Covert Attraction (2 page)

“Got it.” He kept his tone light. “We all do what we gotta do.” He paused. “Would you like me to let you know if I hear of any better-paying job opportunities?”

She stopped scrubbing and stood looking at him. “You know, Daniel, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to flirt with me.”

He laughed aloud. “I didn’t think I was that obvious.” No, he was being even
more
obvious. Although not for the reasons she thought. At least not entirely. He didn’t want to find this woman, who was dressed in the least sexy outfit he could imagine, at all seductive...and yet she somehow was. “So...how about if we go out for lunch one of these days and you can tell me how a beautiful woman like you wound up cleaning shelves instead of...say, modeling?”

That way, he’d be able to pick her brain even more. He wanted to believe she was what she appeared to be, but his gut told him there was a lot beneath the pretty dark hair of hers that she was hiding.

Would talking to her more help him to gain any of the knowledge he sought at this company?

Unlikely, but someone who could push a cleaning cart around and show up in practically any corner of the large pharmaceuticals company might have observed things that could be useful to him. He’d have to figure out a subtle way to get her to reveal anything she knew.

That seemed as good an excuse to himself as any for getting to know all he could about sexy Beth.

“Oh, but I chose to join the housecleaning staff.” She sounded chilly now, as if he had insulted her. Maybe he had. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Her glare told him she was leaving right now, even if he
didn’t
choose to excuse her.

* * *

Beth followed all the protocols she had been taught in the few days she had worked here to reorganize and sanitize the items she had used on the special cleaning cart, then strip off her sanitary gear and place it in the correct receptacles in the clean room.

She felt she could only start breathing again once she was outside the door with her original cart. It was almost a relief to duck into the ladies’ room to fill a pail with water, then pour in the normal kind of cleaning fluid and go back out to start mopping the floor.

Never in her life had she believed she would ever take a job cleaning a building, let alone enjoy it. Sort of. But at least at this moment it was a relief to be out of the presence of that man, Daniel.

Under other circumstances, she might have found him cute, she realized as she pushed the mop back and forth across the floor. More than cute. In fact, he was one good-looking man, which she’d realized as soon as he pulled his face mask down. He had come across as a bit of a geek at first—a techie, scientific sort. And yet his flirtation wasn’t geeky at all.

Plus, he had gotten in her way. She’d pondered whether she could flirt back and use his apparent interest in her to extract knowledge.

Instead, she knew it was better that she stay cautious. Avoid that guy from now on—although she couldn’t really know in advance if she’d run into him on the job.

Unless... She paused with the mop handle in her hand and stared at the floor she had dampened.

Maybe it could be a good thing to befriend a lower-echelon member of the lab staff. Without giving herself away, could she use him to help find what she was looking for?

Interesting idea. She needed to ponder whether it could work and how she could use it before attempting to implement it. But for now, she started moving again, even faster than before. She would finish scrubbing this hall as quickly as she could, before Daniel McManus exited the lab.

If she decided to try to exploit him, she was sure she would see him here again.

Chapter 2

I
t was past 9:30 p.m. when Daniel finally got into his car to drive the few miles on city streets to the small apartment he rented. The place, a few blocks from the beach, was the one perk he allowed himself here.

He was getting paid to be a lab assistant while on this undercover assignment. But he had to turn his wages from Corcoris Pharmaceuticals over to the government to ensure he had no conflict of interest.

No worries, though. He was also being paid by the U.S. Marshals Service as part of its relatively new Covert Investigations Unit within the Identity Division.

He drove under streetlights along four-lane roads in the heart of the Moravo Beach business district, watching his mirrors by habit to ensure he wasn’t being followed.

As he neared his rental unit, it was finally time to return the message he’d received while in the lab. Never mind that it would be after midnight on the East Coast, where he’d be calling. There were no fixed working hours in his job, or in the job of the person whose call he needed to return.

He’d considered finding a way to return it sooner. Judge Treena Avalon, who had founded the ID Division as part of the U.S. Marshals Service, a Department of Defense agency, wouldn’t have called him here if it hadn’t been important.

The phone he used was state-of-the-art and secure. Even so, the judge would have known he could have been with someone who’d notice the call or even eavesdrop if he’d answered before.

Someone like Beth Jones, who might not be exactly what she seemed.

Stopped at a traffic light, Daniel pushed the button to activate the hands-free system within the car, then keyed in the number he had missed.

“Hello, Daniel.” The judge’s response was immediate, and her low, gravelly voice, which filled the car, confirmed that she was wide awake and waiting for his call.

“Hi, Judge. You’re up late.”

“No need to state the obvious. I had something to tell you.”

“I figured. What’s up?”

The light had changed, but Daniel waited a beat, again glancing around to ensure that the other cars in the intersection weren’t keyed in to what he was doing. When he accelerated slowly, the car behind him passed.

“There’s a potential hiccup there at Corcoris.”

“Yeah?” Daniel’s attention was immediately captured. “What’s that?”

“You remember all I told you about the reasons for investigating the company.” It was a statement, not a question, with good reason. His assignment had resulted from a situation that was central to the existence of the ID Division.

“I do,” Daniel said. “What’s up?”

Among her other functions within the Department of Justice, Judge Treena Avalon heard cases involving individuals who didn’t qualify for witness protection but had legal issues that made it prudent for them to obtain new identities.

Once she’d begun functioning in that capacity, she’d made it clear to her superiors that even though there wasn’t sufficient evidence to support criminal charges against those who’d put the petitioners in those actions into untenable positions, the situations they described often required further investigation—to allow someone else to collect enough evidence to prosecute.

Someone with the background and skills of Daniel.

His placement here had been the result of one of those ID petitions—one where a former employee of Corcoris had been threatened because of allegedly making claims that the pharmaceutical company was cutting corners and otherwise endangering the public with its medicines.

The whistle-blower’s claims had gotten the attention of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but the FDA’s initial surprise inspection had yielded nothing. Nor was there any other credible evidence against Corcoris...yet.

The whistle-blower had apparently heard from another reliable employee of Corcoris about some pretty horrible stuff—but she hadn’t personally seen any of the wrongdoing, so she could not provide any useful eyewitness testimony. Nor had she gathered any physical evidence that could help convict anyone at the company. Nevertheless, the judge had believed her credible enough to help change her identity—and to have an undercover operative of the CIU check things out here: Daniel.

If such evidence existed anywhere, Daniel would grab it.

“Well,” said the judge, “after I’d approved the case of the individual involved there at Corcoris, her identity was changed. She’d started her new life.”

That was standard. However— “I hear a
but
in what you’re saying.” Daniel turned the corner onto the block that contained his apartment, only a few doors down. He pulled up to the curb to avoid losing the call on entering the underground parking garage.

“Exactly. I heard from her yesterday, and she hasn’t returned my calls since. She claimed that the person who’d threatened her enough to make her require a new identity hasn’t backed off now that she’s disappeared. He’s threatened her family, who lives there in Moravo Beach. She’s kept her new ID but has apparently gone undercover on her own to gather whatever is necessary to prosecute Preston Corcoris, the company’s CEO, as well as anyone who’s helping him.”

“Hell, that’s what I’m doing.”

“I know. And I’m afraid she’ll get in your way. I’ve been working on other avenues, but for now I need for you to locate—and control—her.”

Why was it that Daniel had a sinking feeling that he had already met this woman?

“Wait a sec.” He ran a test to confirm that their connection remained secure.

“Are we all right?” the judge asked a moment later.

“Yeah. Okay, now, tell me this person’s name.”

“As you were told previously, she used to be Andrea Martinez. Her new identity? She’s now known as Beth Jones.”

* * *

Beth sat in the driver’s seat of the dark blue economy car she rented by the month here. At least it was small, so it didn’t drink a lot of gasoline.

She was only halfway to the tiny efficiency apartment she also rented, in a small town inland from Moravo Beach. She had to make a call before heading to the lodgings she might laughably call home.
As if she had a home.

She’d parked outside a convenience store with scads of activity going on around her for this time of night. A lot of strangers. No one she recognized and no one who’d likely recognize her even if she wasn’t wearing the disguise that was her life these days.

Her mind returned to her “job.” If she could fool everyone at Corcoris Pharmaceuticals with her disguise, she wouldn’t worry about being found out by anyone else. And so far, so good.

She’d never met that Daniel McManus before, but she had been there for less than a week. He’d claimed to be new, too—only a month. He couldn’t possibly know who she really was. He’d acted interested in her, but the guy was probably just flirting.

Under other circumstances, she might have felt more like flirting back. He might be a techie, but he was a good-looking one, and he’d seemed nice. Mostly.

But she couldn’t—wouldn’t—respond to any flirtation. She didn’t dare get close to anyone no matter how lonely she felt. Use him and learn from him? Maybe. But that was all.

She pulled the special phone from the large purse she had bought at a thrift store. For now, she ignored her regular smartphone, the one that contained all the messages from Judge Treena. She wasn’t prepared to return them. Not yet. It wasn’t time to spend long minutes attempting to explain what she was doing to the kind but domineering woman who’d bent over backward to help her—but only the way Her Honor believed Beth needed help.

No, the call she needed to make would be even harder. Bittersweet. But she had to make it.

The phone she used now was a throwaway, a burner phone with limited minutes and a number that would be difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to trace. She stared at it for a few seconds, gathering her courage. And then she pressed in the number she had known for her entire life.

“Hello?” The familiar voice brought tears to Beth’s eyes. No, Andrea’s. For these few precious minutes, she would be Andrea again.

“Hi, Mom,” she said.

“Oh, honey, I’m so glad to hear from you. Wait just a minute. Stan,” she cried, “it’s Andrea!”

In moments, her father, too, had joined the call. “Where are you?”

“You know I can’t tell you.” What would they think if they knew she was only a few miles away from them, from the home where she had grown up?

They didn’t know where she had moved after she had changed her identity but were aware it was far away.

For the next few minutes, she exchanged pleasantries with them. Their conversation was mostly superficial, none of them daring to get into what they were all thinking about.

Danger.

But then she had to ask. “Have you made plans yet to go away for a while?”

“Yes, we’re both taking some vacation time very soon.”

“Don’t tell me where you’re going, but is it somewhere far from here? Someplace safe?”

“Of course. And we’ve been talking to those people you told us to, too. They call a lot and sometimes even have police stop by to check on us.”

Those were security people who Judge Treena had assured Beth would be communicating with her family, keeping an eye on them, at least for now.

But it wouldn’t be forever, Beth was sure. That was why she had to act fast to bring Corcoris down—and keep her family safe.

“And are Ned and his family okay?” She had to ask about her brother. He was involved, too.

“They’re fine, Andrea,” replied her mother.

Andrea again. It had been such a long time since she had thought of herself by her real name it no longer felt like her. She had truly immersed herself in her new identity. She wouldn’t tell her family who she was, though. She couldn’t.

“Are they also going away?”

“We think so.” But her mother didn’t sound convinced.

They talked for a few more minutes about Ned, his wife, Jo, and the kids. Despite her deep concerns about all of them, the conversation made Beth’s heart swell, as if her family were safe and she were truly coming home.

But she knew how false that was.

Finally, she could wait no longer. For one thing, she couldn’t stay where she was. Time to move on.

But she needed to know. “Mom, Dad, have there been any more calls?”

Neither responded immediately. Then her mother said, “Not calls, honey, but—”

“Letters, texts, whatever,” interrupted her father. “Nothing’s specific, though we reported it again to the cops and those other security people and they said they tried to trace the sources, but... Anyway, don’t you worry about it. You just stay safe. We’re being careful. We’ll be fine.”

She soon ended the call with them, wishing she could just start her car engine and dash the three or so miles to the home where she’d grown up. Hug her parents. Reassure them that she was going to fix things.

But if she simply showed up before they’d retreated to someplace safe, even temporarily, and she hadn’t yet accomplished what she needed to do here...well, she wasn’t certain whether any of them would survive.

Beth got out of the car quickly before she started crying. Inside the store, she bought a bottle of water and a lottery ticket. Maybe she’d win a dollar or two, and then she would know that her luck had changed.

Or not.

Time to go to the place she had to call home for now. And try to get at least a little sleep.

She managed to drive there in only another half hour. She’d been cautious again. No one seemed to follow her. No one called her. She used a security code to open the front door—one of the things that had attracted her to this place. When she went up the flight of steps to her second-floor unit, she paused. No neighbors were in the hall. And when she went inside, she saw nothing to worry her.

After locking her door, she turned on the TV, wanting to divert her mind from the fear that had brought her back here. Fear not for herself but for her family.

If she could be certain that simply turning herself over to the CEO of Corcoris would keep her parents and her brother and his family from danger, she’d do it.

But she knew better. Preston Corcoris would leave no loose ends.

Tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow she would at last find the evidence she could turn over to authorities to get Preston arrested.

Evidence she hoped to find in or around the lab.

The lab where, tonight, that Daniel had gotten in her way.

Well, she would have to ensure somehow that he wound up helping rather than hindering her. Otherwise, she would need to find a way to stay away from him.

A short while later she stood and pulled the bed out of her convertible sofa. She changed into her nightclothes and got under the covers, leaving the TV news on for a while.

But listening to the woes of everyone else in the world made her feel no better. She used the remote to turn it off.

If only she could turn off her mind as easily.

For a long time she just lay there.

Judge Treena had made promises a month ago when the threats to Beth’s family had started. Or at least when Beth had learned about them from her reluctant parents in one of their rare phone calls.

Judge Treena. Beth hated that she pretended to ignore the one person who had genuinely attempted to help her. She would call the judge back. Maybe she would do that tomorrow, too.

Her parents had sounded okay, but how could they feel all right with what had been going on in their lives—thanks to Beth?

She needed to fix things. Fast. But she had doubts about how well things were progressing with her “job” at Corcoris. Was there any way to speed things up? Get help?

Yeah, right. Her notion about figuring out a way to use Daniel—or anyone else, for that matter—was just wishful thinking.

She sighed aloud and tried once more to sleep.