Embraced by Fire (15 page)

Angrily, she hit reply on Johnny’s email.

—

From
: [email protected]

To
: Johnny Blake

Subject
: RE: Friday
—
apologies

Dear J

Sorry you’re not feeling well, hope you feel better soon.

I noticed you left early—very concerned—wish you’d talked to me before you left.

—

Kait bit her lip as she looked at what she’d written, it all seemed suitably benign. Should she say anything else?

—

Call me,

K.

PS: hope this isn’t anything to do with that phone call the other day, you know I’m always here for you.

—

Although she wasn’t quite so sure about that last sentence anymore. She hit send.

If only he’d asked for help, but he’d rejected her offer. Instead he’d distracted her by playing the friendship card, asking what was troubling her, encouraging her to open her heart.

Her jaw tightened as she remembered trustingly pouring out her confusions about Ryu. She printed out the email, her heart bleeding. She blinked back tears, disillusioned and betrayed.

****

Ryu slammed through the door to Fantasia Alive in a foul mood. It was two thirty, he was hours later than intended. After he finished talking to Kait, he rang straight through to team HQ. Neil answered.

He’d quickly explained Kait’s call and that he was on his way to see her. Neil put the kibosh on that idea. They were having a team meeting to talk about what happened the night before and, as far as Neil was concerned, that was still top priority.

No amount of fast-talking, or reminding Neil the team had already been updated, changed Neil’s mind. In fact, Neil said, given what happened the night before, Kait was most likely involved. Ryu steamed in remembrance. Neil had gone on to say, if she was involved then anything she “found” was suspect, and if Ryu was right and she wasn’t involved, then nothing she found was likely to be of much importance.

So, Ryu found himself seated around a table with the rest of the team talking about Johnny, who had been missing since last night, and Kait. Oh, and as an added bonus, getting his balls busted by Neil for blowing his cover. He winced in memory. Of everything Neil said during the meeting that condemnation was the most valid. Damn him. Ryu wasn’t sure he was damning Neil, or himself for letting his lips spill secrets he shouldn’t have.

He’d screwed up big time breaking cover with Kait. But he knew, he knew, she wasn’t involved. By the end of the meeting everyone agreed with him, if not one hundred percent agreement then at least close to it. Even Neil withdrew his concerns before patting Ryu on the head and sending him off to meet with her.

Ryu hoped like hell Kait had found something good, because he wanted to enjoy every moment of shoving it in Neil’s face. The only positive of the meeting was the chance to talk to Adrian face-to-face. The other man was clearly surprised Neil had chosen the meeting over following up with Kait, and he expressed his total support for Ryu. Knowing Adrian was on his side made a big difference.

The Fantasia Alive door banged closed behind him.

“Someone got out of bed on the wrong side this afternoon,” Carol smiled sympathetically. “I put fresh coffee on about half an hour ago, why don’t you grab yourself a cup.”

Ryu made a concerted effort to control his mood and smile pleasantly. “Thanks, Carol, I might do that. Hey, do you know if Kait is in?”

“She was a real early bird this morning. I think she’s still in her office.”

“Who else is here?” Ryu asked.

“Everything is pretty empty, usually is after a late event. Performers take the time to recover so it’s office staff only. Even Kait usually sleeps in, that’s why I was surprised to see her this morning.”

The phone rang and Carol picked it up, giving him a quick smile before speaking. Ryu mouthed a thank-you and went into the main room. Carol was right, the place was deserted. Although light came from Kait’s office, Edward’s and Victor’s offices were dark. Ryu hurried directly to Kait’s door.

She was hunched over her keyboard typing furiously when he knocked and, without waiting for a reply, walked in. She looked up with a start and stared at him as if, for a moment, she couldn’t remember who he was. Then reaction kicked in and she gestured for him to sit.

That commanding gesture told him a lot. She felt threatened by everything going on and would do her best to maintain control of this meeting. For now he didn’t have a problem with that. Anything that made her feel more secure worked in his favour.

“Sorry I’m late. Sometimes my boss has more control over my life than I do.” Okay, he hoped she hadn’t heard the bitterness in that comment, he’d thought he had himself under better control.

“That’s all right, I got your message.” Kait stretched out the kinks in her shoulders, her breasts thrusting distractingly against her thin blouse.

Ryu dragged his eyes away with difficulty. “Why did you call me? You said you found something?”

Kait fidgeted with a pen. “Yes. This morning I arrived early and searched Johnny’s locker.”

His eyebrows sprang up. “You searched his locker?” And had clearly found something, something that hadn’t been there when Ryu searched.

Kait didn’t meet his eyes as she nodded. He could see she felt guilty about breaking into her friend’s locker. Wait…“Wasn’t it locked?”

“Um…Yes.” She glanced up through her lashes. “I guessed the code and opened it.”

“Wow, nice work.” Ryu smiled to put her at ease. Actually, it really was nice work. “What was the code?”

“My birthday.” She spun the pen again.

Was that a blush? Ryu narrowed his eyes. He knew she and Johnny were friends, was there more to their relationship than that? He looked at the betraying pink flush across her cheekbones. A tearing pain in his chest made his fists clench. It felt as if the dragon was clawing the inside of his heart. Was he…jealous?

Abruptly angry, with her for that telltale blush, and with himself for his response, his next words came out unnecessarily harsh. “Why your birthday?”

Startled, she dropped the pen and stared at him wide-eyed. “I…I don’t know. We’re just friends.”

The obvious honesty in her expression quieted the beast within. “Do you think his feelings for you might go beyond friendship?”

She picked up her pen and looked at him warily. “I don’t know, I never thought so before now.”

He leaned back in the chair and considered the information, then shook his head, nothing he could do with it right now. “What did you find in his locker?”

She opened her drawer and pulled out a sheet of paper and a flash drive. She handed him the flash drive. “I tried to look at the files on the drive but they’re encrypted.”

Ryu glanced at the drive, then shoved it into the back pocket of his jeans. Spock would no doubt make quick work of it. “I’ll get someone on our team to have a look. Anything else?”

“Yes, I got an email from him this morning.” She handed over the printout. “It doesn’t say anything very interesting but I thought you should have a copy.”

“Thanks.” He gave her a surprised smile. “Good thinking. Johnny didn’t go home last night and we haven’t been able to locate him yet, so this might be more useful than you think.”

A little of her previous blush returned to her cheeks and his smiled widened. He loved that she was a redhead. Not only did the colour drive him wild, but her skin was almost as expressive as her face.

“I hope he’s not in too much trouble.” White teeth nibbled on her full lower lip. Concern for her friend written clearly on her face.

Ryu chose not to answer because Johnny was in a truckload of trouble. “Anything else in his locker?”

“Not that I saw.” She paused. “Did you want to have a look.”

“Might be a good idea.”

She led him down to the lockers. “If anyone asks could you say Johnny asked me to get something for him? I don’t want people to worry.”

Ryu nodded. “I’m surprised you found anything. When I checked the lockers the other night I never found anything.”

“You what?!” Kait stopped so suddenly he almost crashed into the back of her.

“I was doing my job. Would you rather I lied?”

She stared at him, then mutely shook her head. Turning away, she hurried over to the lockers, stopping in front of Johnny’s.

“Do you want me to do the combination?” she asked.

“If you would.”

“I’m sure you know my birthday, after all you investigated me.” He could hear a note of resentment in her voice and hated knowing he was the cause.

“I know your birthday, but look on the bright side, that means I have no excuse for not getting you a birthday present.”

Kait snorted in reluctant laughter. “I guess. After all this I deserve a present.”

Ryu smiled. She might not believe it, but he fully intended to get her one.

She spun the lock and the door fell open. The locker was empty.

Chapter 16

Kait stared in shock at the empty locker. “It wasn’t like this earlier.”

“What else was in there?” Ryu voice was cold.

She shivered. “Just spare clothes, CDs, a couple of books, not much really.”

If she could put everything back the way it was this morning she would, anything to make his arctic tone go away.

“What books?”

“I…I don’t know. A biography of a high-profile club DJ and a couple of thrillers, I’m not sure which ones.”

“Any idea when he came in and cleared his things out?”

“No. I’ve been here since early this morning but I’ve been in my office most of the time. Carol might have seen him.” Not waiting for Ryu, she hurried toward reception.

“No, I haven’t seen him.” Carol’s gaze darted between them. “He could have come in when I was on my lunch break, or he might have used the side door.”

“I thought the side door stayed locked from the outside,” said Ryu.

“Johnny used to smoke, he got a key cut so he could smoke out there and not get locked out.”

“I didn’t know he had a key.” Kait tried to keep a smile on her face. It was her responsibility to know things like that. Why had no one told her?

“I guess no one thought it was important. Did you want him for something, I can let him know next time he comes in,” said Carol helpfully.

“That’s okay, I’ll give him a call,” said Kait, then she and Ryu walked back to her office.

“Now what?” she asked, leaning against her desk.

“Now you leave things to us. These are dangerous people.” Ryu’s face was implacable.

She should object to his tone, but she didn’t. She was glad to hand this over to someone else. Johnny had been her friend for years and it was impossible to change her feelings overnight.

“If you hear from Johnny, let me know.” Ryu gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze as if he understood how torn she felt.

“What’ll happen to him?” she asked, as his hand dropped away.

Ryu stared unblinking at her for a moment then shrugged. “He’ll be arrested and, if there’s sufficient evidence, sent to prison. This information black market scheme hit some big, powerful companies, they’re not going to let those involved off with a slap on the wrist.”

Prison. She rubbed her arms. Poor Johnny. “Could he do a deal, like on TV?”

“I’m not sure what kind of deal you mean. If he turned himself in now and told us everything he knows, he could argue for a lighter sentence.”

“But he hasn’t hurt anyone, couldn’t they let him go if he told everything.”

Ryu sighed and stepped closer. His eyes gentle, he rubbed his hands over her upper arms soothingly. “They’re not going to let him go. I won’t lie to you, Johnny is in deep trouble.”

“But if he turned himself in…”

“If he turned himself in things would go a lot easier for him.”

After Ryu left, taking the flash drive with him, she moved around her desk and sat stiffly in her chair, staring at her blotter, wishing things were different.

Wishing Jonny were her true friend and not neck deep in trouble. Wishing Ryu wasn’t some super-spy and she wasn’t just part of his mission. She rubbed her finger over a doodle on the blotter. Of course, She didn’t wish him back to being her employee, but she did wish they’d met under other circumstances. Circumstances that allowed them to investigate the chemistry between them instead of crime.

She rubbed the doodle harder, as if her frustration had the power to erase it. Who was she kidding? If she’d met Ryu under other circumstances he wouldn’t have looked twice at her. Worse, she wouldn’t have had the courage to do anything about their chemistry. Just like she didn’t have the courage now. Her frustration boiled over. She threw her pen across the room.

The plastic bounced off the wall and fell to the floor. As suddenly as her anger bloomed, it was gone. She slumped in her chair.

Dropping her face into her hands, she closed her eyes.
Oh, Johnny, why?
Her throat was thick with sorrow and her body ached deep to the bones. Denial faded and bitter acceptance crept in. Johnny wasn’t one of the good guys. Johnny was one of the bad guys.

The man who had been her friend for years, who helped her move into her house, who cooked for her when she was sick, whose shoulder she cried on, was one of the bad guys. The man she trusted most after her father was one of the bad guys.

Wrapping her arms around her middle, she rested her head on her desk, her eyes still closed. Tears threatened behind her eyelids and she sniffed as her nose blocked.
How?
How did such a sweet guy end up doing something like this? She squeezed her arms tighter as tears leaked and dried in sticky patches on her cheeks.

For several heartbeats she sat in tear damp darkness, but no answers came. At last, unable to shut out the world any longer, she opened her eyes. Sitting up with a final sniff, she wiped her face with her fingers and blew her nose.