EXPLOITING AJ Read online

  EXPLOITING AJ (Special Forces: Operation Alpha)

  PROJECT R.O.O.T Book 3

  TL Reeve & Michele Ryan

  Contents

  Foreword

  Disclaimer

  Note from Us

  Glossary of Names

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by TL Reeve & Michele Ryan

  More Special Forces: Operation Alpha World Books

  Books by Susan Stoker

  About the book

  AJ “Two-Hands” Hoover isn’t afraid of getting dirty. She’s been playing in the mud for years, learning the system and taking down bad guys. What she hasn’t mastered yet, is how to control her heart when it comes to her best friend, Scotty “Ears” Reisner. She’d do anything for him, but could she pretend to be in love with him or become his submissive without losing him in the end?

  Scotty doesn’t have a submissive bone in his body. When Asher, leader of R.O.O.T, assigns them to an older, more seasoned FBI agent, Thomas Kaine, for an undercover operation to help Murray Jacobs recover his sister, Scotty has his doubts. Playing a role he’s not comfortable with can only end badly for them. So, instead, he’s stepping up and doing the one thing he’s wanted to do from the beginning—claim AJ.

  Thomas Kaine will do whatever it takes to reunite family. He’s taken the fledglings, AJ and Scotty under his wing to not only protect them but expose both to a world he’s been a part of for years, however what he didn’t expect was falling for both of them. Now, they’re in a race against time.

  When a night of debauched pleasure ends with Scotty being kidnapped, Thomas and AJ must work together to find him. However, when he turns up at Emporio de Monstruo (Emporium of Monsters) and on the auction block, their mission goes from bad to worse.

  Can Thomas and AJ save Scotty before he’s sold to the highest bidder, or will they be running out of time?

  Dear Readers,

  Welcome to the Special Forces: Operation Alpha Fan-Fiction world!

  If you are new to this amazing world, in a nutshell the author wrote a story using one or more of my characters in it. Sometimes that character has a major role in the story, and other times they are only mentioned briefly. This is perfectly legal and allowable because they are going through Aces Press to publish the story.

  This book is entirely the work of the author who wrote it. While I might have assisted with brainstorming and other ideas about which of my characters to use, I didn’t have any part in the process or writing or editing the story.

  I’m proud and excited that so many authors loved my characters enough that they wanted to write them into their own story. Thank you for supporting them, and me!

  READ ON!

  Xoxo

  Susan Stoker

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  © 2020 ACES PRESS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this work may be used, stored, reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by law.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy.

  Cover art and design K Designs ©2020

  Edited by Michelle Hoffman (Michelle’s Edits) ©2020

  Disclaimer

  The story within these pages is completely fictional but the concepts of BDSM are real. If you do choose to participate in the BDSM lifestyle, please research it carefully and take all precautions to protect yourself. Fiction is based on real life, but real life is not based on fiction. Remember—Safe, Sane, and Consensual!

  Note from Us

  Dear Readers,

  I wanted to take a moment and explain the next two books in our R.O.O.T series. These books will be a little bit darker and a little bit more intense. By the time we get to Betraying Bex, this arc will be complete as well, and we’ll be back to what R.O.O.T’s real job is—investigating military missions that have gone awry.

  However, until then, Exploiting AJ and Jaqueline’s Quest run parallel to each other. There will be cross over scenes in each book. These books will contain subject matters that some might find triggering and others might find abhorrent. Michele and I both tried to walk a delicate line with these books. We wanted to be respectful and to show how depraved some people with too much power can be.

  Exploiting AJ sheds light on what happens in the Emporio de Monstruo (Emporium of Monsters). Again, when we came up with this concept, we didn’t do it to be hip or cool or to be risqué to make a buck. The world of sex trafficking is real, and it is dark, and it is dangerous. The people in the club aren’t props to us. These characters were real. Their lives were real, and we wanted to be as respectful and as sensitive as we could be with them.

  Michele and I took our time to craft this book in the best way possible. We do hope you enjoy Thomas, AJ, and Scotty’s story, though it will be a bit darker than the others. We also hope you will pick up a copy of Jaqueline’s Quest as well.

  Until next time, keep reading!!

  TL and Michele

  Please note; there will be scenes that mention rape, and depict dubcon, edging, torture, and physical violence.

  Glossary of Names

  Asher Rainer – Commander of R.O.O.T. Has been with the division since its inception. Works closely with his uncle, Senator Jackson McNamara.

  Jake O’Malley – Second in Command, often referred to as 2IC. Best friend of Asher and a moody bastard on a good day. (On leave pending reinstatement)

  Noah Hanover – Team’s sniper who has a smart mouth and is very hyper. A lethal combination for a man who can kill you from a great distance, and you’re not even aware you’re about to die. (New Second in Command)

  Drew Callahan – Team’s Communication/Linguistics expert. Former SEAL who’s determined to do his job, and do it correctly.

  Alex Schoell – Former Army EOD expert who is now the team’s weapons expert. His favorite weapon of choice: AK-47. The other team members wonder if he sleeps with the damn thing.

  Murray Jacob – Resident hacker and computer expert. Mostly stays at base providing support.

  Senator Jackson McNamara – Asher’s uncle, Senator, and Chairman of the Council which overseas R.O.O.T.

  Brigadier General Blackwell – One of Asher’s superiors. During normal circumstances, Asher deals with the General the most.

  Dr. Rae Mackenzie – A doctor working for Doctors Without Borders. A pediatrician who specializes in infectious and autoimmune diseases.

  Joseph Franks – Medic, relatively new to Barclay. He has a wife named Sydney, a daughter named Gabby, and a son, Rhett.

  Mateo Aquino – History Teacher and husband of Noah Hannover. Was kidnapped by Dario Breslow in an attempt to settle the score between Dario and Senator Lincoln.

  Thomas Kaine – FBI Agent in charge of the Aquila Cartel case. Joins the team in Extracting Mateo.

  Duncan Frazier – FBI Agent in charge of the Aquila Cartel case. Joins the team in Extracting Ma
teo.

  AJ “Two Hands” Hoover – Analyst/Hacker and ASL interpreter for Scotty. Joins the team in Extracting Mateo.

  Scotty “Ears” Reisner – Hacker extraordinaire. Joins the team in Extracting Mateo.

  Jaqueline “Rainbow” Herrera – Ex Mexican Special Forces (Cuerpo de Fuerzas Especiales). She cares for her Autistic brother, Christian, on her parents Ranch.

  Miguel Ángel – Federales. Helps Noah coordinate the takedown of members from the Nieto Cartel and also serves as backup for Thomas’ team when they infiltrate Emporio de Monstruo. (Emporium of Monsters)

  Santiago Velasquez – Undercover within the Nieto Cartel. He is the right hand man to the leader of the cartel. Before the assignment, he was used to infiltrate gangs and destroy them from the inside. As a former member of the La Rasa Gang located in East L.A. he rose within the ranks quickly. But after a near death experience, he took the opportunity to change the path his life was on. Now, he uses his rap sheet to his benefit while working for the FBI.

  Luca Trapani – Has several names. He works for the CIA and is based out of the Mexico City Station, which is also located inside the US Embassy. Most of his undercover cases are in the sex-trade division.

  Chapter 1

  AJ “Two-Hands” Hoover took a seat next to her best friend in the whole world, Scotty “Ears” Reisner. They’d been together since they were fifteen, drifting from foster care house to foster care house—victims of a fucked-up system. Her parents were both heroin addicts. She didn’t believe the bullshit she heard on the news about pill-poppers needing something stronger, which then caused the heroine epidemic in the country. Her parents were not necessarily up-standing citizens to begin with, but both held down jobs and provided for her. Then when the recession hit, they took to the hard stuff. Meth first then heroin to combat the stress of losing everything, never once considering how their actions would affect AJ.

  On her fifteenth birthday, she’d been shipped off to a home with a sexual abuser. She knew, because she checked the system—scratch that, she used her budding hacking skills to check the system before leaving CPS. Though the reports from other children who’d been removed didn’t spell out the issues with the home, AJ put two and two together. She blamed the system for the lack of care. There wasn’t enough money or enough social workers to combat what was rampant in the system.

  The Travises had eight foster kids in their home—nine—if she counted herself, and were receiving six-hundred dollars a month, per child, to feed, clothe, and shelter each of them. The wife was the quintessential “Suzy Homemaker,” while the husband worked for some tech firm in Simi Valley. According to the statement of a child removed from the house for destruction of property, every night, they had computer tech classes in the basement. If Samael Travis thought one of the kids didn’t pick up the concept fast enough, he ‘encouraged’ them with a little ‘pop-goes-the-weasel.’ The evidence, even as thin as it was, had been there. So, whether it was laziness on the social workers’ part or the system being irreparably broken, no one lifted a finger to help those kids and due to some well-documented behavioral issues with the particular child, he wasn’t believed, either.

  Thankfully, after AJ arrived, she caught on rather quickly to his shenanigans, and Mr. Travis noticed her hacking skills weren’t half bad. However, she hadn’t done it well enough on one particular occasion, and she, too, became one of his victims. Afterward, when he pulled up his pants and whispered, “you’ll get better at this as time goes on,” she swore she’d raze the house and ground Samael walked on.

  Unfortunately, she wasn’t quick enough to prevent another incident. Rage consumed her the night one of the boys returned to their cramped, shared bedroom, bleeding and crying. She hadn’t been thinking when she hacked the Travises’ computer and set a timer for the camera to begin recording when he turned it on. It’d been emotion driving her. Since there were eight kids, beside herself, AJ knew when he’d go into his ‘special room.’ All she needed was proof of what he was doing to those kids and then the state would be forced to step in.

  It’d only taken three days to capture the video she needed. Instead of going straight to the police with it, she posted the video of what he’d done to the boy to CPS’s website along with sending a copy with an email filled with information on the husband and wife to the local media. Nobody likes a child molester and rapist, however, no one liked being caught giving a free pass to a known child molester and rapist.

  AJ had been removed from the home next morning. While all of the other children were sent to local hospitals for evaluation, she’d been sent to a clinic to be tested for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. The humiliation of laying on a cold, sterile table while people she didn’t know examined her body and took photographs of her, was worse than what Samael had done to begin with. When the doctor finally gave her the all clear, thankfully, she’d been handed a trash bag filled with her clothes and items from the Travises’ house and sent to another foster care family. The whole incident had been treated as business transaction, instead of a group of abused children needing a little compassion and love.

  When she arrived at the new foster home, Scotty had been the first person she met. She took an instant liking to him. He’d been geeky in a way, a hacker like herself, and he was deaf—not that it was a bad thing. Sometimes, she enjoyed the silence. Nevertheless, she’d been a voracious ASL learner, so they could talk to each other without having to constantly write statements back and forth. She ate up every morsel of information he’d given her and, in the end, became his official interpreter, after he’d been caught trying to hack the NSA.

  He’d have done it, too, hacked the NSA, if he hadn’t been sloppy. AJ warned him. He didn’t defrag or wipe his history every time he began a new conquest. He also didn’t like virus protectors. He’d gotten all the way through until the virus which attached itself to his signature, was detected. Within hours, Scotty was in handcuffs and being read his rights. The foster family, just like her last one, didn’t give a shit. To them, the kids were meal tickets. Since Scotty and AJ would’ve been aging out soon enough, the family didn’t allow them to return. She figured two weeks after Scotty and her were gone, two other kids took their place, and once again, she’d be alone.

  However, being caught by the CIA, had its perks. The CIA had a diversion program for kids like her and Scotty, and if they completed the terms of the program, their records would be cleared. It’d been a no-brainer for both of them. AJ and Scotty went through the program at the top of the class. By the time they were finished, they were given entry-level positions within the State Department. By the time they turned twenty-one, both of them had benefits and more money than they knew how to spend. Plus, they were together and that was all she cared about. The only downside? They did more traveling than they did being stationary. The apartment they shared was more a home in name than in use. It’d become abundantly clear when they were put on loan to Wolf and Tex a year ago, Scotty and she were destined to be nomads.

  However, since joining R.O.O.T a few weeks ago, they’d felt more at home than usual. Downside, she waited for them to be dismissed and sent back to California. She tapped Scotty’s hand. What do you think this is about?

  He shrugged. He’d been a little too wide-eyed for her liking. Don’t know.

  She glanced up at Thomas Kaine and shivered. Not because she was cold, or because he repulsed her, but he made her feel things she shouldn’t for a man his age. Yes, she’d half been in love with Scotty since the moment she met him, but they were like siblings, better to leave it there than to lose him forever, especially if he didn’t like her back.

  What are you, ten? she chided herself.

  At that moment, watching Frazer exit the room while Asher stood at the head of the table, yes, yes she was. She swallowed hard. None of it made sense. They were only supposed to finish one mission with R.O.O.T and then they’d be put back on a plane to San Diego, AJ knew it was coming. But, by the looks
of things, they might not be leaving.

  Noah sat across from her and Scotty as did Thomas. He stared at both of them. His expression had been unreadable. His body, unlike hers was relaxed. It was as though he’d been through a million scenarios like this one and didn’t have a care in the world. She, unfortunately, never had. Everything she and Scotty had done for Tex was done remotely or from California with Wolf. This, she had a feeling, might change everything.

  “As you know, Scotty and AJ were brought in to cover for our unit member, Murray Jacob while he went in search of his sister,” Asher said, more for Thomas’ benefit than hers and Scotty. “He’s made contact, and he needs a little help.”

  Anything. Scotty signed.

  “I’m glad you’re so eager,” Asher said. “It’s a little more complicated, though.”

  “What is it?” AJ pushed.

  “You’re all going to go undercover as a sexual Dominant”—Asher looked to Thomas— “and his toys.” His gaze fell on AJ and Scotty.

  “Say what now?” AJ cut her gaze to Noah first then Thomas.

  “They’re kids,” Thomas snapped. “They’ll be eaten alive.”

  Hey, we’re older than you think, old man. Scotty scowled.

  “It’s why I’m giving you two weeks to investigate your roles to make sure you’re ready for the job and to get you comfortable with each other,” Asher revealed.