Hunter - Services Rendered

Services Rendered

Diana Hunter

This book isloosely tied to characters from Secret Submission and Submission Revealed.

Recently back fromIraq, Lauren Carr is still trying to put her life together. Her best friendsets her up on a date with an incredibly sexy man who promises to tie her downand make love to her all night long. His offer intrigues her, piques herinterest in the submissive lifestyle shes so curious about. This strong, dominantman might be just what she needs.

John McAllen is anex-Marine who has put his demons to rest. He has a successful career andfriends who share his kink. The beautiful Lauren, who was so capable in acrisis, turns out to have PTSD. In spite of his desire, he isnt sure he wantsto deal with her damaged psyche. He needs a woman who can submit to hiscontrol, to his passion for ropes and chains and floggers. To his every sexualdemand.

Elloras Cave Publishing

www.ellorascave.com

Services Rendered

ISBN 9781419934773

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Services Rendered Copyright 2011 Diana Hunter

Edited by Pamela Campbell

Cover art by Syneca

Electronic book publication August 2011

The publisher does not have any control over,and does not assume any responsibility for, author or third-party Web sites ortheir content.

Services Rendered

Diana Hunter

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the men and womenof the Armed Forces of the United States. Thank you for your service.

Acknowledgements

I need to give a special thank you toAverill Bauder for sharing his expertise in the firing of Civil War cannons.His knowledge brought life to the Civil War reenactment scenes.

And another special thanks to Tara Nina,who told me a story one time

Author Note

In the world of fantasy anything goes, butin reality, remember to always practice safe sex.

Prologue

The dusty street, hot in the mid-afternoonsun, lay bare and empty. From some corner of hell, a hot breeze blew sand insmall devils along the few spaces between the crowded buildings. Nothing elsestirred. Not even the dozen men standing alert in their hiding places, theirkhaki camouflage sticking to their sweaty bodies, their hands slippery on theirgunstocks. An errant fly buzzed each in turn, yet not one of them moved.

The low murmur of voices drifted on thebreeze from inside the least squalid hut that squeezed itself onto the street.And still the twelve waited, breathing in sand and heat, the strange cinnamonscent of the desert barely noticed.

The voices in the hut rose as if in angerand one of the twelve nodded just once to a soldier on the other side of the street.Slowly lifting his hand, he held out three fingers, then two, then one andpointed toward the door.

The first two soldiers slid through thecurtained doorway, knowing, from previous visits by spies, the layout of thenarrow hut. A hall led directly from the door to the open courtyard behind. Aroom immediately to their right, another behind it. At this time of day, theirquarry would be in the second room.

The second pair followed closely, peelingoff to take position in the first room. They would wait and make sure noneescaped into the street. Two others would remain outside for the same reasonwhile the remaining six guarded the entrances to the street.

The first two paused at the curtain thatclosed off the second room. The men in the room argued loudly now, the Arabicwords sounding like so much gibberish to all but one of the twelve. The othersoldiers spoke only English with smatterings of high school Spanish and French.Only the leader had studied the language of the people whose land hed be helpingto rebuild. Only the leader understood the terrible action the men discussed soheatedly.

And for that, he gave thanks. He knew hismen. If they understood the depth of the plot they were about to foil, therewould be blood spilled. That, however, was not their job. They were simply toarrest these men, not to act as judge and jury. There had been enough of thatin this desert land already.

His men in place, he nodded once more. Theyknew the plan. He and another would enter the room, the two behind him would gothrough to secure the courtyard and the two just outside would enter only asbackup if needed.

Their attack, swift and silent, took theinhabitants by surprise. We are Americans, he shouted in Arabic over theirnoise. You are under arrest. Put your hands in the air.

In an ideal world, the men who plottedmurder would have done as he told them. They wouldve risen from the pillows onwhich they sat and gone along peacefully, accepting that theyd been caught.

Except no ideal world existed in Iraq. Onthe far side of the room, a man raised a machine gun. Without hesitation, theleader fired, killing the Iraqi. One of the men sitting on the floor leapt up,pushing his gun up and out of the way with one hand and pulling a knife withthe other.

Twisting away, the leader brought his gunbarrel down on the mans head, sending him spinning away. More shots filled theair as the men on both sides shouted their anger. Gunfire erupted outside theroom too. Damn the intelligence. There were only supposed to be three meninside, instead there were nearly a dozen. And there were obviously men in thecourtyard, all armed better than the military had been led to believe. Hed ledhis men into a trap.

Chapter One

John McAllen lay face up in the field, hisopen eyes staring at the cloudless blue above, trying to remember just why hehad decided to die so early. The sun beat down, turning his wool uniform intoan oven that slowly baked him all the way through to his spine. Ants had foundhis shirtsleeve and even now paraded along his arm, enjoying the shade andtickling his skin with their tiny legs.

But he wouldnt move. That was part of thedeal. Once you were dead, you didnt get to move. Shots came from his right,yet he resisted the urge to look. Didnt matter who was winning the battle.Didnt matter who fell or who managed to walk away at the end of the hour. Theenemy had found its mark in him and all he could do now was lie in the sun andcook.

A welcome shadow fell over him, ostensiblychecking for a pulse. Will Bondman, his brother-in-arms in more ways than one.John said nothing, per the rules of the dead, as Will whispered to him, Youshouldve fallen facedown. Youre gonna get sunburned.