Chemical Attraction (29 page)

Glad for the interruption, Joe asked, “Any problems?”

Joe and Matt heard Eva’s voice. “No, you have her with you.” Tim jumped in while Joe shook his head. “Team 1, this is Team 6,” Eva continued.

“Yes, Team 6,” he replied.

“I understand the D-cup is deaf.”

He looked at Matt. “Why is she doing this to me? Can’t you control your wife?”

“Yeah, as well as you can control your sister.” Matt touched his headset. “Affirmative.”

“Good, because the D-cup plans to turn in the King for singing with the Piano Player.”

“What the hell is she doing?” Joe asked Matt. “Team 6, cut the chatter and keep the channel open.”

“What’s going on, Joey?” Rita asked sweetly.

“My wife thinks talking in code is funny,” Matt replied.

“All I’m saying, Team 1, is that Team 6 won’t let that happen,” Eva said.

Joe sighed. “Team 6, tell the Mouth that the King doesn’t need help.” His agents were not going to let him forget this at all. He could picture the harassment now.

“Team 1, I tried,” Tim said, exasperated. “The Mouth and the Piano Player want to, uh, wash, twist, and hang the D-cup out to dry.”

“Team 6, Team 5 will provide the detergent.”

“Team 5, Team 2 has the coins for a double rinse.”

“Team 1, Team 4 can buy the rope for the hanging, we mean drying.”

He stared at brother-in-law, who chuckled. “You are not helping, Matt.”

“Is there a problem, Joey?”

Ignoring her, he touched his earpiece again. “Enough chatter. The King will dry clean his own laundry. Team 6, where are you?”

“Team 1, we’re in an area with static. We’ll check in later,” Eva’s voice said clearly.

Madeline held six Ziploc bags with five vials in each from the first floor labs. “I don’t think that helped much,” she said as they entered the stairwell to the second floor.

Eva laughed. “It was fun talking behind her back.”

“I should get started on these,” she said. “I’ll take them to my lab while you and Tim gather the rest.”

“I shouldn’t leave you alone,” Tim said. “We need to stay together.”

“I’ll be locked in my lab, plus I have my gun if I need it.” Not giving him a choice, she turned on the lights in her lab. Setting the bags and her purse on the counter next to the door, she turned on the nanoscope on the other side of the room.

“I’ll stay and help,” Eva said.

“I’ll be okay. Besides, you’re only a button press away.”

“I should check in then,” Tim said.

“After Eva’s coded conversation, he’ll only give us a lecture,” she said as Eva nodded. “I really need to get this started or we’ll be here all day.”

Reluctantly, Tim and Eva left. She locked the door through the keypad and checked Ernest’s water. Jessica must have disposed of Burton. Shivering, she turned back to the nanoscope. She didn’t want to be responsible for Joe’s bad mark. She’d downplay their relationship. Deep in thought, she continued to look at each vial.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Dr. Pierce hard at work,” Kenny said from her office doorway.

She jumped at his voice. Pushing her panic down, she casually touched her earpiece and covered it with her hair. “Kenny, what are you doing in my lab?”

“I’m hiding out, and you just became my hostage,” Kenny said, blocking the door from any escape.

“Madeline, we’re on our way,” Joe said in her ear.

“The doors are locked. How’d you get in here?” she said to Joe and Kenny.

“I have a passkey to bring supplies to the labs. I can even mess with the lock, so nobody can get in,” he said, backing up to the door and punching numbers into the keypad.

“I know what you’ve been up to. Who are you working for?” she asked, keeping the center table between them.

“I’m my own man.” Next to the door, he shook out the contents of her purse. “Well, look what I found.” He aimed her gun at her, freezing her next to the nanoscope.

“You’re just a boy with my gun.”

“Madeline, do not provoke him. We’re trying to get in,” Joe said.

“Yeah, well, this boy enjoyed stroking you the other day.” He laughed and walked closer to her.

“I went home and washed off your grime. You have no idea how to handle a woman, do you?”

He stood next to her. “I have power around here, and the ladies like that.”

“Please, what power? Bill has you on a choke chain,” she replied, crossing her arms.

“Bill and I are partners. He even said so.”

“Madeline, we’re almost in,” Joe said again in her ear.

“No, wait,” she replied to Joe.

“What?” Kenny asked, with his back to the door.

“I said no. He clearly has you under his thumb. He and Alan are the real partners.”

“Damn it! You have thirty seconds,” Joe growled.

“Alan works for him, but Bill trusts me with inventory,” Kenny said.

“Bill doesn’t trust you. You’re the boy who loads boxes. You couldn’t even do that right. I figured it out. You don’t even know why you’re doing it,” she said as Joe slowly opened the door.

“I know that this money is used for something bigger.” He grabbed her and spun her around to face Joe. His arm around her waist held her like a vice while the gun pressed against her temple.

With both hands, Joe aimed his gun, not moving a muscle. “Let her go, Kenny.”

“No way, she’s my ticket out of here. What do you think of that, boyfriend? I may have to prove I can melt this iceberg.” He pulled her along the back wall, working his way toward the door.

With his team just outside the open door, Joe moved around the lab tables to stand by the nanoscope where they had been, his gun unwavering. “My agents aren’t going to let you leave.”

“Put your gun down now or I’ll show her what a real man can do,” he said, cupping his hand to her breast. He squeezed it hard.

“Ow, that’s really working Kenny,” she replied, squirming under his grip. “All you’re doing is making me want to vomit.”

“How about this?” Kenny slid his hand down her abdomen to her jeans. Popping the button, he groped as he went.

“Okay, Kenny, you win,” Joe said with murder in his eyes. “I’m putting it right here on the counter. Stop it.”

“Joe, is Ernest coming to help me?” she asked with tears in her eyes.

He slowly moved closer to the ultrasound machine. “Kenny, this is your last chance to put the gun down.” He angled his body, so he could quickly hit the switch and dial. “Besides, it took me months to melt the ice.”

She pulled Kenny’s hand out of her pants while he pushed the gun harder against her head. Agents crowded around the door, ready to storm the room. Kenny laughed and shoved her into the center lab table a foot away. He slammed his groin against her backside. She grunted.

“I think I could melt the iceberg in a lot less time.” He slammed her again, causing her to bend over the table.

Joe flipped the switch and cranked the dial. Ernest jumped against the cage. Kenny turned, moving the gun slightly. Deflecting it, she jabbed him in the abdomen with her elbow. Joe was at her side before she knew it. He grabbed her gun with one hand and hit Kenny in the jaw with his fist, knocking him into the cage. Kenny scrambled away, but she punched him square in the nose. He fell as Joe’s agents flew into the room.

She leaned over him. “Don’t ever touch me again.” She buttoned her pants as the agents hauled him to the cafeteria. Her hand hurt, but the rest of her felt better. No wonder Aunt Sylvia boasted about punching Earl.

“Keep him separate from the rest,” Joe said. “I want to talk to him.”

She flipped the switch to the ultrasound while Ernest lay dead with blood seeping from his eyes. Why was Ernest dead? Rubbing her temple, she tried but couldn’t focus on that. She could have died, too. She’d had a gun, her gun, against her head. Slowly, she sat on the stool. She absently felt the vials for heat. They were still cold from their refrigeration.

Joe put a hand on her shoulder. “Baby, are you okay?” She nodded but didn’t look at him. “Hey, come here.”

She hugged him. “I was so scared.”

“You did great. You stayed calm and even got him to confess some important information,” he said into her hair. “I love you. You constantly amaze me.” He kissed her lips, calming her anxiety.

They heard Eva over the com. “Is the King finished singing with the Piano Player? We have more work to do.”

Joe sighed and touched his earpiece. “I suppose everyone heard that.”

She had forgotten to turn off the microphone on her com unit. She tapped it off. “I’m sorry.”

“Team 2 checking in. We hear static and missed previous conversation.”

“Team 4 has static from cafeteria location.” She smiled as the teams continued to deny hearing Joe. They didn’t want him in trouble either.

“Team 1 requests the King’s presence. We found something in CFO’s office,” Matt’s voice said.

“On my way,” Joe replied, tapping the headset again. “Are you done with those?”

She nodded. “None heated up when you turned on the ultrasound. I should have done that first instead of looking at each vial. Anyway, we still have the rest of this floor and the fourth.”

“For now, I want you with me.”

“I’m safe. I can stay.”

“I want you and Eva in on the search in the offices. I’m also not over seeing the woman I love with a gun against her head.” He pushed his earpiece. “Team 6, report to third floor.”

She and Joe walked into Alan Shaw’s office to find Matt, Eva, Rita, and Tim standing around a TV. “We found this disc in a drawer underneath some files,” Matt said, sliding it into the DVD player. The blue screen of the TV switched to a scene with Joe shoving her against the wall, knocking down two clipboards.

“Uh, I can explain.” Joe stepped past the crowd. Before he stopped it, they saw her thigh-highs and garter by the copy machine.

“Whoa.” Tim stared with the rest of the group.

Joe quickly hit the eject button. When the screen turned blue again, everyone looked at her. She tried to think of how to explain, but it all sounded so lame in her head.

“Let’s just say we were working undercover to get some information and leave it at that,” Joe said. That sounded just as lame.

Eva grinned. “So that explains last Monday seeing you before my meeting with Susan Dolan?”

Blushing deeply, she nodded. “Is that why you called us up here?”

Joe held onto the disc and waited for Matt to answer her question. “No,” Matt said, “Rita found something curious in the CFO’s computer.”

“I looked through his accounting files under specific departments. One department shipped items to another off-site laboratory, but BennTech paid for all of the expenses. I flagged it because it’s raw materials.”

“The ingredients for meth?” Joe asked.

“No, but these materials are the only things sent out from the company,” Rita replied.

“Which department is it?” Madeline asked.

“Yours, Dr. Pierce.” Rita crossed her arms. “I think you’re in on this.”

“I’m the one who called the FBI.”

“Maybe it’s a cover because we were getting close.”

“You’re right, Rita,” Eva said. “Homeland Security called the FBI to cover her own butt. You’re an idiot.”

“What do you mean, Homeland Security?” Rita asked, glaring.

Eva grinned. “Madeline works for Homeland Security. She outranks you.”

“She does not,” Rita replied, looking at Joe. Madeline sighed.

Joe shrugged. “She actually outranks me.”

“Getting back to the information … what items are shipped to this other laboratory if they aren’t meth materials?” Matt asked.

“Here, I printed off a hard copy.” Rita slid it over to her.

Looking over the sheet, Madeline paled. “I’ll explain this nano-stuff later,” she said as she folded the sheet and stuffed it into her back pocket.

Joe nodded. “Anything else about the meth materials being bought or shipped out?” Rita shook her head. “I think I’ll have a chat with Kenny. Keep looking.”

Tim continued to stare at Joe and Madeline. He didn’t quite understand how Homeland Security fit into the scheme of things. He’d known this would be an interesting assignment, but now it was blowing his mind. He listened carefully and tried to piece the puzzle together. They had a DVD of Joe and Madeline making out in part of the building. Madeline outranked them as a Homeland Security agent and her department sent chemicals to another lab that wasn’t meth related. He had no idea what was going on.

Joe looked at him. “Come with me while the rest continue the search.” He set the disc down on the desk and walked out the door. In the hallway, Joe stopped and faced him. “That DVD shows us obtaining information. If word gets out about what you saw on it, I’ll know you did it. It won’t bode well for you, when I add the fact that you left Madeline alone in an unsecured area.”

“Yes, sir,” he said, cringing.

Agents knew Joe as an intelligent guy, but if you crossed him, it became ugly. He remembered last year when an agent blew Joe’s cover. John Betts not only got a dressing down in front of the team, he now had a desk job in Idaho. For as much as he wanted to tell the guys about the DVD, he did like and respect Madeline. Besides, he didn’t want to piss off a guy who was trying to protect the woman he loved.