by Madelon Smid
Still dressed, she sat on the bed. She’d piled pillows behind her back. Her Glock lay at her side. Her laptop open on her lap. Her gaze swept constantly from the screen, around the loft, and back to him like a rotating fan. He approached her door.
He knew she was checking the footage from street cameras and security cameras around the courthouse, searching the crowds for Maddox, known terrorists, or anyone who looked suspect.
He settled his shoulder against the frame, offered a neutral expression. Seeing her on the bed drowned him in memories of her body bared to his touch, of the sexy sounds she’d made urging him on.
“What’s up?” She broke the silence.
He hoped she had to fight off memories of her own.
“Jake phoned to see if I’ll put them up overnight. It’s his way of checking up on me. He says tomorrow works for them. What do you think?”
Cat swiveled her legs off the bed and stood up. “Do they know?”
With quick understanding, Josh measured her concern. “Yes, RG put them in the loop. You can be completely natural. We’ll eat in, so we don’t have to put on our public faces.”
“I always appreciate time with Siree.” She set her shoulder against the opposite door frame and smiled into his eyes.
“Do you normally get a caterer?” Her gaze wandered across his chest. “Or should we plan a menu and put something together?” She jerked her gaze up to meet his, a blush flooding her cheeks.
He wanted to cheer when he registered her interest in his body. He reined in his elation. He couldn’t let eagerness run away with the moment. “While I don’t want to push extra work on to you, I’d appreciate your help. We could work out a menu based on what we can cook that goes together. I’d like to treat them to a good meal. Siree has provided me with so many.”
“Me, too. I’d enjoy making a nice dinner for them. I’ll just grab a pad and pen and meet you in the kitchen.” She turned to her backpack, pulling out what she wanted.
Josh crossed to the kitchen, lifted several recipe books from a high cupboard, and poured out two glasses of water.
The next hour passed quickly as they threw out and rejected ideas, invented entirely new dishes, laughed over suggestions, squabbled over who would cook what, and finally compiled a list of groceries.
“And that concludes our menu planning for this evening.” He marked a recipe and closed the book. For a while, he’d forgotten the strain of anticipating a bullet every second of the day. He’d spent the evening with Cat without tension hovering like an unwanted guest. “I’ll give the order to my neighbor in the morning. She’ll make sure we have everything we need.”
She wrote down the last items on their list, tore off the page, and set it on the island top. “Good night, Josh.” She covered a yawn with her hand.
“See you in the morning.” He smiled into her eyes for the first time since she’d pushed him out of her bed. They widened, gold flecks melted into green irises brightening them. His smile widened with satisfaction. He would start pressing her harder.
He moved into his room. With his door closed, he depressed a carving in the mahogany paneling. Silently, an opening appeared, exposing a small workshop. He stepped in, sliding the panel back into place. Seated at a workbench, he fit a headpiece holding a high-power magnifying glass over his eye and turned on a light that threw a white circle onto the small pieces he set out on the bench. With laptop humming, a welder in hand, he began to create his back-up strategy. If someone set off the self-destruct programs he’d built into his security protocols, he had one chance to stop them.
****
Siree embraced her the second she stepped into the security of the loft. Cat, so much taller, looked down at Siree’s baby bump and something shifted inside her. It felt like a pile of boxes she’d stacked away haphazardly, suddenly collapsed, striking her as they fell. She’d put her thoughts of marriage and family in the attic of her mind years earlier. To have them tumble free now alarmed her. She stepped back from Siree, a smile frozen in place.
Siree’s golden eyes widened, a look of warm concern flooded her face. “What is it?” Her hand settled over her curving abdomen in a protective gesture.
“Just happy for you and don’t know how to handle it.” Cat gave an answer that stopped the questions short.
Siree beamed. “We’re pretty happy too.”
Jake, overhearing, moved closer to his petite wife and spread his hand over hers. “An understatement.”
“But then there are no words to describe the wonder.” Josh’s hushed voice created a circle of reverence connecting them. Cat slid into the background, quivering with her response to a man who seemed to see and understand all things.
He gathered Siree in for a hug and stepped back to embrace Jake. “Well, son, when you do something you always do it superbly.”
Siree cleared her throat loudly in mock annoyance waving her hands over her belly. “And me? Where am I in the equation?”
“You are the crucible protecting creation. Jake’s the Knight Templar who guards you. He’s the luckiest man on earth to have that job.”
Siree colored up, then laughed. “It’s not fair…poet, techno genius, adventurer, a billionaire in the making. And you’re too darn handsome for your own good.”
“He better not be more handsome than me,” Jake growled.
Siree smacked his arm. “No one can out handsome a Knight Templar.” She stroked a hand down his cheek and turned to Cat. “Really though, Catarina, how can you be around Josh twenty-four seven and not lose your cool?”
Cat agreed with the “not fair” sentiments Siree expressed, but she sure wasn’t going to agree out loud.
“I’m Creole. I don’t know cool.” She slathered southern over the words and retreated behind the kitchen bar, busying herself pulling appetizers out of the fridge. Josh joined her, mixing scotch on the rocks for the men and pouring sparkling water with lime wedges for the women. They worked together, directed by an unseen conductor who meshed their styles into a harmony of movement.
Jake lifted Siree onto one of the bar stools, his eyes glinted with humor as he studied the pair. Josh handed Cat Siree’s drink. Cat passed him a plate filled with exotic cheeses and tiny slices of fresh black rye bread, raison bread and spicy jalapeno biscuits to set in front of Jake.
Siree, too, sat entranced, as if she occupied front row seats at the opera. “Well, how do you manage the personal stuff? You were always so happy to drop me off at my doorstep and take your leave, but here you can’t walk away.” She bit into a slice of smoked Gouda and the intimate aspects of their relationship with equal appetite.
“Maybe Josh is more, hmmm…” Jake paused, helped himself to cheese, then waved it in the air. “…mmm captivating than you.” He teased.
“More compelling than me?” Siree acted shocked. “I don’t think that’s possible,” she demurred.
Then with mischief lighting her face, she snapped her fingers, waved her hands above her glass. “The reason is simple. He’s more testosterone loaded. His force field is so powerful she can’t pull away.”
Over the top of her glass, Cat looked at the two having their fun and decided she’d shoot them down, before they embarrassed her further. “Josh is a body sprawled in a chair with his brain gone missing. No disengaging is necessary, because there’s no gravitational pull. I mostly guard a comatose principal.”
Josh, who’d just taken a drink, choked, grabbed the dishtowel from beside the sink, and coughed into it. He emerged, his face lit with humor.
“Cat certainly keeps me humble when I’m not comatose. It’s what she’s doing to me when I am that is causing me concern.” He aimed a taunting smile at her. “I have bite marks on my neck and the buttons were undone on my shirt the other evening when I surfaced. Do you think she’s having her way with me?” he asked Siree. “Is that something you women do?”
“Sure. I’ve done more things to Jake in his sleep than he’ll ever know.” She looked nonchalant, drin
king from her glass while her eyes targeted Jake over the brim.
“Honey, I just pretend I’m asleep.” He chuckled, as she puffed out her lower lip and glared at him.
Josh laughed. “He got you fair and square, Siree.”
“So, no climb this year?” Cat changed the subject without a qualm, addressing Siree.
“Not a mountain, anyway. I’m going to climb the sharpest learning curve I’ve ever been on instead. But Jake’s going.”
“So I hear. Josh insists I switch our sparring sessions to time on the climbing walls, or he won’t be in shape in time.” Cat brushed a crumb off the knit sweater she’d matched with cream dress pants. Josh said he liked her in this color. She couldn’t resist looking her best for him.
“You don’t look too enthusiastic.”
“I’m not. I’ve climbed and will do it in a pinch, but give me a marathon over a mountain any day.”
“I have to run and tumble about on a mat with her, but she won’t climb a rock wall at the gym with me.” Josh complained to Jake and Siree. “Where’s the fair in that?”
“Women have a totally different definition of fair,” Jake stated with confidence. “It almost always works against us.”
Siree turned on him. Cat stepped back and enjoyed the word play that fired between them. Josh relaxed and laughing, fielding the odd remark, stole her breath. His brown hair, gray eyes, and regular features did not have the eye catching effect of Jake’s dark hair and aquamarine eyes. But there was something so contained, so “I’m my own man” about Josh. He drew the attention of those around him again and again.
He turned and locked her gaze as if he had caught her in a tractor beam. Cat maneuvered away, certain he had sucked every thought out of her brain, leaving a vacuum. It felt like he’d seen her inadequacies and doubts. Were her million sensual thoughts of him all on show?
“You might not climb to the top of a mountain this year, but you could get into them,” Cat addressed Siree. “I was in the Canadian Rockies for Christmas a few years ago. The Chateau at Lake Louise becomes a fairy tale setting in winter. Snow falling, horse-drawn sleighs with bells, skaters on the lake, ice sculptures beyond imagination.”
“Sounds wonderful.” Siree smiled at Jake. “Maybe we could go after the lump emerges.” She patted her bump lovingly. “I’ll need exercise to burn off my baby fat, and skiing is one of my favorite sports.”
“I’ll look into it. We’ll probably want a change of scene by then. We can make up a party with Sam, Josh, and Cat. Eat out, sleep in, do all the snow stuff you love.”
Cat opened her mouth to tell them she’d be long gone by then. Keeping her distance from Josh, once this assignment ended, would be her top priority. She tightened her lips over the words. No use in getting into an argument at this point. She looked up to find Josh’s gaze fixed on her, reading her mind again, no doubt.
“Of course, she may not be Cat by then. Seems like you two forgot to send me a memo when you learned her real identity.” Josh’s tone expressed his displeasure.
“We figured you knew at the wedding. Why didn’t you tell him?” Jake queried Cat with all the subtlety of jabbing her with an ice pick.
“It never came up.” Cat gave Jake a hard look.
“Apparently, we were playing a game of avoidance, but nobody told me the rules,” Josh riposted. “Here put a cracker in your mouth.” He passed the plate to his friend.
“Catarina told us her identity as soon as she was cleared. You should know she had to keep it on the QT.” Siree defended her friend.
“Well, Cat suits her a lot better than Janice did.” Josh admitted. “She’s self-contained, stealthy, and always lands on her feet.”
Flustered, she said the first thing that occurred. “Speaking about changing names, can you shed some light on this RG thing with Gribbs?”
Jake groaned. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to calling him RG.”
Siree moaned. “Remembering to call him that isn’t the worst part.”
Josh and Cat both leaned closer. “What is?” They asked in unison.
“Since the Gibbs crack, he’s trying to soften his image. He ordered CDs of all the episodes for the show and sat and watched every one. Then it started. He smiles now. He pays me compliments. It’s just wrong.”
“The other day he used ‘love’ in a sentence,” Jake interceded. “It’s damn freaky, coming from someone as contained as a nuclear reactor.”
“Gribbs is too tough to let a little teasing about a fictional character hit him that hard,” Josh mused. “He must have been looking for an excuse to change for some time.”
“Maybe something else is influencing him to change,” Cat suggested, thinking of the conflict inside herself to let go and lower the barriers war and loss had forced her to build.
Siree straightened. “I never thought of that. He’s been more approachable since the accident in Mexico. Now he seems to have taken quite an interest in the baby and accepts more of my invitations to do family stuff.”
“You’re right,” Jake noted. “He disappeared inside his suite when he wasn’t on duty. Now he’s showing up in between meals with all sorts of excuses to stay. My ever present and stalwart E.A., Finchley, commented on it the other day.”
“Finchley can’t talk,” Siree stated. “She’s had more peculiar reasons to show up at the estate than make sense.”
“She senses Gribbs moving into the family unit and worries she might be left out,” Josh said quietly.
They all digested that in silence, before Jake rubbed his hand down Siree’s back. “It appears having a baby is creating a bigger family than we expected. You okay with it?”
“They’ve been in your life a lot longer than me. I already saw them as your family along with Josh and Sam. No problem. I’ll even work harder to remember to call Gribbs RG. Especially since he growls like a thwarted pit bull when I forget.”
They laughed. Josh’s gaze once again locked onto Cat’s. Siree spoke to him, and he looked away, releasing his hold. Cat collected dishes and cutlery, handed them to him with a cool look. He pulled table mats and napkins from the sideboard and continued to joke with Jake as he set the table.
Cat excused herself, making her rounds. FBI agents were parked across the street in a black SUV. Around the corner, Gribbs’s men also staked out the building and the FBI from their navy sedan. The monitors were all working, the doors locked. Everything that could keep Josh safe was in place.
Over dinner, Cat relaxed a smidge. She took quiet pleasure in the compliments paid the hearty Beef Bourguignon she served over riced potatoes with roasted squash. It suited the cooling temperatures as autumn slid toward winter. Josh served an excellent Pinot Noir purchased from a vineyard in the Niagara Peninsula. He’d bought a case the last time he’d visited Jake. The conversation, so lively, flitted from topic to topic. The three of them included her as part of a closely-knit team. She battled against the desire to take the friendship given so freely and the need to safeguard her heart behind layers of disinterest and objectivity.
Again and again, Josh’s counsel reverberated in her mind and she pulled her thoughts back into the present. This moment offered pleasure, safety from fear. She helped clear the table and placed bowls of Josh’s peach crumble with hazelnut whipped cream in front of Jake and Siree. Murmurs of approval mingled with the sound of spoons clicking on teeth as they sucked off the last smidgen.
They moved into the living room with aromatic cups of coffee and chocolate-flavored liqueurs. Jake settled on the leather couch beside Siree and addressed the issue at the back of all their minds.
“I’d hoped we’d have answers by now. RG is connected with everything from police to military. Homeland Security is digging, the Secretary of Defense is pushing, yet nobody seems to be able to pin down who’s aiming at you.”
“Aiming at me and killing my driver,” Josh said, the pain still raw. “I’ve calculated it from every angle. There are still too many players on the boar
d to make my conclusions anything but speculation. I did backtrack through the hacker’s signals and get into his system. There were several emails sent to someone I couldn’t trace, but nothing indicated a terrorist involvement. I think we can safely dump that theory.”
“Or let the CIA play with it,” Jake drawled.
“We know there is more than one person involved. We know they’re professionals. We assume they still want Josh or his work eliminated,” Cat added.
“Could someone have gotten wind of your new software, a competitor racing with you for market shares?” Jake asked.
“There are others out there working on liquid data, but I’m positive no one else knows about my work, not even the agencies using my software. You’ve followed the research into the use of yottabyte digital storage for nanophotonic on-chip optical interconnects. I’m taking the idea in a different direction. My yottabyte will provide the equivalent of one trillion terabytes of storage. By using DNA as my storage media, I can write unstoppable code, basically impenetrable for at least the next few years. There are many hackers working cyber espionage who want this, but I know I’m out in front.
“I’ve studied photodetectors for interconnects in my programs. I plan to interface them into the software for several of my clients working in related industries. Fascinating stuff. The Chinese are closest to me in exploiting this area.”
“So could this be all about money?” Siree leaned forward to set her cup on the coffee table.
“I don’t believe it’s that simple. I compete all the time on the open market with my new product development. Each design is worth a lot of money, but no one has gone after me before. The best bet is someone wants to silence Josh,” Jake answered.
“I concur, but neither do I think Maddox took those shots outside the Senate building. He’d go after my software, take me down by breaching security and destroying my reputation. His ego will demand he best me where I’m strongest,” Josh said.
Jake set his cup on the coffee table. “RG says they’ve upped the cyber security within the CIA. They are spying on themselves now. His contact in NSA suggested the CIA might be camouflaging a couple of their agents as FBI to lead us to the wrong conclusions.”