Chapter 1
Courtney Fox stood outside the Commander's Club working up her courage. Her pulse raced as she visualized all the kinky sex that had to be going on behind these innocent looking ivy-covered walls. She'd have to go along with the program; maybe even submit initially in order to find Cara and save her. Three weeks ago, her former protégé, a new college grad with stars in her eyes, had fallen for the oldest con in the book--taking an 'exciting job abroad'. Courtney of course knew better, the club was a front for a white slave operation. She would have warned Cara if she'd been consulted.
Of course, it didn't help that she'd been off covering a story when Cara vanished. The police had been no help when she'd gone to them, so now she would have to infiltrate the sex club from the inside. She'd save her friend, not to mention write was sure to be a Pulitzer Prize winning story. The reporter in her couldn't help thinking about that. She'd done her homework, researching the Commander's Club through the back channels, gaining access to their website where they put the girls on auction to the highest bidder.
The pictures she'd fanned through on the private pages left little to the imagination. Women in various stages of undress, some being caressed, and others were bound and gagged with hot gleams in their eyes. The last one of a spread-eagled vamp, tied to a frame, while a man approached her with a huge dildo. Remembering it now almost made her knees buckle. Her pulse had pounded at the time, while her clit had gone stiff. She'd switched off the computer, not happy with what the images were doing to her libido.
Consequently, here she stood on the club's doorstep, scared and embarrassingly on the edge of arousal. No innocent virgin, she figured she could handle anything they'd throw at her. She'd constructed a plausible cover story, and bought a false ID from a semi-reputable source. She had passports and cash secreted in her suitcase so that she and Cara could make their escape from whatever corner of the world they might find themselves in.
The building in front of her looked like a private gentleman's club, a three-story brownstone with a discreet sign on the door. Just thinking about the wild sex going on inside made her pulse race, but she ruthlessly tamped the tremulous sensation down. She didn't have a reputation as a ball buster for nothing. She'd keep her mind on the prize--saving Cara. With a mixture of bravado and nervous energy, she strode into the building and made her way toward the sultry looking blond behind the reception desk. The blond babe's pert round breasts were clearly outlined by her silky red dress. A little preview of what lurked upstairs, Courtney decided.
Courtney glanced at the smoky bar on her left. A couple danced slow in the corner to some sultry jazz coming from the jukebox. The couple was entwined, the man's hands roaming all over his voluptuous partner's body, moving down to cup her ample bottom and squeeze. The woman laughed. Courtney looked away embarrassed, her gaze flitting over a group of men sitting at a corner table smoking cigars and talking. Two of them stared back, their intentions obvious. Courtney broke eye contact, thinking there was something familiar about one of the men, tall, gray hair, aristocratic, with cold gray eyes. Trying to place him, she reached the receptionist's counter and cut her gaze away from the ogling men.
The receptionist clicked a few keys on the computer, and then looked up with a distracted smile. "Yes, may I help you?"
Courtney licked her lip. "Yes, my name is Tiffany Andrews, I have an appointment with Mr. Malone," she said, recalling the code words she'd memorized. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the entire cluster of men now turned to stare at her. That kind of focused group attention was a little overwhelming. They were probably on the market for new sexual concubines.
The blond smiled. "May I have your invitation and driver's license?"
Courtney handed over the appointment slip she'd wheedled out of a contact, and the fake driver's license she'd bought from Ramon, one of her semi-reliable snitches. She only hoped it would pass muster.
"Go up to the second floor, third door to your right."
Courtney picked up her suitcase and slipped into the elevator, trying not to notice the men's assessing stares. As her gaze swept dismissively over the gray-haired man, his identity suddenly fell into place, Arthur Stringfellow, CEO of Stringline, a major investment-banking firm. So, he was into white slavery, a valuable piece of information for the expose' she intended to write. She quickly jammed her finger on the second floor button, fearing a gangbang. One come hither look from her might set them off. The doors closed and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Standing inside the sleek silver car, she restated her priorities; find Cara and get her out. Do not be sidetracked by lust, hunky men, or any combination of the two. The elevator stopped, and the doors whisked silently open. She stepped out into a dimly lit antechamber and walked down to the door indicated.
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