Scent of Persuasion: Sensory Ops, Book 2

by Nikki Duncan

  “It was a long drive.”

  “And we stopped for lunch,” Kieralyn added.

  Aidan punched Breck’s shoulder. “And I’m not afraid of gossip.”

  “Then be afraid of me.”

  “I’ve seen scary and it ain’t you.”

  “Madame V.” Kieralyn shuddered. “Now she’s scary.”

  “She’s intense.” He’d picked up her don’t-fuck-with-me vibe from across the crowded ballroom.

  “My mum wasn’t the softest woman. She didn’t always know how to handle Liam and me, but she at least had compassion. An ability to care for another person that’s softened over the years. Madame V… She’s just cold.”

  “That may be a little harsh, Aidan.” Kieralyn pulled her cell from her pocket and read a text message. Her brows creased together. “Or maybe not.”

  “What is it?” Breck’s neck tingled with excitement. Man he’d needed to be around his team.

  “Ian found a conversation between Kami and Madame V.” She looked up from her phone. “It seems she was given orders to return to the mansion with your hairbrush.”

  So he knew why Kami had taken Trevor’s hairbrush. She’d thought it was his. But why would the madam want it? Sure, he’d heard of people in her position compiling files on their powerful clients and later blackmailing them. A hairbrush? “What else did you get during your visit to the mansion?”

  “It appeared as if Kami and the woman who answered the door, Ava, are afraid of her,” Aidan said. “At the very least it’s a healthy wariness.”

  “We didn’t meet any of the other girls to know if it’s a widespread dynamic.”

  Breck scanned the few people lingering in the courtyard. A flash of red near the parking garage caught his eye. It was only a ribbon on a woman’s summer dress, but his heart jumped as he thought of Kami and her outrageous streak of hair.

  “She knows something.” Kieralyn’s instincts had always been good. After being with Ian, she’d become even more attuned to things and people around her.

  “Madame V?”

  “Yes. At first she claimed the missing girl just packed up and left in the middle of the night.”

  “How’d you find out they were a girl short?”

  “Tyler worked his magic on the computer.” Aidan grinned and wiggled his fingers. “They missed a link to her on their webpage. Liam called to book her and was told she’d left. He booked Ava instead.”

  “The Bureau isn’t paying for that date if he has sex with her.”

  “Ha!” Aidan burst out. “As if Liam’s going to have sex with her. I’m not sure when he was last with a woman.”

  “One of these days Liam’s going to meet a woman he can’t resist.” A woman that gets under his skin as quickly as Kami.

  “I would like to put in a vacation request for the week that Liam meets that woman. He won’t be pleasant company.”

  Breck laughed at Aidan, but there was probably some truth to what he’d said. Liam was always calm, but an odd energy simmered below the surface. One day they would see the trigger capable of setting him off. “I’ll personally take us all to Mexico. Or ship him off.”

  “You two make it sound as if Liam falling in love is going to kick off the apocalypse.”

  “Kieralyn.” Aidan patted her shoulder. “Trust me. My brother is not going to go easily down that road you and Ian travelled so smoothly.”

  Kieralyn knocked his hand away. “Yep. It was a cakewalk for us.”

  “What about Tyler?” His man had held something back when they’d caught up earlier. He wanted to know what it was.

  “Nothing he’ll talk about so far. He has a hunch, but you know how he is about talking before knowing where it’s going to take him.”

  “Shit.” If Tyler was holding his cards close to his chest then he had something potentially case-breaking. He internalized his thoughts, only voicing his theories and suspicions when he was fairly certain how they would turn out.

  If the missing escort had known what was going on, if she’d caught on after Channing, she might have tried to warn Trevor. Unless she’d seen Trevor as a success and no longer needed to be an escort.

  He’d have to play with the scenarios.

  “I’ll contact Liam before his date and see if he can feel her out about the missing girl.”

  Kieralyn angled her head up toward Aidan and nodded. “You’re jealous.”

  “Please.”

  “You’re upset you didn’t get the date. Especially after you saw Ava and Kami.”

  Breck gritted his teeth behind his forced smile. If Aidan or Liam ever thought of booking Kami… “Are either of you leaning one way or the other in regards to the missing girl? Did she walk? Did someone take care of her?”

  “Oh, I think she was taken.” Kieralyn sat on the wide ledge of the fountain. “I think she grew a spine and tried to leave or confront Madame V.”

  “Madame V was a little defensive when she talked about Lori. If she’d taken Lori out, she’d have complete control of her answers.” Aidan crossed his arms and braced his legs a little wider. “We had to sweet talk her into telling us about Lori’s last date.”

  “As if you were able to sweet talk her.” Kieralyn rolled her eyes. “Calling her ma’am instead of Madame, all you did was piss her off.”

  “Guys.” Breck cut them off, knowing that once Kieralyn picked up a rhythm with her insults it would be tough to rein her back in. “What about the last date?”

  “Something went wrong.” Aidan half closed one eye and drew in a deep breath, as if he was bracing himself to get punched. “The date was with Trevor.”

  He’d seen it coming, but his blood still rushed with the need to do more. He needed to find the missing girl. Trevor needed to wake up and give him answers because if he found this call girl and she didn’t have a damn good explanation… Hell, an explanation might not help her. “Something went wrong? Like watching Trevor walk into traffic without stopping him? That would fuck me up too.”

  “Madame V gave us her last name. We’re running her, but so far we’ve got zilch. She either doesn’t have any relatives or friends, she’s really good at covering her tracks or she’s been erased.” Kieralyn pushed some buttons on her Blackberry. She preferred it for taking notes and she worked it faster than anyone Breck had ever seen. “And she isn’t using credit cards or IDs with the name we have for her.”

  “I want her found and questioned. If she vanished because of Trevor’s accident, she knows how it happened.” Breck’s neck tingled, as if he was being watched. He scanned the area, but saw no one. The sensation persisted. Edwin? Scanning the windows of the building above wouldn’t do any good given the reflective glass. “Damn it, I want answers. I want someone behind bars.”

  At the very least, whatever had happened with Trevor was attempted murder. If Tyler discovered a concrete connection to Channing Harris they were more likely looking at first degree murder, though a decent defense attorney would try to bargain it down.

  He paced away from Aidan, Kieralyn and the noise of the fountain. He liked it quiet when he needed to work things out and there was a glob of confusion running amok in his head. A flash of blonde hair caught his eye and jerked him from his thoughts.

  It wasn’t Kami.

  As acting CEO and undercover FBI agent with too much on his plate, he didn’t have time to be distracted by call girls. Especially blonde ones with polished etiquette and take-your-breath-away sex drives.

  “What about her other clients?”

  “Madame V won’t give them up without a warrant.” Aidan pulled his phone out and checked the display. “We’ve requested one.”

  “Liam is going to feel out Ava. Maybe she knows something.” Kieralyn sent him a sideways glance with a wicked glint in her eyes. “Kami has an assignment, but you could call and book her for another night. Maybe she’s picked up something.”

  “When is Liam’s appointment?” He would not acknowledge Kieralyn’s jabs about Kami. She was
fishing. Plotting. It seemed to become a mission of newly hooked-up women to pair up everyone around them. He wasn’t interested.

  Kieralyn checked her watch. “They’re having drinks at five-thirty and then dinner. What have you found on Edwin?”

  “Nothing to prove me right or wrong.” Breck’s stomach grumbled at the mention of food, reminding him he hadn’t stopped to eat yet. “Trevor keeps thorough records and background runs on all of his employees. Tyler’s running a deeper search to see if he finds anything.”

  “Edwin is clean?” Kieralyn sighed. “I don’t like him.”

  Seems to be a popular sentiment. “He’s been here since the beginning, has a great education and no criminal history or known affiliations.”

  “Which makes him either your typical executive from an upscale family—”

  “Or a really great plant—” Aidan interrupted.

  “Or the former turned into the latter.”

  “You two are spending too much time together.” Breck looked between his two teammates, though he’d noticed a growing connection between all of them and Kieralyn. Their productivity had increased impressively once they’d cleared the air and made it known that she’d always been part of the team in their minds. Holding back was a mistake they wouldn’t make with another teammate.

  Kieralyn tapped her fingers on her knees, fidgeting while she worked something out. “Maybe he’s being blackmailed. I’ll go to Ian’s and work on the recordings to speed things up. He could have been talking to someone at the party.”

  Aidan pulled the keys from his pocket. “I’ll take you and head back to help Tyler.”

  “Thanks.” Breck’s dislike of Edwin ran deep, but he couldn’t let it color his judgment. He had to give the prick the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he’d made the wrong decision for the right reasons. Or, he could just be a dirty douche bag.

  Whatever Edwin’s agenda, it centered on the contract. He assumed that Breck would fall in line, but the data on the program they were looking to sell had too many inconsistencies. In fact, it acted more like an elaborate virus that would spread across the internet and cripple any connected system. It would move faster and be more destructive than a gale force wind through a field of dandelion seed heads.

  Why else would the lab dealing with that program be on a standalone system completely detached from everything. It even had a separate energy source run by solar-powered generators. That sort of technology needed to be destroyed.

  Chapter Seven

  Kami stepped out of the parking garage at Breck’s building to head to the front entrance. He turned away from Kieralyn and Aidan, facing her direction. She darted behind the nearest column and a large potted orange blossom. Squatting in the shadows of the building she glanced through the plant to see if he’d spotted her. If he did and headed her way… Well, hiding in the shadows didn’t make her reappearance less questionable.

  He turned back to Kieralyn and Aidan near the courtyard fountain, apparently unaware of her presence.

  She couldn’t claim surprise that the agents had gone to him after visiting the mansion, but it appeared that he knew the man as well as he’d seemed to know Kieralyn. Their association ran deeper than what it would be if they’d been unknown to him before meeting for a case.

  Aidan maintained the alertness she’d seen at the mansion, but his shoulders were slightly more relaxed. Kieralyn grinned and bumped her shoulder against Breck’s making him smile, though he portrayed an edginess Kami hadn’t seen before. It was a lot like what she’d witnessed in Aidan.

  Was Breck on edge because he was helping with an investigation? Had he booked her for the fundraiser in the hopes of getting inside information on Elegant Entertainment?

  Kami leaned against the building and watched Breck. She hadn’t stopped thinking about him since she’d walked out of his office that morning. Her fascination wasn’t all due to his air of mystery.

  The back of his suit jacket shifted as if he flexed his shoulder blades either from pain or in an attempt to hold tight to a control he wanted to let loose. He’d done the same thing last night when she’d been seducing him. He’d maintained a fierce control, but his body had twitched and quivered, giving his reactions to her away.

  His touches made her body burn.

  His caresses made her feel cherished.

  His gazes made her feel connected.

  Every time he’d met her eyes across the dance floor and when he’d watched her in his apartment… He made her feel as if they could have a close relationship, which was nuts.

  She’d seen an admirable man who cared about other people rather than just the almighty dollar. She wouldn’t mind a relationship with him, but his job and his suits represented the corruption of power she avoided.

  It didn’t matter that watching him now set her temperature simmering with anticipation.

  It didn’t matter that he was the first man in her life to make her wonder if she could make an exception to her no-suited-men-allowed rule.

  It didn’t matter that he made her laugh. Only her current goal mattered. Breck Lawson was off-limits beyond the scope of her role.

  Her instincts hummed, telling her she’d stumbled into something bigger and more dangerous than she’d anticipated. And Breck was involved. Or the target. Or the target because he was involved.

  Kieralyn and Aidan headed toward a car parked near the curb. Breck turned toward the office. Kami leaned forward and repositioned so she’d know when he was inside. When it was safe to proceed.

  He shook his head, pivoted quickly on his heel and headed in Kami’s direction. She glanced around to make sure she was well hidden. If he found her spying on him…

  He’d be on her in a few seconds. He was coming from her left. She could scooch along the wall and pretend to be coming out of the garage. She’d been told to go to him. Here was her chance.

  She had questions she wanted answered, and he could answer them. But what if he wasn’t an informant? What if he was helping the FBI work a sting? What if he was FBI?

  He moves like Agent Burgess. Like an agent. She shook her head. I watch too much TV. He’s a CEO. Stop creating unnecessary drama.

  Answers would only be addressed if she asked the questions.

  Kami considered stepping out and letting him know she was there. His leather-soled shoes slapped the concrete on the opposite side of the planter. She couldn’t pretend she hadn’t been spying on him now. She sank deeper into the shadows.

  His sweet and spicy scent teased her as he walked past. The masculine cinnamon mixed with the floral bouquet from the orange blossom plant.

  For a brief second, she was whisked back to the night in his arms. He’d made her feel so safe. Cherished. Like she was the most important part of his world—at least for those moments. She’d only ever felt that with… Well, she’d never felt that with a sex partner.

  He stopped opposite of her at the plant and smelled the air. His hair blew in the breeze. The corners of his eyes crinkled and the pulse at the juncture of his neck and jaw throbbed rapidly. She wished she knew him well enough to know what emotion made that happen. Stress? Sadness? Knowing him well enough to read him might also give her the privilege to comfort him. To run her hands through his disheveled hair as often as he did.

  Her stomach fluttered with desire. Longing.

  More curious about the man than worried about Madame V’s orders, she decided to see where he headed. Besides, following him would help her know what sort of situation she was walking into. She slipped into the garage a few steps behind him.

  Grateful for the soft-soled flats she’d worn, she ducked silently between the wall and the first car. Rounding the rear, she eased toward hers a few spots down.

  She watched Breck closely, timing her movements with his so the car doors opened and closed at the same time. She sank low in her seat, watching the side-view mirror until he passed in a late-model, silver sedan with a loudly purring engine. As soon as he turned out of the parking ga
rage, she straightened, started her car and headed in the direction he’d gone.

  He was four cars ahead. She stayed back far enough to monitor his progress and yet hopefully not be noticed by him. He didn’t go far and only made a few turns before pulling into the hospital. She parked a few rows away and waited for him to get inside before hustling after him. She ran the risk of losing him, but with a bright red streak in her very blonde hair, she would be easy for him to spot.

  She made it to the double glass doors just as he rounded a corner. The direction sign on the ceiling said ICU.

  There was no place else for him to go down there. She knew that hall too well and had prayed to never find herself in there again. She’d last walked through those doors with Channing on the way to visit his mother, Sandy, after she’d been mugged on the way to her car one night. Sandy had died twice on the way to the hospital and hadn’t had the strength to survive until morning.

  Tears clogged Kami’s throat and blurred her vision. Kami sagged against the wall and battled the weakness in her legs that threatened to take her to the floor.

  She and Channing had held each other up as they’d walked through the glass doors that whooshed quietly as they opened and closed automatically. The doctors had missed an internal bleed that leaked into Sandy’s lungs and suffocated her in her sleep.

  Channing dove deep into the research and prototype development of his contact lenses after that, but nothing would bring back the woman who had taught them both the importance of staying true to themselves and their loved ones. Sandy’s memory alone would’ve driven Channing to protect his invention.

  Whatever had brought Breck here, Kami shouldn’t intrude. He deserved privacy, but after all that Channing had been through, he deserved answers. She had to honor the memories of the two people who’d helped her when she’d needed it most.

  Kami pushed off the wall, stiffened her spine and approached the double glass doors.

  Breck was her key to learning how Channing and Trevor had been connected beyond Lori. And if he needed someone to understand whatever pain he was in… Well, he might not want her there, but she did understand.