All Due Respect

by Vicki Hinze

  He did care for her. She felt it in the warm way he looked at her, heard it in his voice, felt it in his touch. Damn it, she didn’t want to lose him, too.

  You can’t lose what you never had, Julia. Truth omitted is a lie. How can the seeds of anything good grow in a bed of lies? Seth is Seth. Seth is not Karl.

  Faith. One more time, this was all about faith. She’d had faith and told him about Karl. Seth hadn’t run. He hadn’t turned morose, or looked at her with pity. She couldn’t blame him for Karl’s sins, and she couldn’t compare them as if they were the same. They weren’t. Quickly, before she could turn coward, she blurted out, “I think Karl did this.”

  Seth frowned, rubbed at his neck. “Honey, I know the man has earned his black marks, but what would he gain by doing this?”

  Julia’s mouth went dry. What if she was wrong? What if Karl hadn’t done this? Oh, but it felt as if he had. She could almost smell him, among the cinnamon and pickle brine dumped in the kitchen floor. “He still has connections. He used them when he was still in jail to get my new phone numbers. He traced my car through three registrations in three different states and got my address. He found the apartment here and the phone number and the cell phone number, though all of those things were in your name.”

  “And he thinks we’re having an affair,” Seth added. “So you’re telling me that he went into some insane jealous rage and did this?”

  “Seth, don’t make light of this. He’s a skilled professional. You don’t really know what he’s like. Not really. He’s capable of anything.” She willed Seth to believe her, to realize she wasn’t just a terrified woman demonizing a man who had terrorized her. “When Karl broke into my apartment, he knew I’d gone back to work in the Black World.” She held up a hand. “Don’t glare at me, Seth. I never, not once ever, told him I worked there.”

  “Then how did he know it?”

  “I told you, he has connections.” She leaned back against the hallway wall. “All kinds of connections. A cop working the street doesn’t exactly deal with the cream of society, you know?”

  Understanding lit Seth’s eyes. “You think Karl is somehow connected to Benedetto, or to his project mole.”

  “I don’t know what to think, Seth,” she answered honestly. “Karl claimed you were setting me up to take the fall for the security breach. That you’re the project mole working for Benedetto. He knew Benedetto’s name.”

  Seth didn’t say a word, but he’d definitely picked up on her doubt. His mouth flattened to a thin line.

  She stepped closer, hating to hurt him this way, but unable not to do it. She had to know the truth and to put this matter to bed. She had to ask him, straight-out.

  Touching a hand to his chest, she looked up into his eyes. “Acting on faith alone is really hard for me. You know why. But I’m asking you for the truth, Seth.”

  Go on, Julia. Take that leap of faith. He’s a good man. You know he is. You love him. Do it!

  Julia leapt. “Whatever you tell me, I will believe you. But I need to hear you say it. I need for you to tell me Karl lied and that you have nothing to do with any of this.”

  “I didn’t steal the sensor codes.” Seth loosely gripped her arms. “I didn’t attempt the specific sweep on the vault’s computer system. And I’m not Benedetto’s mole.”

  That cost him a lot of pride. His honor being questioned hurt him; she could see that it did, and she hated it. But she had to hear it from him, firsthand. “Neither am I, Seth. I swear it.”

  He looked down at her. His eyes flashed fury and then regret. “I know.”

  “You didn’t know.”

  “I had doubts. You were acting strangely. No one under ten tons of pressure acts calm, Julia. But now that I know about Karl and what stress does to you, I know why you acted strangely.” Seth hugged her. “I won’t doubt you again.”

  “Me, either.” She hugged him back, relieved and so damn grateful she had taken the risk and leapt. “Who do you think is Benedetto’s mole?”

  “Dempsey Morse.”

  She looked up, confused. “But you said he wasn’t a logical candidate. He does have millions invested in Home Base, Seth.”

  In the living room, he closely surveyed the damage. He had been collecting oil paintings all of his adult life. The bastard had slashed through every single one of them. “True, but Dempsey Morse is the only candidate who makes sense.”

  “Sense?” Julia started to pull the trash bin out from under the sink.

  Seth stopped her. “Don’t touch anything, honey. You could destroy evidence.”

  Honey. Soft and endearing. Her heart skipped a little beat every time she heard it. She liked the feeling. Maybe even she could heal. Seth made trying worth it. “Sorry.” She let go of the bin, scanned the living room. “I don’t see Morse doing this damage. We failed to find a motive. So did Matthew.”

  “We weren’t looking in the right direction.”

  “Oh?”

  “Grimm ran a check. The blue truck in the lab’s parking lot the night I got stuck in the transporter is registered to Morse.”

  “He could have lifted my badge,” Julia said. “He came out of his hermit hole for a chat earlier that day.”

  “In your office?”

  She nodded.

  “Bingo. Access to the badge and to the flashlight.”

  Probable, with him having that master key. “But why would he risk a lifetime in Leavenworth for treason and losing the millions he’s got invested in Slicer Industries? And isn’t it a little obvious for him to use his own truck?”

  A broken bottle of ketchup had splattered on the pickled cabinets, the once-white wall. “Sometimes the best place to hide is in plain sight. It has to be Morse. Aside from you and me, he’s the only other person in the inner lab with full-project access. Someone without full access would have considered that and not raised a red flag. Morse had to have copied the sensor codes, which means he has nearly everything.”

  “He couldn’t download anything to a declassified area.” The lab’s computers were on a closed system.

  “Right. But he could copy almost everything if the system was diverted, performing a specific sweep. That’s how Cracker broke the CIA’s system.”

  “Did Morse know that?”

  Seth nodded and stuffed his hands into his jeans pockets. “So Morse has most of Home Base, and Benedetto has the Rogue.”

  Julia aligned things. “All they need is the tracking sequence, and they’ll have everything necessary to develop Home Base. Morse has access to everything else. Designs. Specs. Schematics. Intel.” The only reason Morse didn’t have the tracking sequence was because Seth was still refining it and hadn’t yet approved it being included in the project.

  “Exactly,” Seth agreed. “Marcus doesn’t have full access, which is why Benedetto would recruit Dempsey Morse.”

  Julia slumped against the counter. “Home Base could be obsolete before it’s even developed.” She swerved to look at Seth. “You’ll be ruined.”

  “It’s worse than that, Julia.” Seth let his gaze drift from the mountain of books dumped on the floor to her. “The technology will be worth millions to all hostiles. If Morse and Benedetto black-market it, they’ll make ten times more money on it than Slicer Industries will make on Home Base.”

  “Morse profits from both.”

  “Provided he shields himself from guilt behind someone else.”

  “Like Karl?”

  “Maybe.” Seth grabbed a paper towel and used it to snatch up the phone. “We need to get Matthew in on this. If we’re right, then we’re facing huge challenges.”

  She clasped her hands, resisting an urge to wring them. “Seth, are you thinking Morse or Benedetto recruited Karl, too?”

  “I don’t know, honey. Someone got him out of jail. Morse doesn’t have that kind of political pull, but Benedetto does. And someone told Karl about your working in the Black World. If you didn’t—”

  “I didn’t.”


  “Then maybe he has connected with one of them. Or maybe Karl just found out about your working in the Black World through his own connections, and he went a little crazy about our affair.”

  “Possible.”

  Seth dialed Matthew’s number and then listened to the phone ring. “Julia?”

  She turned toward him. “Mmm?”

  “About that affair.”

  Her pulse pounded in her ears. “Yes?”

  The look in his eyes warmed. “I think we should start it now.”

  Julia’s heart shot up to her throat. Before she could respond, Seth held up a shushing finger. “Matthew, it’s Seth. You need to get over to my house right away—and bring a forensics team.”

  “Bodies?”

  “No. Someone just trashed the place. But we’ve got a few theories to explore.”

  “Ten minutes.”

  The line went dead, and Seth hung up the phone. Julia still stood, just staring at him. He’d shocked her, he supposed. He kind of liked that dazed look in her eyes.

  They stood staring at each other for a solid five minutes. Seth had given her absorption time, but clearly if he didn’t make the first move, they’d still be standing there on the Fourth of July. “Well, do you agree or disagree?”

  Wary, skittish, she frowned at him. “With what?”

  “Our affair.” He stepped closer, let his hands slide over her hips, around to her back. “I think it’s a good idea, Julia.”

  “I . . . don’t.”

  “Why not?” He leaned toward her, pressed kisses to her neck, whispered at her ear. “You know I’m crazy about you.”

  “I know you’re crazy if you think that’s a good reason to have an affair.”

  “It’s not.” He could say aloud now what he hadn’t been able to say out loud for five long years. “But wanting you is. And I’ve wanted you for a long, long time.”

  “Seth.”

  Hearing a protest coming, he nixed it. “Honey, don’t.” He rubbed their noses. “Sometimes you think too much when you should just feel.” He covered her mouth with his and kissed her long and deep, tasting her surprise, her hesitancy, and, finally, her hunger.

  When she let out a little moan and slumped against him, he knew they had won the battle over fears from their pasts. There would be wrinkles from time to time, but they had gotten on the right path.

  “Ahem.” Matthew cleared his throat. “Well, I see I’m interrupting.”

  Julia gasped and tried to pull away. Seth refused to let her go. Circling an arm around her, he kept her anchored her to his side. “Great timing, Matthew.”

  “Yeah.” Grinning, he looked at the kitchen. “You two making up from a little lovers’ quarrel?”

  “Not quite.” Seth managed a smile. Julia, conversely, looked mortified. Her getting comfortable with caring about him was going to take some time. Some time, and a lot of nurturing, and even more trust. “We evidently had a visitor while we were up at the cabin.”

  “Mmm.” Matthew pursed his lips, looked around. “Your visitor’s a little on the sloppy side.”

  He seemed distracted, but he wasn’t; Seth knew the drill. He was systematically scrutinizing, just as Seth had done.

  A sergeant dressed in camouflage gear appeared at the kitchen door. Matthew opened it. “Bring in the team, Sawyer. Check everything.”

  “Yes, sir.” The man turned and waved, and four others dressed as he was, carrying cases of gear, entered the house and then disbursed to different rooms.

  Julia found her voice and began filling Matthew in on their suspicions.

  He listened attentively, and then voted with Seth. “Benedetto and most likely Morse. He has the most to gain, though we haven’t yet found a substantial link.”

  “You will,” Seth predicted.

  “Maybe.” Matthew walked through the den. “One thing I’m certain of is, if those two have joined forces, Benedetto will use this technology against the U.S.”

  “If he builds Home Base, we’re dead in the water,” Seth said. “Whatever we throw at him, he’ll deflect, evade, and use against us.”

  “I understand.” Matthew put a cushion back on the sofa. Tossed a pillow atop it. “But hating any and everything American, anything he can use against us, he will.”

  “All because his father committed suicide.” Julia resisted a sigh. It was difficult to imagine hatred running that deep. Not impossible but difficult, even for her.

  “All because we disarmed his father and he felt forced to commit suicide,” Matthew corrected her. “And because he’s backing himself into a similar corner.”

  Blaming America seemed twisted yet, in a way, natural. And with their code on family—Julia shuddered. “There’s nothing he won’t do.”

  “Nothing.” Matthew’s expression turned from grim to bitter. “A couple of hours ago, I received an Intel update on Two West. We have confirmation. Their arsenal has been rebuilt.”

  “Satellite, or visual?” Seth asked.

  “Both.”

  “Including access to the Rogue?”

  “Everything but a visual confirmation on the Rogue and one hell of a lab. Makes ours look like a training ground for amateurs.”

  Julia took it all in, spun scenarios, and found one that fit. “Benedetto knows you’re coming after him. He doesn’t want to be forced to commit suicide, like his father.”

  “He’s too ambitious to let that happen,” Matthew said. “And too clever. We’ll never pin anything directly on Benedetto.”

  Julia tried but couldn’t follow Matthew’s logic. “I understand all this, but none of it gives us indisputable proof that Dempsey Morse is working with Benedetto.”

  “That’s true,” Matthew said. “But the Morse alliance is a logical deduction.”

  Julia crossed her arms over her chest. “How did you eliminate Marcus, Seth?”

  He stepped around the end of the bar, into the dining room. His mother’s crystal was destroyed. Every fragile glass had been broken. “Marcus lacks a comprehensive understanding of the project. He knows only his specific assignment—explosives. Sensors don’t explode, they gather info. Marcus would have needed verification of the sensor-codes theft, yet not once has he attempted to get it. Morse doesn’t need confirmation. He knows the codes are accurate, so Morse has to work for Benedetto.”

  Julia weighed it out and came to the same conclusion. “But how do we prove it?”

  “Let’s think on that, get some people geared in that direction, and meet at noon tomorrow to discuss it,” Matthew suggested. “Right now, we need to explore the Karl connection. To tell you the truth, I’m not convinced there is a Karl connection.”

  “Maybe he isn’t connected.” Julia shrugged, obviously disagreeing. “But he’s threatened me, Jeff, and Seth, he knew about my work in the Black World, and he called Benedetto by name. Someone got him out of prison two years early. Knowing Karl’s appetite for my blood, I don’t doubt he got himself involved, Matthew. I’m not sure how he got involved, or through whom, but I know Karl is connected.”

  “I don’t doubt your sincerity, but his connection just doesn’t fit the profile.” Matthew leaned back against the stove. “It violates Benedetto’s code. They never involve families.”

  “Karl and I are divorced.”

  “Two West doesn’t acknowledge divorce. To them, you’re still his wife. And they never touch kids. If Benedetto did bring in Karl, and he used you or Jeff, then Karl and Benedetto would lose honor with the loyalists. Benedetto might sacrifice Karl, but he would never risk himself.”

  “Maybe not,” she said. “But maybe Dempsey Morse would. He could have recruited Karl.”

  “Or,” Seth interjected, “maybe Benedetto’s loyalists don’t know Karl is working for Two West and involving Julia and Jeff.” Seth tugged at his right ear.

  Julia saw it and stopped cold. Desperate men commit desperate acts. Benedetto could feel forced onto a ledge. “Could be.”

  “We can’t discount the pos
sibility.” Matthew glanced down at the floor, and his expression turned curious. “Seth, when did you become a lunch-toting BAMA fan?”

  “What?” Seth turned his gaze and saw a lunch box—one he had seen before. The bottom dropped out of his stomach. “It’s not mine.”

  “Sawyer! Get a bomb squad in here,” Matthew shouted. “Now!”

  “No.” Julia pressed her hands over her chest, let out a little whimper. “It’s not a bomb.”

  “How can you know that?” Matthew glared at her. “You can’t know that.”

  “Yes she can.” Seth stared at Matthew. “It’s Jeff’s.”

  Benedetto took the nickel tour of the factory. The people looked content, the work was going well, and production was up. Mr. Branden appeared to be doing a good job, and Anthony told him so.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Any problems?” Anthony stepped outside, preparing to depart, and paused by a trash receptacle. On it was written: “It’s your factory. Keep it clean.”

  “No, sir.” Branden, a lean man with a broad forehead and intelligent eyes, smiled. “Not a one.”

  “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call.” Anthony returned to his limo, where Roger stood waiting.

  Roger shut the door, then walked around and got in, worry in his eyes. “Hyde has kidnapped the boy.”

  “What boy?”

  “The scientist’s student, Jeffrey Camden.”

  Son of a bitch. First the lunatic attacks a woman, and now he kidnaps a child?

  “I recommend you notify the council immediately, sir. This will be public. There’s no way to keep it from them.”

  Anthony stared through the tinted window, feeling his world start to crumble. Hyde, the idiot, had created a catch-22 situation for himself and for Anthony. He needed time to think of a way out. Surely there had to be a way out.

  “Sir,” Roger said. “Should I call a meeting?”

  “No.”

  “No?”