Jae's Assignment

by Bernice Layton

  Otis shook his head. “No obstacles.”

  Randy checked his watch then glared sharply at the doctor. “Well, you could have fooled me. It’s almost nine o’clock. I expected you an hour ago when the gate is manually operated.”

  “It wasn’t a problem, Randy. The guard was on dinner break when I left and the back gate was busy with the supply shipments coming in this evening.”

  “What about him?” Randy asked, inclining his head to an unconscious Grainger in the backseat.

  “No problem there, either. Grainger’s mind is pretty much an empty shell at this point. It’s a shame that he’s no longer any use to us,” Otis said with a negative shake of his head.

  “Did you administer a higher dose of the formula today to keep him sedated?” Randy’s eyes slid to Grainger’s drooped head lying against the back headrest. He faced the opposite window, but Randy could see his mouth hanging open. “He looks like shit,” he said, disgustedly.

  “I gave him 100 cc’s. He’ll be this way until sometime tomorrow evening or longer. Did you hear from our investors?”

  “Yes, we have three more days,” Randy murmured, absently taking a long detached look at the figure in the back of the car. “Then I’ll deliver them the good doctor.” Randy clapped his gloved hands.

  “But the formula…it isn’t ready, Randy. Let’s pull the final test subjects we currently have. They look very promising. I’ll monitor their blood levels more closely and administer additional tests to determine their readiness. Let’s err on the side of caution in the event you can’t find Dr. Grant. He has been in hiding for five years—long enough to develop skills that have kept him well hidden. He won’t just come strolling back, you know.”

  “Oh, yes he will, because in three days, I’ll have what I’m fairly certain he’ll be willing to risk everything to protect.” Randy presented Otis with a smug smile. “Special Agent Jae Randall,” he said.

  “Oh, so things have progressed as you expected, I take it?”

  “I’m sure they have. I mean, come on, Otis, you’re a doctor. You put two horny souls together and nature usually takes over with a bang,” Randy said, snickering.

  “Were you able to pinpoint Special Agent Randall’s location?” Otis asked.

  “Not on her but I got one on him. He went home for his dead brother’s birthday.”

  “Then why didn’t you get him then, Randy?”

  “Because Jae’s protector brothers closed in on her location before I was able to clear it from the satellite feed affixed to their cell phones. She’d been using another agent’s phone. But she is tracking Grant down. Trust me, she won’t give up until she finds him.” Randy was through talking. “Look, I don’t feel like dragging Grainger from your car, so why don’t you just take mine? I’ll pick it up tomorrow night when I come out to the Institute. And you’re right, Otis, I’ll take another look at those two test subjects.” Randy glanced at Grainger again. “He was a tough bastard to crack, wasn’t he?”

  “Well, um…” Otis hedged, glancing up into the rearview mirror as he spoke. “Yes, SAC Grainger has been most difficult to manage, but that is what I expected from an ex-Marine, Randy. They’re known for their craftiness and they’re strong-willed and resourceful. You add all of that to their agility and nothing stops them. They adapt very well when the situation calls for them to pull on those abilities to survive.”

  Randy snorted. “What, are you in love, Otis?”

  “I’m stating a fact. Those other Marines were no different and yet they didn’t survive.”

  “Yeah, well, Grainger’s none of that now,” Randy said, dismissing Otis’s rambling as he rounded the hood of the car to the driver’s side. When Otis stepped out of the vehicle, Randy dropped the single key into the doctor’s hand. “And don’t scratch it, Otis, or I’ll take payment from your cut of the money from our investors,” he said, getting in the car and putting it in gear. “I’ll call you tomorrow to set up a time to come in,” Randy called out through the passenger side window as Otis waved and walked toward the other car.

  Randy drove off, in Otis’ car leaving a cloud of dust and gravel.

  Twenty seconds later, a loud explosion sounded, as a brilliant orange light lit up the sky. Randy didn’t slow down.

  “Problem one, solved,” he said with a glance up in the rearview mirror, looking at the burning car with Otis’s body inside. He also saw Grainger’s head roll with the bumps in the road. “Now, to take care of problem number two,” he said, slowing the car down and veering into a deserted field.

  In the backseat, Luke remained in a state of shock over what he’d heard. It took every bit of strength he had not to reach out and choke the last breath out of Randy Cross.

  While the men were talking, Luke had slowly freed himself of the plastic flex handcuffs that were surprisingly loose around his wrists.

  Through sheer concentration with each passing second, his mind became clearer and stronger. Luke cursed silently, eager to gather his strength. His mind wasn’t the empty shell Dr. Holmes had convincingly told Randy that it was.

  * * * * *

  “I still don’t understand why we had to come up to Baltimore for a case we’re not involved with,” McGuire said before gulping down a glass of lemonade. “This case belongs to Agents Jackson and Bell. Let them handle their own assignments.” He was seated across the dining room table, directing his displeasure at Darius. “And we all appreciate your folks being so hospitable to feed us all like this, Darius.” He sent a look around the dining room table to Mike, Iverson, and Amil.

  It was time for Darius to fill them in on their real assignment. “We need to be here…for show because, one of our own is a mole.” Darius stopped talking abruptly when his mother and aunt entered the dining room carrying a large butter cake and another pitcher of lemonade. “Thanks, Mom,” he said, accepting the kiss she dropped onto his cheek, then she paused to tap his shoulder.

  “You know, Darius, your brother had a problem with moles in his backyard, too,” his mother said, as she went around the table refilling drinking glasses with lemonade. “He got so fed up with those critters digging holes all over his yard, he set traps and then flushed them out, one by one until finally, no more moles,” she said, returning to pat his arm.

  Darius’s expression dared his team members to laugh at his mother’s innocent comments. “That’s a great idea, Mom,” he said, cringing that his mother had overheard him. “But let’s keep that quiet, okay?”

  As the guys accepted plates of cake his aunt served them, Darius thought about what had happened last night at the motel.

  After freeing Mike from his union with the toilet in the motel room, Darius received a priority call from Deputy Director Roberts, who relayed a hasty message he’d received from a physician who feared for his life and that of several innocent people. The caller then hung up.

  Since all calls coming into the field offices were automatically recorded and personal lines secured, both the deputy director and Darius wondered how the doctor was able to reach the director without clearance. While contemplating how to deal with the caller’s complaint, Darius had been told that Randy Cross would be notifying him with details of their next assignment.

  After he’d spoke to Randy and got the particulars about the assignment, Darius and the team boarded an Amtrak train to Baltimore. As a precaution against the possibility that their agency phones were compromised, he decided to hold off on briefing them until they arrived in Maryland. He hoped the descent on his family for a home cooked meal would be enough to calm the guys down about having been uprooted on short notice.

  Thinking about Jae, Darius was beginning to reevaluate his position on what may have happened to Grainger. He was starting to believe that she could be onto something just as positive as he was that she and Grant were together. Darius knew Jae had great instincts. He also knew she had a wicked right
hook and was fully capable of taking care of herself. The more pressing and disturbing thought was that he too was beginning to suspect that if there was a traitor amongst them, it could be someone in their own office, someone who knew everything and had unlimited access to technology.

  “Why do you think Jae took off with the doctor like that?” Amil asked, when Darius’s mother and aunt retreated to the kitchen, leaving them alone to speak freely.

  His thoughts interrupted, Darius returned his attention to the matter at hand. “Well, with you boneheads throwing fists after jumping in first and asking questions later, it didn’t leave her much choice, did it?” Darius said.

  “Do I need to explain again how Jae and that idiot doctor tricked me?” Mike bristled. “Hell, I’m never going to get all that duct tape off my suit. Do you have any idea how much that suit cost me?”

  “You can’t blame anybody but yourself, Mike,” Darius said, laughing as he slapped the table. “Man! That must have been sweet how she took you down and then left you cuffed to a toilet. Priceless. Not to mention, she took your weapon and your cell phone, too! You must feel really stupid right about now, don’t you? I’m so glad I snapped a picture on my cell phone.” Darius could barely contain his amusement as he recalled how they all heard the woman’s piecing scream all the way across the highway from the motel.

  “Must I reiterate a fact?” Mike countered defensively. “She had help. I let my guard down for one second and she took advantage.” Mike ignored the stifled chuckles around the table.

  “I have plans tonight, Darius, and I don’t want to be stuck in Baltimore,” Amil said.

  “And you might keep them.” Darius got the briefing under control and returned to more serious matters. “We’re not sure who we can and cannot trust besides the people in this room, and Jae.” He met each man’s eyes directly before moving on. “Until further notice, there will be no electronic communications; no email, text messages, or cell phones used; nothing that can be tracked or cracked. We’ll pick up some prepaid cell phones on our way back to Penn Station.”

  He asked them to pull out their small notebooks and instructed each man to briefly profile all thirty-plus personnel in their office, including the cleaning and maintenance staff. Once completed, they would compare notes to come up with anyone who would benefit from Grainger and Randall being out of commission.

  Already a name had formed in Darius’s head. He had written that name at the top of his list. Years of experience, observation, and training were no match for his gut instincts…and right now his gut was screaming at him.

  Randy Cross was his chief suspect.

  * * * * *

  Jae stood under the shower spray, letting warm water pummel her back. She savored the feeling of completeness Trevor had given her and with a sigh, came another vivid recollection of their night together.

  She shouldn’t have let it happen. “I know better, damn it.”

  Jae prided herself on not being the type of woman who gave into her desire, only to later blame it on being lost in the moment. Bullshit, she thought. She knew how to get herself out of an intimate encounter though that hadn’t happened with Trevor. She wanted him to touch her, kiss her, love her. She should have regretted it but she didn’t.

  Jae recalled the second she leapt into Trevor’s arms. It was puzzling because it was done without any hesitation whatsoever. She’d gotten caught up in the moment. Talking herself out of it or weighing the pros and cons of sleeping with him wasn’t an option.

  Being held in his arms was her only thought. She didn’t let her mind become clouded as she hungrily kissed him.

  Recalling the sheer joy and passion of being with him, Jae closed her eyes and pulled in a steam-filled breath. Was she willing to risk so much by giving in to what she wanted? Yes, she was, how could she not? His touch was irresistible. “It was just sex,” she whispered, trying to convince herself.

  Yet, in her head she could hear their words of excitement and encouragement as their passions increased to a fevered pitch, growing stronger to the sweetness of surrender, time and time again.

  She’d made a mistake by letting Trevor into her soul. She hadn’t meant for him to get to that part of her that she firmly kept armored. But somehow he had and for a few precious hours he’d left her drained of fears and self-doubt. In their place was a sweet comfort of unimaginable fulfillment and contentment.

  For the first time, Jae had allowed herself to welcome uncontrolled desire and passion and to cling to a man with reckless abandonment, forgetting everything else.

  For the moment, it was a fantasy because that was all there could ever be between them.

  But Jae was scared. She understood she’d been fighting a strong sexual attraction toward Trevor. In fact, she’d been so drawn to him as she watched him, from his facial expressions right down to his fingers moving in time with the music at the club, that she’d forgotten why she was there. She’d become so captivated that she had let precious minutes slip by and allowed a killer to move within striking distance.

  That had never happened before. She never lost sight of what her job was.

  The truth was that he’d stirred an emotion in her that she seldom allowed to the surface, and from that night in the lounge, Jae felt something for Trevor that she simply couldn’t shake.

  She hadn’t felt that way when she’d worked for him. Or had she?

  Jae had never been attracted to her assignments, never allowed personal feelings to enter her workspace.

  So there she was again, guilt clawing away at her. And yet, so was the overwhelming desire to go to him and revel in that passion that weakened her knees. She wanted him to kiss her to oblivion as he took her on another wild journey freeing her to surrender completely to his powerful seduction.

  Tormented with an onslaught of emotions that she didn’t have the energy to dissect, Jae slumped against the slick wall as the water continued to spray against her back.

  She didn’t know which need to fulfill first—running from the shower and rejoining Trevor in bed, or giving into the ever-tightening knot in her throat indicating she wanted to cry.

  She chose the latter.

  Trevor awakened blurry-eyed, sated and alone. Sitting up, he was just about to call out for Jae when he heard the shower running and relaxed against the pillows.

  Memories of him and Jae besieged him and his fingers itched to stroke her velvety mocha skin again. He recalled the other time he’d awakened in her bed and the multitude of fragrant pillows that had been a safety net for him. He was comforted then, not by their cushiony softness, but by her lingering scent. More than that, Trevor was just extremely glad he’d found her again.

  After leaving her in Richmond, he’d become worried and he was frightened for her and had prayed the unscrupulous men after him hadn’t gotten to her. He didn’t think he could stand another person dying because of him.

  His eyes strayed to the nightstand. The smart phone lay in two pieces since she’d removed the battery. He suddenly smiled remembering prim and tight-lipped Regina James had had two cell phones. Even then, he’d been curious about Jae.

  From his lab, he’d often looked out at the empty desk and wondered about her. Did she have a boyfriend or would she have dinner with him at some romantic place? But those thoughts would come to a screeching halt when she would look up and catch him staring at her. She didn’t appreciate it by returning an unwavering glare right back at him. His heart beat just a little bit faster when she would meet him eye-to-eye.

  In the days after she left, Trevor would go home to his one bedroom apartment, eat his solitary dinners, listen to jazz on the stereo, or work on his research. Occasionally, a co-worker would call and invite him out for a beer, and then there were the times he would go home with an overly friendly female. He couldn’t risk taking her back to his place. He remained on guard at all times. It was one of the la
st things Dan Willow had told him.

  He couldn’t hurt another woman by his faked death. That’s what he had done to his girlfriend, Gina, and to his sisters, his father, and his stepmother.

  Pushing the gloom away, he was eagerly waiting for Jae to finish her shower. With excitement racing through him, Trevor pulled the covers back and climbed from the bed.

  He tapped on the bathroom door then opened it slightly.

  Through the frosted shower door, he saw Jae resting her face against the shower wall. He was immediately concerned that she was ill.

  Stepping into the shower, he turned her to face him and saw she had been crying. Damn. He prayed he hadn’t hurt her in the ferocity of his lovemaking, but he didn’t think that was it. Cupping her cheeks in his hands, he searched her face and recognized what he saw. Fear and regret, and it brought on an unwelcome feeling of self-loathing. She’d compromised herself and her job because of him and the enormity of it was staring him in the face.

  “Jae, sweetheart,” he murmured as the warm water ran down his face and a primitive feeling of protectiveness overtook him. Furious at himself, he masked it by gathering her into his arms. He didn’t want to see her crying. He didn’t want her to be hurt, ever. He wanted to protect her and he vowed silently that he would by leaving.

  “Jae, the last thing I wanted was for you to be hurt.” He massaged the tension from her shoulders and would have turned and left her alone in the shower had she not risen up on her toes and kissed him as her hands glided over his body.

  All of his doubts flew from his head when Jae melted against him and regardless of what happened, he would protect her.

  * * * * *

  Jae relaxed with Trevor’s arms around her after their shower. They lounged in bed most of the morning and missed having breakfast in the hotel. They were content to eat the rest of the cookies that Trevor raced down the hall to his room to get, while Jae made a two-cup pot of coffee that came with the room.