“Aren’t you expecting Frank back soon?” Abigail asked, looking up from the spreadsheets on her laptop. Her eyes were crossing from all the information stored there.
“It’s Castello’s condo. He knows the code.” Luke sauntered over, his gun still in the holster around his shoulders. “I think you and I need to talk.”
Quickly, she looked back at the spreadsheets. “I’m not done here.”
“It can wait until morning,” he said, reaching over her shoulder and gently closing the computer, then turning her head to stare into her eyes. “I want you to tell me what happened back there.”
“Back where?” she asked, even though she knew he was talking about her reaction to the conversation about cybersex. She didn’t want to have this conversation with anyone and certainly not Luke, ever.
He took her hand and pulled her up, capturing her lips with his in a soft, pleasurable kiss—no heat, just a man kissing a woman. “Come with me,” he said when he broke the kiss.
Dreading the embarrassment to come, she let him lead her over to the leather sofa. He sank down beside her, leaning so he was nearly stretched out on the sofa and she was snuggled on top of him. Pulling her in close to his body, he took the scarlet-and-grey afghan and draped it around her. The cocoon of warmth relaxed her as he held her close and stroked her hair.
“You went completely pale when you realized the women had been having cybersex with their captors before being taken. Why?”
She kept the side of her face pressed against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart. “Who wouldn’t be? The men used something so intimate to gain their trust and lure them into danger.”
“But that wasn’t the only reason you were so upset, is it?”
Damn. The man was the definition of persistence.
A moment or two passed before she answered. “No.”
He cupped her face in his hands, gently turning her until their gazes met. “Abby, you can tell me. I promise it’s not as bad as you’ve imagined.”
Yeah, right. When he heard her story, he’d see just how pathetic she was.
“Abby, have you had cybersex with someone?”
Heat burst into her face and she lowered her eyes, breaking the connection. “Yes. Well, almost.”
A deep rumble sounded in his chest. He was laughing at her? Her eyes shot back up to see the smile on his face and the corners of his eyes crinkled with mirth. She swatted him on the shoulder. “Don’t laugh at me. I know it’s pathetic.”
He captured her hand in his and brought it up to kiss her knuckles. “I’m not laughing at the fact that you had cybersex.”
She pursed her lips together and arched one brow. “Really?”
“No. It’s the almost that’s funny.” She tried to pull away, but he held her firm. “You know lots of people have cybersex these days.”
“They do?”
“Sure. Couples who live long distance do it. Couples who are bicoastal or travel extensively for their work.”
She gave a halfhearted nod, admitting he did have a point. “But they’re couples. I doubt that people do it with complete strangers, like our girls did.” Or I almost did.
“More than you think. Some people have cybersex just for the fun of it or the fantasy of being with a stranger. Some like it because there’s no strings attached.”
For someone whom women threw themselves at, he seemed to know a lot about the whys of people having cybersex. She narrowed her eyes and turned her head slightly. “Oh my God, you’ve done it.”
“Yes.” The answer was straightforward and honest. She stared into his eyes, the humor almost gone.
“How many times? Once?”
“A few times. Mostly when I’ve been on long assignments.”
“With girlfriends?” The question was out of her mouth before she could stop it.
“No,” he said, smoothing a lock of her hair behind one ear. “I preferred anonymity. At the time, I thought it served the purpose. I needed a release, someone was on-line to provide the temporary sensation. But now I’m thinking it was a very hollow effort.”
“Why?” Other than when he told her about his dreams of her, she’d never seen him this open about anything—certainly nothing this intimate.
He leaned in and captured her lips in a warm kiss for a moment. “Because of you. Because of last night.”
“Me? Last night?” She knew she sounded like a parrot mimicking him, but her heart was pounding so hard it was making it difficult to comprehend what he meant.
The humor returned to the corners of his eyes. She was beginning to like that look.
“Last night was beyond incredible, sweetheart.” He caught her lips again for a quick kiss. “It also showed me what I’ve been missing. Sex, physical or cyber, is just a body function unless it’s with someone you care about.”
The words slammed into her heart.
“You care about me?”
He cupped her face again with his warm hands, his thumbs brushing against her cheeks as their gazes locked. “I suspect I did from the moment we first met, although I didn’t want to admit it.”
She laughed. “Admit it? You did your best to make me think you thought I was incompetent and not anyone you’d ever be interested in. Even the night of graduation when I threw myself at you.”
“Oh, I was interested, all right.”
She stared at him open-mouthed for a moment. “I know I was drunk, but I was kissing you and before I knew it you were pushing me away, telling me to stop.”
“Hold it right there. I think you missed a whole lot of what happened that night.”
“I did?” She narrowed her eyes. “We went out as a group to the bar and billiards room down off campus from the FLETC facility. Right?”
“Right.”
“The bunch of us drank, played pool and danced. Right?”
Yeah, she’d been dancing with half the guys from their class, getting drunker by the minute. He’d stayed sober just to keep an eye on her. After the hell he’d put her through it seemed only fair that she get to cut loose before learning she’d be back in Washington at a desk.
“Then you took me home. I threw myself at you and you left me standing there like an idiot.”
“What you didn’t see was the bet the guys in the class had going on over who could get you naked first.” His jaw clenched at the memory. He’d wanted to take them all outside and beat them senseless.
“So you wanted to win the bet?” Her eyes were wide with shock and anger.
“Dammit, no. I wanted to be sure you got home safe. I also realized how drunk you were. Despite what you and the others might think, I do not take advantage of women in that state. No matter how much I wanted to follow up on that kiss that night.”
“So you were saving me from my own stupid—”
He stopped her with another kiss, long, slow, hot. Tongues tangling, lips devouring. She couldn’t get enough of his taste—hot, spicy, masculine. A whimper sounded in her throat and she wiggled up to get even with him, her lower stomach grazing against the hard erection just behind his jeans. He groaned against her lips, the rumble in his chest teasing her aching nipples as he slid his hands up under her sweater, their warmth sliding over her back sending heat straight to her core.
The garage door motor rumbled on the other side of the kitchen.
They froze.
“That’s going to be Castello,” Luke murmured against her lips as he eased his hands out of her sweater. “We’ll continue this conversation later.”
“Just the conversation?” she whispered.
“More, if there’s time.” He winked at her then eased them both up to a sitting position. “Depends on what Frank has to say.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Frank strode into the room and dropped down into the leather chair across from them, more than the usual tension lined his face.
Luke draped his arm around Abby’s shoulders and pulled her a little closer. Frank hadn’t said a wor
d and already Luke didn’t like whatever news he had. “What took you so long?”
“Paolo gave me the address with a little verbal arm-twisting and I went to check it out.”
“What did you find?” The little hairs on his neck started twitching.
“Not much security protocol beyond the main entrance gate, from what I can tell.”
Luke nodded. “Good.”
“That is, until you get to the house and out back where they have a dock onto the lake.” Frank looked over at Abby then back at him, twisting his mouth a moment before continuing, apparently deciding what to tell them. “They brought in a shipment by boat while I was there.”
“A shipment?” Abby asked, her body tensing beside Luke’s.
Frank ran his hand over his face. “Our boys aren’t just dealing in just kidnapping women here in the states. They’ve gone international. At least six Asian women were brought in by boat. Each of them chained from the neck to cuffs on their wrists. Drugged, too.”
“Oh, God,” Abby whispered.
“Shit,” was all Luke could say to the sudden sense of rage that hit him even as he drew her in tighter.
Frank stared straight at him, no compromise in his face. “Yeah. If they’re bringing women into the States, they’re just as likely to be sending them overseas, too.”
“Brianna.” Abby turned to look up at Luke, fear widening her eyes. “What if they plan to sell her and move her out of the country? We’ll never find her then.”
“We’ll do everything possible to find her before that happens.” He knew he shouldn’t make her that promise, but he meant every word. He would do everything in his power to find her friend.
“Shipments!” Abby nearly vaulted off the couch and dashed to her laptop.
Luke and Castello exchange curious looks, but followed her.
“Why didn’t I see it?” Abby asked, more to herself than to them, her fingers quickly flying over the keyboard.
Luke leaned in to see the spreadsheets fly past once more. She’d been working through them before he’d decided they needed to discuss cybersex. “What are you looking for?”
“Shipments. Boats. Canada.” Abby slowed her fingers on the keyboard, then ran her index finger down the columns of one. “Brianna took over as Hollister-Klein’s Controller just a few months ago. First thing she would’ve done was her own audit of the company’s records. She would work backwards, the newest accounts more pressing, but she was thorough. She would’ve checked every account the previous department head okayed, ever.”
“What would she be looking for?” Castello asked, standing on the other side of Abby, one brow lifted in curiosity.
“Any discrepancies that might come back to bite her in the…butt,” she said, a light blush coming to her cheeks as she edited her words for Castello.
Luke bit back a laugh. The Marshal had no problem swearing when the mood hit him.
“She would’ve wanted to know if the person she replaced had done their job,” Abby continued, “or if there might be questions of fraud she’d have to deal with.”
Luke nodded. “Easiest time to find it is when there’s a shakeup in management. But if they were using the company to hide their slave trade, why would they hire someone as diligent as your friend? Surely they’d know the first thing she would do is hire someone to do a back audit.”
Abby grinned at him, her eyes sparkling. “You forget, Brianna was good at manipulating men. She let them think she was helpless and not nearly as intelligent as she was. I’d bet they advanced her to be a trophy girl. Pretty, but not too smart.”
“Eye candy,” Frank said.
Abby nodded. “Right. And she wouldn’t have wanted to let them know any different until she’d made sure everything was on the up-and-up, and that her job was secure.”
“So she did the audit herself.” Luke saw where she was going with this. “Quietly and on the side.”
“And she found this.” She enlarged the section of the spreadsheet and pointed to a column.
“What is that?” Frank asked, leaning in and staring at a screen full of numbers.
“That is a bill of lading out of Toronto and Vancouver.”
“They’re international importers and exporters, Abby.” Luke loved watching how her brain worked and she’d found something.
“I know. And everything matches except for once a month this year, when cargo was received, but no payable amount was dispersed and cargo sent was not billed for.” Using her finger to follow the lines, she led them over to the other columns with the missing holes. “It only happened for one year, then there are no further monthly shipments noted to that port with missing bills.”
Damn, she was right. “Someone got wise and started keeping a second set of books for these shipments. How far back did she have to go to find this?”
“Five years.”
Castello let out a low whistle. “That’s determination.”
“Brianna used to say, men will lie, the numbers shouldn’t.” She tapped the screen with her finger. “This is what she wanted to talk to me about. And I’ll bet she was smart enough to put whatever she stumbled upon on the dating sites with these shipments.”
“Do you think she approached anyone at the company about it?” Luke asked.
She gave a little shrug. “The logical thing would be to take the information to her boss, Ryan Baxter, Hollister-Klein’s CFO.” Suddenly she lifted her head, her eyes dancing as if she were searching through images again. “What was the name of the Senator’s son again? The one that was at the auction.”
“Dylan. Dylan Klein,” Luke answered. “Why? Do you think she might’ve known him? Might’ve gone to him with the information?”
Without answering, she pulled up the official site for Hollister-Klein. “What if she didn’t go to Baxter? This is Dylan Klein, the CEO of the company. What if she went to him instead?”
“Gutsy move, leapfrogging her superior,” Castello said.
Luke nodded his agreement. “What makes you think she did that?”
A slow smile spread over Abby’s lips and he so wanted to kiss her even before he heard what brilliant thing she’d figured out. She typed in another few words and up popped the pages she’d recreated from her friend’s day planner and pointed at the name Dylan several times over the pages. “Because she was dating him.”
* * * * *
“Come here, Brie,” Dylan said in a quiet command, holding his hand out to Brianna.
Dread slithered up her spine. She should turn and run, but she’d heard the key in the lock after the pair of henchmen had closed the door behind her. There was no escape. And he knew it.
Slowly, she made her way across the room. The shivers she tried to control came only partially from her nude state, which made her feel even more vulnerable than when the men had attacked her in her condo. Fear danced a merry tune across her body, but she needed to brave this out somehow. She’d known he’d asked her out because he wanted her as a trophy to show off to other men, and she’d allowed him to think she was nothing more than an airhead with a great body and beautiful face. As skilled as she’d been at reading men, Dylan had been equally talented at hiding his true nature behind a suave and sophisticated mask. All their times together, he’d never shown his temper. Never, until he’d hit her earlier.
So what game was he playing now?
Slipping her uninjured hand into his, she didn’t fight the tremble that started in her fingers and ran up her arm. He led her forward until she stood between his spread thighs, the warm fire at her back.
“Oh, little Bri, what have they done to you?” he said, his eyes looking her over from her toes up to her face. Too bad his sympathetic words didn’t reflect in his eyes. Instead, there was a heat she’d never seen before.
Dear God, the cuts and bruises turned him on.
“I hurt all over, Dylan,” she whispered just to see his reaction. There it was. Fire in his eyes.
He traced a finger up her ch
eek. “Have you seen your face?”
Tears welled up and she let them slide down. “No.” And she didn’t need to. She could hardly breathe through her nose from where they’d smashed it in the first day, blood caked inside and clogging it. One eye was nearly swollen shut. Her lips felt inches thick and the cuts along them stung every time she talked.
“Such a shame my men damaged so rare a beauty as yours. But it’s your own fault, sweetheart,” he said, letting his hands trails down her arms. She tried not to wince when he squeezed the left one just above the elbow where dark bruises covered it.
“It is?” He was crazy if he thought she’d take the blame for this torture.
He slid his hands down her sides, past the ribs she was certain were broken on both sides, because it hurt too damn much to inhale.
“You shouldn’t have gone snooping into things that weren’t your business,” he said, letting his hands glide over the knife cuts on her thighs. “I see Bertram decided to practice his knife skills on you. He has quite the talent, wouldn’t you say? Able to inflict enough pain and bloodshed without really risking your death too soon.”
He was crazy. And crazy was tricky to manipulate.
Not waiting for her answer, he moved his hands between her thighs, making her open them wider with a nudge.
She obeyed. Her survival might very well depend on which one of them played this game of seduction and lies better.
* * * * *
“You’re going to need to move up the timetable,” Frank said, drawing their attention again.
“Why?” Luke asked, already dreading the answer. “We’ve started a profile on the dating sites to see if we can make contact with whoever is drawing the women into their scheme. It’s only been up tonight. Will take a little more time than that.”
Frank shook his head. “Won’t work. Paolo, the caterer, also told me he’d been hired for another event this Friday night.”
Two days.
“If they’re planning to ship Bonnie out of there, it will be during or right after that party,” he said, his mind already trying to find a way to get into the mansion. “We could go in with the caterers.”
VANISHED, A Romantic Suspense Novel (Edgars Family Novel) Page 19
