Bouncer (Bad Boys in Big Trouble Book 2) (10 page)

Jessica nodded, but cautioned, “Okay, but don’t set anything up just yet. I’m about to be engrossed at work on a special project for a minimum of a week.”

“No promises. I need to grab Mike before someone else snaps him up.”

Jessica rolled her eyes, but then gave Jones a particularly salacious grin on her way out, including a slow swipe of the tip of her tongue over her bottom lip and a saucy wink.

Chapter Six

When she got to work, Jessica wrapped up several other projects or found others to hand them off to so she’d be available to do whatever was needed for the task force leader, Agent John Pierce. The hard-ass she would learn a lot from, according to her boss. That was good. She liked learning things.

The task force from Chicago had gone directly to a field operation site away from the Federal Building to set up surveillance from the primary watch post. They were due to arrive later in the day to brief the local reinforcements for further tasking. Jessica lingered at her desk, dreading the fact that Neil was on the team, too.

He eventually found her alone late in the morning. “So, Miss Cherry, you look relaxed today.”

Jessica didn’t respond or look up. She wanted to say, “I’m relaxed, you idiot, because I found an incredible lover. And he
made love to
me last night to my repeated pleasure.” But she didn’t. She ignored the smug bastard, delighting in the fact that it seemed to annoy him more than she’d ever seen before.

He made several attempts to engage her, but she didn’t rise to the bait, pretending he wasn’t even there. Eventually he got bored and left. Thank the heavens above for small favors.

She was working through lunch finishing up various small projects when a commotion drew her attention to the elevators.

The Chicago task force had arrived. They marched in unison two abreast, two rows down the hall toward the cubicle farm where she worked. They were all dressed in dark suits and light shirts. No-nonsense apparel. If they’d sported sunglasses and hats, she would have thought a Blues Brothers look-alike contest had just descended on their Federal Building.

One man broke into the lead, approaching her down the long row of desks. He had to be Pierce. He had very blond hair, ice-blue eyes she could see even from this distance, and an expression of
I’m-in-charge-here
arrogance she recognized from hard-ass men very much like her brother Jackson.

It was the perpetual scowl that gave him away. If he ever smiled it would be only in triumph over a defeated foe but the amusement would never reach his gaze, instead being chillier than any iceberg in the North Atlantic.

Martin met him halfway down the hall, shook hands with him and directed them all to the Arlington conference room. He signaled her to join the group. Jessica stood up and made her way to the room.

Unfortunately, so did Neil. Steps before the doorway, he came up behind her and brushed his hand across her ass.

“Hey!” Jessica turned, ready to clock him.

“Jeez, you really need to relax, Miss Cherry. It was an accident.” Neil’s mocking petulant face made her want to throttle him, but she marched into the Arlington room, fuming.
Calm down
.

She waited until Neil found a seat and then took the one furthest from him.

Her boss sat next to her. “Agent Pierce, I’d like to introduce you to the members of our staff who’ll be helping you with this task force.” He introduced Jessica, three others from various departments and the idiotic bane of her existence, Neil.

Pierce introduced Agent Rick Gordon, a tall, nice-looking Asian-American, as his right-hand guy and two others, a dark-haired woman named Elsa Davis and a very young blond computer tech named Seth Bell, mentioning in his introduction that he was a genius with any and all things computer related or digital.

Pierce started talking, and Seth had slides up on the big screen as he uttered his first words. “The central office was notified anonymously that a sleazy criminal our team has been after for quite some time was recently seen in a local club. This is where we’ve already set up initial surveillance. It’s a very exclusive, upscale nightclub. A confidential informant on someone else’s payroll has alluded to a meeting between our guy and the owner of the club, who’s purported to be a money launderer.”

Jessica looked at the screen. The slide was of a very nice building at night with subtle lights outlining the shape. It looked like they’d taken the picture from across the street.

The place looked exactly like a high-end nightclub. Actually, it looked familiar. She leaned forward, focusing intently on the image.

The next slide was put in place. Pierce said, “Here’s a clearer shot. Actually, do we have video available, Seth?” Seth’s fingers moved like lightning across his keyboard. A video popped up on the conference screen.

It was a close-up of the large entry door, lit up on either side with subdued neon colors alternating blue, red and purple and then repeating. A line of people along the left side of the block waited to gain entrance. The building itself took up an entire block and the door resided on the corner. Her focus zeroed in on the white lights spelling out the name in big letters over the entryway, jolting her back in her seat. Her spine went ramrod straight.

The Lexicon Club.
Shit
. That was the place where Jones was a bouncer.

The next slide showed two men from a distance standing guard in front of the club. Pierce sent an intense stare down the table. “Here are the club’s two primary bouncers. Memorize these faces. They aren’t wanted for any crimes at this point. They have never been arrested for anything. They are, however, at the very top of the security hierarchy there.” Another slide flashed into place. It almost looked like a jail photo, but was likely a badge picture. “This is Hector Guzman.” Another slide. Another badge picture. “And this is Mark Reece.” The breath she inhaled in shock was likely heard on the other side of the building, but no one said a word.

Another slide flashed up on the screen. But this one was quite different.

Jessica stared at the image in abject horror. It was a grainy black and white photo—presumably zoomed in from a distance—of her and Jones exiting his apartment last night. They were holding hands, crossing the street, heading to her car. Another slide appeared. A shot of her car’s license plate filled the screen before the next slide showed a close-up of Jones with his mouth pressed to the backs of her fingers right before she got into her car. His expression filled the entire screen with the look of a man who’s just had intimate knowledge of a woman. If the angle had been right, they’d have caught her staring back with an equally satisfied look.

“What in the hell
is
this?” she asked out loud to no one in particular.

“Interesting reaction, because that’s also my question,” Pierce said. “What the hell are you doing in the company of
this
guy?” He nodded at Seth and another slide popped up on the large screen. It was of this morning at the coffee shop in the exact moment she gave him that saucy wink before exiting.

Jessica stared at Martin. He was obviously as surprised as she was. Her focus then went to Pierce. “That is none of your business.” Her tone was harsh and angry from shock, and she didn’t care.

“You’re right, it’s not. But I’m about to make it my business.”

“What does that mean?”

“Obviously, you have a relationship with this man. You are not being asked to disclose the specifics. However, I’m hoping you’ll help us get into the club in a much easier fashion than we’d initially planned.”

Jessica opened her mouth, but words escaped her. They wanted her to use him? She shook her head, unable to speak just yet.

Pierce continued. “We
could
go the whole time-consuming—and very expensive, I might add—route of setting up an undercover operative to get inside and assess the place. You know, like where the vile bad guy we’re trying to catch will be sitting to discuss all of his nefarious plans. However, since you have a more readily available way to gain entrance to this very exclusive club, we’d like to use your cachet if at all possible. So is it, Agent Hayes? Possible?”

She swallowed hard. What he asked wasn’t completely unreasonable, but she was still reeling from being caught practically with her pants down in regard to her secret love affair. One she hadn’t even truly committed to yet.

If she did fess up, her options of disclosure were limited. She refused to admit that he’d only started out as a one-night stand to remove her virginity or rather a two-night stand, because the first time had been so amazing. Or she could say they were a couple with a budding romance and agree to this crazy plan. But then she’d have to use a guy who’d been used before in this exact manner.

Neil managed to snort loudly from across the table. “You’re with
that
guy? I don’t believe it for a minute. You were a virgin looking to hook up for the first time only last weekend.”

Jessica stood up, eyes on Neil, ready to burn her career to the ground. Because that’s what would happen if she followed through on the tempting vision of launching herself down the conference table, using a military crawl on hands, belly and knees to reach Neil, wrap her fingers securely around his throat and strangle him in front of half a dozen federal agents.

In the next second, though, Pierce saved her the trouble.

“That is a wildly inappropriate remark, Agent Wiley,” Pierce said coldly. He snapped his fingers loudly and pointed at Neil. “You are off the team. Get out of my meeting this instant!”

Neil, who’d been looking rather proud of himself for outing her most closely held secret, looked confused. “What?”

“What part of
get out of my meeting this instant
do you not understand? Go. You aren’t needed here any longer.”

“Do you know who I am?” Neil puffed up, looking like he did when anyone challenged him for being an ass.

Pierce stood. “I don’t care who you are. Get out! Or else I’ll make you get out.”

Neil got to his feet, glared at Jessica like she was the one who caused his humiliating departure, and stalked from the room, slamming the door on the way out like a petulant child. In an instant, Pierce became her new favorite person in the world.

He turned to her immediately and said, “I’m sorry for his unfortunate and outrageous comments. I’m hoping you won’t hold them against me. I’m not trying to get into your personal business, Agent Hayes. I’d just like to get inside that club and possibly plant some listening devices without anyone employed there knowing what we’re doing. We could take a chance on trying to get in like anyone else does, but my understanding of this club is that it’s
very
difficult to gain entrance. That is, unless someone already has an in. I believe that you possess that critical piece of our tactical strategy. Will you help us?”

Jessica took a deep breath and sat back down. She wanted to be a team player. She was grateful to Pierce for getting rid of Neil after only a single inappropriate remark. But what he was asking her to do was personal. She didn’t know Mark Reece that well. She hated to use him at this point in their relationship, especially considering what she knew about his history.

“Are you asking me to try and get inside with another man on my arm? Because I’m fairly sure that might end our new relationship rather quickly.”

“Of course not. You and your new best girlfriend Elsa will head inside there to dance the night away.”

Jessica closed her eyes. “It won’t work.”

“Why not?”

“I already told him I’m not a club girl. He knows I hate loud club scenes and that I don’t dance. He’s invited me inside as his guest, but—”

“Really? When?”

She cleared her throat. “Well, tonight actually. I agreed to go in and get drinks, but—”

“Perfect.”

“How is it perfect? I don’t think he’d buy me scurrying off to plant bugs with my friend as reasonable behavior.”

“Perhaps you could call him, tell him the date’s off unless you can bring your old college roommate Elsa and
her
date Gordon, who arrived in town at the last minute. Do you think he’d agree to bring them along to the club if the alternative is no date at all?”

“Would you?”

Pierce shrugged. “Maybe.” He looked over his shoulder at the picture of Jones kissing the backs of her fingers. “In this particular photo, he looks very interested in you, if you don’t mind me saying. I think he’d do anything for you if he could.”

Jessica did not want to test her ability to keep Jones interested, but it was likely he’d agree since he was the one who wanted to keep seeing her when she balked. She pushed out a long breath. “Okay. I guess—”

“Excellent.”

“Wait.”

“We don’t have much time, Agent. Can you call him?”

She blanched. “Right now?”

“Yes.”

Jessica stuttered. “This relationship is…”
How can I put this without confirming Neil’s very accurate accusation?
“Well, let’s just say we haven’t been seeing each other for very long.”
Try less than a week.

“I see that as a plus. He’ll be trying harder to keep you interested.”

She was about to ask how when the door to the conference room opened and Martin’s executive assistant stepped inside, leaned down and whispered in her boss’s ear.