“I’ve never been to California,” Meredith said.
“Where have you been?” Alicia asked. “I haven’t traveled to anywhere except California and here.”
“I haven’t traveled too much. Mainly places where there aren’t a lot of strangers around. Like the private beach resort we went to a couple of years ago. I’d like to go back there someday. As soon as Marcus isn’t as busy.”
“I’ll try and free up some time for us to travel a bit more later this year,” Marcus said as he pushed away his now empty plate.
Before they could continue their discussion about their future travels, Alex and Trent walked in. There didn’t seem to be an urgency to their arrival, so Marcus assumed nothing had happened with the laptop. Again, frustration lapped at the edges of his mind. He wanted to just have it all over and done with. The company was poised to go up another level if they managed to land the bid Eric had been working on. They just needed to get past this and the threat it posed to BlackThorpe.
“Let’s see if we can come up with a plan of action,” Alex said as he and Trent joined him at the counter.
Meredith cleared his dishes away and then edged out of the kitchen with Bond. She wasn’t thrilled to be around the guys since she didn’t know either of them very well.
“I’m going to get my stuff together and then head back to the office,” Alicia said as she got to her feet as well.
“Stay aware,” Marcus said. “If you see anything suspicious, let us know. Make sure your car is locked while you drive and keep your phone handy in case something comes up.”
Alicia frowned but didn’t argue. “I will.”
After she had left the kitchen, Marcus turned his attention to the two men. “So how do we go about coming up with a plan of action when a psychopath holds all the cards?”
~*~
“Will you come back?” Meredith asked as Alicia gathered up her laptop.
Alicia finished sliding the laptop into its bag before answering, not entirely certain what her answer should be. She’d like it to be yes, but there was every possibility that Marcus would prefer to keep a distance between his work and home life. And she really couldn’t blame him for that.
“How about I give you my cell phone number, and we can keep in contact that way even if I’m not able to come over.”
Meredith frowned at that response but then tapped the screen of her phone before handing it to Alicia. It was open to her contacts, so she quickly added her name and the number for the BlackThorpe cell.
“I’m sorry I have to leave, but I do have work responsibilities and need to get back to the office in order to take care of them.”
Meredith nodded as she sank her fingers into the fur behind Bond’s ears. Was it possible the woman was really that upset about Alicia leaving? She didn’t like that idea, but for the time being, she couldn’t do anything about it. She’d already told Marcus she was going to the office and didn’t feel like trying to figure out a way to tell him she’d changed her mind.
Derek was at the door as she walked toward it. He opened the door then followed her out onto the porch. “Stay alert.”
Alicia gave him a quick smile. “Already got the safety lecture from Marcus.”
“It’s one you can never hear too often right now.” He didn’t full-on smile, but the corners of his eyes crinkled just a bit.
“I’ll be fine,” Alicia assured him as she headed down the steps to where her car was parked. “See you later.”
Though she didn’t think she was at much risk, Alicia did keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary as she drove through the city to the BlackThorpe offices. The gates of the compound opened for her, and as she drove through them, Alicia felt a sense of relief which made her realize that perhaps the situation was bothering her a bit more than she’d thought.
As she took the elevator up to the admin floor, Alicia wondered how Kelsey was. She was kind of glad she had no idea what was really going on at Marcus’s house because if it had to do with Jeff, she didn’t want to know.
“Hi Kelsey,” Alicia said as she stepped away from the elevator.
The woman looked up from her computer, and Alicia could see the stress on her face. “Hey, Alicia. I wasn’t sure you were going to come in today.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t sure either, but I had some stuff I needed to do here.”
Kelsey hesitated then said, “Do you know what’s going on with Jeff?”
9
“I’m sorry, I don’t.” Alicia rested her laptop bag on the desk. “I was spending time with Meredith and working remotely. The guys were in Marcus’s office dealing with whatever is going on. Marcus didn’t speak to me about any of it.”
“I sure wish I knew what was going on.” Kelsey propped her chin on her fist, her usual bubble demeanor significantly dimmed. “Usually he texts me at least once a day.” She hesitated, her gaze dropping. “Do you think Jeff switched my laptop?”
Alicia was glad she could be honest with the woman. “I really don’t know, Kelsey. Is that what you think?”
Kelsey sighed, her shoulders drooping. “I kinda think so. There really is no other explanation. It’s all I’ve been able to think about.” She brushed her fingers over her eyes. “I think he was just using me. I don’t know what for, but some weird stuff makes more sense if he was just using me.”
“I’m sorry, sweetie.” Alicia really was. She’d seen how excited Kelsey had been over Jeff. The beautiful flowers and the jewelry he’d given her had made more than a few women in the office jealous. It would be devastating to discover it had all been false and just a way to use Kelsey to access BlackThorpe.
When the phone on Kelsey’s desk rang, she stared at it for a moment before picking it up. Alicia waved her fingers at her then headed down the hallway to her own desk. A sense of calmness settled over her as she took her seat and went through the motions of logging onto her computer and checking her messages.
Her job there had become a source of security and pleasure for her. She was making more money than she ever had which was allowing her to take care of her financial responsibilities with considerably less stress and sacrifice. Including the trip back to California that weekend. How she wished the trips weren’t necessary, but they were. They were actually guilt trips along with actual trips, but that was the way of her life at the moment.
“How are you doing?”
Alicia looked up to see Adrianne standing on the other side of her desk. “I’m fine, thank you. How are you?”
“I’m good. Were you over at Marcus’s earlier?”
“Yes. I just came from there.”
“What’s going on? Do you know?”
Alicia shook her head. “Alex was there with Trent and Marcus when I left.”
“I guess I should probably call him up and see what’s going on. I asked Connor about it last night, but he was tightlipped. It’s not like Marcus to cancel a trip and then stay out of the office for a couple days in a row.”
“All I know is that Meredith received some kind of threat on her computer, and suddenly Marcus was telling me to cancel the trip, and we went right to the house. I’ve been hanging out with Meredith, so I’m not sure what’s been going on.”
Someone called out a greeting to Adrianne who then said goodbye to Alicia before moving in the other person’s direction. Alicia was relieved as she still felt a little bit intimidated by the other woman. She just appeared to have it all together, and nothing seemed to bother her. Meanwhile, Alicia felt like she was barely holding it together most days. The only thing she felt confident in was the work she did for Marcus. Other than that, yeah, she was a bit of a mess inside.
A couple of hours later, her phone buzzed with a text message. Expecting it to be Tori or Meredith, Alicia felt her stomach clench when she realized it wasn’t from either.
Do they know about your mother?
Alicia clenched the phone, willing her heart to calm down before typing a message back.
&nb
sp; Who is this?
Someone who knows about your mother. Does Marcus? Does Eric?
Why should they know? It’s none of their business. It’s none of your business.
It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to respond that way, but she couldn’t just let them think that it was at all important.
Somehow I think they should know. Especially Eric. Don’t you think he’d like to know your mother is actually still alive?
Alicia stared at the comment. How had this person found out about her mom, and how had they known she hadn’t told anyone? And how had they gotten her cell number in order to text her? She remembered Marcus’s words about contacting him if something out of the norm came up, but she couldn’t imagine telling him about this. Because if he found out, Eric was sure to find out as well.
Why are you contacting me about this?
Because I think we could create a situation that would be mutually beneficial.
Mutually beneficial? This was about BlackThorpe?
Oh, no…no…no… She was going to be forced to choose. Her secrets or BlackThorpe. This person had somehow found out about her role in the company and had then gone on to investigate her life. She felt violated on so many levels. Violated and confused.
What was she supposed to do now?
The thought of contacting Marcus about this made her feel a little sick to her stomach. And the thought of Eric finding out made her feel even worse.
Alicia set her phone face down on the desk and took a deep breath. She didn’t want to have to reveal her past and the pain and hurts that came with it. There were reasons she’d left California, and she had hoped to never have to share any of them.
She jumped when her text alert went again. If only ignoring it would make it go away, but having responded the first time, there was no way she could just let the texts go unanswered. She reached for the phone, her hand trembling slightly.
Don’t think ignoring me will make this go away.
A shiver went up and down her spine. It was like they could read her mind.
What do you want from me?
Her heart pounded as she waited for their response. Could she really do what they asked? Whatever that might be? Sadness seeped in around the edges of the fear that had filled her. No matter what she did, she was going to lose the life she had in Minnesota. Either way, it would be seen as her betraying people.
She blinked back a rush of tears. It had been ages since she’d cried, but right then she just wanted to cover her face and weep for what she was going to lose because of some crazy person.
At the moment? Nothing. But soon. So don’t ignore me.
Instead of responding, Alicia opened the drawer where she’d shoved her purse and put her phone inside too. It was a ridiculous thing to do since she needed to be able to answer it if Marcus called her to do something, but stashing the phone out of sight made her feel better.
She pushed the situation aside as she focused on following up on emails that had come in earlier. Her childhood had given her the ability to compartmentalize, so she was able to shift her focus. For the most part. She’d deal with it when it cropped up again.
~*~
“You want me to what?” Marcus stared at the screen, wishing he could force the person to show his face.
“If you want Jeff back,” the man began, speaking slowly as if Marcus was hard of hearing, “you will pull the bid you just placed for the latest defense contract.”
Marcus glanced over at Alex. That contract was supposed to be their chance to expand and take things up another level for the company. The thought of pulling it was devastating. At least they now knew what the man had used the laptop for. That’s the only way he would have been able to figure out that they had a bid in the works. He must have accessed the system and then found the bid Eric had put together.
“How do we go about doing that in such a way that you’ll know that we did it?”
“You will send an email to the same address you’ve used to communicate with the bid coordinator and will copy me at the email address I give you. Then I want a phone call from the person receiving the bids to verify you’ve withdrawn it.”
Alex nodded his head as he listened. Marcus was pretty sure he knew what he was thinking. Did the guy not realize that if they alerted the bid coordinator to what was going on, they would probably allow the bid to continue even though they told the guy it was pulled?
“If we do that, when will we get Jeff back?” Marcus asked.
“Once I’ve verified that the bid has been pulled, I will send you the location of where you can find Jeff.”
Marcus nodded. “Okay, I’ll go on my laptop right now and write that email. What is your email address?”
When the man recited his address, Marcus jotted it down on a piece of paper. He opened his laptop then picked up his phone.
“Hey, Alicia,” Marcus said when the woman answered his call after three rings. “Can you shoot me over the phone number of the coordinator for the bid we just submitted as well as the email address?”
There was silence on Alicia’s end for a moment before she said, “You need their phone number and email address?”
He was a bit surprised at Alicia’s question because normally, she just did whatever he asked. “Yes, we need to contact them.” He hesitated. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes. Yes, everything is fine.”
There was something in her voice that he hadn’t heard before. “Are you sure? Did something happen on the drive to the office?”
“No. The drive was fine. I talked a bit to Kelsey when I arrived, and she’s really worried about Jeff.”
Hearing the man’s name reminded him that they needed to do what they could to get him back. Marcus knew that technically, he should probably contact the authorities because of what Jeff had done, but with the revelation that the man was his brother, Marcus wasn’t sure what to do. “Hopefully Jeff will be back soon.”
Alicia paused then said, “I’ll get you that information right away.”
“Thank you. I’ll talk to you later.”
After he had hung up, he brought up his email and waited for the message from Alicia with the information he needed. Unfortunately, he knew that while this might bring the Jeff situation to an end, it wouldn’t give him who he really wanted which was the mastermind behind it all. And there was a bit of concern for him over what the guy might try to do next. Who he might drag into his stupid plans.
He saw the message pop into his inbox and quickly opened it. Another message popped up, and he saw it was from someone called Wouldn’t you like to know. Yes, in fact, he would, but he knew it was unlikely to happen anytime soon unless they caught a really huge break. With that thought in mind, he forwarded the email to Trent to see if he could get anything from it. He also grabbed his phone and sent a quick text to Alex with the coordinator’s phone number and instructing him to tell him what was going on and to play along so that they could end up with Jeff and the bid.
When Alex got the text, he nodded then headed out of the office to make the phone call. Marcus couldn’t help but think that they were missing something. After all, this man had managed to evade them for months. Would he really give up Jeff so easily? Did he have something else up his sleeve?
Though he kept the thought in the back of his mind, Marcus began to compose the email that would remove their bid from consideration. At least as far as the Mastermind was concerned. The fact that the man wanted to hit at the company was something that they needed to consider as they continued to look for the guy.
Once the email had been sent along with the information requesting that they call to confirm that the bid had been withdrawn, Marcus texted Alex to let him know. There had been no other details given in the email, but hopefully, Alex had been able to update the coordinator so that they’d know to respond to the email as well as to call the number the Mastermind had provided. None of it sat well with Marcus, but if these were the hoops they needed to j
ump through in order to get Jeff back, they would do it.
His gaze went to the screen where the camera showed Jeff still sitting slumped in his chair. Marcus was fairly certain they’d pumped him full of something again. Every once in a while, he’d moan and move his head, but there had been no more lucid communication from him. They’d definitely need to get him medical help as soon as they got their hands on him.
With the email sent, he spoke to the laptop to update the Mastermind. As he waited for the man to respond, his thoughts went back to Alicia. There had been a hesitancy in her voice that he wasn’t used to hearing, and he got the feeling that she was hiding something. He couldn’t help but wonder what had happened between when she’d left the house and gotten to the office.
The screen on the laptop suddenly went black. Marcus frowned at it then looked at Trent. “Did we lose the connection?”
Trent shook his head. “It was terminated on their end.”
Marcus pushed back from the desk, grabbed his phone and walked out of the office. Truth be told, he needed a break from staring at the laptop. It was hard to see Jeff sitting there like that and know he could do nothing to help him. He just hoped that the next time the man made contact, it would be with the information on where they could find Jeff.
On a whim, Marcus placed another call to Alicia.
“Hello?” Again, the hesitancy was there in her words.
“Alicia, I need you to come back to the house once you’re done at the office, please.”
“Go back to your house?” she asked.
“Yes. I’m distracted by some stuff here, and I think Meredith would appreciate the company. You will be paid extra for your time.”
A Sense of Security: A Christian Romance (BlackThorpe Security Book 6) Page 12