There is no sex involving anyone under the age of 18. If you haven't read the first two chapters this will be nonsensical. Ch. 1 is in Loving Wives where stories about cheating wives abide; Chapter 2 in Romance, because it isn't about a cheating wife; neither is this chapter.
The end of Chapter 2:
"Cal, this is Zane; I need your help!"
After he called his friend Cal Cook in Arizona, Zane called Elle, who called Sue, and then Zane called Brad. David, Sue, and Elle came to his house to stay with Casey. Zane grabbed his go bag, his gun satchel, his briefcase, and was waiting at the door when Brad pulled up in his pickup. They headed for the Gillespie Country Airport in Fredericksburg, the nearest field that could handle the private jet Cal sent to pick Zane up. The plane would arrive an hour and forty minutes after its departure at 11:20, so they circled back to town for hot coffee from Stripes, and stopped for another cup when they got to 'Fritztown'.
Their wait was only about 25 minutes, but it seemed longer because Zane didn't want to talk about it. When the sleek plane circled to line up with the runway, Brad turned his lights on and off to signal they were waiting by the terminal. The Embraer Phenom 300E landed smoothly without even a yelp from the tires, and quickly taxied back to the pickup. Zane thanked Brad and ran to the plane. The steps were already being lowered, and they were back in the air in less than five minutes.
The 300E had sufficient range to make it back to Albuquerque before it had to refuel. An hour and forty minutes after they left Albuquerque International Sunport, they were on the ground in Caldwell, Idaho.
Cal was there with a large and strangely diverse entourage. There was a man in an expensive suit, a couple of nerdy looking girls, and five large and dangerous-looking men dressed in forest camo.
"It's always good to see you, my friend, but not in these circumstances. How are you holding up?" Cal inquired with a concerned look.
"I'm pissed! Cassie spent the last two years getting shuck of her asshole daddy, shaking her drug and alcohol addictions, straightening out her life, and recently began developing a new relationship with Casey, and then this happens! I haven't had much time to do anything but think, but I have an idea about where she was taken."
"You mean the EMS compound outside Ketchum?" Cal chuckled, clasped his friend on the shoulder, and continued. "My team and I HAVE had enough time. Sandy and Jada have been through everything Entertainment Management Services and your idiot ex-father-in-law have available online, and my security team contacted friends in Idaho to learn more about the EMS compound where she was taken.
"I'll circumvent all the questions at this time and give you the full update when we're in the Suburban. Let's go."
Cal and Zane sat in the second seat; Sandy and Jada in the third, and one of the suits was in the front passenger seat. The driver, Steve, was the leader of the security team; two of the other four members of the team were in a highly modified Land Rover that was clearly designed to go off road in mountainous terrain, and the other two were in a modified Jeep pickup towing an enclosed trailer that Cal said contained ATVs.
"How well armed are we? I'm not sure these guys give a fuck about laws and such."
Cal patted Steve on the shoulder and said reassuringly, "Zane, we wouldn't want to engage the Israeli army, but short of that, I'm sure we'll be adequately prepared, weapons-wise. Remember: I do business in dangerous places with dangerous people."
He chuckled, "My team is the best in the world, or at least that's what they claim when it's time to negotiate their contracts!"
"Now, tell me about Cassie. I've been hearing for two years that she had reverted back to Good Cassie, but it seems you now have first-hand knowledge of that?"
"If you've been hearing about her for two years, I have two questions: one, why didn't you tell me, and two, then you know about her epiphany, right?"
Cal nodded and explained, "I heard that she had given up booze, drugs, and, shall we say, indiscriminate sex, but I had no firsthand knowledge or even firsthand sources. It was all tour scuttlebutt, which isn't worth much. Besides, I figured the same friends who ratted her out were keeping you informed.
"Did I hear about her 'come to Jesus' moment? Yes, but again it was third hand or worse. The bigger issue is how did you come to find out? Did she tell you? Do you believe her?"
Zane responded, "She approached me at Prescott and I let her see Casey while she was sleeping. A few stops later, at Casper, she approached me again, and this time she and Casey bonded a bit.
"Somewhere in there, she talked at length to Carole, and Carole told me and our parents her story. Frankly, I was skeptical, but she spent a lot of time with us at Cheyenne, and I have to admit, I was favorably impressed. She is totally off drugs and alcohol, and most importantly, she's forsaken Asshole Albert... or at least she had!
"I'm sure his goal is to pimp her out like he did before. I'm also sure he's already gone through all the money she made while he had his hooks in her, so he needs to sell her for all he can get.
"That damn EMS bunch seems beyond shady; in fact, I'd say they are only interested in pimping her too!"
"Oh, they're shady!" Jack, the lawyer in the front seat interjected, "But their interest has always been in the 'clean and sober' Cassandra, not the strung out one. Sandy or Jada can inform you about the emails and documents they intercepted, but, from a legal standpoint, they are walking on quick sand and they know it.
"The signature on the 'personal services contract' Mr. Collins presented to them is obviously either a poor forgery, or the signature was secured while Cassandra was not in control of her faculties. It is therefore invalid, and I'm sure their attorneys have told them that. Yet, they seem to believe they can secure a valid contract from her in the next few days.
"Sandy, Jada, what do you want to add?"
Jada looked up long enough to mumble, "Umm, probably just that we have all the correspondence between 'Asshole' and the EMS director, Donovan Talbott, and, from what we've seen, we believe they intend to market her in as the Sexy Queen of the Rodeo. You know: wearing sexy clothes in sexy poses in sexy situations, and stuff like that. They also mentioned Lady Godiva, whoever that is."
Jack stated, "And for that, they need two things: Cassandra's signature on a contract that permits the use of her image in any way they choose, and a willing model. Based on what I've been told, I doubt she will agree to either, which means dear old daddy is probably trying to get her hooked on drugs and sex again, as we speak. The Asshole ordered several kinds of drugs from one of his suppliers, and it arrived yesterday. Once he gets her hooked again, he thinks she will backslide to sluttery - or so he told EMS."
Sandy added, "She not the first they've exploited, or the worst! We found out some terrible things when we were digging around in their files. A lot of girls and a few guys have gone from advertising to minor film and TV opportunities, and then on to modeling in the nude, stripping, and porn films.
I don't know why they are so fixated on your wife, though; she's certainly good looking in a 'rodeo star next door' kind of way, but she is hardly the voluptuous babe they seem to favor."
Zane shrugged his shoulders, knowing he couldn't explain Cassie's appeal to a young woman with tats, piercings, and multi-colored hair.
Cal fixed that by stating, "Sandy, if you were a man you wouldn't ask that question. Cassie may not be voluptuous, but everything is in the right places in the right amounts, and topped with that 'girl-next-door-of-your-dreams' face surrounded by a headful of honey-blonde hair that gleams.
"Think Farrah Fawcett, not Kim Kardashian. Believe me; she adorns thousands of posters in thousands of bedrooms for a reason!"
"How long until we get there?" Zane interrupted. "I'm afraid tonight might be the night they... misuse her, and it's already pushing dawn."
It was Steve's turn to chuckle. "Well, since we knew we would barely arrive by dawn, we had some Idaho operatives we work with create a little disturbance at the compound about thirty minutes after the red Escalade arrived, again around 1:30, and again at 3. Based on audio surveillance, they're running too scared to do anything else to your girl.
"Amazing what happens to your scheme when flares light up your compound, smoke grenades go off among your poorly trained security staff, and a flash-bang explodes in the room next to your 'safe room'."
He laughed. "Strangely, in spite of believing they're under attack, they haven't called the law. Wonder why?"
The caravan began climbing a winding mountain road, hemmed in on both side by huge trees.
Steve said, "This is the road to the compound, so we need to start getting ready. How's the tech surveillance going, you guys?"
"Nothing much to report," Sandy answered. The satellite we're connected to is slow, but we can tell she's still in a room away from the others, and the targets are still nervously chattering about what to do while hiding in their 'safe room'. Ha! As if Steve and his men don't know how to get past a steel door!"
"So, Steve, what's the plan? I brought my gun bag."
"Zane, if you have to dig in your gun bag, we've screwed the pooch. There are five of us plus the five locals; they have eight 'guards', and I say that derisively. There are some disciplined and well-trained militia groups hiding in the woods up here, but these are members of one of the wanna-be groups that congregate up here to 'avoid government spying'. Of course, as soon as they organize and get set up, the government begins watching them from the air, and eavesdrops on everything they say or send electronically; but, hey, they are living 'off the grid and free from government interference', right?
