“Oh, okay.” She slid off the stool and turned her phone over in her hands. The idea of going upstairs, of sleeping alone even if for a bit had her pulse speeding up. He’d become her safety blanket, and now she didn’t want to be without him. But that level of neediness was annoying.
Zain glanced at her, his gaze seeing too deep.
“Would it bother you if I brought this upstairs? I could turn the brightness down,” he said.
“No, it wouldn’t bother me.” She bit her lip. “Is it lame that I...need you with me?”
He stood, wrapping his arms around her and tugging her in close. He was the perfect height for his chin to rest on top of her head.
“No, it’s not lame...”
“I hear a but coming.”
“There’s no but. I was just going to say...” He leaned back and looked down at her. “It’s nice to be needed.”
“I need you, Zain Lloyd. You’re my only hope.” She grinned.
He grinned back at her.
How was it that in all of this crazy mess that was her life, she’d found someone like him?
21.
Zain squeezed Andrea’s hand as they joined the flow of employees into the Dark Matter offices north of downtown Seattle. She released her hold on him and grabbed the door. He hesitated a moment, letting a few feet of space separate them.
He wanted to hang back, to observe who spoke to Andrea, anyone that commented on the bruising or scratches. Plus, if anyone recognized him, they’d probably been at the con. Or was the real suspect. He didn’t doubt for a second that the real bad guys were aware of his presence. Kevin would have been an idiot to not tell someone about him.
The offices were exactly what Crystal and Andrea had described them to be. Sleek. Modern. Contemporary. Full of dude clutter. The entry looked a lot like a guy’s playground, with several gaming set ups waiting to be turned on and two posters of Dark Matter’s flagship game sporting scantily-clad women with heaving breasts.
Everyone headed upstairs, by way of either an elevator or a staircase that led to an open-second story meeting space.
Zain lagged about ten feet behind the girls, climbing the silver stairs after them.
At the top, Miranda and two men waited near the entrance, smiling and speaking when spoken to.
He recognized the tall one as Doug, Cliff’s VP. The other man, Zain couldn’t place.
Miranda’s gaze snagged on Zain and she sucked in a breath. For a moment, she had the proverbial deer-in-the-headlights look on her face.
What was her deal?
Something was up with Miranda and he wanted to find out what it was.
Miranda turned, putting her back to him as he reached the second floor and entered the room along with all the other employees. He’d borrowed one of Crystal’s badges and turned it over so at a glance he at least appeared to belong. Zain took up a spot near the door, standing against the wall
Chairs lined the room, most full already. People clustered and whispered, looking over their shoulders.
There was a clear divide.
Andrea, Crystal and anyone with a badge clipped to them were on the right side of the room—Grunge employees. And then everyone else. The looks and whispers were pointed.
Zain reached up and unclipped the badge, shoving it in his pocket before he attracted the same kind of attention. So far no one was directing their glares at Andrea or Crystal, but that was a matter of time.
“Everyone,” Doug spoke into the mic attached to the podium, “there’s coffee on the side over here. Thanks for being so prompt. We’ll get started in a few minutes.”
Miranda stopped two feet away, staring straight ahead and tilted her head toward him.
“Can I speak to you?” she said softly.
“Now?”
“Yes.”
Miranda turned and strode out of the meeting area.
He grimaced and glanced around.
Andrea was staring at him, her face a little pale. He smiled and nodded after Miranda. The girls would be okay. Safety in numbers.
He followed in the wake of their boss and wound up standing outside a dead end hallway that led to the restrooms.
The door to the women’s room opened and Miranda waved him inside.
He glanced over his shoulder, and then stepped in after her, keeping his back to the door.
Miranda paced in front of the vanity, shoving her hands through her curling hair.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“I think I know what they were after,” Miranda blurted out. She stopped her pacing and stared at Zain.
“Who was after?” He stared at her, needing an answer. Had Andrea been put in danger because of her boss?
“When Cliff bought Grunge we were...we were about to go under. We’d sunk so much into the distribution for D3 that it nearly bankrupted us. That one took so long to break even it...it was bad.”
“Miranda, why would someone go after Andrea?”
“Okay. I’m getting there.” She pressed her knuckles to her mouth for a moment. “The initial...discussions...with Dark Matter were between Cliff and I. No one else. We agreed how things would be structured, how it was all going to be a smooth, seamless operation. Then Doug got involved, and it got complicated. I had to go forward without things being resolved because there wasn’t money to pay people. I had to. So I...I installed a keystroke program. I thought that this way, if anything happened, I’d know and I could protect my people.”
“A keystroke program on Grunge, or Dark Matter?”
“Back then we were all on the same server. The same network. The program captured everything. That wasn’t what I meant for it to do. I was stupid. I realized what’d happened a week later but...I couldn’t yank it. Then there was the nastiness with the dragon game and—”
“What dragon game?”
“Age of Dragons. It was a single-player RPG that was the baby of a guy I let go ages ago. Some Dark Matter people thought we stole the concept, when really, we’d been working on it since way before the merger. The game tanked, in part because we were so mired in he-said-she-said over whose concept it was. It was a mess. And we did no marketing for it. So it flopped. Horribly. The designer walked, and I used his leaving to yank the keystroke program.”
“And?”
“And I copied everything. I figured—if they tried to blame us for the game under performing or say we stole ideas, I could prove it was a lie and fix things. But...”
“What does this have to do with Andrea?”
“I copied everything off the servers under her login.”
“Are you sure?”
“No, not positive, but I’ve been trying to find out. Quietly. The files are in a safety deposit box. I’ve never looked at it. Doug was the person who led the whole it’s-Grunge’s-fault campaign. Cliff demoted him over the whole mess. It was a big thing. The man still hates me for that.” She’d begun to pace again, her heels click-click-clicking on the tile. “Last night, when Cliff called us...Doug was ready. He had all the answers. All the solutions. He was even prepared to do this meeting this morning. And I have no idea what his lawyer is here for. Zain, I have a really bad feeling about all of this.”
Doug had been on Zain’s short list of people, but without an obvious motive, he hadn’t focused on the man.
“I need an Internet connection. Can you do that?”
“Yes. I can put you in Cliff’s office.” Miranda pushed past him and unlocked the bathroom door. She stuck her head out, checking the hall, before waving him out after her.
Zain had to know. Had to make some sort of connection to prove Miranda’s story correct.
The coast was mostly clear. A few stragglers loitered outside the meeting room.
Miranda walked him down to a set of offices, unlocked the double doors and let him into Cliff’s world. The office was more like an apartment, complete with a kitchenette and a sofa that looked like it’d been slept on a number of times.
“Wi-Fi p
assword will be on a sticky in the top drawer. I’ve got to go be in this meeting. Zain, I feel sick. I caused this, didn’t I?”
“Don’t know.” Zain set his laptop bag on the desk and unzipped it. “Go. Lock the door behind you.”
Miranda strode out, pausing only once to glance at him, but he didn’t have time for her. Andrea’s safety was the real concern now. He needed Max and a closer look at Doug’s past.
“Is it just me, or has Doug gone off the deep end?” Andrea whispered to Crystal.
“It’s not you. Miranda looked like she was going to hurl up there.” Crystal stood.
Most people were heading out, trying to beat traffic. Andrea scanned the room, searching for Zain. He’d said he would be there, and yet he’d disappeared. She had a bad feeling about everything. And knowing that whoever wanted Kevin to kidnap her was in this room made it even worse.
“Shit. Miranda just booked it out of here.” Crystal peered toward the door.
“Andrea. Crystal. Hi.”
Andrea stared up at Doug Mahoney. The man had always made her uneasy. It was the way he stared at her breasts and not her face. How he so often liked to assume anyone with a vagina would go along with whatever he said, because that was the natural order of things. He wasn’t overt about his opinions, it was something Andrea had become aware of the more she had to be around Doug.
“Doug, hey,” Crystal said, saving Andrea from having to speak.
“I was hoping you two would join me for lunch. I wanted to discuss some plans for D8 Cliff and I had tossed around and get your thoughts on them.” He gripped the backs of the seats on either side of him. “I heard you had some other projects to pitch that we didn’t get to at the comic con meeting.”
“Yeah, but that can wait. I think Miranda has some more thoughts on those,” Andrea said. Like she knew if Miranda had any ideas at all, but she would claim it all day if it meant she didn’t have to talk to Doug.
“I was hoping to talk to you two.” His smile was smarmy. The implied emphasis on leaving Miranda out was concerning on its own.
Andrea didn’t like it. And she didn’t want to go anywhere with Doug.
There was nothing secret about how much Doug and Miranda disliked each other. They’d always butted heads since the beginning because Doug wanted to be in charge, and Miranda would only answer to Cliff.
“Sure.” Crystal jabbed Andrea in the side.
She glared at her friend, but Crystal just smiled at Doug.
“Andrea?” Doug stared pointedly at her.
“Uh, are we sure there’s time for that? Miranda had a thing later with us...” She could already hear Crystal’s reasoning, that they could spy on Doug and tell Miranda what was going on, what his plans were.
“We’ll miss you if you don’t come.” Doug already had his keys out.
“We could eat and I could catch you up later.” Crystal stared pointedly at Andrea.
Was she crazy? They knew the creep behind her crazy abduction was most likely in the room with them—and Crystal wanted to go off with their least favorite person of all? If that wasn’t stupid, Andrea didn’t know what was. But she also couldn’t leave Crystal alone with Doug. What if he was the one? What would happen to Crystal then?
“I guess we could squeeze it in. Let me text my friend really quick.” If she was going anywhere, for any reason, Zain was going to know about it.
“Great. I’ll drive.” Doug turned and strode away.
Andrea and Crystal hung back.
“What the hell?” Andrea whispered.
“Come on. Something’s up and I want to know what it is.” Crystal dragged Andrea after Doug.
How much of a bad idea was this?
Andrea looked around, searching for some sign of Miranda or Zain. Where the hell were they? She pulled out her phone, checking for a text, an email, something—but Zain was radio silent.
She tapped out a quick Where r u? to him.
Crystal is dragging me to lunch with Doug. Save me, please?
She meant it as a joke, but only in part.
Ug, the crappy building reception struck again. The message was stuck in limbo.
Doug led them out into the employee parking garage, talking about—something. Crystal was carrying on the conversation with him, but Andrea just felt...ill. What was it Zain had said about trusting her gut?
“Hey, Crys?” Andrea stopped. This wasn’t right. Going was wrong.
“What?” Crystal stopped and turned.
“I just think—Oh my God!”
A man wearing a ski mask stepped out from behind a SUV, gun in hand, and pointed it at Crystal. Another aimed a gun at Doug, who sputtered, his face going red.
“Give me your money and your phone,” the first man said. He nodded at her. “You too.”
Andrea swallowed. A mugging. That’s all this was.
She shouldn’t be relieved. After all, Bruce Wayne’s parents died during a mugging.
Her hands shook as she shoved her phone into the slim, messenger bag purse she’d grabbed from Crystal that morning, and handed it over.
“We’re cooperating,” Crystal said. She dug her phone-wallet clutch out of the deep pockets of her skirt and held it up.
“You.” The second man gestured at Andrea. “Over here.”
He still had his gun aimed at Doug.
“Do what he says,” Doug pleaded.
Andrea edged forward. She didn’t like Doug, she didn’t want to be here, but he was a victim, too. Just like them.
The second masked man snatched her by the arm, pulling her between the SUV and a Chrysler 300.
“Stop pointing that thing at me,” Doug snapped.
“Where’s our money?” the masked man asked.
“You want it now?” Doug asked.
“Pay up.”
“Here’s your damn money. Put them in the trunk. Now, before someone sees,” Doug said, his voice dripping with frustration.
“Wait, what?” Crystal turned, or tried to.
Andrea could only stare.
Doug.
It’d been Doug.
And that made some sick kind of sense.
“What did you find?”
Zain glanced up at Miranda. She closed the office doors behind her and leaned against them.
“Max is on his way,” Zain said.
He was kicking himself.
“What does that mean?” Miranda straightened.
“Where are Andrea and Crystal?” Zain wanted them in his line of site.
“They’re in the meeting room. What’s going on?”
He pushed to his feet and strode across the room.
“Guess who Doug roomed with in juvie?” That bit of knowledge made Zain’s stomach churn.
“No. The guy? What’s his name?” Miranda’s eyes widened.
“Kevin. He’s it. He’s behind it all.” Zain yanked the door open and all but sprinted into the empty meeting room. Miranda right behind him. “Where are they?”
“I...don’t know. They were here.” She turned, as if the girls would magically appear.
Zain pulled out his phone.
Five minutes ago Andrea had texted him.
Where r u?
He fired back the same message.
Where are you?
“Hey, Jacob?” Miranda quick-stepped out to the hall, waving down the man who’d made up their third when Zain walked up. “Hey, where’s Doug?”
“Oh, he took Andrea and Crystal out to eat. I...thought you’d be with them.” Jacob blinked at her, then Zain.
“Shit. Where would they be?” He had to find Andrea. Now.
“The parking garage,” Miranda said, pushing past him.
Zain sprinted past her, directly for the sign that pointed to the garage entrance. This couldn’t be happening. Not again. Not now. He couldn’t fail her again.
He shoved through the door and nearly tripped on a pile of bags. Something crunched under his boot.
He glanced down—at
Andrea’s phone.
For a moment his world stopped. Everything froze.
She was gone.
Again.
He’d failed her.
“Out of the car,” Doug growled.
Andrea stared at the top of the trunk. Funny how the sight of a real gun didn’t terrify her as much as it had last time. It was weird seeing Doug hold it, though. Kevin had been...scary. In a sort of unhinged way. She hadn’t doubted Kevin knew how to operate one, that he’d shot people before. Doug though, it seemed too heavy for his hand and she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Doug had never so much as gotten his hands dirty, much less shot someone.
Crystal dragged Andrea out of the trunk. They were parked right behind Crystal’s cottage, as she liked to call it.
“What do you want?” Crystal asked. She’d cried a bit on the drive, maybe more than a bit. It’d been hard to tell crammed in the trunk. Without light, it’d been hard to gauge the passage of time. It’d seemed like forever, when really it must have been just over an hour.
Doug had stopped once to get the code for the gate. For some reason, knowing they were coming back here wasn’t quite as scary. It was the known. The familiar. Or maybe she was numb.
It’d been Doug all along.
Not Miranda.
Or Cliff.
No one else.
It’d been Doug.
It made sense, in a way. Doug had always sneered and turned his nose up at them whenever the companies were together. He’d never liked them, had always belittled the Drudge franchise.
“Inside the house.” Doug shoved Crystal through the front door into the grand living room. It’d been converted from an elegant space into the gaming center, with three different set-ups depending on what was being played. “Where do you vlog?”
“Vlog?” Andrea squinted at him. Why would he care? And why wasn’t she scared? Where was Zain?
“In the office.” Crystal pointed toward the study. The French doors were open and a fat tabby lay in a pool of sunlight on the floor.
“In there.” Doug waved his gun at them.
Crystal continued to cling to Andrea’s hand, hauling her into the office.
“What files did you want?” She dug her heels in and turned to face Doug. “What were you looking for?”
“The key stroke recordings.” Doug took another step and pressed the muzzle of the gun to her chest.
Dangerous Games (Aegis Group, #3) Page 24