Double down

"Okay," Rick said, "here's the deal. There's no point in going after Black Hat. They're clearly flunkies who can be replaced. My target has to be bio-DNA, which right now means Dan Hughes since he's the one I think is most exposed. I don't know how you guys can help me so I suggest that you plan on laying low, out of danger, and I'll call you for backup if I need it."

That last bit was to make them feel needed. There was no way he could see it actually happening.

"I said we're in this together." Usha's normally high-pitched voice was husky. Rick couldn't tell if that came from screaming or as a result of the rope-burn marks around her neck. He was into bondage as much as the next guy but with him, it was only fun if it was voluntary. The idea of raping a squirming, fighting woman, having to tie her down in order to have any chance, was about as sexy as raping a chicken. Which is to say, not at all.

"Absolutely," Rick lied. "But for this--"

"Hey Rick," Tanya stuck herself between the two of them, "look at me and tell me what you see."

It sounded like a trick question. Surely Tanya wasn't getting jealous. Not after all they'd shared together. "A pretty woman," Rick guessed.

"Nice try. How about a black woman?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So, you know who gets blamed whenever anything goes wrong? The black dude, or in this case, chick. As far as I'm concerned, Usha here has the same problem. She's got brown skin and people are going to blame her for everything they don't blame me for. So, the way I figure it, we're all in this together and there's not going to be any bullshit about calling when you need help which means never. You got me?"

"You and Donna are out of this," Rick said. "We'll figure a way to get you back home. Nobody knows we're connected. Nobody--"

"Not the way it works. We're sticking together until you dig us all out of the hole you stuck us in."

Rick met the gaze of the four beautiful women who glared at him like he was a piece of shit trying to dump them.

"I'm not trying to dump you--" he started.

"Don't bullshit the bullshitter," Kat interrupted. "You're going all noble again. Now, I figure it's time to chat up that McKinney detective again. Let her know what Usha and I got from the Black Hat assholes. Then you do your magic on her, get her thinking with her pussy, and persuade her she needs to help us out."

And put her in the line of fire as well. As far as Rick could see, every woman he touched ended up either dead, like Olivia, or running from the cops like the women in the by-the-hour motel with him.

"Plus you get to fuck us whenever you want while this is going on," Donna added. "And yeah, I'm in because they'll figure who got the gas company shit once they start putting things together."

Rick sighed. He didn't like this. But he wasn't going to just run away from them and he didn't think he could persuade them to just let him do his work.

"Fine," he said. "But no more going off-script like Kat and Usha did."

"Sorry." Kat sounded like uttering that word tore her up inside. "We figured we were safe together and they seemed too stupid to catch on. Except they didn't really catch on, they just wanted to tie us up as sex toys and keep us for a few days until we were broken."

Now that was interesting. Because if that was what was going on, there was an even chance Kat and Usha weren't the first, which meant there just might be evidence.

"Okay," Rick said. "Let's go to McKinney."

"One problem," Donna said. "We don't have a car."