Cold Truth

by Susan Sleeman

  “You never intended to help me. You just wanted to get me here to question me and help you with your assignment.” She shot to her feet. “I’m leaving. Do whatever you need to do to get that gate open. Now!”

  Coop didn’t move, didn’t flinch or alter his focus in anyway. He felt bad about duping her, but he wouldn’t apologize for doing his job. “Only a guilty person would run.”

  She crossed her arms. “You’re wrong. A person who’d been tricked into coming here would run, too.”

  “Hey, hey.” Gage stood and held up his hands. “Let’s take a breath here and cool off.”

  He eyed Coop, who honestly didn’t know why his boss was giving him the evil eye when he’d act the same way if he were in Coop’s shoes. Gage was in charge and free to intercede, but Coop didn’t like it.

  Gage smiled at Kiera, a practiced smile that Coop had seen Gage use often enough to pacify clients. “Let’s sit back down and talk.”

  “You mean sit down so you can grill me some more,” she said, her chest rising and falling. “No thanks.”

  “If I promise not to ask any questions about your brother, will you sit?”

  She seemed to think it over before sitting on the edge of the chair, looking ready for flight at any moment. Coop hadn’t said he wouldn’t ask questions, and despite Gage’s promise, if Coop felt questions needed answering, he’d do the asking.

  Gage took a seat and gestured at Coop to take the chair next to Kiera. Coop would rather stay put, but Gage wanted him to sit, so he complied. His leg bumped Kiera’s knee. She shot him a look like he’d mortally wounded her instead of a simple touch.

  “Okay,” Gage said. “Let me lay our cards on the table. Oceanic Labs has contracted with us to locate the toxin and bring in the thief.”

  She looked away from Coop, and he had to admit he was starting to feel uncomfortable under her stare and was glad she’d done so.

  “Isn’t that a job for the police?” she asked.

  “Oceanic doesn’t want the police involved.”

  Her eyebrow shot up. “But a deadly toxin is missing. How can they not be involved?”

  “They don’t want word to get out and scare the local residents.”

  “And you’re okay with that decision?”

  “I am at the moment.”

  She shook her head. “Oh, I see. Money is more important to you than finding a toxin that could be weaponized.”

  “It’s not like that at all.” Coop put force behind his words because he resented her implication. “The local sheriff’s department is top notch. In fact, we often work with the sheriff, but he doesn’t have the resources or experience we possess, and we are better suited for this recovery. Besides, if we hadn’t taken the contract, Oceanic would have hired a less qualified firm. We will find this toxin, and we will find your brother. No doubt about that.”

  Her eyes widened. “And you expect me to believe that?”

  He held her gaze and tried to convey his sincerity, though he doubted with his he-man tactics that she’d bought it. “I do.”

  She didn’t respond, just stared at him.

  “I’d like you to consider working with us on this investigation,” Gage said.

  She fired an angry look his way. “So you can find my brother to have him arrested for something he didn’t do? No thanks.”

  “First,” Gage said. “If he’s innocent, and the phone call you claim to have received is true, he could be in extreme danger.”

  She crossed her arms. “I did receive the call. You’re just choosing not to believe me.”

  “We want to believe you,” Coop said, and he meant it, which surprised him. “But we’re show-me-the-facts kind of guys. You have no proof of the call, and we do have proof that your brother was the last person to access the toxin and computer files. Can you try to see it from our point of view?”

  “I can, but I also know you’re wrong.”

  “Then work with us. If Kevin is innocent, we’ll prove that and find the guilty party.” Coop was shocked the plea came out of his mouth. He didn’t have time to work with an emotional female, especially one who seemed to get under his skin. He had an urgent job to do.

  She bit her lip—a very full and kissable lower lip—his reaction the exact reason working with her was a bad idea. A very bad idea. She peered into the distance, her expression pensive. She was coming around to their side and no additional convincing was necessary. He’d simply wait her out. Maybe enjoy watching her while he was at it.

  “I don’t know,” she finally said.

  “Why not stay here tonight and think about it,” Gage suggested before Coop could respond. “You can stay in one of the cabins we use for people who come for our training.”

  “I don’t know if I can trust you, but you said you worked with the local sheriff, so I’d like to call him for validation.”

  “Sure thing,” Gage grabbed a notepad and jotted down a phone number. “This is the sheriff’s cell number. Give him a call.”

  Kiera dialed the number. She gave her name. “I’m at Blackwell Tactical and I’m thinking of working with them. I hoped you could give me a reference.”

  She listened intently, and he had to wonder what Blake was saying. Not that Blake would give them a negative reference, but all the same, Coop didn’t like not knowing what was going on. She continued to listen, her wary expression relaxing.

  “Thank you,” she finally said. “I appreciate your time.”

  She disconnected and looked at Gage. “I trust you’re who you say you are now, and I’ll consider your proposal.”

  “That’s good,” Gage said. “But trust goes both ways. We don’t know you, and I can’t risk having you wandering around the compound. Means Coop will have to spend the night on your couch.”

  “No!” Her gaze shot between Coop and Gage. “Absolutely not. If I stay, I stay alone.”

  Her vehemence stung. Coop shouldn’t take it personally. Had never taken something like this personally in the past, but she got to him in a way he couldn’t explain.

  “I get that you don’t want me close by.” He nearly had to force the words out between a clenched jaw. “But if you receive another cryptic call, wouldn’t it be good to have me there so I can listen in? That way you can prove you’re telling the truth.”

  She lifted her chin. “I shouldn’t have to prove it. To either of you. To anyone for that matter. But…” She sighed. “But if that’s the only way you’ll believe me and help find Kevin for the right reason, then I have no choice. Is there a separate bedroom in this cabin?”

  “I told you at Oceanic that I’m not a perv.” Coop gritted his teeth. He was getting mad now and wanted say much more, but there was no point.

  “Now who’s avoiding an answer?”

  “There’s a bedroom with a door and everything.” His sarcasm wasn’t necessary, but come on. She was treating him like he had the plague. Maybe he deserved it for not telling her at the lab that they were looking into her brother, but if he had, she wouldn’t have come with him.

  “I’ll agree as long as you know you aren’t allowed behind that door.”

  “Got it.”

  “Good.” Gage stood. “Then it’s settled. We’ll regroup in the morning. Let me grab some supplies, and Coop can show you to the cabin for the night.”

  Gage departed and silence, cloying and tense, settled in the small room. Coop might be able to change that with small talk, but he wasn’t one to waste words. And honestly, he didn’t think as a chemist that Kiera was the small-talk kind of woman. She was probably a facts-and-only-the-facts kind of person. Maybe not when it came to her brother, but that was how Coop would approach things with her until she showed him otherwise.

  She crossed her arms and slunk down in her chair. No matter how much he’d pretended that her attitude about him didn’t faze him, it stung. He was an honorable man and to have her question his character hurt. Thing was, he’d be acting the same way if he were her. He’d duped her, and s
he had every right to distrust him. An apology could help rectify that.

  “I’m sorry I misled you at the lab,” he said sincerely.

  “Misled? Ha! You lied to me.”

  “Actually, I didn’t lie. I never lie. I was very careful with what I said. But, I can see where you would think it was a lie of omission.”

  ‘That’s what God would say.”

  “A woman of faith, I take it.”

  “It’s clear you’re not.”

  “A woman?” He chuckled, hoping to lighten things up.

  She glared at him.

  “Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I’m actually a believer.” Right, faith. He wasn’t much living it now. He and God were on a break. Okay fine, God didn’t take breaks. It was one-sided, but she didn’t need to know that or anything personal about him. He was here to do a job and that was it.

  She swiveled to face him. “Then how could you deceive me like that?”

  “Honestly, it wasn’t hard.” She opened her mouth to speak, and he held up a hand. “Let me finish. A deadly toxin is missing. If weaponized, it could kill millions. You know more than I do how deadly this would be. I’d do just about anything to find that toxin before it gets into the wrong hands. Wouldn’t you?”

  “Yes.” Her anger seemed to evaporate, and her shoulders relaxed. “Yes, I would.”

  He swiveled to face her. “Then do more than spend the night. Stay here. Work with us. Help us find your brother and the toxin before it’s too late.”

  He watched her as she stared straight ahead. Coop was good at reading body language, but he honestly didn’t know what this amazing, infuriating, mind-bendingly gorgeous woman would decide to do.

  3

  Kiera should have known the cabin would be stark and no frills. After all, Gage used it to house G.I. Joe kind of people, but it was even more bare bones than she’d expected. The shell was of thick logs, the floors rough-hewn wood, and the orange scent of cleaning products lingered in the air. A small kitchenette with microwave, sink, and refrigerator filled the back wall. A round pine dining table and four chairs sat nearby. The living area consisted of a dark brown sofa with matching easy chair, a coffee table, and another table with a lamp.

  “Towels and extra blankets are in the closet. First door on the left. Bathroom’s the second door.” Coop set her bag by the bedroom door likely because he wasn’t willing to break his promise not to set foot in the room. “Place isn’t much to look at, but LEOs and soldiers don’t have high expectations.”

  “LEOs?” she asked.

  “Law enforcement officers.”

  “Oh, right.” She forced a smile. “The website said you act as bodyguards, too. Where do those people stay when you’re protecting them?”

  “Our service is more for people who need a bodyguard in their everyday life.” Coop shed his jacket. His shirt stretched across his muscular chest like a second skin, and she had to remind herself not to stare. He picked up a paper bag filled with the items Gage had gathered for her stay.

  “Well, except for Gage’s wife, Hannah,” Coop continued. “A killer came after her earlier this year, and she stayed at the house with Gage. They weren’t married at the time, but they’d dated in the past so there was a personal relationship there.”

  “And where do you live?”

  “A cabin down the road.” He went to the kitchenette and set the bag on the counter.

  “Do you like living here?”

  “It’ll do for now.”

  Here she was trying to make small talk to ease the tension filling the room, but he gave her little information to go on. She wanted to shake him and get him to say something, anything about himself or his life or his job, or even the weather, but he was so closemouthed she wondered if he even opened it to eat or simply slurped his food through a straw.

  So why keep trying? Just stick to the business of finding Kevin. Something she should be doing even if Coop wasn’t the silent type.

  She settled on a stool at the counter. “Why is it so hard for you to believe that Kevin didn’t steal the toxin?”

  His head shot up. “You mean besides the evidence that you’re ignoring? Like the video showing him entering the lab and his print used to unlock the door.”

  “I’m not ignoring it, I—”

  “Don’t want to believe it’s true.”

  “Why would Kevin have to steal the toxin? He knows the formula. He could make it anytime he liked. Why take the actual toxin? Makes no sense.”

  “Maybe he needed a sample for his buyers and didn’t have the time to make it.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “Look.” He planted his hands on the counter. “It’s clear that you aren’t open to considering Kevin took the toxin. So who do you think did?”

  “I don’t know,” she said, nearly wilting under his focus. “One of his coworkers, maybe. Or not. Kevin would have stored the formula on the lab’s servers and they could have gotten it that way. No need to steal it outright when they could do it without raising suspicions.”

  “Actually, they couldn’t.” He relaxed his stare and shoved a hand back in the paper bag. “Kevin’s login was used to delete the files from the server. Oceanic’s IT department is trying to recover the files as we speak.”

  She opened her mouth to respond but he held up a hand. “You know you’re missing the obvious here. How could anyone but Kevin steal the toxin? If only a keycard was needed to access the lab, that would be one thing, but it’s accessed via a print reader. The reader’s log recorded his fingerprint. Assuming his finger is still attached to his hand, it has to be him.”

  She felt the blood drain from her head. “Could the real thief have cut off Kevin’s finger?”

  He set down a loaf of bread, his expression conflicted. “It’s possible, I suppose. The video at the lab door is set at an angle to capture people approaching the door, not on the reader itself. Means the fingerprint reader isn’t on the video, but it’s more likely that Kevin took the toxin.”

  “Or the real thief forced Kevin to go with him to the lab.”

  “No. Not possible. The night guard saw Kevin come and go, and he was alone. Security footage captured his image, and he was the only person to enter the lab that night. It had to be him.”

  Coop was wrong, and she had to prove it. “I need to see the video.”

  “Why? It’s Kevin.”

  “Or it’s someone who looks like him.”

  “His manager ID’d him.”

  She was upset at his refusal even to consider that Kevin might not be the thief and stood to walk off her frustration and think. “Have you seen the video? Have you even seen Kevin personally? How do you know it’s him?”

  Coop shook his head. “We got the call from the lab late in the day, and we’re scheduled to sit down with the facility manager in the morning, at which time he’ll deliver the video to us.”

  “Then you don’t know it was Kevin, since you didn’t even see him on the video. The manager could be wrong. Or lying.”

  “Could be, but it’s unlikely.”

  At least he finally admitted something was possible. She marched up to him. “We need to view the video now. Because I say it’s not Kevin.”

  Coop looked like he was half impressed and half frustrated with her persistence. “Why would the manager lie about the video?”

  “He could be in on the theft.”

  “We vetted him. He has no motive.”

  “And what do you think Kevin’s motive is?” She stepped to the counter and planted her hands as he’d done earlier. “He has no motive either.”

  His gaze squared off with hers. “We don’t know yet.”

  “Exactly!” she cried out, earning a raise of his dark eyebrows. “Because there isn’t one. Maybe the real thief pressured Kevin into taking the toxin.”

  “Pressured how?”

  “He could have threatened to kill me. Or told Kevin he’d abducted me and made Kevin steal the toxin so he’d release me. Ke
vin is like me in that he’d do anything to protect me.”

  “Seems farfetched.”

  “Maybe it is, but I can’t come up with any reason why my brother would steal the toxin. I need to see the video to prove he’s innocent.”

  “I’m not sure that’s possible.” Coop went back to unpacking the food.

  Fine. Don’t help me.

  She seethed inside, but his response was what she expected. She would find a way to see that footage before the night was out—with or without his help. Maybe she should pray, but why? Despite her comment to Coop about her faith, she hadn’t depended on God lately. She’d been doing just fine on her own. Taking charge of her life. Living the life she’d hoped for. She could do this, too.

  Her phone rang from her purse on the table. She spun and bolted for it. Coop was faster and stood holding out her purse with the ringing phone.

  She retrieved it from the outer pocket. “I don’t recognize the number.”

  “Answer and I’ll listen in.”

  Fearing it was the bizarre caller, her fingers trembled so violently she almost dropped her cell before she managed to accept the call.

  “Hello,” she said and Coop leaned close enough to hear.

  “Hello, Kiera,” the computer voice said. “By now you must have figured out that Kevin really is missing.”

  “Yes.”

  “You can be assured I have him, and he is quite alive…for now. Do you want to play a game?”

  “No. I—”

  “Then Kevin dies,” he said, stopping her from adding I want my brother back. “Goodbye.”

  “No wait,” she called out, but the line had gone dead. “No. No. No.”

  She fired a look at Coop. “He hung up. Now what? What do I do? Tell me, please. What do I do?”

  “First, take a long breath.” Coop pried the phone from her fingers.

  She followed his advice, drawing in air and letting it go.

  “Second,” Coop continued. “Realize this guy started this game with you, and he won’t give up easily. He’s trying to show you who’s boss. He’ll call back.”