Silver Fire (Guardians) (2 page)

Derek shrugged.

“My wife is pissed that she was left out of the German assignment against the arms dealer,” Jack shared.

“The Hamburg account?” Derek’s eyes widened. “She was looking forward to that.”

“Well, I wasn’t,” Jack retorted.
 

“Jack, you know you can’t make decisions for her regarding her job.”

“I know,” his friend admitted and then exhaled deeply. “But I’ve convinced Viktor that the Leroux account was more important.”

Derek straightened in his chair. “Leroux? As in Sophie Marie?”

“Is there anyone else?”

“I don’t get it.”

“Leroux put in a request to AGS for protection. AGS does not do bodyguard work in the real sense but only short-term protective custody.”

“Why would Dr. Leroux need protection?”

“She was assaulted in a parking lot last week.”

“
Jesus Christ
! I assume since she’s in our meeting today, she’s okay?”

“Apparently her assailant has shit-for-brains, attacking her after her kendo class; she had her kendo stick with her and somehow she disarmed the guy. He’s lucky it wasn’t her katana, otherwise he’d be missing a hand.”

Derek leaned back thoughtfully. He had done his research on Dr. Sophie Marie Leroux and knew she was an avid fan of the art of Japanese sword fighting. She had been on his mind for a few months now but given his way with women, he decided she was off-limits or he was just a fucking coward to do anything about his attraction to her. But this attempt on her life had just roused a protective instinct in him that was spurring him to quit being on the sidelines.

“So I told Maia it would promote goodwill between Silver Fire and MDI if she personally assessed Dr. Leroux’s security requirements. Even if AGS can’t do the job, she can act as a consultant and outsource it to their contractors.”

Derek shook his head and grinned. “You really are a manipulative bastard.”

***

Sophie thumbed through the results of her isotope enrichment experiment on a small sample of zefinium. The isotope levels were stable and the concentration of zefinium isotopes were optimal to produce the power required for a laser application.
 

“This is fantastic, Polly,” she told one of her two lab assistants. Polly Smith was a fresh grad out of MIT’s nuclear physics masters program; she was in the process of obtaining her Ph.D. “When Jan shows up later, please brief her on the latest results.” Jan Rivers, her other assistant, had been with her since the inception of Silver Fire Research three years before.

Polly nodded and turned her attention back to the lab computer to enter the results. Sophie sighed and walked back to her office, which was adjacent to the lab. She hadn’t thought it possible to meet someone more introverted than herself. She glanced at the safe on the far side of the office. Within its walls was her father’s research—ten years of work cut short by a lab explosion that had ended the life of Dr. Jean-Pierre Leroux and burdened his daughter with the blueprint for mass destruction.
 

Her phone buzzed.
 

“Hey, Beth.”

“So what’s up?” Beth Turner was to the point. She had to be, as a hard-nosed investigative reporter.

“What? No; how are you?”

“Baby girl, you left me a weird voice message, like you were crying. So. What. Is. Up?”

“I dreamt of Adam again. About the night they took him.”

Silence.

“Beth?”

“Oh Sophie.” Her friend’s voice lost its edge. “You haven’t dreamt about him for almost a year. You think it’s because of the attack on you last week?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. But I don’t see why.”

“Have you called Dr. Hunter?”
 

“What’s the point? I won’t let him hypnotize me to forget.”

“But you have to move on. First you retreated into your studies. Now it’s your research. Enough is enough, Sophie. You and David seemed to be making progress. He really likes you, but he said you stopped returning his calls.”

“I—”

“He told me,” Beth cut in. “He told me you freaked out when he, um, you guys got serious fooling around.”

“I keep seeing Adam—”

“Hell!” Beth swore. “If the man weren’t dead, I’d probably want to meet him just to see if he could turn me straight. Well, you definitely don’t want pussy. We tried. Remember?”

“Beth!” Sophie exclaimed, aghast. Her friend could be crude sometimes, and she did not need a reminder of that awkward moment in their friendship. She and Beth had been friends since her freshman year at MIT. Beth was a journalism major at Boston University and they had met at an off-campus house party. Beth got curious about the introverted geek from MIT and decided to make it her mission to pull Sophie out of her shell, starting by dragging her out to bars and other college functions. One day, when they were both slightly tipsy, Beth had kissed her. Although Sophie was curious and tried to respond, the experience left them more than embarrassed. Beth disappeared for several weeks, leaving Sophie despondent with the loss of their friendship. But her friend couldn’t stay away, and when she returned, the friends had a talk and agreed that nothing romantic could come out of their relationship. They had, however, forged a lasting bond.

“So are we going to beat around this dead bush?” Beth asked. “You need a man. By the way, Parker told me that the MDI boys are dropping by later.”

“Why would Stephen even mention our meeting? To you of all people. You know, you better not print any of that. The contract has not been signed yet.”

“Well you know how Parker is crushing on Lockwood and McCord. If I were straight, I would do them.”

Sophie couldn’t help giggling. “You’re hopeless. And I understand McCord is happily married.”
 

That reminded her of her meeting with Maia Pierce later this afternoon. She was shocked to find out that Jack McCord’s wife was not a marketing executive but a Guardian. Sophie had to sign a non-disclosure agreement necessary to protect Maia’s identity, which must be difficult to conceal considering that she had married a high-profile power player in Washington DC.

“Hey, where did you go?” Beth broke through her thoughts.

“What?”

“I was saying Derek Lockwood is quite a catch.”

“You mean I might catch something from him.”

Her friend burst out laughing. “Oh, Sophie. You need to live a little. If any of the rumors are true, he might just make you forget Adam.”

“Great, you just planted a disturbing picture of a naked Derek Lockwood in my head,” Sophie quipped. “Hey, I gotta go. I see Parker gesturing outside my office, I think they’re here.”

Sophie shook her head as she gathered her binder and stood up. Her steps faltered at the door, and she cursed Beth for suddenly making her self-conscious. She dropped her things back on her table, grabbed her vanity bag, and headed into the bathroom in her office. Her hair was already up, so no point in fixing that. She took out her compact and began to powder her face just enough to remove the shine from her nose and forehead. She dabbed some lipstick on and finished off with a spray of jasmine and sandalwood.

She looked at herself in the mirror. Wide silver-gray eyes stared back at her. They looked haunted. Haunted by the memory of a man who was dead. Who, according to everyone, had taken advantage of an innocent girl. She fingered the scars on her wrist. People didn’t know the real Adam, and no one ever would. He had been murdered while serving his prison sentence, and he was never coming back.

***

Derek was squirming in his chair, trying very hard not to stare at Dr. Leroux and failing miserably to concentrate on what Stephen Parker was saying about the latest results from an enrichment experiment. She had been a few minutes late to the meeting and as she swept through the room, her scent made his nostrils flare with some kind of primitive longing. She had the fantasy librarian look down pat; her hair, which was swept up in a messy knot, was the color of pale corn silk and her amazing gray eyes were seductively framed behind cat-eye shaped reading glasses. He could not help himself from picturing her on a desk, her long lean legs crossed while stretching the limits of a tight pencil skirt. He imagined himself walking up to her, ruthlessly uncrossing her legs, shoving her skirt up, spreading her thighs and—

Laurie kicked him under the table, and he glanced briefly at her scowling face. She was clearly telling him to pay attention; after all, he was the main liaison with their design engineers.

“—so based on MDI’s required application, we are very confident that you would be quite satisfied with our process for enriching zefinium,” Stephen Parker finished.

“Yes, the emission levels are more than sufficient to amplify and generate spurts of concentrated beams that can penetrate a half-foot depth of lead,” Jack replied. “I’m a bit concerned about the triggering device, how small can we make it?”

“I have tweaked my design considerably,” Sophie spoke up for the first time. “I’ve sent out my schematic to be cut-out by my manufacturer. I should have it in a few days. It should fit a typical rifle trigger housing.”

“Excellent,” Jack said as he shot Derek a pleased look.

Derek chanced a glance at Sophie and saw her openly observing him.
Interesting
. Could she be aware of him after all? She quickly averted her eyes as a blush stole up her cheeks.
 

Very interesting indeed
.

“I must say, you are quite brilliant, Dr. Leroux.” Derek tested his theory while flashing her his most charming smile when she returned her gaze to him. “A rare find. Beauty and brains. Your boyfriend is a lucky man.”

Sophie turned from pink to red.

Stephen Parker almost swooned but caught himself before he behaved unprofessionally. Instead he spoke rapidly: “Shedoesn’thaveaboyfriend.” And coughed behind a folder.

Jack leaned into his friend and whispered, “What the hell are you up to?”

Derek did not answer. Fortunately, Laurie, being the perfect assistant she was, distracted everyone by handing out copies of the contract. “Mr. Parker, Dr. Leroux, I believe you all have read the contract. There were no additions or deletions, but you are welcome to peruse it again.”

“We’re satisfied with the agreement,” Sophie replied and flipped through the pages of the original contract that bore the signature sticker and quickly signed and dated the documents. She stood up and looked at her watch. “Gentlemen, Ms. Stone. On behalf of Silver Fire Research, we welcome the opportunity to work with your company.” Sophie bowed her head courteously and walked out the door.

Stephen Parker was smiling as he leveled his stare at Derek. “You flustered poor Sophie.” He signed his part of the document before handing it back to Laurie who passed it over to Derek.
 

“That wasn’t my intention,” Derek replied with a frown. He felt a tad guilty when it appeared that Sophie couldn’t get out of the room fast enough. Either he affected her the same way he was by her, or she was just socially awkward in handling non-business-related interactions. And he couldn’t reconcile the glorious blonde hair, beautiful face, and willowy body with a mind that could calculate half-lives and radioactive decay.
 

“My ass,” Jack muttered.

“Gentlemen,” Laurie admonished. Derek chuckled at Laurie’s attempt to curb Jack’s cursing. Cursing and the military way of life went together. Jack and Derek had that habit in spades, particularly when they were riled or dealing with the DoD and when there were no suits from Washington DC around.

“You need to show her a good time,” Stephen told Derek. Obviously, the formal part of the meeting was over.

“You do realize you’re pimping out your boss,” Derek said, his brow arching.

Stephen grinned and then shrugged. “I’m just having fun teasing both of you. She’d never agree to go out with you. Otherwise I wouldn’t have suggested it.”

Was Parker daring him? He, Derek Lockwood, who had no problem getting any woman in his bed? Jack noticed the gleam in his friend’s eyes and shook his head. Too late. The gauntlet had been cast.

***

“Don’t do it, Lockwood,” Jack said sternly. They had dropped Laurie off at the MDI headquarters before driving out to their manufacturing plant located on the outskirts of New Park City.

“That’s unfair, don’t you think,” Derek fired back irritably. “You didn’t let anybody naysay you when you pursued Maia.”

“Silver Fire Research is our business partner. The last thing we want is you screwing around with their CEO.”

“That’s harsh. What if I told you this time it was different.”

Jack snickered. “Are you serious?”

Derek bristled inwardly. He didn’t know why Jack’s response annoyed the hell out of him because it was not unusual for them to rib each other about their sexual activities. It was probably because Derek knew his friend was right, that it smacked of unprofessionalism and intrigue and that was the last thing MDI needed when they had just sunk a 250 million dollar investment in the research lab.

“You’re right,” Derek conceded. “Dr. Leroux looks too uptight for the relationships I’m used to.”

“Or the non-relationships,” Jack added.

“Look, you’ve made your point,” Derek said through grit teeth. “So get the fuck off my case. Not everyone can have what you and Maia have. So stop rubbing my nose in it—OK?”

Derek stiffened when his friend flicked him a worried glance. They rode in tense silence for a while; Derek started tapping his fingers on the side of the car door. He was happy for his friends, but he definitely doubted the choices he had made. What if he had taken a chance with Maia, would he be in Jack’s sickeningly blissful place right now? He quickly banished the thought. Jack would beat the shit out of him if he knew what he was thinking. Besides, he stopped looking at Maia lasciviously the moment he realized how much he valued her friendship. Now Sophie Leroux though, was a different experience—different but not enough for him to give up his harem, as Maia called them.

Derek kept three women in rotation each week (or month if they were good)—all non-exclusive. One or two would show up at his place when he called them, they fucked and then they left. No sleepovers, no dates. He’d not had a girlfriend since high school; he had women.