"Is this your normal avenue of release?"
"Not even close." Her tone was cutting and soft.
"I meant no offense."
He heard the water run and the shuffling of movement. A couple minutes later she emerged, dressed. Her hair was brushed out and placed in a messy bun at the nape of her neck.
"You might not have meant to offend, Mr. Kinkaid, but your question says it scares you that there's nothing here more than me offering you a body to relieve yourself into. I can assure you it is nowhere near the case. However, the next time you want to mark me as yours," she said, her tone deadly serious as she stepped in front of him, "you better be prepared for me to return the favor in any way I desire."
He started to object but stopped when she held up a finger.
"This was a no rules situation. One which I enjoyed a great deal. But all actions have consequences," she said with a smirk. "Now get dressed. And in case you were unclear, that was an order."
Kade relaxed under her gaze and smiled. "Yes, Ma'am."
He walked to the bathroom and cleaned up. As he emerged, he hit the power button on the radio. A dissonant set of voices clattered against his earpiece.
"Does anyone have eyes on Sec one?" a male voice demanded.
"No one has seen Sec one in the last thirty mikes."
"This is the Command Center, find him."
The radio popped and cracked as other voices pushed through the communication line.
Kade took a deep breath into the pleasure which still hummed through his body and prepared for a hard shift back into the chaos.
"Command, this is Sec one," he replied into this radio mic.
"Where the fuck have you been, Sec one?" Tanner screamed.
"Exactly," he hissed. "Offline. Getting clarity."
The radio went silent as he replied.
"Princeton is down hard. The new crew arrival in two hours. Houdini not answering."
"I am Oscar Mike. Be there in 10 mikes."
"Copy that, Sec one."
He ran a hand through his hair. Kade wasn't sure if the relief fuck was well timed or just another hard suffering transition. He was still lost in his thoughts when he entered the apartment's kitchen.
"Heads up," Jessica called from the refrigerator as she tossed him a bottle of water.
He barely looked up in time to catch and fumbled it onto the counter. She was frowning when he picked up the water bottle and glanced in her direction.
"Well, it looks like I wasted my efforts," she said with dismay.
Kade shook his head. "Never wasted. Everyone was looking for me when I turned on my radio. I'd call it ill-timed and well-needed."
Jessica nodded in understanding. "An oxymoron as always," she said and shifted on her feet. "Before we go back, I was on my way to your office from my discussion with Cassandra when the need for this detour became apparent."
Kade perked up and waited for her to continue.
"Cassandra wrote out a confession, of sorts."
He scowled at her. "How does one sort of confess? Doesn't a person either confess or declare their innocence?"
Jessica nodded her head back and forth while her hands rotated in a signal of it not being so simple in real life. "She confessed to doing a number of things, including the knife in the door."
"Perfect," Kade interrupted her. "You go arrest her for harassment and whatever else you can think of and..."
"Not so fast, Mr. Kinkaid. She was being coerced. Cassandra is in a large amount of medical debt after her mother died from several years of battling cancer. She thought she was taking on a job as an undercover reporter. Her contact told her about the Dominant mentor program with Alexandra and gave her all the right words and descriptions to say in the interviews."
Kade blew out a hard breath. The world he'd envisioned as horrible went to horrid the more Jessica talked.
"Cassandra admits putting the knife in the door, but only because her contact threatened to expose her to every member in the club."
He scowled. It made little sense. There were only two sources of membership information kept anywhere in the club archives, and a significant amount of protocols protected those data points.
"She also said the club had an infestation both in the software and the hardware."
"Shit," Kade said blowing out a hard breath.
"My thoughts exactly."
He let the information settle into his thoughts.
"Sec one, this is Command. What's your twenty?"
"Oscar Mike. Got delayed."
"Copy that," the voice replied.
"Jessica, Alexandra was on a yacht in St. Kitts. It was overtaken this evening. When you walked in, I was finalizing the replacement crew. We don't know how bad it is, and I need to get to the Command Center."
She rounded the corner of the island with a stern look.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me? I would have never—" she yelled but stopped when his finger pressed against her lips.
"Because I needed this. It released every emotion that was driving me. You gave me a clarity I can now apply. And you brought me information I needed. Thank you."
Jessica nodded. "What should we do about Cassandra?"
Kade gave her a half grin.
"Leave her in the box for a bit to stew. She's out of the way, and it'll give us time to think of the most appropriate punishment."
Jessica chuckled.
"Now, let's get the rest of this mess sorted out," he said as he headed toward the door.
"On your six," she replied from behind him.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jessica followed Kade back through the club and into the chaotic Command Center. The minute they entered, Tanner eyed her and quirked an eyebrow. She refused to return anything to him and left her face expressionless as he started the sit rep with Kade. Years of military training had taught her the discipline to know when to jump in the middle of a situation and the time to observe it. In this case, no matter how much it was affecting Kade, the latter was in play.
She moved to the corner of the tight room and watched the images from the large screens change in their perspective. Everyone was on a phone or a radio, and she worked to keep up with the ever-evolving situation playing out in front of her. A scowl marked Kade's face as he caught up on the details, but there was nothing she could do to help.
"Call the boat. Get me Alexandra," he demanded to the room.
"Yes, Sir."
"Where's the team now?"
"The locals are aboard. John is an hour out. The rest are two hours out."
She watched Kade nod his response.
Questions from the case spun in her head. How was the boat situation connected to the knife which connected to Cassandra? What was the motive behind the attack? Was it meant to be an attack? The last one seemed the easiest to answer based on the limited information she'd received. The boat attack was premeditated. The biggest problem was why? There wasn't a clear-cut motivation here. In its simplest form, it sounded like an easy case of a jilted lover, but in this world nothing was ever easy. It was a lesson she'd learned quickly in her immersive time at the club. Things on the surface did not always lead to the motives underneath, and the motives underneath and action did not always synchronize with the visible actions.
She closed her eyes and let the pieces form in her mind, working each one like a puzzle piece. Alexandra and Edmund were in a pro Dominant relationship. For years it was stable, then suddenly he wanted to marry her and stalked her. Now she was on the run and someone had attacked her safe house on a yacht. Then there was the threatening knife in the door and the inference of issues in the club's systems. Jessica's mind dug for the motive. There was a connection to all the pieces, but it felt disjointed, like there was more than one situation colliding at once.
"Detective," a male voice called for her.
Her face pinched in aggravation as the puzzle pieces evaporated, and she opened her eyes.
"Yes?" she replied
, working to even out the annoyance from her tone.
"Mr. Breckenridge would like to talk to you," he said.
"About?"
"He didn't give me details, Ma'am. He only asked that I find you."
Jessica nodded and exhaled her frustration. "Lead the way."
"This way please, Ma'am. He's in Mr. Kinkaid's office."
She followed the man out of the Command Center and over to the office. Inside, Ian Breckenridge sat on the couch, his cell phone up to his ear as he motioned them inside.
Without hesitation, Jessica walked over to the large chair in the seating area and took a seat. She watched Ian nod and heard the door of the office close.
"Okay. This whole thing is a cluster. We're missing something. Keep digging," he said into the phone and clicked it closed.
"A flip phone. Interesting," Jessica quipped when he looked in her direction.
"Encrypted. Simple. Comparatively secure," he replied.
Jessica nodded. Technology moved so fast the security of it often lagged far behind the capabilities.
"You 'summoned' me, Mr. Breckenridge?"
"It was more of a request for your help," he replied, a smile pulling at the edge of his mouth.
"So someone lost the request in translation, is your assertion, I am to presume."
"Something like that," he said with a nod. "I like your bluntness, Detective."
"That's new. It rubs most people the wrong way."
"I'm sure. Most people aren't confident enough to put away their preconceived biases."
"And you are?" she challenged.
"I'm fallible, but I try. Which is why I wanted to talk to you. We've got a problem on our hands, and our mutual friend will drown if we don't do everything we can to help him."
"I am sure Mr. Kinkaid is quite capable of bringing this situation to a close. He's well in command of his team and brings in the necessary consults to give different perspectives," she said, pinching her face in a protective glare.
Ian threw up his hands in defense. "It's not a doubt of his skill. Kade and I go back a long way, and that man saved my ass on more than one occasion. I literally owe him my life. But the situation is complicated, and anyone would drown in it. Couple that with his personal relationship with the victim, and he’s a bit over his head.”
Jessica sat and watched him without a word. She pulled Cassandra's confession from her pocket and passed it over to Ian.
He unfolded it and read it. Jessica leaned back in the chair and watched his expression change as he made his way down the page.
"Did you tell Kade?"
"The highlights only," she confirmed.
"Where's Cassandra now?"
"Interrogation One."
Ian nodded. She watched as he calculated his next move, but his expression remained stern.
"Okay. I'll get her moved to more pleasant overnight accommodations."
The shift in his voice indicated an undertone of sarcasm, but Jessica had learned not to take much at face value in this place.
"Thank you for trusting me with this information," he said with a nod. "May I keep it?"
"Yes. I've already created what I needed from it."
Ian placed the paper into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out another paper.
"This is the reason I wanted to talk to you," he said, laying the paper on the table and pushing it toward her.
Jessica picked it up, unfolding it and reading the information. It was her turn to school her features as she processed the words.
"This is a very generous offer, Mr. Breckenridge, but I have a job," she said without taking her eyes off the paper in her hand. There were more zeros at the end of the number than she would see if she made captain.
"I am aware. Your talents are being wasted in a constant testosterone contest, if the display at the club's bar was any indication."
Her head shot up, and she glared at him.
"I don't need a white knight trying to save me from the world. I've worked my ass off to earn respect," she spat back at him.
"And yet it still doesn't come to you. This isn't a pity offer, Detective. I am always looking for extraordinary talent to join my team. You have a unique perspective on the world. It's not all gray, and it's not all black and white. From your performance here, you let little get in the way, but you also don't charge into an unknown situation to be the hero. Some of my team could use more of that type of training," he said.
"What exactly is the position, Mr. Breckenridge?"
"Investigations. There will be times when you may need to be a body double or a bodyguard, but those will be rare," he replied, a slight pause stammering his words.
"Because of my... stature?"
Ian chuckled. "We rarely have clients who fit your profile. Though I fully believe you have the skills if necessary. However, I do have a friend with several ‘identities’ who could use another person on her side when necessary, without blowing her cover.”
Jessica looked back down at the paper. She'd always heard about defining moments. This wasn't how she pictured them and yet she sat right on the cusp.
"How soon do you need an answer?"
"No more than three days. My team's workload is exploding. Business is good," he said with an odd sadness.
She nodded. It was always a difficult position for those in law enforcement and security. When it was quiet there was either a storm on the horizon or boredom, but when business was booming, it was easy to be overwhelmed with the constant battles. Ian was offering her the opportunity to pick the battles. She was only hoping it wasn't moving from the flames of a simple fire to the inferno of hell.
"When would you like me to start?"
A smile of relief spread across Ian's face.
"Three weeks. The captain would kill me if I tried to take you away too soon, and I need his help too often to make an enemy."
Jessica sighed and let out an ironic laugh. "Politics to the left of me, blood suckers to the right."
Ian nodded. "It will only get worse from here. Welcome to Breckenridge Security, Ms. Lawson."
Her nose wrinkled in disgust. Never in her career was she subjected to the odd title phrasing given to females. It was always her last name or her title.
"Was it something I said?" Ian asked with concern.
"Other than Ma'am, I'm rarely referred to with a female title. It sounds odd, like someone is guessing at my marital status," she replied.
Jessica shifted in her seat. She rarely voiced her own thoughts on the matter, and being in a male driven industry, rarely needed to deal with it.
"Ah. I understand. Do you prefer Jessica or Lawson?"
"Lawson is fine."
Ian nodded as he stood.
"Then welcome to the team, Lawson. I expect great things from you. For now, I need to go make accommodations for our unexpected guest."
Jessica rose to her feet and reached out her hand. "Thank you."
Ian took her small hand in his and shook it. "Don't thank me yet and don't curse me when it gets hard."
"Noted," she said with a smile and watched him walk out of the office.
Her mind was a constant dissonance of ideas, information, and thoughts. The earlier fuck with Kade provided clarity to their relationship and the murky waters of working together. On the other hand, the case refused to form any clear motive. She walked over to the long white board, which dominated a small alcove in Kade's office, and picked up a marker. Without thought, she let her hand move across the board. Each stroke of the marker dumped information. None of the ideas connected and she let the free flow of her hand write out the clutter of her mind.
Everything around her grew silent as she focused on the board in front of her. Here, time didn't exist. She marked Edmund as her lead suspect to connect the rest of situations together. Edmund was involved in stalking Alexandra, but was he also the anonymous person behind Cassandra's original assignment? Jessica drew a circle around Cassandra's name with a question mark at th
e edge. She knew Edmund was fiscally capable of a pursuit, but the motivation was unclear. Above his name she placed the three most likely ones: greed, power, sexual control. Based on her information, she boxed in power and sexual control, though she admitted that the sexual control seemed out of bounds based on their previous professional relationship.
She abandoned her path on Edmund and moved over to Cassandra. Someone had given her an assignment and wanted her to do an exposé on the club owner. But they had also given her information on St. Kitts.
Jessica followed the St. Kitts lead down the board. She listed off the number of people who knew the location as a safe house. Then she listed their locations. Her brow wrinkled in confusion. What was it that Cassandra said in the room? "He's always listening. He knows everything." She wrote the words beside the St. Kitts. How does someone always listen and know everything?
The question twisted in her mind. Her hand worked the marker across the board in an odd stream of consciousness as she word-associated conversation, telephone, conference call, smart phones, bugs. When the last word completed, her whole body stopped. She pulled her phone from her pocket and scrolled through the written confession. Cassandra had written that she thought the club had an infestation in the hardware and software based on her investigation.
She placed a red line between bug and infestation. How would someone bug a place as secure as the club? They logged every single badge in or out. The club assigned each member an individual pin, and their guests screened with a background check. Yet they'd missed something. She stared at the board. Her fingers continued to move between the word bug and St. Kitts.
The office door opened, and the voice barely penetrated her focus.
"Atlas, oh thank God! Are you okay?" Kade's voice rushed as he walked into the room.
"Oh." She heard him pause the conversation.
There was a long pause, and she put down the marker to turn toward his voice.
"I just got word Reece is being airlifted to Miami," he said into the phone he held at his ear. "According to my sources, the object missed his artery by a quarter of an inch. The application of pressure and a move to the recovery position saved his life. The jet will be on the tarmac for your arrival in four hours. Based on the information from my team, it will take you six hours to get back to port. Everything you need will be on the plane when you dock. Wheels will be up as soon as you are ready. We could get you back faster, but I think it is best to leave you on the yacht. A new crew will be aboard shortly to bring her home. Everyone on the new crew I know personally. They were in the general area at the time I put out the emergency call and are en route to you. We are still assessing how this happened."
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