Playing in SECRET (Corrigan & Co. Book 9) (17 page)

“What are you doing
here?”

“We need Jeanne’s
help, and since I’m the least useful with a gun, they sent me.”

“I’ll help you with
whatever you need,” Jeanne tells him.

I roll my eyes, and
pull her behind me. “You don’t even know what he wants help with.
What do you need her for?”

“We need to know what
kind of online challenge tests you did.”

“Oh, sure. I can tell
you.”

I sit back and try to
listen to their conversation, but honestly, it’s all over my head.
Scott types into his tablet as they talk, and also talks into the
Bluetooth like thing he put in his ear. After about twenty minutes,
he yells “gotcha” and high fives Jeanne.

“You’re done? Did
you find who was after her?”

“Yes, and we already
knew.”

“What? Why didn’t
Audrey tell us you figured it out.”

He looks nervous then,
pulling his lip ring into his mouth, and rocking back on his feet. He
finally scratches the back of his head and answers. “The guy who
was kind of in charge is in her office with her now, trying to get
her to give up Jeanne. She’s been stalling him while we took his
girlfriend, and looked for the muscle. We got them, but found
something weird in the computer files at the company he works for.”

“That’s why you
needed to know about the challenges?” Jeanne asks.

“Yes. Your info
helped me find out who they were really trying to hack into. The
company they were going to have you try and hack.”

“Who is it?”

“I can’t tell you
that, but thank you again for helping.”

“Are you going to get
the guy in Audrey’s office now?” I ask, jumping into the
conversation.

“Um, no?”

“No? Why the fuck
not?”

“Dad, you shouldn’t
cuss.”

Scott just laughs and
ruffles her hair. “Baby girl, I live and breathe f-bombs. Well,
except for when my boy’s around. My wife withholds sex when he
cusses, so I’ve been making sure to behave around him.”

“Now that we have
that extra information about you we didn’t need, can you please
answer my question?”

“Maybe you should
talk to Reina.”

“She’s not here,
and I’m asking you.”

“Shit. Okay, Audrey
knows the guy. They went to high school together.”

“Jimmy?”

“Yeah, that’s him.
He showed up, and she’s been keeping him occupied in her office
while we rounded everyone up.”

“She took him to her
office? Is that allowed?”

“He means her fake
office, the one that people who come to the Foundation see,” Jeanne
says.

“Yeah, that one. It’s
boring as fuck, but does a good job of hiding what she really does.
And yes, if she trusted someone, she could take them to her real
office.”

“Again, why doesn’t
someone just go get him now?”

“Well, he appears to
be a little unstable, and we don’t want to endanger Audrey. Reina’s
hoping she can talk him out of the office.”

“Audrey can take care
of herself. I know she can.”

“Normally, yes, but
not right now.”

“What do you mean,
not right now? Is she injured?”

“Not exactly.”

“You know,” Jeanne
says, her eyes wide.

“Uh, yeah. When she
activated her distress signal yesterday, we could automatically hear
everything she said. She knows we know, but everyone’s been waiting
for her to officially tell us.”

“Tell you what? Will
someone please stop talking around me, and just tell me what’s
going on?”

The two of them look at
each other, and Jeanne finally gives in to Scott’s pleading look.
“Audrey’s pregnant, Dad. That’s why she couldn’t fight the
men who came for me, and that’s why they’re worried about her
getting hurt right now.”

* * *

Audrey

“
Audrey, we have
everyone and Jeanne just helped Scott figure out what company they
wanted her to get into. Scott said someone on the inside had to have
been helping them, and that it could’ve been really bad if Jeanne
had let Jimmy and his girlfriend inside their system. He’s notified
the company, and they’re on lockdown while they investigate.”

“What exactly were
you going to use Jeanne for?”

“We
are
going to have her help us get some info we need to beat the
competition. Stop using past tense.”

“You must realize by
now that that’s not going to happen. You’re not going to have
Jeanne.”

“I am,” he roars,
jumping over my desk and pushing my chair as far as It’ll go into
the desk, while leaning over me.

I look up at him,
trying to figure out how to get out of here in once piece since he’s
obviously about to go a little crazier when he understands that he’s
not going to get what he wants. He inserts his USB drive into my
computer and smiles for a few seconds, and then he’s frowning. He
types keys and I watch as he starts to realize that he can’t break
through.

“It’s over, Jimmy.
Step away from me, and we can both walk out of this office.”

“It’s not over,”
he says, grabbing the loose strands of my hair and pulling my head
back as he pushes me even harder into the desk.

It hurts, and for the
first time in a very long time, I’m scared of being physically
injured. If it was just me, I’d have been fighting already, but I
have to think about my baby. I won’t risk the baby. I can take some
pain, I’ve been trained to take it.

“It is. You are not
going to get into our system, and you can’t have Jeanne. Please
just walk out of here, while you can.”

“While I can?” he
asks, pulling my hair harder. “Haven’t you noticed that I hold
all the power here? I could call my men, and they’d be through your
poor excuse for security in seconds. We could take down this whole
building.”

“
Theo and Jake are
outside your office. The rest of us are on the way. We’ve all been
waiting for you to tell us, but you know we know about the baby. No
one is going to jeopardize either one of you, so you tell us when
you’re ready. This guy is getting crazier, though, so if you can’t
calm him down soon, you need to let the boys in.”

Reina’s right. I’m
just not sure what Jimmy will do when they come in with guns blazing.
He’s not going to just give himself up. I know he has no weapons,
but if his mind is still functioning at least a little, he could be
resourceful. I’ve killed a person with a pen, and while I was
trained, he’s also smart enough to figure it out. I just have to
hope that he doesn’t.

“
One more thing,
Aud. I just found out that Blake knows. He wouldn’t stop
questioning why you couldn’t get yourself out of there, and so
Jeanne told him. She didn’t want to, but it was going to be her or
Scott, and it was better that it was her. Scott said Blake just
collapsed in his chair and hasn’t spoken. I’m sorry.”

Damn it. Can one thing
go right today? Just one thing. That’s all I’m asking for. I need
to end this now, and I know how to do it. I trust Jake with my life,
and Theo seems like a good guy, too, so I just go for it.

“We’ve got your
men, and your girlfriend, too. You need to let me go, and you’ll
still be able to walk out of this office.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“I’m not.”

“Those men are highly
trained. They wouldn’t let anyone take them. They’d use their
kill pills first.”

“They weren’t given
time to get those pills out. We have them, and I promise you that
when
my
boss is done
with them, they’ll tell everything they know.”

“Reina Corrigan? Some
socialite bitch doesn’t scare me.”

“She should.”

“Well, she doesn’t.
My girlfriend’s building security is much better than this joke of
a place. No one’s getting to her. So please stop lying. I really
don’t want to hurt you.”

“You’re hurting me
right now.”

He actually lets go of
my hair and backs away from me. I push my chair away from the desk,
and breathe a little easier. “I’m sorry, Audrey. I just really
need Jeanne, and I know you can give her to me. Why won’t you help
me?”

“She’s just a girl,
Jimmy. I can’t let you kidnap her and make her do work for you
against her will.”

“Always so ethical,
aren’t you? Wrong and right. Black and white. That’s all you see,
isn’t it?”

“No. I know the grey.
For most of my life, I’ve
lived
in the grey.”

“Oh yeah, you’re
probably spinning lies to make your boss look good.”

“Reina doesn’t need
anything spun for her. She’s one of the best people I know.”

“You talk about her
like she’s perfect.”

“She’s pretty
close.”

“Everyone has secrets
and flaws.”

“Yes, we do.”

“Come work with me,
Audrey. Give me Jeanne, and you can come work for us.”

“I would never leave
this job, but even if I would, there’s nothing left to go to. I’ve
told you already, we’ve taken your girlfriend down.”

“How did some
charitable foundation take down mercenaries and highly trained
security personnel? Tell me that, and maybe I’ll believe you.”

I can do that. I can
tell him, because if he makes it out of here alive, his mind will be
wiped. “Have you ever heard of the Society?”

“The Society? You
mean that mythical group of women who supposedly right the wrongs of
the world? Of course I’ve heard of them, but they aren’t real.”

“We’re very real,
Jimmy.”

“You? No. That’s
funny, Aud.”

“I’m not laughing.”

“Really? You’re
part of the Society? I’m in the Society lair?”

“Yes, and no. You’re
in a public office at a private foundation. This room is not part of
any ‘lair.’”

“But it’s here
right? This foundation is a front for it?”

“Yes.”

He starts laughing as
he walks closer to me again. “Why would you tell me? I’ll expose
you all. Give me Jeanne.”

The door bangs open,
and Reina’s standing there. “You’re not telling anyone, and
you’ll never have Jeanne.”

Jimmy grabs me
suddenly, trying to use me as a shield. I do fight now, pushing him
away. With one last burst of strength, he shoves me hard, causing me
to trip. I hit my head on the desk, and start to feel myself losing
consciousness. I hear yelling as I’m caught by strong arms. The
last thing I hear is Reina reminding him that he said he wasn’t
scared of her, and telling him he’s going to regret that, and then
everything goes black.

Audrey

They woke me up every
hour for the first 24 that I was here in the hospital ward. I know
they had to check on me since I had a concussion, but I just wanted
to sleep. Kendrick was the last one to come in, telling me the baby
was fine, and that I was, too. After that, they let me sleep. I don’t
know how long I was out, but I’m groggy now when I wake up.

The nurse comes in when
I press my call button, and then I have to endure all the usual vital
checks before she gives me a pitcher of water to drink. I tell her
I’m hungry, and she takes my breakfast order, too. These are normal
things for any hospital, but here my pitcher of water is glass, and
my breakfast will be gourmet, cooked to order by the chefs upstairs.
Oh, and I’m in another satin sleepshirt courtesy of Stella, instead
of a typical hospital gown. The perks of being a secret agent are
endless. At least with the Society and Corrigan & Co. behind me.

The nurse has only been
gone a few minutes when there’s a knock at my door. I’m expecting
Reina, but I’m not entirely surprised when Caleb walks in. “Hi
Cal.”

“You don’t look too
surprised.”

“Once everyone
acknowledged what they heard through my comm unit, I knew you’d be
paying me a visit. Tegan can relate to me even though our situations
are different, and you’re here for Blake.”

“Is it okay? I mean,
I can come back if you’re not ready to talk to me.”

“It’s fine.”

“That’s what Teeg
says when it’s not.”

“This time it is,”
I tell him with a laugh, and then a wince.

“Aud?”

“My head just hurts a
little when I laugh, but I promise you I’m good.”

“Okay. You said that
you already know why I’m here?”

“I do. I don’t need
this talk, but I think you do. So go ahead and lay it on me.”

He nods, takes a deep
breath, and then begins to plead Blake’s case for him. “Guys are
jerks. We don’t always mean to be, but we are. When I was sixteen,
I was insecure, jealous, but most of all, stupid. I let my
insecurities, and my pride—mostly my pride—guide me, and it hurt
Tegan more than I can ever make up for. I hurt myself, too, but
that’s my own fault. Teeg, what I did to her? That is something
that I have to live with for my whole life.

“And then when she
came back into my life, I did it again. I called her names, said
words I didn’t believe or mean, because again, I was insecure and
prideful. That whole sticks and stones thing we say as kids is
bullshit. Words hurt so much more than anything physical, and I hurt
her again. Over and over, I’ve hurt the woman I love, and yet she’s
forgiven me.”

“You’ve forgiven
her, too.”

“I have. Audrey, I
fell in love with Ethan the moment I knew he was mine. There was no
hesitation, my heart just opened and let him all the way in.”

“He’s an amazing
kid.”

“He is. Because of
his mom, and all of you, not because of me. That hurts. It hurts me
so much that I missed ten years of his life. People think I forgave
Tegan too easily for that, and maybe I did, but I couldn’t dwell on
what I’d lost. If I’d done that, I’d still be in a corner
somewhere, curled into the fetal position. I lost those years with
Ethan, but I also lost them with Tegan. All I could think about was
that I didn’t want to lose the next ten or more with her. That’s
more important to me than the past.