Double Deception

by Desiree Holt

  “And what do I do with my time?”

  “Tomorrow you can go back to the office,” she told him. “Vega will drive you back and forth and be a quiet shadow while you’re there.”

  “Swell. A babysitter.”

  “A man who is going to protect you from whoever wants to hurt or kill you.”

  Liam swallowed back another retort. “And today?”

  “Today Vega is taking you back to the condo. There is a full workout room on the top floor. Use it to work off your aggression and your anger. It works.” She winked. “Trust me. I know.”

  “And after that? Where will you be?”

  “At the office working on the details of your case and coordinating with Charley Graham’s people to put them together. To see if we can find out who is doing this.” She smiled again. “Please. Just let’s get through today. Tomorrow you can get back to your office. I know you have clients who need to speak to you.”

  “Oh, yeah. Clients.” He made a rude noise. “As if anyone wants to do business with me while this is hanging over my head.”

  “You may be surprised. Oh, here’s Vega. And right behind him, Charley Graham himself.”

  Liam glanced at the curb, saw Vega pull up in the black SUV Sydney had told him the man would be driving. An identical vehicle pulled in right behind it. The man who hopped out with a smooth, athletic grace was at least six feet four, with broad shoulders, thick blond hair and a muscular body encased in khakis and a navy T-shirt. Vega pulled two laptops out of his vehicle and both he and the other man walked over to where Sydney and Liam stood.

  Sydney shook hands with the blond. “Thanks for helping us with this, Charley.”

  He dipped his head. “Noah asks and we oblige.” Then he grinned. “For you, too!”

  “Liam, shake hands with Charley Graham. He and his people are going to find out who’s creating this mess so we can save your bacon. Jim and Charley used to work for the same agency. Then we stole Jim and Arroyo tapped Charley to head their high voltage security and investigative agency.”

  The men smiled and bumped fists.

  “I take it those are for me?” Charley nodded at the laptops.

  “They are.” Jim handed them over.

  Charley looked at Liam. “I swear to you these will be in good hands. We have someone as good as Eric Braun if not better on the plane here as we speak. And my tech expert, Sarah Gaffney, is second to none as someone who can trace the origination of the hack. We’ll get you taken care of.”

  “Sydney vouches for you, and that’s good enough for me.”

  Charley looked at Sydney again. “I hope to have an update for you by tomorrow morning. No one’s sleeping until we get to the source of this.”

  “Thank you, from both of us.”

  In what seemed like seconds, Charley was gone with the laptops, Sydney headed for her car and Liam was in the back SUV with Jim Vega heading back to the condo. Maybe, if he took a nap, when he woke up he’d discover this whole thing had just been a bad dream.

  * * * *

  Eight hoped never to see this damn restaurant ever again. Ever. And wondered how easy it would be to commit murder. Shan, already there and sitting in a back booth, would certainly be a good target on which to practice.

  How the fucking hell did I get into this, anyway?

  “What’s with the command performance? I thought with Liam out of the way things were progressing nicely.”

  Shan simply sat there with narrowed eyes. “We do not have all the files yet. We believe your boss, or Eric Braun, did something to the Hoffman server to deliberately prevent us from downloading more than two files at a time.”

  Eight frowned. “How many are there supposed to be?”

  “It takes at least a dozen with all the schematics for a project like this. And the longer we have to keep going into that server, the easier it will be for someone to detect us.”

  “I thought your people were experts at this.”

  “A smart mouth will not serve you well here,” Shan snapped. “Perhaps if you had been better prepared for your boss to screw up what you’d done with the software, you wouldn’t have to worry about it.”

  Rage sizzled through Eight’s body, even as she grabbed the filled mug the waitress had set down on the table.

  “I was prepared. But he’s never done anything like this before. Ever.”

  Coffee. Yes, coffee. Anything to make my brain function better and my anger get under control.

  “Well, it matters little now. Do you know that Arroyo has put a high-ticket investigative and security agency on this? I looked them up. They have experts on everything, including computers. My sources tell me they have a female expert who is better than everyone at SBD except your boss.” Shan leaned forward. “You know what that means, right?”

  A sick feeling wriggled its way through Eight’s body and up into the throat.

  “They’ll be able to finally trace the source of the hack.”

  Shan nodded and sat back.

  “Even more than that, it means we’re screwed. I have discussed this with my people back in Beijing. Everything is taking way too long for this. We need to scrub it and start from square one.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Eight took another gulp of coffee. “And exactly how do you propose to do that? Liam will never go for that. Especially if he’s got outside help again.”

  “Very simply.” Shan stared across the table at eight. “We’re going to kill Liam Benedict.”

  Eight’s body was suddenly consumed in a wave of ice cold air.

  “K-kill? Did you say kill Liam?”

  Shan nodded. “My people and I have discussed this and see it as the only solution. Once he is out of the way, we will arrange for the proper person to convince Robert Hoffman to start from scratch with his software and that you are the appropriate person to handle it.”

  Eight felt the stabbing pain of a sudden headache.

  “That’s crazy! Why would they even consider me?”

  “You can do anything if the right person is chosen. That’s what we will do.”

  “But…”

  “No buts. This is an order that came down from the top.”

  Eight wondered if they’d fallen down the rabbit hole.

  “But you said you’d figured out a way around this. That you were into the Hoffman system and slowly extracting the schematics files.”

  Shan nodded. “But not fast enough. For whatever reason, the new setup on their server only allows access to one or two files at a time.”

  Eight was suddenly consumed with a sick feeling. What if Liam and his now-dead expert had loaded a ghost program onto the Hoffman server? What if it took a hacker not to the real files but to dummy files? Files that looked enough like the real thing to convince whoever stole them until it was time to make the project actually work. Was that what happened here? If so, Eight was already deader than Liam would be.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  “Are you listening?” Shan tapped a fist on the table. “We have to act right now. Take him out of the picture.”

  “And exactly how do you propose we do that?” Eight asked.

  “We have the solution. Take this and put it in your pocket.” A tiny vial appeared beneath Shan’s palm. When Eight hesitated, Shan hissed, “Now, you fool. Take it.”

  With obvious reluctance Eight palmed the little vial and slipped it into a jeans pocket.

  “Very good.” Shan nodded. “A little of this in his coffee and he’s done.”

  Eight didn’t know whether to scream or throw up. “How the hell am I supposed to do that? Rosalie always brings him his coffee. Or he gets it himself.”

  “Quit being such a whiny idiot. Go to his office, tell him you know all of this will be over soon. They’ll find Eric’s killer. The office will settle back into it’s routine. And, oh, by the way. You were getting a cup of coffee for yourself and thought you would fix one for him, too.”

  Eight didn’t want to mention the fact she never
brought Liam coffee, or that killing someone had not been part of the plan. This trap had snapped shut because gambling had a siren’s lure, which was irresistible. It would not be far-fetched to say the future looked very bleak. And when Liam Benedict died, they would look first at Eight, who brought him the damned cup of coffee.

  Which she pointed out to Shan.

  “Then be inventive. I don’t fucking care. Just remember, it’s your life or his.”

  Sadly, there weren’t a lot of choices here.

  “Fine. And now I have to get out of here.”

  “I want this done quickly,” Shan reiterated. “The moment he is dead, we will be putting part two of the plan into place.”

  “I’m telling you,” Eight objected, “they won’t even consider me to write the replacement software for Hoffman. They’ll want a hotshot like Liam or Eric Braun to do it.”

  “Leave it to us. Go back to work. I have a feeling your boss may not be in the office today, so be prepared to make your move tomorrow.”

  Eight slid out of the booth and walked as casually as possible out to the parking lot. The little vial was burning a hole in the pocket where it rested.

  I wonder, if I ran away, would they find me?

  Probably, and hack me to little pieces.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “How about another cold drink?”

  Sydney stood at the refrigerator, looking at Liam.

  He sighed. “Sure. Why not? If I’m good, can I have a double bourbon?”

  He looked so defeated Sydney wanted to forget about the rule she set down and put her arms around him, kiss him hard then take him into the bedroom and soothe him with her body.

  The pizza she’d ordered for dinner, in an attempt to tease his appetite, was barely touched. He’d picked at his food until she’d finally given up and cleared it away.

  When she arrived at the condo about six from the office, he was sitting in the living room, the big screen television on but muted, Liam staring at the screen but not really seeing anything. Vega told her he’d put himself through a punishing workout in the gym and even slept for a couple of hours. Understandable, since she was sure he’d hardly closed his eyes during his night in jail.

  She had brought home with her a list of questions she and her associate had prepared after going over every note on the case to date. Some of it covered territory they’d already gone over but sometimes on the second or third round, a nugget that had been hiding could be discovered.

  Some of the questions were based on information in the SBD personnel files, others on information dug up by the people at Charley Graham’s shop. She was trying to fill in as many blanks as she could, hoping to identify which of them could be the one she was looking for. It had to be someone from SBD who had done all of this. No one else would have access to the software to monkey with it. And certainly no one else would have been able to grab the dagger from Liam’s desk then return it.

  Now, after two hours of going at it hard and heavy, she could see he really needed a break. It was hard seeing him look so defeated. Liam had gone from a high at the sudden explosion of success for Software By Design and the excitement of becoming part of Arroyo to the frightening threat he could lose it all. She wanted to kill whoever was behind this.

  She hoped Noah would have something to tell her soon. He had texted her to tell her the Graham agents were on their assigned targets and would report in if anything the least out of the ordinary occurred. Maybe they’d get lucky and someone would do something that gave them away. A long shot but it could happen. He had also told her the new forensic data analyst was hard at work, and she wondered how long it would take him to find what Eric had discovered.

  Damn! If only Eric had been able to share that information with someone. Of course, he’d never expected to be killed, either.

  Stop it, Sydney. You’ll drive yourself crazy. Focus. Liam needs you to focus.

  And that’s what she was doing. No one, except probably Liam, wanted this to be over more than she did. She wanted the two of them to be able to get back to their growing relationship. He was the only man who had ever touched her emotionally as well as physically. The only one she could see herself building a life with. And all indications were he felt the same way. That made it even more imperative that she clear his name and get him out of this mess so they could get on with their lives.

  She had just settled herself back at the table when her cell phone rang. She looked at the screen.

  Noah.

  “Cross your fingers, Liam. If Noah’s calling, we may have something here.” She hit Answer. “Got anything?”

  “Maybe the jackpot.” Noah’s usual stoic tone of voice was edged with a trace of excitement.

  “Damn it, don’t keep me in suspense.” She gripped her phone. “Let’s have it.”

  “I’ve got the data about the license plate on the car that was following me.”

  “Yes, yes. Far Eastern Tourism.” She did her best to curb her impatience. “So, what’s happened?”

  “It’s a known fact—or at least a strong supposition—that the Chinese integrate agents into businesses in this county. They open something, staff it and operate behind a dark curtain with the business as a cover.”

  Sydney felt excitement course through her. Would this really be the break they needed? She hardly dared hope.

  “The license plate belongs to just such a business. And guess where we found it again.”

  “Come on, Noah. You’re killing me here.”

  “Okay.” He paused. “I just heard from the Graham agent shadowing Teri LaGrange. He followed her to a restaurant where she hooked up with an Asian woman.”

  “And?”

  “And the car following me was parked in the restaurant lot. It belongs to a so-called Chinese travel and tourism agency here.”

  Sydney wanted to jump up and down and scream. This was it! “We’ve got the connection.”

  “Yes,” Noah agreed. “We do. Our operative got a picture with his camera watch of the woman Teri met, sent it to the office to have it run through facial recognition software and just got his answer back.”

  “And?”

  “Her name is Chow Shan. She is a member of the Chinese Tourism Board and the head of the office here in Tampa. Two things. One, a friend of Charley’s in the CIA let us know they are definitely a cover for covert ops like spying. And two, Liam’s top dog in coding, Teri LaGrange, met with Chow Shan tonight for half an hour. And from the body language, it looked like they’d met several times before.”

  Sydney felt a chill race over her body. “This is going to kill Liam, you know. To find out an employee he trusted has betrayed him like this.”

  “No kidding. One of the things we have to find out is where the hole was in the vetting process.”

  “How long were they together?” She hoped her voice didn’t show the shock she felt.

  “About half an hour. Our shadow says when LaGrange walked out, she looked angry.”

  Sydney glanced over at Liam, who was staring at her with an intent look.

  “Noah, I have to say. Coupled with the other thing we learned today, this doesn’t make me feel very good. Where’s our subject now?”

  “Our agent thinks she’s on her way home. At least, she’s driving in that direction.” He was silent for a moment. “But, Sydney? This doesn’t feel good to me. Not one bit. And you’ve got the unenviable job of telling Liam.”

  She swallowed a sigh. “I understand. I promised him he could go back to the office tomorrow, but I’ll have Vega glued to his side from the moment he leaves here in the morning.”

  “And while he is in his office, too. Taylor and I want him protected every single minute. Who knows what these people will do now that their plan did not go the way they wanted.”

  “Of course. Call if you get any more information tonight.”

  “I will,” Noah agreed. “Right now I’m headed back to Graham’s office. I
called him and he’s meeting his hot techie gal there. We’re going to find out everything we can about Shan, that agency and anything connected with it. I’m calling Taylor as soon as I hang up to give her an update.” He gave a short, humorless laugh. “To say she’ll be unhappy is the understatement of the year.”

  “Check back later, okay?”

  “Will do.”

  She disconnected the call and sat for a moment, gathering her thoughts.

  “I know it’s bad,” Liam said, his voice taut with anxiety, “so you might as well just let me have it.”

  “I don’t really know any other way to tell you than straight out. Teri LaGrange is the one who sabotaged the Hoffman project and killed Eric Braun.”

  Liam just stared at her, every bit of color drained from his face. For a moment, she was afraid he’d pass out. She nodded at Vega who was half watching television in the living room. He looked at Liam, then back at her, worry plain in his eyes.

  “What’s up?”

  She gave him the information, watching the wash of pain on his face as he heard it for the second time.

  “I can’t believe it.” Liam shook his head. “I won’t believe it. It just seems so impossible.”

  “Liam.” Sydney reached over and touched his hand. “You have to believe it. Our operative took pictures.”

  “Damn it, Syd.” He smacked his fist on the table hard enough to make their glasses jump. “She worked with me at Winters and Pryce. She’s been one of my stars at SBD.”

  “And I’m sure the one who fucked up the software program. If it hadn’t been for your secret tricky little alarm, they would have hacked the Hoffman server and gotten the plans for the drone. That would have been a huge national disaster.”

  Liam rubbed his face as if trying to wipe everything away. “Is he sure? This person following her?”

  “It’s a she and yes. She said Teri went home from the office, spent some time there then took off for the restaurant where she hooked up with Shan. And it was very obvious that this was not the first meeting. The question now is how many times they met and why LaGrange is involved with Chinese spies.”