Complicated Creatures: Part Two Page 14

  “But Samantha knew. She specializes in kidnap and ransom; she’s probably got the Who’s Who of terrorists memorized like a baseball roster,” Jack pointed out. “She knew Jaime should be nowhere near him. What else do I not know?”

  “The seed money for Gupta’s business was provided by a couple of notable terrorists,” his father told him. “As recompense, they had Gupta develop a communication technology for underground Islamist groups to use under the guise of social networking many years ago,” Sandro explained.

  “And what happened?”

  “All signs indicate that Gupta was trying to sever ties with these groups. Sentient had become globally renowned, and Gupta didn’t need them anymore. According to the CIA debriefing, no signs indicated he was religious or even overtly political. They think he began demonstrating resistance by making some fundamental changes to the program that prevented certain sects from reaching each other.”

  “So he was assassinated by these groups or by the person who initially funded him to set it up in the first place?” Jack asked, pacing the room.

  “We’re not certain of that yet. We just had the debrief. The CIA and NSA are still investigating.” His father paused. Jack tensed, sensing a hammer about to be dropped.

  “Dad—what?”

  “There’s something else that came up,” Sandro admitted. “Something I think you’ll want to know.”

  “It’s about Samantha, isn’t it?” Jack stopped pacing, fingers tightening on the phone in anticipation. “Everything in my world seems to revolve around this woman,” he muttered as he cupped the back of his neck.

  And I’m just starting to realize what a fucking tragedy it is that she’s left my life just as quickly as she entered it, he realized. She was trying to save my brother from this. She was trying to prevent this…

  “The man we suspect gave Gupta the seed money to begin this network is named Ibrahim Nazar. I can’t give you more information about him, but what I will tell you is that he’s the man behind Sam’s attempted kidnapping in Brazil,” his father told him in a low voice.

  “What?” Jack’s eyes widened. “How?”

  “I can’t tell you that, Gianni,” his father replied, exasperated. “This is highly classified—”

  “You’ve already broken numerous protocols telling me what you have already, Dad,” Jack pointed out. “What are a few more infractions at this point?”

  “I’m only telling you things directly related to the safety of your brother and the woman who could possibly become your wife one day,” Sandro defended.

  “Not if she doesn’t take me back,” Jack said under his breath, pacing again.

  “It’s temporary, Gianni,” his father continued. “Two people don’t look at each other like you both do and not find each other in the same orbit. Vento, tempo, donne e fortuna—prima voltano e poi tornano, come la luna.20 Mark my words.”

  Jack came to a halt. “I thought you were against this.”

  “I’m for you,” his father replied. “Jaime tells me you’ve been a miserable wreck since you got back. If being with Samantha will make you happy, then that’s what I want for you. But I know one thing is for certain: Whether or not you two end up together, you will resent me the rest of your life if I don’t tell you who was behind what almost happened to her in Brazil.”

  “Why does this man Nazar want her?”

  “I can’t tell you why,” Sandro replied. “But I can tell you that Lennox Chase has just been hired on as security subcontractors in Afghanistan, and I know for a fact that Samantha has every intention of hunting that man down on his home turf.”

  Jack nearly dropped the phone. “Dad, what are you talking about—?”

  “The woman you love is getting ready to kill or be killed, Gianni,” his father stated seriously. “I’d say you need to figure out where you stand; because there’s a very good chance you will never see her again.”

  *

  December 10th—Afternoon

  Sam’s Office in The Loop, Chicago

  S A M A N T H A

  Bright sunlight slanted in through the windows of the Lennox Chase offices in downtown Chicago, lighting up the long hallway as Samantha left the Board of Directors meeting. Her brows shot up in surprise as Marvin stood from behind his desk to greet her just outside her office, his smile bright.

  “Shouldn’t you be in Texas?” she drawled, crossing her arms in front of his desk.

  “And leave you to deal with those piranhas on your own?” Marvin replied as he gestured toward the boardroom. “Never.”

  Sam shook her head, passing him into her office. “Carey sent you, didn’t he?”

  “You’ve known me long enough to know that no one sends me anywhere I don’t want to be,” Marvin remarked, following her. Shutting the door behind him, he turned to her. “I’ve had the office, your house, and your car swept for bugs, and we’ve set up extra security, so everything will be ready once you want to go back.”

  “You find anything?” she asked, rounding her desk.

  “No,” he shook his head. “That tells me Lightner fully expected to eliminate you in Rio. If he’s got a Plan B, he’s not planning it here.”

  Sam nodded. “My guess is he’ll be laying low for a while, regrouping while he considers the possibility I’ve become hyper-vigilant and locked down in Chicago.”

  “Any luck finding him?”

  “Not yet,” Sam shook her head. “But I’ve got someone on it who could find Jimmy Hoffa if she put their mind to it.”

  Marvin’s brows rose. “Where do you find these people?”

  “The mail room.”

  Marvin laughed at the reference, taking a seat in front of her with his tablet at the ready. “I figured you’d want to gear up before you left for London, and I wanted to take some precautions. Alright,” he continued, reading from his tablet, “here’s the grocery list: I’ve ordered two thousand rounds of 9mm subsonic ammo, thirty new Glock 17s in carbon holsters fitted with pistol lights, an additional twenty AK-47s with collapsible stocks, extra mags of twenty-eight 7.62x39 rounds a piece, and fifteen more KA-BAR knives.”

  “You know I prefer the Beretta 92F over the Glock,” Sam replied, sitting at the edge of her desk as she checked her phone.

  “Boss, the Beretta’s half a pound heavier and has two fewer rounds in the mag,” Marvin pointed out.

  Sam noted two missed calls from Carey, four missed calls from Jaime, and seven missed calls from Jack. She’d expected the calls from Jaime. They had the locaters to discuss, and he would have heard about Gupta’s grizzly murder by now. But Jack? Why was Jack calling after days of radio silence?

  “It’s also got ten-percent-more stopping power,” she pointed out. “That gets my vote, every time.”

  “Your wish is my command.”

  Sam nodded, standing. “Have Talon vet the grocery list before you send in the buy this morning, okay?”

  “Alright,” Marvin acknowledge. “I’ll make sure everything you like is loaded up onto your flying arsenal before you go to London. Have you figured out when you want to leave?”

  “We’re going back to Texas tomorrow. I want to go over the plan with Carey and pick up Talon and Rush. You should pack enough to be there for at least a couple weeks, okay? I want you at Carey’s side while I’m gone.” She caught the edge of Marvin’s concerned frown.

  “And London? When do you want me to tell them you’re coming?”

  “Let’s play that close to the vest for now,” she replied. “I don’t want anyone on Lightner’s side to know when I’m landing on his turf just yet.”

  “I want to go with you,” Marvin blurted out suddenly.

  Sam looked up at him. “Marv, I know you feel badly about what happened, but it wasn’t your fault. I don’t blame you—”

  “But Lightner is clearly not going to stop,” Marvin pointed out. “With Carey down, you need all the help you can get.”

  Sam reached out, squeezing his shoulder. “Marv, we’r
e heading to Afghanistan almost immediately.”

  “Hey, I grew up in Englewood. The Middle East will be a walk in the park,” Marvin replied, flippant.

  An unwilling smile materialized on her mouth as she considered his protectiveness and his bravery. “If you want to help me—take care of Carey while I’m gone. He’ll be running the show in my absence, and I can’t be worried about him too.”

  She didn’t add that he’d need to keep Carey sane while she was gone, but when she gave Marvin a direct look, she saw that he understood. He simply nodded, redirecting the conversation. “So how did the board meeting go?” he asked.

  Sam flashed a brief smile. “The senior partners are delighted, of course. We’ve landed the biggest whale on the planet in the US military. I told them I’d be handling the account personally, so they know I’ll be in the Middle East while Carey stays stateside to take care of everything else.”

  “It’s a great cover,” Marvin agreed, momentarily distracted by his phone. “How the hell did he get here?” he wondered aloud, texting someone rapidly.

  “Who?” Sam asked.

  “Jaime,” Marvin told her, glancing up. “Reception says he’s here, insisting on a meeting with you.”

  Sam’s brows snapped together. “What the hell is he doing out of bed?”

  Marvin stood, “You want me to get him into a Town Car and send him home?”

  “No,” she shook her head. “If he pulled himself out of his house to come and see me, then let’s make it worth his while. Bring him in, would you?”

  Marvin led Jaime into her office a few moments later. Sam pulled the younger Roman into a gentle hug before stepping back to examine him. His skin color looked healthier, though his already-lean form looked a bit too gaunt for her liking. His smile was as cocky and mischievous as ever.

  “Jaime, not that I’m not happy to see you, but what the hell are you doing here?” she chided gently as she took a seat beside him on her sofa. “I would have come to you had I known you wanted to see me.”

  “I know,” Jaime admitted, wincing a little as he leaned back. “But I knew you might avoid my place if you knew Jack was there taking care of me.”

  Sam’s eyes narrowed. “Jack doesn’t know you’ve left the house, does he?”

  “He thinks I’m napping,” Jaime grinned. “He’s at the office driving Mitch crazy as we speak.”

  Marvin poured Jaime a glass of water that he accepted gratefully, popping open a bottle of painkillers.

  “Tell me you didn’t drive here,” Samantha said as she watched him take a couple with a shaky hand.

  “Cab,” he replied, swallowing the water.

  “Marvin, get a Town Car ready,” Sam said. “Have it here in thirty minutes.”

  Marvin nodded, leaving them alone.

  “You actually do look like you need a decent meal and a nap, you naughty rascal,” Sam told him. “I bet that you’re a terrible patient and that you’re driving your poor brother crazy.” She paused. “How’d you know I was in town?”

  “Your phone,” Jaime admitted, glancing at her mobile.

  “Dammit, Jaime!” Sam sighed in exasperation, picking up her phone. “I told you not to do that! Did you program my SIM card, or did you stick a locater on my phone?” she asked. “I know my GPS coordinates are disabled, so what kind of techno-sorcery did you pull?”

  Jaime merely grinned, taking her phone from her before popping off the back cover. He removed the thin silicon locater he’d placed on her battery a few weeks ago.

  Sam took it from him and tossed it into his water glass.

  Jaime cocked his brow. “That’s extreme.”

  “More like extremely annoyed,” she replied, her eyes narrowing. “How long have you been tracking me, Jaime?”

  “Since Thanksgiving,” he admitted. “And only after I got back from Rio. I was too hopped up on painkillers to remember I’d done it until a couple days ago.”

  “Okay, Dr. Feel-good,” she muttered. “I know you’re well-intentioned, but tagging me like a deer so my ex can keep track of me is borderline psychotic.”

  “Jack doesn’t know,” Jaime assured her.

  “Good,” she drawled, crossing her arms. “Keep it that way. Now why are you here, besides to prove you can stalk me?”

  Jaime rubbed a hand over his brow. “Honestly, I came by because I wanted to thank you,” he admitted, his silver gaze sincere. “I won’t lie and tell you I didn’t think you were blowing the situation with Gupta out of proportion when you first brought it up, but now that he’s been killed…” he trailed off, looking down at her disassembled phone in his hands. “What happened in Rio wasn’t your fault. I want you to know I understand that.” Jaime glanced back up at her, his eyes shining. “And I’m grateful for your foresight, even with everything that’s happened.”

  “Jaime…” Sam reached for his hand and squeezed it gently. “I’m sorry you were hurt despite my best intentions.”

  He glanced out her window, working up to something. “Gupta invited us all out to his house right after our meeting in Brazil. He wanted to show us some of the technology he was developing. I was seriously considering going before I got shot,” he confessed, swallowing. “I think about what could have happened if I hadn’t gotten hurt in Rio. I think about how close Maddie came to becoming an orphan—”

  “‘You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from,’” Sam recited, interrupting him with a soothing hand on his shoulder.

  “You quoting from ‘No Country for Old Men’?” Jaime asked on a slow grin.

  Sam nodded. “Jaime, I know you’re into probabilities and mathematical configurations: formulas, patterns, nuances, and the like. But you’ll drive yourself nuts focusing on could’ves, would’ves, should’ves. Just heal, okay?” she said, patting him on the arm. “Give yourself some time to heal and just focus on the life you’ve got going,” she smiled gently. “It’s a good one.”

  “You sound like Jack.”

  “Yeah, well… your brother’s a bright guy.”

  Jaime slanted her a look. “Not bright enough to admit he shouldn’t have let you go.”

  Sam winced, remiss to admit that she ached to see him, missing him far more than she wanted to this past week. This was more than she could manage on top of everything else right now. And so Sam pushed it back down, compartmentalizing it, even as she released Jaime’s hand, looking away from his bright silver eyes, so much like Jack’s.

  “So besides thanking me for getting you inadvertently shot and possibly saving your life again, why are you here, Jaime?” she asked.

  Jaime set her phone aside as he reached into his laptop bag. He pulled out a thin titanium case and handed it to her. “These are the protos we were going to test in Rio. I know you have something crazy and probably highly unadvisable planned, so I wanted you and your men to have these now.”

  Sam opened the case, noting a dozen black capsules the size and shape of vitamins resting in plastic casing underneath unique ID numbers.

  “Is this what I think it is?” she asked, holding up one of the capsule casings.

  “You wanted a waterproof locater, right?” he grinned.

  “Jaime, this is amazing,” she murmured, palming the capsule. “This is military-grade technology.”

  He nodded, pleased she liked it. “It’s a good temporary locater you can try out on whatever insane mission you’ve got planned.”

  “Who says I’ve got anything planned?” she asked blithely.

  “Dad told Jack you’ve got something in the hopper,” Jaime admitted. “Jack hasn’t figured out that you’re here yet, by the way. But when he does, you can expect him to tie you to a chair.”

  “I’d like to see him try,” she drawled.

  “Me too,” Jaime chuckled. “Seriously though, Jack’s a disaster, Sam,” he confessed. “He just found out today that you’re going back to the Middle East.”

  “Your dad needs to stop talking out of school,” she repl
ied, not bothering to deny it.

  “He’s trying to help.”

  “You think Jack’s any better off knowing his ex-lover is going back to Afghanistan to settle old scores?” she asked with the shake of her head. “Jaime, Jack needs to focus on anything and everything except me right now. We’re not together. I shouldn’t make the list of Jack’s top worries anymore.”

  “Look, my brother has never really given a damn about anyone except his family until he met you,” Jaime told her. “Now that he’s head over heels for you, no matter what he says, you can’t reasonably expect him to just turn it off.”

  “Are you here to talk to me about these locaters, or are you here to play matchmaker? Because if it’s the latter, I’m going to kick your invalid ass right on out of here,” Sam told him teasingly, though the underlying don’t-go-there tone in her voice was obvious. “He’s your brother, Jaime. Of course you care about him, but what’s between me and Jack needs to remain between me and Jack.” Sam squeezed his arm. “Now walk me through this.”

  Sam watched a smattering of emotions play across Jaime’s handsome, expressive face. She knew he wanted to argue with her, but in the end, he stuck to business.

  “Okay, so the issue with the previous prototypes was that they weren’t waterproof and they could be detected on the skin or removed if they were put on clothing or some kind of device, right?”

  “So you made pills that a person can swallow,” she said, holding up a pill in the sunlight.

  “Exactly,” Jaime nodded. “They should adhere to someone’s stomach lining for about two weeks, assuming normal conditions—”

  “Define normal?” she interrupted.

  “No unnaturally high levels of acidity, such as ulcers,” he explained.

  “I’d better start worrying less then,” Sam remarked drily.

  “The enzyme coating will deteriorate over time, making the tracer inside the resin impossible to detect,” Jaime continued before popping open the casing and dropping a black pill into her hand. “The tracers inside the resin require some kind of wireless or network signals to be found. Using the app I programmed, the tracer can still be picked up as long as you’re not in an underground network of caves.”