Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 140965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Ten minutes after speaking to his son, Calvin Montgomery, head of the five men making up the consortium that had been making major decisions globally for a great number of years, switched from speaking to the others and went back to his son.
“Ethan.” He could see the fireplace and the inside of the room. Shadows from the glowing fire danced on the walls. The control room appeared to be empty. He waited, thinking Ethan had gone to the bathroom or perhaps went to change his clothes for the night.
Five minutes later he glanced at his watch impatiently and then texted Ethan. There was no response. He looked closer, trying to see into the room. A weird shadow rocked ominously on the wall. He tried to see what it was. The heavy blob just swung back and forth, a little darker than the other shadows. The camera was a good one and he could manipulate it from his end. He panned the room and saw porn playing on one of the screens. It was very high quality for a porn film, and for a moment he was caught up in the faces of the two women servicing the man. He thought maybe he might track one of the stars down. The little blond.
Abruptly he jerked the camera from that screen and moved it around the room. What was Ethan thinking putting the video on when they were still working? That was very unlike him. He concentrated on finding the swinging shadow. When he did, his heart stopped, and his mouth opened in a silent scream. His son was stark naked and seemed to have been practicing autoerotic asphyxiation. When he zoomed in on the shadowy figure, he could see ropes or cords wrapped around his neck and other body parts. He hadn’t known Ethan was into something as dangerous as breath play, choking himself while watching porn. That was insane. Insane. And what the hell was going on with him swinging?
He could see the chair under Ethan’s feet. It was right under his feet. Right there. Ethan’s feet were sliding back and forth along the seat cushion. What had gone wrong? Was he dead? Alive and still moving? He got on his phone and called the head of security in his son’s home, yelling to break down the door if need be. He would be there in minutes. He didn’t remember to shut off the camera, he just turned and ran from his control room, calling to the people he trusted most and rushing to his car.
He knew he was too late. He knew he was. His son was dead. Ethan. His greatest asset. His one indulgence. He actually loved the boy and his intelligent, quick mind. How could he ever have gotten caught up in this type of erotic play? It was just insane.
Trying to breathe, he thought about it all the way to his son’s home. No way. He would have known if Ethan was into such things. No, this had to be murder, plain and simple. He had enemies, so did Ethan. But if it was murder, how had the assassin gotten into a locked room, through all the security guards and cameras? His son must have … No. He wouldn’t accept that. Someone had murdered his son. This was a message. Maybe Cheng wasn’t as insane as everyone thought.
19
“Nonny wants to come home,” Ezekiel greeted. “I think Teams One and Two want to steal her, but she misses her swamp.”
Trap flung himself in a chair, looking glum. “They’ve been gone a week and Cayenne won’t even speak to me. I’ve tried everything, and she won’t answer her phone or do a video chat. If I don’t bring her home soon, she may not want to come back to me. She’s acting like I wanted to send her away. If she doesn’t stop this soon, I’m going there and dragging her little ass back and we’re going to be talking.”
“You can’t do that until we find these three scumbags who want to test their virus on us, thanks to Cheng,” Joe said. He glanced over at Draden and the newest member of their team, Shylah. “Good work. The papers reported that Ethan was found dead of an apparent suicide. There was no mention of erotic play, and weirdly, three of his security team disappeared. I think Daddy wasn’t happy that anyone saw his son like that, but he bought the scenario.”
Draden nodded. “We were in the room with Ethan when he was reporting to his father, and the power play they were exchanging back and forth suggested his father might buy into any kind of sexual activity. He’s smart though, and he’ll figure it out eventually. Unfortunately, Ethan wasn’t able to give Whitney’s three scientists the order to back down and not test the virus on us.”