Danger Calls (12 page)

S
he'd woken up in a man's arms exactly three times in her life. Including this morning, two of those times had been with Sebastian.

The first had been with Ryder the night her parents had been killed. He'd arrived at what had then been the apartment she shared with her parents, about half a dozen blocks away. She'd managed to hold it all together until he'd arrived. After though, the floodgates had opened wide, and when she'd fallen apart, Ryder had held her in his arms until she'd calmed, and after, while she slept.

Melissa much preferred waking with Sebastian.

She was tucked into his side, his arm slung loosely around her back, her thigh draped casually over his legs. Heat bathed her body from the contact with his body. She shifted slightly and winced at the soreness between her legs.

At her movement, small as it was, he roused and turned onto his side to face her. “Mornin',” he said, the tone of his voice low and slightly raspy.

There was a smile on his lips as she kissed him. “Good morning.”

He slipped his hand onto her waist and eased over until their bodies came into full contact. At that touch, every nerve ending in her body flared to life. Although she hadn't thought it possible, desire rose to the forefront once again.

Sebastian didn't want to rush. Every minute with her might be his last. Whatever was happening between them…Even with her in his arms, he feared so much. Most of all, failing her.

And so because of that, and mindful of how they had passed the night, his actions were gentle and oh-so-languorous. The passion that came because of it reached deep, brought them to a level more intense than before.

He stroked her with his hands, mindful of what she liked. He needed her hands on him, stroking and caressing. Urging him on until he rolled her beneath him and gently entered her.

As he cradled her in his arms afterward, both their bodies shaking and unsteady, he realized he didn't know what he'd do without her in his life, and swore he'd do what he could to keep her there.

He just hoped it would be enough.

 

Melissa sat at her desk going through her typical routine. She sorted through all her mail, tossing aside the junk, putting magazines to the side and grouping everything that needed attention. As she did so, she shot a quick glance at Sebastian. A too-quick glance. She didn't want to tip off whoever was watching to the fact that she was aware of their surveillance.

Sebastian was typing away on his laptop. He'd explained that wireless devices had a limited number of frequencies and that he could tap into the signal, even if someone had taken the time to activate encryption of the transmission. With a grin, he'd said it would only take a little bit longer if it was encrypted.

He loved the challenge of it, she realized. Even with only an occasional peek, it was obvious he was totally absorbed in what he was doing. With a wave of his hand and an even broader grin, he motioned that he had picked up a signal. His concern that she was being spied upon hadn't been off the mark.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed her number. Her phone rang and rang, but she didn't pick it up. Once he hung up, he said out loud, “It's only a video signal. No audio.”

Melissa rose from her desk and grabbed one of the magazines, trying to make it appear as if she was just going somewhere else to read. But once next to Sebastian on the sofa, she glanced at the screen on the laptop. There was her desk in grainy black and white. Inspecting the rest of the room, she wondered aloud, “Could there be other cameras?”

Sebastian quickly looked around. “Possibly, only the more there are, the greater the risk of discovery. And if he—or she, for that matter—only wanted to monitor you, the one in the frame was probably enough.”

“And if there's more?”

Sebastian shrugged. “Then they'll know we're on to them and maybe do something more drastic. Something that will draw them into the open.”

“You're sounding very law enforcement-like,” she teased.

Sebastian chuckled and paused in his typing. “One of the hazards of being related to too many cops.”

No sooner had Sebastian said that, then he was back to his typing.

“What are you doing now?” Window after window was popping up on his laptop. Too fast for her to follow.

“I've jacked into the hospital network. Whoever is spying needs to send that signal somehow. The most likely way is through the network.” His fingers flew over the keys.

He paused for only a moment as he said, “I'm in.”

He resumed his typing and she watched as he began scrolling through a list. Melissa craned her neck to see.

Users
.
Files open
. As he moved downward, she immediately saw her user name with an entry. She'd logged in that morning to look at her mail and access some patient information. Farther down the screen, she noticed a familiar user name. Gesturing to the entry, she said, “That's Sara.”

“How do you know?” he began, then held up his hand. “Wait, don't tell me. You and Sara know each other's info in case of—”

“An emergency,” she finished.

“At least you don't have your password on a Post-it note on your monitor, right? Please tell me that.”

“No, I don't.” She had it neatly written in her daily planner, which she kept in her top desk drawer where anyone could see it whenever she wasn't in her office.

Returning her attention to Sebastian, she saw that he'd shifted to another set of entries, apparently to confirm Sara's user name. “How did you do that?”

“Used a back door. System sees me as the administrator. That means I can see whoever is on, what files they're using. Sara's in the same network files you are.”

With a few key strokes, Sebastian moved down the list. The user names were a combination of portions of the users' names and random numbers. That made it easy to locate Sloan's user name, but according to the system, Sloan had no files open.

Turning to Melissa, he asked, “Is Sloan in the hospital right now?”

“He should be,” Melissa answered quickly. “Why?”

Sebastian turned his laptop so she could see it more clearly. “You and Sara have similar files open.”

“Probably the mail system and patient records.”

Nodding, Sebastian continued. “If Sloan is in, he's not logged on to the system. Or he is and is hiding it somehow.”

Melissa shook her head. “People Sloan's age aren't usually computer-savvy.”

“NSA, remember? Sloan's not what he seems.” He powered down the laptop and closed its case. “We won't get any more info here, Melissa. What about the journals?”

With a tired sigh, Melissa relaxed into the cushions of the sofa. “I'm starting the last one. The one before didn't give me much to work with. Just the kind of stuff I keep track of—anything unusual with Ryder that day. What I did to help him.”

Sebastian sensed there was something else. Something she wasn't telling him. He cupped her cheek and applied gentle pressure until her gaze met his. “What else, Melissa?”

She looked away and in barely a whisper said, “Comments about my mother. Treatments that had been working before were no longer effective. She was dying.”

Sebastian embraced her. She was a little stiff at first, but then she relaxed and grabbed hold of him. Definitely progress. And possibly even more rewarding than sex.

He battled his natural inclination to say something, especially something witty or funny. He just held her, providing comfort. He had sensed from all their encounters that she'd had little of that in her life.

He intended to change that.

 

Melissa's eyes were riveted to a section in her father's journal.

“Melissa?” Sebastian said, jarring her from her father's memoir.

She handed Sebastian the journal and motioned to the entry. He was silent long after he had finished. Finally he turned to her. “The only way he would violate his duty is if—”

“His experiments had to do with Ryder. If something my father planned to do to help my mother involved Ryder.” She took the book back from Sebastian. Running her hands over the neatly written words, she wondered at what her father had intended. What Ryder had that—

“Ryder's immortal,” she said. “He can't die the way we can. The way my mother was dying.” With a quick look at Sebastian, she pressed onward. “Maybe my father thought that if my mother was like Ryder, she'd be cured.”

With a shrug, he asked, “So why not just let Ryder turn her?”

“Because he wasn't sure what she'd become,” Ryder said.

He stood in the doorway, his body rigid with tension. Diana was by his side.

“How long have you been there?” Melissa asked.

“Long enough.” He strode into the room and held his hand out until Melissa gave him the book.

She stood, and just as Diana came to stand beside Ryder, Sebastian rose and took his place at Melissa's side. If lines were to be drawn, it was clear who would be with whom.

Ryder thumbed through the pages, too quickly for a human to read. But Ryder wasn't human. “Anything?” Sebastian asked.

“Nothing I can understand, but maybe Melissa can.” He took a step toward Melissa, his stance almost menacing.

When he spoke again, his voice was lower, with an odd rumble to it, like that of a big jungle cat. Sebastian was transfixed by it and by the gradual transformation that was taking place. “Maybe you can figure out what your father did.”

Ryder thrust the diary out at her and by now his eyes were glowing with a strange light, and sharp, bright white fangs protruded from beneath his upper lip. “How he betrayed me. Endangered both of us.”

“Ryder, it isn't that simple,” Melissa pleaded, which only made him angrier and way scarier. Sebastian took a step to place himself between Ryder and Melissa, and his sister did the same.

“Ryder.” Diana laid a hand on his chest. “This won't accomplish anything.”

He spoke in low tones. “Frederick Danvers knew what his duty was. He knew the dangers of revealing what I am to others.”

“His wife was dying. He wanted to help her,” Diana said.

“Keep it simple, Diana. Remember?”

Sebastian sensed it would only get uglier if it went any further. He cared too much about both Melissa and his sister to let it continue. “We could go around on this all day, but isn't the most important thing to find out exactly what Melissa's father did and how Sloan found out about it?”

Ryder turned his glowing gaze on Sebastian. Ever so slowly, he returned to normal. It was only when his human side resumed control that he spoke again. “So your short list of suspects is down to one? On what basis?”

Sebastian quickly rattled off what he had been able to determine that afternoon in Melissa's office. It had been clear both from the network administrator's screen and a surreptitious visit to Sara's station that she was not the one receiving the video from Melissa's office.

“And so that makes Sloan our guy?” Ryder interjected.

Sebastian counted off each reason on his fingers. “He has sufficient knowledge to understand what Frederick Danvers was doing. He had access to Danvers on almost a daily basis. He may have known Melissa's mom's condition had become serious. Then there's this whole NSA gig.”

“So shadowy government types are always guilty of something? Am I hearing you right?” Diana said in challenge.

Melissa'd had enough. Taking a step past Sebastian, she pleaded her case, “If it isn't Edward, who is it? We have no other suspects. No other leads.”

“But no motive. Why would he want your parents dead?” Diana countered.

Melissa had no answers.
Not yet.
She turned her father's journal over and over. Holding it up, she said, “There may be something in here, but then again, there may be something in Edward's NSA file.”

With an exasperated sigh, Diana said, “I can't access his file. I'm not sure I have anyone who can—”

“Except me,” Sebastian said. “I can—”

“No, you can't. Not ever,
hermanito,
because if you did, I wouldn't hesitate to lock you up,” Diana repeated the warning she'd issued the other night before storming out of the apartment.

Melissa glanced from brother to sister. Sebastian's defiant brown gaze was locked with his sister's determined green one, but in both gazes there was regret, as well. Sebastian would be as hard-pressed to ignore his sister's request as Diana would be to enforce her threat.