A Huge Mistake

by Laney Kay

  Mike started grinning. “Let’s do it.”

  Mike and Jake watched as the man logged into the laptop, both of them noting the password. Once he was in, Jake pointed to Mike’s computer and started to grin. “Check it out. We’re in. Let me just enter a little more information and whatever’s on his computer will be copied.”

  Mike leaned forward to watch what the blond man was doing. “Jake, it looks like he’s going to try each of the flash drives to see what’s on it.” He turned to look at Lola. “Shit, girl, you must have a hundred of them in that drawer.”

  She winked at him. “It’s close to a hundred. I use those things constantly, and when I mentioned that to one of my clients, he brought me a huge box of them. They’re random video clips and files from his advertising business, and whenever I need one, I erase the existing files and put my stuff on it. Trust me, if they want to look at each one of those, it’ll take them a while. Jake thought that would be the perfect place to hide it in plain sight, and they wouldn’t be suspicious at all.”

  Mike agreed. “Good thinking. Jake, hopefully, that’ll give you enough time to finish the entire process.”

  Jake nodded, too intent on what he was doing to answer. While they were working, Lola was watching the men on screen, memorizing their faces in case she saw them again. The dark-skinned man, Alex, the blond had called him, stood watching over the blond man’s shoulder as he plugged each flash drive into the USB port and pulled up the directory. After thirty minutes of trying flash drives, they finally plugged in the one Lola had gotten from Mitch. As the data came up, the two men rapidly scanned the information. “That’s it.” The blond man ejected the flash drive, closed the lid on the laptop and stood up. “Alex, there’s about four more we haven’t checked, so let’s just take them with us. There’s no way she’ll miss these. I think we need to get the hell out of here.”

  The man, Alex, nodded in agreement. “Let’s go.” They returned the other flash drives to the bottom drawer and Alex picked up a two-way radio. “We’re coming down.”

  They heard a voice say, “All clear,” at the same time the monitor showed one of the men outside speak into a radio.

  The two men rapidly retraced their steps, checking to make sure the condo looked the same as when they entered. “Russell, did you put everything back in place on the shelves?”

  “Yeah. She’ll never know we were here.” They stepped into the elevator and disappeared from the monitor.

  Lola yelled at the screen. “You wish, asshole.”

  Jake grinned as he locked his fingers behind his head and leaned back in his chair. “He will wish. I just sent Jerry Jeff pictures of each of those guys and a copy of their entire hard drive. Hopefully, by tomorrow morning, we’ll know who these guys are and who they’re working for.” His computer chimed and he bent forward so he could read the screen. “Jerry Jeff just started the identification program and is checking out the hard drive. We’ll definitely know something by tomorrow.”

  Jake stretched and yawned a huge, jaw-cracking yawn. “Come on, Lola, let’s get out of here.” He sent a text and nodded when he got an immediate response. “B-Ray and Logan say everything looks good outside, so let’s head to my house.” He turned and held out his hand to Mike, who immediately grasped it. “Mike, you did a great job on all this. Thanks for everything.”

  They shook hands. “Glad we’re getting a handle on this. Keep me posted on what you find out on these assholes.”

  “Will do.” He turned toward the door as Lola went to hug Mike.

  “Thanks, Mikey.”

  “No problem, kiddo.” He squeezed her tight and when he let her go, Jake held out his hand and she took it and they turned towards the door. “Take care of our girl, Jake.” Jake waved to Mike over his shoulder as they left. By the time Lola and Jake reached his house, Lola was dozing in the front seat. As soon as he parked the car, her eyes drowsily opened. “We’re here?”

  Jake unbuckled his belt and smiled at her. “Yep. Want to go down by the lake and make some s’mores, or you want to make it an early night?”

  “I hate to be such a wussy, but I just want a shower and bed.”

  Jake opened the door. “You’ve got it.” He came around and opened her door for her. She yawned as she got out and they walked inside. Jake deactivated the alarm and they went to his room, Lola stripping off her clothes as they went. By the time they reached his room, she was completely naked and as she went into the bathroom she turned to look at him. “You joining me?”

  He smiled, pulling off his clothes as he followed her into the bathroom. “Always. But let’s just take a quick shower and get into bed. You look like you’re about to fall asleep right here.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Please. I’m never too tired for sex. Especially if you do all the work.”

  He grinned and reached past her to turn on the rain showerhead and adjusted the temperature. “I certainly wouldn’t mind, but you’re about dead on your feet. How about I’ll catch you in the morning?”

  Lola stepped into the shower and let the water pour down on her head. She moaned at the feeling. “Holy shit, Jake, this is amazing.”

  He stepped in behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He grinned as he kissed her neck. “This does feel amazing.” He let go of her and reached for the shampoo. “Here, let me do this for you.” He poured shampoo into his hands and slowly started massaging the lather through her hair.

  Her eyes closed and her head fell back as he slowly massaged her scalp. “Poor thing. You’ve had a lot of stuff happen to you in less than a week. Let’s see if we can rub some of this stress right out of you.” He rinsed her hair and rubbed in some conditioner. He spent a few minutes rubbing her back and shoulders, then he picked up the soap, lathered up his hands, and slowly started washing her. Of course, being a man, he spent an inordinate amount of time making sure certain parts were especially clean, but Lola had no complaints.

  By the time he was done, Lola felt like a puddle of mush. While he took a quick shower, she stepped out and dried off and wrapped a towel around her head. Ten minutes later they were both in bed and Lola was almost asleep. Jake cuddled up to her back, kissed the back of her neck, and they both slept through the night.

  8

  The next morning, they were at Jake’s office by seven. Lola had woken Jake up before daylight by kissing her way down his body, and they enjoyed a leisurely hour in bed before they got up to go to Jake’s office. Even though they had no reason to think that anyone had linked her with Jake, and they probably thought Lola was enjoying a few days off in LA, Lola still took the precaution of tucking her hair under a ballcap, she wore a big sweatshirt and a big pair of sunglasses, and they came into Jake’s office through the garage.

  They went to find Jerry Jeff, and found him sitting at a desk talking to a young group of computer minions. As soon as he saw them, he finished up and stood up to head over to the private computer rooms. He waved Lola and Jake over. “Come on in here. I’ve got some stuff to show you.”

  Once they were all seated, he pulled up a file. “We’ve got IDs on all four guys, Jake.” He handed them a file with pictures and information on each man. “The good news is that they’re all your basic, run-of-the-mill, corporate security guys. Don’t get me wrong, they’re all expensive, and they’re good at what they do, but they’re not thugs, and they have absolutely no ties to any drug guys or cartels. They’re all ex-military or law enforcement, they all work for a reputable company, and if I were to guess, they were probably told that Lola here was working with someone who’s stealing corporate secrets.”

  Lola nodded as she thought about Jerry Jeff’s findings. “That makes sense. And I’m actually relieved they’re actually just regular corporate security guys.”

  Jake agreed. “Me, too. Those aren’t the guys who will snatch you off the street and torture you for information.”

  Lola winced. “Hopefully not.”

  Jake leaned back in his seat, locked h
is fingers behind his head, and turned to Lola. “Okay, so let’s assume this is just DeLeon behind this, and he just wants to make sure his plans for his new opioid aren’t going straight to hell. Let’s also assume there is no cartel involvement, that his aunt is involved in his business just as an investor, not as a member of a drug cartel. That’s still way too much assuming and I’m still not comfortable relaxing on your security measures.”

  “Fine by me.” Lola shrugged. “I’m no idiot, and I don’t have any desire to be some cartel dude’s bitch, so keeping up the security is fine by me.”

  Jake was relieved that Lola was being so reasonable. “Great.” He turned to Jerry Jeff. “Anything interesting on their computers?”

  Jerry Jeff shook his head. “No, just a regular business computer. There were some basic surveillance photos and background info on Lola. I found some back and forth instructions between the four of them about ‘checking out’ Lola’s home and office, and a notation that they should be looking for a flash drive with corporate information on it. No information at all related to a drug cartel.”

  “Any pictures of me or her friends?”

  “No. Just her and her employees, including Mike.”

  “Anything from DeLeon, himself?”

  Jerry Jeff wrinkled his brow as he thought. “Not really. The only thing from him directly was an email from the previous week that says that Willard downloaded stolen corporate info on a flash drive and he wanted to hire them to retrieve it.”

  Jake nodded. “So someone must have seen Willard make contact with you at the game and that’s when you got involved. That makes me feel a lot better.” He looked at Lola. “That all makes me think that Jerry Jeff’s right. You weren’t the specific target. They just thought you had the flash drive and they wanted to get it back.”

  Lola nodded, thinking rapidly. “This being about retrieving stolen corporate info makes sense except for one thing. Someone killed Mitch.”

  “Good point.” And that was the sticking point that was giving Jake nightmares. “Fortunately, it wasn’t a typical cartel hit, so again, we can hope they’re not involved. But we still don’t know for sure.”

  Lola was lost in thought. “Really Jake, to me it sounds more like Mitch did his usual shit. He found out that they were lying to the FDA about the drug, he stole documentation so he could prove it, and then he tried to blackmail DeLeon with the info.” She nodded as she warmed up to her theory. “Then, when DeLeon realized he could screw up everything, maybe he called his cousin to get the name of a guy who could take care of Mitch, or maybe he knew someone himself, and bam. Mitch ends up dead.”

  Jake mulled that over. “Actually, Lola, that makes a lot of sense. Then they realize that the flash drive was gone, they realize that he probably gave it to you, so they have to make sure you’re not becoming a new problem. They come to your house and office and find the flash drive. Now, hopefully, they realize it’s corrupted and decide you’re not a problem.”

  Lola shrugged. “Hopefully.”

  They sat there, considering the possibilities. After a few minutes, Jake looked at Jerry Jeff. “You haven’t heard anything from my brother about the FDA information, have you?”

  Jerry Jeff shook his head. “Not yet.”

  “If I don’t hear from him in the next couple of days, I’ll give him a call. Anything new on the computer program?”

  “Nope. I’m pretty convinced it does exactly what we thought it would do. Once we find out if they are trying to sneak that experimental drug past the FDA, we’ll have our confirmation and can make plans from there.”

  “Sounds great.” Jake slapped both palms on his thighs and then stood up. “You doing any tweaks or updates on Big Al today? If not, Lola and I are going to my office to look into Pandora Unlimited and see if we can find any information.”

  Jerry Jeff waved his hand toward the bank of servers. “Nope, all yours. I’m running a final test tomorrow on a couple of areas we were having issues with, but I think it’s ready to go. Well, except I’m still not sure that Alabama isn’t going to give us a bunch of crap about using the name ‘Big Al’.”

  Lola winked. “Y’all let me know if y’all need someone to sue the University of Alabama, Jerry Jeff. I’ll happily do that for free.”

  Jerry Jeff winked back. “Right? Next best thing to getting another chance to whip their asses in football.” He shooed them out of the computer room. “Y’all get out of here and I’ll let y’all know if I find out anything.”

  Jake and Lola headed up to his office. When they got there, a tiny, round, dark-haired woman with thick glasses and a wide, friendly smile was sitting at the huge desk outside of Jake’s office. He introduced Lola to Marie, his assistant, and Marie stood up and came around her desk and shook Lola’s hand enthusiastically. “So, nice to meet you, Lola. Jerry Jeff told me all about you. We’re all so happy that the boss finally found someone to go out with him.” She dropped her voice and whispered loud enough for Jake to hear. “Don’t let his track record fool you. There’s really nothing wrong with him. He’s really a very nice person despite his past dating history...”

  Lola glanced at Jake, whose eyes were starting to bug out of his head. He sputtered. “Damn it, Marie. You, too? Will all of y’all please mind your own damn business? I can find a date if I want one. I’ve chosen not to date the past few years because I’ve been busy.”

  Marie reached up and patted his cheek like he was one of her kids and spoke to him in a low, soothing, tone. “Oh. Well, of course you could find a date, sweetie.” She looked at Lola. “He’s right. He has been busy.” She winked at him as she came back around her desk and sat down. “Anything you need from me, Jake? If not, I’m going to go run a couple of errands and then I have some patent stuff to file on Big Al. After that, I’ll be here all day if you need anything.”

  He shook his head. “No, Marie. We’re good. Thanks.”

  He and Lola turned to go into his office, but Lola hung back. “Marie, thanks so much for changing around Jake’s schedule so he could help me out. Jake’s been bragging about how smart and efficient you are and how you handle every detail in the entire company, and I’m sorry if I made you any extra work.”

  Marie grinned at Lola. “No problem, Lola. I’m sorry you’re going through a bad time, but glad we could help. Matt and Jerry Jeff speak very highly of you, and I’m glad you’re letting us help you get through this. Especially since you’ve been nice enough to go out with the boss. Seriously. He really needs a date.”

  Lola laughed. “I’ve heard. Glad I could help.”

  Jake yelled from his office. “Marie, don’t you have some work to do? And Lola, you want to come in here and give me a hand with all this since it’s your damn problem I’m trying to fix?”

  When Lola came into the office, Jake was sitting with his elbows on his desk and his head in his hands. She sat down next to him and patted his shoulder. “Jake, don’t feel bad. I think it’s very sweet, and definitely hilarious, how hard they’re all working to get you a date.”

  He turned his head and glared at her. “Sweet? Seriously? I swear, I have some of the most skilled, highly trained employees in their fields, and all they do is gossip about me like little old ladies.” He straightened up and turned so that he faced her, and he took a deep breath. “Look, since every single person I know, including my own brother, has warned you about what a loser I am, I feel like I need to clear up a few things. So, here’s my deal. I was married for ten years and it didn’t work out, so we got divorced about five years ago. No drama, no big deal. Since then, everyone’s right, I haven’t dated much, but it’s not because I’m bossy, or too set in my ways, or because every woman in the Southeast thinks I’m a lost cause, I just didn’t make the time. Our business has expanded like crazy the past several years, and I just got wrapped up in building the business. And yes, I do take my sister’s best friend to any charitable event I have to attend. And yes, she’s a married lesbian, but I take her because she�
�s a great friend and a lot of fun, not because no one else will go with me. And to be clear, I haven’t been a monk, but I haven’t had a relationship in years. But it’s because I haven’t wanted one, not because every woman in the universe refuses to date me.” He crossed his arms and glared at her. “So? What do you think about all that?”

  Lola bit the inside of her cheek so she wouldn’t laugh. Poor Jake looked so irritated, she actually felt bad for him, but no way she wasn’t going to mess with him a little. She wrinkled up her nose and looked unconvinced. “Okay. If you say so.”

  His eyebrows drew together. “’Okay?’ So, what does that mean?”

  She shrugged. “It means, okay. Now I’ve heard your version. Apparently, you’re a busy, divorced guy, who works a lot, has an occasional booty call, and otherwise, only dates a married lesbian. I’ve got it.”

  Jake frowned. That didn’t sound any better. “Wait. Let me try that again. I swear, I’m actually a nice guy, I just haven’t met anyone I wanted to spend the time and effort to get to know. Until now. Until you, I mean.”

  Lola nodded. “Yeah, I got it.” She turned toward the computer, keeping her expression deliberately blank because she knew her indifferent attitude was driving him crazy. Bottom line, she still wasn’t interested in a long-term relationship, but it had nothing to do with Jake himself. “Hey, want to get to work and see what Big Al can find out about Pandora Unlimited?”

  He stared at her, frustrated, but she just smiled at him until he finally spun his chair to face the computer. “Fine,” he huffed, pulled on his glasses, and started rapidly typing search parameters into the computer. Lola decided to use the time to catch up on emails on her phone and check in with her assistant. When Jake was done, he stuck his glasses on the top of his head, slouched back in his chair, and stared moodily at the back of Lola’s head while the computer completed its search.