had been dubbed. That was on the lower level, with the
bar and sitting areas in a balcony above it.
At the far end of the pit were two hallways leading to
private play rooms. A club member Parker Christiansen, who owns a construction
company, had started on a new addition last week. More private rooms, a few
with themes, were being added, but the plans for the second floor were amazing.
The area would have a retractable roof for play under the moonlight, weather
permitting. And for ensured privacy when the roof was open, there would be a
specially made netting in its place. It would let the air in and the people
could see out, but anyone trying to take pictures via a helicopter or satellite
camera would only get a fuzzy, dark gray photo. The Sawyers—brothers Ian, and Devon,
and their cousin Mitch—take their club’s security seriously, and no expenses
are spared when it comes to safeguarding their members. It helped that Ian and
Dev’s father was a self-made, real estate billionaire, and the brothers have enormous
trust funds. But you would never know it unless you were close to them, as
Brody and the rest of the Trident team were. The men didn’t flaunt their wealth
and had successfully established their own businesses and reputations while
only using the trust funds for start-up expenses.
Glancing around, Brody noted it was a little quiet in the bar
area for a Thursday night, but based on the volume of noise coming from the
pit, the level of activity down there was apparently high. A few people were
enjoying a pre- or post-play drink, and he headed toward a small group he knew
well. The rules for pre-play drinking were strict—only two alcoholic beverages
allowed—and with the computer system Brody had set up for the business, the
bartender and wait staff kept track of who was served what. Then the security
guards had hand-held computers which scanned the club members’ access cards
before allowing them entry to the pit. No one was permitted in the play areas
if they had exceeded the limit, but they were welcome to relax at one of the
pub tables or sitting areas along the balcony and watch the scenes from there.
As he approached the four women and two men he wanted to chat
with, he noticed the serious and worried looks on their faces. His teammates,
Ben “Boomer” Michaelson and Marco “Polo” DeAngelis were there with their
fiancées/submissives—Kat Maier and Harper Williams, respectively. The other two
women were a married couple, Dr. Roxanne London and her submissive/wife Kayla,
and it was the latter who seemed the most upset.
He signaled the bartender, Dennis, for a bottle of his
regular beer, then joined the discussion. “What’s everyone frowning about?”
Kayla London gave him a small smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes,
and it reminded him of the cute baker from this afternoon. But the sweet sub
greeted him politely as always. “Good evening, Master Brody. We were just
talking about a friend of mine from Heat, Christie Lawrence. She’s been missing
since last Friday night, but we just heard about it today.”
Heat was the second most popular, private BDSM club in the
Tampa area behind The Covenant. Roxy and Kayla had been members there before
they’d been granted memberships here.
Brody’s eyes narrowed. He hadn’t heard about any missing
persons cases recently, but then again, he’d been busy with some upgrades to
the Trident computer system for the past two weeks. “Where’d she go missing
from?”
His best friend, Marco, handed him the beer the bartender had
placed on the counter, since he was standing between the bar and Brody. “From
what we’ve heard, there’s no sign of foul play. Her car was parked and locked
in front of her condo as usual. Her phone was in the car, but her purse is
gone. No sign of a struggle. She left her friends at some bar downtown, drove
home, and disappeared from the face of the earth. There’s no indication she
made it into her condo