Headhunters (23 page)

“Not true, sir,” I replied. “Can you patch in one of your
technicians? With a secure internet connection?”

“Of course. Wait one.”

Jessica looked over at me and smiled. It came easily,
sweetly.

“Simon?” Sinclair’s voice broke in.

“Yes sir.”

“I’ve got Larry Burrows on the line with us,” Sinclair said.
“Larry’s one of our Security Analysts. He should be able to help us. What have
you got?”

“Larry,” I said. “We’ve got data stored on an offshore data
warehouse. I’m going to read off the website, IP address, password and login
for you and I need you to confirm that you’ve got the records.”

“Okay, go ahead. I’m ready,” Larry said.

I read from the crumpled sheet of paper that Billy had given
me. Every digit and dot and bit of information. It all came down to this.

“Got it,” Larry replied. I waited and listened and could
hear him typing in the background of the call. The moment stretched on and on.

“Mr. Parks?” It was Larry again and for a moment I thought
he had terrible news for me. The data didn’t make it. Or it was corrupted.
Something to bring our operation to a screeching halt.

“Yes?”

“It’s all here,” Larry said. “The Department of Homeland
Security Files have been recovered. There are also digital audio files…”

“Those are recordings from an undercover operation where
both Randall Kendrick and Max Donovan implicated themselves in the murders of
Chris Swenson and Tom Ellis. You’ll also hear audio there of Isabelle Athabasca
murdering Max Donovan at the request of Randall Kendrick as well as the
conspiracy to sell national secrets to a domestic terrorist.”

“Who?” Sinclair asked.

“Mitchell Burr,” I replied.

“You really know how to dot your I’s,” Sinclair said. “But
for the record, the NSA does not engage in domestic spying.”

“With all due respect, sir,” I replied. “I don’t work for
the NSA.”

“Point well taken,” Sinclair said and I think I heard a
smile in his voice.

“Yes, sir,” I replied. “Now, if there’s nothing else, I’d
like to take some time, sir. If you don’t mind, I miss my kids.”

“Of course,” Sinclair said. “Let’s talk in a couple days.”

Jessica walked closer, smiling.

“How’s it going?” she whispered.

“What was that?” Sinclair asked.

“Nothing, sir,” I said, giving Jessica a good-natured look.

“Tell Miss Jessica Madison to have a good time as well,”
Sinclair said.

“How did you—?” I began to ask. “Never mind, sir.”

“Have a good time, Simon,” Sinclair went on. “You deserve
it.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said and rang off.

“Who was that?” Jessica asked.

“It was the Deputy Director of the NSA,” I replied. “He said
‘hi’.”

Jess swallowed hard.

“He said ‘hi’ to me?” Jess asked.

“Mm-hmm,” I replied, feigned disinterest.

“Shut up!” Jess exclaimed and then laughed.

I laughed with her. We sat in the waiting room and held
hands. At one point, Jess put her head in my lap and slept. I rested my hand on
her side just so I could feel her breathe.

I closed my eyes, just for a moment, or so I thought. It was
if I blinked and feel into a sound sleep without effort. I woke to the floor
nurse touching my shoulder.

“Hmm?” I mumbled.

“Mister Bender has returned to his room,” said the nurse. She
smiled and pointed out a room down the hall.

“Thank you, so much. How’s he doing?” I asked.

“He’s stable and needs to rest,” she said. “We’ve been
requested by our administrators to give you special access to his room while he
recovers, but please let him recuperate, okay?”

“Of course,” Jessica said and I nodded.

We stepped into Billy’s room and I saw him in the bed. He
was bandaged across his chest, his head, his arm was broken. He had an IV in
his arm. The heart rate monitor steadily pulsed and somehow I found that
reassuring.

“Do you want to wait?” Jessica asked. I stood at his
bedside, hands on the rails, looking down at him.

“Yeah.”

“We’re going to be here awhile then,” Jessica said.

“Yeah.”

“Should I get us something to eat? Are you hungry? Magazine?”

I don’t remember if I answered, but I must have nodded.
Jessica touched my arm and walked out the door. I pulled up a chair to Billy’s
bedside and sat in it, watching him.

Jessica returned later with burgers and fries. She brought a
few magazines and sat on the other side of Billy and we waited. Nurses came in
and checked vital and made conversation with Jess, but I just waited it out. I
ate eventually, but never really tasted the food. I held his hand and waited.

Time passed but I don’t remember it. I remembered when he
moaned in his sleep. I remember his eyes opening the slightest fraction. I
remember him looking at me, focusing on me.

“Simon… you’re an ass,” he whispered.

I chuckled, then laughed. Jess smiled at me.

“I’m sorry, brother,” I said. “How are you doing?”

“I hurt,” he croaked, but his smile was there.

“I thought I lost you in there, man,” I said.

“You and me both,” he grimaced.

“Can I get you anything, Billy?” Jessica asked.

“Water?”

“Here you go,” she said and pushed it closer.

Billy took it and thanked her and drank deeply.

“Billy… we got it, man,” I said. “All the data, we got it.
Thank you, man. We couldn’t have done it without you.”

“What happened to the others?” Billy asked. His face was
concerned. He didn’t remember or maybe he did and the trauma was blocking it
out.

“We’re it, Billy,” Jessica said. “We made it through.”

“I’m sorry, Simon,” Billy sighed.

His eyes teared up and I hugged him.

Damned if I didn’t cry too.

***

We stayed with Billy that night. We
cried about our friends that we lost. We talked about what went wrong, but more
than anything, we were happy to be alive. We decided to leave the next morning.
Billy had family coming to visit and we didn’t want to be in the way. I wanted
to see my own kids and now that I knew that Billy was alright, I felt like I
could do that.

“We’re taking off, Billy,” I said. I shook his hand and his
grip was strong. He’d make a full recovery. I cornered one of his doctors and
got the diagnosis. I was glad to hear it.

“Love you, Billy,” Jessica said and hugged him. Billy gave
me a wiseass smile over her shoulder and then the finger which I graciously
returned.

“Call you soon, Agent Bender,” I said as we walked out.

“Take your time, Simon,” Billy said and waved at us.

Jessica and I walked to the hospital elevators and pressed
the button to go down. She looked over at me.

“He’s going to be okay, you know?

“I know.”

“And so are we.”

“I know,” I said and kissed her.

I fished a set of car keys from my pocket. Sinclair had
arranged a Towncar for us and had an agent drop off the keys. Jessica had made
a reservation at a local hotel. I couldn’t bear the thought of going home. Not
yet. I wasn’t ready.

We checked into the hotel and were a little awestruck at the
accommodations. Marble floors. Hardwood counters and desks. Brass chandeliers
with lights that shone like diamonds. It was breath-taking and felt like such a
departure for us.

I walked with Jessica to the elevator and from the elevator
to our room. I unlocked the door and we stepped inside. Jessica turned on the
light and we looked around the room. We were alone at last. Alone for the first
time since before the bridge attack.

Jessica reached for me, put her arms around my neck and
buried her face in my chest and cried. And I let her. We cried together, just
standing there, grateful to have one another. After all that could have gone
wrong, we had one another.

“I love you,” she said at last. She looked up at me and I
kissed away her tears before softly kissing her lips.

“I love you, Jess.”

We ordered room service. I think we got one of everything.
We ate until we were stuffed. Content and full.

We turned out the lights and slipped into bed together, her
on her side, me on mine. We met in the middle and the touch of her was
startling, exciting, raising goose bumps on my arms.

I slipped an arm around her and pulled her close to me. Our
lips met and in the cool air, Jessica felt as if she were on fire. The heat of
her skin consumed me and I kissed her more deeply, my fingers caressing her
cheek. I ran my hand through her hair and cradled the nape of her neck.

She took my hand then and kissed it, my fingertips, my palm,
then pressed my hand against the bare skin of her breast. Her back arched to
meet my touch and so I let my fingers trace tight little circles around her
nipple.

Jess was teaching me and I was willing to be her student. We
had the time and were more than willing to explore for as long as we were
allowed.

She rolled onto her back and pulled me over her. I could
feel the heat from her sex and covered it with my hand. Her hips lifted and her
legs, shaven smooth, parted and her sex opened to my touch.

Jess kissed me deeply as I touched her for the first time in
what seemed like forever. I caressed her gently, parting her, feeling the
warmth of her, the slick welcoming desire that led up to her clitoris, already
aching to be touched. I touched her then, the way that I remembered that she
liked and her breathing became harsher, her hand covered mine and forced it
onto her a little harder than I had. Her legs opened a bit wider and she
whispered my name.

I kissed her exposed nipple and she gasped, then ground her
hips in slow tight little circles as I touched her. Her nipple stiffened and I
sucked on it gently, then licked around it, teasing.

I ran my fingers along the length of Jess’ sex again and
again, not quickly, not yet. I could feel her desire for me build, feel her
open and yearning for me. She whispered it in my ear and told me how much she
wanted me. Her hand covered mine again and our fingers intertwined and she
showed me what she wanted. She was kind and giving as a teacher, not chiding.
She encouraged me as I discovered her secrets, softly correcting when I was
not.

She spared nothing, shared everything. I could feel her
breath quicken and she reached and pulled my upper arm closer to her. I did
what she asked and watched her face, her eyebrows arch, eyes close, her chest
heaving, nipples pushing upward with each rocking movement. She reached above
her and clutched a pillow. Her feet pulled up under her and planted firmly on
the mattress. Her hips grinding hard, faster, faster, her desire and ecstasy
running together until her climax was upon her. She pulled at me then, pulling
me down over her and buried her head in my chest. She came with a shuddering
tremble, her gasping breaths barely covered in the flesh of my shoulder as she
clutched it to her, fingernails biting in. I watched her face during that time
and she never looked more beautiful. I stayed with her until it seemed time to
give room and then I rolled back.

We lay there like that for a moment and I listened to her
breathe. She rolled to me then and swung her leg over mine until she straddled
me. She was lying on top of me, her breasts pressed against my chest in
gorgeous mounds of flesh. Her hair hung down around my face and she smiled a
wicked little grin at me.

“You’re going to wake the other guests,” I whispered.

She chuckled in a deep throaty laugh that made me want her
even more and she shook her head.

“Mm-mm,” she said softly, “You are.”

She rolled her hips back until the tip of my cock dipped
inside of her. She was hot and wet and inviting and before I could move she did
again, deeper this time, taking in half the length of me. I groaned and that
made her laugh quietly.

“Shh,” she said, pressing a finger to my lips. I obeyed, but
what she was doing didn’t exactly make silence an easy rule to comply with.

She pushed her hips back and placed her hands on my chest,
lifting herself up and ground her pelvis around, driving my cock into her,
exploring all of her in a long, slow sensuous gyration that was enough to drive
a man mad. Her breasts were pressed together between her arms, so I lifted my
head and suckled her nipples making her gasp and press me back into the bed.

She sat back and lifted her hair up off her shoulders, and
in doing so made her breasts lift as well, teasing me, taunting me and then she
was pounding down onto me again, lifting and falling, lifting and falling,
burying my cock inside her. Our breathing had roughened, but we struggled to be
quiet together. Jessica was lost in the moment, swiveling her hips then pumping
back, impaling herself onto me. My hands had fallen to cradle her ass, but I
could hardly take the lovely torture any more.

I cupped her breasts in my hands and she covered my hands
with her own. She leaned forward then and kissed me again, her mouth hot with
desire, her lips kissing and pulling, gently biting my bottom lip, driving me
onward. The taste of her tongue was enough to vanquish me where I lay.

We finished together, not with the proverbial bang but with
a whimper, my head buried in the crook of her neck as my cock pulsed inside
her. At last, I bit her shoulder lightly and she cursed softly but it was more
compliment than condemnation.

Afterward we stayed in bed together, awake and staring at
the ceiling, not really for the ceiling’s sake, but out of an exhaustion born
from a tension finally released. If we had our way, we’d fuck like rabbits for
days on end until we couldn’t bear it any more and finally had to go out for
food.

“You okay?” Jessica asked.

“No,” I groaned with a laugh.

“What’s wrong?”

“I… missed that,” I said. “Missed you, truth be told. But
that was… nice.”