Preternatural: An Erotic Paranormal Romance Collection (3 Book Bundle) (8 page)

“I am a thief, Mr. Johnson, and a damned fine one at that. One of the best, if not the best, in the business. I steal jewelry, gadgets, valuables, objects of art, sometimes even important secrets. Now I do not know where you got your information from. However I believe it is quite clear that you have misunderstood the extent of my services. I am not a hit man. So unless, by some chance, you actually are after a particular item, something that can be held in your hands, rather than an organ… then I believe this meeting is at an end, sir.”

Yuan turned on her heel and headed for the open hallway. Before she could reach the elevator, the masked man’s cold voice stopped her in her tracks. “A moment please Ms. Wong. Please allow me to elaborate on my proposal before you leave?”

The sound of the mans voice behind her caused her to turn around to see what more he had to say. He motioned her back into the room. “Please ma’am, just a few more minutes of your time.”

She noticed that on the once empty desk, now sat two things, a check and a picture of something. She walked back to the table to see what better proposition the man had. The check, she noticed, trying to hide her surprise, was for one million dollars. The picture was of some type of lidded chest made from silver with gold trimmings.

“Ms. Wong, allow me to assure you that no murder of any kind will be necessary,” said Mr. Johnson. “My needs are unique, I simply require you to secure the chest pictured here, and return it to me. In exchange, I will pay you two million dollars – half up front and half when you deliver the item to me.”

Yuan stared at the man for a moment, at a loss. “I don’t understand, Mr. Johnson. If the job was to fetch this chest, then why tell me you wanted this man, Shan Li’s heart?”

“My mistake, young lady. And I truly apologize for that. English is not my native language, consider it a poor choice of words,” said the masked man. “The chest, it is as dear to Mr. Li, as is his own beating heart.”

Yuan stared on with a doubting look on her face. Dealers are usually exact; know what they want and go straight to it without mincing words. This man right before her was however a cunning one and was not being straightforward. There could be a purpose to his earlier statement but she couldn’t lay hands on what exactly it was. Although something seemed off about Mr. Johnson’s proposal, Yuan accepted the job.

Two million dollars was nothing to sneeze at. She didn’t get to where she was in this business by cowering at jobs such as this that had good prospects. She figured the job must be a top level one and expected a strong security in place guarding the prized possession, she reasoned this as only commensurate to the price agreed and pay for the deal.

Yuan made ready to pay a visit to the location her customer had provided her. In as much as she was confident that the gadgets in her possession should be able to pull the operation off as they were the most advanced there were yet, she intended to survey her target’s house first just as a precaution and also as a part of her regular research.

Two nights later she was outside a huge manor. Located in a remote wooded area of the Ozark mountains, she had a good enough hideout from which to monitor the property. There were no prying eyes to beware of. Besides the occupants of the house, she had no worries about an outsider seeing her peeking at the house as she would have been if she were in a populated neighborhood.

She therefore took her time, not being under much pressure. According to the information Johnson had provided Yuan, the chest was most likely located in the master bedroom of the home, in a wall vault. This apparently was where Shan Li kept his most beloved valuables.

Slowly and carefully, Yuan sized up the security system of the immense home. From what she could see, other than the most basic locks on windows and doors, she couldn’t find any obvious security precautions. That was odd, for such a large, obviously expensive property. Red flags went up immediately in her mind – what am I missing?

Concerned that she was missing something, Yuan carefully checked and double checked the home’s perimeter again. She expected more and this task, which was quite well paid for, was turning out to be disappointing her expectations for a job of its worth. The only thing she saw were large canine foot prints coming out of the back door. She had monitored the house from her hiding place for hours earlier and had not seen any dog. She also knew no one left the house with a dog, so she wondered where the dog could be.

Dogs she could deal with though, she knew. If she was quiet and quick, they would never even know she was in the house. And if they did find her, most dogs could be distracted with presents she might have to bring along. She had yet to have any of her jobs be foiled by man’s best friend. If that was the best Shan Li had to offer, then this job was so easy as to be embarrassing. Which begged the question – why would Mr. Johnson need someone as skilled, and expensive, as her to do such an easy job?

Swallowing her reservations, Yuan donned her night vision lenses and approached the home with the most cautious of steps and choice of direction. The sooner she retrieved the chest, the sooner she would collect the balance of her payment and be off to somewhere warm, sunny, and with beautiful clear water. She had missed the Bahamas, her favorite hangout spot, where she laid low on completion of major deals.

With a pick, she unlocked the door, not making as much as a sound. Silent as a tiny bird, she slipped into the darkened home. Yuan stopped for a moment, to make sure she had not tripped a silent alarm. While she was cautious enough to be on the alert should that happen, it was the last thing she needed nor could handle right then on the job as she was in no position for physical combat with the occupants of the house. If anybody was alerted of her presence by the security system, her best option would be to leave the premises instantly to return on a later day when their guards would have let their security down again.

When nothing happened, she continued on through the manor’s interior. The lounge flooring which was exquisitely tiled, glittering even in the darkness of the room. Shan sure had a good taste in furnishing and interiors. Through the adjoining corridor that led to the cluster of rooms, Yuan carefully made her way towards where she believed the master bedroom should be.

Based on the glimpses of the interior she had made during her scouting forays, she was positive she was on the right track. She had seen occasional movement in the house throughout the day and from what she could tell, there were probably no more than two or three people in the entire mansion.

There had been no lights on or movement of any kind for an hour prior to her entry.  As she walked through the hallways, her night vision lenses had shown her two forms, apparently both asleep in one bedroom, with a third person sleeping alone in another room. Her instincts were right; they had all gone to bed.

Within the space of a few minutes, Yuan had found the door to the master bedroom.  Placing her ear to the door, she listened for the slightest sound that could come from the room, not hearing even as much as a human breath. She silently oiled the door’s hinges and gently eased the door open, taking great care not to make a sound.

Glancing inside, she saw no evidence that there was anyone in the room. Noiselessly, she walked into the bedroom, but got no more than a few steps in when a glint of reflected light caught her eye. There, on a side table beside the bed, the silver chest she was here to steal, glimmered, reflecting a patch of moonlight from a tiny window, much to her surprise.

Yuan’s lip curled sarcastically at the sight. Surely Li would not keep such a highly prized object out in the open.  But right there before her eyes, it sure was, and this completely baffled her. What manner of fool was this man?  Was he so sure of himself that he thought no one would be able to steal this treasure? She moved over to the small table, and then began to meticulously check for any sort of security.

There were no wires, no alarms, and no electronics of any sort that she could find attached to the object of her journey. Shaking her head over the owner’s complete disregard for the safety of his possessions, Yuan reached out for her prize, located only inches away.

Just as her fingertips touched the tiny silver chest, a low, quiet, canine growl sound came from directly behind her. As Yuan whirled to face the source of the sound, she was slammed into the side table by the large, powerful body of a 200 pound Mastiff. Yuan’s head struck the edge of the table under the fierce weight of the huge dog which pushed her with such great force, and then, everything went black…

When Yuan regained consciousness, she was surrounded by pitch darkness. Her head was throbbing so badly, it was even in time with her heart. Her limbs were bound in handcuffs, and she was clearly lying down on something… she wasn’t sure exactly what, but thankfully it was soft.

“Achoo! Achoo!” Yuan sneezed, just then realizing that she had caught a cold from her overly, friendly businessman on the airplane a few days back. As if being caught and bound wasn’t enough to ruin her day, now she was sick too.

She began weighing her options. She realized she was not in the best shape for a fight given how totally ill she was but she decided she would make up her mind about what chances she stood of escaping after she must have evaluated her captor(s). Her effort to free herself of the chord with which she was tied was futile, she was well bound. So she gave in and lay back to rest. She needed all the rest she could get especially as she was yet anticipating what this man, Shan Li would do with her.

Yuan could hear a door open, “So, you are awake, are you little bird?” a male voice addressed her from somewhere near the opening of the door.

A light flickered on, and for a moment Yuan was blinded. When her eyes adjusted to the now torch-lit room, she could see a magnificent example of manhood standing in the doorway, his arms crossed as he contemplated her. He was powerfully built, yet shorter, like her, and ruggedly handsome. He watched her in a way that reminded her uncomfortably of a wild animal sizing up his next meal.

“I must say, young lady, I am quite impressed. You are the first to get that close to my treasure in, oh, quite some time.” The man smiled at her, but his eyes were cold.

“Achoo! Are you Shan Li?” Yuan asked the man, her words a bit blurred from her cold. He nodded yes.

“I can pay you for my release sir.  How does two hundred thousand dollars sound? You can just untie me, and I will leave peacefully, without the chest. Then we can both forget all about this unfortunate meeting.”

Holding her breath, Yuan hoped the man might be reasonable and even more money hungry. Her hopes were quickly dashed as Li chuckled and shook his head a firm no.

“I’m afraid I cannot allow you to leave, little bird. If I were to allow a thief to depart from my home…  without giving them a proper punishment, well that would only encourage other attempts from other thieves. Don’t you agree? Still, your ability has impressed me.” Shan walked from his spot by the door, and made his way to the bed she was lying on.

Quickly and skillfully, Shan unbound her hands and legs. “You may make yourself comfortable in my home during your stay, young miss. I would strongly recommend against an escape attempt, though. You will find I have many ways of making your stay less pleasant… if you attempt to leave without my permission.”

“Lauren will see to your meals and any other requirements you may have while I decide what is to be done with you.”  A strong hand captured her chin and tilted her head upward, until she was staring into a pair of light green eyes. Oddly, when she looked into his eyes, she felt a strange wave of déjà vu come over her.

“Behave yourself, little bird. I will see you again very soon.” Turning, Shan left the room, and closed the door sharply behind him.

She was transfixed still recovering from the flash of déjà vu that had swept through her, wondering what was behind it; not finding an explanation, she decided it was perhaps her health that was getting worse. She lay back down and rested waiting to see what would happen to her next.

After a few hours, Yuan had managed to learn a few things about her prison. Other than the locked door, there were no exits to her room. The bedroom and adjoining bathroom had no windows, and the vents were too small to get more than a foot or hand into. What were they thinking when designing this part of the house, she thought.

The door’s lock looked simple, but internally was far too complicated to pick without a tool, which she didn’t have. Also, there was nothing in the room which she could easily turn into a weapon or a lock pick. Feeling frustrated, and beginning to run a fever, Yuan sat back down on her bed, staring pitifully at the door. There was only one option left to explore. Just then a knock at the door startled her, and she almost didn’t have time to react as a woman carrying a food laden tray, opened the door.

Yuan sprang to her feet, running past the startled woman, and burst out of the door into the hallway beyond. Yuan fled down the hallway as the woman called out behind her. “Wait, please stop! Oh no, Lord Li! Mr. Johnson? Somebody, please… help me!”

Had that woman just called out for Mr. Johnson, Yuan asked herself as she continued running, now up a set of stairs into the main part of the home. Yuan could hear a set of heavy, male sounding footsteps chasing her in pursuit. When she turned a corner she could see another man standing right in front of the back door.

“Ms. Wong, stop!” The man called to her, his voice familiar.

Surprise at the voice slowed her steps slightly, as Yuan recognized that, yes, it was the voice of her employer, Mr. Johnson. That hesitation proved to be her downfall, as her pursuer caught up to her, and, enveloping her in his arms, knocked Yuan to the floor. On hitting the floor she cursed and kicked at him, but he had her and she was not getting loose.