Guarding Sierra: (Soldiering On #2)

by Aislinn Kearns

  “We want to know if you have any further information about my case,” Sierra answered her.

  “Actually, yes,” Destiny answered, seemingly surprised by this fact. “There was a bit of a scuffle here at the precinct when I brought in proof of a possible serial killer. Apparently all the detectives are eager for a high-profile collar.”

  She rolled her eyes at this.

  “Are they aware that Sierra was attacked last night?” Blake asked, his body tense.

  Destiny’s smile faded. “Yeah, Duncan called. The lead detective that won the skirmish—Silverson—wants to talk to you,” she said to Sierra. “But I understand you’ve both gone off the grid?”

  Blake answered her. “It seemed like the safest course of action. We’ll wait it out while you guys do real the detective work.”

  Destiny nodded. “Sure. But it would help if I could ask Sierra a few questions. The investigation would progress more smoothly.”

  “Are you becoming a detective now?” Blake teased.

  Destiny gave him a haughty look. “Just taking advantage of the opportunity while she’s here. Though, I can’t deny that bringing in the information I did yesterday might have given my career a bit of a boost.”

  She shrugged self-deprecatingly and Sierra laughed. “I’m glad something good can come of this. Ask away.”

  “Do the names Rita James and Lyn Darragh mean anything to you?”

  Sierra’s eyebrows shot up. “I don’t know Lyn, but I think Rita was a temp for our company very briefly. Do you have a photo of her?”

  Destiny looked down, and the sound of shuffling papers emanated from the speakers. Tension coursed through Sierra’s muscles as she waited. Eventually, Destiny held up a picture of a pretty dark-haired woman that Sierra instantly recognised.

  “Yes, that’s her.”

  She felt sick. Rita had been sweet and earnest, if a little naïve. She didn’t deserve this. No woman did.

  “So, you say that she worked as your temp?”

  “Not mine, specifically. She was in a pool of secretaries and assistants that the company called on occasionally. She didn’t last long, only a few months.”

  “Why is that?” Destiny asked, diligently scribbling down notes.

  Sierra rolled her eyes. “Percy slept with her and then spread it about the office, absolutely humiliating her. He does it intentionally to get rid of them once he tires of them. She, like many new women at the company, don’t realise that they are just the next in a long line of ladies just like them. He’s very good at making promises that he has no intention of keeping.”

  “He manipulates them and then publicly shames them for it?” Destiny asked, clearly affronted.

  “Yes,” Sierra burst out. “I wouldn’t mind if the women did sleep with him of their own accord after they have all the information. But he lies to them, so they end up in his bed—or his office—under false pretences, and then he has the nerve to use that against him. He’s such a cretin.”

  She sat back in disgust. She’d ranted many times about Percy’s behaviour, but nothing ever seemed to be done and she never felt better about it.

  Destiny narrowed her eyes, looking rather dangerous. “What’s Percy’s last name?”

  “Winslow,” Sierra replied without thought. “Wait, you don’t think it’s him, do you?”

  Destiny shrugged. “He had a previous sexual relationship with the victim. It’s worth investigating if nothing else.”

  “The guy is a creep, for sure. I just never imagined him to be a killer.”

  “And he might not be. But you never know. Most women are killed by someone close to them, particularly those with whom they do or did have a sexual relationship.”

  “Well, I didn’t sleep with Percy, if that helps.” Sierra shuddered at the thought.

  Destiny smiled, but got back to business. “So, you don’t know Lyn Darragh at all?”

  Sierra shook her head. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

  Destiny held up her photo, but it wasn’t someone she recognised.

  “She was killed five years ago,” Destiny told her, trying to prompt her memory.

  “Five Years? But Rita couldn’t have been killed more than a year ago. That’s a big gap.”

  “It is. The detectives are focusing on that time, trying to figure out what he was doing in the interim. He might have been in prison for an unrelated crime, or there might be more victims we don’t know about.”

  “A frightening thought,” Sierra murmured. She sifted through her memories, trying to think of anyone she knew that had had any extended absences or trips. But nothing came to mind.

  Even she took regular business trips, as did many of her colleagues. But if her stalker’s pattern held true of taking a long time to escalate, like they did with her, a short business trip wouldn’t be enough time.

  “I…” Destiny began, when an alert on her computer interrupted her. A frown tugged at her brow as she read it.

  “What is it?” Blake asked, obviously sensing her tension.

  “Apparently, Sierra Livingston has been unofficially reported missing,” she told them.

  Sierra and Blake glanced at each other, his face reflecting her own confusion.

  “By who?” Sierra asked. “I told my father I was taking a leave day.”

  “I’m not exactly sure,” Destiny murmured, her eyes shifting as she read the report. “It actually seems to have come from some online news sites. One headline says ‘Missing Heiress’. Your colleagues—including Percy Winslow—are making statements expressing concerns for your whereabouts.”

  Blake grabbed the computer off the coffee table and immediately began a search for the news items. Sierra was still distracted by Destiny’s words.

  “Okay, first of all, I’m not an heiress. My father would never dream of giving me money. Secondly, Percy has the gall to pretend to be concerned about my whereabouts? The attention-seeking dirtbag.”

  Sierra’s potential rant was cut short by Blake. “It says that you had a suspicious man following you for the past few days. Rumour has it that he was a controlling boyfriend that insisted on accompanying you to work. Combined with the state of your apartment, someone began talking to the media—probably your friend Percy—which then got back to the cops.”

  “Jesus,” Sierra breathed. “I take one day off and the whole world goes out of control.”

  “I told you we should have told them about the stalker,” Blake muttered. “Why isn’t your father correcting them?”

  “And stop all the free publicity? Not a chance.”

  Destiny cleared her throat, interrupting. “Actually, your father has put out a reward for information about your whereabouts.”

  “What? But I called him last night. I told him I was taking a few days off.”

  “Obviously, he thought that was suspicious enough to send out a search party,” Blake said.

  Destiny nodded. “It appears so.”

  “This is ridiculous. He’s probably been trying to call me, but you said I had to leave my phone behind. Is there a way I can contact people? Let them know I’m fine?”

  Blake shifted on the couch in discomfort. “I’d rather you didn’t. And I can’t call Duncan to discuss it because they will be dark for at least another—” he checked his watch, “—four hours.”

  “Well, it’s not like Destiny can just announce that I’m fine. At this point it doesn’t seem like they would believe her. They might not even believe me.”

  “True,” he said grudgingly.

  “And I’d rather not waste people’s resources on my behalf. Even you can see that it would be counterproductive having half a city looking for me when I’m meant to be in hiding.”

  “So what are you thinking?”

  “I need to do a live video to my followers on social media. So they can see that I’m fine.”

  “I don’t know a lot about computers, but I know that’s probably not a good idea.”

  “It’s the only way. If
we have half the city searching for us—journalists, cops, every asshole looking for a cheap buck from my father’s reward—we’ll be discovered in minutes.”

  Destiny interrupted. “She’s right. Better to cut it off at the pass now. The chances of her stalker having the tech skills to trace your location are negligible, so the risk would be worth it.”

  Blake hesitated, looking between the two of them. Then, he sighed in capitulation. “Fine. But I have to set it up first.”

  “I’ll wait.” Sierra gave him her sweetest smile in triumph.

  Chapter 28

  It was late, and Mandy was bone weary. She’d turned off most of the lights when the other staff members had left, leaving just her, Duncan and Paul to deal with this apparent security breach. It had been a long day, and she just wanted some comfortable pants, some wine, and a tub of ice cream, in that order.

  Mandy wasn’t much help in this situation, but this was her company, too, dammit. She needed to know what was going on. And she certainly didn’t trust Duncan to tell her, despite their recent conversation about trust and partnership.

  All their computer systems, networks, server backups, and phones had been off for the last twenty-four hours, but Paul still hadn’t found the extent of the issue. From his silence, Mandy assumed it was bad.

  “When will you be done with the… um… upgrade?” she asked Paul from where she lounged on a black leather sofa on the far side of Duncan’s office, conscious of the bugs in the office. Her eyes darted between the two men.

  Paul glanced up at her. “If you guys would hire someone who actually knew what they were doing, this would be a lot quicker.”

  Mandy took a breath, ready to agree, but Duncan got there first. “No. You’ll have to do.” He shot Mandy a warning look, and then leaned down to whisper something in Paul’s ear, who nodded in return.

  Duncan wandered over to Mandy and sat down close to her on the lounge—too close. He leaned forward. Mandy froze, her eyes widening. What was he doing? Hot breath fanned across her cheek, his words barely a breath. “Until we know who did this—and who we can trust—we can’t risk giving an unknown person access to all our systems. They’d know all our projects past and present, our operatives’ locations, and all our confidential details. We can’t risk it. Whoever did this might have a greater plan, and we don’t want to risk playing into it.”

  Mandy deflated. He was probably right. He often was about these things. She glanced at him, wondering when they’d ever been so close before. Warm, dark eyes gazed back, kicking her heart into a faster beat.

  She, too, shuffled forward until her lips brushed his ear. The scent of wood smoke drifted through her senses, as if he’d been sitting too close to an open fire.

  She lowered her voice, and it came out with a slight rasp. “I’m worried about our people in the field, people like Blake and Zack. What if they need backup and can’t get through?”

  She turned her body towards him. His arm slung over the back of the couch. If she moved an inch forward, they would be entangled in a passionate embrace. Her face heated at the thought.

  “They’ll be okay,” Duncan told her, voice still low and harsh, his breaths quickening. His hand drifted comfortingly over her back. He sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than her. “As long as Blake can keep it in his pants,” Duncan muttered under his breath.

  Mandy ignored that last statement. Sierra was an adult, and was just as responsible for what had happened between her and Blake as he was. It sounded like they’d both had a good time, so Mandy wasn’t going to judge them for it. Unless he hurt her, of course.

  Worry still gnawed at her gut. What if something was wrong? What if Sierra was in danger and they couldn’t help? She liked Blake, trusted him, but he was only one man.

  Mandy placed a hand on his shoulder to steady herself as she leaned forward. “Do you think this break in has to do with Sierra? It did happen when we took her case.” Mandy knew every facet of her friend’s life and couldn’t imagine why someone with what was obviously a lot of criminal talent would be after her. But perhaps her stalker was more savvy than they’d realised.

  Duncan slid a look over to her, shuffling even closer on the lounge. His hard thigh was pressed against hers, their calves entwined together. “It seems doubtful, but you never know. I don’t like coincidences.”

  Mandy nodded in agreement. Duncan’s other hand settled on her waist, pulling her even closer. “Though, why they would break into our systems before she went off the grid, I don’t know. They already knew where she was when they did whatever they did to our systems.” Her fingers slid up the back of his neck of their own accord.

  Duncan considered this. When he next spoke, his voice had roughened, grown distracted. “Maybe it’s about Blake instead. They wanted information on who was guarding her, to figure out the threat level.”

  Her breath hitched. “Yes, that would make sense.”

  Still a lot of effort to go through to stalk someone. If it really was Sierra’s stalker, they must have something very big planned to go to all that effort of breaking into their offices and messing with their computers.

  Mandy pulled back a little, and her gaze locked with Duncan’s.

  Paul grunted, interrupting their conversation. Mandy and Duncan leaped apart, settling back on opposite sides of the lounge. What had they been doing? Her face flamed. She didn’t dare look at Duncan to see his reaction. “The files that need… upgrading are in pretty dire straits. Might be a good idea to… monitor the feeds remotely. Pretty heavy-duty stuff.”

  Duncan blew out a heavy breath. “Can you get it to upgrade?”

  “I think so. But it’ll take some time, and there are no guarantees. I’d still feel more comfortable if you had someone check it after I’m done.”

  Duncan made a non-committal noise. “How long will it take you?”

  “Probably all night.” Paul shrugged apologetically. “Maybe even all day tomorrow, too.”

  Mandy groaned. “I think it’s time we ordered in some pizza.”

  “No phones,” Duncan reminded her absently, as he stared at the screen and Paul pointed something out to him.

  Mandy flopped back onto the couch, pouting. “I could go and pick some up? There’s that nice place on the corner.”

  “I don’t want you going anywhere alone at the moment. Not at night, anyway. If you need help, you’ll have no way to contact me.” He cleared his throat. “Us,” he clarified.

  “Not even—”

  “No.”

  It was going to be a long night.

  Mandy remembered the brewed coffee still in the break room, so she left her comfortable seat to get some caffeine in her veins. If they were going to be here all night, she might as well be buzzed for it. And she needed to get away from Duncan and whatever had almost happened between them in there. Her heart still hadn’t settled back to normal pace.

  Feeling itchy without her phone or access to the internet all day, Mandy flicked on the television as she sipped her brew. The news report jumped from one segment, straight into another. Mandy gasped in shock as Sierra’s face popped on screen.

  She listened intently, trying to absorb every word. Then, she strode back into Duncan’s office.

  “We have a problem,” she announced.

  Chapter 29

  “All right, this is as secure as I can make it without Paul or someone to check it. I only know the basics when it comes to computer security.” Blake plonked the laptop down in front of her with a clatter. She was in the kitchen, figuring it had the most neutral background and the high table would give a more flattering angle from the webcam.

  She glanced up at his tight face, his reluctance clear. “I’m going to have to log in to social media to do this,” she told him. “I think it’s best if I stream live so no one can think it’s doctored.”

  Blake grunted, unimpressed, but didn’t say anything to contradict her. He just slid into the seat next to her and messed with t
he settings. Sierra was briefly distracted by the sight of his nimble hand on the keys, and the memory of what that hand had done to her during their night of passion.

  “And we should think of a cover story,” she blurted out.

  He froze. “Isn’t your reluctance to tell the truth what got us into this mess in the first place?”

  “Yes, but it’s too late now. Anything I say will be deemed suspicious. We have to make it sound as plausible as possible, and serial killer stalkers are not very plausible.”

  Blake glanced up, looking like he was pleading with some higher power. “So, what’s your cover story?”

  “Well, obviously, we are a couple that has hidden away for a romantic getaway.”

  The look on his face was priceless. “That’s a terrible idea.”

  “Do you have a better one?”

  “Duncan will kill me.” His eyes were wide with the panic of a man who could sense his own defeat. “We can’t plaster ourselves over social media as a couple.”

  “It’s the most plausible explanation of why I would drop everything and go on a spontaneous holiday. I am a woman newly in love.” She bared her teeth in a predatory smile.

  “Lo—Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “If I just say that I went on a mini-break with my lover, it won’t be a lie.”

  “We aren’t—”

  “We are,” she interrupted firmly. “Whether you accept it or not, we did sleep together. We became lovers.” Needling him was more fun than she expected. He deserved some winding up after the way he’d treated her. And, besides, she was curious about his reaction. How did he feel about her?

  She understood him much better now, and forgiveness lurked in the corner of her mind. She wasn’t ready to wholly trust him yet, but she wasn’t willing to completely rule it out for the future, either.