Courting Passion (12 page)

“Thanks. See you soon.”

Katherine hung up and turned to Garth to find him replacing his own mobile in his back pocket.

“They’ll be here in fifteen minutes. Skye seemed eager, Jack less so on bringing her along but his hands were tied. Soon as she worked out what was going down he’d have had to tie her up to stop her.”

“Sounds like it’s going to be a party. Maybe we can get that pizza boy to come back and feed us while he’s at it. My stomach is starting to growl.”

Garth snorted and wrapped an arm around her as she did the same to him. Crossing the street they moved down a few doors where they could loiter. Leaning against a fence, they had a perfect view of the front of the building, but kept out of a direct line of sight.

Time passed. Katherine was pleased the silence between them was easy, there was no strain in the quiet. Instead, it was the waiting stillness of a hunter patiently knowing the prey would come. She enjoyed this moment, the still before the storm.

Katherine caught sight of Skye and Jack strolling down the street first, hand in hand and looking for all the world like any ordinary pair of young lovers. Only an observant eye would catch the fact that Jack carried a weapon under his sweater on the side of his hip in his jeans. He moved with a fluid grace—one that showed confidence, someone well used to stalking and chasing where necessary. It was clear he was no novice.

The couple strolled up to them and greeted them like long-lost friends. Katherine smiled, enjoying the slight glance of surprise Skye cast her. The first time Skye Adams had seen her, Katherine had been attempting to place Garth under an internal review arrest and drag him back to the Agency for questioning. The restaurant they had all gathered in moments later had been a smoking pile of rubble, a rocket launcher having decimated the area.

Katherine was not at all surprised that Skye looked amazed at the about-face their fresh relationship must appear like to her.

“Good to see you again, Skye. I didn’t get a chance at the exchange to say how glad I am Victor is doing fine,” Katherine said.

Skye nodded, her smile seeming genuine.

“He’s stubborn as a goat, but emotionally he seems just fine. Physically he’ll heal in a bit of time, but for now he’s the same old dad he’s always been. You look…good. I’m sorry about Tarek. I know you’re partners.”

Katherine stiffened. A slight pain ran through her, but she pushed it aside.

“This will hopefully go a long way to giving him peace. It’s the least I can do for him considering the circumstances.”

Garth tapped his finger on her shoulder, drawing her attention. She looked behind them and saw Walters and Peterson walking towards their small posse. When the two men stood with their group Garth introduced everyone and gave them a rough catch-up.

“They should be in the offices on the sixth floor,” he began in a clear, crisp tone. “Connor is approximately six feet tall, blond shaggy hair and is a twitchy little shit. He had a gun this morning but zero experience. He had made friends with two conspiracy nuts, with similar lack of experience but better aim. I caught one in my lower side so I’d recommend from personal experience not to take them lightly.”

“It’s always the asshole newbies who get the lucky shots,” Peterson commiserated. Garth nodded and continued.

“I figure we should stagger our entry and spread out upon entering. We can confirm Connor, at the least, is inside the building as when we were reconnoitring the area we got lucky for a change and saw him come out here to pick up two boxes of pizza from a delivery guy.”

“One man doesn’t need two pizzas,” Jack interjected, a hard, thoughtful look on his face.

 Garth nodded.

“That’s my thought, too. I believe it’s a safe assumption he’s not up there alone, but there could be three of them, or thirty. It’s impossible to tell from down here. Considering Katherine and I were taken by surprise last time, however, I want us to be sharp and safe. We enter and spread out in teams of two. Katherine and I enter first and take the main point of attack. Jack, I want you and Skye to enter next and veer left. We don’t have communications equipment so we’re old school and going to have to shout out commands. Walters, you and Peterson protect our arses. We’ll need warning of an ambush from the rear or if they somehow call in reinforcements.”

“Do we have a layout?” Walters asked, his gaze steady as he drank in the commands and seemed to take it all in his stride.

“This was just one stop of a dozen on our list,” Katherine added with a shake of her head. “We know it’s on the sixth floor, a set of office suites for a small IT company. Their tax return information from the public record showed they are a holding with less than twenty people on staff. But how accurate that is could be anyone’s guess.”

“So we go in assuming the worst and celebrate when we encounter a handful of geeky under-twenty-five-year-olds who all but wet themselves at our attack,” Skye said with a grin. “I like it, particularly the part where we put the fear of God into Connor, take back that damn hard drive and destroy it.”

Katherine exchanged a glance with Garth. They’d discussed in broad terms what they would end up doing with the data once they’d recovered it. They were certain no good could ever come from such scandalous information, such intimate secrets, vices and personal proclivities coming to the light of day. It was not the sort of business either of them had signed up for.

But neither could they ignore the monumental power such information wielded. The Agency followed the rules where possible, but destroying such power was not necessarily in their best interests. It was a difficult call to make and not one they could take lightly.

“I’d prefer if we returned the portable drive to the Agency,” Walters said. Peterson nodded his agreement beside his partner. Katherine and Garth shared another look before Garth spoke.

“Any hypersensitive data like this is under threat while we have a possible traitor,” he suggested. “No one person or company should hold such power in their hands—it’s too simple a thing to abuse. But we’re not sure we should just flat out destroy it, either. When we have the situation—and Connor—contained we can discuss it further and come to a decision then. There’s no point arguing about it now.

“One last thing. We should mention the possibility, the remote possibility, Oscar or the traitor or some other highly placed person in this organisation might be present. We gave Connor a good scare this morning, he almost certainly would have turned to his contact and demanded help and protection. The reason we called you in is partly because we trust you, but also because we were caught unaware last time and we didn’t want to make that mistake again.”

“We’re always up for a party,” Jack interjected with a wicked grin at Skye. His humour lightened the mood around them. Kate shifted restlessly on her feet, caught somewhere between anticipation and just wanting them to start this. The traffic of people lessened as the sun slowly sank into the horizon. Katherine felt certain that, by the time they had finished, full dark would have fallen.

“Let’s go,” Garth commanded, his tone firm.

Chapter Seven

The group of them stood huddled behind the door that separated the stairwell from the corridor on the sixth floor. A tiny, slim piece of glass in the middle of the door would give anyone opening it a chance to see if someone stood on the other side to avoid accidents. Garth peered in every direction possible through the small window, checking the layout.

Peterson had handed a handful of cable ties to everyone. None of them knew how many people they were up against, but they had agreed earlier that no one wanted to maim or kill unless they were pressed to. Typical Agency procedure was to restrain—not hurt—others, and Kate had reiterated this in their briefing moments earlier.

As they readied themselves, they drew their handguns. Katherine noticed Skye pulled out a tiny lady’s twenty-two. She couldn’t hide her grin as Skye surveyed everyone else’s gun then looked back to hers. Not one of them held a smaller calibre than a forty-five.

“It might be time for me to get a new weapon, love,” she spoke to Jack. “If we’re going to keep such rough company, a girl needs some protection.”

Jack stroked a finger down the side of her cheek and stared at her, his attention seeming riveted.

“I’m your protection, sweetheart. You don’t really think I’d be prepared to face your father to tell him how it’s my fault you got shot. I’m all you need, darling. Trust me on that.”

Katherine chuckled with the others, the tension thick in the air. No matter how much research and preparation you did, what lay on the other end of the door would be unexplored, unknown territory. Anything could happen. She found the tension built adrenaline, which was definitely one of the most natural drugs that could help keep you alive in situations such as this. “Okay,” Garth ground out, clearly as impatient as the rest of them. Katherine felt the fear and excitement of the moment kick in. They were really going to do this. Even if it ended up a complete waste of time, that didn’t stop the surge through her body. Her awareness heightened as her body prepared for the coming fight.

“Our target is about two dozen paces in front of us and opposite the elevator. There are clear glass double doors opening out on to an open room, from what little I can see. There is another, far larger corporation at the end of the hall and a small one right beside us here to the right.”

“We stay in teams of two,” Walters repeated from their earlier conversation. “Subdue and restrain. Only open fire if you have to. Hitchens and I might be able to talk the group of us out of any trouble with the Agency or the police, but we will have the full weight of management behind us if we can get our hands on that hard drive, Connor, or, in the best of all scenarios, Oscar Jennings.”

“Exactly,” Garth picked up as Walters paused. “Jennings kidnapped and tortured Victor Adams in the failed attempt to get this intelligence. The Agency takes a dim view of this cavalier treatment of their operatives’ lives. If we can even get solid evidence to help lock Jennings away it will weigh significantly in the Agency getting rid of any charges or pressure on our actions. But there may be mostly innocents inside, so we roll with the level of threat presented back to us.”

“Sounds just like old times,” joked Skye.

Katherine found herself impressed by the other woman’s bravery. She was not an agent at all, let alone field rated. While Skye had been instrumental in rescuing her father, to Katherine’s knowledge this was only the second or third time the woman had seen this type of action. Before she could say anything or commend Skye on her courage, Garth caught her gaze and indicated, with a tilt of his head, they should go first through the door.

Checking her gun one final time, Katherine drew in a deep breath and bounced on the balls of her feet to get her circulation going.

“Ready,” she answered Garth’s unasked question. He grinned at her, his white teeth flashing as he cupped a hand on her jaw. She moved forward and pressed a hard, fierce kiss to his lips, the soft stubble of his trimmed beard scratching the corners of her mouth.

“Be safe, sweetheart,” he cautioned her as she pulled away. Katherine nodded and blew him a silent kiss.

“You too. I’ve got your back, you go in first and I’ll be less than half a step behind you.”

“Let’s go people,” Garth’s voice rang out, deep and full of confidence. “We’ll start in a logical progression. Clear each room and remember to call out so we keep tabs on one another. Jack, you and Skye head left. Walters, you and Peterson take right. Restrain everyone. Keep an eye out for the black box in case it’s just lying around somewhere. If the civilians get rowdy, gag them. Remember we don’t have comms. Shout out the instant you need help or if you see Jennings. He’s a slick bastard so watch yourself when it comes to him. Any last-minute questions?”

Skye snickered but tried to hide it behind her hand. Garth’s eyes roamed over them both, finishing with Katherine. Katherine held his gaze for just a moment. Silently, they communicating their love, then the next instant the door swung open and Garth moved out with a brisk stride.

Katherine followed, not willing to leave his side for an instant. She checked down the corridor behind them to make sure no one stood in a blind spot or paid undue attention to them. Garth threw a look over his shoulder as he stood at the double wide doors. The words ‘Lennin’s Temporary Solutions Agency—Temp agents of all divisions available here!’ were scrawled over the doors in large, elegant gold script.

In far smaller script, the opening hours were etched to one side. Katherine glanced at her watch and found they had twenty minutes until the doors would shut. Jack and Skye lingered to their left, Walters and Peterson to their right. Everyone looked ready to move, waiting for Garth’s signal.

Her lover nodded and opened the door, his gun still held in his hand but pressed against the side of his leg so as to not upset anyone too fast. The doors opened into a large room. The setting sun cast an orange-gold glow over the small workstations and terminals. No one seemed present. Two corridors split off with a number of glass-fronted meeting rooms to the far right, down a small passage with a sign for the toilets and tearoom refreshment area. Garth tilted his chin, indicating that Jack and Skye should take one corridor and for Walters and Peterson to take the meeting rooms.

Garth paced down the right-hand corridor. They had entered what looked like a series of smaller office areas for management and the permanent staff, if the plates over the doors were any indication, when the sound of people shouting could be heard from behind them.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“Hey man, I’m just here for an interview, I don’t want any trouble!”

“This is a private meeting. Please, sir, we need you to leave.”

“Oh my! Is that a gun?”

“Hey! Now just a minute!”

Garth snapped open the first door, letting it slam back against the wall. He entered with his gun drawn up, held ahead of him. Katherine glanced up and down the corridor and followed right on his heels, her gun raised in readiness, unsure of what they would face.