by Jen Talty
“It is.” She released his hand, setting it back down on her inner thigh, while she stretched her arm out, placing her hand on his, sliding her fingers under his shorts. “No one is going to walk in on us here.”
Once parked, he turned, cupping her face, kissing her lips. “Someone managed to call from your phone. I don’t think your condo is safe for anything.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “But that could have been done remotely.”
“Maybe, but doesn’t matter.” He leaned across her, opening his glove box and pulled out a gun.
“Is that really necessary?”
“Yep.” He hopped out of the Jeep. “Stay close behind me, got it?” He did something with the gun, then held it down at his side.
“You’re going to scare my neighbors.” She gripped his strong biceps with one hand, squeezing the bulging muscle as it flexed. She reached in her small clutch purse. “It takes two keys to get into my condo.”
“So?”
“You’re over-reacting.”
He snatched the keys. “You’re trying to make light of the situation because deep down, you’re scared and you don’t like admitting any kind of weakness.”
He had her there and it felt good to know he still understood the way she handled most situations. They rode the elevator to the fifth floor, which happened to be the top floor, in silence. She continued to grip his arm and he still held his gun.
“When was the last time you were in here?” He asked, pushing her behind him as the elevator doors dinged open.
“Three days ago.”
“Which apartment?”
She gripped his hips, a mixture of fear and anger prickled her skin like sandpaper. Everyone was vulnerable in the cyber world, even her. But she didn’t like admitting it, much less having to deal with any ramification that came with a cyber-attack. “Second door.”
Logan pushed the key in and the door swung open without him turning it. “Did you by chance leave it unlocked?”
“You know me better than that.” She fisted his shirt, ducking her head behind his back. “Do you think anyone is in there?”
“Shhh,” he said. “Stay close.”
He held the gun out with both hands, crouching down, taking small steps.
Her pulse beat against her throat, making it difficult to swallow.
Logan opened the pantry door, then slinked toward the guest bedroom, which doubled as her home office. However, unlike her brother, she didn’t feel the need to spend her evenings in front of a dozen computer screens, so she had only one. “Does anything look out of place?” he whispered.
She peered over his shoulder, scanning the guest room. Her desk sat clutter free under the window that overlooked the intercostal, the lighthouse off to the right. Normally, her laptop would be perched on the center next to one monitor, but she’d taken her personal computer to her parents. “There should be some files in my desk drawer.”
“Let’s take a look then.” He patted her hip, nudging her in front of him. “It’s okay. You can let go of my shirt.”
This condo had always been her sanctuary. The one place she could kick back, have some wine, and not feel like she had to be plugged in all the time. She tip-toed across the room, looking over her shoulder a few times, waiting for some crazy person to jump out and scare the crap out of her.
“I’m right here, baby.”
“Since when do you call me baby outside of screwing my brains out.”
“Since right now.”
She swallowed, hoping the teasing would make her feel at ease as she pulled open the top drawer. Her notebooks neatly stacked on the left side, and on the right side was her pen and pencil divider, organized by type and color. The next drawer contained all her hanging files, organized alphabetically by category. It dawned on her that being a neat freak was just as bad as her brother’s inability to pick his dirty underwear off the floor.
“Nothing’s missing.”
“Let’s move on to your bedroom.” Logan stuffed the gun into his pants at the small of his back. The butt of the weapon looped over his white T-Shirt, which she gripped once again as she followed him into the small master bedroom.
“Nice view of the inlet, except for the bridge.”
“Yeah, well, if I had to move back here, I wanted to look at the Lighthouse.”
“I kissed you for the first time there. Ask you to the prom there. Hell, we did everything except have sex at the Lighthouse.” He laughed. “Why did you have to move back here?”
“Three years ago, my father was diagnosed with cancer.” She blinked a few times, remembering how the tears stung the day her mother called to tell her the bad news.
“I’m sorry.” Logan cupped her face, his thumb fanning her cheek. “How is he now?”
“Cancer free for the last year, but I’m not ready to move back to the west coast. Besides enjoying my parents company, I’ve been restless since my dad got sick.”
“Understandable.” Logan dropped his hand. “Anything missing in here?”
She took her time opening drawers and scanning her closet for missing items. It was pretty easy to tell nothing had been disturbed considering how orderly her life had been. She squelched the urge to knock everything in her medicine cabinet over.
Logan leaned against the window, staring at the Lighthouse, arms folded across his chest.
“Penny for your thoughts.”
“I keep going back to Bonnie. Why would she go to work for my mother?”
“Maybe she needed a job, money.”
He looked over his shoulder with an arched brow. “Considering what she did, doubtful. Besides, her family is well off.”
Mia stepped around her bed, then rested her hand on his shoulder. “My parents wouldn’t give Markus and I a dime to start our company. Not even a loan. We had to take one out from a regular bank. Imagine that.” She tugged his arm, draping it over her shoulder.
“You and Markus always understood the value of a dollar and weren’t spoiled little rich kids like Rock was.” Logan kissed her temple. “Have you seen him? Know where he is?”
“No. And I don’t want to.”
“I want to find out where he’s been. Too many coincidences lately.”
“You think he’s part of this?”
“He was smart, like you and Markus, so, yeah, maybe.” Logan pushed away from the window. “Let’s get out of here before I do something crazy like toss you on that bed and take you seven different ways.” He took one step, then stopped and glanced back out the window, before pulling out his phone and tapping the screen.
“I’m not opposed to that.” She squeezed his ass.
He groaned. “I’m well aware, but it’s going to have to wait.”
She sighed. “Why? That’s a perfectly good bed, we’re alone—”
“I don’t think we are.” He shoved his phone back in his pocket.
“What!?” Her pulse speed up as she tightened her grip around his waist.
“See that white crossover car parked in the lot in front of the building next to this one?”
She scanned the cars until she found the one he described. A woman wearing jeans and a black shirt leaned against the driver door. “What about it?”
“I saw the same car when we pulled out of my mom’s office.”
“That can’t be good,” she said.
“Let’s go.” He tugged her by the hand.
“What are we going to do?”
“Act like we don’t know we’re being followed.”
She didn’t like the sound of that, but she followed him through the condo building, down the elevator, and to his car where he buckled her into the passenger seat. Her body trembled as she clasped her hands in her lap, fiddling with her nails. “I think I might rather walk.”
“Just safety precautions.” He buckled himself to the seat, gun on his lap, then fired up his Jeep, ramming it into reverse. “That girl is definitely tailing us.”
She grabbed the dashboard as
the jeep lurched forward. “This feels like we know we’re being followed.”
He laughed. “I always drive like this.”
“You have a point.” She swallowed, resisting the urge to glance over her shoulder. “Being the Chief of Police’s kid did give you some liberties.”
“Not as many as I would have liked.” Logan raised part of his ass off the seat. “Get my phone. I’m getting a text, so read it to me.”
“What’s your passcode?” Her fingers trembled. You knew things weren’t rosy when Logan got so serious he couldn't crack a smile when anyone made a funny.
“051385”
Now her hands trembled for a different reason. “That’s my birthday.”
“Huh.” He glanced her way, no smile, but his eyes conveyed the understanding of what that could mean. “Hold on.”
She gripped the phone in one hand, while the other pressed against the side of the truck. “It’s from Nick and he says take her over the bridge by the Lighthouse and he’ll cut her off there.”
“Text him back ‘that works’.”
She did as instructed, but her fingers fumbled and it took longer than usual. “Where should I put your phone?”
“Hold on to it in case Nick needs to reach us, or vice versa.”
Logan weaved in and out of traffic, constantly looking in his rear-view mirror, but looking like he didn’t have a care in the world. She held her breath as they crossed over the bridge and took the right turn by the Lighthouse, eyeing Nick sitting in a beat up old pick-up.
Mia couldn’t help herself as she looked over her shoulder, seeing the small, white SUV taking the turn. Seconds later, tires squealed as Nick pulled his truck out in front of the car that had been trailing them. The SUV slammed right into the back of Nick’s vehicle.
“Oh, my, God! We should stop. Nick could be hurt.”
“He’s fine.” Logan leaned across her and put his weapon in the glove box as he rounded a corner right before the next bridge to the Island.
“Did he plan it that way?” She shook her hands out, then rubbed them on her legs. She’d thought some excitement in her life might help with her lack of passion for her job these days, but this was not the kind of adrenaline rush she craved.
“Pretty much.” Logan slowed as they passed onto Jupiter Island. The afternoon sun beat down and young girls walked the main drag in bikinis with bare chested men, heading toward small beaches on the intercostal side. “He called a buddy of his still on the police force, who will be the first on the scene. This way we can get as much information about who has been tailing us.”
“That’s abuse of power, and probably illegal, isn’t it?”
“So is hacking into the school system, changing a few of my unexcused tardiness to excused and probably erasing some of them so I could attend the prom.”
She laughed. “Well, that dress I bought needed to be worn and seen and no way was I going stag.”
“That dress gave me an instant hard-on.”
“I still have it and I think it fits.” The shoulder strap snapped tight as he took the turn into her driveway a little too fast. “You’re very good at re-directing the conversation.”
“I just don’t want you to worry too much.”
“I’m scared to death,” she admitted, hugging her middle as he looped an arm over her shoulder, guiding her to the front door. “Being followed. You with a gun. Not to mention someone threatening to kill me. It's a bit much to take in.”
“Once we get a chance to talk to the chick who followed us, we should have a better handle on things.”
“So, what now?” She looked around the empty yard. Weird not to have a ton of people working the grounds. Her mother must be going nuts as she liked to garden, but never alone. That gardener and his team were her mother’s best friends.
“I need to talk to Dylan and check in with Nick. I also need to sit down with your brother and talk to my team.” His warm lips sizzled against her cheek. “Why don’t you go take a bath. Or sit down with your feet up.”
“I’m not a fragile little girl.”
“I never said you were.” He opened the door, letting her into the refreshing air-conditioned house. “But right now, I want you inside this house. If you want to help your brother and my IT person, have at it.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and stared at it with a puzzled expression. “Don’t go on the balcony, okay? Everyone stays inside.”
“You’re scaring me.”
“Someone broke into your condo, messed with your phone, and who knows how many other people might be following…watching. Until I know more.” He batted her nose. “You’re staying inside or at my side.”
“I like the latter.”
He shook his head. “When this is over we’re going to…” He paused, blinking a few times before clearing his throat. “Mr. Vanderlin,” Logan said. “May I have a word with you?”
“Of course,” her father said.
She leaned against the front door, watching Logan and her father walk down the long hallway to her father’s office.
While she desperately needed Logan Sarich in the most primal way, the moment this case ended, he’d be heading back to Tampa and whatever other assignments the Omega Team gave him and she’d be…she shuddered, not wanting to think that far ahead.
CHAPTER 7
LOGAN SAT IN THE same chair he had all those years ago when he thought it would be a good idea to ask permission if he could take Mia to prom. The same chair the night he picked Mia up for the prom, and the same chair the morning Mr. Vanderlin ordered him to ‘get dressed, go to Mr. Vanderlin’s office, and wait for his mother.
The chair hadn’t become any more comfortable fourteen years later.
Logan cleared his throat and did his best to keep eye contact with Mr. Vanderlin, who leaned forward in his chair, arms pressed against the giant desk.
“I wanted to give you an update on a couple of things,” Logan said.
“I appreciate that.” Mr. Vanderlin didn’t blink.
“The woman that showed up saying the temp agency called is a woman by the name of Jessie Marlin. Does the name ring a bell?”
“Can’t say that it does.”
“Nick has one of his old cop buddies stopping by to ask her a few questions, so hopefully I’ll have some information about that shortly.”
“Thanks.” Mr. Vanderlin still didn’t bat an eyelash while he stared at Logan.
“I need to ask you a question.” Logan pulled out his phone. He wanted to make sure he got the information correct. “Mia set up your financial security system, right?”
“She did a summer internship with the company that updated our banking cyber protection system, as well as many other banks.”
“But she worked on it, correct?” Logan focused on the job and his training. Not the father of the woman he’d ‘deflowered’.
“I don’t know how much, but yes, that’s correct.”
“Your financial institution was recently the target of a cyber-attack, but you didn’t have Mia or Markus help with the situation. May I ask why?”
“I take it you didn’t bring this up with my daughter.”
“I wanted to ask you first.”
Mr. Vanderlin leaned back, clasping his hands behind his head. “You’ve always been mostly respectful, I’ll give you that.”
“Mostly?” Logan regretted the single word question the moment it left his mouth.
Mr. Vanderlin arched a brow.
“Let’s go back to the cyber threat.”
Mr. Vanderlin’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t look like he wanted to hang Logan in a public lynching. That had to mean something. “It was Mia and Markus who suggested we use a different company, considering the family ties, but they oversaw everything and then they made sure our system and customers were indeed safe.”
“Two of your higher employees were fired after making allegations that Mendon Cyber Security purposely installed a weakened system, leaving you and your custome
rs vulnerable and—”
“I know where you are going with this. Yes, Mia worked for them during the installation.” Mr. Vanderlin unclasped his hands, leaning forward. “You really think Mia would be so careless?”
“No.” Logan swallowed, unable to break eye-contact, feeling like a scared little boy. “I know she and Mendon Cyber Security were cleared of any wrong doing before it ever made the news.”
“Then why are you bringing this up?”
“I’m wondering if someone, like those two employees, had it in for Mia.”
“I suppose that’s possible.” Mr. Vanderlin pulled open his lower drawer and placed a folder on the desk. “It’s never been easy for Mia. Between having a brilliant mind, being my kid, and what that represents, she’s had to deal with jealousy all her life. Unfortunately, one of those employees that I had to let go had nothing to do with the accusation. That happened after I fired her.”
“May I ask why you let her go?”
“She was stealing from me.” Mr. Vanderlin tapped the file. “It's all right here. I didn’t press charges and regretted that decision ever since.”
Logan opened the file, shocked to see Theresa Pennington’s picture. “She was Rock’s girlfriend back in high school.”
“The same Rock that picked on Markus and…” Mr. Vanderlin fisted his hands. “He transferred to another school, right?”
Logan nodded. “I’m not liking all these connections to the past.” Logan scratched the back of his neck. “While STEALTH is still our main focus right now, this underlying layer of someone out to destroy Mia concerns me just as much.” He held up the file. “Can I keep this?”
Mr. Vanderlin nodded.
“Is there anything else I need to know?”
“I can’t think of anything, but if I do, I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks.” Logan rose, extending his hand.
“Mia didn’t have much of a social life until she started dating you,” Mr. Vanderlin said as he took Logan’s hand in a firm grip, then releasing it.
Logan held his breath.
“You put a smile on her face that no one else could and I think in part, because of you, she’s the confident woman she is today.”
