It looks like a drop to me, Mack. An apartment building in Virginia.
Who owns the building? Who is the apartment registered to?
That's the thing I find interesting. A man by the name of Earl Thomas Bartlett owns the building. He appears to have no social security number and no driver's license, yet he owns several companies. There's a Lansing International based in Nevada he recently acquired and a company called International Investments. He has an entire list of companies in various states, all international. He owns a Falcon 2000 executive jet that seems to be able to land on any of our military bases in any part of the world, which he acquired from Lansing before he ever took over the company. And Mack . . . Jaimie has a file on him as well.
He shouldn't have been surprised by anything she did, but he was. Jaimie was thorough. When she began digging, she wasn't going to let anything stop her. What's in the file?
I have no idea. Jaimie's private files are encrypted. I wouldn't be in the databases except that she gave me a password to use on this particular machine for the various databases she's tapping into.
Javier, how much trouble is she in?
There was another long silence. Honestly, boss, it's hard to tell with Jaimie. She covers her ass, and I don't think a computer working on her encryption could break it in a hundred years--she's that good. But she's got stuff here I've never seen before. And Mack. Javier hesitated. She's not working alone.
The words were a punch in the gut. Mack cursed under his breath. Are you certain?
She's not only backing up her work; she's sending it to someone else.
Damn her. I swear I'm going to wrap my fingers around her throat and strangle her. Mack flexed his fingers and shot Jaimie a glare. Joe watching him be damned. He would shake her until her teeth rattled. Why hadn't she told him?
Boss. If you kill her, do I get all this cool equipment?
I'm not in the mood, Javier. Who is it? Can you get me a name?
Not a chance, Top. Remember that encryption program Jaimie was telling us about? Well, she uses it. I can't hack her mail.
Do whatever she did to get into Paul's. You were there. She talked you right through it.
Not exactly. She knows the code, not me. She told me what she did, not how she did it. She has a backdoor into the program, boss, not me. I could search for . . .
Yeah, I get it. A hundred years.
More like a thousand, boss.
It felt like a betrayal to him. She had been corresponding with someone else, sharing her data, her conclusions, her suspicions--with someone other than him. And she hadn't told him. Had he really lost her trust to that extent? The blow was enormous. He stood up so abruptly his chair nearly fell over. Kane caught it, shooting him a strange look, but Mack paced away from them, wishing them all gone. Needing them to be gone so he could be alone to reason out the why of it. Why had Jaimie kept this from him?
It seemed impossible to separate his emotions, as intense as they were. Jaimie was his. His world. They'd talked about resolving their issues. Hell, they'd shared the best sex he'd ever had in his life. Everything was right. But this . . . Why hadn't she told him she wasn't working alone on trying to expose Whitney and whoever was backing him?
Kane, get them out of here.
What's wrong?
I'll tell you later. After he strangled her.
He stalked across the room, vaguely aware of Kane closing down the meeting with the others, filling them in on the plan to retrieve the weapons. Mack stared down at Jaimie's face. So innocent. So pale. Her midnight black hair, so dark it gleamed bluish black whenever the light hit it, only made her skin look almost a pearl white. Her lashes were thick and long and every bit as dark as her hair. There was even a curl on the ends of them, hardly surprising when her hair was so naturally curly.
He reached down and pushed the coil of tubing from around her arm and gathered her into his arms. She stirred, her lashes fluttering, lifting. Her eyes were so blue, like the deepest sea.
"Mack," she said his name softly, a drowsy, slumberous, oh-so-sexy note.
Her smile was slow, drawing his attention to her mouth. The one he spent far too much time fantasizing over. His stomach did a slow roll in time to her smile. "That's right, baby. It's Mack. I'm putting you to bed and sending everyone home." He bent his head to brush a kiss over her forehead. "You'd better not be giving other men that particular smile."
"I reserve it just for you," she assured.
He carried her across the room to their bed. He was glad they hadn't gotten rid of the twin-sized thing she'd been sleeping in. The bed was tucked along the side wall. Kane would have something to sleep on with Ethan in his bed.
I'm assigning Brian to Sergeant Major. We'll put him in his room. There's no way to trace him there, Kane said.
Sounds good. I'll need Javier and Gideon to go with me to Washington.
I knew you were going to go, Kane said, resignation in his voice.
You might want to see if Joe can communicate telepathically. If so, put him on the roof when we're gone. If not, Lucas would be my next choice.
Anything else?
Don't get anyone killed while I'm gone.
I'll do my best, boss.
CHAPTER 16
"What are you doing?" Jaimie asked, coming up behind Mack. She'd known the moment he'd left her bed.
Light was creeping into the windows. The sun could barely make it through the thick fog drifting in off the ocean, casting gloom over the early-morning light. She'd followed him on bare feet down to her workroom after making a cup of tea, more to give herself time to assess her feelings than for the need of her early-morning cup.
Lying all night in Mack's arms, his body wrapped tightly around hers, with Ethan and Kane lying only a few feet away, had been a kind of hell. He had touched her continually. Her breasts, her ribs, her belly, his hand sliding between her legs, fingers moving inside her. She had the marks of his mouth against her neck and even on her breast, his hands and mouth keeping her aroused and on edge, but he'd never said a word. Never took her over that edge, even quietly beneath the covers. She'd never felt so aroused in her life. Every square inch of her body felt sensitive and needy.
"Trying to hack into your files," Javier answered her without looking up from the screen. "Using your own program of course."
She was glad he hadn't looked up. Her nipples were peaked and hard beneath her thin top and lacy bra. "I see." She wrapped her arms around Mack's neck and leaned against his back, careful to keep her tea from spilling, needing to hide her body and feel his warmth at the same time. "Are you getting anywhere?"
"No." Javier shot her a look of pure malice over his shoulder. "I'm thinking of pulling out a gun and shooting your hard drive."
"Why didn't you just come ask me?"
"Would you have given me your password?" Javier challenged.
"No, and I'm think
ing of throwing you out of my house and banning you from ever using my equipment again." Jaimie actually had to work to keep her voice normal. Her tone had gone throaty, almost husky. She didn't look at Mack when he turned his head to glance at her over his shoulder. She couldn't. Afraid he might know. He did know. He arched his back enough to put pressure on her sensitive nipples.
She gasped and straightened, trying to look casual, but that slight brush of her breasts against Mack's back sent arousal sizzling through her veins, from breasts to thighs. She looked down at her hands and found she was trembling. He looked so completely composed while she was a wreck.
She moved away from Mack's solid frame, putting a little distance between them, to perch on the long desktop. Swinging one leg, she sipped at her tea, glaring at Javier, mostly to avoid looking at Mack.
Javier threw his hands in the air, palms out in surrender. "Mack made me do it. Direct order. You know I always obey."
"Lightning is about to strike," she said. She braced herself to look at Mack. It was strange, but she could actually taste him in her mouth. When she drew in air, she felt him in her lungs, as if their energy had knit tightly together and somehow she had left part of herself behind in Mack's body. She kept her gaze squarely in the middle of his chest. "What do you need, Mack?"
There was a silence, forcing her to meet his eyes. You. Right now. Naked on the floor writhing under me. Screaming. You screaming for me.
She honestly didn't know if he sent the words into her mind or if she'd answered her own question, but his eyes were predatory. Hungry. He looked as edgy and moody as she felt.
Mack jerked his head and Javier sighed, stood, and then stretched. "If I'm going to be any good to you, I need rest."
Mack nodded his assent. "We leave in a couple of hours. Have your gear ready. You can sleep on the plane."
Jaimie's stomach tightened. She waited until Javier left before she looked at Mack. "You're leaving?" She had to set her teacup aside so he wouldn't see her hand tremble.
He stepped close to her, so close she could feel his body heat. His eyes darkened, glittered at her as if she riled him. "You knew I'd have to go. What did you think? That Griffen can live on the run indefinitely? We don't have a choice here."