Silver Fire (Guardians) (10 page)

“What do you mean she went into an air-conditioning duct with Braden?”

Yep. Not. Good
.

“Have her call me back immediately.” Jack ended the call tersely.

“Maia’s at Silver Fire Research?” Derek asked tentatively.

“Yes. And she’s off somewhere with Connelly checking on some damned ventilation ducts.”

“Maybe they’re assessing the security of the access panels.”

“I know. But you know what that means right?” Jack pointed out.

Yes, he did. Connelly would have to give Maia a shoulder-up in a most intimate fashion and if they were crawling around in air ducts and she was ahead of him? He would be staring right at her ass.

There went his friend’s morning.
 
Jack was a mostly pragmatic person. If they didn’t get a contract, he shrugged it off. If they suffered a setback in production, he handled it with extreme cool. But matters concerning his wife, there was nothing pragmatic about him. He acted and reacted with passion. And right now he was seething.

Their food arrived and Derek noticed how after each bite, his friend would look at his phone, so when it finally buzzed, he answered it immediately.

“Babe.” Yes, he was still pissed.

“What was up with the air duct?...Laser security malfunction?...Why couldn’t he have taken Thalia with him and was it even an AGS problem, it sounded like Divergent’s problem...So was it tampered with?...No? So Connelly copped a feel for no good reason and...Maia? Babe? Goddamn it!”

Jack hit redial. Pre-Sophie Leroux, Derek would be amused by the whole exchange, but now he had an idea of what Jack was feeling: possessiveness and jealousy could make an otherwise sensible man act irrationally.

“Babe, I was out of line, but you know damn well I don’t want you around him...Look. I’m sorry—OK?...How did it go with Viktor? A new lead?” His eyes cut to Derek. “So you guys believe it’s a terrorist group?...Interesting...How long are you staying there?” Jack had not liked Maia’s answer judging by his deepening frown, but he was keeping his mouth in check. “OK, I’ll see you tonight.”

“Don’t do it man,” Derek said after his friend ended the call.
 

“What?”

“Tell me that right this moment, you are not thinking about abandoning all your appointments and driving out to Silver Fire Research.”

“I was.” His friend scowled at him. “I realized I’m overreacting. However, Viktor shipping Connelly out of the country couldn’t come soon enough.”

***

Maia shook her head as she ended the call with Jack. Her husband was behaving unreasonably jealous toward Braden. Silly man. Braden wasn’t even her type. She liked her men dark-haired and swarthy like a pirate. Braden was all golden-haired, all-American college frat boy and he was younger than her.

“Everything all right?” Braden asked, his blue eyes boring into her. Maia stiffened. OK—what was that look? Damn her husband for making her feel self-conscious.
 

“Yes,
 
Jack’s a bit peeved that I didn’t tell him I was coming here,” Maia replied, a little too brightly.
 

“He likes to keep you on a tight leash,” Braden replied curtly.

Maia frowned. Come to think of it, Braden had made similar comments in the past. She had dismissed it as a colleague commiserating with her, but now she wasn’t too sure.

“I’m going to see Sophie,” she told Braden.

“Can I come with you?”

“Of course you can,” Maia said. “Thalia. Braden and I will be heading to the lab.”

The female Guardian nodded and waved them off. She was busy chatting with Stephen, who could be really entertaining.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Braden said softly.

“Hmm?”

“The fire.”

“Oh, yeah. Me too.”

“You’re kind of a legend, you know that? Everyone says you’re like a cat with nine lives.”

Maia shook her head and laughed. “Derek, damn him, started that rumor. You know how that guy loves to embellish.”

“I don’t, actually. I don’t know him that well.”

Maia angled her eyes at the incredibly tall Guardian. Braden did not like Derek all right.
 

She stopped walking and stared straight up Braden’s 6’5”. “Derek is one of my closest friends, Braden. I can tell he’s not your favorite person. I hope it has nothing to do with Sophie. Are you interested in her too?”

Braden’s eyes widened. “No, of course not.”

“So is there another reason?”

Braden stared at Maia for a beat then shook his head. “I’ll try to be better around him.”

They continued walking in silence until they reached the laboratory. A silver flash of light illuminated a huge staging area that was encased in eighteen-inches of compressed glass. The silver flame that engulfed a rock the size of a marble mesmerized Maia. Was this the zefinium? When Sophie removed her protective glasses, she looked over to them, grinned and held up two fingers—two minutes. The blonde scientist scooted over to her computer and entered some numbers while barking out some instructions to her assistants. She exited through the lab’s automatic sliding doors.

“Great to see you, Maia!” Sophie exclaimed and hugged her. They exchanged a bit of small talk before heading into her office. “What can I do for you?”

“Viktor and I are working a certain angle regarding your case and Derek informed me that you had a meeting with Christopher Blackstone,” Maia said.

“I did, but I don’t think he’s responsible for the attack at my house.”

“Maybe not directly.”

Maia told Sophie about Victor’s theory.

“That’s pretty far-fetched but not unreasonable,” Sophie said slowly. “What do you need me to do?”

“Do you have the list of security companies that work for Blackstone?”

“No. But I can ask Beth to send it to you.”

“That’ll be fantastic. Just email it to our datacenter to Tim’s attention.”

The intercom to Sophie’s office beeped.

“Sweetie, there’s a report from Divergent management of a hacking attempt on their computers, they’re advising us to shutdown our research computers,” Stephen said.

Sophie cursed. “Damn, I need to head out to the lab and shut it from there.”

“Braden, you’ve got computer forensic experience, right?” Maia asked.

“Yes, I do.”

“Sophie, can he use your computer to try and trace the hacker?”

“Fantastic idea, I’ll open a secure socket for him.”

Half an hour later, Braden couldn’t detect anything that may have compromised Silver Fire’s research computers. “There’s no malicious breach into their systems. The threat is confined to Divergent Research Zone’s management computers.”

Maia was sitting on the edge of the desk, leaning sideways and looking intently at the screen. Braden was sitting on the chair facing the computer. “What’s that blip over there?” She squinted her eyes and looked closer. She heard Braden’s breathing rhythm change and tilted her head to look at him. “You okay?”

“No.” He whispered and grabbed the back of her neck, pulling her toward him, fastening his lips on hers. Maia fell into his lap. Braden was built like a linebacker and his strong muscular arms held her in place. The palm of one hand keeping her head from pulling away, the other arm keeping her immobile against his body. She was too stunned by what had just happened and Braden kissed her for a beat. She tried shoving him away, but her arms were wedged tightly between them, Braden’s viselike grip almost crushing her. Finally, she turned her head to wrench her lips free. Braden buried his face in her hair, inhaling deeply. His lips trailed down her neck, he was breathing heavily.

“Let me go, Braden,” Maia said icily.
 

“I love you.”

“Let—Me—Go.”

Braden sighed and loosened his arms. Maia shot out, spun around and punched Braden in the face.

Shaking her hand, Maia glared at him. “What the hell?”

“I just told you. I love you.” Braden’s face was unapologetically stony.

“Are you insane? I’m married! I just got married!”

“Your husband doesn’t deserve you.”

“Don’t make me punch you again, Braden. I may have griped to you about Jack, but that’s what married couples do. We drive each other crazy. I am deeply in love with him.”

Braden’s face darkened, he stood up and tried to pull her to him.

Maia evaded his reach, ready to scream in frustration. “Don’t! You are a great agent. Please do not throw it all away on some misconception that you are in love with me. You hear me?”

“I’m not giving up,” Braden said and stalked out of the office.

***

What do I do? What do I do?
Sophie thought frantically, pacing back and forth in her lab. She couldn’t believe her eyes when she walked back to her office. Maia was kissing Braden. She was on his lap and kissing him. How messed up was that? Didn’t she just marry Jack? Jack McCord was one of the most gorgeous men she had ever seen—well—there was Derek, but still.
 

Stephen walked up to her, phone in hand. “Derek wants to talk to you.”

“What? Not now!”

“Um, it’s not on hold.”

“Shit!” Sophie inhaled deeply before saying, “Hello.”

“Angel, are you okay?” Derek’s concerned voice came over the phone.

“Yes.”

“I hear there was a computer breach in your area.”

“It didn’t affect us.”

Silence.

“Sophie, you’re acting strangely,” Derek remarked. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t tell you,” Sophie whispered.

“Ah, now Angel, you’ll have to tell me because I’m not letting up.”

Sophie moved to the far corner of the lab, Stephen staring at her intently, probably noticing her erratic behavior.

“Promise not to mention anything to Jack?”

“Something wrong with the trigger design?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Well, what are you talking about?”

Sophie felt a deluge of words struggling to burst from her throat, but she was weighing the consequences. If she told Derek then it would be on his conscience whether to tell Jack or not. Not on her. Yes, that was better. Besides, he was Jack’s best friend.

“Sophie.”

“I caught Maia and Braden kissing in my office, OK?”

Silence.

“Derek?”

Silence.

“Derek!”

“Fuck! Are you sure?”

“Yes! Are you telling
 
Jack?”

“Hell no! I have no desire to see my friend waste away in prison.”

Silence.

“Derek?”

“I’ll handle it, Angel. Don’t tell anyone else.”

***

Derek sat back in his chair in his office. He was staring out the window at the New Park City skyline, rubbing his phone under his chin and figuring out how to handle the information Sophie had told him. He had no doubt in his mind that Maia was not complicit with what Sophie had witnessed. Which would mean Braden Connelly had made his move. That made Derek want to string the guy up by his balls and do everyone a favor. Nevertheless, he was getting to the bottom of this. He punched Maia’s number.

“Hey, Derek.”

“Something you want to tell me?”

“Damn.”

“What happened?”

“Who saw us?”

“Sophie.”

Maia sighed and told Derek what had transpired. Maia was a bit in a panic when she ended her story with Connelly’s declaration of not giving up. Derek knew her panic was in no way related to her capability in deflecting Connelly’s advances but was more related to what Jack would do if he found out. Derek himself was ready to have an aneurysm.

“That rat bastard! You know Jack is going to blow a gasket if he finds out about this, right?”

“Why will I blow a gasket?” a voice spoke behind Derek. “Who are you talking to?”

“I’ll call you back, Dan, I’ll explain it to him,” Derek said quickly, hearing Maia groan at the end of the other line.
Think quick, Lockwood
. Swiveling on his chair, he faced Jack who was staring at him quizzically. “Dan said there was a backorder on some of the parts for the MD-Bandit drone.”

“Huh,” Jack said, his hands resting on his hips as he looked down at his feet, his head slightly bent. After a few beats, Jack lifted his head and cracked his neck from side to side before saying, “Funny, that I just got off the phone with Dan, and he said everything was on track.”

Fuck!

“Who was on the phone, Derek?” Jack asked softly, his eyes glittering with mounting anger.

Derek exhaled deeply and stood up slowly, holding out a placating hand while eyeing Jack warily. “She has everything under control. No need to get involved. She is handling it.”

“That was Maia, wasn’t it? That asshole Connelly did something, didn’t he?” Jack demanded. When Derek didn’t answer, his friend spun around and stalked to the door. Derek leaped quickly to block the exit.

“Move.” Jack’s voice was calm.

“Jack, Maia slugged him in the face—OK? Her message was clear.”

“What did he do?”

Derek hesitated.

“What did he do?” Jack thundered.

“He kissed her.”

Derek watched the fury vanish from his friend’s face only to be replaced by a stoic mask. This was worse. This was the mask of someone premeditating a kill—like assassins or snipers.

“He’s a dead man,” Jack said quietly and tried to sidestep his friend, but Derek wouldn’t let him leave. “Get out of the way.” His voice, monotone and eerily calm.

“You have to think this through rationally. You want to kill the guy, but do you think Maia wants to visit you in state penitentiary for the next twenty years?”

Jack glared at him, the mask cracking. “I’ll just teach him a lesson.”

“You need to calm down.”

“Calm down? If some asshole was making a move on Sophie, would you be calm?”
 

That was true. Men are such hypocrites.

“I’m going with you.”

***

Sophie was agitated. Derek had texted her that he and Jack were on their way. Earlier, he had requested a visitor’s clearance to the Divergent Research Zone which Sophie had approved and sent back immediately. Apparently,
 
Jack had overheard Derek’s conversation with Maia. Braden was here, but Maia had left twenty minutes ago. Braden was stomping around in a foul mood. Did he really think Maia was going to give up the hotness that was Jack McCord for him? Braden was undoubtedly good-looking, but the devastating attractiveness of the MDI men stemmed from worldly experience, Braden had a decade or so to mature. Wait. Did she just include Derek in the devastatingly attractive category? Sophie sighed. Yes, she did.