by Dale Mayer
There really was no contest. She got up and threw herself into his arms.
“We might get to the bar of soap,” she whispered against his ear. “But first I want to explore a whole lot of other things.” She slid a hand down the front of his body and covered his growing erection. “And I’ll start with this.”
He rolled his eyes and groaned as she squeezed gently. “Damn, this could be a long night.”
She stretched up on her tiptoes and nipped him on the chin. “You can count on that.”
He caught her up in his arms and tossed her on the center of the bed, covering her, then snuggling beside her. As she reached for him, he lowered his head.
A long time later she raised herself from her drowsy sleep and sat up. She glanced at her watch. It was four o’clock. What had woken her? And then she knew. The answer to her coding issue.
She gazed down at the sleeping man and realized he needed the rest after the many hours they’d spent together. She reached over and dropped a kiss on the tip of his nose and slid from bed. She took a nightie out of her drawer, pulled it on over her head and sat down at her laptop. If she could just fine-tune this work and fix the last little bit of code, she might actually pull off something major.
“Good morning,” his gravelly voice said an hour later. “How long have you been working?”
She got up from the laptop and went to the bedside, throwing herself into his arms. “Just for an hour. I woke up with a solution to a problem I was working on.”
He rolled his eyes. “Is that what my nights could be like? I wear you down so you can sleep for the day but instead, you wear me out and get up to work some more.” His voice was half teasing.
But she could hear the concern in his voice. She reached down and kissed him. “Just this one time,” she promised.
He gave her a half smile that said he didn’t believe her. “Sounds like you’re happy with your work this morning.”
“I am.” She got up and danced around the room. “I might have pulled off something major.”
He sat up on the side of the bed and glanced at her. “Glad to hear that. Is it ready for today?”
She nodded. He didn’t question what she’d pulled off, and for that, she was grateful. She didn’t want to share it yet.
If it didn’t happen, it wouldn’t matter anyway.
*
Devlin was surprised to see everybody coming to the meeting for the contract. He could understand it as he also wanted to be a part of it. But he knew they would all not likely be allowed inside.
They drove up to the company headquarters at eight-thirty. Bristol used a security code and walked inside. The guard nodded at her and said, “Good morning. I was expecting you.”
She smiled at him. “Where do we set up?”
“I’m to take you around to the back, yard 14B.”
She nodded.
“I’ll radio ahead so they’ll let you in.”
It took about fifteen minutes to get inside and unload the trailer. By the time everything was set up, Devlin could see Bristol’s nerves were getting to her. He stroked a thumb across her pinched lips and said, “Relax.”
She rolled her eyes up at him, reminding him of this exact movement last night and he grinned.
Then she stiffened and stepped back. He turned and realized not only were Brent and his boss here for the demonstration and hand delivery of the drones but there appeared to be an awful lot of brass. Devlin straightened to attention, recognizing when Easton and Ryder did the same. In fact, everybody in the group straightened up. Ice walked forward, Tesla at her side. They nodded at the men.
Sandra poked her head out of the crowd, a big grin on her face. Bristol gave her a small wave even as she whispered beside him, “Do you know any of these men?”
He shook his head. “But I think Ice and Tesla might.” He cast a sideways glance at the two women. They both smiled. Immediately he felt better.
“Chin up,” he said to Bristol. “Doesn’t look like Brent is happy they are here either.”
He watched her gaze flow over the men from the company she was contracted to and saw her grin. “No they aren’t. So that’s good for me.”
He reached down and gave her hand a squeeze. “Go get ’em, tiger.”
She shot him a grateful look, straightened her shoulders and walked forward to meet the men. Standing off to one side were three in military uniforms, along with Brent and his boss. She reached out and shook hands, treating all the men as equals.
Very quickly she set about doing the demonstration with the drones. Everything appeared to be going well as she worked, going over the contract and exactly what was expected of her and what she had produced.
The military men weren’t stiff and unyielding but neither were they relaxed. No smiles were on any face. They stood in a row, arms crossed over their chests.
Devlin watched as Bristol glanced nervously at him several times. But Brent’s reaction interested him more. Brent shifted his weight from one foot to the other and kept glancing around. Suspicious, Devlin searched the crowd and seeing all the photo IDs with ENFAQ emblazoned thereon affixed to most of the people here, Devlin realized many of the company employees were outside watching as well.
With instinct riding him, he walked over to Ryder and Easton and said, “I don’t like this. Get ready for action.”
Both men shot him hard glances.
Corey, standing with Ice and Tesla, turned to look at him and nodded. In a low whisper, he said, “This place is a nightmare for security.”
Tesla protested. “That’s not true. All these people are bonded. They all work for the company. They should be safe.”
Devlin studied her. “And when you were betrayed, did it come from inside the company or outside?”
The color washed out of Tesla’s face. She turned to look around and said, “How do we tell where the threat is?”
He took a deep breath. “I’m not sure. It’s all about timing.”
He separated from the others and walked through the crowd. His gaze never left the faces of the attendees as he searched, looking for whatever was wrong. But by now, the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He could feel his fingers itching as they went from fist to open palm to fist again. His chest constricted, and he stood searching, searching, and searching.
Bristol had several drones up in the air, doing a demonstration.
He watched her for a long moment, then turned his gaze back to the crowd. He heard the collective gasp. He pivoted and watched as one of the drones took a sideways slip, ready to crash. And then another. And he realized that once again, somebody was sabotaging her work to make her look like a fool. She did something to her handheld device, and instantly the drone corrected. Brent’s boss asked, “Bristol, what was that?”
She said, “It’s a slip maneuver.” Her voice was calm, steady.
But Devlin knew her. And she was nervous. But why? Because of the nerve-wracking demonstration process she was involved in or something else? She put down the controller, picked up a different one and sent a separate drone up into the air. Her voice carried clearly over the crowd as she explained the next requirement on her contract.
The yard was open, and so there were a number of birds. He looked at a few of them suspiciously, wondering if he’d ever see one again and not wonder if it was a drone. But they all flew around the edges of the building and took roost, only to fly again. Perfectly natural.
He turned his attention back to the demonstration.
When it looked like she was almost done, a commotion erupted in the crowd. He tried to see what was going on, but it stilled almost immediately. But his suspicions lingered.
Finally Bristol turned to Brent and said, “And as per our contract, I have delivered fifty units with all the requirements we agreed upon.”
She handed him the remote. Amid a lot of clapping and cheering, Devlin locked on Brent’s face. Instead of being happy, he was pissed. Devlin strode to Bristol’s side.
Brent’s boss stepped forward and shook her hand, saying, “Thank you very much, Bristol. We weren’t sure you would make the deadline for a while.”
“I never doubted it,” she said quietly. “There were several setbacks, as there were numerous attempts to sabotage my work, and of course, there were others on me personally. But we survived. Delivery is as promised, agreed?”
Brent’s boss nodded and said, “Agreed. We’ll arrange for final financing on your contract. And if we decide to go ahead with more, can you provide the additional units if we can come up with the funding?”
She nodded. “Yes, we can fulfill another order of these same units.”
Brent’s boss looked pleased. He smiled. “Great. Perfect. It’s been a pleasure working with you.”
She nodded. “Thank you, sir.”
He stepped back. “You’re destined for bigger and better things, I gather.”
She shrugged. “One never knows. But my company is growing, yes.”
Out of the crowd came another man in a three-piece suit. His arms were across his chest, and he was angry. “You stupid bitch. You stole my work.”
Devlin’s eyebrows raised. How did he get into this demonstration? Devlin stepped immediately in front of Bristol. But the accusation, ugly and resounding in volume, rang out across the yard.
“Well, I don’t know who you are …” Bristol studied him carefully. “But I think I’ve seen you before…” She cast her mind back, figuring out where and when.
Brent’s boss stepped in. “No, he was one of the bids for the contract, also an ex-employee, but I chose yours over his at Brent’s recommendation.”
Bristol glanced at the man. “So you’re Antwerp Originals.” At his nod, she added, “And how is it that you believe I’ve stolen your work?”
“Because my drones do the same maneuvers,” he roared, his face turning a bright red. “Brent suggested I come here to see the work you were doing in case you’d had access to mine.”
“Of course your drones do,” she said. “Because you’re the one who sabotaged my work and sent somebody to steal it. That’s why I recognize you. We caught a member of your family inside my house.” She turned to Devlin. “Can you see the resemblance?”
He studied the man. “Yes.” He turned to Bristol. “Not only are you right, we’ve actually got our intruder squirreled away safe and sound, just for an occasion like this.”
She raised her eyebrows. “I never even asked what happened to him. And after being kidnapped, I completely forgot about it, then figured the cops picked him up.”
He patted her shoulder. “That’s why I’m here. To make sure people like him come back when they’re supposed to.” He turned and nodded to Ryder.
Ryder gave a whistle. Easton and Rhodes exited their truck and brought out the intruder. Everyone in the yard gasped, and their voices rose loud and hard.
Antwerp glared. “I have no idea why he might’ve been in your house.” he said.
“Yes, you do,” the intruder said warily. “I’m so damn tired of doing your dirty work.” He turned to Bristol. “I’ve already spoken to your men and agreed to testify against my brother.”
“It would have been fine if Brent hadn’t been an asshole and gone back on his word. Brent promised the contract would be mine,” Antwerp yelled at his brother and lunged. But Ryder pulled the brother away to a safe distance.
“Whoa, I didn’t promise anything,” Brent roared.
“Not to mention that doesn’t address the issue of Colleen’s murder,” Devlin said smoothly. “Or the hacking that came from inside ENFAQ Ltd.”
Silence.
Brent’s boss called out, “What? Do you have proof of that?”
Devlin nodded. “Absolutely on the hacking. And whoever murdered Colleen had to be in Afghanistan when we were.” His gaze wandered the stunned crowd. “And that leaves very few options. Right, Sandra?”
Bristol cried out in pain. “No, please not Sandra.”
From the center of the crowd, Ice and Tesla dragged Sandra forward into the opening.
She was crying. “I didn’t mean to. She caught me going over Bertha’s new adaptations you’d been working on. We fought. I defended myself. She fell and hit her head.” She sobbed. “I lit the fire to cover it up.”
Devlin wrapped an arm around Bristol, standing stock-still, her fist shoved in her mouth as she stared at Sandra in horror.
“Brent told me to get Bertha,” Sandra said, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I never meant to hurt anyone.”
Brent stepped forward. “I had nothing to do with that. There’s no way I told you to touch her drones.”
Sandra spun on him. “Liar,” she spat. “Not only to get her drones but to hack into her system after she arrived in Afghanistan, to interrupt any of her latest upgrades. I told you how I wasn’t any good at that, but you said I just had to mess it up so she looked bad.”
“That was Antwerp, not me,” Brent snapped.
“Like hell,” said the suited Antwerp brother. “I had nothing to do with either of those issues. You’re not getting me involved in murder.” Beside himself with fury, Antwerp pulled out a gun and turned it on Bristol. “You stupid bitch. You ruined everything. I was supposed to get the contract, not you. Brent promised it to me.”
Then Antwerp turned the gun on Brent, who immediately backed up, hands in the air. “I didn’t promise it to you.”
“Yes, you did. I gave you money. A lot of it. And still I was forced to do the dirty work, like sabotaging her servers at her home lab to make sure that happened,” he snapped in bitterness. “And when you accepted the bribe, the contract was supposed to be mine. But you gave it to her. Then you promised me that I would get this contract because she wouldn’t be able to deliver. Forcing me to get involved yet again, using my stupid brother this time as a decoy to the kidnapping. Which you orchestrated with your own men on the company payroll. Now she’s delivered, and I still don’t have the damn contract. You took over one hundred thousand dollars from me in bribes.”
He turned the gun back toward Bristol. “You! It’s all your fault.” Antwerp raised his weapon higher.
Just as he went to pull the trigger, a weird spit resounded in the air. Devlin raced forward but stopped as Antwerp slowly sank to his knees, the gun falling from his hand. Instantly the crowd backed up, cries arising in a loud roar around him.
Bristol held her hand up and said, “It’s all right. Everyone is safe.”
And then he knew. That’s what she’d been working on early this morning.
To the stunned amazement of everyone, a small songbird came down and landed on her shoulder.
Chapter 21
Bristol, feeling pretty damn good at the moment, stepped forward to look down at Antwerp, his shoulder bleeding heavily, and said, “You’re lucky I didn’t have a chance to test my new drone’s aim. If I had, you’d be dead.”
He shook his head. “I don’t even see the drone.”
She crouched down beside him. “Yes, you do.”
His gaze locked on the bird on her shoulder, and he shook his head. “That’s not possible.”
“Not only is it, but it’s made in the same light material, so if you shoot at it, it will still lock on its target and come back on-target again.”
He shook his head. “No, it’s not possible. It’s too small.”
She smiled. “Well, that was just one of the challenges I had to work on,” she said modestly. She pushed the button on the tiny remote in her pocket. The songbird rose up above her and locked on to a position over her head. She walked to the three military men and said, “Gentlemen, this is one of my latest models.”
They looked at the flying drone. She opened her hands to show them they were empty and said, “The older model was just delivered as agreed. But since then, I might’ve made a few modifications.”
The three men studied the small bird flying gently above her. “Will it lock on to anyone?”
“It ca
n if you want it to permanently, but that would require an ID chip, or depending on what kind of characteristics, we can help it to identify a target and have it lock on somebody else.”
“How did it know you were being attacked?”
“In this case, I had the drone ready, willing, and waiting,” she said. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I’ve been sabotaged and kidnapped. This last week has been a living hell. I suspected there would be yet another attack here.”
She pulled a tiny little makeup case from her pocket. “This completely controls the drone’s actions. So I could’ve given the control to Devlin on the far side, or in a worst case scenario, it’s compelled to act when it sees a weapon directed at me within ten feet. Those parameters can obviously be changed, but I was in a bit of a hurry to make it battle-ready for this morning.”
She turned and realized everybody who had come in to save her bacon surrounded her. She smiled and said, “Sorry, guys, I never had a chance to show you this one.”
Ice stepped forward and said, “Can I order one today?” Her gaze fell on the bird in fascination. “Talk about a fantastic backup system.”
“Well, I still need to modify some things, plus I should set up a few more parameters. Getting a larger chip set would help too.”
One of the military brass said, “Tesla has arranged a meeting at 1:00 p.m. this afternoon. I’m really looking forward to speaking with you.”
They turned as one and faced Brent’s boss. “I believe a conversation is in order.”
With a hard glance at Brent—being restrained by two security men, another two holding Antwerp—Brent’s boss nodded and said, “We better take this to my office.”
Bristol watched the crowd disperse, then she turned to the others and said, “Thank you so much.”
She was immediately wrapped in hugs. When the bird whistled higher in the air, several of them stepped back, and she laughed. “I promise he won’t shoot anybody.”
“I hope you’ll always have one of those around,” Devlin said. “I can’t be watching you all the time.”
She grinned. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep my birds around me at all times.”