by Jessica Page
“Yeah, well, keep it down. I'd hate to disappoint when I'm forced to retire as a senior chief,” I laughed in return, pulling him in for hug. “Besides, haven't you heard, I'm damaged goods. I'm on “recommended” leave.”
“Yeah, I heard, but after what happened I don't blame you for needing some time. Actually, I'm more surprised this is your first leave,” he offered sympathetically running his thumb and index fingers along his strong chin. “Not that I want to get into a whole thing here, but how are you doing? I'm not going to lie, you look like shit.”
“I'm fine,” I offered weakly watching him crease his brow skeptically, “Seriously, never mind me, how are you doing? How are Sheryl and the kids?” I asked, doing my best to change the subject. With everything going on, the last thing I wanted to do was talk about my reasons for not being at work.
“Everyone is good. Sheryl is well… she's Sheryl and that means she's an argumentatively bossy woman who is currently hooked on spinning classes. The kids are great. You should come by and see them soon, they're getting big and starting school soon. So overall, it's wonderful chaos.” He laughed, his smile causing crinkled lines to appear on dark skin at the corner of his black eyes, “But I know you Kane, you didn't call me to catch-up. Why don't you tell me what you really need? Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't enjoy getting a random call from you to meet up all secret and shit, but my guess is you have other things you want to talk about. So let's get to that.”
“All right,” I offered as he rolled his wrist in a circular motion with his right index finger extended, telling me to get on it. “Have you heard any mumblings or rumors about someone having it in for my brother?”
“Well, your brother is a major power player, so he's bound to have an enemy somewhere, but today all anyone is talking about is how three of Dominique's girls were found dead in some kind of car accident. People are anxious to get your brother's thoughts on it, given how close he and Dominique are.”
“You know about Dominique and my brother?” I asked, a little surprised at how out of the political loop I'd been prior to all this. I mean, I'd heard she was a madam and I assumed she was my brothers' keeper or whatever, but I didn't know anything about how close they'd remained afterwards.
“Of course I do. Everyone does, Dominique, the top escort provider for the suits and figureheads in the entire city. She's successful because she knows the right people, pays the right people and she's the best at discretion, which is why she's been in business for so long. From what I understand, your brother is not only a customer, but a close friend of hers. A few people in our inner circle have used her services from time to time, and it didn't take long for the connection to be made about the three dead women.”
“So people aren't buying the whole 'accident angle that's being reported?” I asked apprehensively. If people were connecting the dots it would only a matter of time until they found Dominique and then started looking for James. In my experience, this meant they will be increasing their efforts to find Kendall, and my worry was that if James was still alive, his time was running out.
“Well…No one who knows that they worked for Dominique is buying that story. Those women were apparently at some important party that night and left in a hurry. It doesn't help that there are conflicting reports about some minor damage to the rear of the vehicle which wouldn't make sense if they lost control and slammed into a tree.”
“Can I ask you do a little digging for me? I really need to find out anything that could have my brother in hot water. Anyone or anything you can dig up would be helpful,” I requested, and saw a perplexed expression settle on his face.
“What's going on, Kane?” he asked, folding his arms over his chest. “I know you well enough to know when you're being purposely cryptic.”
“Listen, I know. I hate to ask you, but right now I don't even know what puzzle pieces to put together to even try and explain what's going on. Can you help?”
“Yeah, of course. I don't really know what you're looking for, but I'll see what I can dig up. How soon do you need this?” he asked, running his hand through his short, black hair.
“Fast… like tonight fast… Say 22h00?” I requested, knowing this wasn't giving him much time to do research. But in our business we've done things on shorter time frames.
“Yeah… sure, I don't know what I'll find, but I'll let you know.”
“Thank you, Jeremy. Text my cell for a meeting spot… And, Jeremy, I hate to even mention this but-”
“Yeah, yeah I know. I'll be discreet,” he said, cutting me off. “This isn't my first rodeo,” he joked, a hint of his thick southern accent seeping through his otherwise usually controlled speech. I nodded and we headed in opposite directions.
To be safe, I made sure to take the long way home, making sure I weaved through any back alleys and side streets I could until I was satisfied that no one was behind me. I had the strange feeling that things were about to get very interesting, very fast.
Kendall
My heart fluttered when I heard the door's key lock beep. Kane was back. He entered the suite's living room and his jaw practically hit the ground, “What the hell are you doing?” he asked, flabbergasted, as he scanned the floor which was covered in fanned out pages from James' folders.
“I got bored and was feeling a little useless, so I decided to make myself useful,” I offered casually, trying very hard to not notice how good he looked in his fitted black t-shirt and jeans. This guy could do no wrong where clothing (or lack thereof) was concerned.
“Okay…” he offered with a show of calm, though his jaw was clenching as he sat down on the couch beside me. “So, other than showing me how much of a mess you can make, please enlighten me on what you've found out?”
He was clearly annoyed and possibly a little skeptical about my abilities, but nonetheless I appreciated that he was giving me the benefit of the doubt, even if he was sort of rude about it. “Okay, this might look like chaos, but I assure you it's organized chaos,” I said confidently, picking up the furthest pile of documents to my left and handing them to him. “See, each pile represents a different series of documents which lists different incriminating and criminal acts like adultery and drugs,” I stated as he examined each sheet of paper. I grabbed another pile, “This pile outlines those with listed charges involving bribery and tax fraud.”
“Okay, so this is a collection of files with criminal acts or at the very least questionable behavior? So what? Who are they for? What's the connection? Why the hell would James be collecting a bunch of documents like this?” he questioned thoughtfully, “This just seems so random.”
“You're right. They appear random, comprising hundreds of different wrongdoings, but I noticed acts like wire fraud, conspiracy, extortion, sexual assault, racketeering, money laundering and bribery have hand-drawn stars drawn on the corner of the page.” I watched as he quickly flipped through the sheets, finding some of the pages that contained stars.
“The other thing I noticed was what looks like hand-written initials on each page, which is what I used to sort the piles. There are multiples of the same initials, and some pages have more than one set of initials. In total I've found twenty different sets of initials.”
He nodded, flipping through a new pile. “Yes, that's right, there are. I see them. Any idea whose initials they are?”
“No,” I answered, exasperated, running my hands through my hair. “I haven't gotten that far yet. Sorry.”
“Sorry?” he said, his beautiful brown eyes fixed on me. “You have nothing to be sorry about. You did great. This was very helpful.”
I felt my cheeks flush under his gaze. “Thanks,” I replied, and noticed noticing that his eyes seemed to suddenly be scanning every inch of me.
He cleared his throat before swiftly re-piling the pages into tidy stacks on the floor, “Listen, you should take a break,” he stated without looking at me. 'Why don't you go take a bath or a shower and I'll order that pizza we talke
d about earlier.”
“Yes, I could use a break. Pizza would be great,” I answered, standing up from the floor. He nodded, as he rose from his crouched position heading towards me. I tried to move past his towering frame but I was sandwiched between the couch and the coffee table, causing us to do that really awkward 'trying to pass each other' thing. Eventually he stepped around me as I quickly gathered my things and headed into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I stood with my back against the closed door, trying to calm my rapid breathing and pounding heartbeat. I wished Kane and I hadn't met before all this madness happened. At least that way I wouldn't be so distracted by him. At least for the love of God I wouldn't have to know how good a kisser he was and how good it felt when he touched me. I walked over to the bathtub and turned the knobs, deciding to make it a cold shower.
Chapter 11
Kane
After I ordered the pizza, I poured myself a glass of whisky courtesy of the room's mini-bar. I wasn't exactly thrilled at paying ten dollars for an ounce of booze, but I needed something to take the edge off because at that moment I found myself pacing the room unable to stay still. I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that Kendall was naked showering in the room next to me. This thought had an arousing effect my body. Given everything going on, I wished sex wasn't on my mind, but let's face it — it was nearly impossible to be around Kendall and not think of it. My mind might still be working though everything with her, and I wasn't sure how I felt, but my libido clearly didn't have those reservations. I liked Kendall and wanting nothing more than to be inside her.
I wished she could be annoying or idiotic because then at least I could find something unsexy about her, but she wasn't. She was far from it; in fact, she was bright, kind and strong. She'd kept up with me every step of the way through all the chaos without complaint. Those were all things that only made her sexier, and I found myself even more attracted to her the more time we spent together.
I heard the bathroom door open and Kendall walked out. Her hair was dripping water onto a tight white tank top. “Fuck,” I hissed under my breath, feeling my cock harden at the sight. I needed to get a grip because this was ridiculous. I just prayed she couldn't tell how my body was reacting around her. She bent over to retrieve a hair tie from her bag and it was all over for me. I had to get the hell out of there immediately.
I slammed the rest of my drink. “I'm going to go wait for the pizza in the lobby. Be right back,” I said abruptly, heading out the door without saying another word. I walked down the hall, my jeans tight from my hardened cock, all the while feeling like a total tool. I was a grown-ass man acting like a fucking teenager with no self-control. Previously I'd been relieved we hadn't slept together the other night, but now I couldn't help but wonder if it wouldn't have been better to get it out of my system. Still, something told me she wouldn't be the type of woman you could ever really get out of your system, especially after getting a taste.
I got to the lobby just in time to grab the pizza. I paid the guy and slowly made my way back up to the room, which had thankfully given me enough time to calm my body down before seeing her. There were so many other, more important things to think about right then, and yet they all shot straight to hell when I saw her smile as I entered the hotel room, “You're my hero! I'm so hungry!” she said, following me to the table where I set the pizza box down.
I laughed watching her devour two slices within minutes, “Wow, you really are hungry.”
“Yeah, I am,” she laughed. “And I bet you are too. I don't think you even ate today.”
I hadn't eaten, but I hadn't really thought about it until now. There were many days while on missions when I'd had to go without a proper meal, “No I guess I haven't.”
“You're probably trained to push past hunger though, right? Like a sort of survival skill? I imagine some of the places you go for missions don't have food readily available,” she commented, her eyebrow arched in anticipation.
For whatever reason, probably curiosity, I was feeling inclined to oblige her prying at the moment. “You think you have me all figured out, don't you?”
“I've already told you what I've figured out. Navy SEALs, where you're clearly involved with computers, given your ninja cyber skills. I think you're probably a high ranked officer because I know you've been doing this since you were eighteen and, well, you seem good at it,” she stated confidently, taking a bite of her pizza slice. I was actually pretty impressed at how much she managed to pick up about me without me saying anything. She was bang on, but I still wasn't going to let her know that.
“You have a vivid imagination, Kendall,” I offered simply, not acknowledging any of what she just said to me.
“Tell me I'm wrong. Look me in the face and tell me I'm way off and I won't bring it up again,” she insisted, her eyes now intensely focused on mine. I found myself tongue-tied by her gaze. For whatever reason, I was unable to spit out the required denial to convince her. I was usually good at convincing people about pretty much anything, but right then I couldn't. This woman has rendered me speechless. “That's what I thought,” she answered with a smug smile on her lips.
My phone buzzed, announcing a text message from Jeremy. Got something, I read, my pulse quickening slightly. I quickly texted him back, 22h00? Still ok? I asked knowing tomorrow would be an instrumental day in this situation. It had been 48 hours, and everything was starting to unravel. The kidnappers would be trying to tie up any lose ends, which included getting rid of James and Kendall. I needed answers. Sounds good. Meet me at The Loft, he texted back.
I glanced at the clock on the bedside table, which told me we still had an hour before I had to meet Jeremy. The Loft was a hotel bar about four blocks from here. It was a good-sized venue with enough clientele that we could blend in for some privacy. It was also close enough that we could easily make a run for it if needed.
“Everything okay?” Kendall questioned, eyeing me curiously.
“Yes, I have to meet a friend nearby at eleven,” I stated, taking a large bite out of my pizza slice.
“Can I come with you?”
“No, I think you should stay here,” I answered, not really wanting to have to worry about her at every turn.
“No please, hear me out. I'll go incognito; I'll wear a hat and a baggy sweater. People will think I'm a guy,” she offered, nodding her head enthusiastically as though this would somehow convince me.
“Give me a break, Kendall; you couldn't look like a guy if you tried.”
“I can be whatever you need me to be, just please don't leave me again. I'll go crazy sitting here worrying about everything. I feel safer when I'm with you,” she stated, her voice edging on the point of desperation. A part of me knew it was a bad idea, but I couldn't handle that look on her face. I reluctantly nodded, cursing myself internally as I did it, watching as relief washed over her. I guess this way I could keep an eye on what she was doing. At least, that's what I told myself.
“Kendall… you have to do everything I say, okay? If I say be quiet, I expect you to be quiet and if I say run, you run. Got it?”
“I know, Kane. Thank you for letting me come with you. How long do we have before we need to leave?” she asked, walking over to her bag and pulling out a flat iron.
“An hour,” I stated, watching her. “You packed that?” I asked, dumbfounded that this was one of the items she'd deemed as essential.
“Of course I did. I need this,” she stated matter-of-fact, as though it was the most ridiculous question. “Oh, you just worry about your own stuff!” She grimaced as I rolled my eyes in disbelief. In fact, I was suddenly aware of how very little I knew about women. I'd never really had to share space with one before for this length of time, and it was odd being in such close quarters.
“I meant to ask you,” she called out, walking into the bathroom, “Did you find anything on James' computer?” I wasn't sure if it was the sleep deprivation or the more um… primal urges that had me so distracted
, but I'd forgotten all about the data I'd collected on his computer. “I was just wondering if you found anything that might explain any of the initials.”
Holy shit, this woman was a genius! I had found files on his computer that contained initials, locations and time stamps, along with some encrypted data. I'd bet money they matched the ones on these papers. I ran over and grabbed her computer and opened the stored folders I'd retrieved from the deleted files on James' computer. I compared the initials on the sheets of paper to the different electronic folders and sure enough, they matched.
“Well?” she asked after several minutes, walking towards me with her freshly straightened hair, “Anything?”
“I think so. See these files here,” I offered, pointing them out to her. “The initials appear to match the ones on the paper sheets. I still don't know who they initials belong to, but we now know that the documents are linked. We now have time and location stamps. Additionally, I also noticed these second sets of initials on the bottom corner of the electronic pages.”
She furrowed her brows as she scrutinized the initials. I watched as the color drained from her face. “I think I know those initials.”
“Really?”
“Even though I didn't know them by their real names until this morning; M.N. is for Moira Nickson, L.M. for Lindsay Martin and C.P. for Casey Peters,” she said, swallowing hard.