Protecting Lulu (Global Protection Agency) (7 page)

“This
also came for you.” She put the envelope down on his pile.

Wilder
took a sip of his coffee. Now he could start his work day.

He
picked up a silver letter opener with a cobra shaped handle. The gift had come
from Lulu. He slid the blade under the flap as Sylvia busied herself setting up
his desk. The flap gave way easily enough and then he reached inside and pulled
out the papers. He recognized the header was one Bennington’s magazine
Corporate
used. Who would be sending him his own magazine?

Pulling
out the magazine he saw Lulu on the cover. A red bulls-eye was drawn around her
face with the words “FAT WHORE WILL PAY” written on the cover. He dropped the
magazine on his desk.

“Oh
my God,” Sylvia squeaked and nearly knocked over his cup of coffee.

Wilder’s
hand shook as he picked up the magazine again. “Get Callahan and his people in
my office right now.”

Lulu
sat behind her desk looking cool and composed. Noah wasn’t certain he wanted to
know about her past relationships.

“I
had this horrible crush on Antoine. I was seven and he was twenty-six. I
learned everything I could about grapes and I intended to marry him when I was
ten and I wanted to be a good master of wine’s wife.” She sighed.

 “Seriously?”

She
shrugged her elegant shoulders. “You wanted to know about my love life, so I’m
starting at the beginning.”

“Are
you going to tell me about every man who ever got your motor running?”

“My
love life got really interesting when I turned thirteen.” Her lips curving in a
salacious smile.

Noah’s
heart pounded erratically in his chest. That smile told him he didn’t want to
know about the other men who’d been on the receiving end of that smile. He
didn’t want to know who she’d kissed, touched or gone to bed with, because
those were all the things he wanted to do to her and with her.

The
phone rang. Lulu picked it up. “What’s wrong, Sylvia?” Lulu listened for a
moment, a look of panic suddenly appearing on her face. “We’ll be right there.”

“What?”
Noah asked. By the time he jumped to his feet, Lulu was halfway to the door.

“I
can’t get a word out of her. She says to just come up immediately.” Lulu jammed
her hand over the elevator up button. “It must be bad, Sylvia never panics.”

The
doors opened. Lulu raced inside, swiping her key card and reaching for the
penthouse button. When the doors finally slid open, she ran across the foyer
and through the open doors to find Sylvia waiting for her.

“Oh
my God, Lulu.” Sylvia hugged Lulu tightly.

“What
happened?”

“Mr.
Bennington received another threatening letter.”

Noah
ran into Wilder’s office. Lulu started to follow him but he turned with one
finger pointed at her.

“Stay.”
He turned toward the open doors to Bennington’s office.

 Bennington
paced back and forth, limping. He paused briefly to rub one knee. He looked up
at Noah’s entrance.

“What’s
going on?” Noah demanded.

He
picked up a magazine from his desk and held it up. Noah could see Lulu on the
cover with the target on her face. “This is what is going on.” Bennington
thrust the magazine at Noah.

Noah
took the magazine carefully into his hands. It fell open to an article on Lulu
and he saw a note tucked tightly inside the pages. With two fingers he
carefully drew the note out. A gun had been cut from another magazine aiming at
her. Across the top of the photo the words “
BAng, BanG, You’Re dEad”
were spelled out in bright red letters cut from some other magazine.

Noah
pulled his phone from his pocket and speed-dialed Harrison Bain. “I need you,
now.” Noah said into the phone. “I’m in Mr. Bennington’s office.” He hung up.

Lulu
walked in and peered at the note over Noah’s shoulder. “Really,” she said, “they
had to pick this photograph?”

“Dammit
Lulu,” her brother half yelled. Panic showed on his face. “I’m sick and
t-t-tired of –y-y-you t-t-taking— ” He ground his teeth together, his hands
clenched, frustration showing in his eyes.

Noah
didn’t know whether to be worried or dismayed at Bennington’s stuttering.

“Mr.
Callahan,” Lulu said calmly. “Would you give us a minute?” She took Noah by the
arm and led him to the door. As he stepped out, she closed it behind him. He
didn’t like being dismissed and it irritated him. But as a man, he knew
Bennington didn’t want to be seen showing such a flaw. No threat existed in the
office and he could let Lulu have her way, even though his job was to keep her
safe.

Sylvia
sat at her desk looking shocked.

“Where
did the envelope come from?” he asked the woman.

“It
was on my desk when I came back from my meeting.” She gestured at the cleared
space in front of her. “It was marked
Urgent
, so I took it directly into
Mr. Bennington.”

The
elevator opened and Harrison stepped out. “What’s going on?” Harrison had taken
on the job of viewing security tapes and he looked tired.

“We
need the Geek,” Noah said.

“On
it.” Harrison reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone and spoke
briefly. “The Geek will be here in about fifteen minutes. What’s going on?”

“Bennington
received another threat on Lulu. The envelope was just sitting on Sylvia’s desk
which tells me someone had access to this floor. We’re going to need all the
security tapes for the last half hour, and have the Geek pull the files on the
keycard pad in the elevator.”

Sylvia
picked up her phone. “I’ll get security to pull those files for you. Nobody
messes with my domain.”

Harrison
took the phone from her and hung it back up. “Someone was in your office that
didn’t belong which means someone possibly, including security, is
compromised.”

“Everyone
who works here loves the Benningtons.”

Noah
shook his head. “Someone doesn’t.”

She
pointed a finger at him, her mouth tight with anger. “You find that someone and
you make them pay.”

He
would. “Sylvia, how long have you worked here?”

“Forty
years next summer,” she replied.

“You
know where all the bodies are buried,” Harrison said with a coaxing smile.

She
blushed. “I’ve buried a few myself.”

“What
kind of enemies does Mr. Bennington have?” Noah asked.

“I
thought the threat was against Lulu,” Sylvia said, confusion in her eyes.

“I’m
thinking we may be going about this the wrong way.” Noah let the facts slide
around in his head trying to find a pattern.

“What
do you mean?” Sylvia tapped the top of her desk with a nervous finger.

“It’s
not unusual for people to target someone when what they really doing is
throwing off investigators while they get to the person they’re really after.”

Sylvia
frowned. “Do you mean that the real target could be Mr. Bennington?”

Harrison
nodded. “Anything is possible.”

Sylvia
ran her tongue across her lips.

Noah
wanted to reassure her. He knew she was worried and upset, but hiding it well. “Let’s
start at the beginning. Tell me about their parent’s murder.”

Sylvia
caught her bottom lip in her teeth while she stared at them deciding what to
say. “That was the most shocking thing. Mr. and Mrs. Bennington were the nicest
people. They had decided to go to France to Mrs. Bennington’s parents’ wine
estate in Burgundy. Of course they stayed at their house on the property. Mr.
Bennington was thinking about running for the Senate and he wanted to speak to
his father-in-law regarding his decision before he declared his intentions.”

Noah
leaned against her desk as Harrison jotted down notes into a notebook, his pen
flying across the paper.

“Go
on,” Noah coaxed.

Sylvia
covered her face. “It was such a tragedy. To this day, no one has been
arrested. Mr. Bennington was shot and Lulu towed him across the lake to their grandparent’s
house. Besides his wound, he was shot in the knee, they both got hypothermia. He
never got over having to leave his mother. For years he used to tell me he
could have saved her. Do you think there’s a connection? This happened over
twenty years ago.”

“Never
discount anything.”

Tears
overflowed and Sylvia dabbed at her eyes with a bunched up tissue she pulled
from the top drawer of her desk.

“What
were Bennington’s chances?”

“He
would have been a shoe-in. That man could charm anybody. Lulu is her father’s
daughter. He could have been president if that was what he wanted.”

“Are
there any old enemies still around that weren’t happy about the senior
Bennington’s decision?”

“I’m
sure there’s still a few. Senator Townsend was elected instead and he heads the
committee for the FCC. Wilder meets with him a few times a year. I remember him
as being overly attentive to Mrs. B., but she didn’t want anything to do with
him. She never looked at another man. She loved her husband so much. No matter
how Senator Townsend pestered her, she was polite and very firm. He did finally
give up.”

Noah
had heard rumors about Senator Townsend being something of a hound dog. “Tell
me about Gabrielle Bennington. What was she like? How did they meet?” Noah
urged.

“Classy,
kind, smart. She was a great wife and mother. It was so romantic,” Sylvia said
with a sigh. “Mr. B. had the job of keeping his sister Julia out of trouble in
Paris.”

“Why?”
Harrison asked, his pen flying across the page.

“Miss
Julia was a wild one. She made those Hilton sisters look like Sunday school
teachers. They went to Chanel for fashion week and he saw Miss Gabrielle being
fitted for a gown and that was it. Love at first sight. As soon as they could
get a proper wedding together, they were married. Ten months after that, Wilder
was born. Five years after that, came Lulu. They loved those two children so
much.”

The
elevator door opened and the Geek stepped out, blinking in the glare of the
lighting. Sylvia dabbed at her eyes and when she caught sight of the Geek her
mouth dropped open.

Every
time Noah saw Mark Desha, he wanted to search him. Mark was six feet three
inches of tattoos, long black hair and black leather. He was all Iroquois. His
grandfathers had built the Empire State building and half of the other high
rises in New York City.

“Boss
man,” Mark said. His voice was deep and smooth like aged bourbon. “Who do I
have to hack?”

Sylvia
closed her mouth.

“I
need you to hack Bennington security.”

“What?”
Sylvia gasped. “You can’t hack into our files! What about confidential
information? Stockholder information? Wilder’s buying a satellite.” She clapped
her hands over her mouth. “I wasn’t supposed to say that.”

“Wow!”
Mark said. “Wilder Bennington is going to buy his own satellite.”

“Doesn’t
everybody,” Harrison said, a cynical tone to his voice.

“Dudes.”
Mark pointed to the ceiling. “My fee just went up.”

Harrison
held up three fingers. “Three words, Desha. Statute. Of. Limitations.”

Noah
held a hand up. “Everybody, neutral corners. Mark, I need you to get a list of
people who’ve swiped their key cards in the elevator to get up to this floor.” He
smiled at Sylvia. “Sylvia, any confidential information we uncover will be kept
confidential. We work for you. Right now, what information we find is for the greater
good.”

“I
need a coffee break.” Sylvia stood. She swayed slightly, but caught herself
before straightening her back and marching across the foyer to a door behind
her.

“Thanks,
dude,” Mark sat at her desk and opened his laptop. “She needed to be talked
down.” He started typing and in seconds was engrossed in what he was doing,
leaving Noah staring at the closed door to Bennington’s office and wondering
what was going on inside.

Aiden
stood outside the private dressing room waiting for E.J. The stalls were
pristine white so they didn’t challenge the beauty of the clothing inhabiting
the displays on the store’s floor. Every time he walked into Bergdorf’s he
thought he was in fantasy land.

Now
he was here, in the Mecca of his youth, surrounded by round displays filled
with women’s clothes. The American Express felt like a hot rocket in his
pocket. He couldn’t resist a sigh. Shopping at Bergdorf’s was as good as it got
and helped keep the panic at bay. The fact that he hadn’t panicked too much yet
impressed him, but he could feel it hovering at the back of his mind because
Lulu was so important to him. He loved her, and wouldn’t know what to do
without her.

E.J.
opened the stall door and stepped out for his approval. The cognac colored
strapless leather dress was absolutely stunning. It caressed her body as though
made for it. Gucci looked perfect on E.J.’s small frame. She twirled around for
him, the skirt flaring, her arms toned to perfection and her breasts completely
unsupported.