Contracted Defense

by Piper J. Drake

  Ah, Jay, the ass never learned. It’d been a few years now, but he was still rude as hell. It might be a good idea to share some of Adam’s personal experience working with Jay when he and Victoria went over the personnel files this evening. Design and implementation were in their scope as part of the Safeguard contract. Jay was part of the in-house security team. But in order to secure the multilayer security system they were deciding, the on-site security needed to be flawless and on point twenty-four hours a day.

  The trick would be finding the right time and striking the right balance of sharing background information, without personal bias.

  There were a lot of things Adam would rather forget about his last deployment with the US military, but he chose to remember exactly how hit-and-miss Jay’s performance had been in the past. The other man could’ve changed. The couple of years had changed Adam. But looking at Jay now, Adam was doubting any changes had been for the better.

  Chapter Eight

  The streets of Seattle were quiet with an hour or so yet to dawn. Streetlights still held shadows back until the rising sun could arrive to cast light even through the usual cloud cover. Little to no traffic was going to be a good thing for them, but the real challenge to getting back to their client quickly was going to be the ferry.

  Adam didn’t wait for Victoria to bring her vehicle to a stop before grabbing for the door handle and hopping into the passenger seat. For her part, she barely waited for him to close the door before pulling back onto the street. They were going to be first in line to board the ferry, no doubts about that.

  “Unmanned alarm was triggered ten minutes ago. On-site security acknowledged the alarm one minute after trigger. Local authorities just arrived. Security team is coordinating with local authorities to clear the property.” He made the report as he settled his ass into the seat and pulled the seat belt across his torso. He placed his backpack in the seat well, between his feet.

  It was going to be a rough wait for the ferry to make it across the Sound.

  “Too long.” Victoria’s words came out clipped. There was no censure in her tone, only a grim statement of fact. “It’s taking us too long to get there.”

  “Agreed.” He wasn’t exactly chipper either. Neither of them needed coffee though, not with adrenaline zinging through both of them after the alarms had gone off back at their client’s property.

  Based on the initial briefing, there’d been nothing to indicate an immediate threat. There was no clause in the contract specifying response time from the Safeguard team. Sure, Roland had seemed jumpy, but even their client hadn’t indicated he expected the new security measures to be tested right away. He’d simply wanted the redesign to progress as quickly as possible. It’d seemed as if there was time to prepare for impending issues.

  But when the alarm had been triggered, both Adam and Victoria had received notifications. Then she’d texted him to let him know she was en route and to be ready. He’d already been rolling out of bed and rolling extra pieces of clothing to stuff into his pack. It went unsaid: the spirit of their contract was to keep their client safe, which meant they needed to get there. Posthaste.

  He pulled his laptop out of his backpack. “Quick scan of the visual feed from the time of the alarm shows no trespassers. The AI software picked up something, but it’s not anything to be seen with the human eye. Not on night vision, not infrared, not CCTV.”

  The system already in place on Roland’s property before they’d started the upgrades had only had closed-circuit television. Adam and Victoria had added the rest.

  “Visuals were the first update we made. What else could’ve triggered the system? Can’t you isolate?” There was a thread of irritation in her voice now.

  Or maybe he was reading too far into his new partner’s tone. A thousand muttering words rose up in his memory. Sure, no one ever said exactly what they had thought to his face years ago. He’d been debriefed in private. What’d been discussed during his debrief had been confidential. The actual truth of his last mission buried under so much...whatever. That’d been a long time ago. He’d made his peace with his decisions, and he was still convinced it’d been the right thing to do even if it had been a dead end to his military career. He’d been given an honorable discharge at least.

  This was a different situation. Safeguard, and Victoria, were giving him a new chance. Clean slate. There was no need to trip himself up with worrying about the past. He needed to focus on the here and now.

  Victoria hadn’t voiced judgment. She’d asked for information. It was on him to provide the answers, fast.

  “AI registered line of sight broken between multiple points simultaneously. I need to take a look at the feed directly to see what might’ve constituted a break in line of sight.” He scowled as she came to a hard stop at the line for the ferry. “But the chances of several points, at the same time, indicates an issue with the software to me. I’ll check both but looking into the software is going to take longer.”

  Victoria sighed. “I can’t help until we board the ferry, but then maybe we can divide and conquer. I can look at the visual feed while you dive into the software.”

  She paused, and the air was heavy with unspoken thoughts. His temper rose but he grappled with it. “Best clear the air while we’re still on our way there. If you’ve got tough questions to ask, ask them now.”

  “Is it possible this was a mistake in install of the software?” Her voice was steady. “We don’t tend to use software prone to bugs.”

  He held his breath for a count of five, then let it out slow. He wanted to defend himself, be angry that she didn’t have faith in his abilities. But the reality was that she didn’t know him well yet. This was their first mission, first time working together. If they were going to be partners when they arrived back at the property, he needed to build more of the trust between them now. Which meant he had to keep his mind wide open. Even if he knew he’d done everything right, he had to recognize her confidence in him wasn’t instantaneously there. It would build over time. If she didn’t have it, perception would matter more than reality and the rest of this mission would be a clusterfuck.

  “True. This software is cleared by Safeguard and Centurion Corporation. It’s not so new that it’d have a lot of bugs to work out.” He made himself nod as he acknowledged her point. “But let’s keep in mind that every new release of even stable, established software can end up with regression bugs. That’s why software releases have hot fixes. Either install issue or software bug are still fair possibilities. I’m going to have to take a closer look to answer your question but I am careful when I set up my software in a system.”

  She nodded. “Is it possible to have that answer before we get there?”

  Heat seared his ears and forehead, and he fought to keep his own tone reasonable. “What are you going to tell the client if I did fuck up the install?”

  Getting thrown under the bus was nothing new to him. Hell, he’d just been trying to leave the raw memories of having been made into a scapegoat behind him. This line of discussion was starting to feel very familiar, and he didn’t want to sit around for it.

  But he had to. He couldn’t run from his reputation forever. Obviously, time wasn’t going to make it disappear either. Safeguard was taking a chance with him, and if he walked away at the first sign of doubt in him, then he hadn’t earned their trust anyway.

  It stuck in his throat to sit there and wait for Victoria’s answer instead of throwing the car door open and walking away, but he stayed put. Had to. He had something to prove to Safeguard and to his new partner.

  Victoria had been watching him for the last few seconds, her clear blue gaze taking in his posture and expression. He probably looked stubborn as hell at the moment. “If it was a mistake, we take ownership and fix it.”

  She’d said “we.” Too simple. Much as he’d have
liked for them to be that cohesive a team, it was still too new for them. “That so?”

  “Then we need to adjust the way we work.” Her gaze remained steady, locked with his. “I will want to quality-check everything you do after this, until we build up a working level of reliability.”

  He barked out a laugh and it sounded harsh even to his ears.

  Her expression darkened and her brows drew together. “You don’t think that’s fair?”

  He rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the tension and relax his posture. He needed to de-escalate this discussion. It was mostly his fault it’d gotten here. “It’s fair. More than fair. It’s...not something I’m used to.”

  He hadn’t meant to let the last bit out but, hell, she could make of it what she pleased.

  “Look, everyone has history.” He considered how to give her enough information to understand his reaction. He wasn’t ready to take a deep dive into ancient history, not yet. “It’s been my experience that a mistake is like a hot potato. It doesn’t matter who made it, no one wants to take accountability for it and whoever does ends up burned.”

  She nodded, focusing front as she drove the car onto the ferry.

  “I’m surprised.” He dug for words but he was obviously coming up short. “Surprised you’re willing to keep me on this mission and work up to being able to trust me again. It sounded like crap for me to laugh like that, but there it is. I should be more grateful.”

  Victoria huffed. “To be fair, I didn’t trust you that far yet anyway. It’s been pointed out to me fairly recently that I don’t trust anyone to do anything right. My need to check up on people borders on obsessive—or so I’m told. So whether this turns out to be your mistake or the software, I’ll be up front and admit I’m probably going to double-check both of our work anyway.”

  So much wry bitterness in her tone. Someone had ripped her up using a lot of words, twisting them so they sounded accurate when they were meant to do her serious damage. He found his defensive anger turning in a different direction. Whoever had hurt her should suffer an agonizing sort of misfortune.

  When she put the car in park, safely on the ferry, he waited until she turned to look at him again. Deliberately, he released his seat belt and turned in his seat to face her. “If you’re going to double-check everything, Queenie, feel free to check me over inch by inch while you’re at it. I don’t mind.”

  She froze, and for a second he thought she might blow up in his face. Instead, she threw her head back and laughed.

  “You are incorrigible.” She gasped the statement out between breaths. “Hand me my pack from the back seat, and let’s get to checking the data we have before I get completely distracted.”

  He complied with a grin. Victoria Ash might not realize what she’d admitted but he wouldn’t forget. He planned to distract her even more at the first appropriate opportunity he could find, or inappropriate moment if he couldn’t wait that long.

  * * *

  “Where have you been?” Roland rushed forward to meet them as they cleared the front entrance to the main house.

  Victoria paused, waiting for Adam to step inside and join her. He’d been defensive in the car, but he’d pushed through his initial reaction and gotten to work. If he’d done anything else, she’d have tossed him off the ferry into the Sound. Instead, a growing respect was building, and she didn’t want to think too hard about how much it added to her estimation of him. Not yet.

  The time stuck on the ferry had been productive, and they’d been able to rule out several possible causes for the alarm trigger.

  Which was both good news and bad news. Considering the wild look in Roland’s wide eyes, their client was not going to take the bad news with anything resembling calm.

  “We came as soon as the alarms were triggered.” She tried for soothing but stopped as Roland’s jaw tightened. Ah hell, her ex used to say her version of calm was about as comforting as holding on to an iceberg neck deep in freezing ocean. Apparently her ex had been right.

  “We’re here now.” Adam held up his hands, palms outward, drawing Roland’s still panicked gaze. “We’ve checked in with your security team and received a quick debrief. Both Victoria and I analyzed the data from the security feeds on the way over so we’ve not wasted any time.”

  “So what set off the alarms?” Roland backed away from the edge of panic visibly.

  She didn’t blame their client. Adam’s voice had an almost hypnotic quality to it. She found herself drawn in every bit as much as Roland was.

  “We can tell you no one set foot on the property.” Adam gave Roland the good news first. “Every one of the visual feeds confirms there were no trespassers, and your security team on-site has already cleared the grounds. They’re conducting a second check now, not just to confirm the grounds are clear but to double-check for any signs of someone who might have come and gone. Nothing so far.”

  “Okay.” The vein pulsing at Roland’s temple slowly disappeared.

  Good. It would’ve been very bad if they’d had to call an ambulance. The man had been a few minutes away from giving himself a stroke.

  “We can also tell you the artificial-intelligence software installed for detection was installed correctly.” She tried her best to imitate the warmer tone Adam used and was rewarded by a slight uptick at the corner of Adam’s mouth. Fine. He could be amused. “We’re going to stay and continue to analyze the data until we track down exactly what triggered the alarms.”

  Roland nodded, the motion jerky as he tried to swallow at the same time. “Stay. Yes. Excellent. I should’ve insisted on it anyway. You two being across the way in Seattle is too far. I want you to stay on the premises until the security system is fully in place.”

  Victoria opened her mouth to argue and then thought better of it. Adam was waiting for her answer.

  The level of fear and anxiety coming off of Roland in waves didn’t match the behavior of someone worried about a simple incursion of privacy. The man was beyond afraid for his life.

  Staring at him, she waited until he met her gaze directly. There was a pleading in his expression she hadn’t seen previously. The man was desperately afraid, and he was hiding something behind that fear.

  “Are we here to secure your property?” She asked the question quietly, making sure the words would only be heard by the three of them even if someone else or some sort of listening devices were present in the house. “Or are we here to keep you alive?”

  Adam stilled next to her but didn’t project any surprise. He was a smart man. She’d no doubts of that even if she wasn’t sure about a great many things when it came to him. No. She was certain he was waiting for Roland’s response, like her.

  Roland’s eyes widened until the whites showed, and his throat worked as he swallowed hard again. One long second passed and another. A long shudder ran through the man, and he pulled himself together with obvious effort. “I thought if you could secure my property, this house would be safe.”

  Victoria listened carefully to his words. Considered. “There is a difference.”

  After another pause, Roland calmed further. “Stay. Please. My life is in this place. Make it safe. I’ll call your headquarters in the morning and arrange for whatever addendum to the contract is necessary for bodyguard services.”

  “You didn’t answer the question.” Another contractor might’ve taken her client at his word. She cared more about what had gone unspoken.

  “I’ve already agreed to add to your contract,” Roland snapped. His eyes darted to the left and right, his gaze landing on anything around them but her and Adam.

  He still hadn’t given them everything they needed to know. The man had too many secrets, and they were getting in the way of their ability to protect him. As much as she hated to delve into his privacy, he needed to give them full disclosure to do their jo
b right.

  “It’s also important for us to have the right assumptions in place.” She made sure her tone remained neutral despite the escalation in tension. “How we provide your security changes if it’s a difference between protecting a structure or protecting a life.”

  Roland was silent, his face purpling with frustration and intense emotion. After a long moment, he let air rush out through his clenched jaw. “Every life in this household is to be protected. Mine, Tegan’s. Every. Life. Does that answer your question sufficiently, Miss Ash?”

  Push the man any further and he’d have a stroke. She gave him a nod, not risking any further verbal sparring. She’d gotten the nuance she needed to adjust their security design appropriately, at least for now.

  Chapter Nine

  Victoria pressed her hands flat on the desk to either side of her laptop. “My entire morning has been a waste.”

  “Hardly.” Adam lifted his arms, placing his hands behind his head and arching back in his chair for a joint-popping stretch. “We’ve gone through every aspect of the security on the local network and the monitoring systems twice over. That’s a massive undertaking to finish in a day.”

  “Obviously, we missed something.” She kept her gaze fastened to her laptop monitor, ignoring his physical activity with every stubborn fiber in her. Stretching all those delicious muscles was a horribly effective distraction neither of them could afford at the moment. Really. “It’s likely to be some setting conflict, and we can’t close out system testing with this kind of issue recurring.”

  As it was, Roland had fretted himself into exhaustion when the alarm had gone off before dawn. He’d accepted the information they’d known when they’d arrived, but he’d be expecting more answers once he woke.

  To Adam’s credit, he hadn’t even blinked when she’d insisted they go through every aspect of the data and the system logs again. He’d worked with her all day with a matching focus. Even her former partner, Marc, would’ve taken a break to get lunch.