Till Death: Deep Six Security Series Book 1

by Becky McGraw

  Scrambling back to his feet, anger blinding him, he met Susan’s obstinate and victorious blue gaze. He pointed at her, and shouted, “You’re fired!”

  “For what?” Susan asked, slamming the box of pops down on the counter. Her eyes narrowed as she stepped toward him, and Dave took a step back.

  “Assaulting your boss!” he shouted, notching his chin up.

  She folded her arms over her chest and snorted. “I did not assault you, I was merely recovering my stolen property. You restrained my arm when I tried to recover it, so I guess you assaulted me!”

  She could have a point there he admitted reluctantly. But she’d given Dave a lot of provocation to do what he’d done too. Susan Whitmore was disrupting his office. Well, maybe not his office, but she sure as hell was disrupting him. Dave couldn’t fucking think straight with her walking around sucking on those damned popsicles.

  But he also had to grudgingly admit that she was doing a decent job as his secretary. No matter how she got it done, his filing was now caught up. She deserved an award of some kind for completing that monumental task, or at least a little slack. He guessed it wasn’t really her fault he was getting turned on by her sucking on the frozen pops. That was all the fault of his own dirty, sexually frustrated mind. Dave’s jaw worked for a second as he ground his teeth, before saying, “You’re not fired, but I don’t want you eating those in this office.”

  “Why not?” she persisted, following Dave as he strode out of the kitchen. “You insisted I had to quit smoking, well I’m quitting! Those popsicles help me with the cravings.”

  And they created other, much stronger cravings for him. Like the urge to shove her against the counter in the kitchen and taste her smart orange-flavored mouth.

  Dave stopped at the door to his office, rested his head against the cool wood and gripped the door knob as he tried to gather his patience. “Susan, they’re messy. You left a drip trail from the refrigerator to the threshold of the kitchen door. Didn’t you see that?”

  “No, of course I didn’t see it or I’d have cleaned it up. I’ll go do that now.”

  Susan sounded genuinely contrite and a little hurt, and Dave felt bad because he knew she’d been working her ass off today. He also knew he was being a hard ass to cover up for what was really bothering him.

  “Don’t worry about it. The cleaning crew comes in tonight,” Dave mumbled in defeat as he twisted the door knob. “Just find something else that’s less messy to stave off the cravings.”

  Like sucking my dick. You can suck on my dick all you want until the cravings pass.

  An image of her on her knees doing just that flashed through his mind, and Dave fumbled to open the door. “Hold my calls,” he said in a choked voice, as he quickly moved inside and shut the door. Because I’m going to take my second shower of the day. A cold one.

  Leaning back against the closed door, he shut his eyes and quickly realized he hadn’t done himself any favors, none at all, by burying his nose in cases for the last two years to avoid thinking about Sarah. Dave had become the workaholic his former girlfriend accused him of being, before she walked out of his house. Doing that had only made him the desperate man he was right at that moment. Horny, sex-starved…depraved.

  That was the only reason he was having the strong reaction he was having to Susan Whitmore. That had to be it, because he didn’t even really like the woman. She was abrasive, aggressive, definitely not soft or feminine. But right then in a moment of clarity, the problem hit him right between the eyes. The reason he was having such an extreme sexual reaction to a woman he didn’t even particularly like was because she reminded him of Sarah. An extreme version of his ex-girlfriend, but they had a lot in common.

  Highly intelligent, Sarah was a tall, blonde, former barrel-racing tomboy from Texas. She was loud, snarky, and naturally beautiful without realizing it. She didn’t give a shit what anyone thought of her, and Dave had loved that about her. Almost as much as he loved her irreverent sense of humor. Her out-of-the-blue, off-the-cuff comments which often had his friends grinding their teeth, left Dave laughing for days. Some of his friends thought she was a bitch, but Dave thought her sense of humor was priceless.

  He had to give her credit. The ultimate demise of their relationship rested solely on his shoulders. He just wasn’t cut out to love a woman, he was just too damned self-centered. Sarah had put up with him, loved him, through two deployments, one of which he wasn’t sure he’d come home from since he went as a Recon Marine. She stayed when he left the military to join the Dallas Police Department to get experience for a civilian career, even while he took every shift he could get, even shit shifts that kept him away from her too much. She even put up with his bad moods, and the craziness of his life when he opened Deep Six and spent almost every waking minute in the office building the business.

  Sarah stayed with him a lot longer than he would have stayed with her if he had been put in the same position. It had taken seven years of that treatment from him for Sarah to finally snap and issue him an ultimatum. She wanted to hear the words, to get a commitment from him for their future together, or she was leaving. The words to make her stay stuck in his throat and choked him, because he knew saying them would mean slowing down, getting married and having kids. Settling down to a life like his parents had on the ranch. Something he wasn’t sure he’d ever be ready for considering the dangerous nature of his business.

  If something happened to him, it just wouldn’t be fair to his family. Thinking about that while he was on missions would keep him from doing his job. Dave loved his career, had worked hard for it, and wasn’t willing to give it up, even for Sarah. He was a self-centered bastard, and she deserved better. He hoped she’d found that after she left him. After the breakup, Dave decided he was better off solo, because every woman would expect the same as she had, much more than he was willing or had time to give.

  Susan is not Sarah, Dave reminded himself as he stumbled toward the small bathroom at the back of his office. He also reminded himself that he absolutely was not going there with Susan Whitmore. Ever. Even if he was slowly starting to understand her, and maybe like her a little. Even if he was damned curious to figure out more of what made her tick. Even if she sucked every popsicle in Texas right in front of him, Dave was not going there with her.

  No, he was just going to keep his distance from her, and pray that she got another job soon, hell maybe even help her find one, so she could get the hell out of his life.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “Where’s Slade?” Dave asked Dex, Gray and Mac, as he sat at the head of the conference room table on Friday afternoon. He hadn’t heard a peep from these guys all week, and he was anxious to know what’d they’d found out. They needed to get the case moving.

  “Probably fishing,” Mac replied with a twist of his lips.

  Dave’s eyes flew to him as he sat down and opened the case file. “What’s that supposed to mean? It’s Friday, but it’s not five o’clock yet and he knew we had this meeting.”

  Mac leaned back in his chair and a grin lifted the corners of his mouth. “Oh, he’s still in town, he’s just taking a long lunch evidently,” Mac informed with a snicker. “Could have gone out for sushi. I hear he’s developed a taste for it.” Mac’s words practically dripped with sarcasm, pulling a laugh from Dex, which he quickly capped with his palm. Gray’s eyebrows lifted an inch, but he just remained stoic as usual.

  Something was going on here, and Dave wanted to know what it was. He opened his mouth to grill the men, but the conference room door swung inward, and a very sweaty Slade strode inside smiling. He took a seat beside Mac.

  Dave studied Slade’s sweaty, flushed face. “You been out to the compound to work out?” he asked. That would explain why he was late to the meeting, and it would also explain why it looked as if he’d just run a mile.

  Slade’s flush got a little deeper. “No, I ah…worked out in town.”

  “He’s learning jiu jitsu,” Mac supplied
with a roll of his eyes. “Guy’s not enough of a threat because he’s the size of Thor, and has Cujo as a sidekick. He has to learn to be a sissy ninja too. I’m surprised they have one of those white pajama sets to fit you.”

  Slade growled and Mac flinched as he leaned away with a laugh. Dave was not amused. Slade and Susan were getting entirely too chummy for his liking. His second-in-command was letting himself be distracted by her too. That was not good. They had a job to do.

  “You were supposed to be out with Mac all week getting a sit rep on that baby facility. What the hell have you been up to?”

  “Hawk flew us out there, and we found out the place is tighter than Fort Knox. Unless we could scale an eight foot razor-wire fence, and break into the labs that have key card access, we weren’t getting anything from them. Even the spa side of the operation has an eight foot stucco wall and guard shacks at every entrance. I don’t know what they’re doing out there, but I can tell you this—that’s because they don’t want us to know.”

  That was not good news at all. “Dex what about your drone?” Dave had paid enough for that damned toy airplane. It was time his computer guru made it useful for the team. “Can’t you go out there and set up surveillance with that for a few days?”

  Mac cleared his throat. “I think they have signal scramblers installed out there, because our com equipment wouldn’t work properly. Even our cell phones didn’t get signal. We got photos of some of the staff, mapped out the compound as best we could, but we didn’t intercept anything as far as communications. We left after two days, because we had all we could get.”

  Something just didn’t add up here. “How in the hell could that surrogate have gotten out of that compound with a baby then?”

  “Either she had help from one of the guards, or she didn’t get out,” Slade said. He looked thoughtful for a moment, before he continued, “There’s no way a woman with a baby could get out unaided. If she did manage to escape, those woods were so thick around that compound, she wouldn’t have gotten far.”

  “Dex, did you get anything from accessing their network?”

  “Nada, and that pisses me off. They have some new kind of encryption software installed that has me stumped. I’m working on getting up to speed on it though. I did manage to get their personnel records, but I think they’re way outdated.” Dex slid a folder across the table to Dave. “The most recent entry into the system was five years ago, and I don’t think they’ve been around more than five years, according to the financials Gray found.” Dex shook his head. “Unless the folks who work there never leave, they must have the records on another server.”

  “Nothing on the surrogates?” Dave asked, scanning the papers inside the file.

  “I found a list that I think fits from the dates of birth, but I’m sure it’s outdated too. In five years, most of the women are probably gone.” Dex slid a single sheet of paper to Dave. “With as many babies as these guys push out, I’m sure the surrogate’s shelf life is somewhat limited. I mean hell isn’t there a limit on the number of kids a woman can have?”

  “My grandma had nine kids,” Dave replied, as he took the paper from Dex. But Grandma Logan had wanted a large family. She was a devout Catholic and she loved her husband and family. This was a different circumstance. If these women were still at the facility, there was another reason. He scanned the list, but didn’t see Francesca’s name. More bad news.

  “Some of these women could still be there. Do background checks on all of them and let me know what you find. Maybe we could track them down to find Francesca if they’ve left the facility and you run down their current addresses.”

  “Will do,” Dex replied, as he stood. “Won’t be today though, I have a date tonight. Is tomorrow soon enough?” he asked hopefully.

  Everyone had a life outside of Deep Six, except Dave.

  That thought caused his stomach to churn, and the ulcer he’d been cultivating for the last few years burned like fire inside his gut. Dave swallowed hard, and put his hand there. He had a business to run that required his full focus. Women were distractions he didn’t need. But he did need to visit his family. His mother reminded him of that yesterday with one of her special guilt-trip messages on his phone. He deserved that guilt trip.

  Daddy isn’t feeling too well these days, we’re not getting any younger, David. We’d like to see you for a few days if you can manage it.

  Dave was definitely going to manage it, his family was the most important thing in his life, and he had been neglecting them. But first, he had to get this meeting over with before he could hit the road. “Tomorrow is fine, but I’ll probably be out at my parent’s ranch. Just give me a call.” Dave looked at Gray who sat quietly at the end of the table. “If Dex didn’t get anything from the network, I guess you didn’t either?

  “I found some bank accounts,” Grayson Jennings replied dryly, as he sat up straighter to lean his elbows on the table. “I also pulled the charter for the corporation, identified the principals and investors. Most are foreign, Russian and Italian, so it’s going to take more time to pull things together.”

  Dave huffed a frustrated sigh. “That baby could be in Timbuktu by the time we get enough information to even begin trying to find her. I need you to work faster, Gray.”

  It was Gray’s turn to sigh, as he dropped his chin to his chest. “Before or after I finish your damned bookkeeping?” he asked snidely, which was not like him at all.

  Gray being frustrated was definitely not a good thing for Dave or Deep Six. He relied on this man heavily to keep them straight financially and his expertise on cases made the difference between solving them or ending up with their dicks in a vise.

  “After we finish this case, you need a two week vacation,” Dave offered, and Gray’s head snapped up, but he didn’t smile. Dave knew he needed to up the ante. “All expenses paid to my beach house in Galveston.” When Gray still didn’t smile, Dave added, “All the surfing, seafood and bikini clad women you can handle. I’ll even call a few to meet you out there. Some of Cee Cee’s friends would probably be game.”

  Gray didn’t laugh, he just sat there staring at Dave like he was a used car salesman. That’s exactly what Dave felt like right then too. But he finally figured out the one thing that would appease his accountant. It was Dave’s turn to drop his chin to his chest. “And while you’re gone, I’ll hire a bookkeeper.” More expenses, another mouth to feed, but the only thing that was going to salve the situation.

  “Perfect,” Gray said in a satisfied tone as he scraped his chair back, and Dave’s eyes flew up to his. “I’ll get to work on that information. I should have something for you by Monday morning, since Susan finished those receipts for me this morning.” With a grin that Dave had never seen on his face before, Gray turned and strolled out of the conference room.

  Dave figured out right then he’d been played. Again.

  There was some kind of conspiracy going on between these people to drive him insane. Somehow he had a feeling that Susan Whitmore was behind it all too. Slade had done her filing for her. Now, she was giving him jiu jitsu lessons, probably in exchange for doing her filing. She had sorted through and reconciled the receipts for Gray for some reason. Dave was almost afraid to ask what she received in return there.

  Everyone was happy except for him.

  Gray had a two week paid vacation, Slade had martial arts lessons, Susan had her filing done. They had all evidently become co-conspirators against him, and friends. All Dave had was a fucking ulcer from worrying about what else these three had cooked up. At least Mac seemed to be unaffected by the Barracuda, he thought, glancing at the only man remaining at the table.

  “What the fuck is going on around here?” Dave asked.

  Mac held up his hands and laughed, before he pushed back the chair to stand. “I’m out of it. If you want that question answered, I suggest you talk to Susan.” He hesitated a moment, looked thoughtful, then put his fingers up to his chin. “In fact, I suggest yo
u talk to her anyway. After casing that place, I think the only way you’re going to get the information you want in a timely way is to get inside.”

  “I thought you and Slade said the compound was impenetrable?” Dave asked confused.

  “Oh, there’s a way in…I just don’t know if you want to take it,” Mac said with a challenging smile. As usual, Mac wanted him to mine the idea out of him like a gold nugget, but Dave just needed him to spit it out so he could get the hell out of there.

  Gathering the papers on the table, Dave shoved them back inside the file folder and slammed it shut. He pinned Mac with a hot glare, as he stood. “I don’t have time to play a game of Clue with you today, Mac. Spill it, or I’m out of here.”

  “If you want to get inside that compound, go undercover with Susan as a couple looking for a designer baby. I called today and asked for information on the process. They invite prospective clients out to the clinic for a weekend orientation, which I suspect is actually a sales pitch. After that, if you want to proceed, they have several more meetings with you to choose genetics from their donor catalogs, meet surrogates and make other decisions.”

  Mac eased a hip onto the edge of the table to sit while he closed his own sales pitch. “It’s the perfect opportunity for you to get inside and snoop. Slade could do it with her because she feels comfortable with him, but he doesn’t have the investigative background to get what we need. I have the background, but you know my weekends are for my son. You’re the only option, big guy,” Mac said with a shrug.

  The only option. Well if this was his only option, Dave was in big trouble with this case, and they’d only just begun their investigation. He would think of something else. He was trying to get Susan Whitmore out of his office, not give her false hope that he intended to keep her at Deep Six, by including her in his investigations.

  She was not a good fit at Deep Six. She was his temporary secretary. End of story.

  To try and hasten her departure, Dave had actually made some calls for her earlier in the day trying to get her interviews with a criminal law firm, and another smaller PI firm owned by a friend. Although both firms had heard her name, and knew her by reputation, with a little coaxing they agreed to interview her next week. Dave didn’t hold out much hope they’d hire her though, or if they did offer that she’d humble herself enough to take them.