She had no boyfriend right now, and after stalking her online for a good hour, I couldn’t find a single man that she had hooked up with in the last three years. Hell, there wasn’t even anyone that she was associated with. That made her case slightly stronger in my eyes. A woman that had been raped wouldn’t be likely to run out and find a boyfriend or a fuck buddy. This woman was a mystery to me, and the only way I was going to get the answers I needed were to go get them myself.
I hopped on my bike and headed out of town, driving straight through to D.C. My ass was killing me by the time I pulled up outside Kiera’s place, but it would be worth it once I had the answers I needed. I watched her place for a good twenty minutes, watching the rest of the neighborhood to look for anyone that would see me, or cameras that could catch my face. I pulled my black ski mask over my face and made my way to her townhouse. I scoped out the inside while sticking to the shadows on her front stoop, and then made my way around to the back.
I picked the lock on her back door and slipped inside, silently shutting her door behind me. I went around to the usual places in her townhouse and looked for any weapons she might pull on me. I found three before I made my way up her stairs. If she heard me, she wasn’t giving any indication of it. I peeked my head in the first doorway and saw a guest room. After quickly checking it, I moved on to the next, which was a home office. Hers was the last room on the left. I slipped inside and pulled the gun from her nightstand drawer. Slipping my hand under her pillow, I snatched the gun that she had hidden under there. She had rolled off her pillow, and if she hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have been able to take the gun without waking her up.
After emptying all her guns, I lined them up on her dresser, keeping her extra bullets in my jacket and her magazines tucked into the inside of my jacket. I pulled my own gun and pressed it hard against her forehead. She startled awake, quickly grabbing for her gun. Her face quickly contorted into fear when she realized that her gun was missing. I smirked down at her, letting a low chuckle rumble from my chest.
“Hello, Kiera.”
“Who are you?” she asked, her voice shaking.
“I’m someone who wants to know all your secrets.”
She shook her head slightly. “I don’t have any secrets.”
I pressed the gun harder to her head so she knew I was serious, making her whimper slightly.
“What do you want to know?”
“I want to know what really happened the night you were raped.”
Chapter Three
Blake
I looked over the papers on my desk again, shoving my hair behind my ear. It kept falling out of my ponytail and falling in my face, but I didn’t have time to redo my hair right now. I was too enthralled in what I was looking at. Someone had anonymously sent me an envelope this morning, and it was loaded with all kinds of shit that I didn’t know how to decipher. But if someone sent it to me, there must be something here that I needed to see.
SynGen. I typed the name into my computer, and clicked on the link to their website. They were a biotech company with many different areas of development. Glancing back at the paper, I tried to figure out what I was supposed to be seeing. There were numbers and accounts listed, but no reference as to what type of accounts they were. There was however, one name that stood out, Alex Cortez. He was a junior senator that had been in the news a lot lately, spewing crap about how the government needed to take control and give the people back their freedoms, but his ideas were more socialist than democratic. And he’d created a storm of other senators with the same principles, fighting for the same free programs around the nation. All in all, he was very popular with the younger generations and he was well on his way to having a very prominent place in the Senate.
But that wasn’t what interested me. As I looked over the paperwork, it looked like he was making large donations to this biotech company, but according to his financials, he didn’t have the money on his Senate salary to be making those donations. Which made me wonder, what was so special about this biotech company that he would risk exposing his financials?
There were all sorts of funds being funneled into the company, but also large payouts from the company to other holding companies. I wasn’t a financial wizard by any means, but even I knew there was something fishy going on here. The amount of money being funneled into the company was substantial. I flipped through another page and came across another company under the SynGen network. Again, the senator’s name appeared as a donor, but he also sat on the board of directors for the company. I went back to my computer and typed in the company name and sat back in shock. The company was a lab, focusing on testing and product development. In this day and age, that could be everything from vaccines to cancer treatments. The possibilities were endless.
All of this information was interesting, but if it weren’t for the note that was attached to the top of the page, I wouldn’t even know what the purpose of all it was. It would take someone from our financial department to make any sense of what I was looking at.
Senator Cortez isn’t who he says he is. Follow the trail.
The problem was, there just wasn’t enough information to go on based on only this paperwork that I was sent. At least, not that I could see. I needed to dig deeper, and in order to do that, I needed to open an investigation into this biotech company, that seemed to be an umbrella corporation for all the companies attached to its name. Whoever sent me this packet wanted me to look at the company, and from what I was seeing, there was definitely something underhanded going on here.
I picked up the paperwork and made copies of everything, intending to take them home with me tonight to go over everything with a fine tooth comb. After shoving everything into my briefcase, I snatched the original file and headed to my boss’s office, the Executive Assistant Director for Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch. I wasn’t ranked very high in the FBI. I was just a field agent, but someone sent this to me personally, obviously thinking that I could move this forward. I wasn’t sure about that. I was a nobody in the vast world of the FBI. My boss, Alan Dennick, barely knew who I was, and paid even less attention to me because I didn’t toe the company line the way the others did. I always did what I felt was right, according to the oath that I took when I first entered the FBI. My boss said that I wasn’t a company player. I preferred to look at myself as someone that would uphold the law, no matter how it reflected on me or my boss. But he had aspirations to be Deputy Director one day. Not that I thought that was a possibility. The man was an asshat.
I passed one of my male colleagues that made no effort to hide his leering gaze. I rolled my eyes. He was a tool. I could kick his ass, but that wouldn’t help my place here amongst the chauvinistic assholes I worked with. Ever since I was little, I loved to fight. I grew up with five brothers, all of whom fought like their life depended on it. One of them actually became a professional boxer, and I trained with him whenever I went to visit. He always thought he had to take it easy on me, and then he was always shocked when I gave him a run for his money.
I took a deep breath as I knocked on my boss’s door and waited for his command to enter. When I opened the door and he saw me, I didn’t miss the slight roll of his eyes or the way he started muttering under his breath.
“Sir, I have something that I think you should see.”
He waved me over, sighing heavily. Yeah, I got it. I was an annoyance to him.
“Someone sent me this anonymously. It implies that Senator Cortez is illegally funneling money into a biotech corporation.”
His brows furrowed and he motioned for me to hand over the file, which I did. “The new kid? Why would anyone suspect him? That kid is still wet behind the ears.”
“The information suggests that he-”
“It’s not important,” Mr. Dennick said, flipping the folder closed. “I’ll look into it personally.”
I looked at him in confusion. “But, this was sent to me. I’d like to investigate further.�
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“And I said that you’re to leave it alone.”
My anger rose as I stared him down. He wasn’t going to look into it at all. I could already see that something in those files had gotten to him. He was going to make the file disappear.
“I’m not going to stop digging. That was sent to me-”
“That’s enough, Agent Collins. This is not your case any longer.”
“Then I’ll take it to the Deputy Director,” I said, only thinking afterwards how stupid it was to say that. His face became mottled with rage and he shoved his chair back, making it bounce off the wall.
“You’re finished. You’ve been a pain in my ass since the day you got here. Turn in your badge and your gun and get the hell out of my building.”
“You can’t do that. You don’t have just cause.”
“Really? I could pull up your file and find any number of infractions that prove that you’re not a team player, that you can’t do your job efficiently.”
“Because I follow the law instead of your idiotic guidelines that do more for lining your own pocket than actually solving any crimes?” I snapped.
He picked up his phone and dialed someone, staring me down with an evil grin. “Security, I need you on the fifth floor to remove Blake Collins from the building.”
He hung up, smirking at me like he’d won. “This isn’t over.”
“Yes, it is. Hand over your badge and your gun.”
I pulled both out and set them on his desk. Turning, I stormed out of his office and back into mine. I only had minutes at best to gather up my files, but I also knew that they would go through my briefcase before I left. Popping the USB drive off the necklace I wore, I hurried over to the copier and plugged it in. Every copy that was made was scanned into the system. I just had to put in which scans I wanted uploaded to my drive, and I could slip out of here without anyone knowing. At least, not unless someone went searching through the copying data.
I glanced out the window as I quickly tapped on the touchscreen, transferring the files I needed. I heard the ding of the elevator as I waited for the screen to show that the files had been transferred. Just as the doors opened, the files went through. I quickly removed the USB and popped it back into my necklace, shoving it inside my shirt. It didn’t look like a USB, so even if they stopped and searched me, they wouldn’t suspect anything. I grabbed my mug and my few personal items, shoving them into my briefcase right as the security guards walked through the door.
“Agent Collins, you need to come with us.”
I grabbed my coat off the coat rack and snatched my briefcase, feigning annoyance when the security guards grabbed it out of my hands and started going through it. They turned to my boss, who had entered after them, and showed him the files I had slipped inside.
“Nice try,” he smirked, taking the files from the guards. “Show her out of the building, gentlemen.”
One of the guards grabbed my arm and escorted me to the elevator, pushing me inside. I was pissed as hell, but I just had to make it out of the building and home without anyone suspecting that I still had the files on me. When we reached the lobby, the guards took my badge that granted me access to the building and shoved me out the door. I turned to them angrily, shooting them a nasty look before heading for my car. Once inside, I gripped onto my necklace that held the USB drive with the information I had just lost my job over. My boss thought that he had won tonight, but he shouldn’t have underestimated me. I never backed down once I sunk my teeth into a conspiracy. And that paperwork had conspiracy written all over it. And now, I suspected that my boss was more involved than he let on.
After pulling into my driveway, I quickly killed the engine and raced inside. I wasn’t sure how much time I had, but it couldn’t be much. I ran upstairs and threw together a bag, shoving in clothes and running to my safe for my spare guns and cash. I only had a few thousand in cash, but it would have to do for now. I could make it stretch for a while, but withdrawing cash from my account would be a little more tricky. I didn’t want to lead the FBI to my doorstep, but if I could get to the ATM down the street, I could get an extra two thousand dollars. That would mean the difference of weeks on the run if I played my cards right.
I snatched my laptop and stuffed it into its case, then pushed that into my bag. I would have to travel light, leaving all of my personal effects behind. Except for my mother’s jewelry. There was no way I was leaving that behind. I quickly pulled her wedding ring and her favorite earrings from my jewelry box and put them into a jewelry bag. I left my phone on the dresser and pulled a burner phone from the top drawer.
Headlights flew down the street signaling that it was time for me to go. I glanced out the window to see three sets of headlights barreling toward the end of the cul-de-sac. Racing down the stairs, I ran out the back, making sure I stuck to the shadows as I ran toward the street behind me. After living here for five years, I knew where all the cameras were and easily moved away from them, making sure not to leave any trace of where I was going.
Twenty minutes later, I was opening my storage unit that was listed under an old friend’s name. I kept supplies here and a car that was registered to him, just in case. I grew up in a paranoid household and going into the FBI for work only made my paranoia grow.
I loaded up my car with my small armory and tossed my bag inside. When I was sure that I hadn’t been followed and no one was watching me, I pulled out of the unit and took off down the road, heading out of town.
Chapter Four
Parker
I have a job for you.
I stared down at the text for the second time tonight. I had been receiving little messages like this from an unknown number for a few days now. I knew who they were from. He had already called me several times, asking to meet with me, but I wasn’t interested. I’d already dealt with him once before and I wasn’t going back to that lifestyle. It just wasn’t for me anymore.
“Hey, you have five minutes, man.”
“Thanks,” I nodded, jumping up and down to get my blood flowing. I had been coming to this underground fighting ring for the last six months, earning whatever money I could. I tried getting a normal job, but I hated it. Not that I could get a good paying one anyway. I had so much anger flowing through me that I needed to unleash it. But with a dishonorable discharge, I was limited in how I could do that. One wrong move and I was up shit’s creek.
I walked out of my dressing room and down the hall to the arena. I felt my blood really start pumping as the announcer called my name. The crowd was loud tonight, just the way I liked it. It drowned out all the shit in my head, leaving me with a peaceful feeling that I only got when I was in the ring. I had become a favorite over the past few months, winning every single time I fought. But I had a trick, one that many of the other fighters would never have. I didn’t care what fucking happened in that ring. I was there to release energy and take out my opponent. I didn’t care about the money or the status. I didn’t care if it got me recognized by some big boxing scout. All I cared about was losing myself in the chaos of the ring.
Some said I was reckless. Others said I was merciless. The truth was, I just went in there to kick ass. I always bet on myself, as much as they would let me anyway, and I never gave a shit about what any of the other boxers said about me. Trash talk just rolled off my back.
The lights were bright as I stepped into the ring. The referee went over the rules and had us bump fists. I barely felt his gloves touch mine before I moved into my corner. The other boxers had a coach. I had no one. I didn’t need anyone, and I never would. The bell rang and I charged forward. Chaos took over and my mind finally went to a more peaceful place.
“You looked good out there. Ruthless,” he said from the doorway of my dressing room. I was unwrapping my hands and cooling down from the fight. Usually, everyone knew to stay away from me after a fight. I got the impression that Knight never did what anyone expected. I ignored him as he walked into the room and shut the doo
r behind him, taking a seat as he waited for me to say something. He’d be waiting a long fucking time.
“I have a job for you.”
“So you’ve said.”
“I don’t like to be kept waiting.”
“If you were thinking that I was going to run to you for the job, you’re mistaken.”
He leaned back in his seat, his face a mask of indifference. “I need you to dig into a senator.”
I snorted, pulling my shirt over my head and tugging it down. “I’m not in the research business.”
“You’ll have to break into his house. He has a safe that you’ll need to crack. It shouldn’t be too difficult. Security isn’t tight. You should be able to get in and out in under fifteen minutes.”
“I said I’m not doing it.”
“You’ll also need to grab his planner, take as many photos as you can. You shouldn’t have any problems that I can see.”
“Are you deaf or are you just intentionally ignoring me?”
“The job pays five grand. If you do everything I need, there’s another job waiting for you.”
I sighed and grabbed my bag off the ground, pulling out a sweatshirt. “Look, for whatever reason, you seem to think that I’m in desperate need of a job, one that only you can provide. Did I look like I needed a job when I was fighting in the ring? I made twenty-five grand tonight.”
“Minus the ring fees and association fees. That leaves you with just under fifteen grand. And you can’t fight for another month while you let your body rest. It’s not a bad living. I could triple that.”
Parker: A Reed Security Romance Page 3