Chapter Nineteen

They found Chase in his office, mountains of paperwork on his desk, staring out the window with a beaten look on his face.

“It’s as if I lost part of myself,” he told Dan as the story came out. “Every member of the team is either dead or in jail. Except Paul, who’s gleefully calculating revenue in his office. Thank God for him, I guess.”

“It’s not a pretty story, but it could have been a lot worse. They could have actually gotten away with it.”

“I feel like ten kinds of a fool, you know.” Chase just stared at them, the bewildered look on his face laced with pain. “You think you know people, you make them part of your life, and then something like this happens . . . Maybe I should just shut down the company.”

“And let them win after all?” Dan asked. He stood in front of him, forcing him to make eye contact. “Chase, listen to me. I think we’ve all been there before. And some highly sophisticated crooks and killers victimized you. But that’s no reason to throw in the towel. Not with what you’ve got going for you here.”

“You still have a terrific staff,” Mark pointed out. “And if their actions today are any indication, they’re still very loyal to you.”

“Mark’s been checking regularly to make sure each department is functioning,” Dan pointed out, “and every single person asks the same question—what can they do to help?”

Chase had a dazed look in his eyes. “I can hardly believe it, either. I hardly know most of them except by name, and they’re going out of their way to show me their support.”

“And by the way,” Rick added, “when we left them, your erstwhile partner and fiancée couldn’t talk to the guys from DHS fast enough to buy protection from the Middle Eastern arms dealer who most likely has them in his sights.”

“Pardon my sense of practicality,” Dan continued, “but aside from the company’s reputation, you are about to get megamillion contracts for Oscar, and they know that. But still, if they didn’t trust you, they’d be out the door.”

“I guess you’re right. It’s myself I’m having trouble with.” He flapped his hands at the air. “I still don’t understand why they killed Stan.”

“They had no intention of using his biometrics. But they knew the system would be down while we reprogrammed it and that you’d insist on checking Oscar’s authenticity. If you remember, Lucas was the one who offered to get him and take him to the lab. He made the switch after the demonstration.”

“So they sacrificed poor Stan for that?”

“Not just for that,” Dan told him. “His death also meant he couldn’t then design something that would even surpass Oscar.”

“So which one of them did it?” Rick asked.

Dan sighed. “You won’t like this, but Joy was responsible for all the killings, one way or another. Even the sniper who shot at Mia was an old boyfriend of hers. Except for Ladd. She couldn‘t leave you long enough to get it done, so she got Lucas to do it, using her gun. The idiot still had it when he was arrested. They’d planned to dump it when they got out in the Gulf tomorrow.”

“And Ladd? I still don’t know what his role in this was.”

“My guess is he found them out and wanted a piece of the action. Chase, there’s something else I have to tell you that you’ll like even less.”

“Less than being engaged to a cold-blooded-killer bitch and having a thief with no conscience for a partner?”

“You and Joy never would have been married.” Dan hated to give him this piece of news, but he figured faster was better. Kind of like ripping off an adhesive bandage. “She was already married to Lucas. Has been for a long time. This whole thing was a setup from the start.”

The three men watched as what little color was left drained from Chase’s face. He turned to stare at the photo of Joy on his desk, then picked it up, and hurled it against the wall. The glass splintered, and the wood shattered. No one said a word, but every man there felt exactly the same way.

“Talk about being unbelievably stupid.” He scrubbed his hands across his face. “Jesus. She sure played me for a sucker. And what kind of man lets his wife sleep with someone else? Have sex with them? My God, it’s enough to make me throw up.”

“Chase, these people have neither morals nor scruples. They don’t even operate on the same plane as you and I do.”

His face was pinched, and pain filled his eyes. He dropped his head into his hands. “Just look at the situation. My engineer murdered. My attorney a blackmailer and killed for his efforts. And the woman I thought I was going to marry was married all the time to the man I thought was my partner.” He pounded a fist on the desk. “Shit. How much worse could things get? And what a monumental task I’m looking at now, not just with the actual engineering work. I’ll have bids to prepare, contracts to review, and all the stuff Lucas used to do . . .”

Dan knew the man would be a long time recovering from this, but he also knew how to help him. “Right now,” Dan interrupted, “what you need is a good attorney who can help you wade through all the contracts for Oscar and make sure the company’s on solid footing. He’ll bring in a good forensic accountant, too, just to make sure all the change is in the right place.”

“You know someone like that?” Chase’s skepticism was obvious, but he couldn’t keep the note of hope from his voice.

Dan nodded. “Phoenix uses him a lot. I called him on our way back from Galveston. My brother Ed is picking him up in DC in the morning and flying him here to meet with you. He’s cleared his calendar and can spend at least two weeks with you. He’ll be here about noon.”

Chase was stunned. “How the hell did you get him to do that?”

“Let’s just say he owes me a favor or two. And he’ll be able to help you rebuild your executive team. Listen to him. He knows what he’s talking about.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“This is where you man up, tiger,” Dan told him. “You’ve got a great reputation and a valuable new commodity. Don’t let that go to waste.”

“I guess you’re right,” Chase admitted. Then one corner of his mouth turned up in a hesitant smile. “But listen: tell Mia thanks for everything. She’s the one who started this, or I’d never have known anything was going to happen. I’m sorry I gave her such a hard time, but she’s made a real believer out of me now.”

“I’ll do that. She’ll be happy to hear it.”

“And thank you, all of you, for what you did. For what you’re doing. I just . . . I can’t . . .” He couldn’t finish.

Dan cleared his throat. “All right. Here’s what I think: you need to call everyone into that big hall and give them a pep talk. We’ll be right with you. Assure them the company is stronger than ever, especially with all those requests I see in that pile to discuss Oscar. Then go back to the hotel with Rick. Have a good dinner and a bunch of drinks. We’ll send someone to clean out Joy’s stuff so you won’t have to take care of it. And tomorrow, we’ll start a new day. I’ll make my calls to get everyone here as soon as we’re done.”

After the general meeting, which went very well, Dan watched as Rick led an unresisting Chase to his vehicle. Mike had flown back to the airport. He’d hang around another day to see whether he was needed, then head back to Baltimore.

Finally Dan looked at Mark. “You, my friend, can go pick up your wife because I plan to spend the night at the hospital again. And as soon as Mia can be moved, I’m taking her to the cabin in Maine. You might think of bringing Faith up there after a while. I have a proposal for the two women.”

“Care to give me a hint?”

“Nope. I want to firm it up in my mind first. Meanwhile I need to go show Mia I’m in one piece.

* * * * *

Although it was June, the weather in Maine still had a chill cutting through it. That didn’t deter the Phoenix partners from using the cabin that was their retreat. Perched on the edge of a bluff, isolated from everything except by air and a long, serpentine road, it was a place where they recharged their batteries and planned the most secret of their missions. This was the place where Rick Latrobe’s brother, a sniper in Mark Halloran’s former Special Ops unit, had been hidden away to recover from a blown mission.

Mia’s recovery had been long and painful. Dan took himself out of the loop completely while she was still in the hospital, staying there day and night. A happily married friend had once told him when he finally lost his heart he’d lose it completely and never want it back. That friend was right.

When she was released from the hospital, he moved into her house with her and oversaw every minute of her physical rehab. She’d always have scars to remind them of the disaster, but Dan paid careful homage to them with his lips when at last they were able to make love again.

A week ago the doctors and therapists had signed off on her final papers so this was a little vacation to celebrate.

Now, with the Carpenter Techtronics disaster well behind them and Mia mending beautifully, Dan had commandeered the place for a week of rest and relaxation. Some alone time with Mia. At the moment they were content to lie in bed, naked, thankful to have everything behind them.

“I still think it’s too soon for any kind of physical activity,” Dan said for the tenth time.

Mia grinned at him. “The doctor said mild activity. And it’s certainly been mild so far.”

“I don’t want to do anything to hurt you,” he protested.

“It will hurt me a lot more if I have to lie here like this much longer without something happening.”

For two days Dan had treated her as if she were made of spun glass, hardly daring to kiss her, much less touch her anyplace else. By this afternoon she’d decided if she didn’t take matters into her own hands, nothing was going to happen anytime soon. When he sent her into the bedroom to take a nap, she’d waited ten minutes, then called out that she needed help.

If only she’d had a camera to capture the look on his face when he walked in, and she was lying on the sheets stark naked.

“Mia.” He swallowed visibly and clenched his fists. “You need to cover yourself up before you take a cold.”

“What I need,” she told him in a voice as sultry as she could make it, “is for you to come over here and reassure me that I’m still a living, breathing woman and not an invalid.” She patted the bed next to her. “And right now.”

“Sweetheart, I don’t—”

“Dante Romeo, if you don’t get over here right now, you may never get in this bed again. I’m tired of being treated like I’ll break any minute. I may not be up to any swinging-chandelier calisthenics, but some slow, quiet sex would do us both a lot of good.”

She’d amazed herself at her boldness, but she knew they had to get past this. She’d managed to coax him out of his clothes, salivating at the golden sight of him, and entice him onto the bed with her. But she could tell he was still holding back.

Mia maneuvered herself onto her side and trailed her fingers along one muscular thigh, fingertips dancing over the skin until she reached his cock. His mind might be holding him back, but his body was in a state of total readiness. His cock was rock-hard, the vein that wrapped around it pulsing with the heavy beat of his heart. The bead of fluid that sat on the slit told her just how close to orgasm he really was.

Teasingly, she spread the viscous fluid across the velvet-smooth head with her thumb, watching his face darken with passion as she did so.

His big, warm hand stroked her back, fingers tracing her spine before dropping to the curve of her buttocks and then gently into the warm crevice.

“Just as soon as you’re in fighting shape,” he said in a voice like warm honey, “I’m going to fuck you here. Something tells me I’ll be the first.”

His words sent shivers skittering over her skin and something dark rising from deep within her. She squeezed her thighs together against the increased throbbing and the fresh spate of her liquid.

He rolled toward her. “I’m right, aren’t I?” His other hand moved up to cup her cheek, his warm breath like a soft breeze.

“Y-yes.”

“Would you like that?” His thumb brushed over her bottom lip, stroking it lightly. “Answer me, Mia. I can see it in your eyes.”

She ducked her head. “Yes.” She could barely get the word out. “I’d like that.”

His probing fingers touched the tiny, tight brown hole and pressed lightly. Just once. “Soon, sweetheart.” His grin was hungry. “Keep that in mind.”

“I can tell what thinking about it’s doing to you,” she said with a throaty laugh. His cocked had hardened and flexed in her grip.

“You, too.” He moved his hand to probe between her thighs, finding the wet, swollen flesh of her cunt. Sliding one finger inside.

“I want you,” she told him.

“Then let’s see what we can do without putting you at risk.”

He rolled her onto her back and knelt between her thighs, his eyes drinking in the sight of her wet folds. With gentle fingers he opened her labia, bent his head, and took a slow, thorough lap with his tongue. Mia felt lightning zap her, from her womb to her breasts, and moaned softly.

“You like that, sweetheart? So do I. You taste like heaven. I could eat you like ice cream.”

And he proceeded to do just that, using his tongue to lick at every surface, rasp against her clit, and thrust inside her quivering channel. It seemed like forever since they’d last made love, and the residual pain from her injuries faded beneath the heat he generated in her body. The more he licked, the hotter she got until her skin felt too tight and her breasts ached.

“Oh, please,” she begged. “Please, Dan.”

“Let’s make this work.” His own breathing was none too steady.

He reached into the nightstand drawer and fished out one of the condoms he’d stored there. Just in case. It only took him seconds to roll the latex on. Then he pulled the pillows this way and that until he was sure Mia was properly cushioned before kneeling between her thighs. He braced himself on his hands as the head of his shaft probed at the entrance to her pussy.

Very slowly he inched his way inside her, each slow glide setting off fireworks inside her, until he was all the way in, the head of his cock bumping the mouth of her womb.

“Here we go,” he said, his gaze holding hers.

And with slow, steady strokes he moved in and out of her, watching her carefully as he increased his pace. Impatient, she wrapped her legs around him and pulled him more tightly against her, raising her hips to meet him thrust for thrust.

It seemed forever that his cock slid in and out, stretching her, stimulating all those tiny little nerves in the wall of her pussy. And little by little the coil of need and desire wound so tightly deep inside her began to unwind, moving higher and higher. She’d thought she wanted it hard and fast, but this was even better, stretching out the voluptuous feeling that roused every one of her senses.

It went on and on, stretching her on an unbelievable rack of pleasure. His eyes darkened until they were as black as onyx, lit only by the fire of passion burning deep inside him.

When he tensed Mia knew he was close, as close as she was, and silently she signaled him to increase the pace. By that time she was so close that it took only seconds before she convulsed with her orgasm, taking him with her.

Afterwards she lay curled against him, his arms wrapped around her. For her it was the best place—the only place—to be.