“Hate to say it, but she’s causing all kinds of problems. Some of the men think they have a shot with her. Personally, I wouldn’t touch her with a ten-foot pole.”
He’s keeping it polite which shows he’s got more sense than others in the compound. Or it simply could be that he’s married and very much in love with his wife. “How’s Denise?”
His lips crack wide in a grin. “Expecting our first.”
I pound him on the back. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks. We’re pretty thrilled. She’s five months along. I’ll be home before she’s due.” When I managed security for Storm Industries, I instituted a plan where operatives rotate in and out of field work. Six months in, six weeks out, usually back to their homes in the UK or the states. The break provides them with time to recharge their batteries before they return to their assignments. “Tell you the truth, can’t wait to go home. And not just because she’s expecting. This project? It’s all kinds of fucked up.”
I point to a spot underneath a palm tree where we won’t be overhead and lead the way. “What’s gone wrong?”
He snorts. “What hasn’t gone wrong? Equipment’s being stolen or damaged. The engineers on staff have managed to fix or replace what’s broken, but everyone’s holding their breaths afraid of what’s going to happen next. As if that’s not enough, the environmentalists are on our asses because they’re afraid some endangered bird species will fly into the turbines and get themselves killed. The damn media won’t stop talking about it. Can’t get it through their thick heads that screens will be installed to prevent that from happening. If this keeps up, the Brazilian government may shut us down.” He scratches the back of his head. “You would have nipped the trouble in a heartbeat. Hate to say it, but Terrence’s not up to the job.”
“He’s having problems securing the place?” Terrence Budd had taken over as head of security for the project when Storm fired me for keeping his brother’s whereabouts from him. As my second in command, he’d proved himself capable of managing the everyday matters. But he’d never handled the more complex issues of an entire operation. Unfortunately, with the equipment thefts and vandalism, he’s shown he can’t quite handle the job, and Todd knows it. He’s probably not alone in reaching that conclusion.
“He’s hired extra local staff, but somehow the thieves manage to creep in where nobody’s looking. I don’t have to tell you how sensitive this equipment is. One missing bolt could cause a world of hurt. You sure you can’t step in and take charge? Things sure worked smoother when you were the boss.”
Propping a hand against the palm tree, I shake my head. “I’m here only as Ms. Storm’s bodyguard.”
Going by the twist to his lips, he doesn’t like that answer. “That’s too bad because the project needs more than that. We need a fucking miracle.”
I nod in agreement, but don’t say a word. Can’t afford to fuel that particular fire until I get the lay of the land. After we say goodbye, I continue my trek to the chief of security’s office, the one I used to occupy. Although I truly have no desire to resume head of security duties, something needs to be done. My gut tells me the thefts and vandalism are connected to Brianna. So I’ll need to investigate them as well. Someone, or a group of someones, is out to scuttle the project, and they’re using her to stir the pot. But I’ll need to nose around without ruffling Terrence’s feathers. A tall order indeed.
I step into the office trailer that used to be my office. The 10 x 50 triple wide is big enough to house Terrence’s private office, plus a conference room and side offices for the assistant head of security and the office staff. When I stroll in, Marina is acting very officious, stamping something or other at her desk outside Terrence’s office.
“Bom dia.” Her tone is icy, aloof. When I headed security, she made no bones about her interest in me. But I don’t fuck a member of my team. Too many things can head south if you do. So I never took her up on the invitation.
“Bom dia. Is Terrence in?” I thumb toward the office that used to be mine.
“Yes.”
Terrence must have overheard our conversation because he pokes his head out and extends his hand in greeting. “How are you?” The friendly reception surprises me to say the least. He’d always resented my being in charge of security for Storm Industries. Given his length of service with Storm Industries and his longer stint in Special Forces, he’d felt entitled to head it up instead. Don’t know why the welcome mat’s being spread for me, but it’s a good sign.
“Fine. Can we talk?”
“Of course. Hold my calls, Marina.”
“Si, senhor.”
After he closes the door behind me, he points to the brewer that sits on a side credenza. “Coffee?”
“Thank you. I’ll get it.” Helping myself, I pour some of the aromatic brew along with cream and sugar into a cup. Brazilian coffee ranks among the best in the world, but it’s strong enough to grow a whole head of hair on a man’s chest.
I grab a seat across from him and sip while he taps a pen on his desk. Tall and wide-beamed, he’s lost some hair which he’s compensating for by growing a beard. Can’t imagine doing that in this heat, but to each his own.
“Storm told me you were coming.”
I nod. Not a surprise. Brianna’s brother wouldn’t have asked me to come without alerting his project head of security. Of course, the details of my presence are not public knowledge. I’m not under the employ of Storm Industries. But that’s something that only Gabriel Storm and I know.
“He told me you’d take over bodyguard duties for Brianna. Can’t say I’m sorry. That she-devil has caused nothing but trouble since she returned from the UK. Wish we could do without her presence altogether, but there’s only so far we can go on the project without her expertise.”
My most important goal is to reinforce security around her. Hamish doesn’t seem too competent. The way he allowed me to order him about without first checking with Terrence proved that, so I’ll need someone I can rely on assigned to her. “I’ll head her security detail. I’ll keep Hamish but need Todd Lawson assigned to her team as well.”
His head jerks up and down. “Okay by me. Whatever you need, you got it. As long as I don’t have to worry about her. I swear I’ve gone gray over her shenanigans.”
I laugh. “You are sporting a few more gray hairs.” Especially in that bushy bird’s nest growing out of his chin.
“I know you’re only here because of Brianna. But I sure could use your help with another matter.”
I’m surprised to say the least. Never expected an S.O.S. from him. “The equipment thefts?”
His face flushes and he rubs a hand across the tip of his nose, something he often does when he’s in over his head. “You know? Of course, you do. Storm must have said something.”
“He mentioned it in passing.” Don’t want to get Terrence’s hackles up by telling him Storm filled me in on the thefts. “What about them?”
“I could use your expertise.”
Well, that provides a way into this mess. “I’ll be glad to provide whatever assistance I can, of course. What do you need?”
During the next half hour he catalogs the litany of thefts and destruction. No wonder his hair’s turning white. “Some of the equipment’s too large to carry off, so they vandalized it. It’s like they know exactly what to break to cause the most serious damage.”
That’s telling. “That points to someone familiar with wind power technology.”
“I know. But it doesn’t help me narrow down the culprit. It could be someone from the inside as well as the outside.”
“What are you doing to prevent it?”
“We’ve doubled the number of security guards. Tripled the number of cameras. But as soon as we put them up, they take them out. Replacing them hasn’t been easy. Most of the equipment has to be shipped from Europe or the United States.”
“How often do they strike?”
“Sometimes once a week. Other t
imes a couple of weeks go by before they try something.”
“And no one has been caught?”
“No. It’s like they’re ghosts. Most of the locals I hired quit after one of them claimed he saw a ghost rise from the ground. Superstitious bastards.” He rubs his nose again.
“There has to be a reason why they strike at different intervals. If we could figure out their pattern, we could better prepare for the attacks.”
“Wish we could. It’s like they know what we’re planning as soon as we try anything new.”
“Oh?” I pull a piece of paper from his desk and write. Have you swept your office for bugs?
Terrence wrinkles his brow. Not since we arrived. He writes back.
“Let me sleep on it then, and we can talk in the morning.” I lay a finger over my lips and continue talking about Brianna. “In the meantime, I’ll watch Ms. Storm at night to give Hamish a break. During the day, he and Todd can take turns.” While I talk I grab Terrence’s office telephone and unscrew the speaker. But don’t find a thing. Terrence walks to a cabinet in the back of his office and removes a wand similar to the ones airport security use to sweep individuals for contraband. He waves it over his desk. When it gets close to his desk lamp, the damn thing lights up like a Christmas tree. He rests the wand on the desk and turns over the fixture. Sure enough, a listening device is embedded in the housing.
He mouths a soundless curse. When he starts to remove the bug, I clamp my hand around his wrist and shake my head.
His brows draw together and he mouths, “What?”
I write. We can use it against them.
His furrowed brow clears up. How? He writes on the pad.
Meet me in half an hour at the meeting place. I write back.
He nods and we resume our conversation about Brianna. Five minutes later, I walk out and head for our rendezvous, a remote curve of sand and rocks up the coast where one can spot anyone coming for miles. During the trek, I devise a plan to root out the bastard who planted the bug. No doubt it’s the same person sabotaging the project. When I find out who he is, God help him for there won’t be a place on the planet he can hide from me.
Chapter 5
______________
Brianna
“TOSSER.” I screech as I walk into the trailer that houses my management team. After Jake’s totally uncalled for pawing, I’m not in the best of moods. I don’t know who to be upset at. Him, for that rude kiss, or my traitorous body for reacting the way it did. On top of it, I had to endure a gauntlet of leers and whispers as I walked out of the dining hall.
“Ms. Storm, anything wrong?” Izabel, our office helper asks. A twenty-something earning college money, she’s sweet, hard-working and eager to please.
Damn it. I have to come up with a logical explanation for my bad mood. Can’t very well complain about Jake’s kiss since we’re supposed to be lovers. “I stubbed my toe.”
“Stubbed your toe?” Stubbed is probably beyond her basic English vocabulary, but she squints down at my feet, all the same.
“Yeah.” The air-conditioned trailer contains two offices, mine plus Kurt Eichner’s, my second in command, plus Izabel’s desk, a tiny kitchenette, a small conference table and chairs where we confab or eat hasty meals, and numerous filing cabinets. It’s not fancy, but it meets our needs.
She scrunches her brow in concern. “Can I get you something? A bandage, a first aid kit?”
“A cup of tea would be nice.” I don’t normally drink tea, and a shot of scotch would better suit my mood, but ten in the morning is a little early to indulge.
“Of course.” She jumps to her feet and heads toward our tiny kitchenette. Brewing the tea will keep her out of my hair and give me enough time to gain control of my temper.
To keep up the charade, I hobble to my office.
But before I have a chance to close the door, Kurt bounces into the trailer, all windblown blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. Something, or someone, put him in a good mood. “Guten Morgen.”
“Morning.” About all I can manage. Nothing good about it.
His tawny brows draw together, and he tilts his head, as if I’m a puzzle to be solved. “What’s wrong, schatzi?” His endearment might strike a stranger as odd since I’m his boss. But we’ve been friends for years, ever since we met at a symposium on renewable energy at Oxford. Some believe we’re lovers, or were at some point. They’re wrong. I value our professional relationship too much to ruin it by shagging him.
Izabel interrupts with my tea. I thank her and nod an invite into my office for Kurt.
As soon as he closes the door behind him, I spit out. “Jake Cooper’s back.”
His brows shoot up. “Your former bodyguard?” Even though Kurt’s family moved to the United States when he was a little boy, his accent still hints at his German ancestry.
“The one and only. He arrived last night to resume his duties.”
Having known me for several years, of course he’s familiar with Jake. “That’s a problem for you, ja?”
Darn it. He picked up on my mood. I’ll need to temper my reaction around him. He’s way too perceptive when it comes to me. I drop the untouched cup of tea on my desk and prop a hip against it. “Not a problem. A complication.” Kurt will hear soon enough about the change in my relationship with Jake. So I not only need to tell him but provide a logical explanation for it. Otherwise, he’ll wonder what’s going on. And we have enough headaches as it is.
He eases his large frame into the ancient wooden guest chair in front of my desk and crosses his arms against his chest. “How so?”
“We’re lovers now.” I manage to say with a straight face.
His eyes widen. “Ahh.”
“That’s all you have to say?”
“Your private life is none of my business, liebchen, although . . .”
“Although?”
“One must wonder when exactly this change happened. Didn’t your brother fire him after your father’s funeral?”
“The night my father died, I invited him to my apartment. That’s when we hooked up.” Nothing happened that night. Jake’s too honorable a man to have taken advantage of my grief.
“Ahhh.”
Another “ahhh.” Bollocks. He doesn’t believe a word I’m saying. Still, it makes sense no matter what he thinks. “I needed comfort that night and he ... provided it.”
His brows draw together. “So why is he a complication?”
“With everything that’s going on with the thefts, I’m afraid he’ll become a distraction I don’t need.”
“I see. Maybe you should ask for his help, liebchen.” His voice softens. No wonder. He’s concerned about the thefts and vandalism. No surprise, given he’s second in command to the operation. Wish I could tell him what’s going on. But the instructions on the notes I received were very clear. I’m to share with no one the demands made on me or ask for any help. If I do, an innocent will suffer. Kurt knows something is off and has tried his darndest to get the truth out of me. Unfortunately, I have no recourse but to keep mum. To do otherwise would interfere with the kidnappers’ plans, and a child, one of my own, would be hurt, maybe even killed. So I say nothing, knowing the end game is to destroy everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve.
“No. He’s only here to take over as my bodyguard. Given what’s going on, my brother became worried and asked him to watch over me.” Supposedly. Doubt Gabe asked him here solely to babysit me. Knowing my brother, he probably ordered Jake to investigate the thefts as well.
His eyes narrow as he studies me. “But you think there’s more to it than that?”
“Can’t imagine Gabe didn’t tell him about all the problems we’ve been having. But I can’t ask him to investigate. This is not Jake’s battle to fight. It’s mine.” Unfortunately, my hands are tied. I can’t do a thing about the thefts. Not only that, I’ve been ordered to add to the unrest by flashing my tits and ass at the boteco. Some sicko dreamed up that last one. If I ever fin
d out who, I’ll personally slice off his balls. With a rusty knife.
“You’re in over your head, Brianna. You need help.”
“Not Jake.”
“If this keeps up, the Brazilian government might shut us down. Can you live with that?”
I walk to my office chair and drop into it, twist the ring my father gave me on my 21st birthday around my index finger, something I tend to do to help me calm down. “Surely, it won’t come to that.”
He stares at the floor. “We’re headed in that direction. They sent someone to investigate.”
That’s news to me. “Who?”
“Some low level government flunky came by yesterday. Asked a lot of questions.”
Bollocks. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You’ve been ... busy, what with your visits to the boteco and all.”
“Bloody hell.”
“I told the Brazilian representative we had a handle on it. He met with Terrence as well. Hopefully that satisfied him.”
I can see in his eyes he doesn’t hold out much hope. If the flunky reports negatively on what’s going on, we can expect a visit from some higher up. The Brazilian government’s depending on us to install the wind turbines to bring electricity to this part of the country. If they determine we can’t deliver as planned, they’ll yank the project off our hands. And it would take months, maybe even a year or two, to find another company to get the enterprise moving again, which is probably what the kidnappers hope will happen. Or at least that’s what I’ve figured out because they’ve never explained the reason behind what they’re demanding of me.
“Maybe you should stop going to the boteco and dancing every night?” The question comes out as a plea.
I hate to disappoint him, but I must. “And give up the only fun I have around this place? I don’t think so.”
His hard glance pierces right through me. His opinion of me has sunk even lower than before. But it can’t be helped.
He comes to his feet, thumbs toward the door. “I have to go. Conference call with the marine construction foreman.”
Storm Conquered Page 3
