Julius “Jules” Siegrist was was nicknamed to shorten a name that he obviously hated and insisted I call him Jules. He was probably around six foot two and again, built just like all the others. Insanely ripped and gorgeous. He had a very sharp nose that only added to his rugged good looks. In fact, his whole face was sharp angles. I imagined a caricature of him and almost started laughing, but held back.
Chris “Jack” McKay, Jack because he liked his Jack Daniels and was from Tennessee, was wearing a cowboy hat and looked slightly out of place compared to the rest. He had a leaner body that was still heavily muscled, but he wasn’t nearly as scary. That is, until he looked at me from under the rim of his cowboy hat and I saw his menacing eyes. His eyes were almost black and his brown hair and brown stubble only made him appear even more evil. Evil wasn’t the right word. He was just really scary. Not someone I would want to meet in a dark alley.
“And this is Lola ‘Brave’ Pruitt. She’s our only female operator,” Sebastian said.
“And why’s that? Are the standards that high or you just don’t like working with women?”
“Whoa, Freckles. Pull back before I put you on a leash.”
“Excuse me? I am not a dog!”
“I just meant, rein in your temper. She’s our only female operator because, yes the standards are that high and Lola is top notch.”
I glared at him for another moment before turning to Lola and extending my hand. “Maggie. It’s nice to meet you.”
She reluctantly held out her hand and gave me a look that said she clearly wasn’t impressed with me. She was a beautiful woman, slender, but muscular with dark, long brown hair pulled up in a ponytail. She looked like she could be on the cover of a Victoria’s Secret catalogue. Her face was beautiful with perfect lines, except for one. She had a scar that ran from one temple to the other along her hairline. I would like to say that it wasn’t that noticeable, but it was one of the first things I saw when she entered the room.
“Now that introductions are done, let’s get all the information into the system and get a plan in place.”
“Um, excuse me, Sebastian. What do you mean ‘all the information’?”
“I mean all the information from the properties and any other details that will be helpful in this investigation.”
“No. I work alone. I don’t want you sticking your nose in my story.”
“Your story almost got us killed this morning, so unless you want to end up dead the next time we go out, you’re going to give me the information we need so we can be sure to secure each location before we approach.”
“You think checking out these properties with a bunch of meatheads is going to be inconspicuous? No offense.” I threw that in, not wanting to offend anyone.
“None taken. We’re only taking one person with us. The rest of these ‘meatheads’ have other assignments more important than keeping your ass alive.”
I looked around the room and noticed that most of the guys had already left and the only one in here still was Cazzo. “Fine.” I walked over and sat down at the table, grabbing my messenger bag and pulling out my laptop. After starting the laptop, I opened my notes that I had put together on the story so far. It wasn’t much, but it was all I had to go on. I also pulled out my phone and pulled up the snapshot I had taken of the list of properties.
Sebastian took my phone and uploaded the properties into his system. On the glass screen, a map of Pittsburgh appeared with a dot locating each of the different properties.
“Okay, Maggie. Tell us what you know about these properties.”
“There’s really not much to tell. They’re all in run down neighborhoods, have no connection to anything with the government, and they’re all abandoned.”
“Tell us specifically about each property. What was the function of the buildings before they shut down and when did that happen?”
“Okay, Wilkinsburg was a plastics manufacturing plant. They went out of business fifteen years ago. The owner died and there was no one to take over operations. It shut down about a year after his death.”
“Who owns the property now?”
“Um…I didn’t get that far in my research. You know, people trying to kill me and all.”
“That’s okay. Sam, have Becky start digging into this company. What else do you have?”
I looked over to see Sam on the phone already. Man, these people worked fast. “Okay, well the other properties are much of the same. A lot of the communities went down hill because of a project to rebuild the communities in the 1950’s. A lot of the buildings at the time didn’t have indoor plumbing and the buildings were subpar. In an attempt to revitalize the city, the Civic Arena was built with the thinking that it would benefit The Hill District. But when they demolished buildings that were thought to be beyond repair, they displaced eight thousand residents, which pushed them into other neighborhoods, like Homewood.
“Homewood used to be an upper class neighborhood where Andrew Carnegie lived, but after all the lower income families were pushed into the area, housing values dropped and there were a lot of racial tensions. Middle class families moved out and so did many businesses. One of the properties was a brewing company that left the area when crime skyrocketed.
“Another property is in The Hill District, not too far from the Civic Arena. It was a grocery store. Again, it went out of business when families were forced out due to the rebuilding efforts.”
I looked through my notes and looked at the last two properties. “The next property is in Beltzhoover. It has a very high crime rate and a lot of the community has shut down. This property looks to be bare except for an old warehouse.
“The last property is in The Strip District. In the mid to late nineties, shipping became a huge form of transportation for goods and one shipping company on the river was small and couldn’t keep up with demands. They didn’t have the funds to expand and were eventually forced to close their doors. The building has been rented several times, but always available again within a year. That one seems the most fishy to me.”
“Why’s that?” Sebastian asked.
“Well, less than a year for all the businesses? That’s not really giving your business a chance to grow. Either there’s something wrong with the building or there was something else going on.”
“Could it have been the location?”
“No. The location was great. It was right in the middle of The Strip District.”
“I thought you said that you didn’t have a chance to look up anything?”
“No. I said I didn’t have a chance to look up anything on Wilkinsburg. I still haven’t thoroughly checked out these other locations. Someone came in and interrupted the meeting I was going to have with my boss.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and scowled. He rolled his eyes at me and stood. “Okay, well, Becky can look into who owns these properties now and see if anyone has been making any bids on the land.”
“Okay, well the other thing I need to start working on is the list of offshore accounts.”
“You have the actual list?”
“Yes.”
He sighed in exasperation. “Why didn’t you mention that sooner?”
“You didn’t ask. Besides, this is still my investigation.”
“Freckles, we’re not planning on swooping in and taking credit here, but the sooner this investigation is over, the sooner you can get your ass out of here.”
“Well then why don’t you give me your internet access and I can get to work.”
“If you work with Becky on this, she can help you get what you’re looking for a lot faster.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. This man just didn’t get it. It was my investigation and I didn’t work with others. In fact, I had a reputation at the office for being one of the most stubborn reporters when it came to accepting help and I was okay with that. It meant that I could never be taken advantage of. I’d seen others in the office that worked in a collaborative effort and someo
ne always ended up getting screwed over.
“Thanks, but I work alone.”
“Fine. Cazzo, can you get Freckles set up?”
“Sure thing, Cap. Come over here, Freckles. I’ll set you up at a work station.”
“I just need the wifi password and I’ll work off my laptop.”
“What? Are you afraid we’re going to steal your intel?” I gave him a pointed look. “Jesus. Fine. I’ll give you the password.”
After getting the password from Cazzo, I spent the next four hours working on researching the offshore accounts. I wasn’t an accountant so following the money was a little difficult. I ended up printing off page after page of documents and sorting them into separate categories. Since I didn’t have access to bank records, I was having to work backwards.
I was able to trace the money back to different accounts, but it branched off into smaller amounts that I then had to add up to match the final amount. Then I hit a brick wall when I couldn’t access the next set of bank records. I was going to need someone to hack into the bank to get the account information. As much as I didn’t want to ask for help, I was probably going to have to.
The ringing of my phone brought me out of my work haze. Looking at the clock, I realized that I had been working for most of the evening on this and it was all starting to look like random numbers. I was going to have to take a break so I didn’t lose my mind.
“Hello?”
“Maggie?”
“Yes.”
There was a pause at the other end. “It’s Danielle. I need to meet you tonight.”
Danielle was my source in the Mayor’s office. She was the one that originally suspected that something was off with the Budget Oversight Committee and then found the paperwork for the offshore accounts. The Mayor had been scheduled to be out of the office for a few days, so she took the opportunity to copy all the offshore documents that she could. When she met with me, she handed it all over and asked me to look into it.
“What’s going on? Did you find out something else?”
“Not on the phone. Meet me under Panther Hollow Bridge on the lake side.”
She was speaking quickly, as if she only had a minute to get this out.
“What time? I’m not in Pittsburgh. I’ll need an hour to get there.”
“Meet me at eleven. Maggie, please don’t be late. I think…I think someone knows what I did.”
“Listen, I have a security company protecting me. They can protect you, too. Why don’t you come back with me and we can keep you safe.”
“Are you sure they’re not working for the Mayor?”
“I’m positive. You know I wouldn’t be with them if they were.”
I heard her take a deep breath. “Okay. But I think they might be following me. I’m gonna try to lose them in the park.”
“I’ll find you.”
Danielle hung up the phone before I could say anything more reassuring to her. I wished there was something I could say, but I had already been on the receiving end of the Mayor’s disapproval. I gathered up the documents that I had spread all over the war room and put them in neat stacks, then put them back in my bag, along with my laptop. I was working fast because I only had an hour before I had to leave and I still had to convince Sebastian that I had to get back to Pittsburgh, which he would no doubt nix.
“Going somewhere?”
I shrieked at the voice in my ear. Putting my hand to my chest to calm my racing heart, I took a deep breath before spinning around and was was pushed right up against the hard body of Sebastian. I hadn’t really given him a second look before. He was my bodyguard and nothing more. I was too obsessed with finding out the story that was currently causing my brain to go haywire.
Now that I took a moment to look at the man in front of me, I saw that his chest was perfectly sculpted through his shirt. His pectoral muscles were strong and made his nipples stand out against the fabric. The muscles in his arms rippled as he caged me in against the table. My breathing quickened as I did my best not to run my hands down his perfect arms.
I finally tore my gaze from his perfect body and looked up into the most gorgeous pair of chocolate brown eyes I had ever seen. They seemed to be assessing me in much the way I was him. The dark stubble along his jaw had me reaching up to run my fingers over the course hair. I felt his jaw clench as I ran my hand along his chin to the cleft that was hidden underneath his stubble.
As I traced the hairline back to his short sideburns, I felt desire build inside. I had never wanted a man more than I did right now. I was so lost in him that I didn’t even notice that he had pushed me back against the table and his now sizable erection was pushing against me. My eyes flicked back to his as he released a ragged breath and then pushed back from me. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them, he was back to the man I met earlier in the day. Indifferent. He was here to do a job and so was I.
“I have to get back to Pittsburgh to meet a source.”
“No. That’s not gonna happen until we know more about what’s going on.”
“Listen, buddy, my source said that she thinks they caught on to her. I have to meet her and bring her back here, otherwise she’s as good as dead.”
“You want to bring her back here? This isn’t a puppy shelter. We don’t take in any stray that you think needs protection.”
“If you don’t protect her, she’ll be killed. Are you that heartless?”
“My job is to protect you. If she got involved in something that she shouldn’t have, that’s her problem.”
“If she’s dead, she can’t give me the information that I need.”
“And if you meet her and someone’s after her, it will lead them right to you.”
“Fine. You don’t want to help? I’ll go alone.”
“Not gonna happen. You don’t go anywhere without me and or one of my guys.”
“God, you’re an asshole.”
“That may be true, but I’m the asshole that’s going to keep you alive.”
I started pulling out my stuff and setting it back on the table. Methodically, I set each stack where it previously had been and then took my laptop out and started it up.
“What are you doing?”
“Well, if you’re not going to let me go meet my source, then I’m getting back to work.”
“No. My guys are leaving for the night. There’s only a bare bones staff that stays here at night.”
“That’s fine since I won’t be going anywhere.”
He left the room in a huff. When I was sure he was gone, I pulled out my phone and called a cab. It would be here in ten minutes, so I was going to have to hustle. Walking out of the war room, I looked in both directions and headed for the lobby.
“Where are you going?” I cringed at Sebastian’s voice behind me. I turned around and put on my best bitch face.
“To the bathroom. Is that alright? Or do you need to follow me in and protect me in there, too?”
“Down the hall to the left.”
He turned and walked away and I scurried down the hall. When I looked back, he was gone, so I headed for the elevators and pressed the button, but nothing happened.
“Shit.”
“You need a code to leave. Going somewhere?” Sinner, the really hot guy that I had fawned over had stepped up to my side.
“Oh, I left one of my bags in Sebastian’s SUV. He said that I could get it. He gave me the other codes, but I guess he forgot this one.”
“No problem. I can take care of it for you.”
He entered the number and took a step back.
“Thanks. I appreciate your help.”
I stepped into the elevator and was surprised when he stepped onto the elevator with me. “Um…I got it from here. Thanks.”
“Yeah, I don’t buy it. Sebastian knows that you need a hand print scan to move the elevator, so I call bullshit on your story, but I’ll still take you down to retrieve your ‘bag’.” He actually did the little air quotes wh
en he said bag. Bastard. Sweet talking might be the only way out of this. What was his name?
“Sinner, right?”
He gave me a panty melting smile as he turned to me. “Yeah. That’s me. You wanna know how I got the name?” He leaned against the elevator wall right in front of me. His chest would brush mine with a deep breath. God, I really wanted to find out how he got that name, but I was on a mission and I couldn’t fail. I was just about to try something seductive when the elevator doors opened and broke the spell between us. He straightened and headed to the elevator door with his hand on his gun. Lord, these men were paranoid.
Walking out behind Sinner, I looked around the garage and followed behind him as he led me to the banged up SUV we arrived in. Shit. This was about to get bad for me. I needed to figure out a way out of here. An idea came to mind and I wasn’t overly happy with what I was about to do, but I had to get back to Pittsburgh.
He had his hand on the door when I dropped my wallet on the ground. Being the gentleman that I took him for, he held out his hand for me to stop and then bent over to retrieve it. I grabbed onto the door handle and pulled it open as hard as I could, slamming the door into his head. He dropped to the ground and appeared to be out cold, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I ran to the garage door and was pleased to see a side door. I pushed it open and ignored the alarm that blared as I ran out into the night.
I almost wept in relief when I saw the taxi waiting for me at the curb. I barely heard someone yelling as I slammed the door and yelled at the driver to go. He peeled away from the curb, only asking me where we were headed after we were well away from the security firm. I didn’t see anyone tailing us, so at least I had that on my side. With any luck, I could get to my meeting without anyone knowing where I was headed.
Of course, there would no doubt be hell to pay later when Sebastian caught up with me, but I couldn’t think about that now. My phone dinged and I was afraid to look at it, in case it was Sebastian calling to chew me out. I looked and saw I had a text message from an unknown number.
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