Ursa Major (19 page)

Thankful she hadn’t worn her heels, she hurried to the elevator doors. A swipe of her access card allowed her to push the button for the top floor, and soon, she was whisked to her office. She made this trip nearly every day, and for once, she wasn’t reveling in the good she could do. Political maneuvering had never made her sicker. Senator Durwell, a married man, making moves on her sister. The thought of it made her want to vomit.

Not for the first time, did she regret bringing her innocent, sweet sister into the world of politics. Of course, when her husband had been working full-time he’d been able to support his family. She vowed to sit down with Jim and find out exactly what had happened to keep him out of work so long. As much as she liked to gripe about him not being good enough for Nat, this really was uncharacteristic of him.
We do what we have to do and we deal with it.
Their mother had often used that phrase, and Sarah wasn’t happy now about those words giving some sort of legitimacy to her actions.

Once inside the silver and glass door of her employer, Sarah stopped and listened. She heard nothing out of the ordinary. Whatever conversation Bill must have been having, it must be over by now. She closed the door behind her and relocked it before heading down the hall to her own office. As she drew near to Bill’s door, she heard his agitated voice.

“No, can’t do it. Can’t bring it down. People. Must look after them.”

He sounded…well…mad as in the crazy sense of the world. Halting just outside his door, she listened to his incoherent ramblings about bringing something down, crashing, and people.

“Ruin it all. End it all,” Bill shouted.

With every word, Sarah’s apprehension grew. She knocked gently on his door. “Bill, everything okay in there?” He’d been the one who hired her, who helped cultivate her research talents. She felt a lot of loyalty to Ken for giving her this job, but it was Bill who had really given her a start.

His voice faded away into silence. She waited for a few moments longer, but then the unmistakable sound of a phone being put on speaker came through the door. She didn’t want to interrupt his call, and hoping it was nothing, hurried to her own office.

Her desk looked as spotless as it had been when she’d left. Her inbox had a few items of mail, and she flipped through them, sending most of it to the shredder. Nothing of the magnitude of her work in Alaska seemed to have gone on here. She heard Bill’s office door close.

Sarah glanced out her window to watch her boss hurry to the door. He didn’t appear to have noticed the light on in her office, though he was privy to her schedule. He probably figured she was getting an early start on her report.

Her inner voice told her to go into his office and try and find out who he’d been on the phone with. She shook her head. Bill trusted her. She had to do the same. Surely there were countless explanations for what she heard.
Normal
explanations. She powered up her desktop and made quick work of her inbox. The clacking of the keyboard filled some of the silence, but as she worked, she couldn’t help but overhear Bill’s words.

End it all.

That didn’t sound like the boss she knew and she jotted down a note to talk to Ken about it tomorrow.

After making a quick round of the office, she found nothing more incriminating than a trash can that hadn’t been emptied, and even it contained two old coffee cups and a napkin with some frosting on it. She returned to her office, knowing she had two choices. She could stay here and work, or she could go home, get comfortable and write her report there. Either way, she’d be spending long hours this evening in front of the laptop.

Home won out, especially when she decided to stop by the store for some chocolate chip cookies. She checked the doors on the way out and hurried to her car. Soon, she was back on the interstate heading home.

Bill’s words still echoed in her ears. What she overheard combined with Walt’s too-eager concerns for her report and “congress” worried her. She shouldn’t be worried. This town thrived on political intrigue and machinations enough to make a Mafioso’s head spin. She shouldn’t let it get to her.

Twenty minutes later, a plastic bag of cookies and a chocolate bar on the seat beside her, she pulled into her apartment complex. By the time she made it up stairs and had her laptop powered on, she had a game plan. First, make coffee. Then, she’d sit down with her notes and the bag of cookies, and start her report.

Sarah stared at the brown liquid dripping into the carafe from the automatic coffee maker and knew the report wouldn’t be easy to write. She’d never been this involved with her subject before. She laughed. Involved, hell, she’d never been in love with her subject before. Even the work she’d done about lawyers who supposedly worked pro bono, but ended up costing their clients hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars, hadn’t hurt like this. For that report she’d had to deal with a few members of Walt’s firm. It didn’t matter. Now, she’d have to think of Liam.

She glanced at her clock and wondered what he was doing. The five-hour time difference made it evening there. She could call.

Sarah poured a cup of coffee and carried it into her office. She flipped through her email. Nothing major had come in since her flight. Sarah reached for her cell phone. Her hand hovered over it, the blinking green light taunting her with how easy it would be to flip open the phone, punch a button and hear Liam’s voice. Biting her lip, she forced her fingers back to the keyboard and her mind away from the whisky-smooth sound of his voice. She couldn’t. She’d promised not to contact him once she returned to Washington.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the file with her notes and began to type.

Two cups of coffee later, she still hadn’t come to terms with the fact that Ken wanted her to go against her core beliefs. She hated every word she put on the page.
It’s for my sister.
The lies and the half-truths wouldn’t do anyone good, and if she gave in, then she’d prove that she could be bullied. Sarah rubbed the bridge of her nose.

She couldn’t do this.

Yes, she could. Sarah shoved back her chair and bolted to her feet. “
I thought I could let you go. I was wrong.”
Liam’s words echoed in her mind.

“No!” She cried. Balling her hand into a fist, she pounded it on the desk. Her coffee mug jumped. The clatter of stoneware against the ceramic coaster startled her. She jumped and released her fist, backing away from the desk.

“I have to be strong. For both of us.” She stared at the phone, half-willing one of Liam’s agents to contact her. He said she might hear from them, though never from him. He’d told her not to ask about him. Back in Alaska it seemed the right thing to agree, to tell him what he wanted to hear. She swallowed hard and blinked against the sting of tears. “Damn you, Ken! Damn you, Senator Burwell! Damn you, Walt! Damn you all to hell!” She shoved her way out of the room, into the next one where her treadmill and free standing weight bag stood. Not caring about changing into workout clothes, she balled her hands into fists and pounded the bag. “Damn you!” She sobbed.

Her heart broke, shattered on the floor of Liam’s kitchen, and she’d been coward enough to walk away. She wailed, tears streaming down her face. Her knuckles ached, her hands protesting the abuse. She didn’t care. Slamming her fist into the bag, she pretended it was Walt, Ken, Bill, anyone who might stand in the way of her and Liam and saving that beautiful, pristine wilderness in Alaska.

Liam had told her to follow her heart. Well her heart screamed at her to board the next flight to Anchorage and forget about everyone and everything in Washington D.C.. Except that wouldn’t protect the bears, or the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. If she couldn’t return to Liam’s arms, she’d do the next best thing. She’d write the report that needed to be written. She’d follow her heart, and her hopes, and her dreams, praying that someday they might lead her to Alaska again.

Sarah slumped to the ground and dashed tears away with the back of her head. She drew a shuddering breath and thought about her computer waiting in the next room. She’d gone to Alaska to do a job, and damn anyone who got in her way. When she was done, Senator Burwell would regret the day he ever threatened her sister, and she’d find a way to get back to Liam because right now, she’d rather die, than not see him again.

Johnny’s hand tightened on Liam’s biceps, forcing him back down into his desk chair. With his other hand, he closed the Internet window for one of the travel sites. “You’re a fucking fool if you think you can go to D.C. without getting your ass in trouble.” He slammed his finger into the power button, silencing the computer. “I’ve been called in to clean up too many messes. I don’t want to clean up your mess too.”

Liam clenched his jaw. He knew what happened when his brother cleaned up. Usually no one was left alive to tell the tale. “You don’t understand.”

“But I do. Look, I know Cameron is torn up because of what our parents did with Gillian all those years ago. And I know you think your heart is breaking because of Sarah. I see this all the time and I have to clean up afterwards. I don’t want you to be caught in the aftermath. Do what the
Quintursa
wants, Liam. Forget about her.”

“I can’t.” He stared at the computer, tempted to hit the power button and continue his search for flights to D.C.. With his brother standing next to him, he couldn’t. And frankly, he didn’t want the expensive piece of technology to get caught in the cross-fire. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Something isn’t right there. I can’t pinpoint it, and I don’t have proof, but the way she was called back and the threats on her sister don’t sit well with me. I know this is politics. I think it might be something more.”

“You’re too close to the situation.” Johnny circled the desk and sat down in the chair opposite Liam. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. “Look, I know what you want to do. If I were in your shoes I’d do the same thing. But you can’t. The
Quintursa
won’t allow it. Let her go. It’ll be the safest thing for everyone.”

“I wish that were the case.” Liam couldn’t look at his brother. If he did, then Johnny would see the raw determination in his eyes to go to Sarah. Surely the
Quintursa
had to realize their archaic thinking needed to change. They couldn’t stay in the dark forever, especially with as wired and connected as the world had become. Heck, with satellite Internet he could conduct his business from anywhere in the world.

If the
Quintursa
didn’t see that, then they didn’t have much of a view of anything.

He sighed and looked at his brother. The care and concern in Johnny’s eyes only reminded him of how close his familial bonds really were. And he’d driven Cameron away. “I can’t do it, can I?”

“No. I’m sorry.”

Liam reached for the computer.

Johnny curled his fingers around Liam’s wrist. “But that doesn’t mean that all is lost. Talk to the
Quintursa
. See what kind of information you can come up with. Just because you can’t fly off to Washington doesn’t mean that you can’t help.”

Liam had to admit that his brother had a point. He pulled his hand away and finished powering on the computer. “And then what?”

“Then you talk to the Quintursa and make your case. They’re not unreasonable. They just want what is best for us. If they decide that means that you can’t see Sarah again, well then that means you also abide by their rules. Whether you like it or not.” Johnny paused, presumably to allow time for Liam to digest his words. “If they do make that decision, you don’t go into the wilds of Siberia on a lost cause and expect someone to bail you out again, either.” Johnny grinned with his teasing words.

“That’s not how that happened and you know it.” Liam hadn’t spoken of those dark days to anyone other than Cameron and the few Quintursa agents who were in on the rescue. The story that he, and Cameron, had told others was far from the truth. It had been the only time he’d worked directly for the Quintursa, and even back then, he knew the ruling organization for his people were keen to sacrifice those they deemed expendable for their cause.

“I know.” Johnny’s sober words brought them both back to the present.

“So what can you tell me? You are the Quintursa agent in the family, after all.”

“Not a whole hell of a lot. I’m being kept in the dark on this one. I’m only called in when it’s all shot to hell anyway, and then my cleanup is to leave as few witnesses as possible. I doubt you’d want me to know much about this right now.”

Liam admitted his brother had a point. Johnny didn’t talk a lot about what he did. Those few sentences were probably the most he’d said about his work at any one time. “Well I can’t exactly call up the Quintursa and ask, now can I? There’s only so much I can find out from Internet searches.” He dragged his fingers through his hair. Shoving back his chair, he stood, knowing he wasn’t going to get any further information out of his brother. “I have to go run.”

Johnny arched an eyebrow.

“As a man,” Liam snarled. If he let his bear out now, he doubted he could get him restrained until they’d made it to Washington and he’d seen that Sarah was safe. Forgetting about his computer, he stormed from his den and upstairs to his bedroom where he changed into exercise clothes, then headed outside. No sooner had the door closed behind him than he took off at a run across the yard. His feet ate up the distance until trees appeared around him. Finding one of the many game trails that ran through the woods, he focused only on the pounding of his shoes against the grass and his breath in his lungs. Running had always helped him clear his mind in the past. Maybe it would do the same now. Perhaps, it would keep him from doing something stupid like going to Washington D.C..

An hour later and soaked with sweat, Liam realized just how wrong he’d been. The run hadn’t cleared his mind. If nothing else, the exercise jumbled it even more, because he knew while he was running here, he couldn’t help Sarah. He jogged up the stairs and took a quick shower, then returned to his den. If running didn’t help, then he was on the phone to the
Quintursa
to find out what he could do.

Twenty minutes later he stared at the phone receiver as if it would bite him. He’d turned on his computer only to find no new emails or information. Johnny had gone and Liam wasn’t sure it was back into town or just out for his own run. For all he knew, his brother might have been sent out again on a mission. Liam shuddered to think that Johnny might have gone to Washington.

Liam knew the
Quintursa
would undoubtedly have an agent watching Sarah. They probably had her office, her apartment, and maybe even her sister’s house bugged. Johnny routinely swept the lodge for listening devices, but so far they hadn’t found any. Or at least Johnny had told him if he found them.

He picked up the phone and hit the button that would get him to a Quintursa agent. His old friend, or at least it sounded like the agent he usually spoke with, answered. “I’ve sent her back to Washington D.C.. Tell me that the
Quintursa
will make sure she’s not harmed.”

Silence filled the line.

“Something’s happened?” Liam’s blood ran cold just thinking about Sarah in the middle of something she couldn’t handle. Sure, she seemed quite capable when it came to research, and she no doubt was more political savvy than he was. Liam shook his head. There was a hell of a lot of money involved in oil drilling, and he had no doubts that those who wanted to drill in ANWR would at any expense.

“The situation is changing. It’s not critical yet, but the players are shifting.”

Shifting, changing, what did it matter, if Sarah was in danger? “How soon can I go to Washington?”

“Wait a minute. No one said anything about you going to Washington D.C.. We have agents in place and they are monitoring the situation.” The agent spoke in that cool, calm voice that Liam supposed all Quintursa agents were trained to use. He’d heard hints of it in Johnny’s speech earlier. That voice that said, leave everything to the professionals and don’t get in their way.

“Monitoring isn’t going to keep Sarah safe. I knew something was wrong when her boss ordered her back on such short notice. I sent her back. I sent her into that danger and I’m going to be the man to get her out of it.” Footsteps paused in the hall. At the moment, he could care less if Johnny barged in here and hung up the phone. He loved his brother, but Johnny was a
Quintursa
agent through and through. The footsteps continued.

“That would not be wise, Liam. You know the rules are in place for a reason. Let us do our job.”

It was the first time the Quintursa agent had done anything other than order him around. Liam’s anger simmered, ready to erupt into a full boil at a moment’s notice. “What can I do?” He drew a deep breath and tried not to think about Sarah back in Washington all alone, facing who knew what. She was strong. He had to keep reminding him of it, even when the very thought of her in danger tore him apart. “Don’t tell me there’s nothing I can do,” Liam added when the agent didn’t answer his question.

“I—”

“What is the situation?” Liam phrased his question carefully. “Can’t I at least be kept appraised of what is happening? Her firm hired my company. There’s still an outstanding invoice. If her firm goes under, it’s going to hurt my bottom line.” Sure, he told a tiny white lie. Sarah’s trip was billed and paid well in advance. Even if it wasn’t, the loss of half his fee—he never went out without get at least fifty percent up front—might sting. It certainly wouldn’t put Round the Bend Ecotours out of business.

“I’m not supposed to tell you.” The agent actually sounded sympathetic.

“Look, I know that. And the last thing either of us wants is for you to have to send my brother to Washington to clean up my mess.” Liam didn’t mention that probably should have been done already since Sarah was a mortal who knew about his ability to shift and his rituals. “But I feel like I have a right to know. Sarah and I grew…close.” He searched for a word, finally settling on one that didn’t sound quite as intimate as lovers.

“I see,” the agent replied.

For a heartbeat, Liam feared he’d blown it and revealed too much.

“We don’t know all of it, but it seems that the owner of her firm has gotten himself into trouble. I think they want to use Sarah’s report to buy themselves some time, if not amnesty for whatever he’s done. She’s not in danger. She isn’t exactly safe, either. Our agents are closely monitoring the situation and if we need to take action, we will without hesitation. We don’t want Sarah hurt any more than you do. We’re going to do everything within our power to keep her safe.”

Then let me go to her.
Didn’t they realize that by keeping the two of them apart, they’d done far more damage than any physical injury she might receive? “Thank you for telling me this. Should the situation change, I want clearance to go to Washington. I worked for the Quintursa once, and if it comes time to keep Sarah safe, I want to be the bear to do it.”

“You care for her,” the agent said.

“More than you know,” Liam replied.

“Very well then. You realize that will have to go into our notes, but we will keep you informed. I suspect you’ll hear from us within a couple of days.”

“Thank you.” Liam was far from satisfied with the
Quintursa’s
actions. They were, however, as good as it was going to get. He hung up the phone and wondered how much his brother had overheard.

~* * *~

Sarah sat ramrod stiff in her office, trying not to overhear the conversation happening just across the wall. Bill and Ken were arguing about something loud enough for the entire office to ear. Except, unlike most days, it was only her and the two men in the office. Apparently her coworkers either decided to work from home or were on assignment. When she’d inquired, her questions had been shut down. She blinked her eyes and tried to focus on the computer screen.

“Don’t do this,” Ken said. “You have to think about the firm.”

“I am thinking about the firm. What the hell do you think I’ve been doing these last six months? Sitting on my ass and hoping things would work out. Well it’s not happening!” Bill’s voice grew to a roar loud enough to probably be heard by the other company across the all.

Sarah pushed her chair back, thinking she ought to warn the two men to keep their voices down. In politics appearances counted. If word of this got out it would irreparably harm Hodges & Associates.

A door slammed.

Moments later Ken poked his head into her office. “Do you have a moment, Sarah?” He stepped inside and closed the door, taking the chair across from her desk before she could answer.

“Sure. What can I help you with?” She thought about mentioning the fight and decided against it. Ken had been in this business a long time. He didn’t need her to remind him about appearances.

“How are you coming with your report? We really need to see it by the end of the week.” Ken remained perched on the edge of the chair, as if he expected to be interrupted at any moment.

Across the hall, Bill stomped and stormed around his office. Occasional mutterings, mostly curse words, filtered through the wall.

“I’m working on it. There’s a lot of ground to cover.”
And a lot of half-truths to write.
She looked at her boss, noticing the first time the gray hair at his temples, the lines around his eyes. He looked tired, haggard even. “Is everything okay? You know you can count on me to get the job done.”

“I hope so.” Ken shook his head and stood. “I know I was a bit rough on you when you were in Alaska. I’m sorry. Things… Things have changed. You know what you need to do.”

The man standing before her bore little resemblance to the boss who had hired her. She ached for him. He acted like someone pushed into a corner and not happy about it, yet unable to free himself. “We all have to make our own choices, Ken. Some of us have lines that we just can’t cross.” There, she hinted, probably not too subtly, that she hated the idea of skewing her report just to make some Senator happy.