Hard and Fast

by Raven Scott

  “Wait,” Lucas interrupted, stepping forward. “What about the network intrusion last night? If Crow was fired last weekend, who’s attacking now? And why?”

  “Hernandez claims he had no idea,” Abe told them.

  “Lucas, do you think Crow went after the design yesterday even after their contract was cancelled?”

  “I don’t know. But someone did and they were really good,” he mumbled. “Abe, did Hernandez say anything to indicate how much he knew about the Cicada? Did he know it was electric drive only? Or any of the other performance projections?”

  “He didn’t say anything specific about the technology, except that the woman talked about a battery originally, but he decided to destroy the whole engine in the end,” Abe replied as he thought through the details revealed in the interview. “But now that you mention it, he seemed more curious about what the hackers would find rather than trying to get something of specific value. I got the sense that his only real objective was to beat Magnus, one way or the other.”

  “Whoever’s going after the Magnus data wasn’t just curious, they were determined,” Lucas muttered. “I’d say they knew there was something very valuable stored there, beyond just beating Magnus in a race.”

  The men thought for a minute, and Lucas walked a couple of steps away, rubbing two fingers across his lips.

  “So, what’s our next move?” Ned asked finally.

  “I’m going to review the information I copied from Pratt’s computer again to see what I can find. He accessed Adam North’s computer in order to plant the Trojan horse, so maybe he discovered more about the Cicada design than Hernandez knew,” Lucas told them.

  “If he did, then Crow knows about it as well. Which could explain why Pratt was eliminated in the end,” Evan added.

  “Until we know more, the Omega protocol needs to stay in place,” Lucas concluded. “Michael, can you start looking into the woman who tried to sell the battery design last year? It has to be someone associated with North in some way. I’ll give Passante and Cotts the update. Maybe they know something that can provide some answers.”

  They ended the meeting soon after, and Lucas went outside to speak to Alex. When he unlocked the door to the shed, it was quiet and dark inside except for the sunlight pouring through the windows facing the lake. She wasn’t in there. Lucas stepped back and looked around the large backyard and toward the house. There was no sign of her. Starting to get alarmed, he took out his cell phone, ready to check the GPS location of her phone in case she had gone against the security protocols and left the property alone. Then something red caught his eye near the edge of the grass, at the wooden steps down to the docks.

  As he grew closer, he saw it was Alex, sitting on the top step, looking out at the water. She glanced up with surprise as his shadow fell over her, then stood up abruptly.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” Lucas told her.

  “No, that’s okay. I was just thinking.”

  “About what?” he asked.

  “Just one of the components.”

  She looked around, then out at the lake, almost longingly.

  “Would a walk help? We can walk along the water for a bit then turn back.”

  Lucas thought for a moment that she was about to turn him down, and it surprised him how disappointed he would be. Talking with her earlier in the morning had been nice, and something he was looking forward to repeating.

  “Sure, why not,” she finally replied.

  He sent Ned a brief text message with their plans, then followed her down the stairs. They walked along the boardwalk for about ten minutes in silence. At the end of April, the midday temperature was cool, but the air was still and the sun shone brightly, reflecting off the glassy lake. Alex had her hands buried in the pockets of her hooded sweatshirt, but otherwise seemed comfortable.

  Another ten minutes, and they reached the park at the edge of the Skaneateles town center, with a line of quaint shops and restaurants.

  “Do you think they have a Starbucks?” she asked as they walked across the grass to the sidewalk along the main street. “I would love a latte.”

  “Let’s go take a look,” Lucas suggested.

  “I didn’t bring my wallet, or anything.”

  “I think I can cover you,” he teased.

  There was no big-brand coffee shop, but they did find a café along the main strip that made lattes to order and had a wide selection of fresh baked breads and pastries. Alex got her latte, Lucas grabbed a sports drink and a box of pastries, which he would bring back to the house for Ned. They were walking back to the house along the boardwalk when Lucas brought up the topic of Cesar Hernandez and gave her a brief summary of the details uncovered during the FBI interrogation.

  “So, you think someone other than Cesar is trying to steal the Cicada design,” she said with a sigh.

  “We have to consider that.”

  “I guess that means we’re not going home yet. And here I was thinking this might be a victory celebration.”

  Lucas smiled down at her.

  “I think I could come up with something better than a cup of coffee, if that were the case.”

  “Hey, I wasn’t complaining. I’m a pretty cheap date.”

  Alex then stopped in her tracks as she threw her head back with her eyes shut tight and her teeth clenched in a grimace.

  “Maybe that wasn’t the best choice of words,” she muttered, looking anywhere but at him.

  Lucas stopped also and watched her with his arms crossed against his chest.

  “Alex,” he began, knowing that, though it was nice to be on cordial speaking terms, there was still an issue between them that need to be settled.

  “Look, there’s really no need—”

  “Yes, there is,” Lucas insisted gently, and she let out a loud, dramatic sigh. “I handled the situation badly and I offended you. That wasn’t my intention.”

  “I wasn’t offended. Okay, maybe a little,” she quickly conceded when he raised his brows high with skepticism. “But since I came on to you, I can hardly complain, right?”

  “That’s not exactly how it happened.”

  “Yeah, I’m pretty sure it is. Unless you think I started taking off my clothes because I was too hot,” she countered with heavy sarcasm.

  He grinned, always surprised by her humorous candor so akin with his own temperament.

  “You were. That’s how I ended up with my pants around my ankles.”

  They both laughed for a bit over that one. Then Alex started walking again, at a slower, more aimless pace.

  “You really should not tell a woman you’re not interested in her, then flirt so blatantly, pretty boy,” she scolded. “She might get confused.”

  “I never said that,” Lucas stated, stepping ahead of her to block her path. “I never said I wasn’t interested in you, Alex. In fact, I’m pretty sure I said the exact opposite to that the night we met.”

  “Sure you did. And stop blocking my way!” she demanded, shoving at his shoulder though he barely swayed from the soft touch.

  “No, Alex,” he corrected. “I said what happened in the hotel shouldn’t happen again, not that I didn’t want it to. Or want you.”

  She looked up at him, clearly taken aback by his statement. Yet Lucas couldn’t understand how she could get it wrong. Wasn’t his attraction to her written all over his face, no matter how hard he tried to hide it? It certainly felt that way.

  “Why?” she asked.

  Lucas was speechless for a few seconds. Her near proximity disrupted his breathing with accurate predictability.

  “Why do I want you?”

  “No,” she dismissed like he was slow. “Why shouldn’t it happen again?”

  It was his turn to start walking again. The rental house was in sight, with the seaplane docked in front. Suddenly, a movement near the plane caught his eye. Lucas stopped, reaching out his right hand to grab Alex’s left arm and pull her behind him, then handed her the box
of pastries. There was a man standing at the tail end, his blue jacket stark against the bright white aviation paint. Based on his height and size, it wasn’t Ned.

  Lucas unholstered his gun with his right hand, placed it behind his back and out of view from anyone else who may be looking.

  “Alex, see that boat we just passed? I need you to go and duck down behind it,” he instructed firmly while his eyes stay fixed on the intruder. “Do not move from there until I come back for you.”

  He waited until he felt her back up, then heard her soft footsteps retreat. Then, Lucas strode purposefully toward the man while calling Ned on his cell phone.

  “I’ve got him,” Ned stated as soon as the call was answered.

  Lucas could see his partner coming down the wooden steps from the house, two at a time.

  “I’m covering Alex on the boardwalk, to the right about five houses down.”

  They disconnected, and Lucas watched the other agent approach the stranger with a casual walk. From this distance, the interaction between the two men looked innocuous, but Lucas remained vigilant from his position with his thumb touching the gun safety, keenly aware of the quiet, open space and Alex’s vulnerable exposure.

  The tense situation was over in a few minutes, as the stranger walked away, along the boardwalk in the opposite direction, then disappeared into an entrance several lots down.

  CHAPTER 19

  As instructed by Lucas, Alex stayed hidden behind the docked boat for several long, tense minutes before he came to get her. By then, the easy companionship they had shared throughout the walk had dissipated, replaced by the more familiar guardian/protector relationship. He silently walked her back to the shed with instructions not to leave until she received a coded text message.

  It took a long while for Alex’s nerves to settle down from the drama. She tried to go back to work, but found it difficult to concentrate on mechanical parts and technical specs. When her cell phone pinged, delivering the simple message of the word blue, she finally let out a deep breath of relief. It was now almost four o’clock in the afternoon and time to get back to work.

  Hours later, Alex still found it hard to focus on reconstructing her electric motor. Her hands were busy, but her thoughts wandered back to those last few sentences of the conversation with Lucas while they were walking back from the town. The words replayed in her mind, and she remembered the heated intensity in his eyes, and the heavy pounding of her heart in response.

  Lucas wanted her.

  Alex had felt certain that whatever attraction he had originally felt had effectively been quelled by her less than feminine qualities. It certainly wouldn’t have been the first time. Men might find her physically attractive at first, maybe even funny, until her more assertive and outspoken side eventually appeared. Or until her most unforgivable sins were revealed somehow: that all her friends were men and she knew more about cars than they did.

  When she was in high school and college, there were a few guys who thought those two things were pretty hot for a girl. At first. But soon enough, after a few awkward conversations about cars where she corrected or disagreed with them, her unique appeal quickly faded into annoyance, then finally disinterest. As a quick learner, Alex decided it was just easier to only date men who knew nothing about her. Over the next few years, it was convenient and surprisingly easy to just have casual relationships, enjoy their company as the typical girl she learned to play in high school. The trick was to end it before they became too attached, asked too many questions about other parts of her life, or they wanted to meet her friends.

  Lucas Johnson knew everything about Alex, including the sharp bite of her sarcastic tongue. His edict that they shouldn’t be together again had bruised her ego, but like her past experience with men and relationships, it wasn’t surprising. Alex had also spent the last few days trying to understand the aching disappointment that had settled in her stomach. She knew lots of strong, attractive, capable men, but Lucas and his band of agents were definitely in a league of their own. Was it the sheer masculinity of his role as her armed protector? Was it the sharp intelligence, or the way he led his team? Maybe, she thought.

  Or it was much more simple and base. The sex had been heart-stopping and mind-blowing, and Alex wanted it again. Hearing Lucas state so simply that he still wanted her had only heightened that need.

  It was well after nine o’clock before Alex stopped working and headed back to the house. Lucas had sent her a note a couple of hours earlier to say dinner was ready, but Alex felt too caught up in her wayward thoughts to face him just yet. Eventually, the hunger pains became too hard to ignore. When she entered the living area, he was sitting at the dining table working on the computer while Ned was on the couch watching television. They both looked up as she walked across the room to heat up her meal.

  “What happened with the guy earlier?” she asked them while standing at the kitchen counter to eat.

  “Nothing to worry about,” Ned replied. “Just one of the neighbors checking out the plane. He was harmless.”

  Alex looked at Lucas, but he seemed completely focused on his work. She went back to her meal. When finished, she washed her plate and utensils, then headed for her bedroom with a glass of water. He still did not look up.

  Thinking a long, hot bath would help settle her thoughts, Alex went straight into the attached bathroom, leaving the bedroom dark. She placed her cell phone and the icy cold glass on the sink console, then turned on the tap in the deep tub. As it filled, she went back into the bedroom to undress and grab nightclothes. She pulled her dreadlocks into a high ponytail, wrapping the strands into a tight bun to keep it out of the way. As she stepped gingerly into the steaming water, Alex paused to allow each part of her skin to get accustomed to the temperature before finally lying down to submerge her body in the depth of the tub. The tension slowly seeped out of her limbs until Alex felt lazy, soothed, and eventually drowsy.

  Something woke her up sometime later. Alex blinked for a moment, confused by her surroundings until she remembered where she was. She sat up quickly, looking around to figure out how long she had napped. The water was cool, and her skin felt soggy and pruned. She pulled the plug in the tub and turned on the shower spray to wash up with her favorite shower gel.

  As she toweled off a short while later, Alex felt chilled and lethargic. Once dry, she drank down some room-temperature water and checked the time on her cell phone. It was almost midnight. She had slept for over an hour.

  Alex was applying lotion when there was a knock on the bathroom door.

  “Alex, are you okay?” It was Lucas, his voice low and muffled.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  She stood frozen for another minute, waiting for him to say something more, but only silence followed. Assuming he had left, she finished moisturizing her face and body, then pulled an extra large T-shirt over her head before stepping into the bedroom with the glass of water and phone in her hands.

  Lucas was standing on the other side of the space, leaning back against the wall with his ankles crossed. She stopped abruptly in surprise.

  “You’ve been in there for a while. I was starting to get worried,” he stated.

  “What’s going on?” Alex asked, suddenly very self-conscious about her sloppy sleepwear.

  She turned away from him to place the items she held onto the dresser next to the bathroom door. Then she reached up to undo her hair. When Lucas didn’t reply, she looked over at him again, shaking out her locs so they fell heavily over her shoulders and around her face.

  “I wanted to talk to you,” he finally replied.

  She let out a breath, now regretting her earlier impulsive and provocative question about them, together. Lucas may want her now, but his interest would fade eventually, so maybe it was all best left alone.

  “Look, there’s no need for us discuss it any further,” Alex declared, turning her back to him again. “What happened in the hotel was nothing, right? A few moments of some
thing purely physical. And you’re right. It shouldn’t happen again.”

  Alex intended to make a simple statement to save Lucas from any further explanations about the topic. Prevent any more awkward, ego-bruising debates about it. But when Lucas didn’t immediately respond, the seconds ticked by and she couldn’t help filling in the silence.

  “There’s really no point to it, right? It’s not like either of us wants a relationship. Sure, we could enjoy a few moments of pleasure, but what’s the point? We both have jobs to do, and sex would just be a distraction.”

  He cleared his throat.

  “Alex—”

  His voice sounded soft, concerned, almost regretful. Alex hardened her resolve, and turned to face him in the shadowy space.

  “I’m a big girl, Lucas. My ego heals pretty quickly. So, no need to feel bad about it—”

  Her statement ended with a gasp as he closed the distance between them with two swift steps.

  “Alex, stop talking,” he growled low, his eyes blazing into her before his mouth fell onto hers.

  Her heart pounded in her chest as his tongue slipped between her lips to entwine hers with hard, swirling insistence. His arms wrapped around her body and his large hands pulled her up against his hard length. Surprise made her hesitate, but only for a moment until the taste and feel of him quickly dominated her senses. Alex responded, matching his heat and intensity. All the very logical reasons she had just articulated as to why this was a bad idea now seemed like flimsy, lame excuses.

  The tension mounted swiftly. The sounds of their kisses and soft moans vibrated in the dimly lit room.

  “God, you smell so good,” he muttered against her lips. “It drives me crazy.”

  Alex moaned low, incapable of responding coherently. He ran his mouth along the side of her neck, licking softly at her skin. His hands slid over the thin cotton of her nightshirt, down her back to cup the curve of her ass. She gasped at the feel of his thick erection branded against the base of her stomach. Then he pulled up the fabric to caress her naked flesh. He kissed her hard and deep, stroking into her mouth with his tongue like a promise of what was to come. Alex shivered in anticipation.