by Amey Zeigler
But Christian stepped forward, searching her gaze with his. Andy held her breath as he spoke. “Actually, there’s something I need to explain—”
But he was interrupted. Antonio slid out of a set of double doors on the other end of the hallway. “We’re ready for you.” He held the door open for them, waiting.
Christiaan nodded vaguely toward Antonio, the urgency in his manner dropped. The moment was lost. He faced Andy, his eyes full of feeling. “You don’t need to say anything more. I think we both feel the same way.”
In some part, his words relieved her. But another part of Andy roiled in anguish.
Then in a flash, Christiaan smiled, all the hidden meanings wiped away. He clapped his hands. “Shall we go in?”
And he led her to the waiting doors.
Inside, a woman sat at a long table. She stood when they entered. She fit the role of secretary for the boss with gorgeous, matte finished olive skin, silken shoulder length hair, lacquered nails and lips. Stunning. Antonio joined them and sat at the far end of the table.
“There you are,” the woman said, with a slight accent, greeting them in a wide smile. The dark-haired vixen flipped her hair over her shoulder with the grace of a shampoo commercial. Her examination of Andy was scrutinizing. Andy extended her hand for Christiaan’s when he stepped toward the woman.
“Andy Baker of Baker’s Dozen, Sabrina Guterelli…”
Andy thrust out her hand to Sabrina as Christiaan continued to speak. “My boss.”
Andy almost recoiled. She was his boss? He couldn’t be taking orders from a girl. A woman could be a boss, but she was so Vogue. He was so alpha.
“Project lead,” she corrected him.
Christiaan slipped his arm around Sabrina’s waist to continue.
“And his girlfriend,” Sabrina said, kissing Christiaan on his cheek. He tilted his jaw upward, observing Andy intensely.
Andy’s heart lunged in her chest, her temperature rose, her stomach roiled. Despite her physical reaction, she had to say something.
Though Andy had told many untruths, white lies and downright whoppers in her time, but no lie was as big, as incontestably false as what slipped from her mouth next:
“It’s nice to meet you.” She smiled broadly, struggling to suppress all tells of emotion, her heartbeat constricting her throat. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
Sabrina assessed Andy, then flattened her lids to flirty little slits as she glanced sideways at him. “You weren’t bragging about me again, were you?” Her gaze lingered on him and then refocused on Andy. “Did he tell you how I disarmed him with only my high heels and a lace thong?” Her gaze flitted to Christiaan, slapping him slightly on his huge shoulder. “He’s always telling that story.”
Christiaan dipped his face into her neck, giving her a quick kiss there. Andy’s stomach soured. Heat drifted up through her shirt. Her insides burning.
“We called her the Italian Battalion,” he said.
Sabrina tossed her head back in a laugh. “I shouldn’t have given up the field. But to be project lead…”
“She was incredible, Andy.” He gave Andy a quick glance.
“Is…Is, darling,” Sabrina said, running a fingernail against his cheek. “Not past tense. Never think of me in the past tense.”
The room tilted. Andy closed her eyes against the scene. She had to get out of there. Her lungs hurt, her heart seized.
Andy faced away from them and marched through the double doors into the hallway.
“Andy,” Christian called.
If she could just reach outside. Andy struggled for breath. Footsteps followed her.
Christiaan touched her shoulder, stopping her. “Wait.”
Reflexively, Andy’s hands flew into action, knocking his hands away with a forceful block. His face twisted with concern. Her hands flew to her own face, shutting him out.
“You okay?” he asked.
There are times so painful, only a lie will do.
“I’m fine.” Her voice wheezed from her constricted throat. Andy stifled a sob by suffocation.
“Lie,” he stated, his face inches from hers, his gaze searching hers. “What’s really wrong?”
“Girlfriend?” She couldn’t even look him in the eye. She breathed deeply into her hands. Nothing would be okay after this.
Grabbing her shoulders, he leaned in. “I was going to tell you. There just wasn’t time.”
She dropped her hands, staring at him with all the disgust she could manage. “Why should you tell your mark you’re in a committed relationship?”
He stepped back, his brows furrowing. “Is that what you think is going on?”
Andy crossed her arms. “I know that’s what’s going on.”
He threw up his arms.
“I do it every day,” she said. “I should know.”
Christiaan leaned in, his whisper, rugged and intense in her ear. “There are so many secrets I can’t even tell you about. It’s complicated. Dangerous even. I wish I had power to make it right. To make this right.”
Retreating from him, Andy stood firm. “Let’s get one thing straight: I am here for Brad. I want Imperium taken down for him.”
Andy’s face hurt from trying to keep the tears in. Her nose burned. She dared glance at his eyes. They were big and wonderful and full of pain.
“At least come in so we can explain what is really going on.”
Just then, her phone rang.
Christian had his secrets. It was part of who he was. Sitting around opening up to people didn’t come easily to him. Emotional “kum ba ya” wasn’t his strength. But it hurt him to hurt Andy.
“Andy,” he said, as she slipped her hand into her bag for her phone. “Don’t close yourself off to me.” All this time, he’d used her, lied to her, and still managed to regain her trust. But this might have been too much.
Pent up emotions hovered too close to the surface. Admitting his feelings now would destroy everything he’d worked for. Andy faced way from him. “I wanted to tell you earlier, but, there’s just too much.” Christiaan added as a last-ditch effort, “I need Sabrina.”
Without a word, her eyes still cold and steely, Andy slid out the doorway.
****
Ricardo and Manuel couldn’t let Christiaan off the hook. He was back in North America, and Ricardo would not rest until Christiaan suffered. His father must be avenged.
His men had found a man, Miguel, a worker at the Sierra Vista Municipal Airport who cleared the single prop. The policía tracked one leaving Mexican airspace and figured it was Christiaan’s extraction team.
Miguel in his green uniform, his hat in his lap, sat in front of Ricardo at his safe house in the town of Sierra Vista, Arizona just inside the US border. Ricardo stared him down. Everyone could be bribed. Everyone had something they needed. This man was deeply in debt.
“I am searching for this man,” Ricardo said holding up a picture of Christiaan. “He crossed these borders into US, no?”
“Si,” the man said, plucking at his mustache. “With a woman and another man.”
“Where were they headed?”
Miguel recognized this man from the drug cartel. His armpits moistened with sweat. If this man was chasing someone it would mean their death. But if he didn’t tell him, it could mean his own death.
“I don’t know.”
Ricardo leaned closer. Spittle flew in Miguel’s face as he talked. “I will only ask you one time again. Where did they go?”
The offer of money had just been a feint to get him here, but Miguel half hoped he would still be able to leave alive. He had three children who just started school after being sick. What did he owe to the stranger? He loved his family. “They took the next flight to St. Louis, Missouri.”
“Gracias.” Ricardo thanked him with a shot to his head.
“St. Louis,” he said to Manuel. “Time to call our friends in St. Louis. We will only have one chance at this. Christiaan cannot leave this con
tinent alive.”
****
Once out the door and into the crisp air, Andy berated herself for not being impervious to his charm. Finding out about Sabrina pained her. Like her insides would fold inward. She was a fool.
Flipping over her phone she noticed the missed call.
Carla.
Andy didn’t want to talk to her. She didn’t have any answers. Not about Scott. Not about Imperium. The whole world weighed on her chest, making it difficult to breathe. Andy had failed.
Andy glanced around not wanting to go back inside, but not wanting to linger outside. She wasn’t sure she could face Christiaan. Their relationship was all an act. Andy hung her head. Surprisingly, this realization stung her more than knowing Brad was in Imperium. Movement in the corner of her eye caused her to do a double take. The ground moved. Andy studied closer. A nest of cockroaches! Ugh!
Repulsed, Andy slid her hand into the handle of the door. She had told Brad she would dismantle Imperium. Do it she must. No matter the personal pain. She returned inside.
Although the outside appeared to be an ordinary abandoned warehouse, the inside, after passing through the secured entrance, transported Andy into another place. Refurbished with new wood paneled walls and polished tables gleamed in the light, the temporary base was sleek and modern. Andy opened double doors. Sabrina, Antonio, and Christiaan chatted around the table. Andy joined them by choosing the furthest seat from Christiaan, avoiding eye contact.
Sabrina stood at the front of the room. “It’s time, as you say, to lay our cards on the table.”
Andy just shrugged, shaking her head. To them it was business. To her, personal.
“From the beginning, please,” Christiaan said.
Sabrina stood like a model at the head of the table. “A year ago, a visiting professor at an American university was murdered in his home in Germany. Since it didn’t happen on American soil, your government didn’t do anything about it. However, the Germans were exceedingly upset their respected physicist and professor was murdered. Suspecting it had to do with some of his research for a certain US company, suspicions turned to its share holders. The Germans are convinced the members of the company were facilitators of his death. The German government called us for investigation and arbitration.”
“Who is ‘us?’ ” Andy asked.
“We are a UN-Sanctioned world police unit. We were organized to solve disputes between states, quickly, silently, efficiently. We are OverSight.”
“Kind of like Interpol?” Andy asked.
Sabrina nodded, flashing her too-white teeth between red lips. “But better equipped, more sanctions, and immunity.”
“And cooler tech,” Christiaan said and grinned. Andy ignored him. She hadn’t so much as made eye contact with him across the polished table.
“Except the US government doesn’t like us, understandably,” Antonio said in a lilting accent, his hands clasped in front of him on the table, smiling charmingly at Andy. This didn’t go unnoticed by Christiaan who tried to ignore Andy’s reciprocity. “We don’t want to breach diplomatic trust.”
Sabrina cleared her throat and continued. “The Americans have the biggest egos, preferring to be the biggest guns, the world police. But America is becoming corrupt.”
Antonio flashed her another million-dollar smile. Andy returned it. His teeth were blindingly white. “We are sent to make peace by ensuring justice for the Germans without upsetting your government.”
“Do you mean you have higher security protocol and protections than the CIA or FBI?” Andy asked in awe, wondering how they accomplished a higher level of diplomatic immunity.
Sabrina gave her a sly sideways glance. “They wouldn’t admit it if you asked them.”
“How can I believe you? You’ve lied to me this whole time.”
Christiaan winced.
Sabrina smiled her eyes dancing with delight. “We have proof.”
“What could you possibly give me to convince me?”
“Here,” Sabrina said. After unfolding a small wallet-sized bi-fold, she handed Andy an official document for her to study. An embossed hologram seal of the United Nations gleamed across the top. “Or if you’d like, we can call your president.”
“This is enough.” Andy handed back the bi-fold.
Christiaan continued the narrative. “Back to Germany. We followed the money trail from the professor to T Enterprises, owned by none other than Michael J. Tyrone.”
Sabrina continued. “We had been following him since we figured he must have constructed Herr Doktor Professor Mertz’s death. Tyrone invested millions of dollars developing Herr Doktor Professor Mertz’s technology. Something went wrong, and Tyrone silenced the Doktor Professor. Though we have our suspicions, we needed evidence for conviction. Tyrone has so many minions to do his dirty work for him.”
Christiaan finished. “Last year, I concocted a deep cover, to get close to Tyrone only to discover he was in the upper echelons of a secret society called Imperium. So instead, I made connections with those lower in rank within the organization to dig up evidence of foul play.”
Andy opened up with the understanding. “Conner.”
Sabrina nodded. “Conner was one of our CIs.”
“CI’s?”
“Criminal Informant.”
Andy bristled thinking of Conner as a criminal. “You blackmailed him.”
Christiaan shrugged. “Sometimes we have to in order to get the information we need.”
Sabrina leaned forward, placing her hands on the table. “You witnessed Brad’s blood out, he told you of his suspicion of Conner’s blood out. Mertz, Martinez, and your editor are all dead. These murders will not bode well for Imperium.”
Andy leaned toward the table. “What do you need from me?”
“We need the authentication code for Conner’s jump drive,” Sabrina said.
Andy squinted. “You have the jump drive? How did you get it?”
A few heartbeats of awkward silence followed. No one spoke. Andy glanced from face to face, confused. Finally, Sabrina broke the silence. “The other team recovered it.”
“What other team?” Andy asked her heartbeat quickening.
“The other guys we fought in the hall who made off with the jump drive.” Christiaan answered this time. “I tried to tell you.”
Andy flushed, turning to Sabrina. “You sent in a second team? You didn’t think we could do it?”
Sabrina wasn’t even abashed. “Actually, you were the distraction. They were able to get out clear because Tyrone only knew about you two.”
Andy’s heart pumped blood to her face, her lungs constricting. “Did you know about this?” She faced Christiaan for the first time since their conversation in the hall.
He nodded. “I told you about redundancies.”
Used. Andy didn’t bother concealing her anger, glowering at him
Sabrina continued. “Our team tried cracking the code, but it’s too secure. We figured Brad gave you the encryption code.”
Andy pointed with her thumb at Christiaan. “So you sent him to follow me.” Everyone nodded in unison. “You told me you were off the grid.”
“I lied,” he said. He lowered his head and avoided eye contact.
“But it paid off,” Antonio said in a soothing accent. “We were able to find you in the desert. We saved your life.”
“Thank you,” she said, forcing her chair back. She was through.
Sabrina stopped her by speaking. “We have the schematics you recovered. We just need the encryption code.”
“What’s on the jump drive?” she asked.
Sabrina continued. “We hope it’s the exchange of emails between Tyrone and Herr Doktor Professor Mertz’s proving Tyrone had knowledge of the professor’s findings. And a clue as to where the prototype went. We were hoping Martinez had it. But it doesn’t matter because now we have the plans.”
Christiaan spoke. “In the paper, Herr Doktor Professor Mertz recorded strange side ef
fects of irrational behavior in test subjects. He guessed they reacted to a byproduct of the intermediary gasses and recommended they not go forward with manufacturing because they couldn’t isolate the variable. They found a correlated link, not a causal one.”
“Which was?” Andy asked.
“He was not exactly sure.” Sabrina’s expression remained passive. “He was after all a physicist, not a medical doctor. The gasses altered the brain chemicals.”
“He recorded all this in his paper? But no answers.” Andy asked again, trying to make sense of this.
“He didn’t know why. And it troubled the professor.”
Andy swiveled, intrigued. “Sounds like he didn’t want to continue, but Tyrone did.”
“Tyrone had too much money invested in the technology, having sponsored the studies. Tyrone bumped off the professor to keep him quiet.”
Finally, Christiaan commented. “To be fair, the side effect was random. Only about one in a thousand were affected, but it wasn’t consistent. Mertz recommended more testing, or to can it all together. It was already in late stages of manufacturing, and Tyrone decided to cover it up.”
Sabrina leaned closer. “We need the encryption code to find evidence to convict Tyrone. Then we can extradite him to Germany where he can stand trial.”
Antonio tapped his fingers together. “One more thing. In his paper, Herr Doktor Professor Mertz mentioned a collaborator, but as the paper wasn’t finished yet. It might be mentioned in the emails. It’s another professor, but he gave no name.”
“I know.” Andy glanced up. “Dr. Armstrong. Brad gave me his name before he died.”
Christiaan stared at her in disbelief. “Have you gotten ahold of him?”
Andy shook her head. “He’s been missing for months.”
“Imperium?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t know.”
After breaking for lunch, Andy stood outside, preferring even the roaches to the company inside, to eat her sandwich. She also needed to confirm something. Andy had subscriptions to many white pages listening. After much digging around the Internet, she finally found a home number for Dr. Armstrong.