He wasn’t reassured. As they pulled into a quiet leafy street near Rudi’s house she suddenly bent double.
“Pull over. I’m going to be sick.” She slapped a hand over her mouth.
“Hold it together,” Dimitri barked.
“I’m sorry. I need to stop. I’m going to be sick.” She looked around frantically. “There. Over there. Pull into that drive.”
He looked where she was pointing. It was a discreet treelined entrance to a private clinic. Dimitri swerved the car into the drive and pulled up on the grass behind the wall.
Megan scrambled out of the car. She ran to the back of it, bent double and started retching. Dimitri pulled out the throwaway cell phone they’d bought for the car. He dialled Callum.
“We’re a few minutes behind. Megan’s being sick.”
Callum swore. “Nerves?”
Dimitri clasped the back of his neck. “Yeah. Shit. I don’t blame her. But…”
“Aye, but. You’ve got time. Not much. Sort her out and get back on track. We’re in position. Nothing unusual happening at the house. Call me if there’s a problem. If she can’t hold it together we’ll need to abort.”
Dimitri swore loudly. “I’ll make sure she holds it together.”
He shut off the phone and threw it on the dash. This was a complete and utter balls up. He was so close to finding out where his sister was and now this. He took a deep breath and went round to the back of the car to pull Megan together. She was tough, smart. She could do this. It was just nerves. It happened to all of them first time out. Once he assured her she was safe with him, she’d be fine.
He hoped.
He found her bent double, clutching the boot of the car.
“Hey.” He ran a hand over her back, in what he hoped was a patient and soothing gesture. “You okay?”
That’s when he noticed something was wrong. It took a second for his brain to register it, but by then he was too late. As fast as lightning she spun towards him. His vision blurred and a prolonged agonising pain made his body spasm and freeze. Then everything went black.
Chapter Seventeen
“This is all your own fault,” Megan told the writhing hulk as he thrashed around in the boot of their car.
Dimitri grunted loudly against the pink ball gag she’d bought especially for him. She had her twin sister to thank for knowing about ball gags and restraints. Claire was going through a cowboy-BDSM romance novel phase and seeing as they shared a Kindle account, Megan got to read what Claire read. Hence her knowing to buy a soft leather harness for Dimitri that neatly tied his hands and feet behind his back without putting too much pressure on his joints. It was amazing what you could find in a good lingerie shop these days—especially one in Soho. Since kinky sex had gone mainstream it was trendy to stock things like pink ball gags. The world was a strange and delightful place.
“I should have bought a different type of gag,” she told him as she placed some cereal bars and a bottle of water beside his head. “This one causes you to drool and it isn’t attractive.”
She was pretty sure the words he shouted from behind the gag were curses. She patted his head to comfort him and then reached behind him to the small black clutch bag Julia had put in the trunk earlier. She pulled out her mobile phone and sent a text to the rest of the women.
Dimitri disabled. Plan on track.
Rachel replied. Callum getting anxious. Speed things up.
Julia replied next. Taxi on its way. 2 minutes.
Lastly she heard from Elle. Am in position.
Megan sent a smiley face and a thumbs up to all of them. Then she eyed the man beside her and took a couple of photos of him. After she sent them to her email account, to add to her memory book later, she ran to the front of the car to retrieve the disposable phone. Once back at the boot she swapped out her cell phone for the throwaway one. She wasn’t stupid enough to take her own phone into a dangerous situation.
“I know you’re a big bad ex-army ranger and you’ll probably figure out a way to get out of your restraints before someone comes to rescue you, so I’ve left you a snack and drink for while you wait. I’m sending Callum a text telling him you need to be picked up. You shouldn’t be in there too long. Just enough time for me to get into the mansion.”
There was more muffled shouting and cursing. Dimitri liked to give orders. Pity she couldn’t hear him—she’d bet these ones were particularly creative and very alpha male. She didn’t worry about anyone hearing the noise he was making. They’d parked in the side entrance to the private clinic and Elle had been out to disable the nearest security cameras the evening before.
Dimitri grunted a panicked question. His eyes were wide and there was sweat on his brow. She checked his ankles and wrists to make sure she hadn’t cut off circulation. Nope, he was good. He was just being a drama queen. He shouted the muffled question again and she was pretty sure he was demanding to know what she was doing. He didn’t need to know.
“Okay, babe, I’m going in. Wish me luck.” She patted his cheek. He went crazy under her touch. “How do I look?”