Big Bad Wolf (36 page)

But loneliness was nothing new to her.
She had been alone and lonely before Nick came into her life.
As for his lifestyle, she’d love him no matter what he did.
She’d love him whether he was Killian or Nick, or whatever he chose to call himself.
It was what made him the way he was, and she wouldn’t want to change him.
She sighed with resignation.
It all came to a very dismal conclusion.
She wouldn’t try to change his mind to leave her.
She wouldn’t want to change him.

The two men were sitting on the kitchen stools, staring at Jed’s laptop when Jaymee and Grace came back in forty-five minutes later.
Jaymee trashed all the paper plates and refilled her glass with iced-tea.
Grace hopped onto the kitchen counter and watched her father and uncle at work, her quick eyes reading the screen.
She cocked her head and immediately the family resemblance with the two men became apparent.

Jaymee hesitated, unsure whether she was in the way.
As if he sensed her indecision, Nick whipped out a hand while still talking to Jed, silently asking her to go to him.
She placed her hand in his and he drew her close, until she stood in front of him.
Taking the glass from her hand, he stole a sip of the ice tea, then set it down on the counter.

“...without the grid.
The decoding should work but didn’t.
Even when I reversed the code, the damned sequences gave errors,” Nick was telling Jed, as he crossed his long arms around Jaymee and laid his chin on her head.

“You’re missing something,” Jed stated.

Nick reached out and hit a few of the keys.
“It’s there, right in front of me.
I just don’t see it.
Look at this sequence.
And this one.”

Jaymee looked at the screen.
Numbers.
Patterns.
Color dots.
Map-like diagrams.

Jed pointed to one of the diagrams.
“This is location.”
He typed something.
Apparently, Jaymee noted, all these Virus-men could type fast.
“This is position.”

“That information is apparently unimportant enough for them not to hide.
They didn’t care if we know we’re spying on them, Jed.
They just don’t want us to find out which satellite and how.
This computer program they’re using is dangerously versatile.”

“Of course.
Their encryption board is our technology in the first place.
It should have been child’s play for you to decode them.”

“I’m missing something,” Nick agreed.

“Unless they have developed a new encryption technology.”

“Possibly.”

“How long before you can break through?”

“Not long.”

“That’s too long.”

“You have so much confidence in my abilities,” Nick came back, wry amusement in his voice.

“The longer that satellite is out there, the more our national security is under siege, and the more others in our unit are in danger.”

Jaymee felt Nick’s coiled tension, although his voice remained remote.
“I know.”

“It’s definitely something we can use later down the line.
If we can figure this out and stop it in time, we can play with the combined tech at COMCEN and create a super program.”
Jed finally looked at Jaymee.
“What do you think, Jay?
Can you break the code?”

Her eyes widened and she studiously gave the symbols on the screen a careful lookover.
“Looks like shingle codes to me,” she jibed.
“Manufacturing dates and invoice numbers.
And warehouse locations.”

She cast a triumphant glance back at the hard man beside her.
She could toss strange terms at him like the best of them.

“A password would override all the walls,” Jed said, his eyes faintly challenging her to have a comeback for that line.

“With the new ASTM code, the shingles are supposed to withstand category two hurricane winds.
Of course,” she said with her most serious face on, “I can’t guarantee about the walls.”
She felt the rumble of amusement in Nick’s chest as his hands lightly stroked her bare arms.

“All codes are decodable,” Nick interrupted the little game, laughter in his voice.
“I have the right sequences in one of those strings.” He kissed the top of Jaymee’s head.
“Right, Jaymee?”

“Of course,” she gravely nodded.
“Don’t mix the color codes.
The shingles won’t match.”

The two men finally laughed, even Jed.
Jaymee grinned back, rather shocked to see Jed showing his teeth.
He had a deep-throated laugh.
How sad he didn’t do it often.
She turned her head to look up at Nick.

“What, did I say something funny?
Mixed codes can cause a major problem, you know.”

“Minx.”
His smile was sexily lopsided, and her heart flipped.
God, she was going to miss him.
“Think you know everything about codes, hmm?”

Jed turned off the program and snapped the laptop shut.
“Good mind reflex, Jay,” he complimented.
“You could have been an asset in COMCEN.”

Jaymee shrugged, picking up the glass of ice tea.
She was getting the hang of talking at Jed’s level.
She gave him her best Nick-stare, measured and bold.
“All a mind game, I’ve learned.
No sweat involved.
Nothing to show off when completed.
Just a lot of manipulation.”

Nick chuckled again, obviously enjoying her sudden scornful mood.
Jed nodded appreciatively.

“Touch
é
,” he acknowledged, a corner of his mouth lifted in mockery.
He arched a brow at Nick.
“I think we’d better leave to accomplish something, so we can show some sweat when all’s said and done.”

Nick gently released Jaymee and got off the stool.
“You can’t beat Jaymee when it comes to making you sweat,” he agreed, giving her a suggestive leer.

Jed moved to the backpack, putting away his things.
“I
ha
ve the scuba gear in the Jeep.
All I need are your things.”

“They’re on the front porch.”

“I’ll get them.
Come on, Grace.
Help me load the Jeep.”

The moment father and daughter were out of the kitchen, Nick kissed Jaymee hard on the lips.
She opened to him without protest, desperately needing a final connection with him before he left.
She told herself she wouldn’t show her anxiety.
She wouldn’t distract him, so he would come back safely.

Nick looked into her expressive eyes, the muddied brown and green betraying her feelings more than she knew.
He felt the
now familiar tightness in his chest, trying to come to terms with his reluctance to leave her.
She was doing her best not to interfere with his work, and he was a selfish bastard not to stop giving her hope.
Yet, he needed to kiss her, to taste her, before he left.

“Three days,” he husked out.

“Promise you
’
ll be careful?”

“Promise.”

“One more thing, Killian?”

He stiffened at her using his name.
“Yes?”

“Give me one more night when you come back?
Just you and me, nothing else?”
Her eyes were luminous with unshed tears, but she was determined to let him know she was prepared for his choice.
She forced a light note into her voice.
“Then I’ll consider your debt over my torn clothes and dirty tee
-
shirts paid in full.”

Nick gave her a long, passionate kiss, his tongue possessing her mouth with such evocative tenderness, she wanted to beg him to stay.
He laid his forehead on hers.

“I always pay my debts,” he told her.
“It’s a deal.”

Jed was already in the Jeep waiting when they went outside.
Grace was perched on the hood, and she jumped off when Nick climbed in.
He tweaked her cheek and returned his attention to Jaymee.

“Good luck,” Grace told Jed, as he started the vehicle.
“I’m sure you’ll get the sequences decoded, Cousin Kill.
Their computer language wasn’t that difficult, even with it in Chinese.”

“You’ve been practicing, I see,” her father observed, shifting into gear.
“Nick?”

“One minute,” Nick said, and turned back to Jaymee, taking the basket she handed to him.

“Hey, Dad,” Grace said softly over the idling engine, deliberately waiting till he gave her his full attention.
“Tell Killian thanks for the Chinese books he gave me.
They have an interesting way of writing.”

Jed nodded, and the Jeep pulled away.
Jaymee waved, and Nick saluted back.
Grace just stood and watched.

“What lovey-dovey things did Nick say to you?” she teased.
“You guys were just so sweet.”

Jaymee flushed.
She wouldn’t let a teenager make her uncomfortable.
“He was telling me how to access the new program for my invoices in the new computer, that’s all.”

Grace laughed merrily.
“Ah, how romantic.”

“I don’t know how to do anything with the new stuff and Nick was supposed to teach me,” Jaymee retorted defensively.
“He knew I’d be trying to use it when he’s gone.”

Grace linked her hand with Jaymee’s in affection.
“Well, let’s bargain.
Orange juice for help with the computer.”

Jaymee’s eyes narrowed.
“How many glasses?”
She should have known the darn kid was also computer literate.

Grace grinned.
“Negotiable,” she offered generously, as they walked back to the house.
“This is going to be fun...boss.”

Her imitation of Nick’s drawl was so on the money Jaymee laughed, despite missing him already.
She would have to carry on, and not think of the lonely nights.
Determined, she donned her tool belt.

“Fun...” she drawled back in a similar vein, “is for sissies.”

Jaymee kicked a stone in moody contemplation as she walked through the woods toward the house.
She was sweaty and tired.
And she missed Nick.
The last two days, without him, had been long and tedious.
It was difficult to continue, when everywhere she went made her think of him—sitting in her truck, working on a roof, sitting in her study, even in what used to be her sanctuary, her project-house.
It frightened her, this feeling of desolation.
How was she going to cope when he finally left her?

Work herself to death, she supposed.
That used to be her antidote to pain.
Smiling wryly, she kicked at another stone.
Poor Grace.
She’d worked the teenager hard the last couple of days but she was a tough young thing and absolutely fearless where height was concerned.
After going out to buy the right kind of shoes, she’d taken delight in running around on the roof, working without complaint in the heat.

Without the Hidden Hills subdivision, Jaymee didn’t have to meet many deadlines.
Her workload, with smaller independent builders, was lighter, and she spent more time at remodeling, leaving Dicker and Lucky on the job.
She’d sent Grace ahead of her today, to start cleaning out one of the upstairs room
s
while she answered some messages on the business line.

It was a mistake walking alone in the woods.
It made her think of Nick.
She sighed.
What didn’t make her think of Nick?
The sound of broken twigs behind her halted her thoughts.
Turning around, she saw two figures coming toward her.
Very quickly.
Two very well-dressed men, looking absolutely out of place.
They didn’t seem lost.
Or friendly.
Her eyes widened at the sight of the gun in one of the strangers’ hands.
It was pointed at her.

*

Nick stared out at the ocean, wondering what Jaymee was doing at the moment.
Working, of course.
He smiled wryly.
The woman was an incurable workaholic.

Jed looked up from the maps he was studying, his gaze hard on Nick’s contemplative stance.
“You have to decide sooner or later, you know,” he said softly.