The Power Trip

Ah, she was impressed. A United States Senator was asking for her name and she was thrilled.

Of course she was.

‘Where are you from, dear?’

‘Australia.’

‘I gathered that from your accent. Whereabouts in Australia?’

‘Brisbane, actually.’

Hammond’s eyes dipped to her breasts. Not too big, not too small. He would’ve liked them to be bigger, but maybe her nipples would compensate. Hammond had a thing about nipples; he preferred them extended and chewy — all the better to bite on.

‘Renee is a very pretty name for a very pretty girl,’ he said, giving her the sincere smile that always worked.

‘Thank you,’ she murmured, lowering her eyes.

He winked at her. ‘I’ll have a glass of champagne, Renee.’

More blushing. He was on her radar.

He would fuck her. She was ripe and ready. Better than the redhead. Better than the blonde with the big tits. Better than their hostess. And sure as hell better than the Asian piece of work.

Hammond knew a sure thing when he saw it.

Chapter Sixty-Six

Preparations were in overdrive. Cruz’s men were more than ready, they were on fire and primed for action. Too much lazing around was not good for them.

Second thoughts were plaguing Sergei about going along with them on their mission. Much as he harboured a strong desire to be the first to see Aleksandr Kasianenko’s expression when they boarded The Bianca, Cruz was right, he had no experience when it came to hijacking. What if he got inadvertently shot or knifed or injured in any other way? It could all go wrong and he might easily become a victim.

Cruz’s gang of misfits were heavily armed for battle, which made Sergei seriously think about veering towards the cautious side. He didn’t fully trust Cruz. If anything happened to him, Ina’s brother stood to gain the full ransom, so wasn’t it foolish to set himself up as a target?

He’d financed this entire operation and it had cost him plenty, but if Cruz got greedy, he wasn’t about to have it cost him his life.

Finally he came to the conclusion that the smart thing to do was back off the actual raid, and have Cruz’s men bring Kasianenko to him while he stayed at the villa and waited — a far wiser plan.

When he informed Cruz of his change of heart, he wasn’t quite sure, but he thought he noticed a flash of triumph flit across the Mexican man’s weather-beaten face.

Interesting. It paid to always be alert.

‘I’ll be sendin’ two of my men with you to grab Kasianenko,’ Sergei announced. ‘You’ll arrange to have a couple of your team bring him back on one of the boats. I’ll be waiting.’

‘That means I’m gonna be two men short,’ Cruz complained, spitting on the ground. ‘Not possible.’

Sergei had not come this far to get into a pissing match with Ina’s annoying brother. ‘Then I suggest you make it possible,’ he ordered coldly. ‘Bring Kasianenko to me, then my men’ll take over, and your men can return to you.’

‘Chingado,’ Cruz muttered under his breath.

‘You should be smiling,’ Sergei said, a note of menace in his voice, ‘now you don’t got me on the boat where you didn’t want me gettin’ in your fuckin’ way. Remember?’

Cruz’s mouth twisted into a hard smile. ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘I can work it out.’

‘Make certain you do that,’ Sergei said. ‘’Cause you an’ me — we wouldn’t wanna screw with each other, would we?’

Cruz shrugged and groped in his pocket for a cigarette. ‘Never,’ he lied.

* * *

Ina wandered down to the dock, fully aware that both Cruz and Sergei would be furious if they caught her. So what? She was bored sitting around in the villa with nothing to do. They’d warned her not to sunbathe by the pool, but they’d never mentioned anything about not going down to the dock.

She wore high-heeled silver sandals and a white mesh cover-up over her bikini. Large black sunglasses hid her eyes.

Cruz’s team of misfits were busy.

Ina stood by observing. She smiled at the youngest pirate, Cashoo, who wasn’t bad-looking in a Johnny Depp kind of way. He wore torn jeans and a sloppy T-shirt with a colourful scarf flowing from around his neck. She noticed his beautiful high cheekbones, and wondered what it would be like to make love to someone so young. One thing was for sure — he wouldn’t call her fat and whack her on the ass. He would be honoured to have the pleasure of being with her.

Now he was returning her smile.

She noticed an attractive gold tooth and threw him a little wave. Then Cruz ruined everything by creeping up on her and yanking her by the arm. ‘Get back in the house,’ he growled. ‘An’ don’t lemme see you down here again.’

Ina turned and walked back towards the house, but not before giving Cashoo one last lingering look.

Chapter Sixty-Seven

‘We’re going to the press,’ Martin Byrne announced, ruddy cheeks ablaze. ‘This waiting around is a travesty. Skylar is nervous and upset. My wife is hysterical. We have to resolve this.’

‘Talking to the press will resolve nothing,’ Eddie said, his voice strained as he tried to figure out what to do next. ‘They’ll jump on the story with no facts, and your daughter will be crucified, exactly like Monica Lewinsky.’

‘How dare you mention that Lewinsky woman and Skylar in the same breath,’ Martin huffed, pacing up and down. ‘My daughter was sexually molested. It’s time the truth came out.’

‘I understand your dilemma,’ Eddie said, attempting to stay calm and in control as he tried to reason with Skylar’s father. ‘However, I can assure you that until I speak with the Senator, you should hold off doing anything.’

Lurking outside Eddie’s office, Radical, Hammond’s illegitimate fifteen-year-old daughter, kept her ear to the door.

Shitballs! This was like real juicy stuff. Daddy Dearest had been fiddling with some girl called Skylar.

Did step-mom Sierra know?

Was this news fresh off the block?

Could she make money from it?

Radical was all for scoring extra bucks — money made the world go round. It also meant she could stock up on grass and coke without having to blow her New York dealer who was a Puerto Rican ass-wipe and preferred blow-jobs over cash.

As it was, she’d gotten thrown out of her Swiss boarding school for making out with her French teacher — who’d also gotten canned.

Now that she was back in New York it was time to like live it up. And money — plenty of it — could only help.