Silver Fire (Guardians)

by Victoria Paige

  There was a rap on the door as a Guardian walked into the room. Maia handed him Sophie’s purse.

  “There’s a tracking device on this. Locate and disable it.”

  “We need to find another way to get to Justin,” Viktor said.

  “Eric Opperman and Damian Stoltz are more tangible targets,” Maia replied.

  “Where’s the CIA on all this?” Derek asked. He kissed the top of Sophie’s head and had her sit back in her chair as he faced Viktor and Maia.

  “Marissa’s been recalled to a different assignment at the moment,” Viktor replied. “We’ve been given point on this for now.”

  Derek felt a measure of relief. The fewer agencies involved, the less chance of a screw-up. Besides, Derek had more confidence in AGS than any other government agency to get the job done.

  “We’re focusing on Opperman first,” Viktor said.

  ***

  Justin watched the woman writhe beneath him as he pounded inside her. He tried to imagine Sophie’s beautiful face but to no avail, frustrating him beyond measure.

  “Yes! Yes! Harder,” the woman screamed.

  He closed his eyes momentarily and imagined it was Sophie spurring him to take her. Yes, that was it. He thrust furiously and felt the woman coming around his cock, her thighs clamping his sides tighter. Justin opened his eyes, his hands slowly curling around the woman’s throat, and squeezed.

  “What the? Ack—” she started choking, as he continued pumping inside her, grunting with pleasure while ignoring her flailing limbs that were trying to dislodge him. She tried to buck him off, but he planted himself deeper.

  And as the light started to die from Polly Smith’s eyes, Justin found his release, throwing his head back as he roared Sophie’s name.

  Collapsing on the lifeless body of the woman he had just fucked and killed, he howled his frustration and pulled out of her. He tied off the condom, walked to the bathroom and flushed the evidence of their tryst down the toilet. He turned on the faucet and splashed his face with cold water. It was done. Polly was a loose end that needed to be eliminated. He had not planned to fuck her before killing her, but his frustration with Sophie drove him to this. She was so beautiful at the cafe, dressed in white linen with her face all flushed from the heat of the summer, he had imagined licking the sweat off her. And the thought that Derek Lockwood was fucking her had driven him into blind jealousy and lust. The images were driving him insane; Lockwood between Sophie’s creamy thighs, thrusting inside her while she was moaning in abandon. It should be him claiming her. Marking her. Justin Bishop. He who should be making her scream his name.

  Justin resisted the urge to smash the bathroom mirror. He checked his watch. There was enough time for him to wipe away traces of himself from the room before he met up with his men. He walked to the bed and stared at the naked body of the dead woman. He bent over and lifted her and walked to the bathroom to begin the process of the clean up.

  ***

  “Ah, that feels so good,” Sophie moaned.

  “Told you, you’re a moaner,” Derek murmured from above her.

  “Like that, ahhhh, yes...”

  “Easy, Angel, before I give you something to really moan about.”

  “I’m sure I’ve said it before, but you’ve got some talented fingers.”

  God, the man could give a great massage. Sophie felt boneless, lying supine on the bed as she let Derek work out the tension from her muscles with his magical fingers.

  “I aim to please,” he whispered.

  He was straddling her lower back, not giving her his full weight but just teasing her with the brush of his crotch. At certain moments, Sophie could feel a hard ridge brush the small of her back, but she was so lost in the pleasurable pain his fingers were evoking as they melted each knot, that she had not given it much thought.

  “I’m good now,” Sophie murmured and smiled. She could just happily doze off into oblivion. After a grueling meeting at the AGS that lasted three hours, Derek had taken her home to the condo. She spent the next hour on a conference call with Stephen and Beth, trying to figure out how to extend her security detail to them. Stephen was agreeable as long as the AGS sent some hunk over to guard him. Beth balked at the notion of a bodyguard. Sophie assured her that it was not a bodyguard detail but more of a discreet security surveillance. AGS did not want Justin to know that they were on high alert.

  Derek eased off her, switched off the lamp and pulled her close to him, shifting her to lie on her side and spooning her in his cocoon of security.

  “You sleepy?” he whispered into her ear.

  “Hmm...”

  Derek chuckled softly and Sophie felt his lips brush her cheek. He settled back and started stroking her leg. Her right leg was cocked in front of her giving his fingers easy access between her thighs. They nudged her panties aside and began to stroke her cleft. In her sleepy haze, Sophie felt her core twitch and her womanly dew pooled, making his finger strokes slippery.

  She heard him groan into her hair as he pulled her panties halfway down and penetrated her moist channel with his fingers, using his thumb to massage her clit.

  “Derek—”

  “Shh... let me do this, Angel.”

  In between the throes of sleep and lust, Sophie surrendered to the pleasure. She was climbing, climbing higher and suddenly Derek had her on her back, her panties disappeared and his mouth hit her between her legs and he ate her hard until she came on his mouth. Her sex pulsed with the force of her orgasm, but Sophie was too relaxed to do anything and she just rode the wave of her ecstasy. Vaguely, she felt Derek ease her back to his side before whispering in her ear. “Sleep, baby.”

  And she did. Deeply.

  A phone was ringing. It was her phone. Stephen had programmed a silly ring tone on it. She was about to reach for it when Derek reached over her and beat her to it.

  He answered. Even in Sophie’s sleep-addled state, that annoyed her.

  “Lockwood...Parker slow down. Repeat what you said...God fucking damn it! When did this happen?”

  Her heart thud wildly in her chest. She sat up and turned on the lamp. The light revealed Derek’s furious face, a muscle twitching in his jaw as he listened to Stephen. Bad news again. What could it be now? Had someone finally decided to blow up her lab?

  “I’ll tell her. Find out what you can,” Derek said.

  When he ended the call, Sophie realized that Derek was breathing hard.

  “Derek?”

  He cast her a look that made her skin crawl.

  “What is it?” Sophie asked. Her question sounded like it did not want an answer.

  Derek pulled her into his arms and lay her head on his shoulder. “Angel, we’ll fix this.”

  “Derek you have to tell me,” Sophie whispered into his shirt.

  “Someone broke into EndPoint Systems and stole the cores,” Derek said flatly. “They’re all gone.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “This thing with Silver Fire has just gone to shit. Call me, Marissa,” Viktor said tersely. Ending the call, he threw his phone on the dashboard and broodingly observed the Loudon County police and detectives combing through the crime scene. Technically, Viktor had no right to be here, but agencies rarely question his presence.

  The four guards on duty were knocked out by tranquilizer darts. The cores were scheduled for destruction the next day and were in secure storage, but the perpetrators were able to threaten the custodian-on-duty to give up the weaponized zefinium.

  Another vehicle arrived at the scene—FBI. Great, this just keeps getting better, thought Viktor.

  His phone buzzed. Derek.

  “I don’t have anything yet,” Viktor said shortly. When Derek had called him about the stolen cores, Viktor immediately dropped everything to head to Endpoint Systems. This was bad for several reasons. This happened on AGS watch. Viktor had a gut feeling the CIA expected this. He was uneasy when Marissa was suddenly shipped off to parts unknown after coming down hard on AGS t
o bring Sophie in for questioning. And Viktor’s gut was rarely wrong. His relationship with the CIA was tenuous at best and if they fucked him over this, the relationship would become non-existent. “The place is crawling with cops and feds.”

  “Where is Marissa?” Derek demanded.

  “I left her three voice messages, no call-back.”

  “This is becoming a jurisdiction clusterfuck.”

  “No shit.”

  “Do you want me to come in?”

  “No, stay with your woman,” Viktor said. “This Justin guy has blindsided us and it’s pissing me off. His interest in Sophie may just be a diversion to have us looking in the wrong direction, but until we’re sure, do not let her out of your sight. There’s nothing we can do right now, they’ve already fucked up the crime scene.”

  “What’s the next plan?”

  “Let me think,” Viktor said slowly. “We might have to work on Blackstone. Tim is still trying to hack into Opperman’s network without leaving any digital fingerprints.”

  “We’re running out of time, Viktor. Sophie said that it would take less than a week to build the device, another to make the cores. They already have the cores, they’ll have a functioning bomb in three days max.”

  “I know,” Viktor replied. “Be at AGS tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. We need to figure out if we have a leak somewhere. Endpoint Systems comes highly vetted by the government agencies.”

  “Copy that.”

  Viktor ended the call just when another one was coming in. Marissa.

  “Where the hell are you?” Viktor said without preamble.

  “I got your message, Viktor,” Marissa replied coolly.

  “You guys fuck us over, things are not ending well.”

  “Are you threatening me?”

  “No, Marissa. But I don’t believe in coincidences.”

  “Neither do I.”

  Viktor fell silent for a beat before saying, “AGS tomorrow. Ten a.m. We get to the fucking bottom of this.”

  “Still bossy as ever.”

  Viktor’s lips twitched. “Be there, Marissa.” He ended the call without waiting for her reply.

  Eight years he managed to stay away from her. He had seen her over the years and had talked to her, but it had always been formal and business-like. Last Sunday morning, he realized she still had the power to get under his skin. Well, he’d be damned before he let that happen again.

  ***

  Derek glared at Viktor across the room. His friend just alluded that Sophie might already be compromised and was in fact working with Justin. Viktor Baran, Marissa Cole, Maia Pierce, Tim Burns and himself were in the “war room” for the meeting.

  “If she is, she’s one damned fine actress,” he said acidly. “You better have a good reason for accusing her.”

  “Circumstantial, plus—” Viktor shoved a folder across the table toward Derek. “A predisposition to Stockholm syndrome.”

  Derek stopped the slide of the folder. He knew what was in it. A white-hot rage threatened to consume him, and he clenched his jaw so tight, he thought he would break his teeth. He flipped open the folder and pictures of bondage paraphernalia was burned into his consciousness. A Saint Andrew’s Cross. Fuck! There were several pictures of Sophie wrapped in a blanket and a shirtless man dressed only in his jeans. Adam. Fucking Adam Carter.

  “You have no right,” Derek bit out. “Those records were sealed. She was sixteen, damn it!”

  “That was low, Viktor,” Marissa said quietly.

  “Is it, Ms. Cole? The CIA has done worse,” Viktor said coldly. “If I have to choose between protecting the privacy of one woman, who may or may not be a suspect, and saving the lives of thousands, make a guess who I would choose?”

  “What made you look into her background?” Maia asked.

  Viktor shrugged. “She mentioned a past stalker. I got curious.”

  Derek stood up, planting his palm on the table and leaned forward. If he could leap across the room and break Viktor’s cold facade with his fists he would. “Well, I hope you’ve satisfied your curiosity because this is bullshit!”

  “I’m disappointed in you, Lockwood. I was hoping with your ah...maturity, you wouldn’t think with your dick. You’ve been hanging around McCord too long.”

  “Can we leave Jack out of this,” Maia said, bristling.

  “Why are you pushing their buttons, Viktor?” Marissa said in exasperation. “They are not the enemies here.”

  Viktor’s eyes bored into Marissa. “So, tell me, is it the CIA?”

  Derek frowned. A damned ruse? Did Viktor instigate all this drama to get Marissa Cole to react?

  For the first time since Derek had met her, the CIA spook looked uncomfortable. There was no question, something was up. “I don’t fucking believe this,” Derek said in disgust.

  “I have no proof,” Marissa stated carefully. “But I was blindsided just as you all were when my handler pulled me out of the zefinium case to work on some drug dealer assignment down in South America. I didn’t think much of it until I got your message about the zefinium cores being stolen. Baines, my handler, is currently on suspension. When the director of Black Ops found out what had happened, he recalled me immediately.” She looked at Viktor pointedly. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

  “I may have put in a word or two,” Viktor said noncommittally. “Derek, I still believe the leak came from within Silver Fire Research. Anyone come to mind?”

  “No,” Derek said as he took his seat. “They’re a bunch of geeks down there, and Parker is devoted to Sophie. If he weren’t gay, I’d have a problem with him.”

  “Tim, any progress on Opperman?”

  “Nothing solid. The man is like a traveling and shipping agency. All his transactions seem legit.”

  “Any transactions between Blackstone and Opperman?”

  “No, but we wouldn’t expect Blackstone to use his own company.”

  “Agreed. But is there a way to find out if he was using a shell company?”

  “I’m following the trail of one now,” Tim replied. “I’ve hit a highly-encrypted system. We may have to bring in a specialist.”

  “Blackstone will be at Senator Robinson’s fundraiser this Saturday,” Maia said. “I can have Jack engage him in interesting conversation again.”

  “Jack would love that,” Derek chuckled. “Which reminds me—I may have to keep Sophie here at AGS that night unless she wants to stay at my condo with Taggart. I was too late to add a plus one.”

  “Sure, just make arrangements with bunker accommodations.”

  “I can’t believe you’re leaving Sophie by herself,” Maia said.

  “I don’t have a choice. Robinson expects Jack and me to be there.”

  “Does he know you are screwing his daughter?”

  “Were. Past tense, Maia.”

  “You guys sure have the most fascinating conversations,” Marissa observed.

  Viktor smirked. “We like to keep things interesting around here. You know, Marissa, we haven’t addressed what role Blaine had in the cores being stolen.”

  Marissa shook her head. “I don’t think he directly had any knowledge of the cores. I think his role was just to look the other way and keep everyone else out of Bishop’s path.”

  “So who paid him off?”

  “That’s pending an internal investigation,” Marissa said, obviously reluctant to share. “Are we done here, Viktor?

  Viktor nodded. “I’ll keep you posted.”

  ***

  “We have a problem,” Yuri Demko told Justin. “There is a flaw in the trigger design. It does not produce enough power to initiate fusion.”

  Justin narrowed his eyes at the Ukrainian scientist. Had the man not scoffed at Sophie’s capabilities a few days ago, saying that they would not be needing her at all?

  “Are you saying we need Dr. Leroux?”

  “What I am saying is this plan is not workable,” Yuri replied haughtily. “I think this resea
rch is bogus.”

  Yuri found himself slammed against a worktable, his neck held in a vise-like grip. Justin was barely controlling his anger. “Is it my understanding you’re calling Dr. Leroux a fake?” he whispered menacingly to the older man.

  “No, no of course not,” Yuri answered haltingly.

  Justin released him and backed away. He’d been having trouble controlling his temper lately, and it didn’t take much to set it off. His thoughts were preoccupied with Sophie and his plans for her.

  “Do we need Dr. Leroux?”

  “Blackstone would not prefer it, but yes, we would need a second opinion,” Yuri replied carefully.

  The second opinion would be an unwilling second opinion. Justin turned away and whipped out his mobile phone.

  “Do you have anything for me?”

  “You’re all set. You have two tickets to the fundraiser. You are going as Dan Pryce, an agriculturist. Morgan will be your associate, Harry Winters,” Eric Opperman said. “I’ve also gotten a vendor pass for one of your men.”

  “Excellent.”

  “I’m reminding you that Blackstone and McCord will be there. Lockwood too. I’m not comfortable with you exposing yourself that way.”

  “They will not recognize me.”

  “I surely hope so, Justin, I don’t know what you are up to.”

  “Just do as you’re told. When’s my crew coming in?”

  “They should be arriving on separate flights tomorrow. Dulles.”

  Justin stared at his phone long before he ended the call with Opperman. He traced a finger on the picture he had snapped of Sophie sitting at the cafe and smiled.

  ***

  Derek waited for Sophie in her office, bouncing a tiny rubber ball on the wall as he mulled the powder-keg situation they were in. Literally a ticking time-bomb. Fuck. He checked his watch. When Sophie said she was far from finished, he had not expected her to mean over two hours.