Armed and Fabulous (Lexi Graves Mysteries) (9 page)

"We do?"

"Yes," Adam said firmly. "A phone conference. You offered to take notes."

"I...
did?"

He raised an eyebrow at me. Oh
!
G
ot it
!
A ruse
!
Good thing I catch on quick.

"Right. I'll just get my...
notepad."

"Bring your purse. We might be a while."

I logged off the computer, grabbed my bag and notepad and followed Adam out. He motioned
with a finger to his lips for me to be quiet. Silently,
I followed him
into
the elevator and then out
to
the front of the building.

"All my files were deleted this morning," I said, through
clenched
teeth as we rounded the corner of the building.
I couldn’t hold it in any longer.
"They just disap
peared
right
as I was looking at them!
"

"I know. I saw."

"You did? Wait...
how?"

"I had remote access software installed on the whole team's computers."

"So...
you can see everything I do on screen?" I was smart enough to always delete my browser history after surfing the net, but I tried to remember
exactly
what I
might have browsed
during
the past few
weeks
that
Adam had been with us. Lots of online shopping, restaurants or bars that Lily and I were thinking of going to, the occasional tickets
, blogs, strangely compulsive gossip websites
...
there were loads of things I wou
ld rather my boss didn't see...
and all
during
working
hours
.

Adam grinned. "Everything."

I changed the subject
before I blushed beet red
. "Which report were they after? All of mine were gone. I mean, all of them!"

"Chances are
,
they weren't sure
,
so
they
just deleted them all
in order to prevent anyone
else
from reading
them."

"Do y
ou think it's the people who...
you know
…
"
I bobbed my head and pretended to shoot myself with my fingers.

Adam glanced towards me.
"Probably."

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to meet my boss. He wants to know what you know."

"I hope you told him I don't know anything.
Where
exactly are we going though
?" I asked as we turned another corner. Adam stopped and I almost bumped into him.

"Get in," he said, nodding to the black car
that
slid to a stop beside us. It had tinted windows and I couldn't see a thing
inside
.
I was fairly sure my mother had warned me about moments like these.
Adam stepped forward and opened the
rear
door,
signaling
to me to climb in. Naturally
,
I stepped back.

"What if I don't want to?"

"I want to keep you alive," said Adam, staring deep
ly
enough into my eyes that I was tempted to swoon. "So, please, get in."

We definitely had keeping me alive in common
,
so
after a quick peek to check yesterday’s goons weren’t inside
,
I got in
.
Adam slid
in next to me and
g
ave
a blunt
“H
ello
”
to the driver. The car
drove
through
the
streets, neatly slicing through traffic
. N
o one talked. It was all very ominous. Finally, we drew to a halt in front of a redbrick building downtown and Adam stepped out
. He
held
my hand as I
lowered my feet to the sidewalk. The car
sped
off as soon as the door
slammed
shut.
I followed Adam inside
the building
.

"You'll be fine," he said. "Absolutely fine."

"Okay
,
" I
said with a weak smile
.

S
o far, s
pying was disappointingly
unglamorous
. Adam led me through a long corridor, swiping through a doorway
,
then along another corridor, before turning into a large room with
maybe
a dozen people. It was pretty quiet as they watched screen upon screen
being presented
. A few of them glanced our way as we
passed them
. We stopped at a closed door and Adam knocked before ushering me inside.

The room was tiny, barely bigger than a c
loset
, and a far cry from Dean's plush offic
e. Squashed into it w
ere
a table
and a few serviceable chairs. A gray-haired man in his forties stood. "Maddox, thanks for coming i
n. You must be Alexandra Graves,
"
he said to me.

"
Hi." I shook his outstretched hand, turning to mouth, "Maddox?" at Adam.

"My
real
name," he explained.
“Adam Maddox.
Most people call me Maddox.
”

"
Special Agent
Matthew Miller
, FBI
. Call me Matt. This is Solomon
, our financial and cyber crimes man
." He nodded to the corner
behind me
and I half-turned, in
clining my head at the man
lounging against the wall.
Som
ewhere betw
een his mid-
to-
late-thirties, he had
cappuccino brown
skin that was either a light-skinned black man, a nicely tanned white man, or possibly mixed race. It was impossible to tell
in the unnatural light
and the shadow falling over him
. H
e sported a few days of stubble and
dark hair shaved close
to his head
. He had intense
brown
eyes
that roved over me
.

Y
u-
u
-u
m.

I took a deep breath, my heart pounding a couple o
f beats faster, and turned away, then back again.
"Hi."

Solomon nodded
,
but didn't speak.
I didn’t know if Solomon was his first name or surname
,
and no one said anything to indicate either.

My nose twitched and I turned away
,
but a big part of me wanted to turn back for another look. Just a little one. From head to toe.

"You've had quite an eventful past few hours," said Matt as he settled back in
to
his chair and undid a couple of buttons of his jacket. Adam sat opposite him and I took the remaining chair, folding my ankles together under the seat.

"It wasn't the average day at work, no," I replied. If he'd asked me last night, I might have sobbed an answer. This morning
,
I thought
I sounded pretty sober and unf
azed.

"Maddox said you were very calm
,
given the circumstances. Got you both out of there, I heard."

"Um, yes, I guess." I wasn't sure if he w
ere
praising me, but heck, I'd take it where
ver
I
could get
it. Adam hadn't exactly been dishing out
any gratitude
.

"We're keeping Martin Dean's death quiet for now. It's strictly on a need
-
to
-
know basis. Can we trust you to keep this to yourself for
the present
?" Matt's eyes bored into me. I bet he tortured people with that glare. Or was that the CIA?

"Yes." I swallowed and took a deep breath. "What's going on?"

"Has Maddox explained anything to you?"

"Not in detail."

"Montgomery PD and the FBI are working a joint task force investigating insurance fraud. Green Hand is
smack dab
in the middle of it
,
which is why we p
laced
Maddox there undercover.
Our leads indicated
Martin Dean
might have
had
knowledge of the situation or at least
have
be
en
able
to lead us to those
in
the
organization
who did. Maybe even
his co-conspirators, but he's dead. If we pull out now, a year
’s worth
of work putting this op into place goes up in smoke. Do you understand?"

"Yes."
Wait
.
Matt seemed pretty
convinced
Dean was involved.