Only she’d never told Baxter all of this. She hadn’t gotten a chance once she’d realized she couldn’t go through spying on him, but that she had to be with him.
She opened her eyes. Probably should have spilled the story before they’d slept together. Only it hadn’t been important enough to keep her from having sex with Baxter when he wouldn’t listen to her. Had that been a mistake? Probably. How was she supposed to tell him now? When last night had happened.
Because now, telling him was probably going to hurt him. Her heart skipped a beat. He might not even believe her. He might believe she’d betrayed him on many levels. Like the one that said she was screwing Bob. Like that would ever happen. But what if telling Baxter this secret made him wonder what else she could be hiding from him?
No. She couldn’t let this destroy whatever would be between her and Baxter. She’d cross over that when she got there and fight for Baxter at whatever cost. First, she had to tell him the whole story. Then, she had to confront old Bob.
Did she expect Baxter and her to live happily ever after? There had been no talk of love nor a future, not that she expected any. She still had school to finish and she would finish come hell or high water. This was a case of being unsure what would happen after the sex. Would he even want anything with her whether or not she told him the story about Bob and the offer she’d been given? She’d make him want her. She had wiles. She was savvy. She could make him. Had to make him. She wasn’t about to lose him.
Baxter stirred and moved over, kicking his leg off of her body. He started and glanced over at her. “Mmmm.”
She smiled at him. She could get used to this face in the morning. Get used to this smile. A scary thought but a fun one too. “Good morning. You okay?”
“Yeah. Just…making sure it wasn’t a dream.” He scratched leisurely at the hair on his chest. He moved again and something hard bumped up against her leg. Did he have an erection? She didn’t want to be rude and check. “Thank God. It wasn’t a dream.”
Him too. She closed her eyes again before reopening them to stare into his. He had such beautiful eyes. They were the windows to his soul. He had a nice soul. How could she have ever thought he would steal?
He leaned over and kissed her. A gentle peck. His hand caressed her cheek. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.” She probably had morning breath that was enough to gunk up the windows. She’d have to find some toothpaste. Maybe after that, there would be a round two? Her body tingled. That would be a fun rousing way to start off her morning.
Focus. You wanted to talk, remember?
Oh yeah.
He rolled over and got to his feet. He stretched, making her body go weak at the knees. She wanted to explore him. Things had happened so fast last night—the three times they’d had sex—she hadn’t gotten a chance to do much nosing around his body and it wasn’t her nose she wanted to touch him. She’d never had full reign of a man’s body before. He would let her. A smile raced across her lips. He would let her do anything to him.
He stepped away from the bed, not bothering to get dressed. He took two steps, presumably toward the bathroom and said, “Ow.” He grabbed at his foot and looked down at the floor.
She sat up in the bed, not bothering to pull up the sheet. She didn’t care if he saw her naked. He had seen all of her already. Nice to feel that way about someone for once and not be uncomfortable. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Just stepped on something.” He reached down by the clothes on the floor and picked up an object. Actually they were her clothes. He was near where she’d dropped them last night. “Huh.” He looked down and picked up something else.
“You alright?”
He turned back toward the bed. His face wasn’t jovial any more. In fact it was downright serious. He held something in his hand along with a slip of paper.
A flash drive.
Her flash drive.
And a slip of paper. Containing the name of the file that Bob had wanted her to locate and download.
It must have fallen out of her pocket when she’d stripped. Figured. That was her luck after all.
She sat up straighter, back going ramrod stiff. This wasn’t good.
“What’s this?” His voice would have frozen the tundra. It sent chills down her spine that she couldn’t control.
“I…” She bit her lip. “It’s a flash drive.”
He held out the paper. “’highball?’ Why do you have a flash drive and a paper with the word ‘highball’ on it?” His voice was dangerously low.
“I can explain.” Her voice went into a higher pitch, which didn’t help her case one bit. In fact, it probably hurt it. How was she going to explain this? She’d put talking to him off and now it was about to bite her.
“Please do.” His eyes looked stormy and he tensed up. He looked like he wanted to kill someone. Probably her.
How on earth was she going to explain this without looking guilty as sin? She couldn’t get words past her rapidly swelling throat.
“I’m waiting.”
She pulled up the blanket. She felt too naked now in front of him. Funny how some things could change in the blink of an eye. “Look. Um. Remember when I. When we were about to. I wanted to tell you something. You told me not to.”
He nodded. Didn’t say anything. Just stood there with an accusing look on his stony face. He reminded her of a gargoyle right now.
“I wanted to tell you…” She couldn’t look at him any longer. Not and get through this. She’d been all ready to betray him up until the time came. A fact she felt most guilty about and would have trouble confessing.
He didn’t let her get started again. “Wanted to tell me what? How you were about to steal secrets from me? ‘highball’ is the newest program I’ve been working on. I don’t believe in coincidences.”
“I wasn’t stealing from you.” Of all the things he could have said, that wasn’t the one she was expecting.
“Oh?” He shook his hand and the flash drive at her. “Then, this just happened to be in your pocket with the name of the most sensitive file I have?”
“I wasn’t stealing from you…wait a minute. ‘highball’ is a file of code you’ve been working on?” That had escaped her notice a few sentences ago. She’d been too focused on what he was accusing her of. “No.”
“Come off it. Like you didn’t know what it was.” His lips pursed. “You were all prepared to download the thing.”
“I was told…that that file was evidence you were stealing from Cybernetics.” If “highball” weren’t a file of evidence, if it were a file with sensitive information…that led to a lot of dastardly thoughts, the first one being, she’d been had. “Oh no.”
“Bull. You were stealing. How long have you been stealing from Cybernetics?” His eyes looked as wounded as a dog with a foot in a trap. “How many saps have you taken for this ride besides me?”
“I wasn’t stealing. I told you that.” She sat up straighter. “I was supposed to be collecting evidence. On you.” There’d never been any evidence. Never been Baxter stealing secrets. There had probably never been a cozy promotion for her either. Bob hadn’t just gotten her, he’d gotten her good.
“Against me.” His laugh turned bitter. “No wonder you’ve been spending so much time with me.”
“No. I mean…it started out like that. I was going to—collect evidence and turn it in but then—I spent time with you and I liked it. I liked it a lot. I like you a lot.” It sounded lame and like a movie of the week to even to her ears. No way was he going to buy into this.
“Cut the crap. You don’t have to suck up to me anymore. It’s over. You can come clean.”
“I’m not sucking up.” She was desperate for him to listen to her but it looked as though he’d already made up his mind. She was a dirty little liar and nothing was going to convince him otherwise. She’d known she wasn’t good enough for him and this just proved it. Tears pricked her eyelids. “I do like you. That’s why—I s
lept with you. I wanted to tell you this last night. Before we had sex. You wouldn’t let me talk. Remember?”
Though he seemed to consider it, he still looked like he’d been punched in the gut. In a way, he had. “You’re stealing from me. God. How many…” He rubbed his head with his hands. “How could I—stupid.”
How could he think this of her? How could he believe that she’d do this? Because she’d lied to him from the beginning. “Bob.”
He lifted his hands from his head. “What?”
“Bob. He’s the one who had me doing this. He told me to get evidence on you.” Would he believe her about this part? “He said I’d get a promotion if I collected evidence that you were the thief. He said he had proof.” She waited, hands twisting in the blanket for his reaction to that. “He’s the one who told me to get ‘highball,’ though he said it was evidence against you.”
Only a knock came at the door before he could respond. A persistent knock that sounded four times before stopping.
Baxter turned to look at the door but didn’t answer it. He glared at it and then turned back at her. She didn’t like being on the receiving end of that look.
The knock grew louder, greater in number, closer to together and a couple of “Baxter”s were added.
“What?” Baxter snapped the words without opening the door. He stood, hands clenched, body tense.
“I know…well, I know you have company. But I think we need to go check things out at the office. Remember you told me to get you up. This early.” Joel’s voice was sing-song with differing inflections on each word.
Baxter stroked his chin. “I know I did. I just thought…I didn’t expect you to come…after…”
After last night. They’d arranged whatever they were going to do last night.
“We need to check things at the office.” Joel coughed a couple of times. “Before anyone else comes in. Cough cough.”
“Yeah. I know. I’ll get dressed. Give me a minute.” Baxter turned toward her. “I’ve got to go to work and do something with Joel.” He wouldn’t meet her gaze. “I’ll sort all of this out later. When I can think.”
“You don’t believe me.”
“I don’t know what to believe.” Baxter ran a hand through his spiky hair. “I truly don’t. I can’t think right now and have to go in.” He pointed. “You stay here. Don’t move.” His hand clutched the flash drive. “I’m going to hang onto this. We’ll talk when I get back.” His voice rose as she moved. “Don’t go anywhere. I will get to the bottom of this.”
He moved into the bathroom to get dressed and left without a word to her.
She waited a few seconds and then quickly put on her clothes. She wasn’t staying there like Baxter had told her.
No, she had a weasel to confront.
Chapter Eight
Baxter slumped in his chair. He couldn’t concentrate on the data in front of him. He pinched his nostrils together. A low droning sound got his attention.
Joel talking.
He focused on the words. “…Earth to Baxter. Come in Baxter. We’ve located the device. What can you tell us? Earth to Baxter. Red Unit one to wingman.”
Baxter turned in his seat and glared at Joel.
“Finally.” Joel shook his head. “Thought I’d lost you. You’ve been awfully quiet for a man…well, who spent a good night.” Joel winked but when Baxter said nothing, he sobered. “You’ve been serious for a man in your shoes. What’s up?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” He didn’t want to talk about how he’d been betrayed by someone he wouldn’t have expected it from. Didn’t want to talk about how Anna Marie had only slept with him…he couldn’t even think it. She’d denied it and said she’d come to genuinely like him. But how could he believe her after all the lies?
Joel’s frown deepened. “What happened? After last night, I thought I’d be scraping you off the ceiling from flying so high.”
“Me too, man. Me too.” He didn’t know what to believe any more. Logic said she’d had the flash drive and the file name, she’d lied to him when she’d sought him out, that she couldn’t be trusted.
Bob?
Bob had orchestrated this? He couldn’t get himself out of a paper bag without help. Or at least that’s what Baxter had thought about him.
“The keylogger had been taken off Rodney’s computer.” Joel sat down in the chair next to him with a laptop in hand. “I’m watching the video in speed mode but it’s going to take a while as it’s over twelve hours of footage. Any results from your honey-pot?”
Baxter had set it up last night before he’d left to come home. It had looked chock full of information that a hacker would want but it would take forever to download…or in actuality never download. It also would track back to the computer that had hacked it. “Give me a sec.” He punched a few keys on the keyboard. If only he could punch something more substantial.
Joel sat quietly for a minute. “So you’re not going to tell me what happened between you and Anna Marie? Sam said they had a conversation in the kitchen. She says Anna Marie likes you. A lot.”
Baxter said, “Hmmph.” That wasn’t likely. Unless she’d been trying to suck up to Sam, too.
“What’s that supposed to be mean?”
“Let’s just say I think I’m more into her than she is into me.” For reasons he couldn’t even think about. How could she ever have done this?
“Sam didn’t think so. And she’s a pretty good judge. She said Anna Marie had fallen for you, she just hadn’t realized it fully yet.”
Anna Marie’s words ran across his brain. That was what she’d told him. Only question was, he wasn’t sure whether to believe it. Sam saw it but Sam could be wrong. “Did you see that, too?”
“I…well, I’m not as astute as Sam is about people.” Joel leaned back in the chair and it squeaked. “But she did seem to enjoy our little get together. When we went to bed, she didn’t seem to want to leave.”
Baxter sighed. He still wasn’t sure what to believe or what he should do. If only people were as easy as computers… “Eureka.”
“You found something.” Another squeak sounded as Joel moved in his chair. “What did you find?”
Baxter hooted. “I found the source of the hacker. I’m GPSing the IP address right now. It won’t give me an exact address as I’m sure you remember with Sam.”
“Yeah. I remember.” Sam had been kidnapped by a fan of Joel’s and the kidnapper had faked some notes. It had taken Baxter’s help to sort that all out. Fitting that Joel was now going to help Baxter. The video would probably tell them more than the honey-pot.
“The IP is coming up Anandale:” He clicked on a few keys. “Six employees from here live in Anandale.”
“That’s a lot of employees to go checking on.”
“Yeah. Yeah it is.” He clicked on the keys in frustration. The brighter news was that Anna Marie didn’t live in Anandale. So it hadn’t been her trying to hack into his computer. That was something at least.
Joel blew out a long whistle. “I bet I can tell you who one of those employees is who lives in Anandale.”
Baxter immediately turned toward Joel. “You got something? It recorded the person who came to get the keylogger.”
Joel nodded with a huge grin. “Uh huh.” He turned the laptop toward Baxter and showed him the screen. “It’s blurry at first. You can’t tell who it is.” A shadowy person moved across the screen toward Rodney’s desk and pulled off the keylogger.
Baxter’s heart sunk. That wasn’t good. He couldn’t tell who it was. He needed an identity to catch this creep.
“You can’t see much until nine twenty-one in the tape. Then our mystery date gives a full view to the camera. Of his face.”
Sure enough at that precise moment, the figure looked up and the light was enough to see exactly who had come to get the keylogger.
Bob.
“Shit.” Baxter’s mind starting reeling.
“What? He doesn’t live in Ana
ndale?” Joel reached down to press a button and stop the video.
“No. No, he does.” Baxter turned back to the screen to check out the address again. “He’s in Anandale.”
“Then why ‘shit’?”
“Because I think Bob set up Anna Marie to throw suspicion on me. He promised her a promotion for a special assignment in spying on me. But…”
“She couldn’t go through with it?” Joel looked serious, yet sympathetic.
“Right. She told me Bob did it but I didn’t believe her until now. If he’s stealing secrets, that’s bad. He’ll be desperate, especially since he hasn’t gotten mine yet.” Baxter tapped on the keys. “That will make him dangerous.”
Joel’s phone rang. “Hey Sam. Yeah, we’re at the office.”
Baxter snapped his fingers. “Tell her to tell Anna Marie I believe her. She has to stay away from Bob.” She’d been doing what she had to do to get a promotion. He could see how that would attract her to the assignment. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with that. But at least, she hadn’t planned to go through with it. They could sort this out. But right now, she had to stay away from a dangerous man.
“Uh Bax. Anna Marie isn’t there. Sam searched the whole place already.”
Baxter’s head came up. “Oh. That’s not good.”
Joel nodded in agreement. “Sam, we’re going to Anandale. I’ll call you back later.”
Both of them got up and sprinted to the door.
* * * *
Anna Marie didn’t stop when she got to Bob’s receptionist’s desk. Not that she was there that early. No one was. Except Baxter and Joel somewhere else in the building. She’d been careful to avoid those two when she’d arrived. The person she wanted to see was in early too.
Bob was at his desk. He glanced up “Anna Marie? Have you gotten the evidence? Gotten ‘highball’?”
“You used me.”
“What?”
“You used me to get to Baxter. I don’t understand why. But it’s not Baxter stealing secrets. I don’t know your game…unless you’re the one stealing secrets.” Which he was. That much Anna Marie knew, though she couldn’t prove anything.
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