by Katie Dowe
Christina pushed away from the door and steeled her resolve, going towards the bathroom as she unbuttoned her shirt. She was going to get undressed for bed and she was going to sleep through the night as best she could. It would be nice to sleep on a bed and not on a mattress on the floor. In the morning she would focus on Jack and ignore his father. No way was she going to give him any encouragement.
She had a job to do and she wasn't going to jeopardize it by sleeping with the boss.
Christina opened the door to her en-suite and reached for the light switch. Then something her hit full in the face and she momentarily saw stars before she blacked out.
Chapter 5
It took Christina a long time once she woke up to open her eyes. The action made her eyelids feel heavy and her head hurt. For a moment, she wondered what she had drunk the night before to have such a hangover.
When she finally opened her eyes, Christina wondered how bad she was. She wasn't in her own bed; it was a hospital bed. Somehow a night out had ended up with her in hospital. She must have done something really bad to end up here.
"Hey."
Christina blinked. A dark shape moved to block the light shining in her eyes and she saw Leo smiling down at her. He brushed the back of his fingers across her cheek.
"Welcome back to the land of the living."
Then it all came flooding back. She hadn't been on a night out. She had been on a job, going to her room after kissing Nathan Gilmore. Then she had been hit in the face and everything was a blank after that.
She had kissed a client. Christina knew she shouldn't be feeling anything beyond professional courtesy towards a client but Nathan set things off in her that threw all of that out the window. All she could think of for those few moments was climbing onto his lap and finding out how good his cock felt rubbing up against her.
Thankfully, reality had come crashing back in time.
She swallowed, her mouth feeling dry. Leo reached for a cup of water at her side and helped her to drink. Christina downed the contents before pulling away.
"How long was I out?" She croaked.
"Only the night." Leo sat on the edge of the bed. "Do you remember what happened?"
"I think so." Christina shifted gingerly to sit up further. "Nathan wanted to talk to me. I left him and went to my room. Then something hit me." She closed her eyes. "It's a bit fuzzy after that."
"I heard a thump from my room and went to check in on you. I was barreled into by a big guy wearing all black and he took off towards the stairs." Leo pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. "Nathan's furious."
"You mean he wants to know how the guy got in."
Christina was thinking that herself. They were very thorough and checked everything. The only way anyone could get in was if they knew the codes for the alarms and knew the weaker areas in the house. That spoke of an inside job and that didn't sit well with Christina.
Immediately, she thought about Jack and she wanted to jump out of bed and rush back to the house. Jack needed her.
That was a lie. She needed to hold Jack and see that he was all right.
"You need to come off this, Chris. I'll replace you with an agency nanny."
Christina stared at Leo. She shook her head.
"No. I'm doing this. I won't let you down again."
"It's not a case of letting me down. If you're a target you shouldn't be there. You could get others hurt."
"You're joking, of course." Christina muttered. Aloud: "I'm not going anywhere, Leo. You won't be able to shift me."
Leo watched her thoughtfully for a moment. Christina stared back, trying not to flinch and look away. Leo could read people easily and Christina was always an open book. She hoped he wasn't seeing the real reason she wanted to go back to the house.
"Does this decision have anything to do with Nathan?"
"Leo."
"I have to ask. You know that." Leo sighed. He didn't look happy. "I hope you know what you're doing."
Christina hoped she did as well. Somehow refusing to come off a case so she could drool over the boss didn't bode well for her. If she wasn't careful something was going to happen.
Like she could fall for him.
*****
Nathan woke sharply when someone shook his shoulder. Blinking his sleep from his brain, he rolled onto his back and looked up at Clive, who put a finger to his lips and pointed at the door.
Thinking he had news about Christina, Nathan slipped out a bed, careful not to wake Jack. His son had woken shortly after Christina had been attacked and went into her room. He had screamed and cried, trying to get to her as Leo and the paramedics checked her over. It had taken nearly all of Nathan's patience to calm him but eventually Jack had fallen asleep from exhaustion. Not wanting to leave him alone, he had taken his son to his bed and held him until he fell asleep.
Pressing a kiss to his head, Nathan followed Clive out the room and shut the door behind him.
"Well?"
"Leo just called." Clive smiled. "Chris has regained consciousness. She's got a headache but she's grouchy so there's no possible damage."
Relief flooded Nathan and he sagged against the door.
"Thank God for that."
Seeing Christina unconscious on the gurney, an oxygen mask on her face and a cut over one eye, had sucker punched him in the gut. She looked so fragile. Nathan had had to turn away and focus on his son or he would have gone mad wanting to know about her condition. He wasn't family so he wouldn't have been allowed to sit with her.
That had stung but Nathan wasn't going to argue with it. He made a mental note to pay for the medical bills.
"You're computer's been bleeping with incoming mail." Clive added. "There's a lot of it and I don't think it's to do with work."
Nathan sighed and straightened up. Back to the real world.
"Show me."
They went downstairs and Clive entered the office first. He slid into Nathan's seat behind the desk and clicked open the email. Leaning over his shoulder, Nathan saw the two hundred and sixteen messages in his inbox for that day. And it was barely seven-thirty in the morning. He whistled.
"Someone didn't waste time." He commented.
"It doesn't stop there." Clive said grimly.
He went to a message that had been sent fifteen minutes before and clicked on it. A picture flashed up and Nathan's heart stopped. It was Christina in a hospital bed, her eye covered with a dark bruise. She looked so peaceful asleep but it was hard not to notice where she was.
The only way someone could take a picture like that was to be in the room with her. The person threatening him had sneaked into Christina's room and taken a picture. If it was to scare him, just like when he found Jack's picture by his bed, then it was working.
"What the...? How did they get a hold of that?"
"I don't know." Clive's expression was grim. "We need to give this to the FBI, Nate."
But Nathan was already shaking his head.
"No. No way."
"Nate, you were told to give anything threatening to the FBI in case it related to the bombing last week."
"I'm sure it is related but I'm not giving anything to the FBI. Not yet." Nathan stood up and began pacing. It was either that or he would punch something or Clive. That certainly wouldn't do him any good. "I want to find this bastard myself instead of sitting here twiddling my thumbs. The FBI won't work fast enough."
"It's the right thing to do."
"That may be but you're on my payroll so you do what I say." Nathan stopped, realizing what he had said, and closed his eyes with a frustrated sigh. "Sorry, Clive, that was uncalled for."
"I'm not offended. I'd probably say the same thing." Clive sat back with a thoughtful expression. "If you want someone to look over the emails and find the one behind them I can call our computer expert. It'll take a few hours for them to get here..."
"Do it. As long as I see some progress at the end of the day I have no objection."
; *****
"So you're the resident expert."
Christina paused momentarily in her typing to look up at Nathan, who was standing in the doorway to his office with a wry smile. Dressed in a black t-shirt with brand new jeans he looked too damn good. She was reminded of their kiss the night before and a blush rose up over her skin. Christina pushed her glasses up her nose and raised an eyebrow.
"I thought Leo told you what my position was in the company."
"He did but I didn't think you'd come back." Nathan entered the office. His hair was wet from the shower and he hadn't combed it yet so it fell across his forehead in messy curls. "You were supposed to be resting."
"There's plenty of time to rest when I'm dead. Isn't that the saying?"
"Not the phrase to use after what happened to you."
Christina shrugged.
"I guess. But I'm not going anywhere."
She was expecting an argument but didn't get one. Nathan crocked an eyebrow at her but said nothing, although his expression said a lot. He thought she should be at home instead of working for him.
He moved around the desk and leaned on the desk beside her, his chest inches from her face as he looked at his computer screen.
"What have you found so far?"
Christina turned away, very aware of the heat emanating from his body, and clicked through a couple of emails she had pulled up. The content in all of them had made her stomach churn.
"They're horrific. Absolutely disgusting the things they want you to do to yourself."
"Nothing I haven't heard before."
"I've seen worse but these are topping those I've already seen."
"What did you see?"
Christina took off her glasses and rubbed at her eyes.
"Four months ago a singer-songwriter stuck up a video on the internet of her work. It was meant to be dark and gothic but it was so terrible everyone left bad comments. She went off on one and started accusing everyone of plagiarism, threatening to kill everyone who said even the slightest criticism against her."
"Charming woman. How did you get involved?"
"My brother is a lyricist and works freelance for both worldwide and local groups. He's also a reviewer and put up a bad review where everyone could see it. She began sending him threats, planning on setting his house on fire and killing his children." Christina shook her head. "She was a piece of work. He asked me to put a block on her emails and I helped to put forward a complaint of harassment. The restraining order is still in effect."
Nathan whistled.
"Wow, that's a strange woman."
"Everywhere you go there's a nutter on every corner." Christina put her glasses back on. "And speaking of nutters, I might put you in that category."
"Why?"
"These emails go back weeks and clearly show they haven't been opened. How come you didn't show these to Leo before?"
"He knows about them."
"Try again. I know when someone's telling me fibs." She swiveled the chair and stared up at him. "How come you didn't show these to Leo? Or to me, come to that?"
Nathan sighed and leaned on the desk. His thigh muscles shifted under his jeans and Christina's eyes were drawn in. Nathan folded his arms.
"I didn't think it was that big a deal." He admitted, sounding like a teenager getting caught smoking in his bedroom.
"Not a big deal? You call these 'not a big deal'?"
"It's hot air, Chris. Someone's got something up their ass and they're just letting off steam by spewing it at me."
Christina couldn't help it. She laughed. Nathan glared at her.
"What?"
"For a man, you really are naive. Have you ever heard of that expression involving an ostrich and sand?"
Nathan rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, I get your point. Can you tell who sent them?"
"Why don't you do it? I thought you designed computer systems."
"Correction, the company does. I overrun things and make sure it's done smoothly." Nathan looked embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I may have been smart but beyond the simple stuff, computers are beyond me. I don't necessarily know what's going on."
"You're good at passing yourself off as a whiz with electronics."
"I have to. Businesses are dog-eat-dog. Give a competitor the slightest weakness and you're gone."
Christina could understand that. If she had a dollar for every time she was kicked about for showing a little weakness for her rivals to prey on she would be a billionaire herself. She turned back to the computer.
"Well, your inability with computers might explain why you haven't looked beyond the simple email addresses."
She tapped a few keys and brought up a new window with a load of code.
"What's that?"
"A little program that runs checks on email addresses." Christina pointed at the relevant bits on the screen. "If you can see this the email addresses are all different, none of them sending more than a maximum of three threats per message. But all the addresses have the same IP address."
"So they were all sent from the same computer." Nathan concluded. "That's about the limit of my computer expertise."
Christina giggled.
"Are you okay? I haven't heard you giggle this much before."
"I'm fine." Christina swallowed her laughter but couldn't stop smiling. "I just find it amusing for a billionaire computer guy you have no idea how to work a computer beyond turning it on."
"Dad was the genius, not me. I just inherited the position he left open." Nathan frowned at the screen. "Can you trace the IP address?"
"Already have done." Christina brought up another window with the details. "Alan Wong, aged thirty-nine. He's a freelance computer technician. Lives in Laurelhurst by the University of Washington."
Nathan grinned. Then he surprised Christina by leaning over her and planting a hard kiss on her mouth. He pulled away before Christina realized what was happening, his eyes seeming to glow with desire.
"Good girl." He straightened up and fished out his cell, which he began tapping into. "I'm going to get Leo over there. See what he can get."
"Shouldn't you be calling the police?"
"Yes, but I'm not going to wait for the police or the FBI. Leo can get over there quicker."
Christina narrowed her eyes at him.
"As long as you don't make Leo do anything illegal."
"Not a chance."
But Nathan's expression said it all. Christina clamped her hands over her ears.
"Don't tell me or I'll be tempted to thump you." She scooted out of her chair and hurried to the door. "I'm going to check on Jack. Be nice."
She could still hear him laughing as she took to the stairs.
*****
Alan Wong lived on North East 44th Street, right at the end of the dead end road. It was a handsome, two-story redbrick house. A white Mercedes was in the driveway. Leo's first impression when he saw the neighborhood was Laurelhurst was too high-end for a freelancer. Yet he owned a house in the high thousands with a flashy car.
Something was fishy here. He had to be getting money from other avenues. Even with computer technicians being in high demand Wong couldn't afford a place like this.
Beside him, Joe Hodgkiss peered up at the house.
"He affords some serious dough to live like this."
"My thoughts exactly."
"Backhanders?"
"No question." Leo checked his gun and tucked his into his jeans, his jacket falling over it. "You go around the back. I'll get him at the front."
They climbed out of the car. Joe went into the trees and disappeared. Leo counted to thirty to let him get in position and went up the steps to the front door. After ringing the doorbell three times he heard the sound of footsteps and the door opened. An Asian man in his thirties peered up at him, squinting behind his glasses. Leo towered over him by at least a head.
"Hello, Alan."
"Who are you?"
"My name'
s Leo Connor. I work for Nathan Gilmore." He saw Alan's expression twitch, the slight widening of the eyes. "I see the name rings a bell."
"It should." Alan adjusted his glasses. He was wearing a pressed white shirt and smart navy pants, both looking expertly tailored. "I do some freelance work for the company. I go through his sister Jane. Why?"
"Well, he's been getting some threatening emails. Different email addresses but all with the same IP address. My computer whiz traced that address to this place." Leo leaned against the doorframe and raised his eyebrows. "Care to explain that?"
Alan's face went white. He tried to slam the door but Leo stopped it with one arm. He pushed in and watched as Alan ran through the house to the back, disappearing into the kitchen. There was a crash and a scream, after which there was a lot of swearing.
Leo closed the door behind him and walked through the house. Alan was on his front on the floor, Joe kneeling on his back with one of Alan's arms hauled up behind his back. Alan's cursing with making Leo's eardrums melt and he put his fingers in his ears.
"Pick him up, Joe."
Without hesitating, Joe hauled Alan up, Alan still squealing. Joe dragged a chair from the round dining table across the floor and forced Alan to sit down, letting go of his arm. Alan tried to get up but Joe placed a large hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down. Alan glowered but Leo saw the fear. That was good. If you saw fear you could use that against him.
"Okay, Alan, this is what we're going to do." He brought out another chair and swiveled it around, straddling it and leaning his arms on the back. "You talk to us and we'll go away. No beatings. Just a chat. Lie to us or refuse to talk and we'll not only go at you but we'll also inform the FBI and Immigration."
"I'm an American citizen." Alan protested.
Leo knew that was a lie. A call to the right place had dug up some interesting information on Alan Wong.
"You say that but I have a friend in Immigration." 'Friend' for want of a better word. "Your visa expired two years ago, around the same time you purchased this place. You were a professional lecturer back in China but you work freelance so you're under the radar." Leo raised a finger. "All it'll take is just one phone call and..."
