Protecting Lulu (Global Protection Agency) (6 page)

“He’s
one more person in the way.”

“That
man knows me better than I know myself. He is a fount of information on all
that is Lulu. He can tell you where I bought my coffee on June 5
^th
2009 or what dress I wore to the Met Ball four years ago. You’ll need him for the
things I don’t remember and his ability to ferret out information is uncanny. ”

“I’m
going to let you have this one, but don’t think I’m going to be a pushover all
the time. I’m not one of your adoring fans who live to serve your every whim.”

Too
bad for you.
Being in her inner circle had a lot of perks. “It’s not a bad thing to be.” The
very idea of him adoring her sent a delicious shiver down her spine. For a
second she wondered what being naughty would be like with a man like Noah
Callahan. She bit her bottom lip to stop herself from sighing. A girl could do
much worse than having him for a night time playmate.

“I
don’t give a crap about shopping at Bergdorf’s or having dinner with Bono,” he
said.

She
liked that he wasn’t impressed by the trappings of wealth and privilege. It
really added to his appeal, which bothered her in a way she didn’t want to
examine too closely. “What do you give a crap about?”

“Right
now? Keeping you breathing.”

She
held up two fingers. “Two days in and I’m still breathing. You and your company
are doing an excellent job.”

“Only
two days? Feels longer.”

Lulu
stuck out her bottom lip. This verbal sparring they shared really got her motor
running. She hadn’t worked this hard for anyone’s attention in a very long
time. “Why that almost hurts my feelings.”

“Stop
it.” He glared at her.

“Stop
what?” She gave him an innocent flutter of her eyelashes.

“Doing
that thing you do.”

She
was getting to him and liked that he felt flustered. “What thing?”

“Pretending
that your feelings are hurt and you’re going to cry.”

“I’m
really going to have to work on my manipulation skills with you. You’re quite a
challenge, aren’t you Noah?”

“I
don’t want you to think I’m easy...Lucinda.”

There
was nothing easy about him. He was all hard planes and angles. And he’d called
her Lucinda. “At least Lucinda is better than Ms. Bennington. I was starting to
feel like your old maiden aunt.”

He
grinned at her. “I couldn’t think of you like that.”

Was
that just a gleam of attraction in his eyes? For her? “Then we have made progress.”

His
face went still and quiet, the amusement gone, as he held up a handful of files
and turned them back to the business at hand. “We have some work to do.”

She
was affecting him. Good. “What are those?”

“First
we’re going to talk about the people you’ve fired in the last three years.”

The
time had come to play in the dirt, and not in a fun way. She sighed as she went
to the emerald regency sofa and sat. “Nancy Sands and Gina West.”

He
glanced through the files. “I can’t believe you’ve only fired two people in the
last three years.”

Lulu
hated firing people. She firmly believed she could find a place for anybody
that would make them happy. “Nancy had a substance abuse problem and Gina wasn’t
a good fit, although she tried.” What could she say? Sometimes even she was wrong.

“Are
you still in contact with them?”

Lulu
nodded. “I paid for Nancy’s re-hab and she was re-hired and just got her one
year chip. Gina’s in law school in California. I hear from her occasionally. She’s
doing quite well.” She was very proud of the both of them and happy to help them
find their way in life.

“So
we can mark them off the list.”

She
could have told him that. “I should imagine so.”

“Tell
me about your business? How are you doing?”

She
was a bit surprised that he cared. “Even in this the economy we’re doing well. I’ve
tapped into a very powerful niche market. Big Girl Production’s brand has
expanded with a fashion and cosmetic line. Next year we’ll launch my perfume
Lush. Besides the talk show and magazine, I have several TV shows and movies in
production. I’m not afraid to try something new, but I do keep my eye on the
bottom line.”

“Anyone
denied a promotion or laid off?”’

“I
haven’t had to do either.” The last two years she’d gone without a salary just to
make sure she didn’t have to lay-off any of her people. She didn’t need a
salary anyway. She could live off her trust fund for a couple hundred years.

“We’ve
been vetting your employees and we have a few red flags.”

Somehow
she’d hoped this meeting would end with Gina and Nancy, but that wasn’t going
to happen. “Really?”

He
pointed to the files on her teak coffee table. “Oh yeah.”

For
the most part she knew people had secrets. Secrets they never talked about, or
even thought about, but secrets nonetheless. Not only was she their boss, but their
cheerleader, and occasional therapist. God knew she hated people prying into
her private life, judging her, holding her to a different standard.

“All
right.” She patted the spot next to her.

Normally
she didn’t like to push people’s buttons, but Noah Callahan just fell for it
every time. A part of her enjoyed making him uncomfortable. She suspected on
some level a part of him enjoyed their little battles.

He
sat in the chair opposite her, dropped the files on the coffee table, and
opened the top one. “Morris Anderson.”

She
knew exactly where this was heading. “My lighting man.”

“Registered
sex offender.” Noah tapped a finger on the open file.

She
hoped she looked unfazed about the entire matter. “I knew about his record.”

“You
hired him anyway?”

That
judgmental tone of his unnerved her. If she didn’t have better manners, she’d
just smack him across that beautiful mouth she so wanted to kiss. “He’s married
to Shannon, my make-up girl.”

“I
repeat, registered sex offender.”

“Extenuating
circumstances.” Lulu clasped her hands together.

“You
knowingly hired a pervert.” His blue eyes blazed with fury. “He was busted for statutory
rape in 1999.”

Lulu
paused for a moment, took a breath and prepared to level both barrels at him. “Shannon
was sixteen and he was eighteen. They’d been dating since junior high school. Her
father didn’t like him and had him arrested the day after his birthday. The
second he got out of jail, he married Shannon and they’ve been together for ten
years and have three boys. He fulfilled his parole obligations and hasn’t had
so much as a parking ticket since. He’s been working for me for almost five
years now. I’ve been trying to get his record expunged for awhile now.”

Noah
sighed, closed the file and rubbed his forehead. “Boshay Dawa?”

“She’s
a copy editor for my magazine.”

“She
was arrested outside the Chinese embassy.” Noah coaxed.

Lulu
crossed her legs and forced down the rage that still affected her at Boshay’s
treatment at the hands of the Chinese. “For protesting.”

“She
tossed a brick at the Chinese ambassador.”

Well
Lulu had wanted to hit the condescending bastard herself. “She was trying to
get information on her kidnapped sister. I spent a lot of money looking for her
sister. She was in a brothel in the Wang province. I pulled a lot of strings to
get her out of China. She died from complications from AIDS six months later. Amil
was only fourteen years old. The Chinese raid the border villages in Tibet and
kidnap young girls for the sex trade or sell as wives. The government knows it
goes on, but they choose to do nothing to stop it from happening. Possibly
because they make a lot of money for themselves by letting these activities
continue.”

Noah
frowned and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

“Thank
you for that.”

“Sarah
Regan was--”

“Arrested
for assault and battery three months ago. The charges are being dropped because
she was defending her daughter from a crazy ex-boyfriend.”

“You
know this how?”

Lulu
shrugged. “I paid her bail and hired her lawyer.” She was done with this
exercise for now. “I know what’s in those files, Noah. I know my people.”

“How
do you know?”

She
knew the threat to her came from outside. Her people protected her the same way
she was prepared to protect them. “I make it my business to know. I’m
responsible for everyone who works for me. That is the way my grandfather did
business, the way my father did business, and the way my brother and I do
business.”

Noah’s
eyes narrowed as he watched her. “You have an answer for everything, don’t
you?”

“I
try my best.” She could feel the tension coming off of him in waves.

“Okay,
I think we can eliminate the threat from inside, now we’re going to get into
your personal life. I need to know everything about the men you’ve been
involved with.”

She
forced herself to remain calm. She knew this was coming. She could do this and
maintain her pride. Really. “What do you want to know?”

Wilder
looked at the pile of private correspondence on his desk. He shifted his big
body in his leather chair and pain ripped through knee. If he had not already
been sitting he would have fallen.

He’d
overdone it at the gym again. He couldn’t help himself. His stress level was
tapping him out. Over twenty years ago, he’d been shot at his parents’ estate
in France. Since then he’d had four surgeries to correct the damage. For the
most part he could ignore it, but when he was under stress his knee was always affected
like right now.

Lulu
was his life. He’d spent years protecting her only to find that what he’d done
wasn’t enough. He couldn’t lose Lulu. He’d only loved a handful of people in
his life, his parents, his grandparents, his aunt Julia who’d raised them after
the murders, and his baby sister, Lulu.

When
Dave Larkins came to him and recommended Global Protection Agency he’d done his
research. He used all his government contacts to find out about the people he
was entrusting his sister’s safety to. Two ex-special forces officers, a lawyer
with Army Intelligence, a thief, a former French commando, a titled British
spy, and a CIA operative who were fairly new to the business, but they had a
reputation of getting the job done.

They’d
handled several jobs the government couldn’t be connected to including bringing
in an al Qaida mastermind, a Mexican drug lord, and a Russian mob boss. Noah
Callahan seemed the perfect person to protect Lulu. Not an easy job for the
best of men. In his gut Wilder knew Callahan would die to keep Lulu safe.

The
door to his office opened and his secretary Sylvia came in carrying a steaming cup
of coffee and a large envelope. Sylvia was quickly approaching sixty, but
didn’t seem in any hurry to retire. She’d started in the typing pool under his
father and worked her way up to become his personal assistant.

Frankly
Wilder would have loved the woman to be on his executive staff, but she had
grandchildren and wanted to spend time with them. She’d turned him down several
times. To be honest, if he did elevate her to a board position, he didn’t think
he’d ever find anyone to replace her. She kept his office running like a well
oiled machine and didn’t give a shit that everyone called her Attila the Midget
behind her back.

“Morning,
boss,” she said.

“Good
morning, Sylvia. What’s on my schedule?”

“You
have a ten o’clock with the Union reps, a lunch with Senator Townsend about the
FCC report, the summer television schedule mock up to approve, and it’s Ms.
McBride’s birthday. You are having dinner with her at Mist tonight.”

Wilder
forced himself not to roll his eyes. He’d rather be having dinner with Bono and
his sister, talking about their charity work. “What am I getting her?”

Sylvia
raised a grey eyebrow. “Apparently not an engagement ring.”

Sylvia
was one of handful of people who were allowed to talk to him this way and he
let it slide. The English actress was a fun time in bed, but not the kind of
woman a man, who liked his peace and quiet, married. They’d been seeing each
other for several months and kept things very loose. The relationship suited
him, but he suspected Candace wanted more. He would be an excellent back-up
plan if her Broadway career took a nose dive.

 “Would
you call Tiffany’s and have them send a few things over? You pick something,
you know what she likes.” With the exception of his aunt, sister, and
grandmother, Sylvia did all his shopping for him. She had exquisite taste and
loved to spend his money. He thought he was getting off easy.

“I
live to serve,” Sylvia said with a saucy grin.

“With
grace and style.”