Code Name: Grace (Jameson Force Security 6.5)

He nods toward Bebe’s office, a small space barely bigger than a closet. Both Bebe and Dozer prefer to work collaboratively in the main area, but they do each have their own private hole-in-the-wall offices.

Bebe’s staring at me, having heard the exchange, and she waves me in.

Admittedly, it’s taken a bit of time to get to know this woman. She started at Jameson right after I did. In fact, after Kynan hired me, one of the first things he did was use me to evaluate Bebe’s mental health before he hired her.

Or rather, sprung her from a lengthy prison sentence decades early so he could utilize her special skillset. Bebe’s one of the best hackers in the world.

But over the last several months, Bebe and I have grown increasingly closer. She’s shared some horrors with me—mainly because it’s my job to listen, but also because she’s developed trust in me as a friend.

“What’s up, Doc?” she goofs, mimicking Bugs Bunny holding a carrot up to his mouth like a cigar.

“Funny,” I reply dryly, plopping my butt on the corner of her desk. She doesn’t have another chair in here for me to sit on. “I need your help.”

“Of course,” she replies, sitting up a bit straighter in her chair, head tipped back to regard me. I take a moment to admire the softness in her gaze and her easy smile. I could say that’s due to a lot of different things, but mainly it’s due to her falling in love with Griff Moore. She’s an absolutely different woman.

I hesitate on just what to say, nibbling on my thumbnail a moment, which is a nervous habit I had broken in my teens.

Finally, I drop my hand down to my lap. “What do you know about Griff’s new partner?”

Bebe’s eyes blink hard, surprised by this question. Still, I can also see within her expression that she’s already figured out I must know him personally.

She shrugs. “Seems like a nice guy, but I only met him once. Griff and I were going to invite him over to dinner on Christmas since he doesn’t have any family in the area.”

“He doesn’t have any family at all,” I mutter, mulling over this information, my gaze drifting off to stare at Bebe’s wall, which is devoid of any pictures or artwork. That means Clay has no plans to travel, which is good. It’s an opening.

“How do you know that?” Bebe asks curiously. “That he has no family, I mean?”

My eyes snap to hers, and I make a quick decision to trust her. “I need something from Griff. I need Clay’s home address, and I figure he’s more likely to give it to you than me.”

Bebe’s shaking her head before I can even finish my request. “He won’t give it to me either. You know… all that cruddy privacy shit. Griff’s too upstanding.”

She’s hinting at something. Bebe’s never abided by rules. She’ll push boundaries, even to the point of illegality, if she believes in the cause.

“I need to tell you a story,” I say, rising from her desk and closing the door to give us privacy from Dozer.

I lean back against it, crossing my arms over my chest. Bebe stares at me, head tilted with curiosity.

I take a deep breath, and I tell her exactly how I know Clay and why I want his address.

By the time I’m done, she’s tapping away on her computer to get the information I need. It takes her fifteen minutes of hacking for me to have Clay’s address in hand.

“Thank you,” I say softly, clutching the paper to my heart.

“My pleasure,” she replies, and I know it is. She derives pleasure in taking things that don’t belong to her if the end goal is to help someone else. “And good luck.”

That’s the second time someone has said that to me in the last half hour. And I’ll need all the luck in the world to reach Clay.

CHAPTER 2

Corinne

By the time I make it back to the second floor, I’ve formulated a loose plan. I head straight to Kynan’s office, but I have to wait outside for almost ten minutes as he finishes up a meeting with one of our agents, Saint Bellinger.

He’s one of our more interesting acquisitions, and someone Kynan wanted me to take an especially close look at before he hired him. I suppose that was mostly due to the fact that Saint had quite a criminal background, which centered around high-end art and jewelry theft that ended in a prison stint when his partner had betrayed him.

She later became his wife, but that’s an entirely different story.

I had no reservations about Kynan hiring him. Sure… stealing is wrong, but he never did it for selfish reasons. At first, it was to take care of his mother, then to care for others. A modern-day Robin Hood, so to speak.