Hard and Fast (17 page)

It was just a kiss, yet Alex was quickly drowning in it. His lips sucked and stroked over hers, his tongue probing in her depths and entwining hers. Everything about his touch suggested aggressive and tightly managed control, over himself, her, and the situation. It was intoxicating, beguiling her into surrendering herself over to him, letting him do whatever he wanted to with her body with the promise of a heart-stopping sexual high as the reward. Like yesterday. In that moment, while one of his hands swept up her back and the other grasped the back of her head, Alex was ready to give in to it.

Lucas kissed her harder, wetter. She reciprocated, entangling her tongue with his, then sweeping it over his bottom lip. He groaned deep and low, but pulled back slowly until only their lips hovered close, and their breaths mingled in between. The seconds stretched long, their heavy breathing echoed loudly within the spacious room.

Alex felt so hot, so primed waiting for what was to come next, until she opened her eyes and looked up into his face. His eyes were still closed, but his jaw was clenched hard and his lips twisted into a scornful sneer. It hit her like a bucket of ice water.

“Maybe,” she silkily whispered while rising onto the balls of her feet to bring her lips closer to his ear, “you should be more concerned with keeping your hands off me and your dick in your pants.”

She shoved at his chest, then finally walked away as gracefully as possible.

CHAPTER 17

Lucas stood looking out at the water long after Alex had walked out and his blood had cooled. What the hell was wrong with him? Why was he letting this woman goad him into behaving like a total jackass? What was it about her that had him constantly on the edge? Irresistibly drawn to her fiery energy and delicious taste, even while knowing it could lead to disaster.

Was he just horny? It had been some time since he’d been in a steady relationship with regular intimacy. Over seven months, with only a handful of onetime hookups since. But that wasn’t unusual for him. The last few years of his life had been dominated by his career and getting Fortis off the ground. Relationships had not been a priority. Which was why he usually had fairly casual ones without the promise or expectation of something long-term.

But this attraction and crazy lack of control didn’t feel like sexual frustration. Or curiosity. In which case, their very hot, incredibly kinky encounter yesterday would surely cure him of both. Instead, he couldn’t get the image of those moments out of his head. It was annoyingly distracting. And since they were now stuck together in one house for an undetermined amount of time, Lucas kept asking himself if it was a blessing or a curse.

Logical thinking said very clearly that spending more time with Alexandria Cotts was a very cruel curse. Anything or anyone that felt as insanely good as she did could not be good for you.

Eventually, Lucas went back to work reconfiguring the Magnus server. Something Ned had suggested yesterday had sparked a new idea. Whoever Nunez was working for had used thugs in Chicago and Toronto to do the dirty work. But they’d also hired a hacker for the more sophisticated plan. Not Pratt—he was just a front. It was a black hat, skilled enough to use the right tools, and smart enough to stay in the shadows. If the Cicada design was still the target, Lucas wanted see just how skilled that hacker was.

So, he decided to set a trap by creating a virtually undetectable vulnerability deep within the original administrative code of the server box. If there was another attack on the Magnus network, he’d know what level of hacker skills they were dealing with. And if the attack was successful, the information would be useless anyway.

He was still working a couple of hours later, tweaking his code, when Ned returned. Lucas went out to help Ned move the equipment into the workshop. It was a big open space, with lots of light and an impressive collection of tools suitable for maintaining and customizing cars. It was one of the reasons Evan had recommended this location, owned by one of his former colleagues in the CIA.

“I’m going to make us some lunch,” Ned stated once they were finished and were heading back to the house. “Where’s Alex?”

“She’s been in her room for the last few hours,” Lucas replied.

“Why don’t you show her the new stuff while I fire up the grill?”

They stepped into the mudroom.

“Why don’t you do that? I’ll take care of lunch.”

“Really? And why is that?” Ned immediately asked, obviously sensing something in Lucas’s tone.

“Nothing,” Lucas shot back. “I went over the security protocols earlier, and she had some objections.”

“To what exactly? They’re all pretty reasonable, considering the circumstances.”

Lucas let out a deep sigh and crossed his arms.

“It’s my fault. I probably could have handled it better.”

Ned started laughing as he walked toward the living room.

“What’s so funny?” Lucas demanded, throwing up his arms.

“You, that’s what. I’ve just never seen you make a wrong move with a woman. Everything you say and do usually makes them either blush or giggle,” explained Ned, still chuckling.

“Yeah, well. I guess I’m not her type,” Lucas muttered while passing his colleague to enter the large kitchen.

“Yeah, right,” Ned scoffed. “Fine, I’ll go get her. I need to give her back the rechargeable battery anyway.”

“Can you get her cell phone while you’re there? I still need to set it up properly.”

The kitchen was well stocked with a couple of days of fresh meat and vegetables in the fridge. Lucas grilled up some steaks and made a quick salad. While he ate at the table, Alex and Ned took their meals back out to the workshop. Dinner was much the same and created a routine for the next couple of days.

A large crate arrived by transport truck early Monday morning. Ned and Lucas supervised as the driver unpacked all the equipment and supplies. Alex used the time to set everything up the way she needed it. Then the Fortis agents left her there around midmorning, fully engrossed in the fabrication of automotive components. She only came back to the house to grab her meals and sleep at night.

The air between her and Lucas was noticeably chilly, but cordial. For the most part, she ignored him, seeking out Ned for anything needed. Lucas was fine with that at first. But by Tuesday, her subtle snubs were wearing thin. And it didn’t help that Ned still found the situation very amusing.

Monday evening, Fortis had confirmation that Oleg Petrov had been arrested by the Toronto police as a key suspect in the Magnus arson. Then they got a video call from Michael on Wednesday morning that finally put the mission in the right direction.

“This is Cesar Hernandez,” Michael stated as he presented a photo of a young man on one half of the computer screen while he talked to them through the other. “He’s one of five partners at Red Creek, the venture capital firm that Nunez works at.”

“Looks pretty young,” observed Lucas.

“He is. Twenty-four years old, but his family’s very wealthy. It looks like he bought into Red Creek after dropping out of college three years ago,” Michael explained.

“So what’s the connection between Hernandez and Magnus?”

“This.”

Michael put up one of the pictures that Lucas had captured from the bar on Saturday night, showing some sort of car industry event hosted there.

“Cesar is the sole owner of Optimal Racing,” Michael explained as he put up a few other pictures of cars and drivers at racing events. “Red Creek acquired Optimal as part of a buyout a couple of years back, and Hernandez bought it from the company. About five years ago, they were doing really well in stock car racing, until they had a major crash that seriously injured their driver. Looks like Hernandez has been trying to rebuild them to their former glory. But his tactics are questionable.”

“How so?” Ned asked.

“There’s a lawsuit pending against Optimal for patent infringement. It was filed six months ago by another custom components manufacturer.”

“Does Passante know Optimal or Hernandez?” Lucas asked.

“Oh yeah,” Michael quickly confirmed. “They were big rivals before Optimal collapsed after the car crash. And Passante is well aware of the reputation Hernandez has for stealing from his competitors.”

“Good work, Michael,” Lucas stated. “Now we have to tighten the noose. There is no doubt Hernandez is our guy, we just need the proof. We don’t have anything valuable from the Pratt situation. Did the police get anything from Petrov after his arrest on Monday?”

“We got an update today, including the identity of the accomplice. The second guy is Sergei Petrov. He and Oleg are brothers, and the company, Bold Management, is owned by their uncle, Stan Petrov,” Michael outlined. “According to what they told the police, they were approached by a man and paid ten thousand dollars cash for the job. No names were exchanged, but the description they gave matches Nunez.”

“Nunez might be the key,” Ned suggested. “He’s worked for Red Creek for almost eight years, and makes decent money. But, he has a big family to support and his financials look tight. So, I’d say he did this job with Hernandez for cash on the side. I’m thinking he has very little allegiance to the kid. Maybe we can get him to turn against Hernandez in exchange for immunity.”

Lucas nodded in agreement.

“Let’s make it happen. I’ll check with Evan and Sam to see who’s available for a trip to Chicago. Maybe Abe,” he suggested.

Like Evan, Abe Smith was a CIA Protective Services operative prior to joining Fortis. By later that afternoon, he was at the corporate offices for Red Creek Capital, meeting the head of security to discuss a very private matter. The team had the results a couple of hours later.

“We got it all,” Abe reported back on a conference call with Lucas’s team. “It wasn’t difficult to get him to cooperate and turn on Hernandez. And it sounds like the other general partners at the firm will be happy to get rid of the punk.”

“What did Nunez say?” Lucas asked.

“Pretty much what we suspected. And Hernandez paid him directly by bank transfer, and provided the cash to pay the Petrov brothers.”

“Good. What about Pratt and the guys who took him out and attacked Evan and me?” probed Lucas.

“Nunez claims he didn’t know anything about it. He only got involved last week to destroy the car engine, and someone at Optimal referred him to the Petrovs,” Abe explained.

“Well, that has to be enough to get the FBI to bring Hernandez in for questioning. Michael, let’s reach out to your contact in the morning,” instructed Lucas.

“Sure thing,” agreed Michael.

“Any chance they’ll let Abe join the interview with Hernandez?” Lucas suggested. “I want to know what the motive is behind all of this, and everything he knows about Magnus and Alex’s engine.”

“I think I still have a few favors I can call on,” confirmed Michael with a smirk.

“Good, I’ll give Passante and Alex an update in the morning,” added Lucas. “With any luck, we’ll have this mission wrapped up by the end of the week.”

He and Ned spend another few hours at the dining table, building out contingency plans depending on when Hernandez was arrested, and what he revealed during questioning. They took a break for Lucas to grill chicken and bake potatoes on the barbecue outside, then laid out the meal on the kitchen counter. Alex came back from the shed only to grab her meal.

“How are things going?” Lucas asked as she turned to walk away carrying her full plate, cutlery, and bottled water tucked under one arm.

Alex paused, clearly surprised by his question. The first directed to her since the incident after they had arrived on Sunday. She looked at Ned who was busy filling his plate.

“It’s okay,” she replied politely. “I spoke to Marco a little while ago. He said you guys think Cesar Hernandez may be responsible? That’s good news.”

“Could be. We’ll know more tomorrow,” Lucas replied cautiously.

It felt good to be on speaking terms with her, even if it was just in passing.

“Thanks for dinner,” added Alex, filling in the brief silence.

“No problem.”

Their eyes met briefly. That same electric charge stirred the air.

“See you guys later,” she finally stated, then walked away.

Lucas watched her go, looking comfortable and industrious in loose work pants and a T-shirt. Then he found Ned glancing back and forth between him and where Alex exited into the mudroom.

“What?” demanded Lucas.

But his friend just scoffed and shook his head.

After eating and cleaning up, Ned went to do a security inspection around the property and along the dock. Lucas made a phone call he had been avoiding for a couple of days.

“Hi, Kathy,” he stated when the call was answered. “I got your message.”

Kathy Anderson was his next-door neighbor. Divorced, single, and in her midthirties, she lived comfortably on a sizable alimony check. She had become a friend over the last three years since Lucas had moved into his current house, and was always great about keeping an eye on his place while he traveled.

Earlier that day, Kathy had sent him an e-mail to say his cleaning lady, Prudence, who’s supposed to visit twice a week, hadn’t shown up since he had left.

“Hey, Lucas, how’s your trip going?” she asked in her bubbly voice.

“Pretty good. How are things with you?”

“Painful and sore. I started going to a new yoga studio last week, and did a hot yoga class today for the first time. Who knew it was possible to sweat so much.”

Lucas smirked. This was how all of their conversations went. Kathy treated exercise classes and shopping like others did their careers.

“Sounds interesting,” he murmured. “Thanks for the heads up on my cleaning lady. But I’m not surprised. She’s been a little flaky over the last few months.”

“Do you want me to check in on anything? I still have your spare key,” Kathy offered.

“No, that’s okay. I’ve been meaning to call the maid service that Prudence works for and have them send me someone new. I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Lucas. You shouldn’t have someone going into your home if you’re not here. Even if they’re through a service. I’ve heard horrible stories about robberies and all sort of crazy things.”

Lucas could hardly tell her that was the least of his concerns. His house had more than enough security to ensure no one went in or out without him knowing, and all activity inside or around it was recorded. Which is why he already knew Prudence wasn’t very good at her job.

“Why don’t you let my girl, Lita, work for you,” Kathy continued enthusiastically. “At least until you get back. I’m sure she could use the money.”

Lucas scratched the scruff on his cheek, thinking it wasn’t such a bad idea. At least temporarily.

“Sure, Kathy. That would be great.”

“Fantastic. I’ll let her know. She’s comes three times a week, so she’ll just clean your house after mine and you can pay her the same.”

“I don’t need three days,” Lucas objected. “One would be fine for now.”

“Well, that’s the thing,” Kathy replied slowly, clearly preparing to tell him something unexpected.

“What thing?” he asked calmly.

“Lita’s got another job offer that pays a little less but gives her double the hours. The only way she will stay with me is if I can offer the same,” admitted Kathy. “So this will be a win-win for us, right?”