Formula for Danger, page 14
part #6 of The Phoenix Agency Series
Guerra shook his head. “Say what you will, but I got an itchy feeling looking at him. We can’t just write him off. Anyway, it’s what isn’t in the report that will interest you. And puts me on my guard.”
“Yeah?” Horner studied him. “What’s got some kind of bug up your ass?”
“For one thing, I took a drive around the area where his ranch is. Pretty big spread.”
“Small compared with mine,” Horner snorted. “That doesn’t scare me.”
“True, but it’s big enough he could take about a hundred acres at the back end to devote to something I don’t think has anything to do with ranching.”
“Like what?”
“He’s got the whole area cordoned off with chain-link fence, about ten feet high, and it’s topped with concertina wire. I drove as much of the perimeter as I could to make sure. Managed to snap some pictures.” Leo took out his phone. “Here. Take a look.”
Horner reached across his desk for the cell. Leo could just as easily have emailed or texted the photos to him, but the other man’s trust in electronic security went only so far. He scrolled through the shots, studying each one.
“Pretty strange.” He handed the phone back.
“Yeah. Especially with no cattle there.”
Horner raised an eyebrow. “Why do you suppose the land is sitting empty like that? Did you see anything that gave you a clue?”
Guerra shook his head. “Nada. There’s a steel building big enough to fit three houses in but nothing else.”
His boss grunted. “I don’t suppose you were able to get a look inside.”
“Are you kidding?” Guerra snorted. “I’d bet money that wire’s electrified. If so, I’m sure they have a hot security system set up to detect intruders.”
“Did you see anyone outside the building?” Horner asked.
“Some construction equipment along with a few loads of gravel of some kind. I waited around in one spot for a while, to see if anyone came out or drove up, but no luck.”
“So what do you think it is?”
“I have no idea, but I’m going to figure out a way to find out. I have a feeling whatever he’s got going will turn out to be trouble for us.”
Horner snorted. “Nothing we can’t take care of. Remember that.”
“If you say so.” Leo fidgeted in his chair. “I’ve got an uneasy feeling about the situation. Let me see what else I can find out. My itchy neck tells me there’s a lot more to this guy than the hometown boy we see. I’ll make some calls and get things going.”
“Figure out a way to find out what’s inside that structure. Something smells weird about it. Why is a cowboy setting up a huge steel building with security around it? What can he consider more valuable than his cattle?”
“I’ll do my best to find out.”
“You think his connection to the woman is serious?”
Guerra shrugged. “More than casual, I’d say. Strangers stand out in a place like Clayton. It makes me itchy enough that I’ve spent so much time there and couldn’t even strike gossip gold with the waitress. But I have sources I tapped. They tell me he shows up at that building in town a lot. You know, where the lab is housed. And sometimes when he picks her up, he takes her directly to his ranch.”
Horner rubbed his chin, eyes thoughtful. “Okay. I want you to make another run at her next week. If he gets in the way, neutralize him.”
And didn’t Leo know exactly what that meant. But getting rid of a local rancher wasn’t going to be easy.
“If she still says no, and she won’t even talk to us,” Horner went on, “we’ll consider some other options.”
Leo wasn’t sure he wanted to think about what those other options were.
“Cole, I really don’t understand why all this is necessary,” JL protested. She and Mia had just returned from lunch and walked into the middle of the activity.
“They take security seriously,” Mia told her.
JL glanced at what the techs were setting up to protect the stand-alone computer where she kept all her lab notes. “I have more guards now, plus this extraterrestrial security system you’re having installed. Why go to this extreme?”
She caught the look passing between Cole and Dan.
“What? What aren’t you guys telling me?”
“Call it a procedure to make me feel better,” Cole finally said.
“But all this?” She waved her hand at the desk. “Isn’t it going a little too far? I mean, we’re on the main street in a small town. What on earth can happen?”
Dan grinned. “You’d better tell her. I learned the hard way smart women aren’t put off with half answers.”
“You bet,” Mia teased.
“Thank you, Dan.” JL smiled at him and at Mia. “I’ve been trying to tell him that myself.”
“Okay, okay.” Cole threw his hands up in defeat, although he had a grin on his face. “But keep in mind, you’re really a guinea pig for us.”
“Oh?” She cocked an eyebrow. “In what way?”
“First of all, we beefed up the existing setup. More hidden sensors outside. Very well camouflaged, but let me show you what happens when you trip one.” He nodded to Dan who spoke into a small wrist mic. In seconds, a terrible screeching sound filled the air. Dan spoke again, and in an instant it silenced.
“You could wake the dead with that.” She looked at Cole. “Wow!”
He dipped his head. “That’s only the first line of defense, though. It will scare away most people trying to break in.”
“But Phoenix has been testing new systems for clients, searching for better ways to do certain things. This particular security company wants our business, so they’re setting you up on their own dime. Equipment, too, with all the bells and whistles. If we like it—and them—we can move our major corporate clients into this, and it means big bucks for them.”
“But this facility is small potatoes,” she pointed out. “Don’t they—and you—want to test it out on something bigger?”
Dan shook his head. “Easier to do in a smaller situation. For example, fewer windows. And it helps yours are all painted black and sealed shut. Instead of locks, they’ll all be wired with sensors set to trigger an alarm. Andy will get it, Cole will get it, and so will the security company. I don’t think they’d be stupid enough to try and break a window to get in. It’s just an added precaution.”
“See those canisters?” Cole indicated small white tubes about two inches around and a foot long being lifted into ceiling vents.
“Uh-huh. What are those for?”
“One of the bells I told you about,” Dan answered. “Or maybe a whistle. First of all, we’re putting special sensors into the parking lot. Not the usual kind someone with infrared goggles can pick up. These have a special blocking component so they can’t be identified until someone actually puts pressure on them. Anytime a vehicle rolls in here, it triggers an alarm inside and the cameras, of course, pick it up. Whoever is on guard duty knows which cars belong and which ones don’t. All the guards will have a list with license plates and descriptions. If someone doesn’t belong, they’ll know right away.”
“At night, we employ a different alarm,” Dan told her. “Anyone on the list who wants entry to the lab after you leave has to call the guard ahead of time. Otherwise, he flips a switch. A strange vehicle or unknown body in the parking lot sets off not only the inside warning but also a loud alarm out there.”
“And then what?” she wanted to know.”
“It puts the guard on alert, for one thing. For another, it sounds at the place where we’ve got two agents holed up five minutes from here. They’ll come running, even if they have to show up in their boxers.”
“It also triggers an alarm at my place,” Cole added. “But let’s say worst-case scenario someone breaches the building and overpowers the guard. The minute they do, they’ll set off more sensors, and the canisters will release a gas into the room to incapacitate whoever broke in. At the moment, they only contain a harmless white mist so we can test them.”
JL hugged herself, rubbing her arms. “That makes me nervous.”
“I understand, but let me walk you through it.” Cole took her arm and led her out the front door of the building. He nodded to the tech working on the hardware. “All the locks are being changed to keyless entry. You, Miles, and the guards will have the codes. So will I. And they’ll be stored back in Maryland in the Dragon.”
“They won’t be written down anywhere,” Dan interjected, “so if someone forgets them they’ll have to go through us to be reinstated. An extra little precaution. We trust everyone on the list, and the guards will be ours, now. But better safe than sorry. Always.”
Cole tugged on JL’s hand, pulling her out into the parking lot and pointing to the roof of the small building. “Six cameras, positioned to catch every access, including one covering the street at a wide angle and one that covers the buildings backing to yours. They feed into a computer on the guard’s desk, the computer at my office at home, and the Dragon. We’re going to assume anyone after information will already have tried to hack your system here. I assume that’s why your lab work is stored on a stand-alone.”
JL nodded.
“If they have any brains, they’ll have figured out your setup. This is the only way we can protect your work.”
“But what’s to stop them from taking the computer apart and grabbing the hard drive?”
“Two things,” Dan answered. “We’re going to enclose that computer with Plexiglas. You can open it when you get here in the morning, but don’t forget to reset it when you leave.” Dan pointed to equipment still sitting in boxes on a small table. “We’re setting up a biometric system. We’ll register your handprint, Miles’s, and Cole’s. Cole and one of the techs will be here Monday morning to do Miles’s. When a print is accepted, the system will ask for the password—which we’re going to have you change—and you can access your files.”
“I’m feeling slightly overwhelmed by all this, guys.” No lie. Her head spun with the complexity of it all. “Are you sure this is all necessary?”
Dan rested his hips against the table and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You’ve got some fairly heavy-duty, dangerous people after your formula, JL. Damon Horner is a good example.”
Cole draped his arm around her shoulder and tugged her against him. “We want the best protection for you and your work. Besides, as we said, this is a good place to test out all this equipment. A lot easier than trying a test in a massive facility. We can control it better.”
At that moment Mia’s cell phone rang. She excused herself and moved into a corner to take the call. One of the techs asked Dan a question, walking him over to examine a particular piece of equipment. JL and Cole were left with a moment of privacy, or at least as much as they would get with all these people around them.
“You know, for the first time I’m realizing the seriousness of this situation,” JL admitted.
When she’d come home from Seattle—no, run home better described it—and Grant Summerfield had asked her whether a project like this was possible, she saw it as a chance to do something for all the ranchers like her father. For cattlemen everywhere. How naïve she’d been not to think about people who would subvert it for their own good. And probably stop at nothing to get hold of it.
Dan had finished chatting with two of the techs. “Okay, let’s set up the biometrics. Then we can test everything at he same time. And remember. Like I said earlier, we have agents five minutes away from the lab. For the most part, they’ll have to figure out how to keep from getting bored. But if the real thing happens, they’ll be all over it right away.”
“We’re going to hope it never comes to that.” Cole squeezed her hand. “But we’ll have a better idea once we get those lunch meetings out of the way. Meeting with these people will give us a better reading on them.”
“When we’re done I’m going to have all the alarm information forwarded to me,” Dan reminded him. “And now I see my wife is through with her call. Cole, how about getting a cup of coffee across the street while these guys finish up here?”
“Sounds good to me.”
Chapter Seven
Cole stripped off his shirt and tossed it in the hamper in his closet. He’d already removed his boots and socks. Today had been productive. The hangar stood ready for the new helo, and Abe was adjusting to his new situation. Once the security system had been installed and tested at the lab, he’d felt easier about JL being there every day. The danger still lurked out there—he could feel it—but he was taking every possible precaution to keep her safe. But it was time to put all that aside for a moment and focus just on the two of them. Tonight, he planned to take both of their minds off everything except right now.
When the two of them reconnected months ago, he wasn’t looking for anything more than a nice but casual relationship. Still restless after two tours in Afghanistan and trying to settle in at the ranch, he hadn’t exactly figured out his future. Then he ran into JL, and as their relationship grew and developed, his life seemed to settle around him. She centered him as no one had ever before, chasing away the demons that seemed to follow snipers around and giving his life a purpose.
He knew she had strong feelings for him. At least he thought she did. She gave every indication that was the case. He didn’t know if her reluctance to take things to a more permanent level had to do with the tension surrounding her experiment or his sense of something dark she kept hidden away. Something plaguing her he hadn’t been able to coax out of her. Every time he brought it up, she very cleverly steered the conversation away from it.
Forget about it tonight. Enjoy what you have. Make things so great for her there won’t be any question of what comes next.
She’d let her hair grow since she got home. At work, she pulled it into a ponytail or a messy bun on top of her head, but otherwise she wore it down. He loved the way it shimmered and danced below her shoulders, like now when she brushed it. When the light caught it, he thought it looked like a cascade of golden threads. Just sifting his fingers through it made him hard.
Still in his jeans and boxers, he moved behind her, pressing his bare chest against her body. God, she smelled incredible. The honeysuckle scent of the lotion she used filled his senses. Maybe he’d plant a ton of it in the back and snip off a piece every day. He was filled with an intense need to possess her, to stamp himself on her indelibly. Hold her heart as well as her body. He would make it his personal business to prevent any harm to her. To guard against the danger his instincts kept telling him lurked out there.
Very gently, he touched his lips to the smooth silk of her shoulder, trailing them to the slender column of her neck. She always tasted so delectable, like the best treat in the world. He took a slow, delicious lick from her chin down to her shoulder and back again. She shivered beneath his touch, her nipples turning to hardened peaks beneath her shimmery cami.
“I’ll give you a year to stop,” she teased.
“Like that, do you?” He nipped gently where her shoulder and neck joined.
“Mm. You know I do.” She set the brush down on the dresser and leaned back against him.
He cupped her cheek, loving the smooth feel of her skin. She turned her head and drew tiny circles in his palm with her tongue. Desire speared him, heating his body and shooting straight to his balls.
“I want to lick you all over, every tasty inch of you.” He sucked gently on her earlobe, then nuzzled the tender spot on her neck that drove her crazy. “Every. Single. Part.”
In the mirror, he saw a blush creep up her face, painting her cheeks soft rose. Lifting his hand, he rubbed his thumb over her full lower lip. She slid the tip of her tongue over it, a slow glide back and forth, sending electricity straight to his cock. God, amazing how one touch, one caress always turned him on so. Made him rock hard.
“Look at yourself,” he murmured, mouth close to her ear. “Watch in the mirror.”
He slid his hands beneath the thin cami and lifted it, exposing her breasts. Cupping them in his palms, he brushed his thumbs back and forth across the stiff peaks. She leaned her head back against him, a soft little moan of pleasure whispering from her throat, the sound vibrating through him. Taking her hands, he replaced his own so she held her breasts for him, leaving him free to explore other areas.
“Watch,” he repeated, sliding his hand down the sexy curve of her stomach beneath the flimsy material of her boy shorts.
The rosy flush on her cheeks deepened as his fingers touched the softness of her pubic curls, moved lower into the wetness of her sex. The moment the tip of a finger touched her clit, she sucked in a gasp. Cole’s shaft throbbed with need, pressing hard against the denim of his fly. Damn good thing he kept his jeans on, or this whole thing would be over before it barely got started.
Her labia were slick with her juices, the liquid coating his fingers and easing the slow caress he gave the length of her slit. Reflected in the mirror, he saw the increase in the beat of her pulse at the hollow of her throat. Her lips parted, and her breathing sped up. Cole didn’t think he’d ever get enough of touching her, of feeling the smoothness of her skin or the heat of her sex. The sleek wetness of her body.
“Look at us,” he growled softly in her ear. “See how good we are together?”
“Yes.” The word drifted out as a bare whisper.
“Pinch your nipples. Pretend those are my fingers squeezing them. Yes, like that,” he said when she obeyed. “Harder.”
He heard the hiss of her indrawn breath and saw the lids of her eyes droop as she did what he ordered. He added a second finger to the first and squeezed her clit between them. Leaving her boy shorts on, with his hand snaked beneath them, was more arousing than if he’d stripped her naked, as if they were doing something naughty. In fact, he planned to get even naughtier.
“Open your legs.” He gave the lobe of her ear a soft bite to emphasize his words. “Do it now.”
Obediently, she widened her stance, and he spread his fingers until his hand covered her entire sex. He pressed it against her wet flesh and dragged it up to the top of her mound then down again. Another one of those softly erotic sounds whispered from her lips. His cock flexed in response.
