It likely wouldn’t be that simple, but it was worth a shot. Before he left, he’d also ask his father to procure a list of the secret service agents on staff. After someone on the board, they were the most likely suspects.
He wondered what sort of data Jenessa could get her hands on. Nick had hinted she was a master hacker and not exactly bound by the same rules as most investigators. While Kole understood that Nick’s group operated outside the laws to do what they had to in order to catch threats to the American people, Kole wondered how far that extended. Could Jenessa hack into email communications or the like? Perhaps it was time he had a chat with her about what her capabilities entailed.
He’d been so worried about what she looked like and if their ruse would pass inspection, he hadn’t considered why his father and Nick both thought she was the right agent for this job.
While Kole contemplated Jenessa’s possible skills and how they could help the investigation, the other members of the board were allowed into the room. Most of the men were familiar faces, having been around the past five years since his father took the presidency.
Victor Strauss offered Kole a kind smile before nodding his head toward the president and taking his chair. Victor was inherited by the board from the previous president, and the man appeared to take his job seriously.
“Any new problems, Victor?” William asked.
Victor shook his head. “My extended family’s safe, but we’re careful about testing the brakes in cars before going too far or too fast.”
“And your driver?” William asked. “Is he recovering?”
“Things are looking promising,” Victor said. “We have to catch this bastard! I’m going out of my mind worrying one of my children will be targeted next. They’re spread all over the country. How can I protect them?”
No one had an answer for that, and Victor dropped his head into his hands, seeming stressed. The question Kole had to ask was whether it was true stress or an act. While Victor had been attacked through faulty brake lines, no one had been killed. Victor came out perfectly fine without a single scratch on him. Kole couldn’t rule out board members who’d already been targeted. It might be a strategy used to take suspicion off them and not a real attack.
Stanley Brighton walked in and took the seat next to Victor, scrubbing at his face and looking exhausted. “My wife thought someone followed her last night. When you add that in to my son being run off the road last week...”
The fear in the room was a palpable force. Only the person working with Paul could feel secure. Everyone else was truly terrified. Unspoken was their concerns that any one of them could end up dead like Ross Jenkins. S.A.T.O. knew who they were, and this fact held them in perpetual terror.
A younger man than the others, one who looked to be in his late thirties, took the seat next to Kole. He stuck out his hand. “You must be President Sharp’s youngest son. He told us you were moving back and joining us. I’m Caleb Harrington. We’ve never met, but everyone speaks highly of you.”
Kole held back a grimace as he shook Caleb’s hand, wondering what stories the men had relayed. Did they talk about Clarissa and the way she had cheated on him and left him broken? Were they all looking at him now and thinking he was stupid to fall for another girl just like her?
It was time to quash any fears the mole working for Paul might have at Kole returning. He didn’t want anyone suspecting bigger reasons for his return to D.C. He also didn’t want them realizing something was wrong with his new girlfriend—well, other than her being a gold digger. They all needed to have the right wrong idea so she would stay below the interest level of S.A.T.O.
Kole forced a smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Caleb. While I can’t say I’m entirely happy to be back, my lady wants to live where the action is. I can’t very well live in D.C. and not join in with my father’s advising staff.”
“Of course not,” Caleb agreed and the other men nodded. “We know how much you’ve tried to avoid this world, especially after...”
“Clarissa,” Kole confirmed, surprised that her betrayal still hurt after all this time. “I trust my Jen, though. She’s nothing like that. We’re in love and nothing will stop that. Not even being here.”
Across from their father, Carter snorted. “Yeah, right. Money grubbing, fame seeking... I can think of a lot of things that probably describe Jen Fleming, but in love isn’t one of them.”
Kole glared at his brother. “You’re just jealous. I don’t blame you. She’s special.”
Kevin cleared his throat and flashed his smile back and forth between the two brothers. “The important thing is you’re back, and we’re glad to have you, Kole.”
Everyone murmured their agreement, and Kole was satisfied he’d put some suspicions to rest with his explanation. Carter might not realize it, but his outburst and judgment went a long way to helping promote the idea of what Jenessa was. He should thank him once they caught the culprit and Kole could come clean about Jenessa’s identity.
The last man in the group, Charles Tessier, had stood listening to the conversation about Jenessa and finally took his seat. He brushed black hair away from his forehead, eyes narrowed. “You came back because of a woman? I thought you would find a way to stop these attacks. Aren’t you some type of private investigator out there in Wisconsin.”
“I’d go back to Wisconsin in a second if it wasn’t for Jennifer.” He breathed an internal sigh of relief that he hadn’t slipped and called her Jenessa. “However, Dad told me there were problems with attacks and that my investigative skills might come in handy. I’ll try to help out as much as I can. Just tell me what you want me to do.”
“I’d tell you to stop Paul Billings,” Charles grumbled, “but not even Nick’s entire crew of agents has been able to do that.”
William cleared his throat, immediately drawing the attention of all men present. The atmosphere might be somewhat casual in the room, but they knew who was in charge. “Maybe there’s a solution to this problem, a way to get Paul and his members to leave you all alone.”
“What are you thinking?” Kevin asked, folding his pudgy hands together and staring at the president intently.
“As some of you know, I’ve had a problem with the entire idea of this illegal organization since first taking over the presidency,” William said. “What if we disbanded it?”
Everyone erupted at once, arguing against that idea.
William held up a hand, and the other men quieted. “I’m not suggesting we leave S.A.T.O. in place to terrorize with impunity. Rather, I think we should absorb Nick and his agents into Homeland Security and follow the proper channels. If we weren’t persisting in illegal activities by having Nick’s group, we’d be able to warn the public more effectively. At the same time, if Nick and his agents were a legitimate organization working inside something legal, we could have all law enforcement agencies working together to stop Paul Billings and his group.”
Carter shook his head. “Dad, we can’t do away with Nick’s agents. You know how many terrorists they’ve stopped, people Homeland Security or the Domestic Terror Unit wouldn’t have been able to do anything about.”
Kole could understand where both men were coming from. Despite the fact that William was the most powerful man in the United States and some would say that meant he could do what he wanted, he’d always been uneasy with the illegal anti-terrorist group he inherited.
Then again, Carter had a point too. Nick’s agents weren’t bound by the laws of the legitimate organizations. They could take out threats by whatever means necessary. The American people would be dismayed to know someone like Jenessa regularly hacked into private information under the direction of their president, but they also had no idea how many catastrophic terror plots had been stopped due to that same invasion of privacy.
There was a need for them. They handled the cases the regular departments couldn’t solve. Sometimes those problems needed permanent solutions. There was no due process involved as far
as the courts, but they always obtained absolute evidence of guilt before the board handed down orders to kill.
“We’ve talked about this, Will,” Kevin said with a slight shake of his head. “You’re my best friend in the world, and I hate to oppose you on this issue, but we need Nick and the agents. Paul Billings is too smart to be caught using regular methods. Without his agents listening in on phone calls, we wouldn’t have stopped the sale of those diamonds earlier this year. We might not know exactly what Paul planned to do with them, but we all know it was bad.”
Although he continued looking doubtful, William gave a short nod. “There is that. We have no clue where Paul might be right now. The attacks on the members of this board are the only thing we have linked to him at this point.”
Charles Tessier glared at Kevin. “So, what? You want to use us for bait? No thank you.”
Victor Strauss snorted. “My brakes were cut, and I could have been killed. Nothing has happened to you, Tessier. Don’t be such a pussy. We need to catch these guys and put a stop to it once and for all.”
Kole made mental notes of the men’s demeanors, wishing he could take actual notes. If it was someone in this group who betrayed them to Paul, Charles Tessier was at the top of the suspect list. The man didn’t look half as afraid as he should, more indignant than anything, and he was one of the few to be safe from attack. The youngest and newest member, Caleb, also had been free from any accidents to himself or those around him. Jenessa could start with the two of them and see if anything interesting popped up in her searches.
Feeling it was time to make someone squirm, Kole sat up straighter and cleared his throat. “Someone broke into my house last night. He attacked me in the library when Jen and I returned home from dinner.” He indicated the bandage on his forehead. “He killed the lights and knocked me over the head before I could get a look at him.”
“God, son!” Fear glazed over William’s eyes. “Why didn’t you say something sooner? Are you okay? Was Jen hurt?”
Kole squeezed his father’s forearm. “I’m fine and Jen’s fine. I made her wait in the car while I checked it out. She said she saw a man in a black ski mask running from the house shortly after the light went out in the library.”
He studied the men around him, hoping someone would present a nervous tic or some other tell to let Kole know they were the one who broke into his house. For the most part, they all showed nothing but concern.
All except Charles Tessier. His upper lip curved in a snarl as he stared at Kole. “Damn it. What if S.A.T.O. thinks you came here because of them? Paul might increase the attacks on us now. You and your latest whore should have stayed away!”
“Charles!” Carter stood from his chair, seeming to fill up the room as he did so. “You would do well to remember your place, old man. That’s my brother and the president’s son you’re talking to.”
Even if Carter held the same opinion of Jenessa as Charles Tessier, Kole was pleased that Carter stood up for him. They didn’t always get along, but it seemed the Sharp family was united against outsiders.
Charles’s lip still twitched but he nodded toward Carter in recognition of the words. “Sorry, Kole. We’re all frightened and on edge. Maybe me and my family haven’t been attacked yet, but the yet is what I worry about.”
True fear or clever acting? Kole couldn’t decide. Either way, he’d be gracious and accept the man’s apology. He knew how to behave in this world, even if he would prefer not to be in it. “I understand, Mr. Tessier. I hadn’t even been in town five hours and was already attacked, so I get the fear you have experienced for weeks. I mean, what if Jen had been in the house alone when that person broke in?” He widened his eyes, hoping the others would believe him genuinely concerned. Of course, Jenessa could take care of herself with a quick draw of her gun, but the less people who knew that, the better.
“The intruder was in your library?” Kevin asked.
Kole nodded in confirmation.
“I wonder what he was after.” Kevin bit his lower lip, staring with unseeing eyes at the center of the table. “As far as we know, he’s never broken in to someone’s house before and searched it, unless we just didn’t catch him.”
“My security alarm wasn’t engaged, although I know I turned it on before leaving the house.”
Kole hadn’t wanted to worry Jenessa last night with that frightening detail. She had deserved the night to rest, considering the stressful day she’d had and how rude he’d been. The thought had eaten him alive all night, though, wondering how the intruder had turned off the alarm. He’d get her to look into it and see if she could figure anything out.
Had he disabled it externally somehow, or had the man known what code to enter? And if he had the code, how did he get it?
Chapter 7
Jenessa had assumed shopping and getting her makeup done couldn’t be all that taxing, but by the time the beauty consultants left, she was ready to drop.
Not to mention the way the skin on her legs and lady parts screamed in pain. She had heard before that women shouldn’t have much hair on their bodies, but the beauty consultant wielding hot wax took that to an extreme. Jenessa feared her lower body would never be the same.
When she texted Shelley to yell at her for not giving her a warning about that part of the beauty ritual, Shelley had sent back a laughing emoji followed by a message that said, Don’t let that painful process be wasted. Show it off, girl. Jump his bone!
Jenessa had merely shook her head and not sent a response. However, when she gazed at the mirror, the beautiful woman staring back at her was likely to catch Kole’s attention. If she were inclined to take Shelley’s advice about how to get over a broken heart, she was sure she could talk Kole into helping her with the project.
Batting her artificially long eyelashes at her reflection, Jenessa practiced a soft laugh and the perfect hair flip. Kole said they were going to a charity dinner that his mother had worked to put together. There would be a lot of important people there, the sort of people a social climber would flirt with when her boyfriend wasn’t looking.
Although she knew the women helping her had caked on what felt like a pound of makeup, somehow her smoky eyes were just the right touch of beautiful and her skin looked flawless. There wasn’t a lot of residue when she touched her skin, and Bethany had assured her the high-quality stuff would last throughout the entire event. Her hair was also filled with product, making it thicker and fuller appearing. To her surprise, it was still soft to the touch.
She looked like a sex kitten and every man’s wet dream! She had no clue it was possible for her to look this gorgeous. Not that she’d want to go through the work it took on a regular basis, but she couldn’t complain about the results.
Now, to wait for Kole and his approval of which dress she should choose.
Realizing he would still be grading and evaluating her, Jenessa knew there was no way she could have sex with him to get over Dan. Shelley might have done that sort of thing back before she married Gavin, but it just wasn’t in Jenessa. She wanted to at least like a guy she slept with. Kole might be available and close at hand, but he was one of the biggest jerks she’d ever met.
Who wanted to sleep with someone who would rub her legs in the middle of a climax to make sure they were smooth enough?
Snorting to herself, Jenessa opened her laptop and got to work. Just because Kole hadn’t left her instructions on who to investigate, that didn’t mean she couldn’t start on her own. He wasn’t impressed with her looks, but perhaps her brain would help him realize that she would make a good partner in this investigation.
There was a tap on the bedroom door, and it swung inward before Jenessa could call out.
When Kole popped his head inside the room, Jenessa grabbed a pillow from behind her position on the bed and chucked it at him, narrowly missing his face. “What if I’d been naked again? You can’t just walk in here without waiting for me to answer.”
Kole shrugged and steppe
d into the room. “Relax, Nessa. You don’t have anything I haven’t seen before. We aren’t children.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Funny. You certainly act like a child, a naughty one at that. Come in here again without knocking, and next time I’ll kick you in the balls so hard, you’ll feel like those bad boys are coming up your throat.”
Kole busted out into hearty laughter, stepping further into the room. “Oh, God, I’m sorry,” he said around his chuckles. “I’ll be better, but that’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.”
His amusement was so complete, that Jenessa couldn’t keep her lips from twitching in a smile. She wanted to be angry with him for invading her privacy again, but Kole’s genuine laugh was contagious.
He walked to the side of the bed, wiping at his eyes as he continued to laugh. “You’re so refreshing after the people I’m used to dealing with.”
“Refreshing?” Jenessa was quite certain he wasn’t laughing at her, but she didn’t know yet if she could trust him not to turn this around in some way and hurt her feelings as he’d done all day yesterday. “What do you mean by that?”
He gestured to the bed next to her. “May I sit?”
Well, it seemed he was learning some manners, at least. “Sure.”
He eyed the notebook she’d been writing in and pushed it further toward her before sitting. There was nothing sexy or suggestive about the way he did it. If anything, he was careful not to touch her legs where she had them stretched out behind his back.
“What I mean,” he said, finally gaining control of his mirth, “is you’re something special in my world. A person who says exactly what she thinks and isn’t afraid to tell me when I’m an asshole.”
Jenessa chewed at the inside of her lip for several seconds, thinking that over. “You like that quality in a woman?”
Love & Compromise (Agents in Love Book 3) Page 6