His Secret Desire

by Drew Sinclair

  "Hm, nice choice."

  "No kidding. I'm telling you, be careful with this one Clay. Her cat opened the box and your girl picked up a bag of coffee with your note. She read it, started to cry and then began talking to her cat before throwing your coffee beans away into the bushes."

  "That was Peaberry from the Langford plantation." He said with some irritation.

  "I know." Angel lamented. "I'm going back later on and get it from the bushes."

  "Don't go anywhere near the house Angel. I don't want you spooking her. You're there to take care of her, remember?"

  "Sure. That's why I took this job; to take care of your girlfriends. But look, I'm nowhere near the house anymore. She left in a big hurry and I'm tailing her now, but this area is pretty deserted so I can't get too close to her."

  "Where the hell are you Angel? Why didn't you tell me she'd left the house?" Clayton was surprised and not happy with the omission.

  "I'm telling you now Clay, besides, she went back to that coffee place first. The place you saw her today."

  "What did she go there for?"

  "She brought her cat there. Gave it to an old lady."

  Clayton was baffled.

  "She gave her cat away?"

  "That's right. Looks like she's getting out of town. That's why I'm calling. She put one small suitcase in the back of her car then dropped the cat off. I thought she might head back home but instead she headed out onto the coast road. I'll be honest with you, if she ain't seen me following her yet then she's got vision problems. This ain't a secret operation no more."

  "God damn it. Keep on her. Don’t let anything happen to her. I'm on my way."

  He ended the call and grabbed his customized Hargrave secure phone with the tracking device software to follow the card he had given to Katy. Sure enough it was showing her as being in town at the coffee place. She must have brought it with her and left it there to throw him off the scent. He swiped the screen and went to the second tracking device he had left with her. A smaller one than a business card this time and fixed to the inside of her car's body work. He believed in protecting his assets, even when they were still just remote prospects. She might be good in her field, maybe the best, but she wasn't better at this game than him, not by a mile.

  He jumped into his Bugatti and sped off down the drive way.

  ********************

  Paranoia couldn't describe what Katy was feeling. She had picked up on the Latino looking guy following her in the midrange conspicuously inconspicuous sedan as soon as she had headed out onto the small back road that led from her remote neighborhood into the town.

  Every time she looked at Brad Pitt she had to choke back tears.

  "I'm so sorry baby." She kept saying to the completely impassive animal. "I can’t take any chances. Those cops might ask questions, they might start digging. And they weren't there by accident. Someone wants to screw with me and I think I know exactly who it is."

  When she arrived in town she sat in her car outside the café for a full ten minutes, waiting for Angel to do something. Finally she decided to risk it and she stepped out of the car carrying Brad Pitt with her. Angel never moved so she figured she was allowed to go inside. Angel was tracking her as well via the business card so he was comfortable enough to allow her go into the café alone.

  When he heard the car pull off he was taken by surprise.

  "Hijo puta." He said as he realized she had shed one of her tracking devices and snuck back into her car while he watched his phone.

  It was shortly after that he called Clayton and now he was half way out in the middle of nowhere again, feeling like an idiot for following this poor woman just so his crazy but incredibly successful friend could bone her. It wasn't the first time he had been put on 'pussy duty' as he and his team called it. It didn’t happen often but by God when Clayton got a woman into his head he was very, very serious about it. He didn't dare screw up or he was sure their college friendship wouldn't be enough to save him his very comfortable and extremely lucrative job, even if he did have other plans in mind for his future.

  Katy meanwhile, heard her phone buzz and snatched up the Blackphone from the seat. It was Suzy.

  "Information." She said as soon as she heard her friend's voice.

  "Not good."

  "Shit. I knew it."

  "I'm not sure you did. First off, who the hell is Jack Patterson?"

  "Jack Patterson? How did you hear about him?"

  "He's all over the news talking about you and his hotel room crack cocaine and prostitution bust. You're in the news Ms. Maldon."

  "Don't say my God damn name. You know the rules."

  "The rules are out the window. This guy is making you famous. You better hope he has no pictures of you anywhere."

  "What has that loser been saying?"

  "He says he's been setup and he blames you, his privacy consultant, for the whole thing. He says he's been working with you for about six months, that he's paid you hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and that your shit, excuse the language, doesn't work. He thinks you might have set him up."

  Katy put the phone to her chest, hissed out a long sigh of frustration and then put the phone back to her ear.

  "He's an asshole. A moron football player. I told him I was only able to cover him electronically. How the hell was I to know he'd party with hookers and land himself in a sting operation?"

  "Well he doesn’t see it that way. Looks like he's out for blood. Does the town of Lovett, Maine mean anything to you?"

  The words felt like a punch to Katy's stomach.

  "Shit." She said. "He's doing this to ruin me. He's an idiot but he's smart enough to know this kind of publicity will destroy my reputation. If he produces a picture of me and the press come looking, then that's it; game over."

  "I'm sorry boss, but it looks like it's over already. At least for now. Do you have enough money to stay low for a while?"

  "Sure. Money's not an issue. I've got bigger problems than that right now. The cops were at my house today. A disturbance was reported but I live in the middle of nowhere. Someone put them up to it and I have my suspicions who."

  "Forget suspicions, it was your boy Patterson."

  "Shit, shit, shit. I knew it wasn't my imagination. Someone's been following me for days. I thought I was going crazy. Damn it. Of all the people to get me, that schmuck. The dumbest, most arrogant--"

  She stopped in midsentence. There was no use in getting upset about what was done. She needed to focus on more immediate problems and finding solutions.

  "What's new on Hargrave?" She said.

  "He's the least of your worries. Apart from his bizarre relationship to women the guy is clean. Cleaner than clean. He's up to his ears in lawsuits over patents and other corporate stuff but only because his company is so good. All the other guys are falling over themselves trying to copy his equipment. He's a big time philanthropist and a lot of his tech goes into ground breaking medical devices that have changed people's lives. Him and his brother are pretty damn awesome. Right now they're working on light weight tracking devices to be worn by military and security personnel. The days when warzone kidnap victims can't be located will come to an end by all accounts. Pretty amazing and 'out-there stuff'. Despite all that, still no rabbit-holes."

  'Rabbit-holes'. This was Suzy's way of talking about red flags that threatened to lead down to less than savory places. Katy was familiar with her friend's terminology.

  "What's the bizarre relationship to women thing?"

  "Oh shit."

  "What is it?"

  "I'm watching CNN. This guy Patterson has a picture of you."

  "Fuck. God damn it." Katy glanced nervously in her rear view mirror. That damn sedan with the scary looking Latino was still following her.

  "How the hell did he get that?"

  "How should I know? Maybe I've been getting sloppy or maybe he had some technology already that passed my sweep when we met. Maybe the guy just isn't
as dumb as he looks."

  "Obviously not."

  "Is it a clear shot of my face?"

  "Clear as day."

  "God damn it."

  "You better stay low baby. This doesn’t look good. If your old employer sees this--"

  "Shut up. Not another word. I've got to go because it looks like they already have."

  Suzy froze. Her crazy long distance, no name, covert relationship to her old friend was a lifeline to her. She was the oldest friend she had and the loss of her to that evil crime dynasty had hit her hard. She desperately wanted to call her friend by her old name but didn't dare.

  "Stay on the line. Don’t hang up."

  "I've got to go. Someone's following me. This isn’t safe for you anymore."

  "It never was. Don't hang up. Tell me where you are."

  "No way. Come on, I don’t know how much longer I've got. What else do you know about Hargrave."

  "It's not important."

  "Just tell me for Christ's sake."

  "Okay, it's about his women. He's choosy. Very choosy. But he always goes for geeks, engineering types, high IQ. Always slim and good-looking but always tech-heads."

  "I'll be damned."

  "He has a thing for girls like…"

  "Girls like you." They both said at the same time.

  "Ah, ah. Girls like you. Suzy said. You're the hot one."

  Suzy glanced in her rear view and saw the car behind her looming closer than ever.

  "Cut it out Suzy… shit, I've got to hang up. I need to take care of this right now."

  "Wait--"

  Katy ended the call and pulled her car over. Her Sig Sauer was in the glove compartment and she considered taking it out. If this was her old boss tying up a loose end then it might actually come to that. On other hand, whoever it was probably had more experience with firearms than she did.

  She looked in her rear view mirror to see how close her pursuer had come but there was nothing there; just trees and country road.

  "What the hell?"

  There was no sign of the car or its burly occupant. Katy didn't know whether to be relieved or more terrified than ever.

  Her phone buzzed and she picked it up. Only a very short list of people had this particular number and she didn't recognize the one on screen.

  Not good.

  She made a few taps on her phone to access a feature known only to manual reading geeks like her, and in an instant she was listening to the caller go to voicemail on speaker phone.

  "Ms. Maldon, I need to know where you are?"

  What the hell? It was Clayton Hargrave.

  She snatched the phone up.

  "How the hell did you get this number?"

  "Why the hell aren't you at home getting ready for dinner? I've been busting my ass getting a god damn vegetarian meal ready for you for the last hour and my surveillance guy tells me you are halfway to Canada already. I thought we had a deal?"

  This is a Blackphone, encrypted, noiseless, how the hell…?

  She searched the forest around her and then looked into her rear view mirror.

  "Oh shit. He's there again." She hissed into the phone.

  "Stay calm Ms. Maldon. Don’t leave your car. Tell me what he looks like."

  "He's tall, over six foot, Latino looking or maybe Hawaiian--"

  "Stop there. That's enough."

  "He's walking towards my car. I'm gonna use my weapon."

  "Don’t do that Katy; he's my guy. That's Angel for Christ's sake, I asked him to stay with you and keep you out of trouble until my car came to pick you up for dinner."

  Katy looked into the rear view mirror and the figure she saw looked obviously concerned and extremely non-threatening. She sobbed into the phone with relief.

  "You damn asshole. You scared the life out of me. I thought I was… I thought he must be…"

  "Must be who?"

  Another near slip up. It felt like she was falling apart, her fake life beginning to crack up inside her own head.

  "No-one. I just didn’t know who the hell was following me."

  Angel tapped on the window.

  "Ms. Maldon, my name is Angel Montoya, I work for Mr. Clayton Hargrave. Can I please speak to you for a moment?"

  "Tell your goon to leave me alone." Katy said.

  "He's not a goon, he's an old college friend and the best personal security professional on the East Coast. However, if you insist I will tell him to leave you alone. Give him your phone."

  "Call him yourself, I'm not opening the door."

  Clayton sighed and then put the call on mute while he dialed Angel directly and spoke with him directly through his earpiece. The tall man nodded and backed away from Katy's car and then Clayton's voice returned to her ear.

  "Is that better?" He said.

  "It's better. Now can you please tell me how you got this number?"

  "Of course I can. I'll tell you just as soon as you get here."

  "I'm not going to your place so you can tell me now."

  There was a silence while Clayton considered his words. He was more used to putting people under pressure than trying to put them at ease.

  "Would you mind telling me where you are going?" He said.

  "I can't. It wouldn't be good for you."

  "I think I can be the judge of that."

  "Not this time. I can't help you Hargrave. I'm officially no longer in the business of protecting other people's privacy. As of one hour ago I am now retired. You'll have to find somebody else."

  "Is this because of Jack Patterson?"

  Shit. From total blackout, untraceable anonymity to total wide-open exposure in a matter of hours.

  "I've never heard of Jack Patterson." She said in low, grim voice.

  "That is what I would call a perfect example of implausible deniability Ms. Maldon. Shall I ask the question again?"

  She sighed. "God damn it. No. Don't ask it again."

  "I'll take that as a yes in that case."

  "Take it whatever way you want Hargrave. Why don't you cut to the chase? What's your damn angle in all of this?"

  "I keep telling you, I just want you to consider working for me."

  "Does working for you include taking care of your bedroom needs as well?"

  There was a tense pause. Katy had spoken in the heat of the moment, barely considering her words. Now that they were out there the effect was beyond ridiculous; the thought of taking care of his physical needs set of a minor explosion of prickling sexual desire between her legs. It wasn't what she needed at this precise moment.

  "I'm not a teenage boy Ms. Maldon." He said, noting the twitch the words had sent through his cock. He might not be a teenage boy but this woman was making his body behave like one with her brassy, sassy and direct language.

  "If I engage you professionally then I assure you that the utmost professional decorum will be maintained at all times."

  "You sound like a sociopath Hargrave. Did anyone ever tell you that?"

  "And you sound like a girl Mike Hammer Ms. Maldon. Did anyone ever tell you that?"

  "If you know about Patterson then why would you even want me to work for you?"

  "Because I know that Jack Patterson is one of the biggest ignoramuses in the world of pro football. What surprises me is that you agreed to work with that moron in the first place but then refused to consider either me or my brother Dale as clients."

  "So you and your brother both like to play stalking games. That's as creepy as it get."

  "He's not stalking you. He gave me your number right after he told me that he had just had a narrow escape from you today. He saw your mug on CNN not a half hour after you turned his business down flat."

  "So that's how you got my number, but why the hell would he even give it to you? What did you tell him? That you wanted to hire the failed privacy consultant yourself?"

  "I told him I thought you were beautiful." The words disarmed Katy momentarily. Clayton continued on. "I told him I was interested in mee
ting you and that I wanted your number. He warned me to stay away from you, but he also knows that when I'm serious about something then I don't let anything get in my way."

  "You should take your brothers advice Hargrave. He must be the smart one in the family because when I told him to take a hike he high tailed it."

  "Dale is the brash one. I'm the smart one and right now the question on my mind is why exactly would a beautiful and mysterious young lady, obviously highly intelligent and extremely accomplished, go on the run just because her face showed up on CNN as a celebrity 'privacy consultant' for a football player the whole world knows is an idiot?"

  "Are you waiting for an answer from me?"

  "I'm not expecting you to play ball right away Katy, you will eventually, but in the meantime I can only draw my own conclusions. And here's what I've come up with. First off, your first name isn't Katy and your last name isn’t Maldon. Shall I tell you what I think your real name is?"

  Katy's heart tightened. Her name was the key to that would unlock all of her past, all of her most closely guarded secrets. She couldn't bear to hear him say it out loud.

  "Stop." She said, her voice choked with emotion. "Don’t say it. I don't want to hear what you think my name is."

  He can’t know, he's bluffing. Stay low. Stay clean. Leave no trace.

  Her heart had gone from frozen to pounding hard.

  "Why is that Nadia--"

  "That's enough. I don't want to hear it."

  "Nadia Komerov."

  "It's enough. Don’t say my name any more. Don’t use it. Not over the phone, especially not on the fucking phone."

  The pain in that voice was new for Clayton. He delighted in breaking down walls of silence, in gently squeezing the darkest secrets from his women before he pushed them to heartbreaking orgasm, but the rent tone in this woman's voice was uncharted territory.

  He relented. It would be enough.

  "Okay, Katy… Ms. Maldon, whatever you want to be called, just listen to me know. Take a deep breath, calm down, I'm on your side and everyone who works for me is on your side as well. Now take a look around you."

  Katy looked desperately from side to side, like a hunted animal. The headlights of her car illuminating the twilight woodland seemed tinier and lonelier than ever. The tall, solid figure of Angel Montoya waiting patiently by was, by comparison, compellingly comforting in a way she hadn't felt since she was a scholarship student at MIT without a care in the world beyond passing her next exam.