Chapter 9

Jack

It was another long day in Dexter Jansen’s office. I was forced to practice the mindfulness techniques I’d learn in Delta Force. Otherwise, I’d end up going off on this rich motherfucker.

The topic of conversation today was Christmas bonuses. Apparently, Jansen had promised his engineers a substantial end of the year bonus if they completed the requested designs on time. As I watched, Jansen dressed down the chief engineer when the poor man had reminded him of the promise.

“Do you have it in writing?” Jansen snarled.

The engineer shook his head. “We had an oral agreement.”

The rich man shrugged. “I’m afraid I don’t remember that.”

The other man stood, and my senses went on alert. The man’s fists were balled, his posture that of an animal about to strike. “I’m sick of this shit,” the engineer said. “You live up to your promise, or my entire team walks.”

“Walk then,” Jansen said, leaning back, lifting his legs to place them on the desktop and crossing his ankles. “Your team is replaceable.”

“We’ll badmouth you to ever professional we know.”

Jansen shrugged. “I’ll hire foreigners and pay them less than your guys.”

“You’re an asshole,” the man snarled, then pushed his way past Jack and out of the door.

Jansen laughed. “He won’t quit. None of the techie guys ever quit. They’re all marshmallows on the inside.”

I gritted my teeth, biting back a retort about him being a marshmallow on the outside.

When he finally ducked into the bathroom for his afternoon constitutional, I breathed a sigh of relief, just to have a door between us. Still, I couldn’t waste the opportunity. I ducked back behind his desk, pulling open the drawer that had held the envelope of photos.

The envelope was gone. It wasn’t anywhere in the desk.

I spied his leather messenger bag sitting on the floor, leaned up against the desk. I squatted beside it and carefully opened the thing. But the envelope wasn’t there either.

The sound of the toilet flushing caught my attention and I darted back across the room. It was only a few minutes later when I felt the vibration of my phone in my pocket. Pulling it out, I saw Emma’s number on the notification screen. I had to stop a smile from spreading across my face.

She was a spunky girl who made him laugh. And she was smoking hot. Jack knew he wasn’t in any sort of shape to carry on a relationship, but if he was, he’d be making a beeline for Emma.

Well, if she wasn’t the boss’s daughter.

And his best friend’s sister.

Damn.

Emma’s text was to the point. “Did you get them?”

My fingers tapped the screen. “Negative. Must be back in his hotel room.”

A frustrated face emoji popped up, followed by a gif of a cartoon mermaid blowing her bangs off her forehead. This time I did crack a smile, which I quickly hid behind my hand.

At the end of the day, I drove Jansen back to his hotel. The man was bitching again, this time upset about not being able to leave his room in the evening. The suite was luxurious, the hotel restaurant award-winning. But Jansen missed hanging out behind the velvet rope in the town’s trendiest hotspots. Several days of being cooped up inside was making him cranky.

I escorted him to his room, then did my customary sweep for bugs or signs of intrusion. Since I’d started the job, I’d found none. But all that changed today.

In the bedroom closet, one that was larger than my own at home, I found a wide-eyed Emma crouched among Jansen’s clothing.

Shit.

I shook my head at her, but continued as if I’d not seen anything. I didn’t want to tip Jansen off to her presence. As I finished the sweep, I frantically racked my brain for a distraction that would give Emma time to slip out before the businessman noticed she was here.

I couldn’t believe that she’d snuck into Jansen’s room. What was she doing? Did she think this was some kind of game? Playing girl detective would at best lose Shadow Security a client, and at worst get her hurt.

I opened the door to the balcony, deciding to wing it. “What’s that?” I asked, attracting Jansen’s attention.

The man walked over to me and peered outside. “What?”

I pointed off in the distance towards the buildings of downtown. “You don’t see it?”

“See what?” Jansen went out the door and leaned against the balcony railing.

I took the opportunity to pull the phone from my pocket and text Emma. “Get out NOW.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Jansen asked, turning back in my direction. I stuffed the phone back in my pocket and stepped out to join him.

“Over there,” I said, jerking my head in the direction of downtown. “I mean, its right there. You really don’t see it?”

Jansen leaned on the railing again, craning his neck in the direction I’d indicated. The man shook his head. “I don’t see a damn thing.”

“How can you be missing this?” I asked, keeping an eye on the suite. “It’s just right there.” After a few beats, I saw Emma creeping carefully towards the exit. It wasn’t until the hotel room door closed behind her that I was able to take a breath.

“You’re crazy,” he said at last.

I blinked, then made a show of blinking again. “I’ll be damned,” I said with a forced chuckle. “I think I must have had something in my eye. Never mind.”

Jansen scowled at me. “This is the top-notch security I’m paying an arm and a leg for? Remind me to demand a discount from your boss.” He shouldered me out of the way and headed back into his suite.

“The room’s clean,” I said, giving him a two-fingered salute. “I’ll see you in the morning.” Then I showed myself out.

On the drive back to the office, I had to force my fingers to unclench from around the steering wheel. I was livid, angry at the sexy little secretary who’d tried to play spy. How could she even begin to think what she’d done was okay?

Emma had found a way into Jansen’s suite, probably looking for the envelope and its contents. She’d violated the privacy of one of their clients and had risked exposing herself, as well as me and the company, to a mountain of risk.

The drive seemed to take an eternity. I thought of all the things I’d say to her, how I’d dress her down for the danger she was putting herself in. If she’d hidden herself better, if I’d somehow missed her, then she’d still be holed up in Jansen’s suite, trying to figure a way out of the mess she’d gotten herself in.

Alone with Jansen, at his mercy, who knows what might have happened. Maybe he would have just called her father. But if the rich bastard really was mixed up in something shady, I wouldn’t put it past him to have more sinister plans for a beauty that had fallen into his clutches.

I parked at the office and took a few deep breaths, preparing myself for the confrontation I was about to have. Emma had to understand that she couldn’t take risks like these, couldn’t put herself in danger. I wouldn’t watch as another woman died in front of my eyes. The first one had almost crippled me.

Seeing Emma hurt would rip out my insides and set them on fire.

It was time to give her a taste of her own medicine. She’d threatened me to get her way. Let’s see how she liked it when I turned the tables on her.