Page 5 of My One and Only (Blackhawk Security #10)

C am turned to face her, his expression shocked. “You’re a bodyguard ?”

When the car swerved, he turned his attention to the road, but he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Finally, he pulled into a parking lot in front of a single-story building. “I want to hear about your job,” he said. “But let’s get inside first.”

A biting wind blew off the Fox River, slicing into her as she slid out of Cam’s truck. It carried the scent of cold river water and the faint odor of decaying vegetation that she remembered from her childhood. In the summer, this would be a peaceful, isolated spot to eat outside. The music of flowing water would fill the air and the songs of birds in the trees and the squawking ducks in the river would be a beautiful accompaniment. If you were lucky, you might spot a bald eagle soaring over the river. Now, all she felt was the sting of cold air on her cheeks and her hands.

Shoving her hands into the pockets of her coat, she hunched her shoulders against the wind and trudged toward the door. Cam took her elbow in a firm grip, and when one foot slipped out from under her, she realized that the asphalt of the parking lot was treacherously icy.

“Should’ve salted the damn parking lot,” Cam muttered, pulling her against his side and curling his arm around her waist. Pressed into his side, she felt the heat pouring off him, and in spite of herself, she moved closer. Coming from her last job in Seattle, where it was rarely below freezing in the winter, she’d forgotten how frigid it could get in Chicago’s western suburbs.

And the pressure of Cam’s arm around her waist? The reassuring weight of him made her feel secure on this ice.

When they reached the building, Cam opened the door and guided her inside. She stepped away from his side as warm air, and the enticing aromas of garlic and tomato sauce, swirled over her. Lunch had been a long time ago, and she hadn’t realized how hungry she was.

Cam stepped up to the hostess and said, “Reservation for Pierce.” He glanced at Jo, and she saw what she’d expected - shock at her revelation. Surprise. And questions. Lots of questions.

The attractive brunette gave him a genuine smile, as if she actually remembered him. “Welcome back, Mr. Pierce. Please follow me.”

The hostess led them to a corner table. She set two menus on the table, said, “Your server will be with you shortly,” and hurried away. Even though the restaurant was more than half full, the table felt like a quiet oasis in the midst of the clatter of plates, the clink of forks on china and the breeze of the wait-staff weaving between the tables.

Jo shrugged off her coat and set it on the empty chair beside her. Then she turned to Cam, to see him doing the same. Suddenly, this dinner felt awkward. Uncomfortable. A date, but not a date, and her shoulders edged toward her ears.

Cam turned to her and smiled as if he’d read her mind. “Kinda weird, right? Us having dinner together after not seeing each other for fifteen years?”

Jo’s shoulders relaxed when his words echoed her thoughts, and she smiled back at him. “Totally. Exactly what I was thinking.”

Cam handed her a menu, and said, “Do you want a drink? I’m gonna have a beer.”

“I’d love a glass of red wine,” she said. “A cab.” She’d have one glass. This was a business meeting, after all.

As a waiter approached their table, Cam smiled at him and nodded at Jo. She said, “I’d like a glass of cabernet sauvignon, please.”

Cam said, “And I’d like whatever IPA you have on tap.”

The waiter nodded. “I’ll get those going while you decide on your meals.”

As soon as he’d walked away, Cam said, “I eat here a lot -- have most of my business meals here. Everything is good. I’ve never had a bad meal at Francesca’s.”

“Good to know,” she said. Was it going to be this awkward all evening? She and Cam had been close friends once. There shouldn’t be this stiffness between them.

Cam leaned closer. “So you’re a bodyguard, huh? How did you get into that line of work?”

As he leaned forward, Jo wished she’d never mentioned her job to Cam. She was only going to be here for eight more days. He didn’t have to know every detail about her life. But she’d slipped and told him, so now she’d have to explain.

Moving the napkin-wrapped silverware from side to side, she took a deep breath and looked up at Cam.

“I learned the skills I’d need while I was in the Army. My husband was in the special forces. He taught me Krav Maga and karate. He was gone on missions most of the time, and he wanted to be sure I could defend myself if necessary.”

She wasn’t about to tell Cam about the incident that had triggered Mark’s obsession with her safety. The officer who’d stalked her was in the category of ‘no one’s business but hers’. “Anyway, after I got out of the Army, I gave a lot of thought to what I wanted to do. I’d met a woman in Afghanistan, Mel Melbourne, who worked for the CIA. Just before she left the sandbox, she told me to contact her when I got out if I wanted a job. I heard through the grapevine that she’d started a personal protection business, and since I didn’t have any other ideas, I got in touch with Mel, we talked, and I’ve been with Blackhawk Security for over a year now.”

Cam leaned closer, clearly intrigued. “What kinds of people do you protect? Celebrities?”

She shook her head. “Mostly business people who’ve received threats. We get the occasional celebrity, but they’re usually pains in the ass. Never think they have to follow the rules.” She grinned, remembering the stories about the last celebutante they’d guarded. “I’m new enough that I haven’t had to guard one of the ass pains yet, thank goodness.”

“Where are you based? New York? Los Angeles?”

“Nope. We’re based in Montana. About thirty miles from Helena.”

He frowned. “Isn’t that an odd place for a security business?”

“Not really. You can get pretty much anywhere from the Helena airport. Mel and Dev, the owners, had an opportunity to buy about forty acres that already had some buildings. The agents all have apartments, there’s a gym, a dining room, a running track and an office building.” She shrugged. “It works.”

“Tell me about some of your jobs,” Cam asked.

She was shaking her head before he’d finished speaking. “Sorry, no can do. Client privacy is rule number one.”

“Have you ever been injured on a job?”

Jo’s mouth curled into a grin. “One client tried to punch me out when I told him he couldn’t go somewhere he wanted to go. He didn’t like hearing no.”

“What did you do?” Cam asked, leaning toward her.

“I put him on his ass and got someone else to guard him. One of the guys at Blackhawk Security took over. Since the agent was twice the clients’ size, it wasn’t an issue again.

“And before you ask, no, my job’s nothing like that movie. My clients don’t break into song at the drop of a hat.”

One side of Cam’s mouth curled up. “And you’re here to see your mom between jobs?” he asked.

“Yeah. We get ten days off between jobs, so I thought I’d come home, see my mom and my brothers and their families, since I couldn’t get home for Christmas.”

Time to shut down the questions about her jobs. “Tell me about what you’ve been up to since high school. Are you married?”

He stilled, then shook his head. “Nope. Not married.” He shrugged. “The business takes most of my time and attention.” He smiled, but it looked strained. “I try to get home early every evening, so I can pretend I have a normal life.”

Jo studied Cam for a long moment. He looked uncomfortable, and she wondered why. Maybe he didn’t like to talk about himself, but he hadn’t hesitated to tell her all his ideas and dreams in high school. She wanted to push, but it had been too long since they’d been friends. So instead, she asked, “I noticed the desk in your office. It was beautiful, and I figured you’d made it.”

“I did,” he said. Smiling, he added, “Once I had an office big enough for it.”

“I still remember the pictures you showed me in high school, drawings of furniture you wanted to build. Do you still make furniture?”

Cam shook his head slowly. “I’d like to, but I don’t have the time. The business takes all my energy and focus.” He shrugged. “Maybe someday, when the company is doing well and I don’t have to spend so much time on it, I can build furniture again.”

“I hope so,” Jo said softly. “Based on the desk in your office, you have a real talent for it.

“Tell me about your company. How long has Donnie… Don, I guess I should say, been your partner?”

Cam’s shoulders eased, as if he was on safe ground now. He nodded slowly, staring into the distance for a moment. Was he trying to decide what to tell her? Or was he organizing his thoughts?

“I think I told you I started Pierce Construction ten years ago. I was doing okay, but I knew the business needed to grow if I wanted to make real money. And to grow, I needed an infusion of cash. Don had come into some money -- a settlement for an on-the-job injury -- and he wanted to buy in. I was hesitant at first, because he didn’t know much about construction work. But we talked it out and he agreed to leave the building part of the business to me. He supervises the foremen and the skilled workers, which is more personnel management than construction work. We’re each playing to our strengths.”

“And how is it working out for you?”

“It’s working great,” Cam said without hesitating. “He’s a good manager, and I prefer focusing more on the actual building process.”

Jo moved her silverware around on the table. “You know, I don’t have positive memories of Don,” she said. “You may not have seen it, but he was a real jerk in high school -- at least to me. A bully, a troublemaker and an all-around unpleasant person.”

She swallowed and forced herself to say, “I’m glad to hear that he’s grown up. Changed his ways.”

“He has.” Cam studied the tablecloth, pressing his fingers into the red and white checked material. Finally looked up and held her gaze. “He spent a lot of time sitting next to my bed when I was in the hospital, recovering from that beating.”

“I know,” she said, swallowing at the memory of her visits to see Cam. Even then, at Cam’s bedside, Don had creeped her out. She hadn’t liked the way he’d looked at her, and she’d been careful to avoid touching him. “He was at the hospital every time I came to visit you. He left me alone with you, and I stayed for quite a while. But you were only semi-conscious, and I don’t think you even realized I’d been there.”

“No, I don’t remember, although Don told me you’d come by several times.” He sighed. “I was in the hospital for a couple of weeks. Stayed until the docs were sure I didn’t have any permanent damage.”

“Yeah, I came by a few other times, but you were mostly sleeping.” She touched his arm, then drew her fingers away. “You still don’t have any idea who beat you up?”

He sighed. “Yeah, I finally remembered. It was two guys who were friends of Randy Michaels.” He stared down at the table and finally looked up at her.

“I went to a lawyer and explained the situation. Gave her the guys’ names. I wanted them charged and thrown in jail.”

His fingers curled into fists, and Jo wondered if he’d realized he’d done that. Finally he looked up at her again. “My attorney got back to me several days later. She said we could charge them with assault and attempted murder, but she told me we shouldn’t bother. Both of them were already in prison, serving twenty-five year sentences. They might get a few years tacked on, but she advised me not to bother. The state would likely refuse, because it would cost them a lot of money for very little results.”

Jo gasped. “What had they done?”

Cam’s jaw worked for a moment, then he drew a deep breath. “They’d gone to the same college and joined the same fraternity. There was a party. They got two women drunk and raped them. A friend of the women saw it happen and called the police. Then she tried to pull the guys off her friends. Got backhanded for her trouble.”

Cami sighed. “The two guys left a lot of evidence behind, and there was no question that the women were incapacitated. Both guys insisted on a trial, even though their attorneys told them to take a plea. The judge was pissed when he heard the evidence and saw that neither of the guys had any remorse. He gave them the longest sentence possible. They’ll be out in about ten years.”

“They should have to stay in prison longer than that,” Jo said, clenching her jaw. “They ruined two women’s lives.”

Cam nodded. “If someone did that to…” He clamped his mouth shut.

“If someone did that to who, Cam?” Jo asked gently.

He looked away. “A woman I cared about,” he muttered.

She thought he’d meant to say something else but didn’t push it. She wasn’t telling him all her secrets, either. Instead, she said, “I’m glad they were punished, even if it wasn’t for assaulting you.”

“Yeah,” he said with a sigh. “Karma bit them in the ass. And I was really glad to hear about it.

“I was glad Don saw what those two losers were doing and scared them away. I could have had a much worse outcome.”

Jo shivered at the possibilities -- he might have had permanent damage. Might even have died.

Their waiter walked by the table, the third time he’d done so. Jo elbowed Cam. “Looks like the waiter wants us to order. I know what I want. Do you?”

He smiled. “I always have the same thing. They have a great roasted chicken dish with roasted potatoes and an amazing sauce.”

The next time the waiter walked past, Cam gestured they were ready to order. She chose the lasagna with both pesto and red sauce, and Cam requested the chicken.

Cam looked as if he wanted to avoid any personal stuff. She was fine with that, because she didn’t want to answer personal questions, either. Catching up was great, especially since Cam had been her best friend in Ogden, but now she wanted to focus on business.

She’d had plenty of uncomfortable moments since she’d joined Blackhawk Security, and she’d dealt with all of them. Dinner with an old friend shouldn’t be a problem.

Turning toward Cam, she asked, “So tell me what you found when you looked at the rest of the houses under construction.”

Cam stiffened for a moment, then relaxed back into his chair. “You get right down to business, don’t you, Jo?”

“I like to get the unpleasant details on the table.” She smiled. “Get them out of the way.”

Which was a more polite way of saying she wasn’t about to forget why they were really here. They could reminisce about high school days after they hashed out the uncomfortable details of her mother’s house purchase.

The waiter returned with her wine and Cam’s beer and set them on the table. “I already put your order in,” he said.

When the waiter walked away, Cam took a drink of his beer then moved the glass from side to side. “I had a meeting with all my foremen two days ago. Brought them into the office and sat them down at the conference table. I told them exactly what you’d found at your mother’s house, and told them I’d seen it, as well. I never used your name or your mother’s name, so they don’t know who brought it to my attention. I didn’t want anyone to pull any shit while they’re working on your mom’s house.”

Jo watched his jaw work, as if he was barely holding back his anger. “What happened?” she asked.

“Most of my foremen were horrified. Genuinely angry that the work wasn’t up to our standards. But several of them looked guilty as hell. Wouldn’t meet my eyes. I wrote down their names and I’ll meet with each of them individually. I want to know who was behind the scheme. Who was providing the money for the bribes? Was it the chief foreman? Someone higher up in the company? I’ll fire all of them, but I want to make them think I’ll give them a chance if they come clean. I want to get as much information from them as I can.”

He leaned toward her. “Do you think you’d be able to identify the guy from the building department who took the bribe money from Simms?”

“I think so,” Jo said slowly, twirling her glass of wine by the stem. “I was in my car behind his truck, but I got a good look at him when he walked back to his truck.” She clenched her teeth for a moment. “I got another look when he drove past me. Stared at me before he sped up. Of course, he might have gotten a good look at me, too.”

Cam frowned. “You worried he might come after you?”

“I suppose it’s possible, but I’m not worried.” She took a sip of her wine, irritated when her hand shook enough to make the wine swirl in the glass. Setting it down a little too hard, she said, “I can take care of myself.”

Cam studied her for a long moment. “You always could, Jo,” he finally murmured. “But hard to defend yourself from a gun or a knife.”

“That’s why I’m always armed, even when I’m not on the job,” she said. “Company policy. You never know when you might run into someone with a grudge from a previous job.”

Cam’s eyes widened. “Is your job really that dangerous?”

She shrugged. “I’ve never had to use a weapon on personal time,” she said. “But it’s company policy.”

“And you don’t have a problem with that?”

“Why would I? It’s just common sense.”

This was getting too heavy, so Jo said, “I learned a lot in the Army. More when I started at Blackhawk Security.”

To head off more questions about her job, which she’d have to dodge, she asked, “What’s next in your investigation?”

He sat back in his chair and took a drink. “I’m gonna ask Simms who he paid. Unless he’s as stupid as a bag of rocks, he’ll give me the guy’s name. I’ll make sure he knows it’ll be his only chance to save his job.”

She’d been in charge of people when she was in the Army, and this was not the way she dealt with problems.

Clearly reading her expression, Cam leaned toward her. “You don’t seem happy with my solution.”

Jo studied him for a moment. Finally said, “When I was in the Army, I had people working for me. If any of them had done what Simms did, they’d be gone. Dishonorably discharged. We took honesty seriously. If a guy cheated once, there was a good chance he’d do it again.”

Cam sighed. “Unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury. We have to find new people before we can fire the ones who were cheating. Not so easy right now. There’s a shortage of carpenters, electricians, plumbers -- all kinds of skilled laborers. And the people who cut corners and did that shoddy work? They have us by the short and curlies. They know damn well it’ll take us time to find replacements for them.”

“How can you trust them? You can’t look over their shoulders every damn minute of every day.”

“No.” He swallowed, and a flash of anger filled his eyes for a moment. “We can’t. But we can do unannounced inspections. Show up at the sites without warning.” He sighed. “A lot of work, but I’ll make sure they’re all doing quality work.”

“Kind of a morale killer, isn’t it?” Jo asked.

“What’s the damn alternative,” he said, his voice hard. “Can’t replace them all tomorrow.”

“Are all your people local?” she asked

“Most of them are. We have a few guys from Chicago. A couple from Indiana.”

Jo frowned. “Do they commute from Chicago and Indiana every day? That’s a hell of a drive.”

Cam shook his head. “We have some empty rooms in our headquarters. We installed bathrooms and small kitchens, and they live there.”

She tilted her head as she studied Cam. “How many of those rooms do you have available?”

Cam shrugged. “Probably eight or nine more. Haven’t really kept track. If we find someone who’s willing to work, we offer them a room. We can install plumbing and a stripped down kitchen pretty quickly.”

Jo leaned back in her chair and studied Cam. “I might know a few men and women who could do the work you need. From my time in the Army. I started out supervising construction people. Moved to a different job pretty quickly, but I kept in touch with some of them. I could see if any of them would be interested in working for you.”

“Are you serious?” Cam stared at her, a combination of hope and disbelief on his face. “You actually know people who can do carpentry, plumbing, HVAC and electrical work?”

“I do.” A shiver of guilt slid through her. She’d lost touch with her construction buddies after she went to work for Blackhawk Security, and she regretted it. But she hadn’t had the time to get together with them.

Cam leaned toward her. “If you could find some men and women who’d be interested in coming to work for me, I’d be forever grateful.” He frowned at Jo. “As long as they do quality work.”

Jo laughed. “I was their boss. They damn well did quality work. If they hadn’t, I’d have made sure they were transferred to another job.” Her smile faded as she studied Cam. “I’ll send off an email tonight. See if anyone’s interested.”

“So you supervised a construction crew?” Cam studied her, and she saw the curiosity in his expression. “Where did you get the skills to do that?”

She shrugged. “I learned on the job. And as I said, I wasn’t in that job very long. But I stayed in touch with a bunch of the people I worked with. They were good men and women and very good soldiers.”

“We can use as many people as you can convince to come to Ogden.” He shook his head, a tiny smile curling his mouth. “Had no idea that going out to dinner with you would be good for business.” His smile fell away. “Hard to find people willing to commute this far for a job. And people who are married or have kids can’t pack up and easily move all the way out here.”

“Yeah, that would be rough. I had no idea that skilled workmen were so hard to find.”

Cam huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, we’re pretty much always hiring.”

Their meals arrived, and they began to eat. The food was indeed delicious, and Jo knew she’d come back to Francesca’s Mio Modo.

For the rest of the meal, she and Cam reminisced about high school and talked about the people they’d known. Jo had lost track of everyone from their graduating class. It was fun to get updates on the people who’d stayed in Ogden.

And she was really glad she wasn’t one of them. If she hadn’t gotten out and joined the Army, she’d probably be married to a guy from high school and have a pack of kids by now.

The idea had some attraction -- she’d like to have kids some day -- but she loved her job at Blackhawk Security. She couldn’t imagine doing anything else.