The guy was quicker than he looked. “It was, and thank you for answering.”
“If you don’t mind I have to get back to work here.” He turned his back to them, a clear expression of how affronted he was then he swung back around, “The only people with access to everything are the top dogs, and I haven’t seen any of them out and about at night. Most of them head home about seven or so.”
“Is there any way to check to see whose keys have been used to open certain doors?”
“Yeah, but you have to talk to Ronnie down in the computer room. He’s the nerd that does all that stuff. He won’t be back in until morning.”
Dead end. The frustration crackled in his skin. Blake managed a polite nod and hustled Jenna out the door of the operations room, but his mind was churning along a few other possibilities. “The security guards, how do I find out who they are?”
“Human Resources, but nobody will be in for another five hours. I suggest we get some sleep, I have to work tomorrow and really the last thing I need is for anyone to get wind of the fact that I am running around the company at night asking questions.”
She was right, but not for the reason she had in mind. Just as they headed for the elevator the doors swung open and two other guards strolled out. From ten feet away Blake could smell cigarettes on them, and when he drew closer his eyes widened in recognition. The guard looked at him and his own face showed he knew who Blake was but neither spoke.
Blake’s hand had been resting on Jenna’s upper arm and she jerked when his fingers suddenly locked down on her flesh. Pain lanced through her and a small squeak popped out of her mouth as Blake almost tossed her into the elevator and hit the button for the parking garage. “We parked on the street,” she pointed out.
“I know.” His face was tight and his gut was screaming at him to get Jenna the hell out of there. “How do I get this fucker to stop?”
“You have to use a key.” She produced her own.
“Open the door on the next floor.”
The terseness of his words flummoxed her. “Why?”
“Jenna, do it.”
She did and as soon as the door opened he grabbed her and sprinted out, hitting the button to close the doors as he went. The elevator barely showed a pause, for which he was grateful but still, he headed for the door to the stairs, his mind searching through and discarding plans quickly.
“Blake, have you lost your mind?” Jenna panted as she struggled to keep up with his long legged stride.
“You can’t get into any of the offices, can you?’
“No, the main doors don’t open without a key. You can get into these hallways but that’s all.”
Blake cursed Dunning’s paranoia soundly and silently. “Where are the cameras?”
“Above us.”
“Shit.” He looked up, scanning the distance between the cameras and saw a small spot where there would be a bit of blindness. He ducked into it, pulling Jenna in with him and covering her body with his.
Jenna was beyond puzzled, his behavior was incomprehensible and she was beginning to feel a bit frightened. She asked, “What is it Blake?”
“That guard, he was Kevin’s partner in the shakedowns. We have to get out of here.”
“Then why did we get off the elevator?”
Blake knew that Yancey Jenkins, the guard who had once been a New York City cop, was a wily bastard. He would have already figured out a way to check to see where they had come in, and he would be waiting for them, probably right by the exits.
“We need another way out.”
“There is no other way out.”
Jenna would not have any reason to know about service exits or anything else. Damn, oddly enough his cock had gone stiff despite the circumstances. He could feel it pressing into her pelvis and he buried his face in her hair, breathing in her scent while he blanked out everything else and thought things through. “Can the operations guys get into your floor?”
“I don’t know.”
It didn’t matter. They needed a room with a lock and sturdy door if nothing else. “We’re going to your office.”
“Jenna opened her mouth to protest, for one thing she was not sure which office he was referring to—the one she had always used or her interim office—but he took her by the hand and ran for the express elevators. She had no choice but to follow.
Just as the doors slid open they heard the other elevator slide open and Yancey stepped out. Blake pulled Jenna behind him and breathed a sigh of relief when the car they were in slid upward. “Blake?” Her voice shook and her eyes were filled with tears. Jenna was no fool, she had been raised in a home where crime was king and she knew exactly what the score was. “He’s going to kill us, isn’t he?”
“Not if I can help it.”
“He’s in on it.”
“Yes. That would explain why it was so easy for Kevin to get the video. Yancey probably hung around after his shift to hand it off.”
They made it to her floor and Blake headed for her office. He knew that it was a bad choice for the reason that it was a crime scene but it had a clear view from the door to the hallway and he could lock them in tightly.
“Blake, Tom was killed in there so I doubt there is any protection to be had there.”
“No, he was killed somewhere else and taken into your office. Kevin knew what he was doing when he staged it; that is why there was a large bruise on Pitt’s abdomen, he needed there to be blood in your office and since Pitt was already dead there was none.”
Jenna’s emotions were at full tilt, nothing made sense and every thought flew across her brain like a darting silver fish, moving too quickly for her to really take anything in. They made it to her office and crossed quickly through the darkened outer office. The door to her office was unlocked and Jenna frowned.
“What is it?” Blake asked.
“The police left it unlocked.” The door opened under her hands and a dazzle of light hit her eyes. That light kept her from seeing the figure standing nearby until it was too late. The gun hit her in her temple, rocking her head backward and knocking her to the floor.
Everything went black…
* * * *
Jenna’s eyes fluttered open slowly, and an ache started in her temple and then grew more insistent. Her arms ached and her shoulders were stretched behind her, a ginger tug told her she was trapped, tied up with some kind of sticky substance. Tape, probably.
Her face was against the carpet, it was rough below her cheek and her eyes felt gummy and heavy. Her feet were also trapped, she tried to kick her way out of the tape but it was too tight. Blake? Where was Blake? Panic set in, she thrashed about on the floor and a heavy foot came down on her neck.
“Be quiet.” She did not recognize the voice but she was sure it belonged to the guard that Blake had been worried about.
Her eyes rolled to the right, she could see Blake lying limp not far from her. Blood trickled from a cut on his cheek and nose. Terror enveloped her and she fought, kicking and clawing at the tape that held her body while the man above her laughed.
“Shut up.” That voice froze Jenna in place. It couldn’t be! What was Denise doing there? She always left right on time. Her head ached and her mouth, covered by more of the tape, felt pulped and bruised, not to mention incredibly dry. “Untape her mouth.”
“What if she screams?”
Denise leaned close to Jenna, her dark eyes holding a warning. “Scream and I will kill him, nod if you understand.”
Jenna could not believe what was happening. Denise had never been a warm person but neither had she been so …evil, either. She nodded and tears swelled up in her eyes as Yancey yanked the tape away from her mouth in one brutal pull. She did not let those tears fall; she would never have given him the satisfaction.
Denise leaned close. “Give me the number of the file.”
Jenna blinked. “What file?”
Denise hit her, hard. Pain exploded in Jenna’s face, traveling from her ch
eekbone all the way to her jaw. She croaked out, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“The file, dammit! The one that has all of the bank account numbers, what is it?”
“No idea what you mean,” Jenna said thickly.
“You had it! It was right here in your office. I tried every way to get it and when I could not find it I started trying to track it down elsewhere. I figured you had to have given it to Pitt but he didn’t have it either.”
Jenna was beyond confused. “Denise I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“The file I put on your desk a few days ago. Where is it?” Madness gleamed in her eyes.
“You put a lot of files on my desk.” Denise’s foot lashed out and Jenna’s ribs sang out in pain. “Stop being facetious!”
“I’m not!”
“The file that you had right before you went to meet your client.”
Oh, that file, the one that Denise had been so dead set on her dealing with. What had she done with it? She could not recall. Then she did, she had put it in her bag, not her briefcase, and she had left that bag at home the next morning, taking a different one that matched her outfit instead.
Blake lifted his head; she could see him moving around. Was he badly hurt? Would Denise really kill him? “I don’t have that file here, Denise.”
“Where is it?”
Don’t tell her, Jenna’s inner voice warned her, do and she will kill you both. “I left it with someone.”
“What?”
The anger rolled out of Denise’s slight body, Jenna could feel it. “I left it with someone, as insurance.”
“Do you know what I had to put up with to get that file?” Denise’s voice was tight with rage. “They ousted my son, who wasn’t stealing; it was his no-good father who was the thief. Oh they didn’t want to hear that one though, and there was no way his father would stand up for him—he was too busy trying to line his pockets and get the hell out of dodge.”
“Your son? Jason was your son?” It was impossible! Jason Dean Senior had been married….
“Yes, my son!” There was triumph in Denise’s voice. “Jason had his wife go along with adoption and I was glad to do it, that way he would have a better life than I could have given him. I used to sit close to the door of his father’s office just so I could get a glimpse of him and I worked my ass off for that lousy bastard for two decades! This company was his too, and he owes me!”
It all made sense. Denise would have access; she could have gotten the keys from Jason Senior and she certainly had a motive. She would have been able to get her crooked cop nephew and his crony to help her and she had, and all for what?
For the file.
The file that held the bank accounts, but what bank accounts? The only ones that made sense, of course. The embezzled funds would have had to be laundered, and how best to do that than right through the office of the woman who was in charge of overseas transactions.
How much money was it? It had to be in the millions of dollars. Blake made a low sound deep in his throat and she knew she had to buy some time for them, any way she could. “I can take you there.”
“Where?” Yancey asked.
“To the file.” Her throat hurt and she could see, out of the one eye that was not pressed into the floor, Blake moving a bit, not much, but enough to let her know he was awake and trying to figure out a way out of his own tape.
“You will tell us where it is or I will kill your sorry-assed boyfriend,” Yancey said. “He cost me my retirement, did you know that? If the self-righteous bastard had not refused to help out his fellow officers we would all be sitting in clover right now and I would not be working at this lousy company.”
“I’m sure he’s sorry.” Jenna said, trying to defuse the anger she heard in his words. She got a second kick to her ribs from Denise for her efforts.
“We can’t take them out of here taped up,” Yancey said. “The cameras would sure as hell see that.”
“Kevin could get the video again.” Denise said.
“Nah, he just fucked that up. When this asshole went down and asked that sad sack Robertson about that he went chicken and called in the general manager, who called the lawyers. Nothing is leaving that room unless a lawyer brings it out.” Yancey kicked Blake, a sickeningly heavy blow that left a thudding sound behind but Blake did not cry out.
Jenna swallowed tears. She had to be strong, she had to think and hope that Blake knew what she was attempting to do. Maybe if they could just get them to untape them and let them out of the office their chances of escape would be better.
No maybe to it, she told herself. Right now we are sitting ducks.
Blake was having the same thoughts. If he could get out of the tape and on his feet he stood a chance. Yancey was mean, but soft. That was why he was always having someone else do his dirty work and it looked like nothing had changed. His mouth was not taped and so he spoke, tossing that thought out into the air as hurtful words.
“Yancey, I should have known you wouldn’t have the brains to pull this off on your own. Or the balls, good thing you found her, she looks to have enough for the both of you.”
Jenna’s eyes went wide and her fingers twisted frantically as she fought to get out of the tape while Yancey turned to Blake and held out his hand. A gun gleamed in the lights, its black barrel looking incredibly long and dangerous. “I should have killed you back then.”
“You didn’t have the guts then, and you don’t now, either.”
Jenna’s blood ran cold. What was he doing? He was provoking the man and he could wind up dead because of it!
“Put it away, Yancey. We have to have the file, kill him and she will never talk.” Denise sounded amused but Jenna couldn’t relax. Blake actually laughed as Yancey wavered, “Do as you’re told,” Blake goaded, “good boy.”
Her heart clenched like a giant fist as Yancey aimed the gun again. “I said it put it down!” Denise was using a voice that Jenna knew well, it was her no-nonsense, do-not-screw-with-me voice. Yancey put the gun back into his belt. Blake laughed again, leading Jenna to wonder if he were certifiable.
“This is your last chance to tell me where it is.”
“Take me to it.” Jenna knew it was risky but she had to take that chance.
“Get her up,” Denise ordered. “If you do anything at all funny he’s a dead man.”
“Your mistake is in thinking I care,” Jenna said once she was on her feet again.
Denise’s lip curled. “I know you care, and so does he. You cannot fool me. Now, we are going to go get that file, the four of us. I will kill you, do not doubt it. I’d like to just kill you right here and now but that will have to wait.”
Jenna understood then that it was not just the fact that the file was not there that was a problem, she had never signed the papers in it. Denise often slid things across her desk and she had signed them without really reading them. Denise had not just been trying to set her up for murder, someone would have to take the fall for the stealing of the money, and in Denise’s twisted mind she was getting revenge for her son all at the same time.
Denise was wrong, it had been her son—her son!—who had been stealing, not his father. Jenna remembered Jason Dean junior well, he had been a handsome charmer who had the tendency to talk a lot and work little. He always had three or four women on a string, anxious to please him even if it meant giving him the very ideas and work that made his career rise while theirs stayed at a standstill.
He had stolen one of her ideas before, and in a way she had taken some real pleasure in seeing him hung out to dry when his criminal activities were exposed but she had never imagined that it would lead her to this moment.
They went down the hallway together, Blake next to Denise, who was hanging onto his arm and chattering about inane things, Yancey dead behind Jenna. If any of the security guards had chanced to look at the camera it would have appeared as if the men were escorting the women out of the building, being gent
lemen, given that there was a killer about.
Even Blake’s sudden departure from the elevator would have made sense, he had been concerned about something and so they had the guard walk them out. Not that Jenna believed that Denise would need to worry about what the cops or anyone else would think after tonight.
She had been planning this for a long time, and it showed. Yancey got them into the car and Denise sat beside Blake, her gun pointed right into his rib cage. “I will shoot you, even if you are a handsome bastard,” she warned. “But after I do, I will shoot her.”
Blake fumed. The damn woman knew all too well the power of love…love? Had he just thought that? Love? He barely knew Jenna…but it didn’t matter, he loved her. Odd and ill-timed as it was, he loved her.
And he had to save her.
Chapter Five
The ride seemed interminable. Jenna knew she should do something, make a move but she was frozen and frightened. She had blurted out the first thing she could think of when Denise had asked her where they were going but Denise had only smiled her cruel smile and instructed Yancey to head toward Jenna’s apartment.
“You must think I am a real fool,” Denise said in a conversational tone. “I know damn well if you knew there was something up with that file you would have already been in Dunning’s office. You forgot about it.”
“Why did you need me to sign it?” Jenna asked in a desperate attempt to buy time.
“Dear, you already know why. Now be quiet.” Denise said and Jenna fell silent. Every once in a while she could catch a glimpse of Blake’s face in the rearview or side mirrors of the car. He looked grim and her heart sank, were they both going to die? It seemed impossible, and utterly unfair.
She had just met him, and she hadn’t even had time to think about what their wedding would be like, what their children would look like…those thoughts startled her out of her apathy. How could she be thinking such things about a man she barely knew?
Only…she did know him. They may have had different reasons for it but they both had a deep seated need to correct old wrongs, to make things right, to live in as honest a way as possible. He was the man she had often fantasized about, and she wanted to live—if only to see how things turned out between them.
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