by C J Matthew
“Vic,” she said and smiled. “Then Ji.”
“Can you see the screen okay from here?”
“Sure. Are you going somewhere?”
“I’ll be right there, at the console.” He indicated the control panel in the center of the room. “I’d prefer not to put you in the spotlight. Unless you—”
“I’m fine right here.” She took in a calming breath. “Let’s talk to Vic.”
Once she got over the sheer perfection of Victoria’s figure, her face, and that hair—damn, the Muirdris vice president looked more like a top model—Annalisa could study her facial expressions, her hand movements and body language. Watched her lips and eyes as she answered questions. The woman appeared curious, and slightly amused. Then she seemed to pick up on Mr. Rudraige’s nerves.
“What’s wrong?” Vic asked, her brows drawing together.
Mr. Rudraige slid a glance over to Annalisa, she gave him a slight nod, and whispered, “Enough.”
“That’s all for now, Vic. Please stand by for fifteen minutes. Out.” He tapped the keyboard in front of him. The wall screen went dark.
Without looking over to her, he said, “Ready for Ji?”
“Yes.”
Ji was a handsome young man with ebony skin and an infectious smile. After a bit of small talk, Mr. Rudraige asked an identical list of questions to Ji while she studied the security VP with the same sharp eye. Very different personalities. And Ji caught on to Mr. Rudraige’s nervousness faster than Vic had. And he was more aggressive questioning his boss.
“If there’s trouble, anything going on,” Ji insisted, “you need to tell me, Mur—”
Ji’s audio cut off, his image jiggled. Annalisa leaned forward. Ji was on his feet, his lips moving, “What the hell?”
The screen went dark.
Chapter 7
Murdoch
Murdoch grabbed his cell phone from its charger beside the keyboard. Before he could access the contact list, the instrument chimed with an incoming call. He tapped to accept and turned on the speaker. “Victoria?” he barked. “What’s happening?”
“An explosion. That’s all I know, Murdoch. There’s been an explosion. Below. On the lobby level or underground parking structure. Whole building is evacuating now.”
“Okay, get out.” His phone beeped with another call. He ignored it. “Vic, can you stay on the line with me while you go down the stairs? It’s important.”
“Certainly,” Vic said. “Do you need me to stay here? In the secure room?”
“Hell, no. Get moving. Nothing’s more important than your life.”
During the faint background scuffling sounds, he beckoned Annalisa to join him at the long table. When she slid into the chair beside him, he whispered, “I want to trust her, especially now that the headquarters has been attacked. What’s your vote?”
“I vote yes. Both your executives seemed trustworthy. She scored a slight edge based on staying calm in a crisis.”
He nodded. He’d always regarded foxes as nervous creatures, until he’d met Victoria. “Nerves of steel,” he whispered to Annalisa.
The piercing wail of a siren erupted from the phone’s speaker. “Whoa.” He hurried to lower the volume.
“Sorry,” Vic shouted over the din, “We know the evacuation siren works. Hang on. I’m in the hall; will be taking the back stairs.”
After a few minutes, the shriek of the siren became background noise. “Whew,” Vic blew out a breath. “All right, I’m headed down the stairwell. Tell me what’s up with you.”
She had a lot of stairs to go, so Murdoch started at the beginning, with Annalisa receiving the first email in Long Beach. He went through the rest of her day today, the trip to Massachusetts, and the truck rear-ending Annalisa’s rental car in his driveway. And finished with their decision to ask Vic to set up a blind contact to the person offering to sell corporate secrets. Then convince that person to give them more time to pay.
“Well, hell,” Vic muttered. “When, exactly, is the payoff due?”
“Five minutes before midnight—”
“What?” Vic shrieked.
“Pacific time,” he blurted out.
“Way to scare the living crap out of me.” She took a deep breath. “All right, I accept the challenge. On my way out, I’ll get an update on the situation here. Maybe a car in the garage exploded from natural causes. Anyway, let’s assume structural engineers will close the building for inspections. Say forty-eight hours. Maybe more. I’ll need to do my email responding and negotiating from my personal secure location.”
“I can’t tell you,” he said, “how delighted I am that you pressured me…um… talked me into that expenditure last year.”
“I’ll save the told-you-so until after we’ve caught this slime-ball.”
“Victoria, I’m on my cell and anxious to get back on a secured phone. Contact us in my downstairs room the minute you’re locked down. Annalisa will share her California office computer password, so you can get into her email in Long Beach, and start tracing the source from the original messages.”
“Annalisa?” Victoria asked. “The name sounds famil—”
“Hi Victoria,” Annalisa spoke for the first time. “How’s my favorite IT support tech?”
“It is you. When things calm down, we’ll chat.”
“Deal,” Annalisa said.
“Ladies…” Murdoch said.
“Hold on,” Vic said in a harsh whisper. “Someone’s coming up the stairs.”
“Be careful,” he warned.
“Brian, you scared me.” Vic sounded very much in control. “Are there any injuries?”
“None,” the Muirdris building supervisor said in a tight voice. “Automobile exploded in the parking garage, no injuries and no witnesses. The big question is, was it a bomb? Either way, the timing’s in our favor. The building is practically empty. I’m going up, checking floor by floor, until the firefighters catch me, throw me out.”
“Structural damage?”
“I’m certain, when Murdoch does get back to me, he’ll insist on a complete inspection.”
“Bet you hear from him any minute.”
“And that timing,” Brian said, lowering his voice, “is definitely crap.” Murdoch tilted his head to hear the supervisor. “Why the hell was Murphy called away so abruptly today?”
“You think there’s a connection?”
“Hell if I know. I’ll admit, working with Murdoch isn’t my first choice. If Murphy was stateside, he’d be here on site by now. Or well on his way.”
Victoria laughed. “I’m sure Murphy appreciates your loyalty. But whichever one rushed here, Murdoch or Murphy, he’d end up standing across the street, behind the barricades, just like you will when the first responders find you in here. Hurry up, Brian, do what you need to do, then get out. I’m evacuating now.”
A moment later, Vic said into her phone, “Call Brian. I’m signing off. Back in forty-five minutes.” And she disconnected.
Murdoch mentally reviewed the conversation and cringed. Vic had called him Murdoch, more than once. Annalisa was an intelligent woman. While it was way too soon to reveal his second nature as a sea dragon, the twin thing was out of the bag. He needed to clear up the mistaken identity. He’d better start talking, groveling, fast.
“I’m sure it’s occurred to you,” Annalisa said in a tight voice, “that the emails and the explosion might not be connected.”
“Agreed. Unless Muirdris gets a blackmail demand or another threat, the explosion goes to the Boston police and Ji to deal with. We need Victoria working on the emails, and they should be our focus. We need her to get us more time.”
She stood, slung her bag over one shoulder and gave him a steely look. “You promised me dessert. Something about a terrace with an ocean view?”
“Let me call ahead.” He pressed the house intercom. Waiting for a response, he tried distracting her. “I’m counting on a big slice of warm cherry pie smothered in vanilla
ice cream to soften you up for my abject apology.”
She ignored him.
On the terrace, the pie waited in a small warmer beside a frosty container of home-made ice cream. He settled a silent Annalisa on the double lounger, bundled her in a thick blanket and served the dessert.
After the second bite, the cherry pie sat like a boulder in his stomach. He needed to apologize, now, for misleading her. Worse than that. For lying about his identity.
She slid her plate of untouched pie onto the side table and angled herself toward him.
Now was his chance. “I’m sorry abou—”
“I thought I could—” she started. They both stopped abruptly.
“You go first,” he said, the model of chivalry. “Remember, I said I’m sorry.”
“You’ve been nice about so many things,” she said, “I thought I could move past the fact that you’ve flat-out lied to me from the get-go. Totally misrepresented who you are.”
His heart shriveled in his chest. The dragon hung his head.
“I tried,” she went on, “but, come to find out, I can’t instantly forget or forgive your lies. I’m really angry, livid, and horribly disappointed.”
“I really am sorry. I—it all happened so fast. No, that’s just an excuse. I—”
“Who the hell are you?” she demanded. “You look just like his picture. You’re identical twins? Murphy’s twin brother?”
“Yes, the younger twin. Name’s Murdoch.”
And my crazy dragon believes you’re my, his, our mate. If I don’t fix this, the beast will never forgive me. “Can you ever forgive me? What can I do to make it up to you?”
“Is this your house?”
“Yes, it’s mine. You passed the turn off for Murphy’s estate miles back. He lives closer to the city.”
“Damn it. We need to repeat every conversation, everything you’ve said to me, so I’ll know which parts were lies.” Her eyes shimmered, her hands clenched in her lap. “It’s all been one big lie, ever since I got here, hasn’t it?”
A tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek.
“Please…” He was terrified. Whatever he felt for this woman, it deserved the chance to grow. Or to die a natural death. It simply couldn’t end this way.
“It hasn’t,” he murmured, “been one big intentional lie…no wait, I don’t want to give you a list of feeble excuses. I admit I lied. I allowed the lie to continue. I regret that. Much more than you’ll ever know. Could we start over? Like you said, we’ll replay whatever conversations, on whatever subjects, you like? And from now on, you’ll get nothing but the total truth from me?”
Her gaze dropped to her hands. “Let’s hear one of the excuses.”
“I was concerned about your injuries. When you assumed I was Murphy, I didn’t want to correct you there and then.”
“Well, that’s right, you never introduced yourself as Murphy—”
“I should have told you I’m Murdoch.”
“Talk like that isn’t helping your case.”
“The whole truth and nothing but,” he said, swearing a solemn promise to Annalisa.
She frowned down to the watch on her wrist. His mind racing, he stopped, stared. And did a double take. The face of the watch was a cartoon. Cecil the sea serpent. It was a sign.
Fated mates, his dragon growled.
Murdoch’s breath caught in his throat. Could the dragon be right? Was she his mate? After all this time, the one woman on Earth perfect for him? Er, them? His heart pounded as a tidal wave of hope flooded through him, filled him.
The dragon romped with excitement, flicking his long tail.
Start over. “Annalisa, I sincerely apologize for lying to you. Please allow me to show you how sorry I am by never lying again. I want us to be friends. And I more than understand if you need time to learn to trust me.”
She gave him a slight, silent nod.
“Let me prove how much you mean to me.”
Annalisa raised an eyebrow.
“As a friend,” he amended and offered his hand. She returned the pressure and the handshake. Before she could withdraw, he dropped a kiss on her knuckles, released her and stood. “Let’s have a do-over on the pie.”
She ate quietly for a few bites, then began a conversation about building on cliffs. He stared into her expressive face. She was absolutely stunning. Long hair cascaded down her back, curling almost to her waist. It would look more magnificent wet, floating around her face, swaying with the ocean current.
She licked ice cream off her fork. He longed to lick the residue from her lips.
“It’s especially dangerous,” she said, “in Southern California.”
“Dangerous,” he muttered, no idea what he’d just agreed to.
“Because of all the landslides,” she pointed out, “mud slides, and quakes.”
He pulled himself together. “The bedrock here is very stable. And the view during the day is amazing. We could have coffee out here tomorrow morning, if you like; watch the sunrise.”
“Sounds lovely. Especially if Victoria can convince the seller we’re legit and buy us more time to make the deal.”
“Ready to go back downstairs?”
“Yes.”
Chapter 8
Annalisa
Filling two travel-tumblers with fresh hot coffee, Annalisa brought them back to her place at the central table. Next to her, Murdoch accessed the computer, turned on his satellite phone, and made minor adjustments to the wall monitors.
“It could be a long night,” she observed, sliding into the chair next to him. “Could you show me how to reset one of the clocks in the corner to California time? So I don’t have to keep looking down at my watch?”
“Move your coffee a little to the left.”
After she’d shifted her tumbler out of the way, he pressed a combination of keys on the keyboard, and a rectangle opened in the tabletop in front of her to reveal a wireless keyboard and mouse. “Slick.”
He held up a finger. “Let me enable the system for dual control.”
“Two players?” she teased, secretly warmed that he was so quick to allow her access.
“Exactly. Voice command is extremely distracting with more than one person in the room.”
While they waited for Vic to join the conference, she covertly studied Murdoch. His long agile fingers danced over the keyboard. The man had great hands. As they moved, the muscles in his forearms flexed, mirroring. He glanced over, caught her staring, and shot her a sexy grin.
“Did you finish setting the clock?”
Oh, right. “Um—”
The computer chimed an alert. Vic’s face appeared on the giant wall screen. Well, the top half of Victoria’s face was visible over the monitor. Other equipment blinked and flashed behind her.
“Welcome back,” Murdoch said. “Ready to hack into Annalisa’s Long Beach computer?”
“I’ll be gentle,” Vic assured them. “What’s the password?”
Proud of her security measures, Annalisa recited a gobbledygook combination of numbers, letters and symbols.
“Jeez,” Murdoch muttered, “Paranoid?”
“Way to play it safe, Annalisa,” Vic said, obviously impressed. “Okay, I’m in. Same password for the company email?”
“No,” she said.
“Why am I not surprised?” Murdoch ribbed.
She rattled off an entirely different combination and added, “The emails in question are still in the inbox.”
“I’m there.” Vic narrowed her eyes at her screen. “Annalisa, you opened the attachment designated sample just one time?”
“Correct.”
“Before I open it a second time and possibly trigger an auto-delete or some tracking reaction, I’m going to dig deeper. See where this puppy has travelled, maybe get back to where it originated. You two talk amongst yourselves. It’ll take me a few minutes.”
Without a word, Murdoch sat back, took a long drink of coffee. The silence gradua
lly grew oppressive. Finally, Murdoch leaned close and whispered, “I like your watch. Are you a fan?”
She angled a skeptical look at him. He knew about Cecil the sea serpent? Doubtful. The man was simply making small talk, and she could prove it. “I am. You?”
“Absolutely. Cecil’s a classic.”
Proves nothing. Try this. “Which format did you like best?”
“Hard to choose,” Murdoch said. “I enjoyed the puppet with his iconic voice, but the cartoon was great.”
My god, he does know Cecil. “Where did you see the 1950 KTLA broadcasts? You weren’t even alive in 1950.”
He seemed to consider his answer. “The miracle of electronics,” he said at last, “you can still watch episodes of Time for Beany on line.”
“And the Beany and Cecil cartoon from 1988.”
“Question,” Vic said as her hair appeared over the top edge of her monitor. She straightened until her nose and eyes were visible.
“What?” Murdoch asked.
“Got what I need. And before I dig deeper into the dangerous territory of pinpointing the origin of this email, I’ll use what I have so far. I can set up a safe way to reply. Is that right, Murdoch? You want me to reply with an offer to buy the Muirdris port protocols? Or I could try stalling by asking questions.”
“No stalling. Offer to buy. Cautiously. We have to assume our seller knows something about the buyer. Impersonating him could prove dicey.”
Annalisa said, “Based on the wording of the deal one email, I’d guess the seller doesn’t know too much, other than a name and email address. Very likely Bartellino was a referral.”
“That would be a comforting thought,” Vic said, typing fast. “Okay, I’m ready to bounce a reply.”
“Wait.” Murdoch said. “Before you press send, can you confirm we have an airtight backstory all set up?”
“Confirmed,” Vic said. “I can personally vouch for the airtight part. I’m emailing the external details to you right now.”
Murdoch added, “And an offshore account that’ll look legit when—”
“Our account is legit,” Vic insisted. “We’re all set.”
“Terrific. And finally, a drop site to receive the emailed protocols.”
