Christmas Data Breach

by K. D. Richards

  “So, we’ll leave now?”

  “Go pack a bag.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Gideon drove south on I-95, questioning whether he’d made the right decision letting Mya talk him into starting this trek so late in the day. He’d run the plan by James, who had supported the idea. James had pointed out that the information on Rebecca was their best lead to figuring out who was behind the theft and attack. And getting the research notes from Irwin and proving that Mya’s treatment worked was the fastest way to turning Kamal’s attention away from Mya.

  Mya slumped against the passenger window, and her breath came in a steady rhythm. She’d fallen asleep not long after they’d crossed the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border.

  The peacefulness of sleep had erased the tiny worry lines that creased her forehead during the day. She’d done her best to hide it, but he could tell the stress of the situation was getting to her by the slope in her shoulders and the weakness of her smile.

  He’d missed that smile.

  A memory from the previous night, Mya smiling up at him as he braced himself above her, sent a flash of longing through him. He shouldn’t have let last night happen, but he wasn’t sorry it had.

  Mya was right that his house didn’t feel like a home. It hadn’t since Grandma Pearl died. Not until last night. Falling asleep with Mya in his arms again felt like getting back a part of himself that had been missing for the last twelve years.

  He glanced at her sleeping form in the seat next to him and reminded himself that he was there to protect her. Nothing more. The past had to stay in the past, and last night couldn’t happen again.

  His phone rang through the SUV’s Bluetooth system, jarring Mya from her slumber.

  “I got something for you on your shooter,” James said without preamble.

  Gideon watched as Mya stretched into full wakefulness.

  “We’re listening,” Gideon said.

  “My source in the police department said they found the bike abandoned in an alley about a mile from the park. There’s no camera in the alley, but the cops pulled a photo from the traffic cam on the corner. A couple minutes after the bike enters the alley, a man exits carrying a motorcycle helmet, no bike. They tracked him using the cameras for a block before losing him on a side street. I just texted the photo to you.”

  The phone chimed.

  Gideon pulled off the road and unlocked his phone with one hand.

  He breathed in Mya’s sweet scent as she leaned over the middle console to view the photo on the phone’s screen.

  The photo showed a large man, at least as tall as Gideon’s six foot four. He was heavyset and wore all black, just as the person who’d shot at them had. The camera had caught the man in profile, and the photo quality left much to be desired. Nothing about him seemed familiar to Gideon. He couldn’t even say this was the man who had shot at them.

  But Mya studied the photo with open scrutiny.

  “You recognize him?” Gideon asked.

  A shadow of recognition touched her face. “Not really. Maybe? Something about him seems familiar, but it’s not a good photo, is it?”

  “It’s the best one of the bunch, trust me,” James said. “I sent two more pictures the cops pulled to your email. Maybe together they’ll ring a bell.”

  Gideon tapped the email icon on his phone’s screen.

  “There’s something else. Hang on a sec.” The sound on the other end of the phone faded for a moment, then James’s voice returned louder and closer than before. He’d gone off speaker. “I had Brandon make some inquiries about Nobel.

  “Nobel is staring down the barrel of an SEC fraud investigation,” James offered.

  Mya’s eyebrows jumped into her hairline. “Fraud?”

  “Looks like they’ve been shading the true results of some of their clinical studies in their quarterly reports to the shareholders.”

  “You’re kidding me?” Mya’s eyes were wide with disbelief.

  “Not even a little,” James shot back.

  Gideon’s mind raced. “The execs in the crosshairs?” If Brandon could dig up this information in only a few hours, there was no doubt in his mind that the executives at Nobel also knew. How did that play into the attacks on Mya and her lab and colleagues?

  “Brandon didn’t know which of the company executives were under scrutiny,” James said.

  “If Nobel is lying to its investors and the public about their research, there’s no way Shannon isn’t involved.” Mya wrung her hands. “In fact, I’d peg her as the ringleader.”

  “Brandon expects the SEC will announce its investigation in the next couple weeks.”

  “So, if Travers knows about the investigation, she may be feeling pressure on the one side to show Nobel’s glioblastoma treatment is a success and on the other side from the SEC,” Gideon mused out loud.

  “Might make someone desperate enough to steal.” Skepticism laced James’s voice. “But kill? It’s a leap.”

  “You don’t know Shannon. There’s not a leap she wouldn’t make to advance her own interests.”

  Moments after ending the call with James, Gideon turned the Tahoe into the parking lot of the Motel 6. He circled twice, noting the doors that had cars parked in front of them before pulling to a stop in front of the lobby.

  A single string of Christmas lights hung limply around the entrance door. Inside they roused the clerk from the handheld video game he’d continued to play even after they’d walked into the lobby. The motel had done the very least as far as decorating for the season went, placing a foot-high Christmas tree at one end of the check-in counter and a matching menorah at the other end.

  “Name,” the clerk said in a bored tone.

  Gideon had done his best to make sure that they weren’t followed as they left the city, but he’d still had Mya make the reservation under West Investigations just to be on the safe side.

  “We’d like a corner room on the ground floor. Double beds,” Gideon said. From the looks of it the motel was sparsely occupied but a corner room meant he’d have only one possible neighbor to keep an eye on.

  The clerk looked at him from under a mop of curly bangs. “Corner rooms cost thirty dollars more.”

  Gideon was tempted to demand to see the hotel policy stating this premium, but he was too tired to argue over thirty bucks. He paid, and the clerk handed over the keys to the room.

  They got back into the car, and Gideon backed into a parking space in front of their assigned room. He grabbed both of their bags from the Tahoe’s trunk, and Mya carried her purse. He inserted the keycard in the door, waited for the red light to switch to green and held the door open.

  The faint smell of vanilla bodywash tickled his nose as Mya passed into the room ahead of him. Gideon fastened the safety bar on the door, then turned back to the room, letting their bags slide from his shoulder to the floor. “That’s not double beds.”

  The king-sized bed covered with a comforter in various shades of gray took up most of the room, a large flat-screen television on the wall facing it.

  His eyes searched the room as if a second bed would appear somewhere and he’d just missed it. A small round table with a single chair had been shoved into the corner between the bed and a large window that looked out onto the parking lot. A door next to the dresser connected to the adjacent room.

  “No, it is not,” Mya said, sitting on the edge of the bed and easing her boots off.

  “I’ll go get us another room.” Gideon turned back toward the door.

  Mya’s hand on his arm stopped him.

  “It’s not worth the trouble. We’ll just share.” She pushed the duvet to the foot of the bed.

  Gideon hesitated. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

  His vow not to repeat the previous night rang in his head. Sharing a bed with Mya without touchi
ng her sounded like a form of self-torture.

  Mya sighed. “Gideon, we slept next to each other for four years.” A slow smile stretched her lips. She leaned back on one elbow. “I can control myself if you can.”

  She watched the desire flame in Gideon’s eyes.

  “You’re playing with fire.” Despite his warning, his eyes darkened with obvious desire.

  “Am I? Whatever was there between us all those years ago, it’s still there.”

  “We aren’t stupid teenagers anymore.”

  “Exactly, we both know what we’re doing. I want you, and I think you want me too. Am I wrong?”

  For a fraction of a second, doubt crept in, but then Gideon growled low and sexy and stalked toward the bed.

  She slid back to make room for him, and he crawled onto the bed, positioning himself over her. His mouth met hers, and the fire he’d warned about moments earlier ignited. She kissed him back with equal fervor. She was determined to show him, with every inch of her body, that there was nothing she wanted more than him at that moment.

  Gideon pulled her shirt over her head, then made quick work of sliding her jeans from her hips. He let his unhurried gaze roam over her. The reverence she saw swimming in his eyes left her feeling equal parts powerful and seductive.

  “You don’t know how many times I’ve dreamed of having you back in my bed.” Gideon ran his hand up the inside of her thigh, stoking the growing flames of passion inside her.

  “About as many times as I’ve dreamed of being there, I’d guess,” she answered, reaching to pull him closer.

  She kissed him again, not wanting to think about the past or the time they’d wasted.

  After a long moment, Gideon pulled back. “I don’t want to hurt you again.”

  “You won’t.”

  She had no expectations beyond this moment. No thoughts about the future or what sleeping together now might mean for their relationship.

  She moved her hands to his waistband, tugging open the button on his jeans. He stepped away long enough to shed his clothes and sheath himself before returning.

  Gideon ran a finger lightly up the inside of her thigh. Mya moaned at the pleasure his touch elicited.

  She wrapped her legs around his waist and relished the feel of his weight atop her. The sensations rumbling through her blocked out everything except the feel of him.

  She ran her hands over the hard edges of his body, matching the tempo of his movements with zeal.

  Her muscles soon clenched around him at the same time his body tensed and he moaned, “Mya.”

  Gideon buried his face in the side of her neck as they both struggled to catch their breath.

  Mya felt boneless, more relaxed than she’d been in...well, since she could remember. She didn’t want it to end.

  Gideon rose and went into the bathroom before quickly returning to bed. He pulled the duvet up over them with one hand and her in close to his side with the other.

  “You okay?”

  “More than,” she answered. “You?”

  His grin was both sweet and roguish. “Excellent.”

  A stab of pain pricked her heart as she returned his smile. She rested her head on his bare chest so he wouldn’t see the swell of emotion she was feeling.

  They lay there, quiet, arms and legs entwined. Gideon’s drowsy declaration pulled Mya back into wakefulness. She felt his heartbeat slow, his breathing evening out.

  She was hovering on the cusp of sleep when Gideon whispered a lethargic, “I love you.”

  Mya didn’t react, knowing he wouldn’t have said the words if he’d thought she was still awake. Another realization hit her as she slid into sleep. She’d lied to herself. Had lied to Gideon.

  Because she didn’t only want “right now.” She wanted forever, and she wanted it with him.

  And that meant she was well on her way to being hurt all over again.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Gideon hovered in the state between wakefulness and sleep when the slap of footfalls outside the motel room brought him fully awake in an instant. At five twenty in the morning, all bets were on this not being a friendly visitor.

  He grabbed his gun from the nightstand and listened on high alert, adrenaline coursing through his veins.

  The footsteps had stopped, as far as he could tell, directly in front of the room.

  Mya stirred beside him. He covered her mouth with his hand, and her eyes flew open. He brought his lips close to her ear, the act momentarily bringing back memories of hours earlier when he’d done the same thing for an entirely different reason. He pushed those thoughts away and focused every cell in his body on protecting the woman next to him.

  “There’s someone outside the door. Slide off the bed and get into the bathroom. Hurry.”

  Gideon moved onto his knees next to the bed, and Mya rolled off after him. She gathered her clothes quickly and closed the bathroom door behind her.

  He pulled on his jeans, shirt and shoes without setting down his gun.

  Whispers broke the silence outside the door seconds before a brick shattered the large window that faced the parking lot. A glass bottle, flames leaping from its top, hurtled through the window after the brick. The bottle shattered against the rough gray carpeting.

  A smoky haze filled the room, fire shooting across the floor as the fire spread along whatever flammable liquid had been inside the bottle.

  They had to get out of there, but he knew that was exactly what their attackers wanted.

  The smoke detectors went off, setting off the overhead sprinklers. The fire flashed angrily and continued to spread.

  They were trapped.

  Stay in the room and burn to death or walk outside and likely be shot.

  Gideon’s gaze darted to the door connecting their room to the one next to them. He opened the bathroom door and reached for Mya. “Come on. We’ve got to get out of here.”

  He unlocked the door opening into their room, but the door opening into the other room was locked from the other side. It gave way after three hard kicks.

  Mya grabbed her laptop bag and they rushed into the adjoining room. The door to the room rattled violently.

  Gideon barely had time to process that there was someone kicking the door from the outside and to push Mya into the bathroom before a man crashed through the room door.

  The man held a gun out in front of him.

  Gideon dove at the man before he could get off a shot. In a room as small as the one they were in there was no telling how a bullet would ricochet. He couldn’t take the chance of one going through the bathroom door and hitting Mya.

  The gun clattered to the floor and slid under the bed. The man swore.

  Gideon rose with his gun outstretched, but the man charged before he came fully to his feet.

  They hit the carpeted floor with bone-shaking force. His gun skittered across the floor, hitting the closed bathroom door with a thump.

  He got a good look at the man’s face—the dark, soulless eyes and square jaw were a match for the man in the picture James had texted him earlier. Then the man’s meaty fist connected with Gideon’s face, pain searing his cheek. He blocked the second punch and landed a couple of his own.

  Smoke from the next room was already floating through the connecting doors, and the alarm still blared. The entire motel had to be awake. Where were the cops?

  Gideon grappled with the man, coughing as the smoke from the fire made its way into the room.

  He noticed the bathroom door creeping open, drawing Gideon’s attention from the fight. The man’s fist landed on Gideon’s jaw, snapping his head back.

  Mya poked her head out of the bathroom, her hand extended toward the gun.

  The motion drew the man’s attention. He snarled, lunging toward Mya.

  “No!” Gideon grabbed the man
around his knees, taking him to the ground. A solid right hook to the face left the man dazed, but Gideon knew it wouldn’t last long.

  He scrambled to Mya, taking the gun from her shaking hand. He turned, putting himself between her and their attacker, but the man was already on his feet and almost through the hotel room door.

  Gideon fired, but the shots went into the wall. A moment later, a car door slammed, and the sounds of tires squealing carried into the room.

  He ran to the door in time to see a dark sedan fishtail out of the motel parking lot.

  Guests peered out of cracked doors and around curtains.

  He could make out the sound of sirens, finally, but they sounded as if they were coming from the opposite direction from which their assailant’s car had gone.

  By the time the cops sorted the whole thing out and got a team mobilized, their assailant would be long gone.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Sounds like our vandal is escalating, Sheriff.” The pudgy deputy who had been taking their statements tipped his hat back and looked toward his boss.

  Mya, Gideon, a deputy and the sheriff stood at the far end of the motel parking lot, next to Gideon’s Tahoe. He had moved the car before the fire department arrived so they’d have clear access to the room, and so the Tahoe, which had escaped damage from the initial firebomb, wouldn’t be the victim of any secondary damage.

  “Maybe.” The sheriff looked as if he’d been in bed when he’d gotten the call about the situation at the motel. His gray-brown hair was matted on the left side, and a crease from a pillow still showed faintly on his skin. He wore the same mud-colored pants as his deputy, but a green-and-red sweater peeked out from underneath his half-zipped jacket. Despite his roused-from-bed appearance, the sheriff’s eyes were sharp, and they studied Mya and Gideon suspiciously. “Can you walk me through what happened one more time?”

  The sun was just cutting through the darkness as Mya began describing, once again, what had occurred. Or rather, what she and Gideon had agreed to tell the police had occurred.