Manny shifted his gaze to Adam and swallowed hard. “At first they tried to tempt me to stay. They offered increased pay and stock options. When I still refused, they began threatening to ruin my reputation in the professional world. Then they threatened Roland’s career as well. This company has far-reaching influence, not obvious to me until they revealed the many ways they could end either of our careers.”
Roland scowled. “They could’ve tried. I couldn’t care less what they would say about my work.”
Manny squeezed Roland’s hand. “No. It would have been horrible. I couldn’t stand to see it happen because of me. But something happened. They lost their patience as news broke and the company was mentioned in the press. Legal action was being taken against them. It had nothing to do with me, but suddenly there were no more options. Someone broke into my apartment one night, and I barely got out with my laptop and my dog.”
“He called me.” Roland’s voice was strangled with emotion. “He was hiding in the shadows of a downtown pub, his laptop clutched to his chest. We couldn’t go anywhere. It would’ve been too obvious, too easy, to find us if we ran and tried to check into some hotel somewhere. A white man, a black man, and a dog. We were an easy group to identify just on basic description. Trying for disguises would’ve been laughable. So I came home, as if I’d only gone out for a drink, and snuck him inside the house here. I had the safe room. I knew it wasn’t on any of the building diagrams. I’d never even shown Dante. I told my security team a friend had to leave town abruptly and asked me to watch his dog. I hoped they would think he had run without me.”
Victoria sighed. “It probably did buy you time. Then you contracted with Safeguard.”
“I knew it would draw scrutiny again,” Roland admitted. “But it would’ve been strange if I’d taken Manny’s dog and not behaved in some way to attempt to protect myself. I thought once you were here, once you’d upgraded the security of the property, Manny and I could find a way out of all this.”
From a normal stalker or disgruntled employer, probably. They may have had a chance against the average criminal organization, even. “Just to be clear, your former employer was Phoenix Biotech, wasn’t it?”
Manny looked back at her in surprise. “Yes.”
Adam’s gaze shot to her too, then returned to Manny. Ah well, she’d have to bring him up to speed. It was going to be a hell of an initiation for a rookie to the Safeguard team. This was becoming an ongoing feud. Obviously, Phoenix Biotech was equally as tired of Safeguard.
But of course they couldn’t simply maintain distance and stay away. No. They had a score to settle, and apparently they’d decided to attempt to take out the Safeguard organization by burning their reputation to the ground.
“Well, the good news is we know what we’re up against, then.” Victoria was not happy. “The bad news for you is that we are considerably underscoped for the objective we have. Phoenix Biotech employs a private contract organization called Edict. They have questionable ethics and likely have been budgeted to put far more resources in the effort to find you than you’ve contracted to protect you.”
Roland’s face flushed with anger. “If you want more money, we can addend the damned contract. This is life-and-death. Don’t you understand?”
Victoria didn’t move. She waited as Roland fought an internal battle, willing him to harness his anger and fear. He’d need it. Manny, on the other hand, withdrew into himself with an air of hopelessness that made her want to reach out and shake him.
“I understand more about what you face at this moment than either of you do.” She didn’t bother to cushion her words. She was angry. All of them needed to hold on to the anger and use it to think more clearly. Anger cut through fear. “Phoenix Biotech and Edict can create any number of traps, physical or emotional, psychological or legal. There’s no limit to the ways they can tangle you up and give you no way to get free. We have to work together on this in a completely legitimate, documented, legal way. It’s what will protect you, us and Safeguard.”
Both Roland and Manny slumped, exhausted. It was Manny who spoke. “What must we do?”
She looked to Adam then, because she wasn’t about to give orders without his agreement. He was her partner.
Adam met her gaze and the corner of his mouth lifted. He gave her a nod. He was willing to follow her lead, at least until the two of them could discuss more privately.
Relieved, she focused her attention on their two clients. “First, Adam is going to sweep your safe room while the two of you sit and have something to eat here in the kitchen. Reassure Tegan before he wears a bald spot in his fur rubbing against your leg.”
Manny chuckled. Roland started breathing again.
“Then the two of you will go down into the safe room if there’s space and rest. We’ll be sweeping Roland’s private rooms upstairs for surveillance devices.”
“No one is allowed up there,” Roland protested.
Victoria stared at him. “We’ve been in the house for the last twenty-four hours. Your security team generally has free entry and exit from your house for meals. There’s a very good chance your bedroom and bathroom are bugged.”
The implication was clear. Despite any background checks and assessments they’d done thus far, Dante’s team was under suspicion.
She looked at each of the men in turn, even the dog. “At this point, the only ones I trust to know about Manny’s presence are standing in this room.”
* * *
Adam held his peace as Roland and Manny settled at the kitchen counter with food. When Victoria headed for the study, he followed her.
Reaching out to cup her elbow, he guided her to the far corner of the room and leaned in close for a very intimate conversation. “Are you serious about sticking to the contract?”
Victoria shivered slightly as his lips brushed her cheek but she didn’t warn him off. Her proximity was a heady temptation regardless of the current situation. But here and now, he was focused on discussing their next actions on behalf of their clients. Discussion was going to be a challenge but they could whisper...vehemently, if necessary.
She lifted her chin, bringing her lips perilously close to his. She pitched her voice for his ears only. Even a bug in a nearby fixture next to them wouldn’t be able to pick up their conversation. “Absolutely. It’s the only way to keep all of us out of trouble.”
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. At face value, he’d take those words as coldhearted. But he’d learned a lot about her over a very short period of time. She might not discuss her reasons for the decisions she made, but she was far from uncaring. What was frustrating as hell was her inability to bring him as her partner in on her reasoning.
He wanted to believe, had to, that she would do the right thing by these two men.
“Got news for you. They’re in trouble. That’s how we all ended up here in the first place.” His voice came out in a whisper but there were so many emotions bundled up in his tone. Too much, and she’d withdraw from him, keep her own counsel. He didn’t want her to shut down on him.
“You don’t save a drowning person by jumping in with them,” she pointed out.
She took the front of his shirt and tugged briefly. The small contact still sent a zing through his nerve endings. He stared at her, not bothering to hide the desire he was keeping reined in tight, daring her to mess with him more. This was the first time she’d played with him in the middle of business. There had to be a reason. “This isn’t you, Queenie. Normally, I wouldn’t complain but your timing is shitty.”
She huffed out a frustrated breath. “Yes, I’m playing. It’s the worst time to do so. But I need your attention on me, what I’m saying. I need you to back away from the edge and think past their plight. We both have to step away from these clients long enough to get a broader perspective.” Her gaze dropped to h
er fingertips, holding the fabric of his shirt. “We need to anchor ourselves so we can take the right steps moving forward.”
He still didn’t understand what she was getting at. There was no time for this.
“This is love. The real thing. You want to do the right thing? You save this.” Adam threw his hand back to indicate the couple in the kitchen.
He couldn’t believe she’d hesitate. He couldn’t believe she could be so concerned with business that she couldn’t feel in this situation. He didn’t want to find out he’d been wrong about her.
“Our contract doesn’t cover the nuance here,” Victoria hissed.
Cold. Hard. The teasing tone completely gone. She’d dropped it between one breath and the next. Where was the heart he’d seen in her?
“Screw the contract.”
“You don’t get it.” She stepped away from him and paced. She kept her voice low, though, so he had to strain to hear her. “The contract is what protects us and them. It’s what keeps our responsibilities clear. We do our job and get out. We don’t get tangled up in the aftermath. We can’t. None of us can survive the business if we let it happen with every good cause. And trust me, there are far more out there than anyone wants to admit. There is so much good, you can’t throw all of yourself into every instance of it. You’ll burn yourself out and then one day when an even more worthy cause comes up, you’ve got nothing left. You have to know where the contract ends.”
Adam shook his head, incredulous.
“It doesn’t do them favors either,” Victoria pressed. “I’ve never explained this before, and I don’t know why I’m doing it now except it matters to me whether you understand me or not. Other people can think I’m a cold, unfeeling bitch, but not you. It matters to me that you understand.”
She stared at him, the intensity in her blue gaze pulling him in until his arguments died on his lips. He waited, listened.
“If we get them through this, they have their lives ahead of them. Who will keep them safe? Roland’s finances aren’t indefinitely going to maintain them. We cannot settle on a solution that would allow them to sit here holed up for the foreseeable future. This contract has an end, and we would be doing them an injustice to let them simply keep renewing it. That’s not a good future for them or us. Besides, no defense is good enough for forever. We’d fail them eventually.” She dropped her arms to her sides, standing straight and calm, resolution in every fiber of her formidable being. “You want to do the right thing for true love? Think hard, for them, because you better make sure they have an ever-after and not just a for-now.”
He stared at her, shocked.
She waited but when he didn’t respond she started to pace again. “You suffocate love when you lock it inside to protect it. One day, they’re going to lose sight of each other and just see these same walls, that safe room, and they’ll hate themselves for being miserable when they have each other. You want a solution, for any love? Find a way for them to be free. Find a way for them to wake up every morning with the freedom to choose to be together and spend their moments of joy together. Love isn’t a thing you recognize in a single moment and fight to preserve. It’s a forever of choices, repeated, every breath of every day and every night, to be together and share those moments. That’s what we need to create a solution for, to give them the chance to make those choices.”
He stood as her pacing became faster, more frenetic. This was the first time she’d become unhinged enough to show him her agitation. She was trembling, she cared so much about helping Roland and Manny. She cared.
“I love you.”
She froze. “Pardon me?”
He laughed. “You heard what I said and I won’t say it again until you’re ready to hear it. This time was for me, so I could be sure I said it before we dive into this. I want you to understand that this, this partnership and everything we’re about to do, is exactly what I want to do from here on out. I want to work with you, argue with you, take action at your side, and be with you. I want to go out there and help those two men with an eye toward the future, and I want to do it with you, my partner, because damn, woman. You are everything.”
She stared at him, her mouth opened slightly and her eyes wide with shock.
After a moment, she found her voice. “You don’t make any sense.”
He grinned. “Sure I do. You’ll get used to it. Yeah? For the time being, let’s get to brainstorming.”
Chapter Seventeen
“We’re finishing up the rest of the security-system adjustments tomorrow morning.” Victoria typed quickly on her laptop to transfer notes before Adam erased the wall again. They’d done quite a bit of mind mapping while Roland and Manny finished eating in the kitchen. “I have what information I could pull from our two lovebirds before they were too tired to answer anything more. And you feel the safe room down there is secure?”
Adam spritzed the wall with cleaner. “For now, yes. Roland was right. The only way in or out is that damned narrow staircase. It’s seriously claustrophobic getting down there. But it opens up a bit to a decent sleeping area. The two of them are tucked in with Tegan, snug. As long as we can hold the line up here, they are safe in there.”
Therein lay the challenge.
For the time being, the house remained locked down. They’d checked in with Dante and explained it’d been part of testing. Dante and his team would continue regular patrols outside. Victoria had pinged Gabe, and they had a conference call with him in minutes on a secure connection.
This was something outside the scope of the project, and they would potentially need backup. The question was how they would handle it officially. She was determined to find a way.
“It’s coming up on time, right?” Adam pulled up a chair so he could sit next to her in front of her laptop.
“Yes.” She set the laptop on the desk surface anyway.
Bringing up the web conference program, she initiated the call. In moments, Gabe appeared on-screen.
“I’m guessing there’s bad news. Why don’t you lead with the bad and brighten my very early morning with the new?”
Victoria glanced at her watch. It was indeed a few hours to dawn. She and Adam would need to take turns on watch and make do with a couple of hours of sleep each. At this point, they couldn’t risk both going to sleep for any amount of time, regardless of the outcome of this call. She gave Gabe her report, concise and efficient, watching his face for any reactions or tells.
Gabe was a good poker player. She’d known him a long time, but in these situations she couldn’t read him if he chose to keep his own counsel. She’d have to wait until he told her what he wanted to say.
At the end of her report, Adam added a few points. They were good observations. All of them were in support of her report, but things she hadn’t thought to include. Good for someone who wasn’t familiar with Gabe and a fresh perspective.
Adam was a solid partner. He was turning out to be reliable and able to meet her level of detail-oriented. He was also teaching her how to work with someone as an equal contributor. It wasn’t easy, but he wasn’t letting her run him over either. She needed it. Somehow, their partnership was completely unorthodox with a far too much personal conflict of interest, and yet, this was working. She just wasn’t sure it could work long-term.
His words from earlier in the night echoed in her head.
He’d meant it. She’d been insanely happy to hear him say it. But she couldn’t respond in kind. Not yet, not while they still had this contract to complete. Because it would destroy her if she surrendered to this between them and they weren’t able to see Roland and Manny safe.
“This is complicated.” Gabe’s statement was perfectly descriptive for her internal predicament and the project in general.
“You could say so.” She gave him her response in a neutral tone.
“I don’t want this to be a cost to Roland and Manny, not on the original contract and not an amendment.” She considered the statement of work. She had it memorized. “But Safeguard members can request extraction at company cost.”
Gabe studied her. “Based on your briefing, I can understand why you’d want to save your client the cost. It’s considerate but not in the best interest of Safeguard or Centurion Corporation.”
They couldn’t continue to help people if their generosity drove them into the red. Soldiers of fortune helping those in need at no cost was the theme of a TV sitcom, not reality.
“Deliverables on the statement of work could be considered complete within a couple of weeks, but we have addressed over sixty percent of them ahead of schedule in response to the new developments in the situation. The rest won’t be necessary if our proposed changes to the plan are approved. We could reallocate the funds.” She’d done the math. The cost could place them at even.
“I’ll trust your estimates.” The lines around Gabe’s eyes relaxed. He preferred it when his team came to him with solutions ready for the problems they were reporting. “In that case, how can I help?”
“We’re going to need to take a hit to our reputation.” It was Adam who brought up the difficult point. “There are already rumors out there, and we’re reasonably sure this situation is intended to cast even more doubt on Safeguard.”
There was silence as Gabe considered.
Adam took a deep breath. “It wouldn’t be as bad if it were known I was on the project. My last mission failed due to bad decisions on the part of key team members. I am willing to take similar accountability for this situation.”
Victoria looked at Adam in shock. This hadn’t been part of their planning.
Adam turned to her, his gaze steady. “I could’ve acted faster in my last mission. I could’ve influenced the decisions made. I didn’t and people died. The best thing I could do in their memory was shoulder the blame for what happened even if it meant the end of my military career. It was the right thing to do then. Here, now, it would be the right thing to do again to see this through. It’s plausible. I’m a rookie to the Safeguard team. It would reduce the reflection on the team to a bare minimum.”
Contracted Defense Page 15
