Accounting for Lust (16 page)

Jake waited until he was sure Cassie was sound asleep before he carefully lifted her head of his shoulder and rose from the bed. He tiptoed to the lounge and stared out the window. Dark outside, only the light from the streetlamp illuminated the room. By tomorrow this place would be crawling with agents and he would be required to assist in the location of the camera and hopefully the culprit. Why the idea left him with a bitter taste in his mouth, he didn’t want to ponder. It was in everyone’s best interests to have this matter resolved as soon as possible. It was his job.

For once, Jake hated his job. Being good at
it
meant he had to say goodbye to Cassie and their time together. How had she come to mean so much to him in the space of three days? Could he call it love? He shook his head in denial. No, love was what he had felt for Susan and look how that had turned out. What he felt for her wasn’t love. He wanted to protect her. He wanted to make love to her for days on end. He wanted to share her life with her. But love? No. He didn’t believe in love. It only existed in romance novels and soppy movies.

Although he respected her for what she had achieved in such a short time in her father’s company, it didn’t compare to the tenderness
welling
up in him when dark circles tainted her eyes and fatigue
lined her
mouth. Friends. They could remain friends after they sorted out this mess.

Yeah, right. Friends don’t want to bang each others brains out,
his inner voice protested. Sex wasn’t everything. He could live without it. He’d done so for months on end without any problems. If they kept the rest of their relationship strictly professional, it might be easier to let her go and forget he ever met her.

Jake laughed mirthlessly. What happened to the brain cells in his head?
Minutes ago
he contemplated remaining friends with her.  Now he wanted to forget her.
Showed you how amazing, mind-blowing sex could screw with your head. Determined not to ponder the problem of his relationship with Cassie any further, Jake showered and dressed before carrying his laptop to his room.

Cassie walked into the kitchen fully dressed and watched Jake butter a slice of toast. He looked so at home that her throat constricted. No, she didn’t want a repeat of last night’s thoughts. Keeping her face devoid of emotion, she moved in behind the kitchen counter and poured herself a cup of coffee from the perc
o
lator.

“Morning. Slept well
?
”

She nodded and sipped at the scalding liquid. “We have to get going if we want to get the plant shut down by tonight.”

Twenty minutes later, they drove in silence towards the Adams Towers. Cassie flipped open her schedule for the next two days and sighed inwardly. She had negotiations with two major weapons dealers as well as a meeting with the minister of defence from an African country. The weapons dealers might be able to re-schedule, but the dignitary was going to baulk at the delay. All the meetings were scheduled months in advance and to cancel now, would prove their attitude that women didn’t belong in business, correct.

They had to find alternative venues that suited all parties, but
couldn’t cancel.
Not even if it meant she had to put herself in danger. She’d worked too hard to get the meetings in the first place to let them go now. Adams
Armoury
needed the contracts. Desperately.
It would be difficult to find a
conference facility
at such short notice, b
ut she had faith in Megan. If anyone could pull it off, it would be her.

She entered her office without a trace of the past couple of day’s terror evident
in her face
. Jake left her side only when she reached Megan’s office and Cassie
fought the vulnerability washing over her.
Lifting her chin
,
she gave Megan the news about the infestation and requested she arrange a change of venue for the meetings. Cassie stepped into her office
pretending confidence she didn’t feel
. Knowing someone watched her every move, unnerved her
.

She’d barely opened her mail client when the telephone started ringing.
Re-assuring plant managers and the members of the board that the
closure
couldn’t be avoided took hour
s
of her time. By the time she managed to replace the receiver her energy
plummeted
. The company could hardly afford a shutdown now, but it could afford more thefts even less. Losing
several hundred thousand
Rand
in exchange for the security of the personnel and the finances of the company, seemed reasonable. At least on paper it did. She didn’t want to consider their actions not bearing fruit. They had to catch the thief. And soon.

The rest of the day she re-arrang
ed
deadlines for the plant and re-schedul
ed
delivery dates of orders that should have been filled in the next two days. Jake and Matt ha
d to finish their investigation
in two days otherwise she’d be in a world of trouble. Megan managed to chan
ge
the venue of the three meetings to a conference centre close by and Cassie arranged the documentation she’d prepared for the meetings on her desk.

By the time Joshua’s quiet knock sounded on the door, it was well past six. Fatigue lined the face of her long-time friend and Cassie swore under
her
breath. The bastard couldn’t win. They all depended on him or her being apprehended and this matter brought to an end. Despite her inner turmoil
,
she smile
d
at him when he sagged into the chair opposite her.

“You look tired.”

He nodded in ascent. “I am, but according to the biometrics
everyone has left. Just
us, some of the cleaning crew
, Matt and Jake left.” He raked his hand through his grey hair, causing the ends to stand up. “This better work. With all the theft going on we can hardly afford
shutting for
two
day
s
.”

Joshua sighed heavily and Cassie pitied her friend. It must be hard on him not being able to find the culprit himself. He’d been at it for months and besides
limiting
it to the board members, he managed to find no further clues as to the identity of the culprit.”

“They’ll find him . . . or her.” Her voice held more confidence than she felt. “So what now? Do we stay or do we also have to evacuate?”

“Matt asked we remain for a little while. He
wants to discuss something
with us.” Joshua frowned. “He sounded angry, but wouldn’t say what it’s all about.”

As if on cue, a knock sounded on her door again and Cassie rose to open it. The sight of Jake in his formal pants and white shirt caused her breath to hitch, but he stared straight past her, avoiding her eyes. His
body language sent a chill
along
her spine. She glanced at Matt, but found him staring out of the window, waiting for her to return to her desk. What was going on? Why were they so aggressive?

Apprehension knotted her stomach and Cassie sat slowly. “What
can I do for you gentlemen
?”

Matt
turned to her
and pressed
a fat finger under her nose. “Just what are you playing at
?
Do you take us for fools? How did you think you’d get away with it or did you think we were too incompetent to find the truth?”

Joshua bolted from his chair and shoved Matt from Cassie, moving his body between them. “Are you out of you
r
mind? What are you doing?”

Cassie’s
hackles rose
. What was he talking about? She’d
flayed
better men than him for speaking to her like that and she sure as hell wasn’t going to start allowing it now.

“It’s all right Joshua. Give the man a chance to explain.” She turned to Jake, but his eyes were glued to a spot behind her. “This. Better. Be. Good.”

Matt shrugged off Joshua’s hands and rounded the table so that he faced Cassie with the desk between them. Once again he pointed his finger at her. “
IT
found that your computer was the one accessing the funds.
You
moved the money. Why bring us in when you didn’t really want the culprit found? Oh, I forgot. You didn’t want protection. If Joshua hadn’t insisted, you’d still be happily stealing from the company and no one would be any the wiser.”

Cassie stopped listening after Matt mentioned her computer.
It didn’t make sense. She never left her computer unattended without protecting it with a password. Her laptop needed her fingerprint to start and to perform any transactions on the network. So, how did someone manage to use her IP address?

Silence fell and her gaze met Matt’s. She clamped her jaw shut to keep it from dropping to the floor. Did he really just wink at her? What game was he playing now? Joshua obviously missed the wink because his eyes blazed pure hatred.

“You are not serious? Are you out of your mind? The money started to disappear long before Cassie took over the company.” Joshua
started
to crawl across the table to reach Matt and Cassie placed a restraining hand on his arm.

“
Relax
Joshua. If this is how the security team feels, I doubt we
need
their services anymore.” Her gaze met Matt’s and only she was privy to the almost imperceptible nod. So, she had read the situation correctly. All this drama was for the camera. She’d all but forgotten about the blasted thing in her office.

“I should think not. We don’t
protect
criminals.” Matt
turned
and dragged a clearly distressed Jake by the arm. “We’ll mail the bill,” he said over his shoulder as he headed towards the door.

Cassie rose from behind the desk to open the door and did her best to hide the smile threatening to split her face as Matt pressed a piece of paper in her jacket pocket. She was supposed to be outraged, not smiling. Once the two men left, Cassie turned to Joshua who was pacing the room.

“I don’t understand. How could they think you had anything to do with the theft
?
Good Lord, they probably think you sent all those threats to yourself to cover your tracks.”

Cassie hugged him and walked
to
her desk. “We’ll sort it out in the morning. Now, we need to get out of here so that the infestation specialists can do their jobs. The sooner they start the sooner we can return to normal.” She packed her computer and retrieved her handbag.
Joshua stopped his pacing and understanding dawn
ed
in his eyes.
He slumped his shoulders and shuffled towards the door.

“Oh, I guess you’re right. If they give up so quickly, they’re probably not worth
employing
in any case.” He held the door for her and waited until she was safely inside the private elevator before he rushed to his own office.

He admired the bitch for holding her own against the security team. Not many people would have acted as calmly as she did. He smiled.
T
he security experts were no match for his superior intellect. She should have fired them long ago for not making progress, but she’d rather whore around with them and waste more money.
She’ll realize her mistake soon enough when word spread about her theft from the company. No-one will touch her again. She’d be finished – professionally and personally.

With the team out of the way, he can implement the final faze of his plan. One last withdrawal from the company accounts and he’d have enough. A quick personal visit to his half sister and he would disappear.  When the dust settled, he’ll send for his mother
and show her what he’d done to avenge her
.
Nobody would ever laugh at him again.

The man stood, picked up an empty carton box from the floor and placed it over the computer. Anyone checking the room would think it’s a box of supplies on the small table. The exterminators sprayed over the box the previous time, but nobody tried to move it.

A smile broke over his face as he closed the door behind him, popped the earphones in his ears and swaggered down the hall. Th
e security team were
idiots
who
couldn’t investigate something that’s right under their noses. Maybe he should hire them to find his father. It should be interesting to see them
squirm while he toyed with them
.
He whistled along with the music while he took the stairs at a leisurely pace.

The elevator took ages to reach the parking garage and when the doors opened,
fear
crawled with spidery legs
over
Cassie’s
body
, raising the hair at the back of her neck.
She was all alone in a dimly lit underground garage while everyone else had gone home already.
Matt’s note said she should use Jake’s car to get home and that he left the keys on Megan’s desk.