Beck & Call (29 page)

“That’s not Genbolt’s,” he said. “I came up with that design myself. Why are you even—” He stopped speaking as a series of thoughts rolled rapidly behind his face. His expression sharpened. “Jesus, he’s trying it again. That bastard hired you to spy on me. You and Jake together!”

Mia wished she could deny this, but she had her own grievances to air. “Obviously, Raeburn had cause to hire us. He showed me this design. Half of it anyway. It’s a match except for you erasing his logo. Whatever rivalry you’re playing out between you, that’s no excuse for keeping what doesn’t belong to you.”

“It does belong to me!” Damien said. “He sold Zoe the same lie. I left her alone in here for five minutes, and she faxed half of it to him. On my own damn machine. Raeburn couldn’t show you the whole schematic because it was never his.” He caught sight of the open safe and waved angrily at it. “The lock I had then wasn’t as secure. Then again, what good does security do when you trust the wrong people?”

Mia ignored that sting. “Why would Zoe steal half a plan?”

“Because partway through she realized what you haven’t, apparently. This is my draftsmanship, my handwriting.” He grabbed a pen and flipped the page over, scribbling a quick formula on it.

“Look,” he insisted.

Mia didn’t need to bend the paper back to compare. The lettering was the same, even the energy of the strokes. Damien had written the cryptic notes
and
the original plan. Raeburn must have added the Genbolt logo.

“When Zoe realized her father deceived her, she stopped what she was doing. She confessed everything to me. That’s why she’s been calling me. She wants me to forgive her.”

“Oh my God,” Mia said. “Damien, I’m so sorry. I got this all backwards.”

Damien’s eyes met the plea in hers icily. She knew the axe had only begun to fall. Damien was too intelligent not to put everything together.

“You never lost your job, did you?” he said. “The drama you staged at Audition was a con. Raeburn hired your PI boss to sic you and Jake on me. That memory of yours is as good as a camera. You must have patted yourselves on the back when I fell for it. Your boss knew exactly what I’d go for. I bet he took notes on everyone he saw me with at Diogenes. I couldn’t have been a bigger patsy if I’d tied myself in a bow. —Oh wait, I let you do that to me.”

His tone was sardonic and self-loathing. Mia couldn’t bear to hear it. “Curtis didn’t think you were a patsy. And he knew you might not have done it. He thought the technology sounded important enough to be sure, one way or another.”

“Important enough to lie to me.”

“I feel really bad about that. I felt even worse when I thought you were guilty. I wanted you to be innocent.”

“And somehow that doesn’t make me feel better.” He looked at her, his hazel eyes so piercing she gripped the desk’s edge to brace herself. What he said next was every bit as bad as she feared. “I want you and Jake out of here. Go upstairs, pack your things, and go.”

“We weren’t trying to hurt you,” she pleaded. “Jake and I genuinely like you. What we shared tonight was absolutely not a lie.”

“I don’t doubt you enjoyed it,” he said coolly. “I did myself. The fact remains, however, that both of you betrayed me.”

“I know this has happened to you before, but we—”

“Just go.” He cut her off to point toward the elevator. Few men could have looked that dignified in their underwear. Mia realized he wasn’t going to listen to her apology, no more than he’d listened to Zoe’s. He couldn’t let himself forgive her—even if he wanted to. Too many people he should have been able to trust had failed him.

She started walking but stopped and turned. Everything about him seemed angry and terrible. She’d done this to him, in spite of how much she cared.

“What are you going to do?” she asked miserably.

His beautiful face tightened. “I’m going to do my damnedest to forget we ever met.”

~

Jake didn’t expect to fall asleep with two people and wake with none. For one thing, he didn’t usually sleep that soundly.

He sat up and checked the mattress. Though the side where Mia had lain was cool, warmth lingered on Damien’s. That caused a small alarm to start sounding in his head. Wherever they were, they hadn’t left at the same time. He fought to control his unease as he swung out of bed. Probably Mia had left to pee or maybe get a snack.

She wouldn’t sneak off to play detective by herself. Not when Damien might get up and look for her.

She wasn’t in the bathroom and neither was his shirt. Because his trousers were there, he pulled them on. He padded to the kitchen but had no luck. He scrubbed the back of his neck. Could the pair have gone out on the terrace?

A barely audible hiss drew him to the entryway. An elevator he hadn’t known existed was opening in the curved separator wall. Mia stepped out, looking upset.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

Mia pressed her lips together and shook her head.

That really worried him. He took her shoulders between his hands. She was wearing his shirt. A little part of his brain had a second to be pleased by that. The second ended when she burst into tears.

“Sweetie,” he said, cuddling her against him. “Tell me what happened.”

“He caught me,” she sobbed. “I found the plan in his office and he caught me.”

This was
not
good news, but Jake rubbed her back anyway. “Where is Damien?”

“Still on fifty-two.” She pushed back to drag her hands down her teary face. “We were wrong, Jake. He didn’t steal the circuit thingie from Raeburn. Raeburn tried to get Zoe to steal it from Damien.”

“You’re sure? He didn’t just say that to fob you off?”

She nodded like an earnest child. “The plan was in his handwriting. He made a sample while I watched. Fuck. I should have thought to get one before.” She was sniffling and wiped her nose on her sleeve. “Shit. Sorry. This is your shirt.”

In spite of everything, he laughed. “Never mind that. I take it he was angry when he realized what we’d done.”

“He told us to pack our things and go!” Her voice cracked and she had to dry her eyes again.

“Did he say he was calling the police?”

This question made Mia stop and think. “No. He should have, though, shouldn’t he?”

“Maybe not. We are his guests. He might not want this laundry aired publically.”

“He also didn’t warn me not to give the whole plan to Raeburn. Zoe only stole half before she figured out her dad’s game. Damien knows about my memory. He knows I could copy it.”

“Maybe he knows you wouldn’t. However furious he is about our deception, he’s learned a thing or two about your character.”

“Maybe.” She looked at her feet as if she were ashamed. “He was hurt, Jake. He really feels betrayed.”

They knew he might. That’s how it worked in the spy business. Rather than remind her of that, Jake stroked her hair. He guessed she’d gotten pretty attached, even in so short a time. Maybe he had himself. His chest felt uncomfortably hollow as he let out a sigh.

“Let’s go pack,” he said. “Like Damien wants. We need to talk to Curtis. Decide how we’re going to handle Sam Raeburn.”

“Jake—”

“I know. You liking him makes it hard.”

“Damien didn’t believe me when I said we both did. He thought it was only sex.”

Jake knew he shouldn’t encourage her. Lies like the ones they’d told were rarely pardoned. This was Mia, though, who loved novels with happy endings and whose spirit practically shot rainbows. He used his thumbs to brush wetness from her cheeks. “He’s angry, Mia, and the wound is fresh. He won’t know what he believes for a while.”

“He’s not a forgiver,” she said, wagging her head dolefully.

Jake pulled her close again and hugged her. “We’ll see,” he said, his cheek pressed into her hair. “You may be more forgivable than you realize.”

~

Damien must not have wanted to have it out with them face to face. Jake and Mia finished packing without him reappearing in the penthouse. Jake left a Post-It for him in the kitchen, explaining that he was driving Mia home in the W-22 but would arrange for the car to be returned soon. He debated adding an apology then simply signed his initials.

Mia left her diamond rope necklace coiled on the counter beside the note.

Jake called Curtis en route to Mia’s place. Though their employer had been asleep, he met them there. The way Mia flung herself into Curtis’s arms to cry reminded Jake they viewed each other as family—and that in some ways Mia was still a kid. Curtis soothed and patted and tucked her into bed. When he bent down to kiss her forehead, Jake’s throat tightened.

Curtis came out of the bedroom and shut the door behind him.

“Wow,” he said. “She really liked that guy.”

Jake didn’t think the sentiment was past tense. “I think he really liked her too.”

“Hence the ‘never darken my door again’ parting.”

Jake sighed. “I made coffee. You want some?”

“Sure.” Curtis let out his own resigned exhalation. “It’s not like I’ll get the chance to finish that dream I was having.”

They sat together at Mia’s small table.

“How do you plan to handle Raeburn?” Jake asked.

Curtis riffled his red-gold stubble with the back of his fingernails. “I’ll tell him we tried to get the evidence he wanted but came up empty. Maybe he’ll buy that Mia got too nervous to continue. Hopefully, giving back his money will smooth his feathers some.”

Jake recalled the temper Genbolt’s head honcho displayed at the charity function. “That might be optimistic.”

Curtis shrugged. “I’ll play it by ear. I can blow smoke with the best of them. And as long as he doesn’t figure out we know the truth, I don’t think he’ll kick up too bad.”

Jake rubbed the rim of his coffee mug. “I know a few ears I could discreetly drop that truth in. It seems wrong for Raeburn to get off scot free.”

“Let’s sit on that option for the moment. I don’t want us to get a rep for violating client privilege. Plus, Call is no helpless lamb. He can report Raeburn himself if it suits him. He has friends in government.”

Jake supposed he did. The situation just bugged him.

“There is one good thing about this,” Curtis said. “The two of you can come back to work. The office was too damn quiet with just me in it.”

“Aw,” Jake said, feigning sympathy. “You should have borrowed a dog from the grooming place.”

“Careful,” Curtis responded. “I might decide to replace with you with a real bloodhound.”

His coffee finished, he pushed back and rose from his chair. When his gaze slid to Mia’s shut bedroom door, he pinched his lip in concern.

“I can stay with her tonight,” Jake said.

Curtis turned back and considered him. His crystal green eyes were uncomfortably observant.

“She’s upset,” Jake said.

“Uh-huh. And this assignment didn’t change your relationship with her at all.”

“Well, sure it did. Some.”

“I saw that ‘some’ the second you helped her out of Call’s fancy car. You treated her like she was made of glass.”

“She’s a kid. She hurt someone she cared about and she’s feeling bad.”

Curtis opened his mouth as if to argue but then decided to drop it. “How about I pick you both up here tomorrow? We’ll have breakfast and talk this thing through with clearer heads.”

By
thing
, Jake hoped he meant the aborted job. “Make it lunch,” he said. “Mia and I had a hell of a night.”

~

Mia slept late and still felt like crap. Her throat was sore from crying and her eyes felt boiled. Too depressed to care, she shuffled through her morning routine listlessly. Damien’s enraged, wounded face kept rising in her mind, his final words echoing in her ears.

I’m going to do my damnedest to forget we ever met.

When she discovered Curtis had drunk the last of her coffee cream, it was the final straw. Jake hadn’t noticed. He took it black.

“I’ll get more,” he volunteered.

It wasn’t rational, but she hated him right then. He’d spent the night on her couch and not with her in her bed—like the job was over and now so were they. He didn’t seem upset about Damien. As far as she could tell, his only worry was that she’d throw another sobbing fit like last night.

“
I’ll
go,” she said, grabbing a light sweater. “The store’s only down the street, and I could use the air.”

“It’s no problem.”

“I said I’ll go,” she snapped when he rose from the chair. “Jesus, I won’t have a breakdown from walking down the street.”

Hurt crossed his face, something she couldn’t recall seeing on it before. Great. Now she was being a bitch to him as well.

“Sorry,” she said, touching his arm. “I just need a little room.”

The walk did her more good than she expected. It was a beautiful Sunday morning: sunny and finally warm. Because she didn’t actually hate Jake, she picked up a bagel and newspaper as a peace offering. She and Jake could go back to being friends if he insisted. Mia would just torment him by wearing bondage-themed clothes to work.

Maybe she’d start walking to the office in gladiator sandals. She could unlace them re-a-lly slowly at her desk.

She was smiling at that idea when the back doors to a florist van opened. The vehicle was double-parked slightly ahead of her on the block. Two big men hopped out, dressed like delivery guys often did in jeans and logo shirts.

A bucket of fresh daffodils caught her eye.

One of the men stepped into her path. Suddenly, she noticed the delivery guys had matching beards and sunglasses. That wasn’t quite usual.

A millisecond later, she observed another, considerably more significant detail. The man who’d blocked her had a gun tucked into the front of his jeans waistband.

He put his hand on its metal butt. “Come with us,” he said.

Mia dropped her bag and ran.

She got two steps before the other man caught her. He grabbed her right off her feet, one hand clapping over her mouth to prevent her from screaming. She tried to anyway, kicking and thrashing with all her might. Neither of the men seemed very concerned by this.

The first man was already in the van bay.

“Get her in here,” he said to his cohort.