well.
Liam Stone requires assistance in recovering a bright and favored student. He welcomes the opportunity to speak with you about Cari Betheler at your earliest convenience, should you be willing and able to assist.
The next day, Jamse and deVeel sat in Stone’s book-lined office sipping an excellent Oolong tea.
“I thank you both for hurrying to talk with me,” Stone said. “While I remembered you, I had no good reason to think you might recall my name.”
“You saved our lives and our mission. That is a debt we can never fully repay.”
“Not only us, but you got our friends out, too,” deVeel added.
Stone stopped mid-sip, holding the luminous china cup at an angle, “But that was what, seventeen years ago?”
“Sixteen, I believe.”
“Yeah.” DeVeel laughed. “It was quite the thing to be saved in our classroom by some white-haired guy that we’d only ever seen in the headmaster’s seat.”
“Someone had to act. Though you never did explain the ‘mission’ you were on.”
“Part of our appearance today must recompense you for that failing; we cannot assuage your curiosity. Now, to cases.”
Stone nodded before once more sipping his tea. “Carina Betheler is a very promising student of mine. She and her brother are students at my school. Three days ago, she missed an important class meeting. Ben, her brother, came to my office shortly after, asking about her.”
Jamse leaned forward. “In what tone of voice?”
“Concerned, nothing more.” Jamse nodded. “When I told him she had been absent, he told me first that he’d also had no contact with her, and further, that due to a peccadillo of his, Cari had been dancing in a strip club in Soho to assist in repayment of the resulting debt.” Stone looked at Jamse before offering more tea. When Jamse declined, Stone continued. “I doubt the details of Ben’s indiscretion are germane to Cari’s disappearance.”
“We’ll be able to judge that better as we know more. If we undertake the job,” deVeel told him.
“For now, however, we can operate under that assumption,” Jamse said. “If necessary, we could talk with him?”
“Of course,” Stone said. Jamse saw worry along with resignation in the professor’s expression. “Aside from the name of the club, The Retro Place, operated by a man called Nigel, that is the extent of our knowledge.”
“This woman, Carina, is someone you value?”
“I do. Even leaving the human aspects aside… You may recall my passion for the problems of developing countries. I believe she will make a significant mark once she finishes school. I plan to suggest she read for Economics.” Stone looked down at his desk, then raised his head. “She has an exceptional talent for speaking, for persuasion as well as learning… While I value all my students, she is…” He gave both men a smile. “She is as capable as I found you two to be all those years ago.”
“Faint praise, from our point of view,” deVeel laughed.
“Indeed,” Jamse agreed with a chuckle. “However, we take your meaning. Fortunately, we are within a day or so of being at loose ends. We can spend some time on Ms Betheler’s behalf.”
“Yeah. Might be fun,” deVeel said.
A few more minutes of questions and conversation convinced Jamse that the Professor had no more useful information on the disappearance, and after asking deVeel to begin the necessary background work, he returned to the team, to wrap up their current job.
Late the next day, deVeel reported that while they hadn’t located Cari, they’d confirmed she had been abducted. She had been taken because she’d been noticed, desired and sold while on the Retro Place’s small, dusty stage. Both deVeel and Jamse were amazed at the reported purchase price. So far, there was no evidence that Nigel knew his club was being used to showcase girls for sale. They were confident that none of the dancers knew. DeVeel would continue his investigation based on the possibility that the abductors might have targeted similar clubs.
While deVeel prowled the streets and clubs, Jamse spent several sleepless hours devising approaches to the problem, discarding each nearly as quickly as it bloomed. One idea teased him, popping back despite repeated attempts to discard it: a modification of a classic approach. They could use a lure to capture the kidnapper’s attention. If they were successful, the kidnapper might lead them to the Betheler girl. Jamse knew that the team’s execution would be perfect. All he lacked was the bait.
Jamse reviewed the women with whom he worked, mentally comparing each of them with the vision of Cari that her brother had evoked through photos and words: “While she’s twenty-two, she gets carded everywhere; she looks like sixteen, seventeen, tops. Her hair isn’t as long as in these photos, but it still falls below her shoulders.” Jamse could see from the photos that Cari’s build was significantly slighter, more girlish, than any of his team.
As the sky outside the window began to lighten, he recalled a young woman he had met more than a year before. He now attempted to discard the idea of using her for his solution. However, the fifth time the idea returned, he knew that, even if it was not the best he could come up with, it would prevent serious consideration of alternate plans, at least until he had gotten some rest. Accordingly, he retired, having set the alarm clock to allow himself three hours of sleep.
Coffee was the first thing on his mind as he turned off the alarm. Room service was only too pleased to provide both coffee and a full breakfast. A full plate before him, he considered the problem anew. Even in the cold light of morning, in the rain and mist, his only workable solution involved using a woman like Rebecca Sverdupe as a decoy.
He phoned deVeel to discuss this possible plan. DeVeel immediately suggested they consult either Susan Jinet or Barbara Saunders. Susan happened to be more readily available; she joined the men later in the day. Looking at her, Jamse was even more convinced of his decision.
“I’ve brought Sue up to date so far, Ian,” deVeel said.
“Excellent, thank you. Please look at these photographs.” He slid the images of Cari across to Susan and continued, “If we are guided by the idea that the woman was abducted due to her appearance, as Kevin’s investigation indicates, it is likely that for another woman to be a viable target, she must have a similar appearance. Similar to Rebecca Sverdupe, for example.” Her look of shock did not surprise him.
“I don’t know about that, Mr. Jamse. I’d like to see what the other women there look like before I agree. No offense.”
“None taken, Ms Jinet. You have seen the photographs; you have a sense of Rebecca’s probable appearance. Perhaps a visit to the club is in order? What do you think, Kevin?”
“It would clear up a sticking point. I’ll go with you, Sue. Ian’s right. From what we’ve heard, Cari’s dancing ability was far second to her overall looks, but I never checked to see if other women at the club fit that bill or not. My bad.”
“Don’t berate yourself too much for skipping a trip to a strip club,” Susan laughed. “I know Shalin trusts you, but still.”
Close to midnight, Susan and deVeel returned to Jamse’s hotel room.
“I hate to say it, Mr. Jamse, but I think you may be correct,” Susan started. “There are none of us all that different from the girls dancing there tonight. If they weren’t of interest, I don’t know how Barbara or I, or any of our other girls would be.” DeVeel nodde
d as she continued, “Still, asking a girl like Beckie to perform in a strip club… That’s, well… Well, I’m not sure what that is.”
“I acknowledge your concern. Of course, with some investigation, we could hire a girl who approaches the apparent description the buyer desires. She would be an unknown quantity, and may not have an attractive attitude. Rebecca, on the other hand, did as well last year as any of us could have hoped. At under five feet, and slight, her height and build fit the archetype he apparently seeks. Her actions were safely predictable, which made our plan successful.” He paused, musing. “She did sufficiently well that, should we still be engaged in five years, I could give serious consideration to asking her to join us.”
“Recruiting is so difficult,” deVeel joked, then sobered. “I only saw her between the school and the plane. She passed out pretty quickly, there.”
“Yeah, Derek and his fake gun,” Susan retorted.
“How’d she do on the plane?”
“She dealt with it. They both did. She hates to fly, but it didn’t get in her way. If we’d planned for her fear to affect her the way her brother’s did, we’d have failed.” She rubbed her arm. “And she took action with that fork.”
“So, neither of you disagree?” He waited. “Do you have any viable alternatives?”
“I don’t think we have any alternatives,” Kevin said. “While I’m sure Sue or Barbara or any of our women would go into Nigel’s and dance to ferret out a lead, I don’t see much chance that one of them would attract attention that the girls working there regularly don’t. Sorry,” he said to Susan.
She nodded. “That’s okay. I agree that none of our girls fit the description physically, though I’ll check once again. And yeah, any of us would be willing to help. Might be worth it to have one of us go in to see what we can learn?”