Fox Afield (Madison Wolves) (31 page)

She sighed. "I'll make a deal with you."

"All right, let's hear it."

"If you promise you'll keep thinking about it, trying to come up with something better, then whatever happens, you can count on me, Michaela."

I pulled her into a hug. "I'm still working on it, but I don't think I'm going to come up with anything better. Thank you, Elisabeth."

She wrapped her arms around me and held me tightly.

"Will you forgive me afterwards?" she asked quietly.

"There won't be anything to forgive, Elisabeth."

* * * *

Greg had nothing further for us in the morning. We had breakfast and returned to the pack land to work on the sheds.

I set the anchor fittings over the bolts in the concrete and bolted them in. Then we unbolted the feet from the platform I'd made, set them into the anchors for the first shed, then used a laser level to mark each of them at a level mark. We cut each foot at that point then reattached them to the shed floor section. The wolves worked together to carry the entire section and drop it into place, and it was a near perfect fit. We bolted it in.

The other one was easier. I showed the wolves how to use the laser level and how to cut the feet so their tops would be level. While Angel and Scarlett cut the feet for us, I had the rest of the wolves lift the first wall of the first shed into place. Once I was happy with it's placement, I anchored it temporarily with two nails and asked Serena to hold it in place. We lifted the rear wall into place, I checked the fit and made sure the walls were straight, and then I showed the wolves how to properly anchor them in place. The next two walls went up quickly, and voila, we had the walls of our shed.

Angel and Scarlett finished cutting the feet. I got them and Karen working on the floor for the second shed. The rest of us started putting the roof trusses on the first shed.

After that I went back and forth between both sheds. We finished the main shell of the first shed and then repeated everything for the second. We got the roof sheeting on both and it was time for lunch.

"Wow," was the general comment.

We had bought shingles. I taught four of them how to do the shingles. The rest of us worked on siding and hanging the doors.

Each of the sheds had a door on the side for a single person to walk through as well as a large pair of doors on the front for larger loads.
By dinner time, both roofs were done. They weren't perfect, but they weren't bad. We had all the doors hung and the plywood walls nailed up.

They needed paint, but they were done.

"If you want them, you can add a ramp," I said. "Otherwise, it's dinner time. Lara, I want a shower and a nice dinner."

"I'd like that," she said.

We showe
red back at the hotel and received a briefing from Greg. "We're not any closer," he said. "We can't get a fix on the other end of this."

"All right," Lara said, looking at me. "Are you sure this is how we should do it?"

"It's your operation," I said. "But yes, I think taking us together gives you more options, and I can make it easier to take him. You'll know where he is, and I can act panicked, throwing my arms around him. I'll even make sure the doors are unlocked."

"I don't like this," she said.

"Then come up with a better plan."

I called Tim's phone. He answered on the third ring, clearly confused.

"Hello?" he said.

"Tim?" I asked, my voice breathless.

"Yes. Who is this?"

"Tim, it's Michaela. We met the other day."

"Ohh," he said. "The dog walker."

"Yeah. I've been thinking about you."

"You have?"

"Uh huh," I said. "Have you been thinking about me?"

"Yes," he said. "Maybe a little."

I smiled, knowing he could hear it if I did. "I'm glad. You know Lara? My girlfriend?"

"The one with you outside the coffee shop."

"That's the one. She's not here tonight, and I'm lonely."

"You are?"

"Yes. I don't like being lonely. I was wondering if you'd like to get a drink with me."

"Me?"

"Yeah. Is there somewhere we can meet?"

"Um. Sure." He named a bar.

"Great," I said. "I know where that is. Nine o'clock?"

"All right."

"Tim?"

"Yes. Michaela?"

"Pick up some protection. Okay? You know what I mean?"

"Con-con-condoms?"

"Yeah. Get several. We're going to need them. That is, if you want to. You know. With me."

"Yeah," he said.

I hung up. Lara was not happy. I melted into her arms. "I love how strong you are," I told her. "I love how you take care of me. I love being yours, Lara. Do you think maybe we can go to our room now?"

We could. She carried me to the shower and used her body to show how much she loved me. After, we drove to Bayfield for dinner at the Rittenhouse, bringing a small gang with us. Stepping inside, I pulled Elisabeth to the side. "Like that?" I asked her, referring to my behavior after the phone call with Tim.

"Yes."

Dinner was nice. I waited until dessert. "Lara, I am going to tell you this. I know you don't want to hear it. I know you are going to say 'no'. But you are going to listen."

She sighed and nodded.

"I talked to Elisabeth. Trust what she tells you. Understand that she knows my thoughts on this. Know also that I will play it up from start to finish."

She tightened her mouth but didn't respond.

"You must do what it takes to break him, Lara. You must. We know he's guilty, but I do not believe he's so guilty he should die. Which means you can't really hurt him. But I'll heal, and we know how to make it look a lot, lot worse than it really is."

"He's going to wet his pants, Michaela, and last about three minutes."

"If not, you have options. You must use them."

She nodded. "Last resort."

"Lara, we need to break him fast. Trust Elisabeth and me. Please."

"I don't like this."

"She doesn't have to do anything worse than she'd do on a ransom night," I said.

"As I recall," Lara said. "You didn't respond well to that."

I stared into her face. "Is that what you're worried about?"

"Terrified of it, Michaela. I have never been more scared in my adul
t life as I was less than two weeks ago."

"Lara, I promise you, it won't be like that. Trust Elisabeth and me. Please, Lara."

"I don't like it," she said. "All right."

"Thank you."

* * * *

I sluttied up.

We drove back to the motel. I took off my bra and opened my blouse several buttons. I took the rattier of my jeans and turned them into an expensive pair of cheap cutoffs. I asked, "Can someone do some trampy makeup for me?"

It turns out Angel and Scarlett could.

We collected together when I was ready.

"You look ridiculous," Lara declared.

Then I had achieved my desired look. "I want it to look like I walked," I said. "I wish I had a pair of heals, but this will have to do. Drop me off two blocks away and I'll walk the rest of the way. I will insist he take me home after a drink. That shouldn't be hard to accomplish. And once we're inside, I want those doors slammed open within a maximum of five minutes. I'll try to talk him into another drink first, but I'm betting on him being awfully grabby."

I turned to Lara. "You must not watch. You'll lose it, and I need you with a cool head. I am counting on you, Lara. Hold it together. If we screw this up, Virginia is going to die, and I might too."

"Don't worry about me," she said.

I turned to the other enforcers.
"When you take us, do not worry about being gentle with me. You don't have to go out of your way to be rough, but make it real. I am going to struggle, so expect it. I won't try to get away; I am going to act like I am in a complete panic. Expect me to put on an Academy-awards-winning performance. Do not take me seriously unless I use your real names."

We had our plan.

Greg had a few extra devices for me to wear in my clothing. "Tracking devices," he said. "Short range, but we'll be able to follow you if he tries to take you somewhere else."

They dropped me off exactly where I wanted, and I walked the rest of the way. I intentionally arrived ten minutes late, then looked around. Tim was hovering near the door and practically pounced on me ten steps from the entrance. I let him take my arm and he pulled me to the bar.

"What will you have?" he asked.

"I don't know. What are you having?"

"A beer," he said.

"Two beers then," and he ordered them.

He drank his beer half down in the first gulp. I worked mine. I wasn't half done when he finished his.

"Another one?"

"Oh honey," I said. "I'm so small, if I have another one, I'll pass out. Then how will we have any fun? But you go ahead. I like my men to have a good buzz on."

That was all the encouragement he needed. What an idiot.

He wanted to dance. I wanted to get him home so we could get serious. "Oh honey," I said. "Lara gets back at midnight, so we only have a couple of hours. She gets real jealous when I do this without permission. You know?"

He nodded.

"So maybe we could, you know. Go to your place. We can have some real fun in two hours, can't we?"

"Sure," he said. "We could."

I let him take my arm on the way out of the bar. He tried to feel me up. I let him get away with it. His hand froze while feeling my nipple.

"I thought you said you were pierced."

"I am," I said. "But I took them out. Lara really likes them, but she made me angry, so I took them out. She'll make me put them back in next week, but right now I am punishing her."

"You could do better than her," Tim said.

"Maybe I could," I said. As if. I slipped out of his arms and climbed into his SUV.

He only ran two stop signs on the way home. He offered to take me to some park, but I told him I wanted to do it in his bed. "I think that's really sexy. Maybe next time, I could, you know. Tie you up. Would you like that, baby? I'm real good at tying someone up."

He gulped but didn't say anything.

As soon as we were in the house, he was all over me.

"Oh baby," I said. "We have time. Do you have any beer?"

"What?"

"Beer. Baby, do you have any beer?"

"You said you'd fall asleep."

"I'll only drink half of one."

"All right," he said. He went to the refrigerator, and as soon as his back was turned, I made sure the doors were unlocked.
He handed me a cheap can of beer. He hadn't even opened it for me.

What a gentleman.

I opened the can and took a slug, then let him pull me deeper into the house. We had gotten a few steps when he stopped, then stepped past me and locked the door, including the deadbolt.

Oh well. That might slow Elisabeth down by a half a second.

I let him pull me into his arms and accepted a sloppy kiss at the corner of my mouth. Yuck. Then I pushed him away.

"You know what I like?" I asked him.

"No."

"Stay there," I said. I sat down on the sofa. "I like to watch my guy get undressed. Slowly."

He set his beer down, and it took him about two seconds to get his shirt off. So much for slowly. He dropped his pants, then slid his undies around his ankles and stood up.

I had to suppress laughter. Let's just say, the wolves I'd seen were somewhat better endowed. His package was standing rigidly erect, pointed straight at me, and I realized about the last thing I wanted was that thing inside me.

"Do you have the protection, baby?" I asked. "You have to put the protection on. If I get pregnant, Lara will know, and she'll make me tell. You do not want Lara to get angry at you, Timmy. You really don't."

"Oh," he said. "Right.
" He rummaged through his pants and held up a tiny tinfoil package.

I was listening, and I heard attempts to turn the front and back door handles. I heard the count down, three-two-one, and then both doors slammed open.

Elisabeth came through the back door. Karen came through the front door. They were dressed all in black and wearing masks.

I screamed and threw myself on Tim, wrapping my arms around. "Tim! Who are they? Who are they?" I held his arms to his sides, and as small as I was, I was stronger than he was.

Karen, Serena, and Eric took Tim to the floor, wrenching him away from me. Elisabeth, Scarlett and Angel had me. I continued to scream, but not loudly. I didn't want my voice to carry.

"Shut up!" Elisabeth said. She slammed my head against the floor, but she banged her knee against the floor at the same
time, making it sound like I had hit my head a lot more firmly than I had.

I switched to whimpers, begging them not to hurt us, begging Tim to tell me who they were.

They rolled us both onto our stomachs, and out came the tape. They taped me up first, then Tim. Then they shoved a rag into Tim's mouth and taped it in place, finally pulling a cloth sack over his head and taping it lightly around his neck. They made sounds like they were doing the same to me. I took the cloth, but they didn't tape it.

"Bring them," Elisabeth said. They rolled us both up in painter's tarps and carried us outside, tossing Tim into one of the waiting SUVs and me, gently, into the other.

Lara was waiting for me. Everyone climbed into the cars, and we were off. Angel pulled the tarp down from around my face.

"Perfect," Elisabeth said.

I spit the gag out.

"God," I said. "Thank you. I don't know what I could have done to delay much longer."

Elisabeth started laughing. "She had him out of his clothes and standing there with a condom package while she sat coolly on the sofa. Brilliant, Michaela."

"Thanks," I said. "When you tape me up, please don't tape my hair."

"You and your hair," Lara said. But her lips were tight.

"Elisabeth, nice
trick with your knee."

"Thanks," she said. "I thought of it on the spot."

"I'm going to say this once more. Do whatever it takes. Whatever. It. Takes."

Lara was silent, then finally nodded.

It was a fifteen-minute drive. We parked in front of one of the sheds. Angel said, "Michaela, look at me."

I turned to face her. She smiled, patted my cheek, then held the cloth up. I nodded and opened my mouth, and she
gently pushed it in.

"We're not going to tape your hair," she said. "Just your mouth. We know you aren't going to spit it out." She ripped a piece of tape off and put it over my mouth, then added a second one to make it look more convincing.
"Ready?" she asked. I nodded, and she gently lowered a sack over my head and taped it there.

There was a rap on one of the windows. It rolled down and I heard Karen say, "He pissed himself in the car and he's crying into his gag."

"Good," said Lara. "This shouldn't take long."

"Keep it convincing anyway," Elisabeth said. "Lara, trust the fox. Trust me."

"I hate this."

"So does she," Elisabeth said. "But she owes a lot to this family, and we owe a lot to her, and we are going to do what is required to help them."

"I know. All right, do it. I can't go in; he'll recognize me."