Knock Out (A Reynolds Security Novel) Page 11

  “That reminds me. I had a bit of an altercation with some loser in a restaurant. What is the tolerance level for what should be reported?”

  “Report everything. Your coordinator will sort it out.”

  “Okay.”

  “Didn’t they tell you that in training?”

  “Yeah, I was just testing you,” she laughed and heard him growl.

  “Woman. Don’t mess with me.”

  “Or what?”

  “This time of night, I could be there in an hour.”

  “Ooo is that a promise?”

  “You are so lucky you’re working right now,” he grumbled.

  “You are all talk,” Lou laughed. “I gotta go. Candace has to be in makeup by five for this show. Really who is up watching good morning San Francisco at seven am anyway?”

  “The target demographic for her upcoming movie apparently.”

  “Apparently.”

  “Night Darlin’.”

  “Night.”

  Candace was quiet in the morning, not the chatty girl she had been the day before. They rode to the studio in a limo that had been provided by the production company of the movie she was promoting.

  “Are you alright?” Lou asked watching the woman stare out the window.

  “Yeah, I was just thinking about this guy that I had a few classes with in college.”

  “The one that got away?”

  “Maybe I guess. There was never anything between us but I liked him. He was really shy. I kept waiting for him to make a move. He never did. Then I transferred and I never saw him again. I heard he was working in a cosmetics research facility, that he was married with kids now.”

  “Okay.”

  “I just think it’s interesting you know. How every choice we make can affect our lives. If I’d had the guts to ask him out maybe I never would have left. Maybe I would be working in some research field and be married with kids.”

  “Probably wouldn’t pay as well.”

  “No probably not.”

  “Maybe you’d be driving the kids to soccer practice and he’d be sleeping with his research assistant.”

  “Maybe he’d be fat and bald.” Candace giggled.

  “With a comb over.” Lou added and they both laughed.

  “You sure know how to cheer a girl up.” Candace grinned.

  “You can’t second guess what is done. You can only move forward. Make choices now. I’ll bet ten bucks there is some production assistant that is way too scared to ask you out.”

  “No doubt,” she laughed. “There is this one guy, don’t laugh.”

  “Never.”

  “He works at the library. I like to go there and read because no one ever recognizes me. He… well it’s hard to explain but he always seems to know which books I’ll like. Either we have the same taste or he’s been paying attention.”

  “Well there you go. Ask him out.”

  “Maybe I will.” Candace sighed.

  “What about you? Are you involved?”

  “Um well it’s complicated. We’re just… casual.”

  “Oh Lou please tell me you are not pinning for some guy who just wants to get together for a quickie every now and then.”

  “Not exactly.” Lou bit her lip.

  “What exactly?”

  “It’s kind of me that just wants to get together for sex. At least I thought that’s what I wanted.”

  “Change your mind have you?”

  “Yes, well no, I don’t know.” Lou groaned.

  “He is… perfect. Too perfect. I have a terrible track record with men. My last real relationship ended when he got my best friend pregnant.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Yeah. Add to that I have some issues of my own and well… I just don’t think I am emotionally ready for a relationship.”

  “Hey you never know till you try.” The limo stopped and they got out, saving Lou from having to respond.

  Chapter 16

  As soon as Candace was on her way back to the airport Lou headed straight for Jace’s house. She missed him and she thought maybe she was ready to admit that what she felt for him was more than casual. Of course if they were going to have a relationship for real she was going to have to come clean about her history and that was probably the scariest part of all of it.

  The lights were on in Jace’s house but there was also a red Camaro parked in the driveway. Lou felt her stomach fill with sick dread. She edged around the side of the house until she could see into the kitchen at the back of the house. There was a blond woman with a glass of red wine in her hand. She was gesturing wildly with her other hand. Jace was laughing with her while he cooked. Obviously cooking women dinner was a move he used often. She couldn’t hear what they were saying but as she watched she could tell the woman was comfortable with him and his kitchen. She pulled plates out of the cabinet and set the table like she had done it a hundred times before. Before they sat down he reached out and pulled the woman against his chest. Lou turned away quickly. She definitely didn’t want that image in her head. She quickly retraced her steps back to her car. The weight crushing her chest was almost unbearable but she wasn’t going to break down. She was stronger than that. Besides he wasn’t cheating on her right? They were casual. She drove through town without a destination. Finally she got out and walked. Her mind was a jumble of painful memories both new and old.

  She had told Jace she wanted to be casual, no strings sex. She had to admit that they had never agreed to be exclusive. Somewhere along the line she had just assumed they were. That was stupid. Jace was free to sleep with anyone he wanted to. So was she. It would serve him right if she went to some club and slept with the first guy who hit on her. The problem was at the moment she didn’t know where she was. Or where she had left her car. She took out her phone and looked at it. She really had no one. To call someone at three am required a certain level of friendship. She hadn’t had that in a long time. Really she had probably never had it. Had the situation been different she would have called Jace but she obviously couldn’t do that. She chose Colby’s number instead.

  “Please tell me you are calling because you need someone to bail you out of jail.”

  “I wish.”

  “What’s up girl?”

  “Don’t laugh but I am lost. I am not sure where I left my car and the street car isn’t working and I don’t know how to get back home.”

  “Easy, look around, do you see an intersection?”

  “Yes. It is Wilshire and Murray.”

  “Okay, I think I know where that is. Just sit tight.”

  “Where am I gonna go?” She mumbled as she hung up the phone.

  It took Colby about fifteen minutes to get there. He didn’t ask her a bunch of questions he just opened the door and she climbed in.

  “You want to go home?” The idea of going back to her apartment in her current state of mind without Cooper was more than she wanted to contemplate. She just shook her head. “Do you have any idea where you left your car?”

  “Um there was a Starbucks.”

  “Wow that really doesn’t narrow it down.” They lapsed into silence as again. Thankfully Colby didn’t ask any questions he just drove.

  He took her back to his apartment and sat her down on the sofa. Her body felt numb, almost as if she were having some weird out of body experience.

  “Are you alright? I mean did something happen? Should I take you to a hospital or a police station?”

  “Nothing happened. I just… I can’t talk about it right now.”

  “You’d tell me though right?” he said seriously, “Uncle Sam taught me a lot of ways to kill a man, and I know how to make it look like an accident.” She smiled and something in her broke loose. One tear ran down her cheek followed rapidly by another, then another. Soon she was sobbing and Colby had wrapped his arms around her. It felt good to be held which only made her cry more. Colby, God bless him, didn’t ask any more questions. He just held her tight and she cried as i
f she had tapped into an inner well of pain she’d been accumulating her entire life. Finally she fell into an exhausted sleep. Unfortunately, it was short lived. She had a nightmare that caused her to come up swinging. It took her a moment to orient herself and realize that she was still in Colby’s living room. He was staring at her wide eyed from the kitchen.

  “Coffee?” He held the cup out to her. She sighed and sank back onto the sofa.

  “God, I am such a freak.” she moaned. She hadn’t had the nightmare in a month. Stupidly she’d thought she might be rid of it. She wasn’t. She would never be rid of it. She was just kidding herself thinking that she could have a relationship. That she could be normal.

  “You want to call in? Tell them you need a day to recoup from your assignment?” She was torn. It was tempting to call in just to avoid the possibility of seeing Jace, but she really needed something to take her mind off everything.

  Jace was watching. He saw as soon as her image crossed the first monitor and he couldn’t help but smile. “There’s our girl.” he said to Cooper who was lying nearby. “She looks good. Do you think we should go say hello?" Cooper's tail thumped twice on the floor. "Maybe we should wait for her to come to us. I mean it's a little desperate if we both go running down there right? Although, you could probably get away with it." Jace was just about to give up the internal dialog and go find her when his phone rang.

  "We have an interesting Situation. Can you come over here a minute?" Ethan's voice was sure and calm but the cryptic message had him wondering. Ethan's office was in the opposite corner of the building but it was a pretty short walk. Cooper trotted along beside him. He waved at Norma and she gestured him in.

  As soon as he sat down Ethan slid a color photograph across the desk to him. It looked like the insurance photograph of an expensive diamond necklace and it was most definitely the necklace Lou had worn at the party.

  "What's this? Is there another event?"

  "It's been stolen." Jace looked up in surprise. "Viktor Castillo just called. It was stolen sometime last night. He hasn't called the police. He suspects an inside job. He would like us to locate it for him."

  "That's ridiculous we are not a detective agency."

  "That's what I told him. He leveled with me that the last time was not a setup. The man we apprehended was one if his security people but he had not been instructed to try to steal the necklace. He gave Viktor the story that he was insulted that outside security people had been brought in. He tried to steal the necklace to make us look incompetent. Unfortunately, for him it had the opposite effect."

  "So what's the problem? It seems open and shut."

  "The problem is he sent the man home after the last incident. So he doesn't know who else he was working with. He suspects at least one woman. He said they caught a glimpse of her on a security tape but couldn't see her face."

  "Why doesn't he just call the police?"

  "He doesn't want the press. No way this plays good for him. Either he has bad judgment, bad people or bad security. Plus once they find it, the necklace will be tied up in evidence until there is a conviction. He already has a buyer lined up at the end of this promotional tour. I'm sure that's another reason. He doesn't want the buyer to know the necklace was stolen.” Jace sighed and rubbed his hands over his face.

  "He wants this done as soon as possible. Not only is he paying a premium for the service but he is paying a sliding scale bonus for amount of time it takes to find it." Jace looked at the figures Ethan handed him and he felt his eyes bulge. This one job could cover their operating costs for the next year.

  "He pays the fee up front?"

  "Fee upfront bonus on delivery of the necklace."

  "If we can't find it?"

  "If we don't find it within the week he's laid out in the bonus schedule he will call in the police. The fee is non refundable."

  "Damn, I guess we're in the diamond recovery business."

  When Jace returned to his office he went about trying to secure a team. He wanted all the same people from the original job but he learned pretty quickly that several of them were booked. Lou and Colby were two that were booked. They had been key people the first time around. Now he wondered if he could do this without them.

  He had all of the available people called in. There were four. He took over a conference room and briefed them. They spent the afternoon strategizing. He was surprised when he looked up and saw that the day was over. He still hadn't seen Lou. He needed to see her if only to return her dog.

  Lou saw him when he stepped off the elevator. He looked just as good as always and she wanted to hurl her stapler at his head for it. Cooper greeted her with the low key excitement he always showed in the form of high speed tail wagging. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his furry neck. She really had missed him.

  "Hey welcome back. How was your trip?"

  "It went very well thank you. Thank you for keeping Cooper."

  "No problem we're buds."

  She didn't know what else to say. She was trying to hold back her hurt and anger. She knew she didn't have a right to it. She gave up the right to be proprietary and jealous when she said no strings. She just had to keep reminding herself of that fact.

  "It's been a very interesting day. You want to go grab some food and I'll fill you in?"

  "No thank you. I have plans."

  "All right, later then?" A booty call. Exactly how she'd wanted it and now the idea made her sick.

  "No. No food, no quickie, no sparing. I think I'll just stick to a working relationship from now on." Jace's eye brows shot up and she knew he was surprised.

  "There is nothing quick about what we do." She felt her cheeks warm. She knew she was blushing and it pissed her off.

  "Lou, you ready to go car hunting?" She recognized Colby's voice so she didn't turn.

  "Yeah, we're done here." She looked pointedly into Jace's eyes before she turned away. Jace watched her walk away feeling stunned and a little raw. He went back to his office and sat behind his desk wondering what the hell had just happened. He had talked to her every night she was gone. She was always happy and joking. He hadn’t talked to her last night but he assumed she was driving and didn’t get in until late. He couldn’t figure out what had happened to make her decide she didn’t want anything to do with him. She didn’t even want to spar with him anymore? He had to have done something. He had been around enough women to know when he had pissed one off. Unfortunately, he didn’t think an eternity would be enough to educate him on all the things he could do to piss a woman off.

  He tried to concentrate on work but it was very difficult. He was so grateful when the phone rang that he answered it on the first ring.

  Chapter 17

  “There are thirty four Starbucks in Edgepark and its suburbs. You didn’t head into the city did you?”

  “No.”

  “Well I think we start where I picked you up and work out from there. I am thinking we go south to start.”

  “Sounds like a good plan.”

  “How long do you think you were walking?”

  “Three or four hours.” She shrugged. His head snapped up to look at her.

  “Damn girl, you can cover a lot of ground in that time.”

  “I know.” She sighed.

  “Want me to kick his ass?” he said softly, “Boss or not it would be my pleasure.”

  “Thanks Colby. I mean it. But it wasn’t his fault, none of it.”

  The Starbucks tour was frustratingly fruitless. “I can’t believe there are so many Starbucks in this town.” Lou grumbled as she stomped up the stairs to her apartment. “I can’t believe I lost my car, I am such an airhead.”

  “You’re not an airhead. It happens to the best of us.”

  “Really, you have lost your car?”

  “Yeah, did you ever see that movie Dude, Where’s my Car? It was an episode kind of like that.”

  “Really? Does your tattoo say Dude or Sweet?”


  “My tattoo doesn’t say anything but I’ll show it to you if you’re really good.” Colby grinned and she laughed.

  “Why do you flirt with me? I’m not even the right gender.”

  “I flirt with anyone I like. Gender has nothing to do with it.” She was about to make a crude comment when Cooper emitted a low growl that caused her to freeze in her tracks. Colby pulled a .45 from a shoulder holster and stepped in front of her. He tried the handle of her door but it was still locked. He put his hand out to her in silent request for her keys.

  Lou was frozen paralyzed with fear, afraid of her own apartment. It was as if the last year and a half hadn’t passed. She felt like she had when she’d gone back to her apartment after the attack. She hadn’t been able to go in. After trying several times she had gone to a shelter and felt safer there than in her own home on base. Colby nudged her gently and she finally snapped back to the present. She gave him her keys and he unlocked the door. Cooper entered first. He went through the apartment and straight to her bedroom closet. The closet door was open but Colby swept it gun raised anyway. Cooper stood on his hind legs his nose raised toward the shelf in the top of the closet. Then he sat down and whined. Lou and Colby looked at each other.

  “If it is a mouse I am going to be so pissed.” She said in a stage whisper. She reached up and lifted the lone shoebox off the shelf. She held her breath as she lifted the lid. She saw the evil heels that made her feet ache just to look at them but underneath there was a sparkle that hadn’t been there before. She lifted the shoes and gasped. In the bottom of the shoebox was the diamond necklace that she had worn at the jewelry exhibit along with The Heart of Africa. The enormous diamond that had been around Elena’s neck the night of the party.

  “Oh boy, somehow I don’t think these were meant to be gifts.” she whispered again.

  “If they were, you gotta tell me your secret.” She carried the box over to the bed afraid to touch the jewels.

  “What do I do? Do I call the police?”

  “And tell them you just happened to find millions of dollars in diamonds in your closet? I am standing here and I don’t believe it.”