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“I called Gideon and let him know we were done questioning Jeckel and we had info. He said that he had some, too. When I mentioned we were at Lake Anna, he laughed. Apparently, Kane has a lake house around here, so we’re supposed to sit tight and wait for them.”

“We passed a barbeque place on our drive in. Wanna go try it out while we wait for them?” Mateo asked.

“You know that all you’re going to do is bitch about how the meat is cooked,” Brax protested.

“That’s half the fun.”

“Fine,” Brax acquiesced. He drove them back to the restaurant and they waited for a call from Gideon. Brax laughed when Mateo complained about how the meat was overcooked, but that was par for the course.

After an hour, they got a call from Gideon saying he and Kane were close. Gideon gave them the address to Kane’s house.

“Let’s roll.”

When they pulled up to Kane’s house, they were both still laughing when they got out of Brax’s truck.

“What’s so funny?” Kane asked as he got out of his vehicle at the same time.

“The last guy we visited here on the lake had a shack that looked like it was going to fall over in a stiff wind, and then we see this. The dichotomy is funny, is all,” Mateo grinned.

“So which one do you like better?” Kane asked.

“I’ve got to see the inside,” Mateo said.

“Did you find anything out?” Brax asked as they walked up the stairs to the front door.

“Yeah. We did,” Gideon answered. “I was still working on something for the Lieutenant, so it was great that Kane could help.”

Brax thought about Jada. He knew she could have helped as well, but he appreciated her taking Jenny’s mind off everything.

When they got inside the house, the first thing Brax noticed was the big windows along the back that encompassed a view of Lake Anna. It was gorgeous. Kane sure had made it before he’d entered the service. Hell, so had Gideon.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” Kane asked.

“Water for me,” Brax said. “I just had a beer at the barbeque place down the road.”

“Same,” Mateo said.

Kane got everybody what they wanted, then they followed him into a room that looked like a command center, what with all the high-end electronics.

“Here’s what we found out,” Kane said as he hitched his hip against the corner of his desk, as the others took different seats around the room. “Soon after Jenny was transferred to Bangladesh, Edgar was transferred to the States. He was no longer working in finance, instead the CEO made up a bullshit job for him. Whoever heard of the Liaison of International Sub-Markets? When I dug deeper, all I could find was a two-sentence job description that showed he was reporting directly to the CEO. Seemed pretty fishy, so I dug deeper.”

Brax glanced over at Mateo and saw his friend was struggling not to smile.

“Meanwhile,” Gideon started. “I took on the task of finding out why New Era Cyber Tech sent in the team to rescue Jenny, but didn’t pay the ransom. Turns out that anything like this falls under the purview of the VP of Security. Jeff Reynolds is his name, and as soon as Jenny was taken, he contacted the Kidnap and Ransom company that they had on tap, and they sent in a team to rescue her. It was by the book.”

Brax nodded. Made sense. “Then what happened after they were killed?”

“Her ransom should have been paid,” Gideon answered. “Now the Security guy, Jeff, doesn’t have control of the company purse strings, so he had to go up the food chain. It went to the CEO. So, we immediately saw the connection between Edgar and the ransom. Anyway, Ronald told the VP of Security to hold off on paying the ransom.”

“How’d you find that out?” Brax asked.

“The VP of Security got a multi-million dollar retirement a week after Jenny returned to the States. It was obviously a payoff. Last place we were able to track him was to Praslin Island in the Seychelle Island chain. He bought a yacht and has disappeared. There are over a hundred islands for him to go to, so we’re not going to find him.” Gideon was clearly annoyed.

“Then how do you know for sure it was a payoff?” Brax asked.

“We know that it was Ronald Lynch that was responsible because we found encrypted emails going back and forth between Ronald and Jeffrey, where Ronald specifically told Jeffrey that he was going to take over the ransom negotiation.”

“Are you shitting me? How’d you find those? Seems to me a Security guy would have known enough to get rid of that kind of electronic trail,” Brax said.

“That’s not Jeff’s area of expertise. All the cyber-security is handled by the IT department. My guess is, he had no idea about all of the company back-ups on email, especially the CEO’s.”

“Sounds like a shitty security guy,” Brax said disgustedly.

“Yeah,” Kane grinned. “Made my life easy. But I still haven’t found out why the CEO would want to transfer an embezzler to the States as his flunky in a made-up job. It makes no sense. I’m still looking into that. I’m pulling both of their financials now.”

“I think we can answer that.” Mateo smirked.

Kane looked at him sharply and Gideon gave both of his men curious looks. “What do you mean?” Kane asked.

“Our meeting with Jeckel was quite enlightening,” Brax answered. “Turns out, according to Jeckel, Ronald likes to fish off the company pier, and he likes men.”

“Aw shit. Is this about sex?” Kane grumbled.

“Don’t feel bad. Money is almost always the answer, but sex is usually the runner-up,” Gideon soothed Kane.

Kane sat down at his desk chair and took a pull off his beer, then pointed his finger at Brax. “So, what’s your supposition?”

“Ronald wanted Jenny dead to protect his lover. He didn’t want anybody finding out about his embezzlement.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Gideon protested. “Why kill her a year and a half after she supposedly found out about it? Why not sooner?”

“A crime of opportunity?” Mateo contributed.

“Why do it at all if she hadn’t come forward before that point?” Gideon persisted.

“Could be that when her name popped up during the Bangladesh kidnapping, Edgar said something to Ronald. Then maybe Ronald gets upset and takes the opportunity to get rid of her. A crime of opportunity…” Kane shrugged.

Brax felt his blood begin to boil. The idea that someone could be so cavalier about Jenny’s life made him want to kill someone.

“If that’s the case,” Gideon said slowly, “then does Ronald know about Fiona catching on and going into hiding?”

Brax jumped up. “Enough of this shit. We need to question Edgar.”

“We can’t right now. He and Ronald are at a summit in Paris. They’re not due back for four days,” Kane said, shaking his head.

“Then we go—” Brax started.

“No, we take the respite and figure out a plan,” Gideon said.

Brax opened his mouth to disagree.

“We’re dealing with one of the top ten biggest corporations in the world. We will not get anywhere close to either man without a plan,” Gideon said decisively.

Brax nodded. He wasn’t happy, but Gideon was right.

Jenny had never seen Brax wound so tightly. He was like a different man. Even in the truck in Bangladesh he had exuded calm, but the entire drive home from Gideon’s house, he seemed ready to explode. As they went up the little walkway to his porch his energy was so high that she saw him force himself to take little steps to match hers.

Her palms grew even clammier than they had been in the truck. What had she done wrong?

After he opened the door for her to walk through, Faith was there, excited to see them home. She bent down to give her love, but Brax just stalked past his dog.

What in the ever-loving hell?

“Fine, be mad at me, but don’t take it out on Faith,” Jenny said as Brax threw his truck keys in the fruit bowl.

Brax whirled around. “What are you talking about?”

Jenny pointed to where Faith was standing at his knee, waiting to be petted. “Faith. I’m talking about Faith. Don’t take out your bad mood on her. I’m an adult. I can take you being mad at me, but it just confuses her when she has done nothing wrong, so stop it.”

Brax crouched down and began scratching Faith behind her ears. “What are you talking about, me being mad at you? I’m not mad at you. As a matter of fact, this is the first time in hours that I feel like I can breathe.”

Faith ran back to Jenny, and she patted her head.

Jenny looked at Brax and realized that behind his hard expression, there was pain. She gave Faith one last pat, then went over to Brax and ran her hands up his chest. “Tell me about it,” she murmured.

“We figured out who wants you dead.” His voice was strangled. It was as if the words came through a rusty pipe.

“Okay.” Jenny waited for the other shoe to drop.

“Didn’t you hear me?”

“Honey, that’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

He dropped his forehead to hers and took a deep breath. “Yes,” he whispered. “Yes, it is.”

She waited.

“You don’t understand. I find a bad guy. I take him out. End of story. This is a hell of a lot more complicated than that. We’re pretty sure that Ronald Lynch is involved, and that’s what makes it so complicated.”

Jenny frowned. “The CEO?”

“That’s the guy.”

“Why would he want me dead? I’m a tiny little fish in the Cyber Tech ocean.”

“I need a drink. What about you?” Brax asked.

“Sure, I’ll get it,” she offered.

“You go sit down on the couch. What would you like?”

“A little bit of that bourbon. But if it is really bad, maybe a little bit more than a little bit.” Jenny went and sat down on the couch. Soon Brax came out with two glasses, one was twice as much as the other.

“Here you go.” Jenny eyed her glass. It was far more than a little bit. It did not bode well.

“There better be snuggling to go along with the bourbon,” she warned.

Brax sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms.

“Did you know that after you went to Bangladesh that Edgar Travers got transferred to the US?”

“Yeah. I heard it through the grapevine. To begin with, I thought they had found out about his embezzlement and that he was going to be arrested, but instead he was promoted. I told Fiona to continue to lie low.” She took a small sip of her bourbon and watched Brax take a larger sip. “By the way, I called and left her a voicemail this afternoon. I did that when it was morning, her time. I should have done it sooner. I called Tina, and she was really mad that I hadn’t been in touch.”

Brax put down his drink, then plucked hers out of her hand. “Of course she was upset. How could you have anything but fantastic friends? I’m sure she loves you.”

It was hard to keep eye contact with him when he was staring at her so intently, but she did. “That’s what she said.”

Brax cupped her jaw. “Of course she did. You’re easy to love.”

It felt like a balloon was welling up inside of her. It had started to expand when she’d talked to Tina, and now it was expanding so much she thought she might explode.

“You believe me, don’t you?” Brax’s voice was tender.

She bit the inside of her lip. “I think so.”

“Then we’ll work on that, because I do.”