Chapter 6
Gunnolf
M ore of the staff are back at SableTech now. But there’s no way of knowing if our mole has returned to the office or is making the trauma of the bombing an excuse to stay out of sight during our investigation. Both options have merit to them.
Return to SableTech and they keep their finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the investigation and just how much Val knows about the breach. Stay home and stay completely out of sight.
One thing is for sure, those who did return still don’t feel completely safe being here. The scent of coffee that hangs in the air is mixed with the tense sharp scent of fear. A smell I know all too well.
Even if I can’t glean who might have been responsible for the breach, I need a break from Val. Hell, I have to get away from her before I do something stupid. Especially with Minna there making wild accusations.
Okay, they aren’t wild at all and that’s the problem.
Being around Val, pretending to the world that I don’t feel what I feel for her, is like walking a tightrope over a bed of nails. One wrong move or one glance too long at her luscious lips and I’ll lose whatever thin grip I have left on my self-control. I can’t afford to do that. Not now.
I grind my teeth and shove my hands in my pockets. My gaze sweeps across the rows of cubicles. Every employee I pass is a potential suspect whether they know it or not. Whoever it is can’t be someone that stands out too much. No one’s behavior has deviated from the norm- or if it has they have some kind of personal reason that wouldn’t raise any red flags to Val.
But how well does she know her employees? There are so many of them. It would be almost impossible for her to know each of them intimately and still get any work done of her own. I’ll have to ask her about this later.
My eyes narrow as I pass a group of employees near the break room. There are three of them and two look completely relaxed, animated even, as they chat about their weekend plans. The woman and her husband are taking their two-year-old on their first camping trip. The blonde man has a hot date with a woman from the coffee shop down the street.
But the third, a guy with short dark hair and a nervous twitch in his hand has nothing to contribute. His eyes flick up meeting mine for a split second before darting away. His fingers tremble too quickly against the coffee cup in his hand sending splashes of coffee to the floor.
Nervous. But why?
I file it away keeping my pace at a slow casual stroll as I continue through the office. Maybe I can convince myself that I’ve got it more together than I do. Once I reach the end of the hall, I push open the door to the stairwell, letting the noise of the office fade behind me as I climb up the stairs two at a time toward the rooftop.
I need some air. I need some space to clear my head.
Being around Val all the time and not ripping her clothes off is a Sisyphean task. Every time I see her, she’s more irresistible than the last. What was she doing wearing that bright red lipstick today?
Or that white blouse unbuttoned just enough to give me a peak at her cleavage when she leans forward or when I’m standing over her.
Dammit.
I lean against the railing and stare out over the city. The fresh air doing nothing to clear my cluttered mind of thoughts of Val. The way her body fits against mine or the rasp in her voice when she’s stressed out or angry.
Every time she looks at me, I think my heart is going to explode. Not to mention how much my wolf is preening desperate for me to recognize her officially as my mate. I can’t do that.
I grit my teeth and close my eyes. Doing my best to shut the images of her out of my mind. The way her hips rocked in perfect slow sensual circles as she was on top of me, the snort she let out when Minna caught her by surprise, or the way her eyes narrow and fingers move with confidence as she’s focused on her computer.
Everything about her seems to pull me in like a Siren’s song.
How long can I keep denying her before I do something reckless? Before my wolf turns on me or goes dormant. The thought of giving in terrifies me. I’ve never had a relationship longer than a fling and certainly never anything serious.
I’ve been careful. Tediously building walls around my heart. Letting her in… letting her claim that part of me, means tearing all those walls down. I don’t think I can do that. Not yet.
I push myself away from the railing. A knot of frustration tightening in my chest. Focus on the job. That’s what matters most right now.
Heading downstairs, I brace myself as I reach Val’s office door. I don’t knock. Don’t even think about giving her a chance to deny me. I burst through the door without a word, letting it slam behind me, and stroll over to the couch, plopping myself down and ignoring Val’s irritated stare.
Minna looks over and giggles, I roll my eyes and look away. She’s supposed to be a computer genius, what business does she have being so aware of interpersonal relations too?
“How well do you know your individual employees?” I ask, daring to look Val’s way.
“Well enough.”
“I mean behaviorally not anything you’d find through background checks or cyber monitoring?” Her face flushes at the question.
“Not as well as I should apparently,” she says, and I can practically taste the bitterness on her tongue.
“I’m wondering if you’d be able to tell if anyone was acting differently than they had been before the bombing or from around the time of the breach until now?”
“I have eyes on security cameras throughout the whole building every day.” Val says pushing a button on the underside of her desk. A mechanical whir follows and several paintings across from her desk push forward and then slide downward on a track that blended in perfectly as part of the paneling, revealing a series of security screens covering the entire office.
“Cool,” Minna says, “Very James Bond.”
“Or very Bond villain,” I correct eliciting an unexpected laugh out of Val.
“I actually have every single video logged. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before, but we could have the tapes from the time of the breach analyzed to see if anything or anyone stands out.”
“Send them to Minna and we will get them to agents to analyze,” I order. I should be happy with this new development, but something is still bothering me. I stare at the screens and then something clicks.
Eyes everywhere. The bomber seems to have eyes everywhere too. There’s no way that they are working alone and able to pull off these coordinated attacks without messing up in some way or form that leaves a trail back to them.
It doesn’t take long for my gaze to fall back on Val. The way she’s sitting, the curve of her body framed perfectly in that fitted blouse... it’s torture. I grunt, crossing my arms over my chest to keep from reaching out and grabbing her.
“You’re staring again,” Minna sings but I ignore her this time.
“We better bring this back to the team at the local office. Send those videos over as soon as you can, alright?” I say not taking my eyes off Val.
“I’m not incompetent, I understood the first time,” She scoffs.
“Meow!” Minna grins, “Kitty cat has got claws.”
“Pack it up,” I say already halfway through the door.
Minna twirls around in her chair while the rest of the team settles into the room. I can’t help but smile at her carefree nature. We could all stand to learn a thing or two from her from time to time.
“What have you got for us?” Kato asks after Hati slips into the room and settles down at the conference table.
Minna stops spinning, “It’s official,” she says, smirking. “The mole is inside SableTech, and they didn’t even bother to hide it well. Installed the software during business hours, plain as day. Bold, I’ll give them that.”
Kato’s jaw tightens. “An inside job?” Minna and I nod in unison.
“How come Val didn’t find it then if they didn’t hide it well?” Bruce asks in earnest.
“Okay,” Minna rolls her eyes, “They hid their tracks well but once I found their little digital hidey-hole everything was out on the table.”
“Not bold but wise,” Hati says dreamily as though he’s half lost in thought. “If whoever did this hadn’t caused the breach during office hours there would be far less suspects to sort through.”
Bruce frowns, crossing his arms. “So what now? Do we start interrogating SableTech employees?”
“Not yet,” I say, the weight of this new information settling over me. “We’ll keep digging. We need to know exactly who we’re dealing with before we make any moves.”
“Val has just sent over encrypted security files. So, assign a team and I will get the video files from the time of the breach set up for review,” Minna looks at Kato for approval. He nods in agreement with everything that’s just been said.
“Minna and I can supervise,” Callie says, “The team that’s looking through the tapes. You know Minna can look at things from a tech perspective and I can look at things from a behavioral standpoint. Between the two of us we are bound to find something if there is anything to find at all.”
“That’s good,” Kato looks over the rest of the team. “Are there any places where the SableTech crowd likes to hang out after work?”
“I didn’t think to ask but I did have some unfinished business at SableTech if you want me to inquire.” I volunteer.
“Go now and report back with any places you know of. I think it’s time for Hati, Bruce, and me to have a little night out on the town and see if we can overhear anything that might help us. The forensics team is still analyzing evidence from the most recent bombing, and we shouldn’t hear anything from them until tomorrow.”
“I’m on it. I’ll give you a call right away.” I nod already standing and catch Callie and Hati exchanging glances. They can think what they want to think. I don’t care. Arguing will only confirm their suspicions. I won’t give them that satisfaction.
Back at SableTech my heart rate has spiked so intensely it feels like I might go into cardiac arrest. I head back to Val’s office and for once find Paige actually at her desk.
“Agent Wright,” she says raising an eyebrow at my presence.
“Hello beautiful,” I say wryly. “You probably get hit on quite a bit by these tech guys here. Don’t you?”
Paige twirls her hair red faced, “Here and there.”
“Where do people from the office like to hang out after work?”
Her face lights up, “the Four Seasons bar and lobby. Where everyone can impress folks coming through town with their money and the mysterious nature of what they do.”
“Thank you,” I say nodding to her and then striding off into Val’s office with my phone in hand as I fire a message off to Kato. I hear Paige protest as the door shuts behind me.
Val’s sitting behind her desk, looking up from her computer. The moment she sees me, her expression shifts. Her guard goes up, but there’s a flicker of something else. Annoyance? Curiosity? Either way, it’s enough to make my pulse quicken.
“Well, well,” Val says, her tone sharp but edged with amusement. “What brings you back here? Can’t stay away?”
I lean against the doorframe, crossing my arms. “You wish. We need to talk.”
“Oh, I’m sure we do,” she replies, arching an eyebrow. “But somehow, I doubt you’re here to talk.”
I narrow my eyes. “You always have to make it hard, don’t you?”
Val shrugs, her lips curve into a smirk. “I think that’s a you problem.” She raises an eyebrow and glances pointedly down at my crotch.
Something in me snaps. I cross the room in two strides, closing the distance between us. “I don’t have time for your games, Val.”
She stands, meeting my gaze with defiance. “Then why are you here, Gunnolf? Because you’re the one who keeps showing up on my doorstep.”
Her words hit harder than they should. She’s right. But I’m too wound up to back down, and before I can think better of it, I grab her by the arm and yank her away from her desk and into my arms.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she snaps, her voice low but heated. She doesn’t want Paige to hear us, so she might want this as much as I do.
My hands brace either side of her. “You wanted to play with fire, Val. Now you’ve got it.”
Her breath hitches, but she doesn’t push me away. Instead, she tilts her chin up, her eyes burning with challenge. I close the distance between us, my lips pressing against hers. Her hands grip my shirt, pulling me closer.
The kiss deepens, and I lose myself in her, her taste. I pull at her blouse and rip it open, buttons clattering to the floor. She might kill me for that later, but she doesn’t seem to care right now. Every inch of her drives me wild.
Somehow, we manage not to alert Paige or anyone else to what’s going on behind Val’s closed office door. The need to not be discovered only heightens the pleasure of hushed moans.
Tangled on the carpet at the foot of the sofa, Val breaks away from me and smirks, “Well, that was... thorough,” she breathes heavily, still trying to catch her breath.
I let out a breathless laugh. “Shut up.”
“You owe me a new blouse,” she says, standing and walking over toward a closet in her office, pulling out a fresh blouse and pulling her skirt back down from where it had been scrunched up around her waist. “You said you wanted to talk to me?”
I had absolutely nothing to say.
The conference room is quiet, except for the occasional scrape of chairs or low murmur of Kato and Bruce while reviewing the forensics reports. It’s been hours, and we’re still spinning our wheels trying to figure out what connects these hunters and the bombings.
Hati’s sitting off to the side, leaning back in his chair, his feet kicking up on the table’s edge. He’s been flipping through hunter files, skimming over old case records like it’s no big deal. His laid-back attitude is grating sometimes.
I know better than to underestimate him. Hati’s got an eye for details most people miss, even when it looks like he’s not paying attention. Without warning, Hati suddenly sits up, his feet hitting the ground with a thud. His eyes narrow on the screen before him, and he blows a low whistle.
“Well, shit,” Hati mutters, tilting his head slightly. “I think I’ve got something.”
Everyone looks up, interest immediately piqued. A sense of relief washing over us. “What is it?” I ask.
He smirks, spinning the tablet around and sliding it across the table toward me. “Take a look at these names.”
I glance at the tablet, seeing the list of hunters we’ve been looking into. They’re all victims of the bombings. But something else jumps out at me, a common thread I hadn’t noticed before.
“These are the hunters who were targeted,” I mutter, scanning the list again. “What’s the connection?”
Hati leans back in his chair, tapping his fingers against the table with a knowing grin. “All of them were part of the same raid a few years ago. The one that went south.” He says looking up, a darkness now in his eyes.
Recognition dawns, “The one where they killed those kids and that woman? That was a mess. They took out a bunch of paranormal, but the collateral damage…”
“Families of quite a few of the paranormal they’d employed to help them. To say it was a shitshow is an understatement.”
“How come I don’t know about this?” Callie asks, “How old were these kids?”
“Young, the oldest child killed in the raid was twelve and the youngest was two. Marcus Crowe’s kid and well, it turned out his wife was pregnant too.” Kato’s voice is thick.
“What the fuck! They weren’t held accountable for killing innocents?”
Bruce’s face darkens as he leans in to study the tablet. “You’re telling me all the hunters who’ve been bombed were involved in that raid?”
“Every last one of them. The only place that deviates is SableTech and the breach is reason enough to bomb it. I’m sure that the bomb was expected to take out the servers and destroy all evidence.” Hati looks between us. “The other thing is that the only one who was affected that is still alive or not already locked up to seek revenge would be Marcus Crowe himself.”
My mind is already racing, “The man’s a warlock. He was instrumental in helping the hunters take down quite a few cells of paranormal terrorists before the attack. After the attack he disappeared into oblivion.”
“What magic does he have?” Callie asks.
“Confidential,” Hati shrugs. “The hunters did a great job scrubbing any trace of that information. My guess is that they didn’t want their enemies to know what was coming.”
“You think he’s the one behind this?” Bruce asks, his brows furrowing.
Hati shrugs. “If it were me, and I lost my family to a bunch of trigger-happy hunters, I’d be pissed enough to blow things up too. He’s got the motive.”
I stare at the names on the screen, feeling a knot tighten in my gut. “If Crowe is our guy, he’s not working alone. The bombings were too precise. Someone else is helping him.”
Kato nods, his expression grim. “We need to dig deeper into Crowe’s connections. Figure out who’s working with him and why. This is bigger than just revenge.”
“If we can even find anything on him.” Callie grumbles to herself.
“We will,” I say and push away from the table. There are two people I’d bet my life will be able to help us, Minna and Val. Which means once again I need to show up at Val’s doorstep asking her for help. At least this time I’ll actually have something to say.