Bryce personally searched all the clients and the staff of the Club. He double checked all possible escape routes. Either this Modem guy was the invisible man or he had been right under their noses the whole time.
Seth Murdock saddled up beside him suddenly, and asked him what he wanted to do with the people they had detained.
"Take their names and contact info, then release them," Bryce told him.
"None of them matched the description, Sir," he said, seeming to be in no hurry to proceed.
"I didn"t expect them to."
"Well, the photo up on the screen at..." he began.
Bryce gave him a look.
"That"s not him, is it?"
"No. Modem is a master of disguise. He never appears the same way more than once."
"You have been on this guys trail before," Seth stated.
Bryce nodded. "The military has a file on him as long as your arm. Most of it is bogus."
"Did he know we were coming tonight?"
"Maybe," Donovan narrowed his eyes. "Anyway, go on, let"s clean this up. Hitch a ride with someone else. I have some stuff to do."
"Yes, Sir," Seth nodded and began to communicate the orders to the others.
When the door opened, Tyler looked up expectantly from where he was sitting along side the wall.
"Come on," the Commander motioned to him with his hand.
Tyler rose, eyeing the gun that hung off his hip. "You going to shoot me now?"
"No, I"m not going to shoot you...yet," he told him between clenched teeth.
As they left the club, Bryce steered him outside by laying a hand on his shoulder, a hand meant to convey that he had no intention of letting him go. Tyler sighed as he crawled into the craft. He could only imagine what was going to happen now. Whatever it was, he probably wasn"t going to like it. "Are you going to tell my Grandfather about this?" he asked him.
"About the drug dealing, or the kinky s.e.x?" Bryce glanced over at him.
"I"m not a drug dealer and you know it," Tyler told him. "I would have been stupid to put those drugs there and how in h.e.l.l could I have anyway, with my hands tied?"
"Umm, you have a point."
"You"re not a very smart cop," Tyler told him.
"I"m not a cop, remember? I"m a soldier."
"Well, you"re not a very smart soldier," Tyler threw at him.
He chuckled.
Tyler"s eyes widened. "You b.a.s.t.a.r.d. You just said that to..." He stopped. He was too frustrated to continue.
The night sky was filled with stars. If he hadn"t of been so angry, he would have taken time to appreciate it.
"I know you didn"t put those drugs there, Tyler," Bryce told him, looking straight ahead. "But that man you were with tonight was Modem. And he left a very profitable amount of drugs with you. The question is why?"
Tyler fell silent.
"What did he look like?"
"I told you, he had a mask on, like the one I was wearing."
"Right. So, how tall was he?"
"Not tall, five ten maybe."
"Thin or...?"
"Slender."
"What about his eyes? Did you notice what color his eyes were?"
"It was dark in that room," Tyler sighed. "I couldn"t say."
Bryce nodded.
"You"re taking me home?" Tyler gasped as he saw the Ruby Mansion come into view.
"More or less," he said.
"Are you going to tell my Grandfather where you found me tonight?" he probed.
"Why?" Bryce looked at him and smiled. "You don"t want Grandpa to know you were at the At Your Mercy Club? Surely, he doesn"t think you"re a virgin?"
"Always the comedian," Tyler clicked his tongue. "No, Commander, I doubt he is nave enough to think I"m still a virgin, but he doesn"t need to know the details."
Bryce laughed. "So, what were you doing there?"
Tyler sighed. "You know the answer to that, don"t you? You guessed it the night you took me to that..." he stopped. "You"re taking me back there, aren"t you?"
"Disappointed?" he asked softly.
He sighed. "Grandfather"s idea again?"
"Maybe. Anyway, I"ll tell him you were arrested for another traffic violation."
"s.h.i.t. There goes my vehicle. He told me he"d take it away the next time."
"Well, it"s either that or I tell him you were handcuffed to a..."
"Never mind," Tyler cut him off. "Tell him I was speeding."
They landed now. When they got out, his grandfather met them at the door. He gave Tyler a cool look of disapproval. "What is it this time, Commander Donovan?"
Donovan paused for a minute, looking over at Tyler. Then he said, "Speeding again."
"That"s it," his grandfather snapped. "No more vehicle until you can learn to use it responsibly."
Tyler nodded.
"Do what you have to, and for as long as you have to," he told Bryce. "I"ll make sure the place is stocked with provisions."
With that, he disappeared inside.
Tyler scowled. "Sounds like he"s throwing me to your mercy."
"Tyler," Bryce mocked. "Is there a hint in there somewhere?"
Tyler suddenly realised the joke as Bryce pulled him inside. They walked down the long corridor to the hidden elevator. Soon they were back inside that room again. The wall slid back into place behind them.
CONVERSATIONS IN THE NIGHT
"Where is Donovan now?" he demanded, pacing the floor of his living s.p.a.ce. He raised a hand and waved it twice in front of the television wall screen, turning it off.
"I don"t know exactly," the voice replied. "He"s with Tyler."
"Tyler? I thought that"s exactly what you didn"t want," his voice sounded peeved.
"Doesn"t matter. I made sure that Tyler won"t get any."
"When do we make our move?"
"Patience, patience," he cooed. "My, but you"ve got it bad. You really want in his pants, don"t you? I"ve seen him a few times, can"t say I blame you."
"Never mind. We had an agreement. What"s in those pants belongs to me."
"No worries. Donovan is too macho for me. I like them tender and submissive. I almost had what I wanted too. Next time, you give me more warning. I almost didn"t make it. I had to leave a profitable amount of merchandise with Tyler Rose."
"Tyler Rose? You mean you planted drugs on him?"
He laughed. "Yes and it was worth it too. The Commander will be suspicious of his connection to me. He knows I was there tonight. That"s why I"m sure Tyler isn"t going to get any."
"Genius."
"Maybe. But remember what I said. You are supposed to warn me when the Commander is getting hot."
"I just found out what he was up to at the last minute. He didn"t advertise it like last time. He suspects a mole inside. He"s no fool."
"Beauty and brains," he clucked, "lethal combination. No wonder Tyler is so desperate to have him."
"He"s mine," he returned. "That little twit better keep his greedy hands off of him."
There was laughter. "Alright, you just sit tight. I"ll let you know when we move. We"ll both have everything we want real soon."
"You are going to give me some time before you..."
"I promise you that you can live out every warped little fantasy before I put an end to the bothersome Commander Donovan."
He was about to say something else when the line went dead.
MEMORIES MOST ACUTE