by A. L Long
“I don’t understand. The sketch was done based on the information that Ms. Laurent provided. Was it inaccurate?”
“I’m not saying that at all. I just want to see how you came up with it, that’s all.” Irritation started to surface and I could see that Graham was beginning to wonder if I was questioning his ability to do facial recognitions based on a mere description of someone.
When we entered the room, it surprised me that it was nothing more than a storage area. Music was blaring in the background, which drew me to a small area behind the shelving. Chavez was already working on a computer bobbing his head up and down to the beat of ‘Here I Go Again,’ playing.
Standing back and waiting until the song was over, Graham and I watched Chavez, laughing at how funny he looked, especially when he started playing an air guitar. Having had enough, Graham walked over to the stereo and unplugged it from the outlet. Chavez looked around dumbfounded, wondering what happened to his music. The minute he saw Graham holding the cord to the stereo, he knew what had happened.
“Dude. What the heck?” Chavez’s eyes filled with curiosity.
“You were really getting into that song,” Graham replied.
I was still standing by the door laughing when Chavez finally gazed over at me. Before I could say what was on my mind, he stood from his seat and said, “Agent Jackson. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Graham and I have a few things to go over. I will be out of your way as quick as possible so you can get back to your music and that thing you were doing.”
Graham placed the bag he was carrying on the table where the other computers were and pulled his laptop from inside. As he began to boot it up, I walked over to where he was setting up and stood between the two men. I knew it was a mistake the minute Chavez’s scent filled my space. Even though I was angry with him, somehow my body was reacting to the close proximity of his body so close to mine.
Feeling my body begin to overheat, I moved to the other side where Graham was entering his password so he could log into the software. As I waited, I got the funny feeling that Graham may have thought I moved just to be near him. I guess it was the lesser of the two evils as he looked over to me, showing off his smile, which I had to admit was very appealing. Trying to focus on something else, I concentrated on the application that Graham brought up on the screen.
“So, the main concept of facial recognition is the use of seventy different facial features, which includes several points of the face such as eye contour, eyebrows, lip contours, nose tip, and so on. After these key points have been established, the system uses sophisticated algorithms to detect and translate these facial features where in return, a sketch is created. The system will not be able to pick up some elements, such as facial hair, scars, or other type of features, but it does, however, give you the option to add additional characteristics such as a mustache, beard, scars, or any other blemishes,” Graham explained as he reentered the information that Kataryna had given to him.
“How accurate is the sketch based on the information that Ms. Laurent gave you?” I asked.
“Of course, no facial recognition program is one-hundred percent accurate, but the one that is used by the FBI is the best software available and it carries only a 3% error rate, which by all other standards is excellent.”
There wasn’t much room for error if it was only 3%. I still couldn’t believe that the information would lead to the sketch looking like my father. When Graham ran the information again, his findings were the same. The sketch he came up with was identical to the one he showed me yesterday. I couldn’t believe it was my father staring back at me. The only thing I could do at this point was keep this information to myself. I knew that Kataryna was supposed to meet him tomorrow at Grand Central Station. I needed to make sure that I was there as well.
~****~
Getting the information, I needed, even though it wasn’t what I wanted, I left the Jagged Edge shop and headed to the Excelsior, only I didn’t quite make it there. I could have waited to see Kataryna tomorrow, but what I had to ask her couldn’t wait. Twenty minutes later I was standing in front of Kataryna’s door. Unable to get my hand high enough to knock, I knew that talking with her was the only way that I was going to get any answers from her. Lifting my arm, I place my fist to the door and gave it three firm knocks.
Tapping my heel on the floor, I waited for her to answer. After waiting a lot longer than I should have, my conclusion was that she wasn’t home. Tuning on my heels, I started walking down the hall to the elevator when I heard the click of the lock and the door open. Stopping my movement, I turned to face her door and proceeded in that direction. I wasn’t too far away for her to know that I had been the one knocking on her door. When her door began to close without any acknowledgement that she had seen me, I managed to place my foot between the door and the jam before she could close it.
“I need to speak with you, Kataryna,” I said as I wedged my foot inside further, keeping her from closing the door.
“I have nothing to say to you, Agent Jackson,” she replied.
“I think you do, Kataryna, or should I call you Olivia?” The minute I said her name the door came open with a very tired and barely dressed Kataryna Laurent on the other side.
Stepping inside, I looked around to find that she was being very well taken care of. The furnishings must have cost her a pretty penny and I could tell that no expense was spared in decorating this place either.
As I turned her way, she took a seat at the breakfast bar, revealing a little bit more of herself than I cared to see. Curling my lip, I said, “Could you please cover yourself?”
At first, I thought she was going to protest, but instead she rose to her feet and grabbed a blanket that was draped over the back of her cream-colored leather couch. Taking her place, she tightened the blanket around her and demanded, “What is this about?”
Pulling the sketch of her father out of my purse, I handed it to her and asked, “I need to know if this is a picture of your father.”
As she unfolded the sketch, I focused on her face to see if there was any indication that it was. When her eyes began to water, I knew the man in the sketch was her father. My heart sank into my gut. Not only was this woman a complete fake, she was something else that I could never be able to accept. Falling to the chair, a few feet from where I was standing, I shook my head in disbelief.
“How much do you know about your father?” I asked point blank.
“Everything I need to know. You still haven’t told me what this is about?” she shot.
“Why did you change your name and your appearance?” I countered.
“I had no choice. My father was not a good man and his reputation trickled down to me. Everyone knew me as Olivia Crawford, the daughter of a man who would kill anyone who got in his way. Do you know how hard it was finding out that the man who raised you was a wanted criminal?”
“What about your mom? How does she fit into all of this?” I asked.
“I never knew my mom. She died shortly after I was born. Thankfully for her, she never knew the man she married and what he became.” Kataryna paused with a quick breath before continuing. “You still haven’t told me why you are here.”
“Your father was more than just a criminal. I have reason to believe that he may be a lot more.”
“What are you talking about, Agent Jackson?” she hissed.
“There is a chance that we may be sisters.”
CHAPTER NINE
Chavez
I was so glad when the day was over. Graham and I worked for hours trying to hack into the security system at Gateway. We finally called it quits when we realized the only way we were going to be able to crack it was to gain access the system from the inside. With everything we knew about computers, I thought for sure that with his know-how and mine, we would be able to figure something out.
Pushing from my seat, I looked over to Graham and suggested, “I think we need to re-evaluate t
his tomorrow. Let’s get out of here. Let me buy you a brew.”
Graham must have been thinking the same thing. It didn’t take him long before he was on his feet and stuffing his laptop inside his case. Even though he was a geek, he seemed like a pretty straight up guy.
Heading out of the shop, the only lights on were the security lights at the entrance. It didn’t surprise me, considering it was after midnight. Normally Peter would have been the last person to leave the shop, but it was his and Lilly’s anniversary and I knew he would have left early to be with her. Making sure the shop was locked up and the security alarm set, I walked with Graham to the parking lot, where we both got into our own vehicles: me in my 4-Runner and Graham in his Toyota FJ. For being a geek, I had to admit, he had a pretty masculine ride. I expected he would be driving a Toyota Prius or something much worse, like a Cube.
When we got to Riley’s, Evan was behind the bar slinging drinks. This was unusual for him since he had at least five bartenders that he rotated. As I stepped up to the bar, he was already walking to where we were seated carrying my longneck Bud along with a shot of Glenlivet. Since this was my place to relax, Evan knew exactly what I drank.
As he placed my beer and shot in front of me, he looked over to Graham asked, “What can I get for you?”
It didn’t take long for Graham to respond. “Crown on the rocks.”
I never figured him to be a Crown kind of guy, but then again, I thought he was a geek, which by all standards turned out to be wrong. Taking a long pull of my beer, I sat staring at the bottles lined up neatly against the mirror across the way. While I was thinking of only Gabrielle and how much I would have loved to get inside her panties again, someone up above must have been listening to me as her scent filled the space around me. Moving to the barstool beside me, she scooted her bottom on the hardwood surface and hung her purse on the back of the chair.
As she kept her eyes on Evan, I wasn’t sure if she was trying to get to me with her disregard for my presence or if she was pissed off. Unable to stand it any longer, I twisted my body to face her and said, “Can I buy you a drink?” That line had to have been the worst line ever.
When she responded firmly, “I’ll have what you’re having,” I knew she was most likely pissed, and I had no idea why.
Taking a shot in the dark, I inquired, “Rough day at the office?”
I could feel Graham’s elbow nudge me in the side, but it didn’t stop me from asking, “What was so important about that sketch, anyway?”
Gabrielle took a drink of her beer, followed by the consumption of her shot of Glenlivet. Her eyes closed tightly as she began to cough uncontrollably. When I patted her on the back gently, she finally stopped and looked over to me. If I had to guess, I would say that she was probably not much of a whiskey drinker. Handing her the longneck Bud, I watched her down about half of the bottle before setting it back down on the bar. She raised her hand and snapped her fingers, getting Evan’s attention. Pointing at her drink and then at mine, Evan shook his head, knowing that Gabrielle wanted another round.
“Sorry, that got away from me a bit,” she explained as she took the napkin under her shot glass and wiped it across her perfect lips.
Looking over to her, I questioned, “So, are you going to tell me what was so important about that sketch?”
“Something I’m working on that has nothing to do with this operation.” The look on her face was telling me something totally different than what she just said. In order to keep this conversation civilized, I decided it would be better if I didn’t say any more about it.
When Evan brought us our drinks, Gabrielle clicked the rim of her glass against mine and downed the contents of the whiskey in one gulp. She had better luck with this one. She didn’t cough when it went down. Holding up her glass, she requested another shot. If she kept going the way she was, I would be carrying her out of Riley’s.
Evan must have read the look on my face, because when he came over to get her glass, he smiled and said, “Sorry, toots, we have a one-shot-per-hour policy. You are going to have to wait a bit for the next one.”
I knew it was a bunch of BS, but it seemed to work. Gabrielle smiled back and said, “It’s good to set boundaries.”
I couldn’t have been happier. Sitting here drinking a nice cold brew and listening to REO Speedwagon in the background was my heaven, but most importantly, sitting next to a beautiful woman was paradise. The only thing that could have made this moment better would be if Graham called it a night and left the two of us alone. Spinning my empty bottle on the bar, I waited for Evan to bring me another brew. I had a funny feeling that beer wasn’t Gabrielle’s drink of choice by the way she was holding on to the bottle. The beer wasn’t going down as quickly as the shots were.
“You know, you could always order something else to drink,” I advised her.
“I’m good,” she responded, taking another baby sip from her bottle.
While I chuckled to myself, Evan placed another longneck in front of me while taking the empty away. Just as I took a pull from my beer, Graham stood to his feet and said, “I am going to call it a night.”
Shaking his hand, I wished him a good night and watched him sail on out of the bar. When I turned to Gabrielle to see if she wanted to leave and grab something to eat, her seat was empty. Looking around the bar, I couldn’t miss her backside and the curve of her fine ass as she headed to the back of the bar where the restrooms were located.
Sipping my drink, I looked over at the clock hanging on the wall and wondered how long she had been gone. It seemed a little bit longer than what it would take a woman to do her thing and touch up her make-up. With a hint of concern, I downed the rest of my beer and headed in the direction of the restrooms. When I got to the ladies’ room, I was just about to open the door when I could hear her voice on the other side. Gabrielle was talking to someone and it didn’t sound like she was very happy. I couldn’t tell what she was saying, but I could easily hear the tone in her voice change.
Thinking that I should check on her to make sure she was okay, I pushed open the door to find her leaning against the counter with her phone to her ear. When she looked up to me, her eyes were focused on mine as she said, “I’ll talk to you later.”
Slipping her phone in her purse, she pushed from the counter and crossed her arms across her chest. She looked beautiful in that position, but I could clearly see that she was pissed. Walking towards her, I lifted my hand and brushed a stray hair from her face. “I got worried that you might have left without saying goodbye. I was wrong coming in here, but you sounded like someone was giving you a hard time.”
“It’s nothing. Just a disagreement with your girlfriend.” Her eyes showed more than she realized.
“If you are talking about Kataryna, I can guarantee, she is not, nor will she ever be my girlfriend,” I said, easing her disappointment.
Approaching her with caution, I placed my hand on her cheek and lowered my lips to hers. There was something in the way she kissed me back that told me this was going to go further than we both could handle. With her emotions and my testosterone racing, I backed her to the door and lowered my hand to the lock. If we were about to satisfy our hunger, the last thing I wanted was for someone to get an eyeful of us going at it.
Tearing at each other, we managed to get the access we needed without ripping our clothes to shreds. I loved the fact that Gabrielle’s clasp to her lacy bra was in the front. Unlatching it, I freed her ample breasts and began kneading them in my hands. They were firm, but soft, between my fingers. As I cupped them gently, I could feel them throbbing as I toyed with her tight rosy buds before taking them one at a time in my mouth. Gabrielle’s moans filled the small space.
Lifting my head slightly, I warned in a breathy sigh, “Shhh, we don’t need any company right now.”
When her moans became louder, my only thought was to take control. Pulling out the dark blue scarf that she had looped through the belt loops of her pan
ts, I carefully placed it between her lips and secured it behind her head. When she tried to stop my efforts, I took her hands and placed them above her head and held them in place with one of mine. The moans of pleasure no longer sounded in the room, so I was able to lower the scarf enough to absorb the warmth of her mouth.
Our tongues collided, causing our teeth to slightly bump together. Dipping my hand between her legs, I could feel the heat radiating through the light material of her pants. Freeing her hands, I moved my hand down her body to the waistband of her pants and began working the zipper down. The strain of my cock against my jeans was becoming more painful by the minute. Once I had her zipper down, it didn’t take long for me to push her pants down. Once again, her moans filled the room. They were soon quieted as I placed my mouth over hers to muffle the sound.
Freeing my own arousal, I positioned my rigid cock between her legs and began moving slowly before entering her. More than anything, I wanted to enter her, but for now the warmth of her wet folds coating my cock was all I needed. Breaking our kiss, I trailed light kisses down her neck as I whispered, “God, you feel so good. Do you know how bad I want to fuck you right now?”