Radiant Surrender (CSA Case Files Book 6) (5 page)

Crest had hired Jessica Miller at the age of twenty-one and within one week he knew he’d made the mistake of his life. It was rare, but he wasn’t perfect. Day by day the allure she’d had as a young woman had only grown to pure magnetism as she became a fully mature woman before his very eyes. There were several times over the years that she’d made her interest known and each time he’d been as honest as he could be in his refusal. There was an innocence about her that he wouldn’t allow his dark soul to taint. His sexual predilections were too harsh for what she was used to. He knew very well that she’d played a few times at the kink club two of his agents owned, but the members there were mostly inexperienced boys compared to what he would want to do with her.

The term mind fuck had made the rounds in the clubs and had even become popular during the millennium. Crest had always thought that the phrase was unnecessarily crude and pedestrian, for his tastes ran to the darker extremes. A scene where he was able to dip her toes into cerebral lava was a hell of a lot more gratifying than any implement could ever impart. In his opinion those items were just tools, a means to an end, taking someone to a place of discovery and then letting them stew in their own juices. It was just cruel and a complete waste of preparation time. For her boy toys subspace was the objective and the completion of a scene—not the canvas on which the true maestro painted his masterpiece. That wasn’t to say there was a right or wrong way to practice the lifestyle…there wasn’t. To each their own.

Crest believed that once a submissive had reached that certain plane of awareness the true virtuoso took over and finding one’s inner self began. Maybe it was better to say an expression of oneself. Each path was different. The journey was always dangerous even for the most experienced sub and the drop could be life threatening if mishandled by a novice. He feared what he would become if he truly allowed his dark side out to play with this delicate flower before him—an early hard front for the most exquisite and frail rose.

“Wait,” Jessie said, her voice pulling Crest back to the conversation at hand. He’d do well to remember the reason she’d decided to move on with her life. It was for the best. “It was nothing to do with underestimating you. It’s a fact that no president of the United States would give a full pardon for the crimes that Ryland has committed. As for lying low until we figure out a way to prove my innocence, all you had to do was ask me. You didn’t have to go off this morning and leave me with some leatherhead without any explanation at all. Have Taryn stay here with me. Or better yet…you. Unless you’re afraid to be alone with me, Gavin.”

Crest gripped his mug upon hearing her challenge, which only proved she was still too young for him. Had they been in a real relationship he would have had her kneeling in front of him with an apology dripping off of her lips. Unless a woman was in the lifestyle she wouldn’t understand the power exchange between a dominant man and a submissive. He cherished the women who trusted him enough to hand over their submission and he ensured that they knew more pleasure beyond their wildest dreams. Jessie thought that by playing in a club setting he would see her in a different light. It only cemented his belief that she didn’t know what she was getting into. He’d allowed her the reins so far, but he didn’t have the time or the inclination to continue this child’s game.

“Do you want sex, Jessie?” Crest turned to find that she’d pulled back as if he’d just fired off a round. He walked toward her, impressed when she stood her ground. He continued back the way he’d walked, not stopping until she had to tilt her pointed chin to look him in the eye. “We could have all the vanilla sex you want but it’s not going to satisfy either one of us. I refuse to resort to an animalistic basic just to prove to you that it won’t be enough—not for you and definitely not for me. It would never be enough. Now with that resolved, I need to place some calls to initiate the demands that have been presented to me.”

Crest took his coffee and continued walking toward the bedroom, planning to work when her next words surprised the hell out of him. He’d mentioned that she shouldn’t underestimate him but it was
he
who shouldn’t underestimate her.

“Who said it needed to be enough? Is there a time limit? Do you ration how many weeks you can be involved with a woman?” Jessie stood there with her cherry lips pursed. “And I’m getting real tired of you assuming I wouldn’t meet your
criteria
. Has it ever crossed your mind that I might
need
more than just vanilla sex? I digress though. You go make your calls and continue to deny what’s right in front of you while I write my parents and sister some letters that will give some explanation of why I can’t be there for them either.”

“Don’t keep pushing me, Jessie.” Crest intentionally used her nickname to diffuse a potentially sexually charged situation. He slipped his free hand into his pocket, rubbing the challenge coin that he kept in his pocket to ease his building tension. Using her tactic, he switched to business. “I’ll need to read what you write before I hand it over to Lou. He’s in Wisconsin with your parents, but I’ll make sure that he receives it by tomorrow morning. I’m having Taryn buy you some new clothes since I want no one near your apartment. You’ll have to make do for one more day though. I’ll be making an appearance in the office tomorrow.”

“Wait,” Jessie called out, stopping Crest before he reached the bedroom door. “If you’re so worried that the CIA is going to track us, how is it that you can come and go?”

“They expect a certain movement from me and yes, the Agency will also assume that I’ve got you somewhere safe. They will never suspect that you’re five blocks from the warehouse district.” Crest placed his hand on the doorknob and took a sip of his now cool coffee, but there was no way in hell he would go back into the kitchen at this point. They’d had their say and it was best to leave it as is. “With that said we won’t take any chances. You’ll be moved nightly to another apartment within the four buildings through the underground utility tunnels. If you’re worried about me leading them here, don’t. I know what I’m doing. There are bagels and orange juice on the kitchen table. You were otherwise engaged by trying to throw a lamp through the window when I arrived with your breakfast.”

Crest twisted the door handle and left Jessie standing there before she could say a word. They couldn’t afford to waste any more time and he honestly didn’t want to be tempted by such a youthful siren as Jessica. He had a feeling she knew exactly the effect she had on him. The faster he got this resolved the sooner he could get on with his own life. Pulling out his phone, he activated the display and searched for the contact he wanted to call. He would have to use the phone’s burst transmission feature to relay it through a secure retransmission site located on the roof of the CSA building if he didn’t want the Agency boys tracking them down to his maze.

As the line rang with that slight digitized delay as the phone connected, Crest held his cell between his cheek and shoulder, taking the time to unbutton his cuffs and roll up his sleeves. He remembered turning the air on, but at some point during the morning Jessie must have increased the temperature. It was relatively warm for the month of May. If she was comfortable then he would simply adjust. He refused to give that some thought and was appreciative when Schultz Jessalyn finally answered.

“Schultzy, it’s Crest.”

“Considering no one else I know in Minnesota has my personal direct line and is using an encrypted phone, it could be none other than you. To what do I owe this call?”

Crest’s relationship with the Special Assistant to the National Security Advisor went back many, many years. They’d been in multiple positions to trade favors and Schultz was one of the few men that Crest respected. What he needed to ask might stretch that friendship to the breaking point and it wasn’t something that could be done over the phone.

“I need a face to face meeting.” There was silence on the other end of the line, telling him that Schultz understood the significance of what was being required. It was damn good to have likeminded allies. There would only be one more question, so Crest went ahead and answered, saving both of them time. “Tonight.”

The line disconnected and Crest used the brief downtime to lower himself to the bed. He rested his elbows on his knees, leaning forward and rubbing his forehead. He’d been forced to do a lot of things in his line of work, but never had he been placed in a situation where he had to choose like this. Whoever was the head of the CIA department gunning for his head, the man had chosen well—too well. Crest figured Ryland was working both sides, but the one thing going in his favor was that Ryland wanted the pardon more than his previous life.

Crest refused to limit himself to only one half of the coin and he thought of whom he could contact within the FBI to start the investigation of who really planted the evidence against Jessie. There were times when the two agencies worked together, but it was highly doubtful in this case. In all probability, the CIA had planted a mole within the local federal office. Technically this part of the exploration could be done from home base. He let his hand fall and then initiated a call to the office.

“Crest, I didn’t expect to hear from you,” Taryn said over the sounds of people talking. He’d called her on his own secure phone rather than one of the multiple burn phones they’d initiated for cases just like these. “Are we still on plan?”

He’d instructed the team to keep the office running on the current caseload so not as to tip off the CIA to the fact that Crest had definitely taken Jessie underground. He wanted them guessing and kept off kilter until he had a better handle on things. What he was going to ask of Taryn was something he knew that she’d be able to cover her tracks on.

“I need you to account for everyone at the local federal bureau office. The one with a question mark is who I’m looking for.”

Crest didn’t wait for a reply, knowing that Taryn could handle the task given. She was the best damn data communications specialist out there and she would leave no digital footprint behind. He disconnected their line and immediately erased the one time keypad that he had just used for that call in his phone. The device keys that matched Crest’s one time keypad that Taryn had used was automatically destroyed and with it any evidence that the conversation had even taken place outside of a very brief electronic 7.8125 millisecond slice of pseudo random radio frequency static. Now it was a race to see what or who came first—information that Taryn would gather or Schultz’s personal appearance. Either one would move this investigation further toward his eventual piece of mind.

Chapter Five

J
essie felt as if she was crawling out of her own skin. The day had gone by agonizingly slow and Townes hadn’t been the most animated conversationalist. She didn’t ask how lunch and dinner had suddenly appeared. She’d been employed by Gavin long enough to know he had ways of adverting those people watching. She’d written her letters earlier, expressing her deepest regret that she couldn’t be there personally to help her family through this ordeal.

It had taken her a while to begin to conceptualize what her parents had been, but she understood even better what they’d become. They loved America and Jessie would stand beside them with her full support. She had heard the underlying anger in Gavin’s voice that their objective had originally been to betray the United States and understood his frustration—but they were still her parents. It was all she could think about, although every once in a while her own precarious position weighed in heavily. By eight o’clock at night Jessie couldn’t take it anymore and when Gavin started to roll down his sleeves, indicating that he was leaving, she couldn’t keep her thoughts inside a moment longer.

“Really?” Jessie had been trying to read the paper that Townes had brought with him this morning, but every article she read only made her more depressed. She pushed it across the cushion of the couch where she’d been sitting cross-legged. “I’m going to go crazy here, Gavin.”

“Are you in prison? Things could be a lot worse.”

“I understand why I’m here and I’m grateful that you’re helping me, but my family is in Wisconsin. I should be there.” How could Gavin not see that? She knew for a fact he had family up on the Iron Range. “This came to light because of me.”

“No.” Gavin buttoned his cuffs and then reached for his jacket. He met her gaze, his tie brightening the green of his eyes so that they appeared almost see-through. “Ryland is to blame for what has occurred and we all just happened to get caught up in his shit. I’ve yet to figure out what his complete end game is, but you’re my first priority.”

“Let me at least help,” Jessie said, trying her best to compromise. She wasn’t going to sit here and do nothing. “You have your routine down and having me with you shouldn’t alter that. The CIA—”

“The CIA will know who you are the moment they see another individual by my side.” Gavin slid his arms into the fine worsted wool of his single-breasted Emporio Armani suit jacket, settling the flawless material over his wide shoulders. “We do this my way.”