Embraced by Fire (7 page)

Ryu sat up with a gasp. Sweat trickled down the side of his face. Damn, he hated it when he dreamed. He rubbed his fingers against his temples. Why that dream? Other than the fact it was a while since he’d shifted fully and the dragon was getting edgy to spread its wings, he didn’t dream without reason.

He leaned back against the headboard as an image popped into his head. The photos he’d taken, one of the men had been Razor. How could he have forgotten?

He dragged his phone off the bedside table and sent Adrian a message. The case was about a year old and fitted with the timeline. Although that compound looked like something you might see in the South American jungles, it hadn’t been, it had been domestic, albeit isolated.

He added another text after his first. His mind was shouting that one of the other men in his photos would turn out to be a buyer for the black market information. Seller and buyer in one photo would make a very nice piece of evidence.

****

Monday was turning out to be far more difficult than Kait expected. She arrived early and everything, other than the weather being unseasonably crisp, suggested it would be a regular start to the week. However, things started getting challenging about four o’clock when Ryu arrived to use the practice space.

Ryu, about whom she was still having inappropriate fantasies. She dreaded to think what he might read from her face and she longed to avoid him. Unfortunately, she couldn’t stay in her office for the rest of the day and hide. Instead she had to carry on as normal. Each time she saw him her stomach twinged and her heart jumped. She couldn’t even blame anyone else, this was a nightmare of her own making.

She saw him on her way to Edward Heath’s office; the accountant always insisted on seeing her on Monday afternoons. She saw him on her way to get a cup of coffee as he ran through his routine. She saw him on her way back to her office as he paused to talk to Rachael. She caught his heady scent on her way to Victor’s office to talk about Thursday’s function. By the time she left Victor’s office, she recognised the clammy hands of panic.

This was ridiculous. She let out a whoosh of air. She
never
reacted this way to men. She worked with him for goodness’ sake, she couldn’t ignore and avoid him forever. Straightening her spine, and paying no heed to the barrel of cats in her stomach, she walked over to where he was working through his choreography. His face set in concentration.

She was halfway across the floor when he stopped and dropped his torches into their stand. Then…oh cripes, he wasn’t?

She squeezed her eyes shut, then quickly opened them again.

He was.

He was unbuttoning his long-sleeved shirt. He pulled it off in one quick, unselfconscious move. Her feet forgot what they were doing. The tight, white t-shirt he wore underneath revealed his muscular body to perfection. The edge of a tattoo on his upper arm peeked out below his sleeve. Her tongue stuck to her palate as her mouth dehydrated. Without thinking, she turned and hurried in the opposite direction.

She almost ran nose first into a support pillar, flinging her hands out in time to prevent bloodshed. This was madness. She blinked away the image of Ryu’s muscles flexing as he rolled his shoulders.
Focus, Kait, Focus
.

Ducking around the other side of the pillar so she couldn’t be seen from the practice floor, she leaned against the cold concrete. Her racing heart thumped against the pillar at her back. So much for attempting reasonable adult behaviour. He was a fascinating magician and she utterly be-spelled.

Rubbing her hands against her upper arms, she attempted to get herself back in line. First step, go back to her office and hide. Taking a deep breath, she pushed herself away from the pillar and took steps so outwardly composed no one watching would know all she wanted to do was run.

Except, her office wasn’t empty. Her steps slowed. A dark, male silhouette moved behind the mottled-glass office door. She stopped, her mind in no state to cope with a curve ball. She had an open door policy, and was always available if any of the staff needed to talk. But no one went into her office if she wasn’t there…

The shadowy figure slammed a hand loudly against her desk. Her shoulders tensed. Now did not seem like a good time to confront whoever was in there. A muffled but obviously angry voice filtered through the door. The voice sounded familiar… Johnny?

The voice raised a notch, frustration in every word. Definitely Johnny. What was he doing in her office? She stared at the door handle. Should she go in? She bit her lip. It wasn’t appropriate for him to be in there on his own. While she trusted him it wouldn’t look good if the others found out.

Her hand reached out, but as her fingers touched the cool, metal door handle she stopped. Rough expletives filled the room beyond, his tone not one she’d ever heard from her friend. She backed up, eyes on his silhouette. He clearly needed a place to have a private, and obviously unpleasant, phone conversation.

What on earth could be wrong? He’d been fine on Saturday night. She watched as his silhouette began pacing, hand alternating between waving wildly and clenching at his side. If only she could hear what he was saying, but his voice was too muffled to make out the words, only his tone was clear. Wait, what was she thinking, eavesdropping on a friend? She took another step back, away from temptation.

Johnny’s conversation cut off with a curt word and he threw his phone against the wall. He bent, both hands braced on her desk, breathing heavily. She counted the seconds as he tried to recover himself. Should she go in and talk to him, find out what was wrong?

She nibbled her lip as she stared at his hunched figure. Now didn’t seem like the right time. Johnny was usually so upbeat, he wouldn’t want her to see him like this. She would find time later when he was calm, and make sure he knew she was here if he needed her. He’d been her sounding board many times in the past, and at least once a shoulder to cry on. Now it was her turn to do the same for him.

She backed away, one step, then two, watching the tormented silhouette. Yes, she would be here for him when he was ready to talk. Right now she would give him the space he so clearly needed.

Turning, she walked slowly to the lunchroom to get a cup of coffee. Hopefully once she was re-caffeinated he’d have escaped her office. If he was still there when she got back, she’d forget about giving him space. She shook her head. What could be troubling him?

Chapter 8

The sun set and darkness crowded outside the windows. Ryu watched as the lights went out in Edward’s office, then Victor’s. Edward hurried out, head down and muttering to himself, but Victor gave a friendly wave as he left. Kait’s light still glowed and no doubt she was nose deep in work. From everything he’d heard today, she worked too hard.

“See you later, Mac,” Deron’s relaxed voice called out.

“Later.” Ryu nodded at the other man.

Deron paused. “You almost done? We could grab a beer.”

“Thanks, but I’ve got a couple of kinks in this routine I want to iron out before I head home.”

“No prob, ’nother time.” Deron disappeared into the reception area.

The practice floor was finally empty. Ryu glanced at Kait’s office again, her light glared balefully at him. Slowly, he packed away his gear. He hadn’t seen much of her today, aside from the odd glimpse or polite word.

At one point he’d been sure she was coming to talk to him, but she’d done an abrupt about face and hurried back to her office. He felt strangely deflated at missing the chance to talk to her, seeing if he could make her smile. A genuine eyes-lit-up smile, most of the time she was far too serious.

He pushed a torch into his bag with more force than necessary. He was here to do a job, not follow his dick around. He should be asking why she turned tail, not pining because she hadn’t talked to him. So, why had she changed her mind?

He’d watched her as she walked away; she hadn’t gone back into her office, she’d stood outside. He tugged the zip on his bag closed, his brows creased. Why hadn’t she gone in? Johnny was in there, but it was clear they were friends. Was she hiding something from the other man—like the expression on her face?

Ryu’s curiosity tugged like an impatient child wanting candy. Why was Johnny in her office? Why hadn’t she gone in?
Why? Why?
Curiosity, always his liability, and his asset, plagued him.

He tucked his gear, except a small satchel, into his locker and looked at his watch. His shoulders tensed, it was time. He couldn’t stay any later or it would look suspicious, and he didn’t want to leave then break in later.

At least breaking out when he finished wouldn’t be any trouble, fire regulations made sure of that. He’d have to risk exploring with Kait still here, at least her door was closed. With one more glance around the room he headed confidently toward Victor’s office.

He jiggled the handle but the door was locked. Fortunately, his picks were never far from hand. He disarmed the simple office lock in seconds. The move was eerily reminiscent of the last time he entered a room uninvited. Hopefully tonight didn’t end with a bomb and a boom.

Stygian darkness enveloped him as he stepped into the room and closed the door with a quiet click. The room was pitch black, filled with indiscernible patterns of ink on ebony. Ryu blinked, and opened his eyes to dragon sight. Dragons weren’t nocturnal, but they weren’t completely diurnal either. Standing in Victor’s office, he was glad the room appeared brighter through dragon eyes.

The sheer depth of the darkness was odd. Where was the light from the window? Flicking on a penlight, he focused the beam across the room. The wall facing the street was solid brickwork. Had Victor covered over the window at some point? Ryu walked to the wall and ran his hand over the surface until he bumped into the bookshelf. He eyed it speculatively. Secret door?

Shaking his head, he flicked a fingernail against the spine of one of the books. He couldn’t believe he might have hit the jackpot already. Curiosity niggled but, reluctantly, he pushed it down. There was a way to do these things and it didn’t involve diving head first into the best bits.

Ignoring the bookcase, he began a methodical search of Victor Strange’s office. Not that he expected to find anything. Only a fool would leave evidence lying around at work, and Victor was anything but a fool, but you never knew, he might get lucky. His gaze darted involuntarily to the bookshelf and the secrets it might hide.

He shrugged off temptation and focused on the rest of the room. The thin beam of his torchlight bounced across the dark wooden desk and filing cabinets, the two guest chairs, and a potted palm. Victor’s office wasn’t huge, but it was a fair sight bigger than Kait’s. It also reeked of masculinity in a way that was hard to define.

It looked like a regular office; computer, paper stacked neatly near the blotter, and a painting of a mountain on the wall behind the desk. But even if no one told him it was a man’s room, Ryu would have known. In many ways, it reminded him of Adrian’s office. The power of the men permeating their surroundings.

Ryu held the torch between his teeth as he rifled carefully through the drawers, then moved onto the filing cabinets. He paused at a copy of Kait’s file, but there was nothing they didn’t already know. Hers was the only employment file and he guessed the rest of the staff records were in Kait’s office. Both her’s and Edward’s offices were on his list for the night, as were the staff lockers.

His camera grabbed copies of everything and he closed the last drawer, wincing as the runner scraped. Moving over to the computer he inserted a flash drive, waited for a small click, then turned on the computer.

Screeff.
The scrape of a shoe in the corridor outside grabbed his attention by the throat. He froze, ears pricked, waiting. The blue glow of the screen activating infused the room.

His eyes darted away from the sliver of light beneath the door to the traitorous glow. His breath locked. He waited to see if whoever was outside caught a glimpse of light where no light should be. He angled his body, hoping to block most of the telltale illumination.

He’d have a hell of a lot of explaining to do if he was caught. He hated explaining. After what seemed like forever, the footsteps receded and his breath trickled out in a fine plume of anxious smoke.

Relieved, he focused on the computer. While he’d been alert to the threat outside, inside the room Spock’s program had made short work of the password and downloaded the files. He must remember to let the guy know how well it worked. For a good-looking, hyper-genius Spock was riddled with insecurities.

The obvious taken care of, Ryu checked for false panels, loose floorboards, secrets behind paintings, and drawers that were too short allowing for hidden spaces at the back. All too clichéd, but they were clichéd for a reason, people actually used them, believing them secret.

Finally, he turned to the bookshelf and rubbed his hands together. Returning to his satchel, he replaced the camera and pulled out an imager. A dull whine almost outside his hearing range started and he aimed the device at the wall. Watching the screen, he flicked between the thermographic and ultra wideband pulse settings. The image of the wall density immediately began to show anomalies.

Ryu’s nostrils flared and a skitter of copper scales came and went across the backs of his hands. He was right, there was something strange about Victor Strange’s wall.

Using the imager’s view, Ryu began a closer investigation to discover how the bookshelf hinged to the wall. A great deal of prying and probing later, as searching started becoming tedious, he found it. A hidden switch.

Behind a heavy book on management accounting, a knot in the woodwork turned beneath his fingers and a low, scraping click vibrated though the shelf. He tugged on the bookshelf, it swung easily away from the wall revealing a small, dark room on the other side. His smile was all teeth as his torch broke the gloom.