Honey Kisses (Romance on the Ranch Series #2) (13 page)

Jackson sat beside Annie during the commercial
flight to New York. Alligator and Agent Mahoney sat in the aisle across from
them. When Annie had voiced her opposition to him coming, he'd refused to
discuss it with her. There was no way he was staying behind. He'd also
contacted his attorney and advised her of the happenings concerning Annie. The
expensive lawyer had laughed and said, "Jackson, I think your wife has
made my top ten list of intriguing people. Keep me posted."

He glanced at Annie's hands folded in her lap.
He wanted to cover them with his own, but he knew she would reject his advance.
She only spoke to him when necessary. Well, hell, she wasn't the only one
angry. She should have trusted him enough to come clean.

Leaning his head back and closing his eyes, he
thought about Alligator's update on the loan shark that Jerry Hackstetter had stupidly
borrowed money from. Seems the "shark" had messed with one too many
bottom feeders and gotten himself murdered. After his death, another mafia boss
had easily stepped into his shoes. This creep, however, made the dead boss look
like an angel.

The FBI's inside source had gotten access to a
list of suckers who'd borrowed money, and Annie's dead husband's name had been
on that list. When Alligator's superior had contacted him with a new
assignment, he'd seen the Hackstetter name and gotten full access to Annie's
file. It didn't take him long to put two and two together.

Jackson still couldn't believe that his timid
little wife had made a name for herself with her shutdown of a hack on a
government site years earlier. The break-in had been a setup by agents who had
infiltrated Hacker's from Hell to see just how sharp the members were. When
Annie had stopped the tracking and then left the group, her file had been moved
to confidential status until such time as she might be needed to call on for
help. That time was now.

Jackson felt Annie's head loll against his
shoulder and he gazed at her sleeping face. Moving closer so she would be
comfortable, he gently stroked his index finger along her jaw. He wanted to
kiss her but he knew she wouldn't take kindly to that action.

When the speakers crackled and the pilot
announced their approach to JFK International Airport, Annie jerked her head
up. Their eyes met and she quickly looked away.

They followed Alligator and Agent Mahoney to a
typical governmental vehicle waiting for them outside the terminal. Alligator explained,
"We're taking you to one of our safe houses."

After a harrowing ride through New York City
traffic, the officer dropped them off on the curb of a busy street. They walked
a couple of blocks before entering a bookstore. At the back of the store, Agent
Mahoney slid a keycard to open a door and they followed him down a narrow hall
to an elevator. A quick, smooth ride, took them to another nondescript and
boring hallway. The officer led them to the last door and slid the keycard again
after communicating with someone via cell phone. Inside they were met by a
third officer; a female. She said, "Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Martinez. My
name is Officer Cheryl Acuff. Your room is this way." They followed her to
a door that opened into a windowless bedroom while Alligator and Agent Mahoney
continued down the hallway.

Annie took one look at the queen size bed and
said, "Mr. Martinez will require his own room."

Jackson set Annie's backpack on the bed, sighed,
and nodded his agreement to Officer Acuff.

"Ah, you can follow me, Mr. Martinez."
With a sad glance at Annie, he left the room."

* * *

Ann sat on the side of the bed and placed her
head in her hands. Part of her wanted to sob, the other part wanted to harangue
Jackson for insisting on coming with her. His presence only made things more
difficult. She needed to concentrate on her objective, not continually have her
stomach tied up in knots.

After unpacking her clothing into a sturdy chest-of-drawers,
she brushed her hair, applied some lipstick, and opened her door. The female
officer sat outside of it. She jumped up and said, "Mrs. Martinez, follow me
and I'll show you around."

Ann nodded and followed her down the hall to
another room crammed with equipment. Jackson was already there with Alligator and
Agent Mahoney. They stood behind an agent monitoring a flat screen. Curiosity
led Ann to stand beside them. The screen captured the inside of a bar from a
camera probably about the height of a tall man. A few patrons sat on barstools
and others at small tables around a center stage. The room had "sleaze"
written all over it. Even as she watched, a pretty young woman slinked onto the
stage and did a bump-and-grind routine. Either the sound had been turned down
or it wasn't available, so the music was left to their imaginations. Ann
glanced at the face of the officer monitoring the screen. He looked utterly
bored. She glanced at Jackson who was looking at her. She realized her mouth
was gaping and quickly shut it.

A glance around the equipment room revealed
other monitors with different views. There was one looking down a dingy hallway
with a payphone and signs pointing toward the restrooms. Another one appeared
to be a dressing room with lots of mirrors and makeup supplies and a rack of
glittery clothing. Another showed a back alley, and the last one the bar
entrance. The sign read, "Sneak-a-Peek Club."

After Alligator introduced the two officers
monitoring the screens, he said to Annie, "Whenever you're ready, we can
grab something to drink and go to the living room. I'll apprise you of what's
happening and what we
want
to happen."

"I'm ready," said Ann.

Officer Acuff glanced at Ann and Jackson and
asked, "What would you like to drink? We have coffee, tea, coke, Pepsi,
Seven Up, orange juice."

Ann said, "Orange juice, please."

Jackson said, "Coffee, black."

The female officer glanced at Alligator and
grinned. "I know…I know…Pepsi."

Ann and Jackson followed Alligator to the living
room and he motioned for them to sit on one of the two serviceable brown tweed
divans opposite each other and separated by a coffee table. Officer Acuff
returned from the kitchen carrying a tray and handed everyone their drinks before
continuing across the room to stand beside the front door. Ann sat on the divan
opposite Jackson and Alligator.

After popping the top of his Pepsi, Al took a
long swig and sighed, "There's nothing like an ice cold Pepsi."

Jackson looked impatient and held his coffee with
both hands, tapping his boot toe on the carpet.

Ann felt just as impatient but forced herself to
look unperturbed. She unscrewed the cap of her orange juice and slowly sipped.

Alligator set his Pepsi on the coffee table. He puffed
air through his cheeks, stretched his neck to one side, and said, "As
you've seen, we have surveillance cameras in the target establishment. We also
have a female undercover agent working as an employee there. She's been 'employed',"
he made quote marks with his fingers, "about four months. She's posing as
an exotic dancer."

Ann gasped.

Alligator shrugged, "We do what we have to.
Keeping the public safe sometimes involves unpleasant assignments." He
reached for his Pepsi and took another long draw. "Anyway, our spy is a
seasoned agent and she knows what she's up against. She's the one who planted
the surveillance bugs. She's also scoped out the computer system. Although
she's well versed in computers; she's not a hack. When she started this
assignment, the former loan shark—the one who threatened Annie—was still alive.
Seems he wasn't too bright when it comes to computer networks and cheaped his
way out. There are computer stations behind the bar, in an alcove that the
waitresses use, and in the dressing room. Our plant discovered that the mainframe
can possibly be accessed through any of those terminals. The mainframe is locked
in an office upstairs." Al stretched his neck again. "Unfortunately,
the new boss is one smart cookie and he's scheduled an overhaul of the system.
No doubt, he'll terminate access to the mainframe from the terminals. After he
does, breaking into the system will become almost impossible, which means, ultimately,
increased danger to the public."

Jackson interrupted, "So, how does Annie
figure into all this?" He looked at her and captured her gaze for a few
seconds until she slid her eyes to the carpet.

Al said, "We need to hack into the
mainframe and retrieve the information there. Since the system has internet
access, we'll send that info to online storage. After that, we want to chew up
the mainframe with a virus. Doing so will cripple the organization. We have
printouts of code our agent was able to steal. However, our experts have been
unsuccessful in finding the backdoor that will allow us to go directly from the
terminals to the mainframe. We need Annie to see if she can break that barrier.
If so, we have an agent posing as a new dancer who's going to use the dressing
room terminal to accomplish what I've just described."

Jackson persisted, "Is there any danger to
Annie?"

"There's always danger. But it's practically
nonexistent for her since she's not on the frontline."

The room fell silent and Ann sipped her orange
juice. "I'm ready to look at what you've got."

Alligator grinned. "Great, we've set up a desk
and computer for you in the surveillance room and our technical team is ready
to assist in whatever you need."

She nodded and stood.

Al glanced at Acuff and she pushed away from the
door. "Follow me and I'll get you going."

For the next two days, Ann poured over computer
code trying to decipher the intricacies of the mafia's system. By the third
day, she was tired but sufficiently knowledgeable to try a staged hack. The technical
team assisted her in setting up a bogus mainframe and after several attempts,
she was finally able to break in and retrieve fictitious bank accounts and
other data they'd entered.

"That's awesome," said Alligator when
he was shown the results. "And you did it in five minutes!"

Ann slid her gaze to Jackson who was standing in
the doorway. His face looked stony and he didn't acknowledge her accomplishment
with a gesture or word. He turned and walked away.

Alligator said, "Annie, we're bringing in our
special agent tomorrow. She's the plant that's doing the actual hack. You have two
days to train her. She's infiltrating as a dancer named Honey Bee, and, as
you've probably overheard, our inside agent goes by the name of Kitty Puff.
Anyway, under the ruse of Kitty Puff training her on how to notate big spenders
using the dressing room terminal, she'll really be accomplishing the mainframe
break in and planting the virus. We only have one shot at this because Kitty
Puff just informed us that the system is scheduled for reprogramming the day
after our sting. Of course, hopefully, by that time, there will be nothing left
to reprogram."

Ann nodded her understanding.

That evening, while she mentally diagramed her
strategy for training the agent who would do the actual work, there was a knock
on her bedroom door. She called, "Come in."

Jackson opened the door and her heart whacked
her chest. No matter how much she resisted his draw, it was always there. He
motioned to a plastic chair. "Can I sit down?"

She nodded.

The chair squeaked when he placed his long frame
into it. His blond hair looked mussed. He glanced around the room before
settling his eyes on her. Ann couldn't help but notice how smoky they looked
tonight. He looked—delicious. She groaned inwardly at a sudden desire to forget
everything that had passed between them and open her arms for him to join her in
bed. She looked at the ceiling.

"When we get home, we need to have a
serious talk. I've made some mistakes and–"

"We have nothing to talk about. I'm moving back–"

"No, Annie, we're going to talk, whether
you want to or not."

"Whatever you say is not going to change my
mind. I've decided to live my life for
me
from now on. Maybe that sounds
selfish, but I have to find myself again."

"I understand, but there are things that I
need
to say where you're concerned. If we didn't have agents in every room, and if I
was sure this room wasn't bugged, I'd say them now. But…" He shrugged and
stood to leave. "I can't wait for this crap to be over."

Al said, "Annie, I'd like to introduce Agent
Megan Hatcher. You'll be training her on the retrieval of mainframe information
and planting the virus."

Ann smiled at the beautiful, platinum blond that
stuck out her hand in greeting. Ann grasped her hand and Agent Hatcher heartily
shook it. "It's a pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Martinez. I'm looking forward
to bustin' the balls of the Mafioso."

Ann's eyes widened at Agent Hatcher's
outspokenness. "Umm, well, I'm ready to show you what I know whenever you
are."

"Let me grab a cup of caffeine and I'll be
right back. If I weren't on duty I'd make it a shot of whiskey." She
winked at Ann and ruffled the hair of an officer watching a surveillance
screen.