Unconditional (18 page)

“Neo, I have been trying to reach you for hours!” Dominic barked into the phone.

“I heard,” Neo drawled calmly.

“Where the fuck were you?” He was not amused by his friend’s flippant response.

“Sorry, man. I was just lending assistance to our friends.” Dominic knew without having to be told that “friends” meant the U.S. Government Intelligence.

“I got a number of pictures delivered to me, depicting Rinah and Michael Fielding, in a few sexually explicit poses. I need you to find out who doctored them that way and why.”

Neo whistled in disbelief. “You’ve got to be shitting me. Someone must really want to fuck with you, because Rinah absolutely loathes that guy. In fact, she asked me to investigate him and see whether any charges could be brought against him for sexually harassing some of the women at his office. She wanted to bring him down, badly.”

“Were you able to find anything?” He shifted in his seat, feeling more and more like a fiend for what he’d put his wife through.

“Yeah, at least three cases. But each time, the woman didn’t want to prosecute, for fear of losing her job,” Neo said regretfully. “It’s good that you at least recognized the pictures weren’t real and didn’t give Rinah a hard time about it. You have enough to resolve with her without adding this to it.” Neo chuckled.

“Not only did I accuse her, I didn’t believe her when she denied it. I may have asked her for a divorce,” Dominic admitted ruefully. He bitterly regretted his actions now. He should have defended her honor when Victor had made his disparaging comment about her.

Neo gave a low, sympathetic whistle. “Well, I certainly don’t envy you. Knowing Rinah, she probably drew up the divorce papers herself and presented them to you on a platter.”

“No, worse. After kicking me in my balls, she hired her crazy-ass friend Bianca, and had her present the divorce papers to me.” Dominic grimaced at the memory.

Neo laughed so hard and long, Dominic’s lips also began to twitch in amusement at his abysmal situation.

“Man, stop laughing at me and give me some ideas on how to fix this,” he said finally, cutting into his friend’s howls of laughter.

“I love you like a brother, man, but if you don’t clear this shit up with Flavia, Rinah won’t cooperate with
any
plan you devise. That shit may be a non-issue with you, but it’s everything to Rinah.”

“Yeah, I hear yah. That misunderstanding will be dealt with shortly.”

He started to exit Rinah’s office and was brought up short by the sharp ringing of the alarm on his mobile.

“What the fuck?” Fear filled him. That ringtone was Rinah’s panic button. He activated the GPS on his phone to get her location. She was moving swiftly away from the downtown area, heading west.

“Did you get that alert signal?” he asked Neo.

“Yeah.” Both men knew they would have to rely on their training to deal with the imminent danger.

Dominic sprinted out of her office, plowing down workers in his path. He gained entrance to the elevator.

“Who was guarding Rinah?”

“Sean is on duty. Hold on, I’ll get him on speaker.” It took only seconds, but Dominic felt like he was going out of his mind. By the time he’d unlocked his vehicle and sped out of the parking lot, Sean was imparting what he knew.

“Two black men forced her into a car.” Sean’s voice came loud and clear through the speaker phone.

“How?” The chill in Dominic’s voice would have made a lesser man hesitate with the details.

“They took her as she exited the underground elevator.”

“No, I mean how the fuck could you let anyone get that close to my wife!”

“I wasn’t expecting her. She usually calls me when she’s leaving her office. The men were both armed and I didn’t want to alert them to my presence, in case they’d hurt her. I’ve been tailing them,” Sean finished, sounding pissed that two amateurs had bested him.

Dominic knew he was the reason Rinah had been so careless with her security. Fear for his wife slammed into his gut and nearly paralyzed him. “Neo and I are headed your way. Her GPS is still working, so they haven’t found it yet.”

“I don’t think they’d know to look for it. They seem like low-level thugs.”

“Can you see her? Is she okay?”

“As crazy as this sounds, she looks like she’s having an animated conversation with them.”

Dominic swore viciously. “Neo, get as many men as you can on this! I want them coming from all directions on the island. I don’t want these bastards to spring our net. They’re heading out west now, which is a good thing traffic-wise and it limits their options on where to hide. But it’s bad because it gives us less time to reach her. Sean, if one strand of hair on her head is missing when I get to my wife, I’ll kill your ass!”

“Yes, sir!”

“No worries, Dom. I’ve just caught up with Sean’s vehicle. Rin looks like she’s lecturing them.” Neo sounded amused at Rinah’s audacity in the face of such danger.

“I swear, after this, I’m going to lock that woman away for a long time! Whoever hired these thugs is a dead man!”

“Or dismembered,” Neo piped up.

“Fuck, yeah! I’m passing Skyline Road. I see you guys have passed Blake Road. How is she?”

“One of the guys is holding his head in a panic. Looks like she’s still giving them hell.” Dominic could hear the proud grin in Neo’s voice. He was too terrified to feel any other emotion at the moment. He just wanted to get to his wife.

Chapter Thirteen

R
inah sat calmly
in the back seat of a beat-up old Honda Accord. Grateful that her abductors were too ignorant to tie her up or take her watch from her, she pressed the panic button on the device. From her brief glance through the back window, she knew Sean was following close behind.

“Man, dis chick too hot to kill jus’ like dat! We can get some first, right?” the dark-skinned thug in the passenger seat asked.

“Yeah, bey! I wan’ some a dat, too.” the dark-skinned thug in the driver’s seat agreed.

“Who hired you?” Rinah interrupted their amorous planning.

“Look, bitch, be quiet!” passenger-seat-thug muttered.

“I can pay you triple what she did.” Rinah was testing a theory, but she was fairly certain Flavia was behind this. She didn’t think she’d pissed anyone else off enough to do such a thing. If this was related to Dominic, they would have killed her instantly.

“Bey, no one say it was a woman. Shut up!”

Rinah tried again. “You have to listen to me. Do you know who I am?”

“Bitch, nobody care who you is! Dem worms ain’t gonna care, either!” The two men snickered in amusement.

But Rinah was undeterred. “My name is Rinah Stone. My husband is Dominic Stone. Have you heard of him?”

“Who don’t know Mr. Stone?” the thug in the driver’s seat asked in awe.

“Well then, you know I tell you the truth when I say that I can pay you triple what Flavia is paying you.”

“Bey, what you get us into, bey? I ain’t fuckin’ wit Mr. Stone, bey! Dat dude crazy!”

“It’s not too late to stop this.” Rinah pressed her advantage. “You haven’t done anything wrong yet. If you take me back to my office, I will pay you triple her price. How much did she offer to pay you?”

“Bey, shut her up, bey! Dat other dude will kill us if we don’t deliver. Besides, dis bitch could be lyin’”

“I’m not lying. In fact, I’ll offer you $15,000 each and a job with my husband. Did I mention he’s a U.S. Navy SEAL?”

“Bey, I told you, bey! Why you get us in dis? Bey, we dead, bey! We dead!”

“Calm da fuck down. Bitch, shut up!” the dark-skinned thug in the driver’s seat turned and pointed a gun at her. “Shut up, and sit still! Put your hands on your lap where I can see em!”

The angry, dead stare of the thug completely unnerved Rinah. He looked as though he had no soul. She knew reasoning with them at this point was useless. Glancing through the back window, she was comforted by the sight of Sean tailing them closely. She briefly made eye contact with him. Sean looked ready to explode. She was fairly certain he’d seen the thug point the gun at her.

The car turned on the road to take them to the charter airport terminal. Rinah started praying then. She knew this was not going to end without bloodshed, because if Sean was here, Dominic won’t be far behind. Her husband might be a complete louse as a spouse, but he was undeniably protective of her and the children. No matter how he felt, she was confident he would die before letting anything happen to her.

The harsh rays of the afternoon sun beamed down on her face, momentarily blinding her as the dark-skinned thug in the driver’s seat pulled her from the car. He pressed the gun into her lower back to ensure her compliance and to hide the weapon from the number of persons mulling about the outside of the terminal. He need not have bothered; no one paid any attention to them.

Rinah was tempted to look around for Sean, but she was hesitant to draw her kidnapper’s attention to his presence. Sweat beaded on her skin and the tiny hairs on her arms and legs stood out as the thugs bypassed the security. They entered a side gate held open by a cruel-looking, huge black man.

“I’ll take her from here. You guys can leave,” her new abductor instructed. He was dressed all in black, a gun visibly strapped in a side holster, and another in his hand. He didn’t look like the sort of man to argue with. But the other thugs weren’t deterred.

“But wat about the rest of our money?”

“Look motherfucker, get out of here! You’ll get your money. I don’t have time for this shit now.” The new thug impatiently grabbed her arm and pulled her through the gate, his gun now pointed at the other criminals. Rinah watched as the younger men walked away, their heads hung low.

She didn’t have long to dwell on the discord among her abductors because she was dragged along behind the more ruthless-looking thug. She could barely keep up, her stilettos impeding her ability to match the longer strides of the kidnapper. However, he didn’t slow down. He used brute strength to pull her along and ensure she couldn’t escape his grasp.

They were about three feet away from a sleek Gulfstream jet, when Flavia and Victor emerged. Flavia’s triumphant grin and Victor’s satisfied sneer told her how much the two of them were relishing her predicament.

“You’re not so high-and-mighty now,
Miss Tang
!” Flavia snickered.

“Let me get this straight. You have to kidnap me in order to get Dominic to commit to your skanky ass?”

“No. Carl and his friends are going to take you to somewhere special, back to the motherland, as you people would say. I’m sure the Boko Haram, or whatever they call themselves, would love to have a new baby machine. After all, you’ve proven your capabilities so well.”

“Get her on the plane, Carl. My sister can have her fun with Rinah after I’m done with her.” Victor glared at Rinah. “I owe you for that stunt you pulled in the restaurant. It’s obvious you need a real man to teach you a lesson.”

“I assure you, it won’t be you.” Dominic’s chilling voice stunned all of them. He trained his gun on the thug holding her captive. “I suggest you let my wife go.” With her abductor being at least half a foot taller than her, Rinah provided very little cover for him.

“Now why would I want to do that?”

Neo and Sean came from different directions. They were all strapped with wicked-looking knives and guns, their dangerous weaponry on blatant display. The brutal expression on Dominic’s face hardened: “I don’t want your brain matter on her clothes.”

The cold resolve in her husband’s face and the absolute confidence he projected of his ability to impose his will, relaxed Rinah.

“Dominic, you think I’d take a chance and have only one gunman in my employ?” Victor smirked.

Her husband’s only response was to raise an eyebrow, before nodding to Neo.

Neo emitted a sharp whistle.

Military men came from varying locations: the aircraft Victor and Flavia had just vacated, the terminal, behind other vehicles on the perimeter of the tarmac, and other hiding places. All had in their custody the men who’d been in Victor’s employ, now captured, with their hands on their heads.

“Anything else you want to tell me?” Dominic set his deadly stare briefly onto Victor, before returning to his target.

“Now, Dom, our families have been friends for over thirty years. No woman should come before that!” Victor pleaded. Sweat rolled down his face and he widened his eyes in a clear panic.

“Dominic, we did this for you!” Flavia joined her brother in pleading their case. “I love you and I know, deep down, you love me. But because of her and those brats of hers, you stay with them.” Flavia gestured wildly with her arms. “Can’t you see? She’s the enemy here. Don’t let her keep us apart a moment longer!”

“How much do you love that suit, sweetheart?” Dominic asked Rinah calmly. He didn’t even spare Flavia a glance or acknowledge her impassioned speech.

“After today? Not at all,” Rinah assured him.

Her assailant held the gun to the back of her head, shaking nervously behind her. “Look, motherfucker, I have no problem—”

Those were the last words he spoke. Dominic coldly placed a bullet in the middle of his forehead.

Pandemonium ensued as Flavia launched at Rinah and grabbed her by the hair.

“I’m sick and tired of this ghetto trash! You have ruined everything for us!”

Rinah ignored the pain of her scalp. She was pissed that the other woman felt confident enough to come at her physically. Rinah grabbed Flavia by the neck. “Flavia, I’ve had a long fucking day. Don’t force me to beat your ass.”

The stupid woman pulled harder on her hair. “We all know this shit isn’t real! You people can’t have long, straight hair! I’m going to show Dominic what a fake you are!”

There’s no arguing with stupid racists!
Rinah tightened her grip on Flavia’s neck, gaining enough leverage to push her to the ground. She ensured that when Flavia’s head hit the tarmac, it wasn’t done gently. The jarring impact forced Flavia to release Rinah’s hair.

“Uggh!” Flavia screamed in pain.

Rinah held her down on the ground, using her knees to pin Flavia’s shoulders to the hot surface.

“Argh! Victor!”

Rinah knew the heat from the tar had to be scalding the other woman’s skin. She looked around to find that Neo already had Victor handcuffed and Dominic stood inches away from her.

“Please tell me you’re going to make sure this bitch doesn’t pose a threat to my children, going forward. I can’t leave her breathing if I have to worry about her next bright idea to get rid of me, or them.” Rinah glared at Dominic.

“Let me go, ghetto trash!” Flavia screeched.

“No one fucks with my family and gets off!” Dominic strode over to Rinah, picked her up by the waist, and handed her to Sean. “This time, keep her safe.”

Obviously not wanting to touch Flavia, Dominic asked another man to put her in custody. Dominic then turned his cold regard on Victor. “We have a few friends in the Attorney General’s office who have authorized your immediate extradition to the United States for prosecution.”

“What for? We’re in the Bahamas! The U.S. has no jurisdiction here.”

“I don’t fucking care. You fucked with my wife and I don’t trust that you’d be adequately dealt with here!”

“But she’s nothing!” Flavia cried viciously. “Can’t you see she’s trash? She isn’t one of us!” Flavia looked over at Rinah with such murderous hatred that Sean shifted his position to stand in front of Rinah in a more protective stance.

“Dom, the agents are waiting for your instructions.” Neo seemed to have had enough of the drama being played out.

“You can’t do this!” Victor yelled. “This is against the law and we’re entitled to due process! We have permanent residency here and fall under Bahamian jurisdiction!”

“Shut the fuck up before I kill your ass and drop you in the middle of the ocean!” Dominic dismissed him coldly.

Three uniformed U.S. agents came forward and took the pair into custody.

Crying in outrage, Flavia screeched at him, “You can’t do this.” Her eyes were wild with disbelief. The agent holding her steered the screaming, hysterical woman into the terminal.

As the scene cleared before them, Dominic stood silently observing the proceedings. As soon as every threat was removed, he jogged over to where Rinah stood with Sean.

“Are you okay?”

“I’ve had better days, but I’m just glad to be alive and able to go home to my children. Can I go now?”

“Yes, sure. I’ll take you.”

“No, that’s not necessary, Sean can get me there.”

“Just humor me, please. I just watched a man hold a gun to the head of the mother of my children. It’s going to take me a long time to get over that. You’re going to have to live with the fact that I’m not going to let you out of my sight for a very long time.”

“Right now I’m not going to stay here and argue with you. I just want to go home and hold my babies.” Rinah turned to the man standing silently by her side. “Sean, thank you so much for always being there for us. You, Rico and Neo have been incredible over the last few months. I can’t find the words to thank you enough.” She glanced at Neo, standing nearby. “Only God knows where Rico is today, but I know if he was here on the island, he would have been here. Thank you.

Neo and Seth inclined their heads in silent acknowledgment. Neo walked forward with his lips twisted in a grin and kissed Rinah on the cheek. “Take care, little tiger.”

Dominic shook the hands of both men. “Thanks, man. We’ll touch base tomorrow.”

“No problem,” Neo mumbled.

“Let’s go.” Dominic regarded her tenderly and put his hand out toward her waist as if to guide her to the exit. But she didn’t dare let him touch her, and instead stepped out of his reach. She walked toward his car unaided. He opened the passenger-side door for her. She climbed in, careful to avoid his offered assistance. The ten-minute drive was done in pensive silence, as they soberly reviewed the events of the day.