Jewell (The Kings of Guardian Book 8)

by Kris Michaels

  "Do you see what I mean?" Zane interrupted her explanation.

  Jewell sent him a look that could freeze hell over. He had no right to interrupt. "Why in the hell is he here?"

  "Yeah." Jason motioned to Zane. "Give us a minute?" Zane gave a curt nod of his head, did an about face and left.

  "Why is he here?" She shook. Vista's threat wrapped around her almost as tightly as her fear. She reached into her mini fridge. Jason took the energy drink out of her hand as she withdrew it.

  "Hey, that's mine. There's plenty in here, all you had to do was ask." She reached back for another.

  "Jewell, stop. When was the last time you went home and slept more than three hours?"

  She frowned at him when he put the drink back into the fridge. "I don't know? And why does that matter? I'm doing my job. Granted, the report on Vista is late, but I've handled everything else." She pushed her chair back and stood to look out the one-way mirror of her office windows to the pit where her people worked. Yvette sat at her station, so it was… shit… "Jason, why are you here in the middle of the night?"

  "I could ask the same question of you."

  "I don't have a family at home." She didn't actually have a life outside this office, except gaming, but hey, whatever. She plopped back down in her chair.

  "Jewell, Zane opened my eyes to the impossible amount of pressure we are putting you under, and that is during normal operations. This Vista threat is real. You've jeopardized his way of making a living. Hell, you've beaten him in a very public way. Like it or not, you are a target. I'm going to pull Tori in, and we'll use her connections to see if they can help find this bastard. I'll call in favors from the four corners of the earth and leverage anything Gabriel has to offer to make an ID on this bastard. No one threatens my family without the entire might of this company raining down on them. The Bravata thought they could threaten us. They couldn't. This fucker isn't going to get away with it either. Zane is your full-time protection."

  "No!" She leaned back in her chair and ran her hands through her bangs pulling them down over her face. She didn't want this. No, no, no. She'd let Zane stay before and had even been nice to him, sometimes, and then he left her, without a word. She… she'd grown used to him and damn it, she'd even started to depend on him, and when he'd left, there'd been a hole, an empty space. It hurt. "Anyone else. I don't care who. Fuck it, Jason, I'll stay here 24/7. Revoke my ability to exit the building. Vista can't reach me here."

  "No. In fact, the reason I want Zane to watch over you is so you can leave. Damn it, of course I want you to leave the fucking building."

  "Why are you doing this?"

  "Because I love you. We've neglected and used you for far too long. You're going to get additional help. You will train your most trusted people to do the functions that only you are doing now. If God forbid, you died tomorrow, they'd need to know how to fill your shoes. You will also work eight hours a day—"

  "No one works eight hours a day!" Jewell launched from her chair.

  "Granted. You can work ten hours, and you will take two days off a week." Jason stood and towered over her. That didn't faze her; she was used to her brothers trying to intimidate her.

  Her body shook but this time not in fear. Anger, or exhaustion, or both, fueled this reaction. Bullshit coated the situation, and she hated the smell of the entire thing. "Fine, I agree to all that, but not to him!" She threw her arm behind her pointing out the window to where she knew Zane was standing.

  "Sorry, non-negotiable." Jason crossed his arms over his chest.

  Jewell stepped back and mimicked his stance. "Fine, I quit."

  "No you don't, and even if you did, he'd still be assigned as your security detail because that hacker is a legitimate threat. I will not lose my sister to a fucking maniacal geek, and the best way I can protect you is that man standing out there."

  "Why is he the only option? You have a thousand people working for you!"

  "Only one of them knows you better than anyone else, and like it or not it is that man. He is uniquely qualified to take care of you. This is not open for debate. As your boss, I am ordering you to comply. As your brother, I'm begging you to listen to sense and stop being a hard headed tool about this. I'm not stupid enough to think you didn't look into him the second he showed up in your section. You know he's damn good at what he does, and I know he will take care of you better than anyone else in this organization. You will do as he says when he says to do it. He has my full backing. Period, end of discussion."

  Jewell turned away. She felt tears sting the back of her eyes and she sure as hell didn't want Jason to see them. She was exhausted. She was scared. The threat was hard to process especially when she added a helping of blond hair, brown-eyed Zane. She had looked into his background, but it had been coded, and she'd respected the agency's need to keep his past hidden. She tried damn hard not to speculate what he'd been doing for the company. Having him back in her life was a recipe for disaster because for some reason he made her insane enough to depend on him.

  "Fine." She barely whispered the words, but Jason heard her. His large hands circled her upper arms, and he dropped a kiss on her hair. "I love you, Button. Do your work, listen to Zane, and everything will be fine."

  Jewell swiped at a stray tear that pushed over her lashes and trekked down her cheek. Damn Jason for using her childhood nickname. Her father had once said she was as cute as a button and her brothers had called her Button ever since. He dropped his hands, and she heard him walk across the room. "Do me a favor and clean this disaster up?" Jewell laughed at the comment despite how overwhelmed she felt. She turned to watch her brother talk to Zane through her window. The conversation lasted several minutes and ended with a handshake. She'd give anything to have had a microphone in the room. Jewell grabbed her tablet and wrote that thought down. Not a bad idea. She could monitor the pit and hear them if they needed her. She dropped into her chair and opened a program. If she designed it so it was voice activated, the recordings data storage could be minimized. Of course, she'd need to disclose the microphone to her people, but hey if she wanted to, she could hack into their computers, not like any of them could hide anything from her anyway.

  "Are you ready to go home?"

  Jewell jumped, slinging her stylus into the air. "Holy Fuck!" She grabbed at her chest. Her heart pounded against her ribcage.

  "I'm sorry. You were in a zone, but it looked like you'd finished what you were working on." Zane's gravelly voice was altogether too calm. He'd taken off his suit jacket, his broad shoulders splendidly magnified by the tailor made shirt.

  Jewell looked past him to four, huge, black garbage bags. She'd totally zoned out and hadn't heard him picking up her office. "I don't need you to clean up after me."

  "Obviously someone needs to."

  If he'd had an ounce of smugness in his voice, she'd have torn him a new one, but of course, he didn't. No, not Zane. God forbid he take any offense. "Listen, I don't want you here."

  "I know." He shrugged into his suit jacket and tugged the cuffs of his shirt down.

  "Then why in the name of… anything, are you here?" Frustration edged her question making it sound harsh, even to her own ears.

  "I'm here to make sure this hacker doesn't kill you." Zane grabbed three of the bags and turned to her. "Please grab the last bag."

  "He's a hacker, not a murderer." Yeah, the threats she'd received tonight did scare her, but the man was just a computer terrorist. "Scaring people is what he gets off on."

  "I have a question, and I'd appreciate an honest answer." Zane sat the garbage bags down and put his hands in his pockets.

  "Shoot."

  "Has that hacker ever, even once, threatened something that he did not act on?"

  Jewell blinked at the simplicity of the question. She ticked off the things the man had done, the jobs credited to him on
the Dark Net, the way he infiltrated her systems, the viruses that were embedded, the backdoors he'd left himself that she'd found and barricaded. No, he'd always followed through. The hard reality of her current circumstances hit, hard and strong. Jewell lifted her eyes to Zane and shook her head slowly because speaking right now was impossible. Fear choked any words.

  "I'm not your enemy, Jewell. I am here to do the job that was asked of me. Now, are you ready to go home?" He picked up the garbage bags and waited.

  Jewell's hands trembled when she closed out her programs, signed out and turned off her monitors. Her actions were rote and mindless, which was a good thing because right now thinking about anything other than the threat Vista issued wasn't going to happen.

  Chapter Five

  Zane opened Jewell's bedroom door and peeked in. She hadn't moved since he'd last checked on her. He shut the door and glanced at his watch, it was just past 9:00 a.m. They'd made it back to her apartment by 4:30 a.m. He'd waited while she showered and made sure she went to sleep which took maybe thirty seconds once her head hit the pillow.

  He picked up his cell phone and called the Guardian switchboard, asking to be connected to Arch Angel. He had waited less than ten seconds before Jason answered.

  "Problems already?" The humor in the man's voice was nice to hear.

  "No. She's sleeping. I need to go back to my apartment and grab some things. Can you send someone over here to watch her until I get back? She shouldn't wake up for a couple days, but I can't guarantee that."

  "I can do one better than that. I have Jared and Nicolas in my office now, and since they decided to be a pain in my ass, I'll send them over to babysit while you get what you need."

  Great, he just wanted someone to stand by the door, not his section's CEO and COO. "Are you sure? I just need someone to watch things until I get back. I've already made sure the alarms and cameras are in place, and I've added some redundancy in case this freak can countermand the closed system. Once my operational authority is granted and posted, I won't need to contact you for resources."

  "I've already dictated the authority. It should be posted by noon. Jared will be there in about a half hour. His morning meetings were canceled, and you'll soon learn that we Kings take care of each other. I've talked to my brothers, and we agree with your assessment of the pressure Jewell is under. We've decided to take a personal interest in what she is doing, so you'll have each of us checking in and pulling her out of the section. I have every faith that we can protect her so you can have some down time."

  Zane ran his hand through his hair as he paced in front of the kitchen island. "Roger that, sir." He didn't want or need down time. Jewell would be better served by having someone with her 24/7. Someone who knew the woman and would ensure she didn't do something stupid.

  Zane set the phone down after they'd signed off and headed to the kitchen to take inventory. He rolled his eyes at the case of energy drinks in her refrigerator. He removed a plastic gallon of milk that was half full. The expiration date was over two months ago. He shook it. Yep, chunks. Zane found a black trash bag and started pitching. The milk, eggs, sandwich meat that was green and quite possibly crawling away from him, everything went into the garbage bag. If he remembered correctly, most of the contents of the refrigerator was stuff he'd purchased for her before he'd left. She'd obviously been living at her office because there was no garbage here other than a few empty energy drinks. Speaking of which, Zane turned and started clearing out the energy drinks from her fridge. He deposited them into another garbage bag. He tied the bags up and put them by the door. He'd take them out when Jared arrived. He'd also stop on the way back and stock up on food that wasn't trying to make an escape.

  At a soft knock on the door, Zane glanced at the closed-circuit camera feed he'd installed. Jared King stood outside the apartment. Zane unholstered his weapon and held it at his side as he unlatched the security chain and turned the deadbolt. He opened the door and let his superior in. He waited until he'd locked the door before he thumbed the safety on his automatic and put it away.

  "Zane." Jared glanced at three huge garbage bags and looked at him in question.

  "Spoiled food, energy drinks, and garbage." Zane kept his voice low. He didn't want anything to wake his charge. Besides protection, the woman needed sleep, real food, and a decent work and exercise schedule. But he wasn't expecting miracles.

  "Well, shit." Jared took off his jacket and tossed it over the back of one of the overstuffed chairs Jewell never used. "We had no idea. We downloaded her access card activity. I mean I knew she pushed herself hard, but, she's basically been living at the office."

  "Yes, sir." Zane knew only too well how hard the woman worked. While she was safe in the building from the threat that hacker posed, the stress of the job would kill the woman before the hacker could ever reach her.

  "Thank you for opening our eyes to that fact. We're in your debt, not only for that but for agreeing to take over her security. Jason told me about your conditions. You, my friend, have elephant-sized brass balls."

  Zane cleared his throat and nodded. "She doesn't want me here. I had to have the authority to do it."

  "Oh, don't get me wrong, I understand, and I agree. I'm actually impressed. Go do what you need to do." Jared looked toward the kitchen. "Please tell me she has coffee?"

  "Ah… no, actually. I was going to stop on the way back and pick up some food and staples." Zane grabbed the three bags of garbage as he spoke.

  "Figures. Okay, no problem. I'm sure I can con someone into bringing me a gallon or two. Take your time. My next meeting isn't until one." Jared grabbed the television remote and turned it on, muting the volume immediately.

  Zane nodded and let himself out. He deposited the trash and headed across town to his run-down one bedroom apartment to collect what he needed. The place was only a base of operations for him. He had nothing personal here. Everything that meant anything to him was in storage back in Colorado, under an alias, one of several he used to protect his assets.

  It took minutes to gather and pack his clothing and limited grooming items. He grabbed a paper bag and took his perishable food from the refrigerator. His neighbor was a sweet, old woman on a fixed income. She'd invited him over for dinner the night he'd moved in and had adopted him the moment he'd agreed.

  He stepped across the hall and knocked. He saw her approach the door through her peephole and waited while she moved the small step stool over so she could step up and see out. He waited for her to move the stool and unhook two chains and a deadbolt.

  "Zane. Oh, are you leaving again? You only just got back." Mrs. Henshaw opened her door allowing him in. He'd purposefully stocked up on the essentials even knowing that he'd be re-assigned within a couple days. It was his way of making sure Mrs. Henshaw had enough. Her pride wouldn't allow her to accept any help. Her children were scattered around the world and rarely called to check up on her. But she was so proud of all their accomplishments. Zane had heard about each child and grandchild many times.

  "Yes ma'am, my boss called me in last night, or rather this morning. Would you mind keeping an eye on things again?" He sat the bag down and started unloading his food.

  "You know I don't mind. I still have your number. She pointed to a small cork board with his current name and cell phone number posted on a piece of floral paper.

  Zane smiled and winked at the frail woman. "And yet you don't call me to flirt."

  Mrs. Henshaw's face turned a pretty shade of pink as she swatted at him. "Oh, you! I'm sure you have a host of lovely ladies falling for you."

  Mrs. Henshaw's eyes lit up when he set an expensive vanilla bean creamer on the counter. He took his coffee black, but ever since she told him the creamer was a treat she had to give up because it cost too much, he'd bought two large containers each time he was home. He'd even remembered to pull the foil off o
ne and tip a small portion out, so she'd believed he'd bought it for himself.

  "No ma'am, I'm saving my heart for you and your oatmeal cookies." Zane handed her the groceries to put in her refrigerator.

  "Oh, you are shameless. If you let me know when you'll be home next, I'll bake you a batch."

  "I'd love that. Listen, this time I'll be in the city. I have to live in with the person I'm helping so I would appreciate you watching the apartment. But, if you need anything, just give me a call."

  "You are such a good boy. Not everyone can be a home care specialist. I know when my Harvey fell and broke his hip I was beside myself until we got some part time help. You know my children arranged that? I told you how good they were to us when Harvey took ill?" The home healthcare cover story Zane had given Mrs. Henshaw wasn't far from the truth, at least it somewhat resembled what he did… now.

  "Yes, ma'am, you did." Zane leaned back against the counter and watched as she looked up questioningly at him. She'd forgotten. She frowned before she waved a hand in dismissal of the thought that was bothering her.

  "Yes, I'm sure I did. Well, you go and get about your business. I'll watch out for your place. But you make sure you call me a couple days before you come home and I'll cook us dinner and oatmeal cookies for dessert." Her tiny hand patted his forearm. He smiled at her with genuine fondness.

  Zane damn near dropped two bags before he made it to the apartment, but he'd managed to bring up his clothes and the groceries in one trip. He sat the load down and found the key to the apartment only to hear laughter from inside. His hand stopped short of keying the door and listened to another peal of laughter. The melodic sound was beautiful and rare. He opened the door to find Jewell and Nicolas Demarco sitting on the couch, laughing at something on his phone.