Gabe

by Ruth Cardello

  “What do you think your father was doing in the lab that night? Why would he have ridden the bike if he knew it was dangerous?”

  She pushed the food around her plate. “I don’t know. I’ve asked myself that same question every day since he died. He wouldn’t have ridden it. He had no reason to.”

  “What will you do when you stabilize the discharge from the power cell?”

  Her eyebrows rose. He acted as if he understood what she was doing, even though he was only repeating back to her what she’d explained to him the night before. Still, it gave her hope. “I haven’t decided. Part of me wants to go public. Raymean said my father knew his idea would never work. I could prove that was a lie. On the other hand, a working design for StealthOff would be worth a significant amount to Raymean and its competitors. I could use it as leverage to buy the truth about what really happened to my father. The lab has security cameras, but there was no recording of that night. Gone. Someone has to know what was on that video.”

  “There was no mention of missing security footage.”

  “Exactly.”

  Gabe drank more of his coffee, and Josephine could see him mulling over what she’d told him. “No video. Either your father messed with their system—”

  “Or it’s a cover-up.”

  He shook his head in skepticism. “A cover-up that big wouldn’t be easy. If Raymean wanted to get rid of your father, they had less public options. Death in a lab fire. That involves the police, the media. It’s too risky to have been a plan.”

  Josephine sat back in her chair and pushed the rest of her food away. “I don’t know why they did it, but they did, and I’ll prove it.”

  His watched her intently. “If you’re right, only someone of influence could make a problem that big go away.”

  “I don’t care. What would you do if your father had died at the hands of someone else?”

  “I’d go after them with everything I had.”

  “Then you understand why I didn’t want to involve you. This is my problem. If you change your mind and decide not to be part of it, I’ll understand. Finishing the bike is the easy part. Things might get ugly very fast after that.”

  He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and looking her in the eye. “You sound so damn convincing.”

  “Because I’m telling the truth.”

  “This time,” he said with some irony.

  “Yes. This time.” He knew the reasons why she’d lied to him. She would try to prove to him that the power cell was near completion. Beyond that, it would be up to him to decide who to believe—the news or me.

  “My men are here. If you leave now it will be without your bike or your things.”

  “I agreed to show you my research.”

  He simply held her gaze.

  She sighed. “I won’t run off.” He opened his mouth to respond, but she waved a hand to silence him. “You don’t trust me. I get it. But, tell me something, if I’m such a horrible person, why are you here with me? Why didn’t you call the police? I don’t understand why you’re going to all this effort to find out the truth.”

  He sat back as he considered his answer. “I could say the truth has always been important to me.”

  “But?”

  “But I wouldn’t normally get involved in something like this.”

  “So, why this time?”

  He placed his napkin on the table and stood. “I’m ready to see the research.”

  She walked around the table and planted herself in front of him. “No. Not until you answer me. Why are you still here?”

  He searched her face and frowned. “Because I want you to be innocent and, if you are, I want to keep you safe.”

  Despite his gruff tone, his words were sincere and sweet. They shot right through Josephine’s defenses and exploded like fireworks in what remained of her fragmented heart. She smiled and wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye. “Don’t you dare get killed helping me.”

  He looked surprised by her request, then chuckled. That smile. It might be my undoing. Endearing. Sexy. “That’s not in my plan.”

  Josephine turned and led the way out of the kitchen toward the office where her server and notes were still in boxes. “You have a plan? You’re already better at this than I am.”

  Gabe stood in the doorway of his father’s office while Josephine checked the contents of the boxes they’d placed there last night. She didn’t appear to be attempting to hide anything.

  “It’s a waste of time to unpack everything in here. To really see what I was doing we need to put all of this back in my lab.”

  “You have one here?”

  The look she gave him as much as asked, “Do I breathe air?” but her actual answer was less sarcastic. “I walled off a part of the main garage and built a hidden one there.”

  He waved a finger in the air. “No wonder I remembered it bigger.”

  “I know. I truly thought you were going to question why, but Frank did a fantastic job at recreating the far wall. It blends perfectly.”

  “You said Frank and your father were friends. I’m surprised he left you on your own.”

  Josephine knelt beside one of the boxes and reclosed the top of it. “You wouldn’t if you knew Frank. He and my father used to live in the same neighborhood as children. Dad joined the Army at eighteen. Frank came out to California to make his fortune, but Dad said he didn’t have the social skills to take advantage of the location. Frank isn’t dangerous, but he’s a little different. I’m not entirely sure it’s not voices in his head that give him ideas for his inventions. He’s brilliant, but he’s also obsessive and reclusive.” She smiled at a memory. “For fun I asked him why his clothing hamper could do everything except put the clothing on hangers. I joked that no one wants to come home to wrinkled clothing. He’s been trying to design a robotic arm option since. If he figures it out, I’ll be his first customer. I hate hanging clothes.”

  “You didn’t tell him about your father.”

  “No. He wouldn’t have been able to handle it. I told him Dad died in a lab fire. That’s all he needed to know.”

  “Didn’t he think it was odd that you wanted to hide out here and build a secret lab?”

  She shook her head slowly. “No, to him that was completely normal.”

  It all made sense but Gabe wasn’t sold yet. “How the hell does a man like that have a daughter?”

  She shrugged. “Every pot has a lid? Dad said Frank was married for a short time. She wanted him to get a regular job. I don’t know who left whom, but the marriage didn’t last long. I feel sorry for him. He lives a very lonely life. I didn’t know what lonely was until I came here. I was beginning to go stir crazy before you showed up. I thought I liked being alone but this is a whole new level of alone.”

  He thought back over their first meeting and rest of the weekend, seeing it very differently as the truth of what she must have been thinking at the time sunk in. “Did you agree to spend time with me because you wanted to or so I wouldn’t look around the ranch?”

  She chewed her bottom lip before answering. “Both.”

  He slammed his hand against the wall beside him with enough force that she jumped. He could have asked more questions, but for once, he wasn’t sure he wanted the whole truth. He walked over, picked up a box and said, “We might as well get started. Your lab won’t rebuild itself.”

  She looked as if she wanted to say something then decided against it. Instead she bent and also picked up a box. “Do you know anything about setting up computer servers?”

  He employed people who did that kind of thing for him, but he wasn’t about to admit that. He picked up a second box and said, “I’m sure I can figure it out.”

  Her lips twitched with a smile she was holding back. “If you’d like I can give you a few minutes to google it.”

  He strode out of the office instead of dropping the boxes and kissing her senseless like he wanted to. His rational side knew he shouldn
’t lower his guard, but that didn’t change how good it felt to be with her. Josephine was a complex woman. She was as tough as she was sexy and as snarky as she was sweet. Every moment with her felt fresh, and he’d never met a woman who made him feel so alive.

  They made several trips from the house to the garage and then from the truck to the garage. He had one of his men help with the move, but dismissed him while the boxes were still closed. He trusted him, but he kept his employees on a need-to-know basis. If they didn’t need it, they didn’t need to know it. His men knew who Josephine was and what she’d claimed had happened to her father, but they didn’t need to know how close she was or wasn’t to finding a solution.

  Josephine worked on her lab for most of the day. When it came to actually connecting the wires, Gabe retrieved his laptop from the office. The amused look she gave him didn’t bother him at all. Part of being successful in life was knowing when to play to your strengths. An Olympic swimmer doesn’t need to be good at tennis to go home with the gold.

  Gabe answered work emails, texts, and familiarized himself with everything his people had been able to dig up on Josephine, her father, and Raymean. They took short breaks to eat, but then went right back to the lab. By that night Gabe was convinced Roy hadn’t been the type to embezzle money or dumb enough to attempt to steal his own project.

  Roy had been a highly decorated Army retiree. His inventions over the years focused on saving lives in and out of the military. From the lightweight, inexpensive bulletproof vest he’d sold to the US government to the individual, indestructible, water purification straw he was known for—Roy didn’t appear to have profited much from his designs. He’d either been a poor businessman or it hadn’t been about the money for him. For someone like Gabe, the latter was difficult to imagine. The easiest way to uncover a person’s true motivation was to observe their behavior over time. Gabe hunted through Roy’s past. He’d only had one credit card in his name, and it was one he’d shared with Josephine. He hadn’t been in debt. No gambling problem. No known vices. Gabe’s people sifted through everything Roy had purchased, driven, or rented over the last ten years. There was no hint of ego or desire to live higher than his means.

  Everyone had a secret, something that could be held against them if the fight went to the trenches. As far as Gabe’s team could find, Roy hadn’t had one.

  Unless one took into account how he’d never given Josephine credit for helping him. If she helped him.

  Could he have died while she was trying to steal the bike?

  No, that didn’t make sense. She had the prototype.

  According to her.

  The real one might have blown up in the fire, and she’s here attempting to recreate her father’s work.

  He looked up from his laptop and watched her replace items on the shelves. She was meticulous, not only in location but in how they faced. It needed to be perfect. She caught him watching her and blushed beneath his attention then stood and stretched. That was all it took for his thoughts to wander below the belt.

  I can’t sleep with her until I know if she’s still lying.

  Even though we’ve already had sex.

  In a situation such as this, would more sex with someone I’ve already been with count as morally wrong?

  She smiled at him and his heart started to beat wildly. If it ends up that she’s some kind of serial killer, I’ll deserve whatever I get because I can’t stop wanting her.

  All the warning signs are here, but my dick just doesn’t care.

  Damn.

  “I’m done for today. How about you?” she asked.

  He glanced down at his laptop and the bulge in his pants beneath it. “There’s nothing here I can do anything about right now, so I’m done, too.” He closed his laptop and stood.

  “Did you study up on magnesium-ions?” she asked with a hint of smug humor.

  “Did you pick those shorts because you know your ass looks great in them?” he asked in the same tone.

  Neither of them had a witty response for the other so they let both questions drift away unaddressed. They turned off the lab lights and locked the door.

  They walked side by side to the main house. It was a beautiful night with a bright blanket of stars above. He was tempted to ask her if she’d like to join him on the swing again, but he didn’t. The woman he’d held that night had been lying to him. Had any of what she’d revealed been true?

  One of his men interrupted briefly to tell him they’d set up cameras on the property and wanted to know if Gabe wanted her motorcycle moved to the garage.

  “Tomorrow,” he said. Having it in the house was an insurance policy of sorts. He looked around and realized Josephine was gone. “Did you see where she went?” he asked abruptly.

  The other man nodded at the house. “She went inside.”

  “Of course,” Gabe said, hating the relief that filled him.

  He wondered what Hunter would think of the situation he was in. Not daring? I’m out here with a woman who may kill me in my sleep.

  And that only turns me on more.

  Now who’s the family daredevil?

  Chapter Thirteen

  The next morning Josephine woke before Gabe, showered quickly, and headed to her lab early. She wanted to put some time into solving the issues she faced with the power cell before she wasted the day explaining them.

  She wasn’t proud of how she’d bolted into the house the night before without even saying goodnight to Gabe. Her feelings for him were as tangled as a toddler’s attempt at drawing a geometrical knot. Was he her lover? Captor? Judge and jury? She was about to show him research that even her father had only seen parts of. Not because she didn’t trust her father, but because she’d learned not to show him the mathematical theory if it was beyond his level of understanding. He would either doubt her or himself, and she’d never wanted either.

  Gabe might betray her.

  Or resent her.

  Her notes might mean nothing to him. She needed time to plan how to present her research to him.

  I could simplify it.

  Or lie.

  He wouldn’t know.

  She paced her lab. But I would.

  I’m already someone I don’t recognize. Six months alone and thinking about nothing beyond beating Raymean has changed me.

  Maybe I shouldn’t trust Gabe, but who do I trust then? And if the answer is no one, then what stops me from becoming Frank? Even if I win against Raymean, if I lose myself along the way, what happens next? Do I withdraw? Close everyone out? Do I want the rest of my life to be as lonely as the last six months have been?

  No.

  No, I don’t.

  When you start with a known variable the answer to the unknown becomes obvious.

  Nothing I’ve read about Gabe has given me any reason to doubt him. He could have turned me over to the police or thrown me off his property, but he didn’t.

  She turned on her computer and opened several files. She input numbers and ran a simulation, then recorded the unsatisfactory result. She read over her older notes, compared them to the results she’d had from other battery types. The discharge was simply too unpredictable under prolonged use. She didn’t want something that would pass initial safety tests then fail to save a soldier in the field. Every time she’d thought she had the answer, the ratio of risk was too high.

  “Not hungry this morning?” Gabe asked as he walked into the lab.

  She turned in her chair so she could watch his approach. “I wanted to put some time in before showing it all to you.”

  He stood behind her chair and scanned the screen of her computer. “What is the major obstacle you’re facing?”

  She pointed to her sheet. “Magnesium batteries have been successfully developed, but not for this purpose. The lithium-ion batteries of today will one day be obsolete. The StealthOff needs to be less expensive, have a greater energy density, and not suffer the fate of ion batteries by overheating. In theory, my battery will
provide twice as much electricity. The problem I’m facing is with the electrolyte itself. Increased charge causes the ions to be surrounded by oppositely charged matter or ions which reduces output. If I introduce solvent molecules or blockers, they bottleneck the output like the earth holds back magma. Discharge occurs, but right now either at dangerous or insufficient levels. If I can stabilize the discharge, I will have a working, cost-effective alternative to ion batteries. It will not only fuel the bike, but might change the transportation industry as well.”

  “You’d be rich overnight.”

  She stood. “It’s not about the money.”

  “It’s always about the money.”

  “Not for me. Not for my father. And one day, this bike will extract a fallen soldier from behind enemy lines through remote control. Do you know what that soldier won’t be thinking about that day? Money. He’ll be thinking about the wife he’ll be able to return to and the kids who almost lost their father. Protecting the men and women who protect us is what got my father out of bed every morning. And finishing this for him is all I have left. I will not get rich from this. I don’t care if I make a dime from it. When it has served its purpose and exonerated my father, I’ll make sure it gets in the hands of those who will use it for our armed forces. No charge. In the name of my father.”

  Gabe rubbed a hand over his eyes. “I’m glad I had coffee this morning. You are wound up.”

  She turned away from him. “And you’re an ignorant ass.” Why did I think he’d understand? He sees everything in terms of its monetary value.

  He placed a muffin beside her keyboard. “Did you have breakfast? I sound the same when I skip breakfast.”

  She threw the muffin at him. It bounced off his chest and fell to the floor.

  “Feel better?”

  She sighed. “A little, but I was aiming for your head.”

  He pulled up a chair next to her. “Do you know what doesn’t help productivity?”

  She wished she had another muffin, but she asked, “What?”

  “Anger. You’re angry with Raymean, your friends, me, and your father for leaving you. Even magnesium is on your shit list. How is that working for you?”