CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Joey was somewhat surprised that the chopper wasn’t taking them to Louisiana. Instead, they landed at Bragg with base command and the team waiting for them.
When Marissa saw her father, she stopped, unsure of what to do. But when he opened his arms wide, she ran to him, falling into his arms.
“I’m sorry, dad, I’m so sorry,” she cried.
“I know, honey. It’s alright now. You didn’t know and you thought they had you over a barrel. Next time, if there is a next time, trust your family,” said Christopher.
Joey hugged his father, smiling at him as he pulled back looking at his face.
“You haven’t changed,” smirked Gator.
Although Joey wasn’t biologically his son, he looked nearly identical to Gator. They all believed it was another part of the Belle Fleur magic.
“Dad, I saw you a few weeks ago,” he laughed.
“I know but for a while there, it seemed like you were changing every time I saw you.” He jerked his head toward Marissa. “You two okay?”
“Better than okay,” said Marissa. “Thank you all for coming to get me out of there. But there are other women we have to help.”
“The club is closed,” said Ham. “We made sure of that. Giamanco is dead.”
“That’s great! I’m okay then.” Marissa looked around the room with an excited, hopeful expression. The men just stared at her, frowning and shaking their heads.
“No. You’re not. I mean, you are because we’re here but Vasily Gorbeva wants you and he’s not a man to give up easily.”
“Damn,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself.
“May I suggest that we get inside,” said Commander Lim. “My balls are freezing. Excuse the language ma’am.”
“Commander, if you know my family you know that the language is not something that bothers me.”
He only laughed, leading them into the main building. They settled in a large conference room where a tray of coffee, tea, and hot chocolate was brought in with baskets of snacks.
“As it turns out, the colonel is not the only man involved in this problem,” said Lim. “There are others. Many others.”
“Shit,” muttered Joey. “How many are we talking?”
“So far? A dozen. Several are squealing like pigs. Giamanco knew what he was doing. He got these guys in on poker games, betting on sports, anything and then got them to pay for more than just dances at the club, even got a few on camera and manipulated the footage to make it look like the guys raped them.”
“That’s pretty sophisticated,” frowned Patrick.
“He’s got help from some tech folks for sure. Unfortunately, they were tech folks from right here on base. He literally, sequentially, trapped the men he needed and then went after more. We’ve told them that Giamanco is dead but they’re not convinced this is over for them. From our end, it’s not. They’re in a helluva lot of trouble.”
“I thought you were sending me home,” said Marissa.
“Technically you will go home,” said Christopher, “but not until we can be sure of what it is Vasily wants with thisconcept of yours and how many of the other assignments given were going to be sold to him.”
“Did you find my professor?” she asked.
“No. Which worries us a bit. If he was fired, Vasily may have killed him because he was no longer of any use to him. We’ve reached out to the university for any information they have, maybe a forwarding address.”
“This is my fault,” said Marissa. “I should have come to you guys right away but I was so scared, so humiliated, I didn’t think I could.”
“Learning to swallow your pride is a tough lesson,” said Wes. “It took me a while.”
“How long?” asked Marissa.
