Claire's Bounty (F/F, F/M, M/F+, F/Self)

[Theo73]

Hey all,

I had this idea brewing in my head for a bit and needed to get it out unto the page but don't want to spoil anything here. This is going to be a long story but luckily, I have an ending in mind. As always, I invite you to comment and share your thoughts.

Cheers

Chapter 1: A Private Contract

George drank his coffee with one hand and read the morning paper with the other, his eyes darting to the entrance periodically when he heard the distinct sound of the door hitting the bell. The man would quickly eyed who entered, realized it was not her, then went back to his reading. George knew Claire wouldn’t be late but he wouldn’t have minded either way, the diner was charming and the coffee was surprisingly good for the middle of nowhere. About fifteen minutes later, halfway into the business section, the bell sounded and he bent his paper forward to see a young woman standing by the door. She was casting her eyes over the patrons, looking for a man with a large man with thick brown hair and mustache. George didn’t see her walk in, despite sitting in a booth by the window overlooking the highway. She was a woman in her mid 20s, 5’9 with side-parted brown hair framing a square face and green eyes. She wore a charcoal jean jacket over a worn black shirt and dark blue jeans. The woman was fit, but you wouldn’t know it just by looking at her. Most people ended up finding out the hard way. George lifted his paper in order to get her attention. She acknowledged him with a chin motion, walked over and slid into his booth at the end of the diner.

“Morning George.” The young woman said, slipping out of her jacket and putting her elbows on the table.

“Good morning, Claire.” The man said lifting his coffee in acknowledgment.

“Any particular reason why I’m here? Why you couldn’t call instead?” The young woman asked, with more than a hint of impatience in her voice. George folded his newspaper on the table, giving the woman his full attention.

“I needed to see you in person, we need to talk about about some-” George stopped as a waitress appeared next to them with a pot of steaming coffee. Claire looked up and smiled as it was poured for her.

“Can I get you anything else, Hun?” The woman asked Claire cheerily as her mug was filled.

“Just the coffee, thanks.”

“Ya’ll just holler if you want a bite.” The waitress left them and made her way behind the counter, out of earshot. George waited until he knew she couldn’t hear.

“…things.”

“I’m all ears.” Claire said as she lifted the coffee to her lips and leaned back into her seat. George leaned to his left, took out an envelope from a leather briefcase and slid it over to Claire. The young woman caught it deftly between the table and her palm, giving George an odd look in response.

“Don’t hold them up, I don’t want anyone else to see.”

The young woman furrowed her eyebrows at him before she pulled the contents of the envelope out flat on the table, a stack of 4x6 photographs. George was looking out into the diner, making sure nobody could spy what was being shared. Claire was immediately met with a picture of a young woman tied up in the trunk of a car, looking up, wide-eyed and terrified. Duct tape was wrapped around her mouth and the rest of her body was bound tightly in white rope. Claire flipped to the next photo. This time it was a man, wearing a tight black hood with a cleave gag over it. He was handcuffed in a back seat, a blank face looking out of a passenger side door. The third was another woman, balltied and lying on her side on a bathroom floor, looking up at the photographer. She was gagged with some kind of blue fabric seen through clear transparent tape, the rest of it was used to keep her bent legs against her chest. Claire went through the dozen or so photos, every one was more or less the same. Individuals who were in various states of bondage and emotional distress. Claire’s innermost feelings betrayed her and she couldn’t help but smile a little at this montage of her work. She slipped the photos back into the sleeve and looked up to see George’s blank, disapproving stare. “You see a pattern? I think I see a pattern.” the man asked sardonically.

“They’re criminals George, I don’t see what the big deal is.” Claire said flippantly as she drank her coffee.

“It’s excessive.”

“According to who.”

“According to the people who pay the people who pay us.”

Claire snorted at that comment, shaking her head. “Bureaucratic bullshit.”

“Maybe they have a point, looks to me like your mixing business with a little too much pleasure.” Claire didn’t respond immediately, confirming George’s suspicions.

“I’d rather have them restrained than looking for things to stick me with George. I have to watch out for myself too.” Her words sat in the air for a bit as her hand went to a scar above her belt buckle that George couldn’t see. “Most of the time its not as bad as it looks.” Claire said dismissively.

“And the girl with panties stuffed in her mouth?” George asked gesturing to the envelope. Claire’s mind went back to the woman with the blue stuffing, struggling on the bathroom floor. She felt her heart rise in her chest in excitement.

“They were clean.” Claire said reflexively, then immediately regretted it. George looked back at her in disbelief, with an expression that seemed to say does that make it any better? He shook his head as if erase that comment from his short-term memory.

“Regardless, you’re going to need to keep a low profile for a while. That means no state or federal work, for now.” Claire fell back in her seat, staring ahead blankly. She let out a long deep breath as George took another drink of coffee. The two could feel a wall of silence slowly building between them, then Claire decided to speak again.

“You have my back, right George?” Claire asked, knowing the answer but needing to to hear it from him. George didn’t hesitate with his answer.

“Yea kid, I got your back.” George said with a confident tone, his mustache curving slightly with his smile. “To them you’re a ghost. I made sure of it.”

“Thanks.” Claire said lifting her mug, hiding her smile behind her coffee.
George hesitated before pulling out the larger, thicker folder from his bag and turned to Claire instead. “Maybe this is a good thing. Taking some time for yourself...or someone else.” Claire leaned forward and held her mug on the table with both hands, her eyes far away. George could see a section of the brick wall falling.

“I got nowhere to be George, no one to be with. I live for this job.”

George wasn’t used to seeing this side of her but he needed to hear her say the words. Needed to be sure. “This job isn’t for anyone really. You’ve been permitted certain liberties...with how you choose to go about your work. But keep in mind that it cuts both ways, and if you’re the one who ends up tied up in someone’s basement...nobody is going to lift a finger to save you. That’s the deal I made for you.” Claire wallowed in her thoughts for a moment, letting his words sink in.

“Thanks for the talk, Dad.” Claire said with playfulness returning in her voice. George smirked back as he reached into his bag.

“That being said, I managed to snag us a private contract.” Then he produced the file folder, laying it on top of the first envelope. “Everything you need to know is in there. This job is going to be a little different.” George spoke as Claire opened the file, revealing neatly arranged pages of information and photos of a young woman with curly hair, slight freckles and a beaming smile. Claire was taken aback by her looks but didn’t show it as she held the photo in her hand.

“Who is she?”

“Riley Bennett, daughter of Richard Bennett, Texas oilman.” George said, watching Claire set the photo aside and go through the rest of the file.

“So he’s rich.” Claire said, not looking up.

“Filthy.”

“She doesn’t look like a criminal to me.”

“Well depends on who you ask, especially in Texas. She’s an activist, went off the grid after finishing uni. That was five days ago, now her dad wants her back.” George continued as Claire buried herself in the pages. “Her being an independent adult complicates things.”

“Time frame?”

“Eleven days, proof of capture once you have her. Everything is in your hands, recon, transport, containment.” George said lifting his coffee to his lips.

“Carte Blanche?” Claire paused and looked up at George. George tilted his coffee and raised an eyebrow as confirmation and Claire stared down at the pages again. “Some Dad, huh?”

“He’s a rough and tumble guy, that much I know. Sort of man that texans love. Spends most of his time out on his ranch roping cattle…you’d like him.” George smirked at his little barb. Claire felt herself blushing, but decided to roll with the punch instead.

“I’ll stick to tying up people, thanks.” George shook his head at this and set his coffee down on the table. “What do I do once I have her?”

“There’s a rendezvous point on the map, you have to be there on the eleventh day with Riley.”

“And if I finish the assignment early?”

“Hunker down and wait. I’ve included potential safe houses.”

Claire closed the file on the table. “Anything else?”

Wordlessly, George gathered the pages about the table, neatly placing them back in the folder and leather briefcase before getting up out of his seat. Claire did the same, then the large man offered her the bag. She took it and slung the long strap over her shoulder. George was easily a foot and half taller than Claire, a great bear of a man. “Go west, find a cheap motel, have a drink and look it over. Everything you need is in here.” Claire smiled and gave George a hug.

It lasted longer than either of them thought it would.

“Be careful out there, kid.”

“I’ll try.”

Claire then turned and left, leaving George standing in the charming little diner. The bell made a familiar sound on her way out. George smiled to himself as he watched Claire leave. Then it hit him like a bullet out of nowhere. A piece of information he forgot to mention.

Something Claire desperately needed to know.

“Shit!” he said under his breath sharply, grabbing his coat and running out the door after her in a panic.

Claire was turning her keys in the ignition when she see saw George barreling toward the driver’s side door in the afternoon sun.

“The fuck?” Claire said to herself when she saw the large man running toward her car. She rolled down her window expectantly. George got to her and leaned into the open window, panting. He made a motion for her to turn off the ignition and she did so. “What the fuck George?!”

“I forgot...tell you...something.” George said, trying to catch his breath. Claire sat, waiting for George to ruin their heartfelt farewell. She didn’t expect him to ruing it as much as he did.

“They gave the same contract to Jackson as well, you’re competing with him.” George said, still leaning on the driver’s side door. “He’s trying to get Riley too.”

The next moments happened so quickly George had little time to react to it. Kate suddenly started the car, peeled out of the car park in reverse and sped off down the highway, leaving George in a cloud of hot desert dust. When it cleared she was gone and all he could hear was the roaring engine on the highway.

Inside the car, Claire was gripping the steering wheel so tightly she thought she might break it. Her eyes were red with hot tears and her jaw was locked like a bear trap as memories came flooding back of the last time she saw Jackson.

Claire could feel herself back in that shitty motel room, half-naked and hogtaped on the unmade bed. She could smell the duct tape gag under her nose and taste the used sock sealed inside her mouth. She could feel the pull the tape between her ankles and her face, keeping her bent in place as she struggled to get free. She could hear herself screaming into her gag as Jackson left her there for the cleaner to find the next morning. She could see his smiling face as he shut the door behind him and locked her away, taking her money and her heart. She gave up trying her free herself that night, the tape was too strong and the gag, too silencing. Instead, the bound woman was left in the dark, crying and cursing her former partner until her tears gave way to sleep.

Back in the car, even as the woman’s anger faded with the setting sun, she continued staring daggers into the horizon.

[LunaDog]

Em. I'd like to see more of this.