by Linzi Baxter
I laughed then looked at his face. He was serious. “Shouldn't you have done that before we drove into your yard?”
“Nah. I know where they are.”
That wasn’t too reassuring. Zane made a couple of clicks on his phone and nodded.
Who the fuck puts landmines around their house? This is crazy people stuff.
“Are you sure you got them all?”
Zane jumped out of the SUV and grabbed the bags of food from the back seat. When he was halfway up the drive, he turned. I hadn't made it out of the SUV yet. I wasn’t sure if I would ever get out of the vehicle. But knowing I couldn’t sit in the car all night, I got out and started toward the door. The sun was going down, and I was getting tired.
The inside of the cabin was warm and inviting. I expected a chair and TV, but Zane surprised me. The walls displayed photos of him, Zack, and Georgia. The living room looked into the kitchen, which had beautiful granite countertops and cherry cabinets.
“Not what you expected?”
It was scary how the man could read my mind.
“Run and take a shower. While you’re in there, I will lay clothes out for you on the bed.” Zane turned and started to put the food away.
A hot shower sounded like a good idea. I headed back to his bedroom to find a master bath. The marble shower was huge. It could fit at least four people. The rainfall shower head hanging from the ceiling was calling my name.
I spent close to a half hour in the shower. It was refreshing. I grabbed the fluffy white towel from the rack to go see what Zane had laid out for me. When I opened the door to the bedroom, I stopped in my tracks. Zane was in a pair of boxers, leaning over to dig through a drawer. The man had a light sheen of water on his body from a shower, and his muscles flexed as he rose. My mouth went dry. The man filled every fantasy my brain conjured.
Zane turned. His tight butt that made my mouth water.
“Like what you see?”
Cocky bastard. “I’ve seen better.”
“Sure you have.” He winked.
I couldn’t take my eyes off him. When he found the clothes he wanted, he gave me another wink and left the room. The man knew what he was doing.
A shirt and a pair of sweats were waiting for me on the bed. Even though they were too big, it felt marvelous to change into some clean clothes.
When I went into the living room, Zane was sitting on the couch, watching TV. I sat next to him and fell asleep almost immediately.
The piercing noise of an alarm woke me. It must have also woken Zane. He leaped from the couch, bent down, and grabbed two guns from under the coffee table.
“Here. The safety is off. Shoot first. I will announce myself when I come back.”
“Wait. You're going out alone? And who keeps guns under the coffee table?” A storm must have moved in after I had fallen asleep, because. I could hear the steady pounding of water hitting the log cabin.
“Yes, and I do. Stay.”
Zane left through the front door, leaving me to wonder if he would be back or if was I going to die.
6
Sophie
Ten minutes and thirty-six seconds. That was how long it had been since Zane walked out the door. All I could hear was the rain that pummeled the roof and the thunder that shook the cabin. Trying to keep my mind off Zane getting killed by the intruder, I counted the seconds between the flash of lightning and the bang of the thunder. The lighting was close. I started to worry that Zane might get taken out by lightning or that the bad guy would make his way in. Zane might need help, and I was standing here with a gun pointed at a door that hasn’t moved in ten minutes and fifty seconds. The thought of Zane getting killed made my stomach turn.
Between the ticking of the clock and the cracks of thunder, I knew Zane needed my help. I had never fired a gun before, but it couldn’t be that hard to point and shoot. Not wanting to waste another second, I reached for the door handle and swung the door open. I had the gun in my other hand pointed forward. Outside, a shadowy figure stepped up the first stair to the house.
“Stop, or I’ll shoot.” My voice and hands were shaking, and I was having a hard time focusing on the target in front of me.
“Jesus, Sophie, what are you doing?” At the sound of Zane’s voice, I dropped the gun and ran into his arms. “Well, if I knew this was all I had to do to get you in my arms, I would have sounded the alarm myself earlier.”
Ever since losing my family, I was not good at showing emotion. Most of my life, I let the feelings build up inside me, and kept them there. I was feeling embarrassed by my reaction. I was so thrilled to see that he wasn't killed by an intruder. I peeled myself away from him and shifted toward the house. Zane grabbed my wrist and yanked me into his chest.
“It’s okay to be frightened, Sophie. My stomach curled at the prospect of something happening to you. Let's move inside. I want to change out of my wet clothes.”
Did someone find us? Did we need to move again? “What happened?”
Zane grabbed a towel from the cabinet in the entryway. “One of the perimeter sensors was tripped. I found deer tracks near the sensor. I need to reduce its sensitivity.”
“How can we be assured that it was the deer that caused the alarm to go off?”
Zane pulled out a gadget with the same proportions as a smartphone. On the screen, it showed all the sensors and cameras.
“You going to explain why you left the house? I could have mistook you for an invader?” Anger dripped from his statement.
I could deal with his irritation. The knowledge of someone creeping up on me was another story.
“How long did you expect me to wait for you to come back? You left over ten minutes ago.”
“Next time, pick up the phone, and call Antonio. I realize you worked for the CIA, but it was behind a computer. I served in the field. You don’t have to worry about me.”
It was difficult to hear the words coming out of Zane's mouth. While he was reprimanding me for going outside—which is what I think he was yelling about—he was slowly removing his wet shirt. The rain had been coming down in sheets, and water was running down his bare chest. All I could think about was running my tongue over his muscles.
Zane cocked his head to the side and gave me a knowing glance. “Are you listening, Sophie?”
“Yes. I can listen and watch at the same time. Continue, please.” I had no shame. The man was drop-dead gorgeous. I wasn’t looking for marriage. I just wanted to sleep with the man. Any woman would.
Zane was about to retort, but the buzz of the burner phone brought us out of our discussion. Zane walked over to his go-bag and snatched the phone.
“What?” A couple of clicks later, he had it on speaker phone.
Antonio's voice roared through the phone. “Sophie, did you keep any of the assignment data for the work you performed for Sanchez?” He went straight to the objective. I wasn’t confident how to respond to the query. Director Sanchez had always ordered me to turn over all my analysis after each op. Knowing I didn’t trust him, I had kept a copy. I wasn’t sure how many laws I broke by maintaining government data on my external drive, but I figured it would send me to prison for a lengthy time.
“I suspect she did by the expression on her face. Sophie is wondering whether she should admit to keeping classified documents on her personal computer,” Zane replied.
“Sophie, I guarantee you won't get in trouble. I might give you a kiss if you have them.”
Zane growled back at Antonio.
“I kept a copy of every job.”
“Do you have it with you?”
“No. Why do you need it?”
Antonio let out a sigh. “Brock and I have been looking into the ops you did. None of the cases you worked were on the books for the CIA. Everything you performed was contrary to US interests and made the director lots of wealth. We need confirmation, and if you have the data, it might make it easier to bring him down.”
The knowledge that everything I wo
rked on was for terrorists made my stomach curdle. Needing a second to myself, I sat down on the couch.
“I will call you right back and let you know where you can locate the intelligence.” Zane didn’t wait for Antonio to reply before he clicked the phone off.
The seat next to me on the couch sunk. “How old were you when you started working for the director?”
“A few years after my parents were assassinated. Sanchez showed up on my sixteenth birthday.”
Before my parents were killed, I was heading to a gifted school. The school was extraordinarily expensive. My foster parents couldn't afford to send me. My IQ was off the chart, and I had a photographic memory.
“What did he have you do?”
“I was superb at puzzles and figuring out codes. Sanchez said he had a game for me to test what level I was at. Each time he came or called, he would have a new code for me to break. At the time, I didn't know what I was doing. The older I got, the more I looked at what I was doing. In the early days, he saw how I took to computers, so he supplied me with a computer and gave me network and coding books.”
“Who was taking care of you during this time?”
“When I woke up in the hospital, and they told me about my parents and sister, a nice couple was waiting for me and took me home with them.”
“Hmmm. So, none of your family claimed you?
“My parents always said their family was dead, and we only had each other. That was all we ever needed.”
“How were you not put in official foster care?”
“I never thought about it. Remembering that part of my life brings up too many bad memories.”
I hadn’t thought back to those days in some years. The more I thought about it, the less sense it made. The police should have turned me over to protective custody.
“What are you thinking about?”
“You're right. It makes little sense. The police came to my hospital room and took my statement when I woke up. My new parents were there before the police ever came. It was like the call was made before my parents…”
Zane must have caught track of my thinking. “Let's take this one step at a time. We need to find your sister before he moves her out of our grasp. After we get your sister back, we will see if Sanchez was responsible for your parents’ deaths. Lastly, we turn the info over to my brother. Take my word for it. If he killed your parents, I will let you take the shot.”
I’d waited years to figure out what happened to my family. Over the last day, I had discovered that everything I had known was false. “Won’t your brother be mad for us not bringing him in?”
Zane let out a chuckle. “Let me worry about my brother. Where do you have the data hidden?”
It seemed so many people had conspired against me over the years. If I gave up this data, would I lose all the leverage I had against the man who might have hired people to kill my parents? I knew of one person I could trust more than anyone.
“Can I see the burner phone?”
For a second, it looked like I would not get what I wanted. Finally, Zane handed me the phone.
A couple of rings later, Bridget answered. “Whoever the fuck you are, do you know what fucking time it is? I have a baby and bar—”
“Shut up.”
“Sophie?”
“Yes. I need you to do me a favor.” I could hear the sheets rustling and Alex asking her something.
“Shoot.”
“Antonio will show up once I call him. You know where my hiding spot is, right?” Bridget and I both had a place picked out where we kept things, and the other one knew where it was so that if we ever got in trouble, she could get rid of whatever was there.
“I have it and moved it.”
I knew I could count on her.
“I need you to upload it to our server then hand it over to Brock and Antonio.” Bridget and I also had a server not attached to White Hat. It was part of our doomsday plan.
“Already uploaded. Do you not fucking know who I am? That shit was uploaded and moved before Agent Asshole put you in the car.”
“Thank you. I will talk to you soon.” Not waiting for her reply, I clicked off the phone and handed it back to Zane.
“Why are you having the data uploaded?” He sounded irritated. I wasn’t going by his plan. No way was I going to sit around and wait for Brock and Antonio to reanalyze all the data for the cases I worked.
I pointed at the phone in his hand. “You can tell Antonio that Bridget has the hard drive with everything he needs.”
Not needing to hear the conversation, I turned and headed for the kitchen. I needed something to drink and then a laptop. The wine cabinet next to the fridge was fully stocked. I reached for a bottle of red. I wasn't picky at the moment. A minute later, I had the liquid gold open, a filled wine glass in hand, and was on the hunt for a laptop.
Walking into the living room, I spotted a laptop laying on the coffee table. I swapped the wine bottle for the laptop.
A few seconds later, I bypassed Zane’s password and bounced my IP around Russia. Once I knew my IP was off the grid, I logged into the server Bridget and I had and started the download of the data I’d collected over the years.
“You know, you could ask to use my laptop instead of hacking it.” Zane's tone held a hint of amusement.
When I turned my head to reply, I was left speechless. He was standing in the hall, not wearing a shirt, and his sweatpants were hanging low on his hips.
7
Sophie
Working in the mountains had been a nice change of pace. The cool breeze blew across my skin. I took in a deep breath, and the smell of the pine trees made me appreciate the outdoors. The past few days had been a whirlwind of calls.
After three days of sifting through old case files, I was no closer to finding the connection between Sanchez and Yermushin. I cross-referenced all the cases I worked on with information from the CIA. Brock’s finding was correct. The cases Sanchez had me work on were for his gain and not for the government. The money was leading back to the exact spot. But we couldn’t find proof of what the director’s end goal was.
I looked up from the laptop, taking in the landscape and the deer eating in the front yard. No wonder people come to the outdoors to get their mind back in order. It was calming to the soul. Zane had had a great idea to buy this place for a retreat from the real world.
“Find anything?” Zane’s voice startled me. I needed to tie a bell around his neck.
I shook my head. An hour ago, he had asked me the same question. I was having a hard time keeping my hands off the man. The sexual tension was heavy in the little log cabin. I had spent most of today trying to separate myself from him. My self-control was running thin, and I was close to jumping the man’s bones.
“If you need anything, call. I’m going to do a perimeter check.”
I couldn’t help but watch the man walk away. The jeans he wore accented his tight ass and I noticed he added an extra swagger to his walk.
The burner phone rang. I found it buried under a stack of papers on the table. “Hello?”
“You like checking out my ass?” His arrogant tone echoed through the phone. “I could feel your eyes on me.”
“I don’t need to inflate your ego any further.” It was all I could think to say. I was caught.
I heard laughter through the phone before the line went dead. Does that man not know how to say goodbye?
Later, as I was lost in case files, I didn’t hear Zane approach. When he reached down and touched my shoulder, I about jumped out of the chair.
“Fuck! You need to stop sneaking up on me.”
“Sorry. I was going to make dinner. What are you hungry for?”
When we ran out of the food his sister had supplied, we made another food run to the grocery store. The man wasn’t only deadly with a gun, he could cook. Last night we had carbonara. The homemade noodles had melted in my mouth.
At the thought of food, my stomach grumbled. “Su
rprise me.”
Zane
Glancing at the timer, I stirred the jambalaya. The food was taking too long. Why did I have to make something so time-consuming? The woman out on the porch was driving me crazy. Cooking was helping me to keep my mind off of wanting to strip her naked and have my way with her.
I was reaching for the bowls in the top cabinet when I felt her eyes on me. I could always sense when she was near. She didn’t think I knew when she was watching me, but I did. I heard her feet as she walked across the kitchen floor.
Her warm hands wrapped around my waist. I slowly grabbed one wrist at a time. I was close to losing control.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Sophie’s feminine shampoo was strong, and the smell beckoned me.
“Yes.” Her voice was thick with lust.
Needing to have her in my arms, I flicked the switch on the stove. Our dinner could wait until later. I wanted Sophie spread across the bed.
I spun in her arms and nuzzled the delicate spot under her ear. A soft moan escaped her when I ran my tongue along her neckline.
“I’ve wanted to do that for the past three days,” I said before taking a nip of her earlobe. A haggard breath escaped her mouth and her head tilted at an angle. I lowered my mouth to savor a kiss. “You taste better than I could ever imagine.
I slid my hands down her perfect body until my hands were on her tight ass. I spread my hands across the cheeks and grabbed her ass. When I went to pull her up against me, she jumped and wrapped her legs around my waist.
The need to possess her was so intense that it took over my control. I could barely think straight. Her fingers knotted behind my head. Our tongues danced. She tasted so pure and sweet. I headed down the hall with her wrapped around my body.
She nipped at my lip. Emerald green eyes met my gaze. Her lips were turned up into a smile. Needing to see what this woman looked like naked, I tossed her on the bed and ripped off my shirt. Sophie laid on the bed, her fiery red hair spread across the white comforter. Her eyes were focused only on me.
