Inner Circle

 

“You ready to do this?”

I jumped at the sound of Jackson’s voice, nearly burning my arm against the side of the oven as I removed the last batch of chocolate chip cookies. After carefully setting the baking sheet on the counter, I turned around.

“Hey, I didn’t hear you come in.”

His expression was apologetic. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

“No harm done. Give me a minute to move these over to a cooling rack, and then I’ll be ready.”

“May I?” he asked, his hand hovering above one of the already-cooled cookies.

“Help yourself. They’ll probably disappear quickly since Chase and Theo practically begged me to make them today.”

Jackson retrieved a plate from the cabinet and piled on at least six cookies.

“Hungry?” I asked with a laugh. Usually, he was more restrained than that.

“To take downstairs with us.”

“Oh.” Was he planning on spilling Zenith secrets over a game of pool?

“You know, the guys can take care of themselves. You don’t need to cook for them all the time.”

Something about the way he worded that statement made me bristle. “I know they don’t need me to, but I don’t mind. We all have to eat, right?”

“Right . . .” I waited, sensing there was more to come. “But, you shouldn’t let them take advantage of you.”

Slamming the spatula down harder than I intended, I shot him a glare. “Look, Jackson, I may have been a pushover when I first came to Santa Cruz, but I’ve changed a lot since then. I can handle myself. Not that Theo, Knox, or Chase would ever take advantage of me. You should know better than that.”

“Okay.” His lips started to twitch like he was trying to suppress a smile.

“Something funny?”

“Anyone ever tell you that you look cute when you’re pissed off?”

“Cute?”

“Yeah, kind of like a hissing kitten.”

My face flushed with anger. “Are you kidding me?” I marched over to him and jabbed a finger in his chest. “Were you even listening to what I said?”

His smile grew. “Oh, I heard you loud and clear. You can handle yourself. Got it.”

“Stop smiling!” I poked him again.

He snatched my hand to stop the assault and dragged me against him. I gasped, going from indignant to flustered in one second flat as my eyes met his stormy blue ones. I desperately wanted to say, I take it back. Keep smiling. My anger was a lot easier to deal with than the heat flowing through my veins from being pressed up against his rock-hard body.

“You two seem to be getting along well.”

At Theo’s unexpected interruption, I scurried away from Jackson and grabbed the plate of cookies. “I’ll be in the basement,” I said, not waiting for either of them to respond.

I trudged down the stairs, wishing I could erase the last few minutes. What was wrong with me? I didn’t understand why I got so mad at Jackson to begin with. Sure, he was being bossy and high-handed . . . okay, that was reason enough.

By the time I reached the last step, Jackson was halfway down the stairs. He passed me and stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall. Uncovering a panel in the wall I’d never noticed, he keyed in a code, then opened the door. What?

“Are you waiting for something?”

“Isn’t that a storage room?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you come see for yourself?”

The well-lit room resembled a storage room, of sorts. Except for shelves lining one wall, and a large safe in the corner, the cement walls were bare. A table sat in the middle of the room with six chairs around it; one end featured an oversized monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

“How did I not know about this room?”

“We don’t use it often,” Jackson said as he logged onto the computer. “But, it’s a good place to store extra supplies.”

“That’s a gun safe?”

“Yes. There are several others in the loft, but that’s the biggest.”

I looked closer at the shelves for clues about what supplies they held, but the neatly arranged, gray plastic containers were labeled with numbers rather than descriptions. “Is there a reason we’re having this conversation in here?”

“I wanted somewhere private, and I figured it would be easier to use this computer than scrunch up around my laptop.”

“That makes sense,” I conceded, selecting the seat across from Jackson, still in view of the monitor.

He placed a document and pen in front of me. “First things first.”

I read the title on the first page. “Non-Disclosure and Confidentiality Agreement?”

“Zenith protocol. If you don’t sign, this discussion stops here.”

“Sounds kind of ominous.”

“Feel free to read it, but don’t worry. You’re only sacrificing your first-born child if you violate the terms.”

“That’s reassuring,” I muttered before reading, then signing the document.

Jackson leaned back in his chair and gave me a probing look. “What is your hypothesis about Zenith? What do you think is going on beyond private security?”

“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to be explaining to me?”

“Yes, but I want to hear what you think, first.”

“Okay. For lack of a better word, my best guess is that you’re spies. You go on assignments posing as private security, but you’re actually doing something else. Although, that doesn’t explain your assignment to find my dad.”

“You’re partially right. We’re not spies, per se, but we sometimes pose as private security in order to achieve a hidden agenda. Other times, we’re merely security guards and there’s nothing else to it.” He grabbed a piece of printer paper and a pen, then drew two circles, one inside the other. “This outer circle represents Zenith as a whole. Everyone who works for the company is involved in private security in some form. The inner circle represents a smaller set of Zenith employees who, in addition to security, have extra responsibilities. Team Jaguar and Team Falcon are both on the inside, but many of the other teams in the office are not.”

“Extra responsibilities?” I thought of Chase’s obvious expertise. “Like hacking?”

“When necessary, yes. We specialize in finding things—information, people, or objects. On the flip side, we can also hide people or things. What Knox told you in the beginning was true; we are essentially glorified private investigators. We just happen to have significantly better resources at our disposal than your typical P.I., and our assignments tend to be on the sophisticated side.”

“So, you aren’t spending your time catching cheating husbands?” I tried to imagine Theo using his photography skills for that particular objective and had to bite back a grin. He would probably be offended if I even suggested such a thing.

“Not intentionally, although we have observed an indiscretion or two.”

“I bet. Why all the secrecy, though? Couldn’t Zenith just be a high-end private investigation company?”

“I’ll let Uncle explain the nuances of how and why he and his partners founded Zenith, but their intention from the beginning was to create a well-respected business as a front for their other activities. As former special ops, they understood the importance of covert operations. Many of our clients are government contacts. They know they can come to us to get things done that they can’t because of red tape or legalities. And, that’s the primary reason for the secrecy—many of the things we do cross over into illegal territory.”

“So, you’re criminals?” The question sounded harsh, but I wanted the entire truth once and for all. Was I wrong to trust them? I needed to know.

“Depends on your perspective, I suppose. Am I a criminal for driving five miles over the speed limit? Speeding is against the law, after all.”

“I wouldn’t call you a criminal, no.”

“Okay, what if I hack into an e-mail account in an attempt to find someone who could be in danger? Again, it’s illegal, but it was done with good intentions and didn’t cause any harm to the person who was hacked. Am I a criminal now?”

He was using my own situation as an example. Smart. I knew Chase hacked into Jess’s e-mail, but I’d never considered the legality of his actions. It was a clear invasion of privacy, but I understood why he did it. And, I thought even Jess would forgive him for it if she knew.

“Point taken. So, you cross the line when necessary.”

“That’s the goal. Uncle and the other directors are very careful about what cases they accept. We aim to help people, not hurt them. But, that can still mean dealing with shady characters. If a known leader of a drug cartel comes to us because his innocent daughter was kidnapped by a rival, we’ll agree to find her. However, if he wants us to find someone who betrayed him, we would never accept that case.

“Even so, we don’t always get it right. Look at Douglas. Our initial research on him came back squeaky clean, so we had no problem taking the case to look for your father. Now, we know better.”

My head spun with the implications of what Jackson revealed. Sophisticated private investigation didn’t sound so bad. In fact, my prediction that they were some type of government contractors was a heck of lot closer than Melissa’s “super hot mafia” theory.

Even though the reality wasn’t that different from what I’d imagined, I was struggling to grasp what the guys did at work on a daily basis. Should I be worried that one of them would end up arrested? Or worse?

“I know it’s a lot to take in. Do you have any questions so far?”

“There’s more?”

“Sort of.” Helpful.

“Why didn’t you explain this to me sooner? I get why you didn’t in the very beginning, but you had plenty of opportunities to fill me in before I left.”

“We don’t tell anyone. It’s an inner-circle Zenith absolute, and as much as we all trust you, it would have been unethical to break our word, much less our employment contracts. I’ve told you before that we avoid serious relationships for a reason. This is it.”

“Then, why tell me now?”

Jackson shifted in his seat. “It was part of the team’s agreement when we decided to bring you home. We couldn’t keep you in the dark any longer, especially while dating you. So, with Uncle’s help, I carved out an exception.”

“What kind of exception?”

“I’d rather not get into that right now. Uncle will explain when you see him on Thursday.”

I wanted to argue, but he’d already disclosed more than I expected, so I decided to let it go. “Okay.”

Jackson moved the mouse to wake up the computer, then opened a program requiring at least four different passwords. He stopped when a folder labeled “Abagnale” filled the screen.

“Now, on to the fun part.”

“Should I be scared?”

“Only if you find the details of a bona fide Team Jaguar assignment scary.”

My pulse jumped in excitement. “Really?”

“Yep.” He double-clicked to open the folder and selected a document, which turned out to be a chart with a number of names, photos, and short bios.

Jackson pointed to the man in the top left corner. “Here is the guy we’re after, Brad Wilson. He swindled our client’s elderly mother out of over three million dollars, and we need to get it back. Unfortunately, he already moved the money from the account where her funds were deposited, which means we need to catch him in the act and trace the account he’s now using.”

I quickly scanned Wilson’s bio—apparently, sweet-talking wealthy women out of their money was how he made his very lucrative living—along with information on the client, Mr. Richardson, and his mother. The Richardsons were part of a rather affluent family who lived in New York and were known for their philanthropic efforts.

“Why didn’t Mr. Richardson go to the police? Why hire Zenith?”

“His mother was humiliated when their family accountant discovered what happened and filled them in. She doesn’t want to chance it going public and thinks she convinced her son to let it go. Instead, he approached Zenith. We’ve done work for him in the past, and he knows we’ll be much more effective than the police anyway.”

“Who is Abagnale? Is that Wilson’s alias?”

“Good guess, but no. I name all of our assignments after literary characters or references. Frank Abagnale is one of the most well-known con artists in history. Haven’t you read Catch Me if You Can?”

“No.”

He made a tsking sound before returning to the computer. “This case originated in the D.C. office, but when the assigned team traced him to California, they transferred the case to us. Wilson has been staying at an upscale hotel in San Francisco for the last week and keeping a low profile. But, we know he’s attending an event in a couple weeks. Based on his usual process, that’s when he’ll approach his next mark.”

“Are you going to tell me how you figured out he’ll be attending?”

Jackson gave me a pointed look. “You’re better off not knowing.”

In other words, they’d crossed over into illegal territory.

“What is the event?”

“Lucky for us, it happens to be a Stanford alumni fundraiser. You’ll be going as Liam’s date. If you want to.” It was obvious that he threw the last part in there to give me a choice, but he knew I wouldn’t refuse.

“You’re not going?”

“Oh, I am.”

“Are you taking someone?” The words popped out before I had a chance to think them through, and I hated the tinge of jealousy that laced through my voice.

I expected a smirk, but instead, he looked pleased by my response. He picked up a cookie and took a large bite, chewing slowly and prolonging the suspense. “I’ve asked Kara to accompany me. Neither of you are technically part of the mission, but she’ll be on standby in case something comes up. Since the two of you are friends, her attendance should make the otherwise boring afternoon more fun for you.”

“Thank you.” I liked thoughtful Jackson. “So, what’s the plan?”

“It’s fairly simple. Knox and Theo will be there as event security and backup. Liam and I will keep an eye on Wilson to determine his mark. We’ll find out her name and a few other personal details, and Chase will access her bank accounts and flag them for activity. As soon as she transfers money to Wilson, we’ll be able to trace his account.”

“Simple. Right.”

“You have a problem with the plan?”

“What if Chase isn’t able to hack into the mark’s bank accounts? What if the account she transfers the money to is empty? Will you take her money instead? And, what if she doesn’t fall for his scheme to begin with?”

Jackson didn’t say anything for a few long moments, then he finally tipped his head to the side. “Is that all?”

“For now.”

“There are risks, sure, but we know what we’re doing. Chase will be able to hack her accounts, no question. We’ve tracked enough of Wilson’s former bank activity to determine that he likes to group most of his money together and doesn’t move it very often. He probably only did so now because he decided to relocate his operations from the East Coast to California. And, if need be, we’ll either convince his mark to participate or make it appear like she’s going along with it.”

“Sneaky.”

He lazily stretched an arm across the top of the chair next to him. “We do what we have to. Does that bother you?”

It seemed like it should, but did it really? “I guess not.”

“Think of it like this: would you rather Wilson get away with the money? Even if Richardson reported the incident to the police, that’s what would likely happen. This guy is good at what he does.”

“No, but you’re only getting Mrs. Richardson’s money back. You’re not stopping Wilson from continuing to rip people off.”

“We’ll anonymously hand over the evidence we’ve gathered against him, not including any references to the Richardson family, when we’ve completed the assignment. Whether the authorities run with it or not is up to them.”

“You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”

The edges of Jackson’s mouth tipped up in amusement. “Yes.” He leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table. “I’m not telling you about this assignment for your entertainment. I want you to understand what we do and why. Yes, we cross lines, but only out of necessity. If you’re going to be in a long-term relationship with any of us, you need to be okay with that. And, you need to be okay with us keeping things from you. We might let more information slip about what we’re up to than we used to, but we’re not going to start briefing you on all of our assignments.”

Whatever mysterious “exception” Patrick agreed to didn’t include me becoming an official member of Team Jaguar, then. Part of me was disappointed, but I knew it was for the best. How could I possibly work with all of them after I chose one? As much as I hated to think about it, deep down, I knew that day was looming.

“I understand. Can I ask you an unrelated question?”

“Go for it.”

“Why am I going as Liam’s date instead of yours? Did you flip a coin or something?” It seemed insignificant compared to everything else Jackson told me, but I was curious.

“Not exactly. Out of all of us, it’s assumed that Liam will have a beautiful woman on his arm. Anyone who knows him expects it. So, he asked the team if we would agree to let that woman be you, whenever possible. It’s only an issue for public events.”

“I see.” I wanted to ask what that meant for the non-public ones. Would any of the guys claim me at work? Would we all pretend nothing was going on?

“In case you were wondering, I would much rather take you than Kara.” His leg brushed mine under the table. “I have every intention of sitting on your other side and finding excuses to touch you.”

I resisted the urge to duck my head like a shy little girl, even though that’s how Jackson often made me feel. “I look forward to it.”

“Does that mean you would look forward to a date with me? Say, Friday?”

“I would.”

“Excellent.” He shut down the computer and stood. “Let’s go see what the others are up to.”

It didn’t take long to find my roommates, since they were all sprawled out on the large sectional watching baseball. Well, Chase was watching baseball. Theo stared intently at something on his iPad, and Knox appeared to be only half-awake.

Chase’s gaze zeroed in on the plate of leftover cookies in my hands. “Good, there’s more.” He grabbed two and handed one to Theo, who took it and started eating without looking up from his tablet.

“What is he doing?” I mouthed to Chase, and he shrugged in response.

Jackson threw a pillow at Knox, who opened one eye and grunted. “What?”

“Pool?”

“Do I look like I want to play right now?”

“No, you look like an old man falling asleep watching TV on Sunday afternoon.”

Knox heaved his body up and scowled in Jackson’s direction. “Fine. Best of three. Winner picks up tacos for the room.”

“Deal.”

Knox paused beside me on his way to the pool table and ran his hand over the end of my braid. “Did it go okay with Jax?”

“I think so.”

“Let me know if there’s anything you want to talk about.”

“Thank you.” I stretched up to kiss him on the cheek, surprising both of us.

When I settled next to Theo on the couch, he stretched out an arm and pulled me into his side. I tried to peek at his iPad, but he kept it tilted away from me.

“Whatcha doing?”

“Shopping.”

“Shopping for what?”

“Stuff.”

“Theo!”

He finally looked at me and sighed when he saw my exasperated expression. “Fine.”

I took the tablet from his outstretched hand and laughed when I saw what was on the screen. “That’s what had you so engrossed? Shoes?” There were nine pairs in his shopping cart. “Please tell me you’re only buying one or two of these.”

“Remember this moment the next time you want my help picking out an outfit.”

“I’m sorry, please proceed.” I pointed to a pair of brown boots that were a strange hybrid of dress and combat boots. They were perfect for Theo. “Those are my favorite.”

“Thanks, sugarplum.”

Worried Chase was feeling left out, I looked over to find that he’d migrated to the back of the room to watch the game between Knox and Jackson. It seemed like he was fitting in better with them than he had in the past. Maybe Ethan being gone wasn’t such a bad thing for Chase after all.

As I continued to snuggle into Theo’s side, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was what our new normal looked like. Or, would I look back on this moment and realize it was nothing but a fleeting moment of peace too good to be true?