It took the door snapping shut to make me comprehend what he had actually said.
I wasn't on the shadow job, but I also hadn't been told to stay put. Pulling on my pants and a t-shirt, I grabbed my jacket and keys and headed to the garage.
Wherever possible I try not to go against Nick. Amber would have Charlie at Sweet Seduction for some time. Ben and Abi would keep her busy for a while longer. At best, I had two hours. At worst, sixty minutes.
I'd make sure I was nowhere near her during that time.
But I'd sure as hell hunt her arse while I was at it.
I peeled out of the garage and followed the GPS to her home address. The one she'd given ASI upon signing her employment contract. What a laugh that was turning out to be. Some contract. Both parties weren't exactly being honest with each other, were they?
Fucking secrets.
Her converted warehouse apartment was in Sandringham, in an up and coming area that hadn't quite got it right. Half the houses were refurbished in the street. The other half were almost abandoned. Until you saw the shadows behind the grimy windows and the tennis shoes hung over the telephone wires overhead.
Junkieville. Nice.
Which made the CCTV cameras - expertly hidden but not from my eyes - appropriate. And also a problem for breaking and entering her house.
I watched from a corner, my bike parked up on a street one block back, and waited for something to happen. How many times had I hidden like this while hunting a suspect down? How many times had I caught them?
Mitchell Wallis’ replacement was the only one to have evaded me of late. I wouldn't let Charlie be added to those numbers.
The street had an ebb and flow to it that matched any other suburban road in Auckland. Kids playing in front gardens. Home mechanics tinkering on broken down pieces of shit in driveways. Solo mothers hanging out screeds of washing on the clothes lines out the back.
No one watching the warehouse across the street with its rolled down garage door and shuttered windows.
I approached from the back of the property; too many cameras angled at the front door. Not that I hadn't expected any around behind. But on the roof?
Even Charlie wasn't ready for that.
I try not to actually break anything when I enter a property illegally. The skill is in getting out again undetected after the fact. Leaving glass fragments all over a windowsill is kind of a dead giveaway. But Charlie's place was locked up tight.
I'd scanned the alarm box on the external wall; it was sophisticated. So I knew leaving without a trace was not on the cards.
Just a look. That's all I wanted. Just a glimpse to see if there was something here that told me who the fuck she was. I needed to know. I fucking had to know. Or I was worried I really would go fucking mad.
I checked the roof area for signs of electronic surveillance. Trip wires were perhaps taking it too far, but I was beginning to suspect maybe not. Nothing obvious, but there was evidence of purposeful tampering along the edge of the area.
Pressure sensors? Fuck me. This place was set up like Fort Knox.
I crouched in the middle of the roof and listened to suburbia do its thing. No sounds came from beneath my rubber soled feet. I looked down at the tar that covered the concrete. X-ray vision might have been nice 'round about now.
Letting a frustrated breath out, I considered my options. Time was ticking. Although wired for intruder alarms, the roof wasn't covered by cameras. If I set something off, she wouldn't necessarily know it was me doing it.
Decision made, I moved carefully over to the edge of the building, knowing a window into her apartment was directly below where I'd end up.
Ridiculously holding my breath, I placed weight on the disturbed edge of the rooftop, but no alarm sounded out. And I didn't lose my leg.
All good.
I inched forward, well and truly on what I assumed were sensor pads, and then leaned out over the side of the building.
For a second I considered what I was about to do. This was a breach of privacy that lacked all finesse. There'd be no trust at all, possibly ever, if she knew I was doing this.
But there was no trust now, anyway.
I lowered myself over the edge and studied the window.
The shutters were electronically controlled.
I broke them.
They parted and revealed a near empty room. One mattress lay on the floor in a corner. A pile of clothes sat folded neatly next to it. A lamp would be her only illumination at night. No paintings on the wall. No personal knick-knacks to show this was someone's bedroom.
Just half a bed and a week's worth of clothes.
The window opened with a flick of my knife. If you made it this far, there was no stopping you anyway. The shutters and rooftop sensors, various CCTV cameras, and sophisticated alarm system should have done the job well before you found yourself here.
I slipped inside silently and waited for the ringing to start.
Nothing. Not a fucking thing. Maybe her alarm was silent. Sending a message to her cellphone now. But the volume of an alarm system's siren is not just to wake the neighbourhood up. It's to scare the fuck out of the intruder.
Somehow this eerie silence made me more uneasy than a blaring alarm would have done.
OK.
I took a step toward the lounge and heard a small sound. A shuffle, a barely there scrape. As if someone had risen from a seat, as quietly as they could. But not quite as quietly as they should have.
I wasn't alone. And if Charlie was with Amber at Sweet Seduction, who was in here?
I pulled my gun, checked the safety, and sidled up to the edge of the door. Crouching down, I breathed through my nose calmly, and then edged my face around the frame.
An open plan room stood on the other side. Sofa, big screen, wall mounted TV. Empty dining area and what looked like a standard kitchen. No paintings. No knick-knacks. This time not even a fucking lamp to set the mood.
But crouching at the window was a man. Light brown hair, chiselled features, a smattering of stubble across a hard jaw. Fit, big enough over the shoulders to indicate an impressive strength, with weaponless hands that had seen the business end of a fight a time or two. His eyes had that look about them that said they'd glanced into the depths of hell and survived. And then he smiled. Calculated. Patient. A little fucking chilling, in all truth.
And dropped out of the window without a second thought.
I was across the room in no more than three seconds. But he'd gone from the street by the time I looked.
I turned back around to face the room, gun still drawn, safety still off. A laptop sat on the floor in front of the sofa. It was switched on.
I checked the surroundings again, looking for the trap. A light flashed ominously over the kitchen window. The alarm was blaring - albeit silently - to whoever was at the other end.
Had it only begun when I stood on that sensor pad? Or had it been buzzing with awareness whenever that man broke in before me?
Had he broken in at all?
My eyes finally landed on the computer, when I'd ascertained no hidden bogeymen were left in the room. Just me and the blinking light, and a message on the centre of a laptop screen.
Tell her I'm coming. Tell her it’s time to face the truth. Veritas Lux Mea. There's nowhere to hide.
I stared at the words for a moment longer, and then took a closer look at the laptop. I didn't touch it. I didn't touch anything. I had the strange sensation that it could all go boom!
Government issue, I was certain. But just to be sure, I took a series of photographs on my cellphone. Then snapped a few of the message and the room.
If this was Charlie's home then I was a Harley lover.
I snorted and then escaped the way I had come.
Leaning down, I let my fingers run slowly over her bedspread as I passed it.
Lovesick fucking puppy. Arghh!
Chapter 15
Take Me Back To Nick
Charlie
<
br /> I watched, stunned, as security camera footage on my cellphone showed Adam stroking my bedspread with a single fingertip and then climbing out of my bedroom window. The alarm had been triggered not more than two minutes earlier, when he broke the shutters in order to enter my home.
A closer look at the information coming in from my system showed he'd also set the programme to high alert, by crossing sensor pads on the roof. I smiled. Those had started the internal cameras going.
Except the one in the lounge. Why?
I looked up to see Amber finishing her conversation with Genevieve Anscombe at the counter and turn toward where I still sat. She'd insisted on a second coffee. I hadn't argued. The ball was in their court.
And this was their play? Sending Adam out to hunt me. And keeping me busy with Miss Let's-Be-Friends while Adam stabbed me in the back at my base.
The cellphone beeped. The sensor re-triggering on the roof. Five minutes later, without further input, the system would shut down again.
But my base had been compromised. Even if only by Adam.
ASI were fucking ballsy, I'd give them that.
I put my cellphone back in my jacket pocket and smiled up at Amber as she walked back to the table with two tall black take-away coffee cups sporting hot pink writing on the side. Sweet Seduction on High, it read.
Glancing around the café, taking the opportunity my perusal of the decor allowed to ensure no new hazards had appeared while I'd been distracted with Adam's catburglary skills, I took in the retro-come-rock'n'roll style Genevieve Anscombe had chosen for her store.
Pharrell William's "Happy" played over the speakers and one look at the inordinately jovial crowd and I knew the song somehow fit here. Some of Sweet Seduction's patrons sang along to the words without shame. Others sat and read, nodding their heads to the upbeat tune. More than a few shouted across the store to Gen, as they called her, and Kelly.
Both blondes ruled the atmosphere, wide smiles, big blue eyes under fluttering eyelashes; every male in the shop was enthralled.
Amber placed a coffee cup in front of me and I was relieved to have something other than pretty people watching to do. I took a sip, surprised she'd gone with a hazelnut latte this time. And equally annoyed that I liked it, despite never having bothered with the more exotic coffee flavours in the past.
Toying with her own cup she finally said, "What was it like being in the Navy?"
I'd expected a grilling. Interrogation techniques come in a wide variety of styles. From water boarding to fingernail removal. To a sunny day in a popular café across the table from an ex-stripper nerd.
I tried not to smile. Sometimes the least threatening were the most dangerous.
"What do you want to know exactly?" I replied, taking a sip of the coffee to slow down the merry-go-round we were about to board.
"I would think, even today, females are outnumbered by males."
"Like most services, be they military or emergency," I countered.
"But all those uniforms," she said with a knowing smile. "You can't tell me Ambulance overalls and Fire Service safety jackets compare?"
A burst of laughter erupted from the back of my throat. Of all the angles to pick, she chooses this one?
"I'm right, aren't I? Those dress whites. Yum!"
"A bitch to keep clean."
"They would be, wouldn't they? Well, still, I bet the men are buffed."
"And yours aren't?"
"Adam's buff, isn't he?" Ah, I see where she was going now.
"Yes," was all I'd give her.
She held my stare for a moment and then took a sip of her drink.
"Well," she finally said. "Tonight you'll see him in action."
"And I didn't when he beat the crap outta me in the ring?"
"That was play," she offered with flick of her wrist as dismissal. "He's a different man when he's at work."
Interesting. Was she warning me? Or trying to prepare me?
"Then I look forward to it," I said, finishing off my coffee. I checked my watch. A purposeful move to end the conversation.
"You don't have many friends, do you?" Amber suddenly said. Still sitting, still drinking her coffee as though we had all the time in the world.
Still interrogating.
"Huh," I managed, bringing my wandering gaze back to her avid stare. "Are you studying me, Amber?"
"I'm trying to extend the hand of friendship," she said with all meaning.
Of course, I didn't believe her. If Nick Anscombe suspected me of something then you could bet his IT gurus, who controlled the "brains" of ASI, would as well.
"My friends are all in the Navy," I replied; an answer that would make perfect sense, if I'd been in the Navy for the past eight years.
"At Philomel?" she pressed.
"Mainly," I replied, realising I was being herded into hazardous territory. Next she'd tell me she'd contacted someone within Philomel who hadn't recognised my picture when shown it.
Mal was good. He would have planted seeds for my cover deeply. Not even this remarkably talented computer hacker would disbelieve his work.
I hoped.
"Perhaps we should have a welcoming party," she advised. I worked not to groan out loud. "You could invite some of your friends and they could meet your new ones."
"Are we to be friends, Amber?" The words were out before I could stop them.
Where the fuck had that come from?
This was an assignment. Nothing more. And yet I couldn't get past the notion that Amber was trying to extend the hand of friendship. Despite who I might not be. Despite Nick Anscombe's concerns and the potential risk I posed to her firm. Amber was genuinely attempting to befriend me.
Of course, she could just be that good at getting under people's skin.
"Sometimes," she said so softly I had to lean forward to hear her, "things happen for a reason. The planets align. The sun comes out from behind dark clouds. The reasons for ducking no longer make sense. It's hard to see it for what it is. It's hard to believe anything other than what you've been taught to know is the truth.
"But you've got to try. You've got to take the hand that reaches out and grip it. Even if you think it might be attached to the body that will lead to your downfall.
"Take the risk, Charlie. I did."
She finished her coffee and stood up from her chair, then brushed her hair back from her face and looked up to the rafters of the café. I followed her gaze, locating the camera lens with ease; they weren't hidden. But you had to know to look up to see them at all.
I'd known they were there. The Department's dossier on ASI and their acquaintances had said as much. It had indicated the shop was used as a meet and greet for various liaisons ASI didn't want connected back to them. It had made sense when I'd read it. Logical to have an environment seemingly untainted by their notoriety but completely controlled - contained - by their technology.
ASI had always stayed one step ahead of our surveillance because theirs had been sophisticated and, quite simply put, the best.
But as I took another look around the brightly decorated, overly populated, comfortable and welcoming environment that made up Sweet Seduction Café, I realised that wasn't necessarily the case.
If control was their brains and their staffroom at ASI their heart, then Sweet Seduction was their soul.
Nobody used their soul as a venue to secure potentially dirty and dangerous contracts.
They used it as their haven. A place to go to and feel safe and unwind. Perhaps a place to send those who needed their help too, but weren't quite ready to step in the front doors of ASI.
And Amber had brought me here. To interrogate me? Or something else?
Extend the hand of friendship?
I wasn't ready for that. I wasn't sure I ever would be ready for that. They didn't know me. They didn't know why I was here. Where I had come from. What I had done to get to this place in my life.
I looked up at the camera lens again, knowing Eric would
be watching his wife, keeping an eye on my movements, my facial expressions. My tells.
They knew I wasn't who I said I was. I knew the dossier I'd been given on them was not the whole truth. There were gaps in our knowledge, on both sides.
Were they involved in organised crime?
Or were they the good guys?
And if they were the good guys, then who the fuck was I?
I lifted my hand and saluted the camera. Saluted Eric and Nick and all the rest of the people associated with ASI. Whoever they were, they were the best targets I had faced in a very long time.
I felt awake. I felt invigorated. I felt emotions I had long since buried, pretended no longer existed, come alive. It wasn't just my strange and inexplicable reaction to Adam. It was all of them. They were so dedicated to each other. So tightly woven together; the true essence of a team.
And when faced with a threat they circled, they closed in, they protected their backs. But they didn't lose their humanity.
Adam had suspected something from day one, but he still reached out to me. Cain had as well, but met me on equal footing in that firing range. Nick new something was off, but hadn't shut me down yet.
And they had sent me with their newest recruit, their newest little angel, into their haven.
I didn't fully understand them. I couldn't comprehend that level of trust. It was restrained, certainly. It was couched in a wary amount of doubt. But it was a trust all the same.
It floored me. They floored me. When Ava had answered my call, I'd thought I had that same bond. But her brief assent to assist me was nothing compared to what these people would do should I ever become one of their team.
Really, truly a member of their family.
Ava came because I now owed her a favour.
Ava came because she was between assignments and bored.
Ava came because she was curious about Caleb.
Ava came to cover her arse. Not mine.
My world was so far removed from these people it was as if we lived on two different planets. We were aliens to each other and, yet, as I looked at Amber saying her farewells to Gen and Kelly behind the counter, I couldn't help thinking if push came to shove they would fight just as hard, just as deadly, just as much with every part of themselves to protect what they thought was right.
Sweet Seduction Secrets (Sweet Seduction, Book 8): A Love At First Sight Romantic Suspense Series Page 13