by Madelon Smid
“Okay.” After a lengthy pause, Cat launched herself into the silence. “Just hit me with it, uh…RG, it can’t be that bad.”
“You know the guy. Joshua Chandler. He lives in D.C., writes spook ware for federal agencies. He’s purported to be one of the best in the world, with an I.Q. off the radar.”
Josh. Now she burned up cell time. She’d met him when they’d both run the Vancouver half marathon with Jake and Siree almost two years ago. He’d accused her of negligence in her job. It bothered her that she’d never forgotten him.
“I don’t think he’ll go for it,” she said into the waiting silence on the other end of her phone. “He accused me of dereliction of duty when Siree was attacked. He’s not going to want a bodyguard he doesn’t think can do the job.”
“He sure looked like he wanted you at the wedding.”
The phone slipped from her hand as her eyes widened in shock. What the hell was happening to Gribbs? First, call me RG. Now teasing when he usually ordered. He’d morphed into someone she couldn’t identify. Though she’d done her best to avoid him at Siree and Jake’s wedding, Josh had cornered her and offered an apology. She heard him out, accepted it, and made sure he never got close to her for the remainder of the evening. She could still feel the icy intelligence of his eyes slicing through her, as if he dissected her cell by cell, down to her DNA. “He won’t want me,” she reiterated.
“He doesn’t get a say. He refused security from the government agencies, though they’re howling to get in there. He approached Jake, because he trusts him. Jake trusts me, and I trust you. In fact, you’re perfect for the job.”
“How so?”
“Look. This is a tangled mess. I’ve been doing a lot of checking. It’s nowhere near as simple as Josh described. The hacker could be the legitimate threat. But Josh’s upcoming schedule includes testifying for a Senate committee investigating the alleged theft of advanced weapons systems and the newest military technology related to satellite communications and missile defense by the Chinese hacker. He consulted on the Resilient Military Systems and the Advanced Cyber Threat report written by the Defense Science Board for the Department of Defense, and they’ve named him their expert witness on the subject.
“He’s also the expert witness in the case of an FBI agent being tried for treason. Josh uncovered computer files indicating this agent manipulated an asset close to the President, with plans to influence the President. A lot of high-profile people are involved, people who will do anything to look clean.”
“Kill the one who can finger them, you mean.”
“Right, or someone inside any of those agencies he secures might be targeting Josh because they think he’s getting too close to one of their secrets. He has access to every bit of information out there.”
“Or it could just be the hacker after revenge.” She concluded.
A heavy sigh sounded in her ear. “Even that isn’t simple, with the terrorist ties in play. This guy may be aiding them on U.S. soil.”
“So threats from all directions. Makes me even more inclined to question why me? Mr. Chandler needs someone he trusts. It’s imperative he follow directions, instantly and without question. He doesn’t trust me.”
“We want Josh covered 24/7. A live-in girlfriend makes the best scenario to sell to the outside world. You’re my best female operative, and Siree says your model looks will make it believable. We’ll set up a backstory and build on your time together in Canada. We’ll make it look like you’ve been an item for some time and can’t bear to be apart any longer.”
Cat choked. The idea of needing Josh, needing anyone, cramped her stomach. For a few seconds after the race, she’d felt his attention. More like his intensity. He gave off the energy of a nuclear bomb—contained, silent—lethal and unnerving. Sexual recognition flared between them, so he wasn’t prejudiced against her black genes. Her high cheekbones and sculptured lips came from an African ancestor sold into slavery. Her eyes, a striking light green, set in the frame of café au lait complexion, made her the target for a lot of bullying at school. Her mixed blood trapped her in a blank space, unclaimed by either Caucasians or African Americans. Her beauty alienated women, while intimidating men.
Only the soldiers in her outfit had accepted her fully, once she’d proven her worth in combat. She’d modeled to get her MBA from the Georgian Institute of Technology and handled her beauty with an elegant panache. Her tall body, toned by hours of practicing martial arts and running, had attracted Josh’s attention. Will he still find me appealing after my refusal to make nice at the wedding?
She found she’d said the words aloud, and for some reason, held her breath while she waited for Gribbs to answer.
“He goes for gorgeous, classy, and smart. No arm candy or Barbie dolls, according to Jake. Siree swears you’re his type. You go in undercover, and as a girlfriend, lover, whatever the hell they call them these days, you can stay a lot closer than as a bodyguard.” Another heavy sigh sounded. “Do you need time to think about this? It’s government pay, top of the line with all the benefits. I know you don’t get friendly with your clients, but you can handle the living-in part. You have the skills to protect the guy. You’re between assignments. What’s the problem?”
She bit into her lower lip, nibbled pliant flesh while she worried the question. Why should working for Josh cause her to hesitate? He meant nothing. Maybe Siree’s involvement made a difference. Caring for people caused you to make choices outside your own priorities. She didn’t like the quiver of anxiety tightening her chest, didn’t like knowing those few times in Josh’s presence made her hesitate now.
Her brain nudged. It’s a cushy job, certainly an important assignment. You wanted a challenge. Somewhere in the area of her heart another message thumped. Close proximity to Josh will threaten your objectivity. No way. Her pride bolstered her cringing ego. The government sees Josh as a national treasure to be guarded at all costs. Her lungs seized on a breath. Someone wants to kill him.
“I’ll take it. Where and when do I report?”
“I’ll meet your flight in Washington, sort everything out with Josh, and get you settled in. Let me know your time of arrival. Make it earliest flight out tomorrow.”
Her screen went blank.
By seven hundred hours, she locked her condo and turned toward the waiting taxi. She’d rushed through her laundry and repacked her go bag the night before. It stood by the door like a sentinel, recording her arrivals and departures. Cat made it a practice to take the shorter assignments. She travelled the world. She travelled alone. If she stayed with any principal too long, they wanted to get to know her—a lot more than they’d read in her file.
Siree had. She’d wanted to turn their client/bodyguard relationship into a friendship. Cat held her off, unable to break cover and tell Siree her real name, yet in her golden sunshine way, the woman had slipped into her life, warming pieces of it, usually hidden in icy shadows.
Right, and letting my principal inside my barriers just heightened the pain and sense of helplessness I felt while Siree lay in a hospital bed fighting for life.
She survived, married her Jake, and refused to relinquish her grip on their friendship. And Cat had re-learned the lesson. Caring produced intolerable pain. She refused to let it happen again. Deliberately, she forced her thoughts in a different direction.
RG? He’s forty something and remaking himself. What next? Okay, I’m a professional. I can handle this. I’ll just pretend he’s undercover. We switch names all the time. No biggy.
He’d described this assignment as open ended. They didn’t even have a fixed target with so many sharks swimming in the water. She’d been with Siree almost a year and look what happened. Sacre bleu!
She pulled her shoulders down from their climb toward her ears, shook her arms to relieve the tension tightening the muscles of her body. She would never care for Josh. Never! He made her tense just by existing. Nothing he did would induce her to linger.
The cabbie tooted his horn. Jerked into the present, she imprisoned all thoughts of Josh behind the steel bars she erected in her mind. She settled into the back seat of the cab and into the certainty she could handle everything this assignment demanded, including the enigmatic man who’d just become her principal concern.
Chapter Two
RG went in ten minutes ahead of her dressed like a meter reader. He answered the door, ushered her in. Cat immediately locked onto the man sitting at the laptop.
RG drew her over to the desk, where her principal sat absorbed in his work. “Josh, can I have your attention?” He cleared his throat, waited, finally wrapped his hand around Josh’s shoulder.
Josh surfaced like a deep sea diver avoiding the bends, in slow phases, until suddenly he blasted her with his total focus. She felt like a fish on the end of a spear gun. Only military discipline kept her from wiggling to free herself from the intensity of his stare.
“You.” With the single word, his gaze swung to RG, releasing her as if he’d thrown her back.
“What’s with this?” Josh’s arm swept out in her direction.
RG moved shoulder to shoulder with Cat in a show of support. “The solution to your problem. You two already know each other. Cat’s your bodyguard.”
“Last time I met the lady she was called Janice.” Josh looked her over.
“She was running a covert operation. Her name is Cat Duplessis,” RG explained. “We’ve kept it for this undercover assignment, but built a new identity around it.”
“Undercover as what?” His piercing scrutiny lasered her again. He tracked her from the wobbling stack of curls to her five-inch stilettos. His lips curled in distain. “A high-class call girl?”
If her shoulders tightened any more, her shoulder blades would lock. She bit her bottom lip to hold back a sharp retort and glared an “I told you so” look at RG.
“She’s nowhere near the type of woman I would be seen with,” Josh sneered.
A tint of red brushed RG’s wide cheekbones. It was the first time she’d ever seen him show discomfort. “My fault. I picked up the outfit to save time. Cat said it was all wrong, but so was the standard bodyguard suit she wore. I wanted her coming in looking like a woman, not security. The government will cover her expenses, and she’ll shop for the appropriate clothes as soon as possible.”
Josh’s gaze never left her body, while RG explained. Cat could feel heat washing up from her core to her breasts. They tingled beneath the deep décolleté of the wrap top. Braless, in order to accommodate the low neckline, she knew the outline of her nipples pushed at the fabric. The rest of the dress hugged her hips and thighs like a second skin, the jersey fabric following ever curve and crevice. She had a good body, but she never displayed her assets this blatantly. His critical stare fixed on her peaking flesh with male awareness. She stood at attention, her face blank.
“I’d have to go with her, make the selections,” Josh said with authority. “She’d never get it right.”
“That’s it.” She spun on one of the staggering heels and headed for the door. “Get him a man and let the world think he’s finally come out of the closet.”
Beating her there, RG’s arm stretched from doorframe to doorframe refusing her exit. He frowned at Josh. “What’s up? I’ve never known you to be rude to a lady before.”
Josh thrust his hands into the front pockets of his jeans, hunched his shoulders.
Cat glared at RG’s chest. If he didn’t move, she would put him flat on his ass. He guessed her intent, pulled his arm down, only to wrap his hand around her taut biceps in a gentle grip. “Calm down, so we can sort this out.”
He guided her across the room, pulled a chair from the dining room table, and seated her. Then he nodded his head at Josh. “Sit down and explain your hostility.”
Josh crossed the room with sure strides, pulled out another chair, swung it around, and straddled it, his arms dangling over the back.
She read his body language and figured RG had a considerable challenge on his hand. She hoped for escape from the electrical field Josh exuded in every direction. “He thinks I’m a lousy bodyguard, because I didn’t protect Siree when I was assigned to her,” she speeded things up.
RG’s flat eyed look settled on her. “That’s old news. Jake told him you weren’t even on duty. So what’s really going on here?” He fixed the look on Josh.
“The government demands I accept security which, A-I don’t need and, B-I don’t want. To appease them, I ask Jake and you for help. I expect a male bodyguard. I hope for a computer technician who’ll actually work, while he hangs around through the day. I told Jake I could protect myself at night.”
“You also told Jake you have an upcoming senatorial hearing and a trial to attend. We can’t get a computer tech into them.”
“Well, they sure as hell won’t expect me to take a date everywhere I go. That is your intent when you say undercover, isn’t it?”
She wanted to see the annoyed expression on his face ramp up another notch. She spoke over RG. “Actually, no. I’m your live-in lover. We’re talking about me here 24/7.”
His look of horror made the thrust a winner, worth the slicing disapproval RG swung in her direction.
“Take a moment to think about this, Josh. If Maddox is the main danger, chances are he has eyes on you. Right?”
Josh nodded, opened his mouth.
RG held up a hand and continued. “Now if Maddox isn’t behind this, then most likely someone in one of the agencies your software protects wants you eliminated. Someone who thinks you’re getting too close to damaging information, or who wants you gone so they can extract something. Either way, if you appear to take the threats lightly and look like you’re totally absorbed in a woman, we gain the advantage. Hopefully, in the time this charade plays out, we will locate the source.”
“In other words, we’ll calm their fears so they leave you alone, or make you look like such an easy target so they go after you and we get them,” Cat said with relish.
RG’s sharp glare sliced her bravado into limp strips. “A little help here,” he growled.
Josh stood, straddling the chair. He pressed his hands onto the table and brought his face down to their level. “To be accurate, I don’t think you’re a ‘lousy bodyguard.’ I don’t think of you at all. And if you remember, after considerable effort on my part and no help on yours, I apologized for my misconception at Jake and Siree’s wedding. I trust them both implicitly, as I do RG. If they say you’re the best person for the job, I accept their conclusion. What I do question is the need for a bodyguard at night, when my own security measures keep me safe.” He swung toward RG. “Why can’t she be my live-out love interest?”
“Multiple reasons.” He counted them off on his fingers. “Primary, you get completely absorbed in your work. A bomb could go off in here, and you wouldn’t notice if you’re in the middle of a security problem. We need eyes on you at all times. Security must have access to everything from what food goes into your mouth, to the delivery guy knocking at your door.”
Josh’s eyes narrowed, but he sank back into his chair and didn’t disagree.
“Also, the Senate investigation starts soon. You have to be there to testify multiple times. It’s a closed hearing, yet we need someone in the room with you guarding your back. Cat will not only pretend she’s your lover, but your P.A. Her cover story will be well planted and will show you’ve known her for two years. You offered her the job, as a cover for your affair. Same goes for when you testify at the trial. She’ll be allowed into the courtroom with you. If we use identifiable security, they’ll know we’re looking for them.”
“I can’t argue with your reasoning. But I do think the government takes a few email threats and a gunshot through my window too seriously.”
Cat’s eyes widened at this disclosure. Gribbs—dammit, RG—had met her plane, told her to change in the airport restroom, and dragged her here without giving her any details on the case. Now h
er nasty remark about using Josh for bait became a reality. A shiver went up her spine. The sensation alarmed her. Since when did she let a principal affect her emotionally?
“It’s that exact attitude we want to sell to whoever is after you.” RG nodded with satisfaction. “As long as you do start taking them seriously.”
“All I can say is I’ll give it a test. If the experiment fizzles, I insist on the option to abort.”
She didn’t object to being called an experiment. She felt safer when Josh treated her objectively. His indifference built a wall between them, hopefully one thick enough to block the force field of energy and intellect radiating from him. Without the wall, she felt exposed, a flash drive plugged into a brain capable of reading her every thought.
The wall, so firmly in place, threatened to topple a second later.
“I know your work comes first,” RG said to Josh, “but the two of you need to sell the idea you’re in love, can’t be apart. You have to show yourselves at all the places you’d normally take your dates.”
He nodded to Josh. “Get the new clothes fast, the kind of things a woman would wear to please her lover. Jake insists.” His lips twisted as he shrugged, done with the subject.
She stared at RG to avoid seeing Josh’s reaction.
“Glad that’s settled.” RG rose to his feet and took a small packet from his pocket. “We have just one other chore, before I leave you two alone.” His wide mouth almost seemed to lift at the corners. Cat saw a flash of humor in his eyes. Then they went blank, reflecting her bemused expression.
“What’s that?”
“I’m going to insert a chip with a GPS locator under your skin. Jake has one in his forearm, Siree too, now. It will help us track you in the event something goes wrong.”
Cat watched as Josh’s eyes dilated and his breathing accelerated. He leapt from the chair.
“No way in hell. No one is cutting into my skin.”
“Has to be done. Jake’s insistent we can find you at all times.” Head down while he unpackaged the chip and set out a sterile pad and sutures, RG didn’t register Josh’s reaction. “It’s a quick slice, a smidgen of pain. You’ve cut yourself worse climbing.”