“Oh. Well, okay.” She paused. “I should be done here in another hour or so.”
“That sounds perfect. I’ll see you when you get here.”
Before she could say anything more, Marcus hung up the phone and headed for the kitchen in search of Alex. He found him in the kitchen, still on the phone. As he waited for his friend to get off the phone, he looked him over, seeing the strain on his face. He hated that Alex was having to deal with something like this, especially at a time when he should be thinking only happy thoughts about the baby girl he and Rebecca were expecting in a few months. Instead, Marcus knew that he was worried about the safety of his family. He found it hard to let them leave his own gated compound, much like Marcus struggled to let Meredith out even if she always had Derek with her. Now his concern stretched to include Alicia when it had never been that way with any previous assistants.
“We have a problem, Marcus,” Alex said as he set his phone down.
The frown on Alex’s face made Marcus pause as he braced his hands on the counter. “What’s wrong?”
“Is it lack of sleep or just too much stress that’s causing us not to think these scenarios through to the end?” Alex sat down on a stool at the counter.
“What on earth are you going on about?”
“We thought that we’d have no problem getting our bid re-instated, but we were a tad short-sighted with that assumption.”
“We were?”
Alex stared at him as if waiting for something to register with him. Shifting his gaze to the counter in front of him, Marcus thought back through the entire episode. He had been strictly looking at the situation from their side and to some extent, the Mastermind’s, but he realized now—far too late—that they hadn’t taken the defense company’s perception of it all into account.
He looked up to see Alex watching him, arms crossed. Marcus fought the urge to punch the wall. While he’d been so sure that the Mastermind was the one who hadn’t thought it through, it was actually him who hadn’t thought it all the way to the end. Anger burned within him at the man who was slowly but surely dismantling the company he and Alex had worked so hard to build.
Marcus dragged his thumb and finger across his forehead, pinching the skin as an ache bloomed behind his eyes. “I’m guessing our bid is permanently pulled.”
“Yeah, it is.” Alex let out a sigh.
“Why didn’t I think about it?” Marcus asked as he dropped down on the stool next to Alex. “Why did it not even cross my mind?”
“Didn’t cross mine either so we both slipped up on this one. Somehow this guy knows we’re dealing with other stuff in our lives.”
“Does he have someone inside?” Marcus hated even voicing the thought, even though it had been brought up at least once before. “Someone who has access to us privately as well as corporately?”
“Why would they have needed Kelsey’s laptop then?”
“To throw us off? To have a way to drag Jeff into it?”
Alex’s brows drew together, and his lips thinned as he considered it. “I don’t know. I don’t want to think that there is someone we’ve brought into the company who would betray us in that way. I really don’t want to think that.”
“Okay, so we’re now viewed as a security risk by the one company we were counting on to help BlackThorpe expand in the next couple of years.” Marcus tried to shove the emotions aside, to focus on what they needed to do. Getting emotional about it wouldn’t help things. In fact, that was what had caused his focus to shift off where it needed to be.
For the next little while, they discussed the situation before deciding they needed to call everyone together for a meeting. Since they couldn’t leave the house in case the laptop went live again, Marcus sent out an email to all the admin team requesting they come to his house as soon as possible. It was time to move into damage control mode.
“We need to make sure that we’re ready to move and grab Jeff as soon as the psycho tells us the location.” Everything else had gone wrong, so Marcus wanted to make sure that this one thing didn’t. It was important to him that they get Jeff back safe and sound.
Alex tapped his screen. “I’ll confirm that Eric has a team ready.”
Marcus got up and walked out of the kitchen. Though they hadn’t called him back to the office, he couldn’t help but return there, as if hoping his presence would bring the laptop to life once again.
Trent was speaking in hushed tones to the tech guy he’d brought with him. They looked up when he walked in but didn’t say anything. When he settled down in front of the laptop, they resumed their conversation. Marcus didn’t listen in, figuring he wouldn’t understand what they were talking about anyway.
As he sat there, he found himself praying—something he really hadn’t done a whole lot of in his life. But somehow, he just felt like they were in a situation that wasn’t going to get any better without some divine help. So, he prayed. For Jeff’s safety. For wisdom in dealing with the Mastermind. For the damage to the company to be minimal because of the many people who relied on it for their livelihood.
“Hello, Marcus.”
His eyes popped open at the now familiar sound of the raspy voice. Adrenalin rolled through him as he spotted the empty chair. He hoped this would signal the end of this particular chapter of torment. Unfortunately, he knew the ramifications of this wouldn’t be done anytime soon. And if the past was anything to go by, until they caught the guy behind it all, everyone and everything were still at risk.
“As you can see, dear Jeff is no longer here with us. In a few moments, I’ll give you his location, but I just wanted to say it’s been a pleasure chatting with you, and I look forward to doing it again soon. And now…I return you to your regular programming.”
An address flashed onto the screen, its white color in stark contrast to the blackness of the screen that had replaced the view of the empty chair. Marcus grabbed his phone and took a picture of it just to make sure he had a record of the address if it disappeared.
“Alex, we need to get the team moving!” Marcus called out.
Within seconds, Alex and Trent were beside him, looking at the screen. Alex made the phone call, giving instructions to the team leader on where to find Jeff. He also instructed him to bring Jeff to Marcus’s house. Once off the phone with the team leader, Alex contacted the doctor and nurse they’d used in the past for injuries that they weren’t too keen to explain to the police.
The screen went blank, and Trent confirmed that the person who had been using the laptop had disconnected from it. He took the laptop and shut it down and then sat back down at his own laptop. Marcus left the office and went in search of Derek. He needed the man to take care of the people who were going to be coming in through the gates in the next little while.
“Is Alicia coming back?” Marcus turned to see Meredith coming into the kitchen with Bond by her side. “You said she might.”
Marcus nodded as he brushed his hand over Bond’s head. “She’ll be back here once she’s finished up doing some work at the office.”
“Should I make supper for everyone?” Meredith asked. “Like a casserole or something? That’s always easy to stretch if we’re going to have more people than usual here.”
Marcus wasn’t sure who all would actually be there to eat, but if it would keep Meredith occupied, he was fine with her doing it. Once he agreed, he watched as she began to move around the kitchen, gathering the ingredients she needed. He wondered how he was going to tell her about Jeff and his connection to them. In revealing it, he was going to have to revisit a time he knew Meredith really wouldn’t want to.
He heard the buzzer go on the security panel and walked out of the kitchen. Derek was there to take care of it, but Marcus stood, waiting for the first of the guys to arrive for their difficult meeting. He’d figure out what to do about Meredith and Jeff later.
~*~
When Alicia reached the ground floor of the office and peered out the large glass windows a
t the rain that was pouring down, she frowned in dismay. There was no way she wanted to spend however long Marcus needed her at his place in wet clothes. She took off her suit jacket and wrapped it around her laptop bag and purse.
Holding the bundle tightly against her chest and wishing she’d parked underground, Alicia pressed through the door and darted for her car. She’d decided even before reaching it that she was going to ignore Marcus’s request to go straight to his place from the office. The rain had eased off by the time she got to her small apartment, and she was able to get inside without getting drenched too much more.
There was a part of her that really didn’t want to go out again. It was miserable outside and as small and dingy as her apartment was, it was dry. And if she put on a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt along with a pair of thick socks, she’d be nice and warm and comfortable. But he had requested she come, and there was that other part of her that was more than happy to see him again.
Moving quickly, she took off her damp clothes and hung them up before pulling on a pair of jeans and a thick sweater. Knowing her luck, the guards would have phoned Marcus to let him know when she’d left the office. If she took too long, he’d probably be phoning her to find out where she was.
She quickly fixed her hair and makeup then gathered up her laptop bag and purse and once again ventured outside. The rain had settled into a slight drizzle, but the clouds still hung gray and heavy in the sky. It was a day that looked like it belonged more in fall than in spring. Normally, she didn’t mind rainy days, especially if she could hunker down with a good book or an interesting show or movie on television. Right then she wished the rain would go away.
The drive to Marcus’s took forever. Traffic was clearly affected by the rain, crawling along at a speed that was barely above standing still. When she finally pulled up to the large gate protecting the entrance to Marcus’s property, she breathed a sigh of relief when they opened without delay. It had only been on that drive over that the text conversation she’d had earlier began to creep back into her mind. She hadn’t wanted to think about it, but it wouldn’t stay buried when she had nothing else to keep her mind busy.
“Hello, Alicia,” Derek said when she climbed the steps to the open front door.
She was surprised by the number of cars parked on the wide driveway and wondered if his request that she return to the house was because there was a business meeting or something. Nervous about her change of clothes, Alicia walked by Derek as he held the door for her. The rich aroma of tomatoes and spices greeted her.
“Meredith is in the kitchen. Marcus is in a meeting at the moment.”
“Okay. Thanks,” Alicia said as she gave him a smile before heading toward the kitchen. “Hey, Meredith.”
Meredith spun from the stove, a smile on her face. “You came back!”
Almost immediately Alicia made the decision to not tell the other woman that her brother had requested she come back. “I did, and my senses are thanking me. Whatever you’re cooking smells delicious.”
“I hope it tastes good. I make the pasta sauce from scratch, and Marcus tells me it’s good, but sometimes I don’t know if he’s just saying that to make me happy.”
“Well, if it tastes even half as good as it smells, it will be great.” Alicia hopped up on a stool and leaned over the counter. “Can I help you with something?”
Meredith looked around at the counters. “Um. A salad. Can you cut up the stuff for a salad?”
Within a couple of minutes, she was busy tearing up lettuce for a garden salad. She enjoyed their light chatter as they worked. It was a nice reprieve from the tenseness of the situation that was going on that she knew hardly anything about.
Unfortunately, she’d barely finished the salad when the tension returned in full force and then some. Alicia glanced toward the entrance to the kitchen as she heard Derek call out, “They’re here.”
She saw several members of the administration team jog past, including Eric. Did he know that she was even there too? A glance over at Meredith showed that the other woman wasn’t paying any attention to what was going on. She stood with her back to the door, stirring the pasta sauce. Was that because she didn’t hear them? Or was she just ignoring it?
Alicia couldn’t ignore it, though. She moved away from the counter so she could see out into the foyer. The front door stood open, and even though it had started to rain again, most the men now stood on the porch. Alicia crossed her arms to ward off the cool draft that was coming in through the open doorway.
She watched as Marcus stood with his back to her, one hand cupping the back of his neck. It was rare that she saw any physical sign of unease or tension from him which made her worry even more about whatever was going on.
When a black van pulled up in front of the steps, the guys moved forward. A man wearing black clothes jumped out of the front seat and hurried to the back of the van. Alicia was toying with the idea of moving closer to the front door when the group suddenly began to head towards her, two men with a stretcher leading the way.
Alicia moved back into the doorway of the kitchen, so she was out of the way. She glanced down at the stretcher as it was carried past her and held back a gasp as she recognized the person on it to be Jeff. Kelsey’s Jeff.
10
Marcus strode by with two other people—an older man and a young woman—who Alicia didn’t recognize. Her gaze met Marcus’s for a moment, but he didn’t stop to talk to her. The tension in those following the stretcher was palpable, and it wound its way around Alicia. When the memory of the texts rose to the surface, it was a deadly combination, and she struggled to pull air into her lungs.
Was a similar fate awaiting her if she didn’t do what future texts might ask her to do?
On slightly wobbly legs, Alicia turned and went back into the kitchen. Maybe the way Meredith chose to ignore things was a good idea. She could have done without seeing the pale, unconscious figure of Jeff on the stretcher. Yeah, Meredith definitely had the right idea. Unfortunately, Alicia couldn’t undo the impact of her decision, and now she couldn’t shake the fear and unease that had taken root within her.
As she watched Meredith bring the pot of pasta over to drain in the sink, Alicia wondered how many people were going to actually eat any of it. She knew that her own appetite—which had been whet by the wonderful smells when she walked into the house earlier—was totally gone now.
“Do you think we should call the people to eat?” Meredith asked.
Alicia stared at her, still finding it hard to believe that the other woman had been totally oblivious to what had gone on not that many feet away. “I think they’re a little busy at the moment. It might be a good idea to just keep stuff warm until Marcus tells us they’re ready.”
Meredith nodded and began to put tin foil over the pasta and the sauce. Alicia helped cover the salad and the garlic bread, her hands trembling as she worked. She felt a bump against her leg and looked down to see Bond next to her.
“Glad to see you could make it.”
Alicia watched as Marcus walked toward them. He looked calmer than he had earlier, and Alicia hoped it meant that everything was going to be okay with Jeff. But then he frowned. “Are you doing okay?”
“What? I’m fine.”
Marcus’s frown deepened. “The thing is, Bond is trained to identify emotional distress, and he’s reacting to you right now.”
She looked down at where Bond was pressed against her leg. Panic flared within her. She didn’t want to have to tell him about the texts yet. “Well, I guess I am upset. I mean, I did just see Kelsey’s boyfriend go by on a stretcher. That’s who it was, right?”
“Yes.” Marcus didn’t offer up any more information which frustrated Alicia.
“Is he going to be okay?” Maybe it would help her calm down if she knew he was going to be alright.
“Yes, I think so. There’s a doctor and nurse with him now.”
Alicia wanted to ask more questions, but from the st
ern look on Marcus’s face, she assumed that he wouldn’t offer up any more information. “Meredith has finished preparing the food. Is anyone ready to eat?”
Marcus glanced at his sister and then the food on the counter. “Give us another half hour or so.” He looked back at Alicia. “Are you sure you’re okay? Is there anything I can do for you?”
She fought the warmth his words brought with them. Deep inside of her, she wanted to believe that he really truly cared about her. That he would keep her safe in the same way he protected Meredith. But she could never let him get close when she had built her life in Minneapolis on lies.
“I’m fine,” Alicia said again, hoping he’d accept it this time. Even though Bond was still pressing against her leg.
Marcus stared at her for a moment before turning his attention to his sister. “Everything okay with you, Meri?”
“Yep. I just hope the food tastes good when you all are ready to eat.”
“I’m sure it will be fine,” Marcus assured her. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
Alicia watched him leave and then slumped down on the stool at the island counter. She knew that she couldn’t stay at the house behind the gate and walls forever. In fact, she’d probably have to leave in a few hours and return to her room with its flimsy locks and windows that would never keep out anyone who was determined to get in.
It took money to buy safety, and she definitely didn’t have enough to get her the level of security she wanted after those unsettling texts had appeared on her phone. And there was no way she was going to ask anyone to let her stay with them. Even though the idea was appealing, she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.
~*~
Marcus stayed behind after the rest of the team had returned to his office with Alex. He knew that his partner would be able to bring the guys up to speed with everything. At that moment, it was more important that he stay with Jeff to see how he was doing.
“It’s just going to take time for the drugs to work their way out of his system,” the doctor said as he finished packing up his bag. “I’ll take the blood sample to my lab and see what the results say about what they used on him. In the meantime, Lynne will continue with the IV through the night. She’ll keep me informed, and if something comes up, she’ll let me know, and I’ll come back.”
A Sense of Security: A Christian Romance (BlackThorpe Security Book 6) Page 13