“Wait. What time is the surgery? I want to be around tomorrow when Orson Carr gets interrogated.”
He glanced at Kat who was frowning.
“Uh, I meant interviewed,” he said, smirking at her.
“Well, the surgeons at the hospital like to start in the morning. It took a lot of pull to get you in this quickly.”
“Put it off for a day?” Jack asked. “Please?”
Jack desperately wanted to be there for the “interview.” He didn’t necessarily care if he had been put in danger, though it had been annoying. Instead, he was mostly mad that Kat had been in any danger. She shouldn’t have had to deal with that because Carr was shady. And if he knew that the Conglomerate was on his tail and then invited Gray Tower representatives, then he was in a shitload of trouble.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Dr. McKay promised. “Maybe I can get you down for two days from now, though you’re going to have to deal with the wound for that much longer.”
Better than nothing, right?
“Thank you,” Jack said. “I want to be there to see what the hell that bastard has done.”
Dr. McKay read his vitals as well as poked and prodded Jack for a bit. Then, she excused herself, noting that she had Orson, Veronica, and Peter Knowles as other patients.
Turning toward Kat, he said, “How long have you been here? Shouldn’t you be taking care of yourself?”
Jack didn’t want her to be running herself thin just because he was holed up in a hospital room for a while.
She shrugged and said, “I caught a shower when you were sleeping. Other than that, I’m just doing what I’d normally be doing right now, except in this medical room.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m playing the Ancient Manuscripts: Skyedge.”
“And what the hell is that?”
“A great game. You should try it sometime.”
Jack sighed, knowing that he should probably try some of her interests instead of poking fun at her for them. Then, he thought about how amazing she did on the island. He reflected on the op for Gabriel Marshall and how he thought that Kat wasn’t cut out for that kind of work.
He had been dead wrong.
“Hey,” Jack began. “I wanted to let you know that you handled yourself well on the island. I had my doubts, but you were amazing.”
She smiled and said, “That means a lot to me coming from you.”
It was just then that two people walked in the room. One was Miles who was oddly informally dressed. The other was…
Holy shit, he thought. It couldn’t be.
Candice Bryant stood there next to Miles. They both seemed to be beaming. The last thing Jack had known about them was that they weren’t on speaking terms. Now, they both looked like…
Double holy shit. They had sex.
That was an interesting development.
“Mrs. Bryant,” Jack said, nodding. “Didn’t expect you to be here.”
She smiled and said, “Jack, how are you? It’s been a long time.”
“It sure has.”
When Jack had first started with Miles, she had been at least somewhat more involved in Gray Tower. After a while, though, they had separated and that was the last that he had seen of her. This was an interesting development.
“Uh,” Jack continued, realizing that he probably needed to introduce Kat to Candice.
How was he going to do it, though? As the Head of IT Security or as his girlfriend?
Eh, he thought. Might as well let Bryant know now before it becomes news around the headquarters.
“This is my girlfriend, Kat,” Jack said slowly.
Kat glanced at him, nervously, and then smiled.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Candice said, shaking her hand.
Bryant stared at Jack for a moment as if trying to decide how to proceed. A pit in Jack’s stomach formed. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything right now?
Then, Bryant shook his head and said, “Jeez, Jack. I can’t leave you or Logan alone with a woman for long, can I?”
Jack laughed. Bryant laughed. Kat even smirked a bit, though Jack could see her blush just a tad.
It was only a few moments later that more Gray Tower friends came piling in the door, including Logan, Keira, Alex, Mercer, and Ryan. Someone had brought in food, and they ended up having a mini-party in the cramped medical room.
With Kat at his side, it all seemed right. He had purpose, a woman, friends—everything a man could ask for. It was a great feeling. Jack hadn’t felt this happy in such a long time.
Life was good.
After a while, Jack began to doze. He wasn’t sure when everyone left, but that was okay. It was the first good sleep he had had in a while.
✽ ✽ ✽
Keira sat with Logan on their couch, sipping red wine and relaxing. They had already had sex when Logan had gotten back, though she wouldn’t mind another round with him in a bit. Keira just couldn’t get enough of her fiancé.
“Jack seems to be holding in there,” she noted.
Logan nodded and said, “Yeah, it just sucks that the bullet hit bone. The surgery and rehab on that sucker is going to stink.”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “I suppose you ‘lucked out,’ right?”
He smiled and said, “I lucked out because I ended up with you. How about that?”
“Agreed.”
Logan leaned over and kissed her. She wanted to do more, but there were a few things pressing on her mind.
“How are you doing with the whole Nathan-situation?” She asked.
He shook his head and sighed.
“I don’t know to be quite frank. Nothing like not seeing your brother for years and thinking he’s dead to find out that he’s alive and a Conglomerate soldier. I mean, I understand he got duped, but it’s still hard to swallow.
“Then, he had the chance to leave with us and start new, but instead he decided to run off on his own to who knows where doing who knows what.”
“I’m sorry, Logan,” Keira said softly.
“You’re just going to have to give me some time on this one.”
“I completely understand.”
Then, she hesitated. There was something else that was bugging her, but she wasn’t sure if she was just being paranoid or if it had merit. Keira supposed that she could bounce it off Logan and see what he thought. He had been in this business a lot longer than she had.
“Do you feel like this whole mission got wrapped up too neatly?” She asked.
Logan frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. It just feels like that if the Conglomerate is as big and powerful as we think, they would retaliate.”
He nodded thoughtfully.
“I get what you’re saying, and that’s always a possibility. We’re not sure if they even know if Gray Tower is responsible. It might come out after we hand Carr over. Or, they might already know. We’ll have to wait and see with what they do.”
“I know. Miles and I will get on it tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a plan. In the meantime, we’re pretty damned safe right now in our little fortress here, wouldn’t you say?”
Keira smiled and reached over to kiss him again.
Pulling away for a moment, she said, “I feel safe next to you, but I’d feel even better if we took this to the bedroom?”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier, sweetheart?”
Logan grabbed her and hauled her off the couch in one quick movement, carrying her to the bedroom.
Chapter 25
Jade Larsen sat tensely at her desk, flipping through some of the last reports from the Carr data dump. It was early morning, and she had been working half the night on the last of her reports. Orson Carr was being interviewed in a few hours. All the data needed to be done by then.
She sat nervously, tapping a pen on her desk in the open area for the analysts. Jade was the only one working at the moment. There was a lot on her mind. She had t
o figure out what the hell she was going to do.
It had all gone wrong so very quickly. Now, her life here at Gray Tower was in jeopardy. Hell, her life in general was in peril—so was her family for that matter.
It had been last night that she had gotten the call. Jade had been getting ready for bed when she had received the message on her personal phone that Orson Carr needed to be eliminated. He knew too much. And it needed to be done today—before his interview.
As for the combat armor plans, those had already been distributed to the U.S. government, so there was not much she could do there.
Now, she was wrestling with herself on what to do.
Jade hadn’t meant to get involved with the Conglomerate. It had happened when she was in the CIA. She had been very good at what she did, and her boss had been pleased. Unfortunately, he was also a Conglomerate plant.
He had begun giving Jade assignments that—at the time—she didn’t realize were completely off the books and weren’t associated with the CIA. She had assumed she was just doing her job. After she caught on, he began blackmailing her with her job, and once she told him she didn’t care about her career anymore, he threatened her family.
Eventually, she convinced him to let her leave the CIA without repercussions, but he told her that if the Conglomerate ever needed anything, that she would have to comply. They had never contacted her since then.
Until now.
Jade wanted to tell someone but how? If she did that, would she risk her family? She didn’t want the Conglomerate going after her parents, but she didn’t want to kill Carr either. Jade knew that he wasn’t innocent, but he didn’t deserve to die—at least without a fair trial.
She had gone out last night after she had received the message to a drop off point where she had picked up a package. In it was a syringe of what she assumed was fast-acting poison. It was much easier to get past security than a gun.
Jaded scolded herself.
You’re actually going to go through with this, aren’t you? She thought. Well, what else am I supposed to do?
It was either Carr or her family, right?
Maybe it wasn’t that simple. Maybe she could get help?
She snorted, thinking of how ridiculous that was. The Conglomerate would come after her if she was not fully cooperative, and then they would come after her family. This was not a decision that she took lightly, but others were depending on her.
✽ ✽ ✽
After Orson Carr was cleared by Dr. McKay for the interview, he was funneled into a concrete room. Both walls and the floor were a dull gray. A table that was secured to the floor sat in the middle, and there were two chairs on one side. On the other side of the table, there was a chair which had a place to secure hand and leg restraints. There was a shatter-proof two-way mirror on the one side and cameras and microphones laid throughout the room from multiple angles, some even unseen.
As for Carr’s wife and Peter Knowles, they’d be kept in a secure area for a while until Uncle Sam determined what to do with them. They were actually happy about that. It meant that they were safe for the moment. Both were having issues in dealing with what had happened on the island. Dr. McKay had been talking with them and had suggested a therapist for both.
Two Gray Tower security people secured Carr to the chair. He wasn’t exactly a threat to physical harm to any of the interviewees, but it was more of an intimidation tactic. He had restraints that were attached to the chair.
Then, they had him wait nervously for a half hour until anyone else came in. It was a bit cruel, but Jack—who had been watching the whole thing in the viewing room—thought it was hysterical. He was pissed at Carr—rightfully so. No one put his woman in danger.
No one.
Jack had this huge protective feeling for Kat that he had never felt for anyone else. He supposed that this was what it felt like to be in love.
In love.
That was a phrase that Jack had never thought he’d be thinking about. As much as he had earned his reputation as a “player,” he had always wanted to date and do things right. His job at Gray Tower prevented a lot of that.
And now your dating a co-worker, he reminded himself.
That would be an interesting dynamic, a thought that he pushed out of his mind so that he could concentrate on the interview.
Carr was about as patched up as he could be at the moment. His face looked like hell from where the guy everyone was calling The Commander had hit repeatedly. Jack hoped that guy had broken something. Carr deserved that beating.
As for Jack, his right arm was in a sling to take pressure off the wound. It still hurt like a son of a bitch, but there wasn’t much he could do until after the surgery. Then, there’d be physical therapy and all sorts of fun shit that went along with it.
That fucking bastard is responsible for a lot of this mess, he thought bitterly, thinking back to Carr. We can at least make him squirm a bit.
After a while, Alex came in the room. She had surprisingly volunteered for the job of the bland form-filler. She had specifically said she wanted it because Carr was so involved with the death of Bryant’s daughter. Everyone at Gray Tower understood how important this was to Bryant, so it made sense that everyone wanted to help.
Bryant sat next to Jack, watching everything like a hawk. He was wearing his usual suit, except there was no tie this morning. Jack wasn’t sure what to make of that. He did know that Bryant was about as pissed as someone could be. If Orson had truly sold Miles out, there would be hell to pay.
Next to Bryant was Candice. She was more casual, just wearing a pink blouse and a pair of khakis. Jack noted that they both looked relaxed and were making googly-eyes at each other, though they were trying to be discrete.
Trying was the word. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that they were having sex, which was a very good thing in Jack’s book.
It was an odd sight to see those two together again, but she seemed like she was going to stick around—at least until they got some information out of Carr. There was too much surrounding them with the armor and the Conglomerate to not suspect that he was at least partially responsible for Jasmine’s death.
Jack knew that Miles’s vengeance for his daughter’s death had driven them apart, but perhaps finding actual answers would drive those two back together.
Kat was also in the room in a corner on her laptop, wearing a hoodie with what looked like a game logo on it. Was it that Skyedge game she loved so much? He really needed to start paying attention to this shit now.
Jack did think that it was odd that she was on her laptop so much, but she had mentioned doing her normal work plus keeping her skills up. That he could understand. If you want to be good at something, you had to practice and continually learn.
Regardless, Jack couldn’t help but stare at his woman.
Gone were the contacts. She just had those goofy glasses on now. He happened to like those goofy glasses. At some point when he was better and all this shit was over, he’d have to fuck her silly again with those on.
Keep it focused, Hunter, he reminded himself. This is not the time to get a hard-on.
Keira was there as well as Logan, who would be leading the interview after Alex annoyed him for a while. Jade Larsen, who was one of their best analysts, would also interview.
Jack had been told that they didn’t want him involved in the interview process since he was obviously hurt and still pretty pissed about what all had happened. However, he thought he might be able to convince Bryant otherwise.
“How about I…” Jack began.
“No,” Bryant said firmly.
“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“Yes, I do, and the answer is no.”
“But I could...”
“No, and don’t ask again, or I’ll kick you out of the viewing room.”
Jack bit his lip and tried not to mutter curse words until his breath. In some cases, Bryant could be more stubborn than J
ack.
Carr looked a bit worse for wear. Sure, he had been cleared by the doctor, but he looked like fucking shit. Parts of his face were purple and swollen, ballooned to almost cartoonish proportions. Jack almost felt sorry for the bastard.
Almost.
After a bit more time of letting Carr stew, Alex finally came in with an old-fashioned clipboard. Bunches of papers were clipped to it. She had wanted to do it this way, so that she could slowly check and write everything as a way to annoy Carr.
“Why is this taking so long?” Carr asked as soon as he saw her. “I have rights you know! I want a lawyer!”
Alex smiled and nodded.
“Yes, usually. But in this case, this is not actually happening, and we’ll deny that this ever happened. Besides, you are considered a terror suspect now. You’ll be handed over to the Department of Homeland Security after this is over.”
Carr’s face paled considerably.
“So, what are we doing here?” He asked nervously.
“Right now, I’m just gathering some basic information. It shouldn’t take that long.”
Oh, it took pretty damned long. It was to the point where the people in the observation room got up for coffee, stretch breaks, and bathroom breaks. They were now two hours into the interrogation, and Carr was squirming in his chair.
“Can I have a bathroom break?” He asked. “Or some water?”
Alex glanced up from her “paperwork.”
“Which is it? A bathroom break or water?”
“You know what I meant!” Carr snarled.
“Look, I’m just doing my job,” Alex said.
Jack had to laugh at what an amazing job she was doing. She had the whole act down pat.
Alex finally got up, excusing herself and left the room. Carr sat there and steamed a bit until Logan strolled in for the next round. Now, it was time for the real fun to begin.
Logan sat down heavily in one of the chairs and made a show of crossing his long legs, ankle sitting on one knee.
He stared at Carr for a long moment before he finally said, “So, I want to start at the beginning, eleven years ago. That seems to be when all this trouble you got yourself into started.”
Troubled Paradise (Gray Tower Book 2) Page 21