by Cara Adams
A few minutes later Berian appeared with a carry bag in his hand. He popped the trunk and Hal put his suitcase into it. Then Hal climbed back in the car and sat their meals on his lap while Berian loaded his own duffle and a backpack into the trunk of the car.
“I’ll drive but you tell me where to turn. Let’s see if you know the way to Janet’s office,” said Berian.
Fuck! He hoped he could remember. The first few turns were easy. He recognized the corners well in advance. The next one they’d almost gone past before he made the call. After that he told Berian to stay in the right lane because he was sure the next turn wasn’t for a while and this way they’d be traveling a little slower, which would give him more time to be sure.
Instead they missed the corner entirely and had driven a couple of miles before he was certain they’d missed their turn and he told Berian to make a one-eighty and go back. By the time they arrived at Ms. Young’s office parking lot Hal’s nice white shirt was damp with sweat all down his back and he had to surreptitiously wipe his sweaty palms on the knees of his dress pants.
They waved at the security guard in the building’s foyer and took the elevator up to Ms. Young’s floor. Hal thought the guard should have asked for their ID, or at least where they were going, even if he recognized them. Maybe he should talk to Berian about that later, as well.
The door was shut and he stood back, prepared to wait even though it was only about two minutes before one. But Berian knocked on the door.
“Enter.”
Okay, that was something else he’d just learned.
“We brought your lunch, ma’am,” said Berian, holding up the radio frequency detector.
“Thank you. Did you bring food for yourselves as well? We can talk in five minutes when I finish this file.”
Hal stayed in the doorway. He thought that meant Berian was to go ahead and test the room for bugs, but he would take Berian’s advice on that. It seemed he was right, though. Berian immediately began scanning the room, moving an inch at a time over the walls, floor, and ceiling. He even stood on a chair to check the light fitting and the smoke alarms as well as running it over the window. He finished by closing the drapes. Quickly Hal got his wits together and flicked the rest of the lights on. Two were on before and two off. With the closing of the drapes it was too dim for Ms. Young to work properly.
Berian nodded to Hal, who was carrying the meals, and he brought the food across to the desk as Berian said, “All clear here, ma’am.”
“Stop ma’aming me. In private you can both call me Janet. Save ma’am for official occasions.”
Hal only just stopped himself from replying, “Yes, ma’am.” He handed her meal to her, and then took his own sandwich before passing the bag to Berian.
“Sit down and tell me everything you did this morning while we eat.”
There were three spare chairs and he and Berian took one each. Hal sat silently and waited as Berian reported. Janet ate quickly, chewing and washing her meal down with the bottled water she’d requested. When Berian got out his wallet to give her the leftover money she shook her head. “Undoubtedly I’ll need you to buy many other things in the next few days. Keep the receipts and let me know when you need more. All your meals are on me as well, since you can’t exactly brown-bag them at the moment. Now, go to my house and check it thoroughly for bugs and then come back here and collect me at seven.”
“How safe do you feel here, Janet? I have to tell you the security in this building is really lax. The guard didn’t ask us for ID when we returned.”
“He probably recognized you.”
Verbally she shrugged off Berian’s comment but Hal thought her eyes clouded over as she said it. He thought, deep down, she might be worried. That was just something else he needed to discuss with Berian later.
* * * *
Janet had sent her bodyguards off to check her apartment with as insouciant a wave as she could manage to give them. But inside she was seriously worried about the security in her office building. Possibly the guards had recognized her men from the visit that morning. Anyone as big as Hal was difficult to ignore, and blond, blue-eyed Berian was almost as eye-catching. But if the security company was doing its job properly it ought to have checked their IDs. Outsiders shouldn’t be allowed to wander at will around the building.
Apart from commercial secrets and confidential business papers, there was some very expensive equipment lying around that could be picked up and sold on eBay long before the owner realized it was even gone. But the last thing she wanted to do was report the incident to anyone. Getting today’s guard sacked wouldn’t be any long-term use to her. Likely it’d do the opposite and set the entire security team against her.
But she didn’t want to have the men sitting in her office all day long either. She was used to working alone. She actually liked being by herself and being surrounded by silence. Besides, she had a tendency to talk to herself and she really didn’t need some bodyguard sitting there laughing at her all day long.
But fucking hell, she didn’t want fucking Malcolm coming in and trying to browbeat her either. Janet leaned back in her chair and admitted something to herself. He can still get under my skin and make me believe I’m worthless. All these years of study and achievement, yet once he starts berating and belittling me it’s like I’m six years old again and he can reduce me to Jell-O.
At least these days she didn’t cry. Don’t get angry. Defeat him instead.
It was easy to say but a lot harder to do.
But surely she had the advantages on her side now. She knew him for what he truly was. A small-minded, self-centered, vindictive man. He was no longer the big brother her parents idolized and who was constantly held up to her as an example of everything the perfect child should be—good at sport, good at schoolwork, and beautifully mannered among adults.
Janet sighed. He had been correct about one thing, though. She was not, and never would be, beautiful. At five four she was too short for the breadth of her shoulders. Plus her hair was thin and messy. It never stayed in a hairstyle for more than an hour or two at a time no matter how many hairpins she used. He’d been wrong about her brain though. There was nothing second-rate about her mind, and once she’d been free to read and study she’d passed all her exams without much difficulty. Therefore she needed to use her brain to defeat him and leave the fighting to her two new bodyguards.
One of whom would have to stay with her at work from now on. Fuck it!
Janet loved the orderly symmetry of accounting. Expenses went in on one side of the equation and results came out on the other. Everything was neat, clear, balanced. She enjoyed taking a tangled mass of accounts and seeing them later on a spreadsheet with neatly tabulated columns and rows, items once again in perfect harmony. Unlike her life, which seemed to lurch from one fucking crisis to another.
She finally had gotten her own life disentangled from her brother and her own career nicely on track and then her father began displaying symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. And now her dad was settled in an excellent care facility her brother was back in her life, more demanding than ever.
I’ll worry about that tonight. Perhaps Berian and Hal can offer some advice for me there, too. Right now I’ll forget all about that and concentrate on my job. I know I’m good at my work.
* * * *
Berian was feeling more positive about the hayseed, although he still was a country cousin. He didn’t seem to know anything much about the city and Heidelberg wasn’t even a major city. However, he did seem capable of finding his way from A to B, which was a good sign. And so far he’d kept his mouth shut tight, which was even better.
This time he had Hal drive the SUV to Janet’s apartment and he hid his smile when Hal pulled into a visitor’s parking space, not Janet’s reserved space. “Good decision. Let’s stay away from Janet’s parking space in case anyone is watching it. Before we go back to her company and collect her at seven. We’ll change out the cars just to c
onfuse any watchers as well.”
Berian thought quickly and then added, “We’ll leave our luggage in the trunk here for the moment as well. Just in case there are bugs in her apartment.”
“At least she’s not on the first floor so we don’t have to check outside the building as well,” said Hal.
That was a good point. It proved Hal had been listening to the man in the store and had remembered what they’d been told.
When they reached her apartment there was a large cardboard box in front of her door, with pink ribbon tied around it and a huge pink bow on the top of it.
Berian stepped forward to unlock the door and Hal bent to pick up the box. “We might as well bring it inside for her,” he said pushing the door open to hold it for Hal who now had his arms full. But Hal shook his head.
“I don’t think this should come inside.” Hal pressed his nose to the box, sniffing, and Berian just stared at him.
“What the fuck do you mean?”
Hal flushed and looked embarrassed then cleared his throat a few times. “Um, remember when we were talking about when I learned to shoot?”
Berian continued to stare at him. What was wrong with the man now? When he learned to shoot? Oh hell. The rat plague.
Wary of potential listeners he said, “Do you mean that the gift is more suited to a barn?”
Hal smiled. “Yes, sir.”
Now they had a problem. If they didn’t take the box inside someone might open it or be monitoring it. But if they did, it would need to go back outside again. And he really didn’t want a rat in the rented car. If it chewed the seats or something they’d lose their deposit for sure.
“Maybe we’ll do this later.” He locked the door and they returned to the parking lot, Hal still holding the box. He drove to the very back row of the lot, which was mostly empty now in the middle of the afternoon, and got out of the car.
“Put the box on the ground and open it very slowly. I’m going to video you, okay?”
Hal simply nodded, got out of the car, and kneeled on the ground behind the box. Berian got in close, squatting down, and framed the box in his cell phone’s camera, then hit record.
“This box was outside Ms. Young’s apartment. Hal is going to open it now,” he said.
Hal carefully undid the bow, and then untied the ribbons, leaving them to fall onto the ground. Once the bow was off Berian could see a row of holes where the bow had been. He zoomed the focus in to show the holes and said, “Air holes,” then zoomed out again to show the entire box.
Hal turned the box around and undid the cardboard flaps before cracking it open an inch. Instantly three snouts appeared in the gap.
Once again Berian zoomed in the focus to clearly show the three little noses, before moving back.
Hal covered half the opening with his spread hand before lifting the lid a little more so Berian could see the heads of three large brown rats. Then Hal slammed the lid down again.
Berian swiped his cell phone and made a call.
“Janet Young.”
“Ms. Young, it’s Berian Davies. I’m sorry to interrupt but—”
“What has that fucking asshole done now?”
“Are you afraid of mice, ma’am.”
“Mice? Of course not.”
“How about rats?”
“Berian, I’m not afraid of anything on this fucking Earth. What’s going on?”
“Someone has left you a parcel. A large box tied with pink ribbon and with three brown rats inside it.”
“That fucking shit! Wait.”
Berian waited while there was silence on the line.
“Can you take a photograph of them?”
“Yes, ma’am. They’re still in the box.”
“So how the fuck did you know…oh, wait, I suppose it’s your job to know. Well done. Take them to the animal shelter and ask the people there to keep them safe for me until this fucking court case is settled. I suppose it’ll cost me a fucking fortune for their care as well. Pay the shelter enough for a few days and I’ll phone through my credit card number for the rest of their charges. But get documentary evidence.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Berian slid his cell phone back in his pocket. “I don’t suppose you know where the nearest animal shelter is?”
“I’m sorry, no.”
“Oh, well, you detected the rats and they didn’t get loose in her apartment so you’ve done your part.”
Berian leaned against the car and Googled the animal shelter and then got back in the vehicle. Somehow he already knew that this was going to be a long afternoon. At least he had Hal to help him. The man was turning out to be a genuine help and support.
* * * *
Hal hadn’t had a whole lot of time to imagine what being a woman’s personal bodyguard would involve. But holding down a rat so a veterinarian could give it an immunization had not been on the list in his wildest dreams. At least the vet had said they were field rats, not the ferocious wild kind that might have rabies. It seemed as though her brother had been intending to scare her, not to physically harm her. Although she might have been bitten opening the box, he supposed.
After that they’d returned to her apartment and checked it thoroughly for bugs, without finding anything suspicious. Next they’d swapped over the vehicles and all their luggage. While at the mall Berian had gone into the supermarket and bought three large steaks for their dinner. They’d both seen inside Janet’s refrigerator, which chiefly housed low fat yogurt and a lot of raw vegetables. He and Berian had agreed that salad was fine, but only when accompanied by meat.
By the time they returned to Janet’s office it was almost seven. Their jobs had filled the entire day. Once again no one queried their presence in the building, and once again he thought he needed to mention that. It was really not good enough. Janet’s door was open this time, and her fingers were flying across the keyboard. She looked up as they arrived and nodded, but kept typing. Hal stayed in the hallway but Berian moved just inside the door. She finished typing, read through what she’d written, and nodded. After logging off her computer, Janet put a huge pile of papers into the oversized purse she carried, and left the room.
Hal drove to her apartment and parked in a different visitor’s space and together they escorted Janet into the foyer. She stopped at the row of mailboxes and collected a couple of letters from her box, which she dropped into her purse. Hal wondered how heavy it was. She seemed to put an awful lot of stuff inside it.
Once inside she dumped her purse on the table and pulled out the file of papers and the mail. “I have a lot of work to do. Do you want to watch television or something? I have cable.”
Hal held up the shopping bag in his hands. “Would you like me to grill you a steak? Berian bought steaks for us all to go with the vegetables in your refrigerator.”
“Oh yes, I’m sorry. Of course. You both need protein. I should have thought of that. Thank you.”
She turned instantly to her papers again, so Hal shrugged and walked into the kitchen. He’d had a good look at every inch of her apartment when they were checking for bugs and was certain he could use her grill even though it was different from ones he’d used before. He opened various closets in her kitchen finding a spice rack and adding seasoning to the steaks, then set them to cook while he washed and chopped vegetables to go with them.
When they were almost done he made coffee and got out plates and mugs and cutlery and carried them over to the opposite end of the table from where Janet was sitting, working.
Berian turned off the TV and joined him carrying over the big bowl of raw vegetables and a bottle of thousand island salad dressing while Hal brought the steaks to the table.
Janet pushed her papers to one side. “Damn that smells good. Usually I just eat a carrot or some yogurt as I work. You’re spoiling me.”
Hal was hungry and ate silently for a while until Janet laid down her knife and fork and said, “Tell me a little about yourselves. Berian, you
first.”
Hal gulped. Shit! Thank goodness she’d asked Berian first. That would give him a bit of a guide as to what to answer.
“I’m thirty-one. I work at the mall as a security guard. I have an older brother who took my parents on vacation to California five years ago. They all fell in love with the weather there and stayed. He’s married with a son. My nephew will be two next month.”
Janet turned her very sharp, intelligent gaze on Berian. Hal was glad she was focused on the other man and not on himself. He didn’t think anyone would be able to lie when Janet looked at them like that.
“So you’re a werewolf. A member of the Hanson Mall pack. And because your brother has a son, not a daughter, I guess he’s mated to another wolf?”
“Yes, that’s right. The tendency of wolves to have sons, not daughters, has run true for my brother.”
“Now you, Hal.”
“I’m a member of the Simon pack and live on the farm there. I don’t have any siblings. My father died unexpectedly of a heart attack when I was twenty. I’m twenty-five now. The pack is starting an experimental new crop later this year and I’m going to be involved in helping with that.”
“What crop?”
“Saffron. It’s the most expensive spice because each plant only has three threads of it per bloom.”
“That’s right. It comes from a flower, doesn’t it?”
“That’s correct. A type of crocus.”
“But isn’t there a lot of fake saffron around? How will you combat that?”
She seemed to know as much about cultivating the plant as he did, but fortunately the Alpha had told them the answer to this question. “Sometimes people dye other fibers red to try to sell them as saffron but it’s very easy to test them. If the buyer places saffron in water for ten minutes no dye will escape. The water will be clear and the saffron still red. In other fibers that have been dyed, the red will leach out. Because it’s a spice used in food, the dyes have to be edible, which can be soaked off.”