There were lots of noises that night. He sat there for a long time, just listening. He didn’t know what to do. He knew this was bad, but his mother had told him to hide. So he hid until it was quiet for a very long time. When he finally came out of the cupboard, when he crawled around the couch to where his mother lay, he pulled her dress up over her bare breasts, aware that it wasn’t proper for her to be like that, then lay his head against her chest, waiting for the sound of her heartbeat to soothe the fear in his chest. But it didn’t, because it wasn’t there.
I woke in a sheen of cold sweat, my heart pounding in my chest.
I should have done something. I should have stopped it.
There was a trial afterward and I attended, testifying to what I saw. The man behind it all, the hotel employee, swore all through the trial and years after he was convicted that it was a case of mistaken identity. He claimed I’d confused him with the real killer, with a man who looked like him. But I was confident then, and I was confident now, that I’d pointed my finger at the right man.
But he never let go of his anger toward me. When he was released from prison, I was the first person he came to see. He had a gun. And he killed the only woman I’d ever loved.
I made sure he paid with his own life that time.
It should have all been in the past, but the murders that had taken place in Louisiana, the murders in California, proved that it wasn’t in the past.
I climbed out of bed and pulled the picture I’d stolen out of the drawer where I’d hidden it. Tattooed on Rosalie Matthias’ body was an oval shape with a flat side and a V-shape at the top. The cops hadn’t been able to identify the symbol, but I knew what it was.
It was the logo for the hotel where my parents were killed.
It was a message. I still wasn’t quite sure where Rosalie Matthias fit in with all of this, but I knew she did. And I knew once I put all the pieces together, once I figured it all out, it would lead me to this new killer. And I would crush him.
My life had already been ruined once by this murder. And then a second time. I wasn’t going to allow it to happen a third.
***
“Where are we on that background search?”
Waverly sighed, stepping back so that I could enter her home. She’d been severed from her position at Dragon despite Megan’s insistence that Waverly had done nothing wrong in regards to the virus that left our computer system vulnerable. The problem was, we couldn’t find any other explanation as to how it had happened, so neither Megan nor I could justify bringing her back.
“There’s not much more,” she said around a mouthful of the toast she was eating. “I told you a month ago, it’s an alias. We’ll probably never know anything more than his credit card number until we get a new clue.”
“Did you look at the postmark on that envelope?”
I’d managed to get a picture of the envelope that was mailed to Adam Price with the blackmail photos inside. I’d given it to Waverly in the hopes that she’d be able to get more information than the cops had done. But no such luck.
“I’m not a miracle worker, Hayden.”
I threw myself down on her couch and sighed. “We have to be able to find something. What about the house in San Diego where Price took Rosalie?”
“Real estate records show that it was leased to a woman named Gina Collins, but it’s another alias.”
Another dead end.
“We’ll find the truth somewhere. You just have to be patient.”
“I’ve been as patient as I think I’m capable of being”
“You still haven’t told me why you’re obsessed with these murders.”
She perched on the arm of a chair, studying me over the top of her toast. I watched her watching me, fascinated with the slight tilt to her eyes, and the way her fingers just seemed so incredibly long and delicate. Her jaw was narrow and her breasts were full. Her body made me feel things I hadn’t felt since Sam. It continued to terrify me.
“There are three sets of these couple murders all together. Each one took place in a city where I lived.”
Waverly’s eyebrows rose. “You didn’t tell me there were two others. I could find the police investigations on them and maybe find a new clue.” She jumped off the chair and rushed over to her computer. “What cities?”
I named the cities and watched as she went to work. It was reassuring, in a strange sort of way, watching her work. At least if she had something to search she might have a chance of actually finding something.
I left and I don’t think she even noticed. That was another thing about Waverly. She wanted me too. At least, I was pretty sure she did. But that didn’t mean I occupied her every waking moment. She was easily distracted from me, from the physical. And she hadn’t once suggested we start up that side of our relationship again since we began working on this together over a month ago.
She sent all these crazy signals. Sometimes I thought she was into me and that puffed up my ego and made it easier to ignore her. But other times it seemed like I might as well be a eunuch or something.
I arrived at the office, pulling into my regular spot across the street from the building. Amelia was just getting out of her car—as she always seemed to be each and every morning—and came over, a cup of coffee in each hand.
“Plain black,” she told me as she offered one to me.
“Thanks.”
“I don’t know how you can drink it like that when there are so many other flavors you can try.”
“I like it like this.”
“Have you ever had a latte? Or a chai tea?”
“No.”
“You should try one sometime. You might like it.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
I walked a little faster, my thoughts still back with Waverly. Amelia rushed to keep up, still chattering about lattes and syrups and milk and shit I wasn’t even listening to.
We walked through the doors and had to wait at the security desk. Ever since someone shot up the lobby, Megan had started a new security protocol that required everyone, visitors and employees alike, to check in with the security personnel in the lobby. Not that it would have prevented the shooting. That was a drive by inspired by a case one of our operatives had been working on at the time. It would have happened anyway. It could still happen. But the security measures made Megan feel better.
“Everyone seems to be pairing off.”
“What?”
Amelia gestured to the man standing a few feet in front of us. It was Peter, Megan’s brother. He was talking into his cellphone to his girlfriend, a very pregnant young woman who was due to give birth practically any moment. It was almost amusing to catch little pieces of the conversation—something about false labor. I’d known Peter quite a while, not counting the two years he spent as a hostage to a madman. He was a kind, gentle person. Fatherhood would only make him kinder.
It had made Luke into a different man, too. I wondered what it would do for me if I ever had the chance to be a father.
Sam would have made a great mother.
“Someone help me.”
I spun around at the cry for help and found myself staring at a man covered in blood. There was blood on his clothes, on his hands, smeared across his face. He was holding his hands up as though to show he had no weapon. My first thought was that he was injured, but I couldn’t see any obvious wounds.
“What happened to you?” Amelia asked him, approaching cautiously.
“There was a girl in my bed. Her throat cut,” the man said with an Irish brogue. “She wasn’t there when I went to bed last night.”
“But she’s there now?”
“Yes. I called the police, but I can’t talk to them. They’ll think I did it!”
“Did you?”
“No, of course not.”
“Do you know who that is?” Peter asked somewhere near my ear. “That’s Rowan McGregor. He’s a tech genius.”
My mind went to computer viruses and st
olen information. To murders and messages tattooed on a woman’s body. My mind went to a dark place, always questioning now whether ordinary things had been turned extraordinary by the person stalking me, stalking my past.
Was this something to do with that? Was this just another pawn in that game?
“Amelia? Take him upstairs. Let’s get him out of public view.”
Even if it was another part of the game, Rowan was asking for help. Dragon never turned away someone asking for help.
AMELIA
Prologue
Rowan
I walked into the party and immediately cast a glance around the room. In less than five seconds I’d pinpointed every person I needed to avoid and everyone I needed to rub shoulders with. And then I hesitated because a face I hadn’t anticipated seeing here suddenly popped out of nowhere, a knowing smile telling me everything I needed to know.
I was in trouble.
I pushed down the sudden wave of panic that engulfed me as someone came up to greet me, forcing a relaxed persona that was the total opposite of what was going on in my head.
How had I gotten myself into this situation? How was I going to get myself out?
I’d known from the beginning that getting myself involved in this dark drama would test my moral code, that it would force me out of my comfort zone and into a place that I might not be able to control. I never imagined it would take me to this level, however, and I was regretting ever taking that meeting, ever getting to know those people, ever leaving a good but quiet life in order to find an outlet for an ambition my mother always said would lead to my demise. But I was here now and, ironically enough, my moral code would definitely be in danger if I backed out at this point.
Momma would be pleased when I admitted that she was right about this one.
Chapter 1
Amelia
I sat out in my car and waited, watching for Hayden to arrive. He always arrived at the same time, no matter what might be going on or what he’d been up to the night before. Always right on time, always fresh out of the shower, his hair even damp from time to time. And always in an expensive suit. He looked ill at ease in the suit, but he always wore it.
He was incredibly hot in that suit. But I imagined he’d be pretty hot out of it, too.
I glanced toward the front windows of the office building, wondering who was standing inside the second floor operators’ pit looking down at me. I knew that Kasey was aware that I hung out in the parking lot most mornings. He’d teased me about it once or twice. But Kasey had been busy lately.
And Kevin … but Kevin wasn’t around anymore. He’d quit to go run a ranch with his girlfriend. There was Rhett, too, but she’d been busy the last few months with her new boyfriend. It seemed like everyone was pairing off, finding someone to share their lives with.
If Hayden would just notice me …
It was like being in high school and all my friends got carnations for Valentine’s Day except for me. Or they were all buying dresses for prom and I was sitting in the background, waiting impatiently for someone to notice me.
I wasn’t an unattractive woman. At least, I didn’t think so. I was overweight as a teenager, but I started working out when I decided to go into the navy and ended up so thin that they put me on extra rations during basic. I’d been thin ever since, thanks to the discovery that I actually liked running. I still like chocolate and butter and steak, but running was my stress reliever. And my body showed the pleasant side effects of running ten miles four times a week.
A boyfriend I had just after I got out of the navy said I was too independent, too determined to do everything myself. He said that he once wondered if there was any point in trying to seduce me because I was just going to take over and bark orders.
I didn’t think I was that controlling. He was just an ego maniac. Being with a strong woman just offended something in his pride.
There hadn’t been anyone since him. It was difficult maintaining a relationship in this job. I’d make dates and then I’d be called out of town to protect some CEO or to work undercover to prove to some rich wife that her young arm candy husband wasn’t cheating on her—even though he almost always was. Besides, I loved my job. I much preferred to be on the job rather than sitting across from some blind date that my sister thought would be perfect for me.
My sister had no idea what kind of guy was perfect for me.
But Hayden … now there was perfection. He was a former Navy SEAL—I can’t tell you how deeply disappointed I was that they didn’t open the SEALs to women until I’d gotten my honorable discharge—and a former operative for Dragon. He was a big part of the takedown of that rogue CIA agent Dragon was wrapped up in five years ago.
That thing was all over the news for months when it all happened, the press making heroes out of everyone at Dragon like they were the only ones working the case. Never mind that the CIA had been working it for nearly a decade before Dragon broke it all wide open. Dragon was able to do things the CIA and FBI couldn’t do. And Dragon ultimately identified the bad guy and saved one of their own from his clutches. That was undeniably awesome.
That was why I’d applied to Dragon the moment I was free of the navy.
For four years I’d been working here. For four years I’d been observing Hayden, watching the way he led the troops, the way he cared about everyone who worked under him, the way he would rather put himself in harm’s way before he put one of his operatives in a situation they couldn’t extract themselves from. He personally went to California last month when Kevin found himself in trouble. How many bosses would have done that?
Not only was he a great boss, not only was he intensely handsome—he had blond hair and this well-trimmed goatee that served to highlight his strong jaw—but he was more generous than anyone I’d ever met. When I first started working at Dragon, he stepped in while I was working security for a visiting senator so that I could take my birthday off. I didn’t even realize he knew it was my birthday.
He did that sort of thing a lot. For everyone. He seemed to really care how we all felt. I’d never known a generous man like him.
My father … now there was a totally different story. He was cruel. He would reign like a king over the family, barking orders and belittling our mother right in front of us kids. My brother turned out just like him, controlling his wife’s every move, berating his children into proper behavior. I could remember some dinners when my father physically removed my meal, telling me I was too fat to eat. But then he would turn around and use his charm to make me stop crying, tell me how beautiful I was and how perfect I would be when I lost a little weight. How he was only doing all this for my own good.
Yeah. Making me feel ashamed of eating a baked potato was really going to make me a better person. Was it any wonder I had a crush on my boss?
He pulled up just then, looking as though the weight of the world was on his shoulders as he climbed out of the company-provided SUV he drove. I climbed out of my car and walked over, trying to look completely casual.
“Hey, Hayden! I got coffee on my way in. Do you want one?”
He glanced at me, a little weariness in his eyes.
“Plain black,” I said, offering him a cup.
“Thanks,” he muttered, not even making note of the fact that I’d provided exactly what I knew he drank.
“I don’t know how you can drink it like that,” I said, a teasing note in my voice, “when there are so many other flavors you can try.”
“I like it like this.”
“Have you ever had a latte? Or a chai tea?”
“No.”
“You should try one sometime. You might like it.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
He never even looked at me as he spoke. He simply quickly walked around me toward the building, clearly in a hurry to get to work. I rushed to keep up, still chattering about lattes and syrups and milk even though I knew he wasn’t listening. I don’t know why I was talking. It was j
ust nervousness, I suppose. I simply wanted to catch his attention and keep it.
We walked through the doors and had to wait at the security desk. Ever since someone shot up the lobby, our boss Megan had started a new security protocol that required everyone, visitors and employees alike, to check in with the security personnel in the lobby. Not that it would have prevented the shooting. That was a drive by inspired by a case Peter Bradford had been working on at the time. It would have happened anyway. It could still happen. But the security measures made Megan feel better.
I stood slightly behind Hayden, aware of the tension in his shoulders. He disliked this new security protocol. I didn’t blame him. It seemed rather useless to me, too. We could have had badges that could be swiped or something like that, something more modern than clicking a name on a computer screen. But it wasn’t my job to worry about that. And it was a nice excuse to spend a little more time with Hayden.
I found myself searching for something to talk about when I noticed Peter up ahead of us.
“Everyone seems to be pairing off.”
“What?”
I gestured toward Peter. He was talking into his cellphone to his girlfriend, a very pregnant woman who was due to give birth practically any moment. I could hear him trying to calm her down, saying something about false labor. Hayden watched him thoughtfully, something like a smile on his lips, just not quite.
“Someone help me.”
The sound of a man’s voice crying out behind us made Hayden turn. He immediately went toward the man as I watched him, rushing to the side of a guy standing just inside the doors, his hands and clothing covered in blood. My thoughts were so wrapped up in Hayden than I found myself stunned for a second. Then I followed.
“What happened to you?” I asked, approaching him cautiously.
“There was a girl in my bed. Her throat cut,” the man said with an Irish brogue. “She wasn’t there when I went to bed last night.”
DRAGON SECURITY: Volume 2: The Complete 6 Books Series Page 62
