Читать книгу Special Assignment - Ann Voss Peterson - Страница 11

“Who’s that?”

Cassie watched Angel’s black-lipsticked lips form the words between chews on her ever-present wad of gum. It was amazing the gum didn’t get caught on the silver ball piercing her tongue.

Cassie shrugged and brought her attention back to the copy machine Angel had managed to break for the third time this month. She had an important case to attend to, protocols to decipher, algorithms to test. She didn’t have time for fixing machines and speculating about the face on the reception area’s security monitor. Knowing Angel, she could be talking about the UPS man and had just forgotten what he looked like since the delivery he’d made the day before.

“I’d sure like to meet him. He’s hot.”

Not the UPS man. He was cute, but at five-foot-nothing and prematurely balding, Cassie doubted Angel would call him hot. Of course, if he traded in his brown shorts for black and threw in multiple piercings, who knew?

Angel grabbed Cassie’s arm, long black talons poking through her cotton sweater. “You got to look, Cass. Tell me what you think.”

Cassie sighed. There was no use ignoring Angel at times. The PPS receptionist was a force. A force that broke copy machines and had apparently decided Cassie was her buddy. Probably because Cassie didn’t talk back.

Abandoning the copier, Cassie stuck her head around the cubicle wall separating the copy/fax area from the rest of reception.

Mike Lawson peered from the security monitor. Purple bruises covered his jaw and crept up one cheek. One eye was ringed in black and purple like a cartoon cliché. And other than the purple and black and angry red scrapes, he was pale as the snowcaps on the mountains. He looked like the undead. No wonder Angel found him hot.

Not that Cassie did or anything.

She tried to ignore the warm tremor that danced in her stomach seemingly every time she saw the tall, dark and serious cop. There was only one explanation for his presence at PPS this morning. He must have decided to take Evangeline up on her job offer.

Great.

Evangeline wouldn’t be this concerned about a hearing technician deciphering a disk. William Leonard, or Lenny as everyone called him, the senior technician at PPS had worked on countless intricate cases and never once had Evangeline insisted he have a babysitter.

A flush of anger heated her cheeks. Would she never be allowed to show what she was capable of doing? Would well-meaning people always insist on coddling the deaf girl?

She glanced at Angel. She didn’t know what the receptionist was waiting for, but she hadn’t taken a step out of the copy area. She set the toner cartridge she was holding on a nearby countertop and turned to Angel, making her signs so simple and clear that even Angel could understand. Why don’t you greet him?

Angel shook her head hard, her black, spiked do so stiff with spray not a single hair moved. “Me?”

Angel picked the damnedest times to start being shy. It’s your job. You’re the receptionist.

“Oh, yeah, you’re right.” Angel ducked out of the printing and fax area and scampered to her desk.

As soon as Angel left, Cassie made her way down a short hall to the glassed-in area that protected the servers and most of the tech equipment at PPS from the dust and hustle of the offices and cubicles where the agents worked. She slipped behind a bank of servers.

She wasn’t ready to face Mike Lawson. Just one glimpse of him in the reception desk monitor made her feel as jittery as a teenage girl. Not the feeling she was after. This was the first case she’d worked on solo, the first time Evangeline had trusted her with something really big. She needed to prove she could do as good a job as any hearing person. A better job. And being around Mike Lawson, having him babysit her, didn’t make her feel exactly capable.

A gentle hand tapped her shoulder.

She whirled around to face Lenny, her brilliant coworker who all but ran the technology department. His fire-red hair stuck out in several spots, as if he’d slept at his desk last night instead of going home. Again. No one was as dedicated as Lenny.

“Who are you hiding from?” Lenny’s lips formed the words.

My bodyguard, she signed.

He gave her an odd look. Lenny might be brilliant, but he wasn’t as well versed in relating to humans as he was relating to computers. He probably thought she really was hiding from her bodyguard.

Well, wasn’t she?

She stepped out from behind the servers. Just kidding, she signed.

Lenny nodded as if he still didn’t understand. “It’s cool you have a bodyguard. I mean you work to protect other people’s bodies, it’s about time someone protects yours, right? You’re lucky.” He shrugged a skinny shoulder.

Lucky? Her fingers raced. I don’t want to be lucky. I want to be respected.

The grin fell from Lenny’s freckled face and he stared at her blankly.

She took a deep breath. Whenever she got upset, she signed too fast for anyone at PPS to keep up. Even poor Lenny the genius couldn’t keep track of her flying fingers. But she hated speaking out loud. Just the thought that other people could hear her voice and she couldn’t made her feel uncomfortably out of control.

She let out a sigh. Never mind. I’m just blowing off steam.

Lenny offered her an awkward smile, as if he still didn’t understand her but didn’t want to be rude enough to say so, and shuffled back to his workstation.

Cassie watched him go, guilt clamping down on her shoulders. Of course Lenny would think having a bodyguard was cool. He was working on sensitive projects, too, yet he had no bodyguard. Further evidence Evangeline was going out of her way to take care of the deaf girl.

The change in air flow alerted her to the open door. She glanced over to find herself face-to-face with Mike Lawson.

Angel was right. Even with the battered face and swollen eye, he was hot. A fact that only made this moment all the more awkward.

Don’t look so excited, he signed.

She gave him a frown.

Which way to the large conference room?

The briefing. Of course. She’d been so shaken about Mike Lawson’s appearance, she’d all but forgotten the case. Her first big case. Her chance to prove what she could do.

She marched to the conference room, feeling Mike’s presence behind her even though she couldn’t hear his footfalls on the terra-cotta tile. She pushed through the conference room’s double doors. The large conference table stretched in front of them, empty chairs ringing its circumference.

Where were the other agents? Had she gotten the wrong conference room?

Evangeline breezed through the door behind them. “Shall we get started?”

Cassie frowned in her boss’s direction. Where is everyone?

“The disk’s decryption concerns only the two of you. Please take a seat. We need to get started.” Evangeline focused on Mike. “Glad you decided to take me up on my offer, Detective. After yesterday, I wasn’t sure you’d make it.”

“Funny. I got the feeling you were far too sure.”

Cassie tore her gaze from Mike’s lips and slipped into the closest chair. Mike folded himself into the seat next to her. Evangeline strode to the head of the table and punched a few buttons on the laptop. An image materialized on the screen in front of them. Movie star Nick Warner gazed from the screen with fierce determination in a famous scene from his action film Sayonara, Baby.

Cassie felt Mike shift beside her.

Evangeline gave Mike a pointed look. “I’m sure the two of you have heard about Nick Warner’s death.”

Mike glowered.

Cassie didn’t know what was going on, but it was clear Mike wasn’t expecting Evangeline’s reference to the deceased movie star. And he wasn’t happy about it.

His lips tightened as they formed the words. “Is that why you wanted me on this case? Something to do with Warner?”

Evangeline returned his gaze unfazed. “I wanted you on the case for the reasons I gave you. Of course, any knowledge you have about Nick Warner will be appreciated.”

“I don’t know anything about him.”

“I heard he came to the Denver film festival at least partially to meet with you.”

“I never spoke to him.”

“You did talk to people who worked for him, though.” Evangeline’s expression made it clear she was not asking a question but stating a fact.

It seemed there was more to Evangeline’s selection of Mike as her bodyguard than his knowledge of American Sign Language. Much more. Cassie watched Mike for an answer.

“I talked to them long enough to tell them I was not going to let them option my story, no matter what they paid me.”

“Who did you talk to? Specifically?”

Mike shifted in his chair, as if the answer made him uncomfortable. “Mitchell Caruthers.”

Evangeline nodded. “You know, Caruthers set Nick Warner up to be killed?”

“It doesn’t surprise me.”

“He endangered Nick, his wife and their four-year-old daughter.”

Cassie had heard the talk about Nick’s wife and little girl. Even neck deep in computers, she couldn’t miss that story. Especially the gossip about the budding relationship between the widowed Mrs. Warner and PPS agent Jack Sanders.

“Specifically, Detective, do you remember Caruthers mentioning anything to you about a list?”

“A list? A list of what?”

“That’s what we need to know.”

“Listen, I don’t know anything about Caruthers beyond the fact that he said he worked for Nick Warner. He said nothing to me about a list.”

Cassie eyed Evangeline. How did you hear about this list? she signed.

“Caruthers told Jack.” Evangeline glanced at Mike. “Agent Jack Sanders, that is. He referred to it as a list of names. Jack thinks it has something to do with investments Caruthers made with money he stole from Nick Warner. Unfortunately that’s about all we know. We have no idea if this list contains the names of investors, or the names of companies or what exactly. But I aim to find out.”

Is that what is on the disk? Cassie signed the question.

“Perhaps. Perhaps it’s something else entirely. The disk showed up at our office after Nick Warner’s death. But we don’t know who sent it. Or what data it contains. I guess you’ll have to decipher it to find out how it’s connected to this list. Or if it’s connected at all.”

“But you think it is connected,” Mike said.

Evangeline nodded. “The timing was too much of a coincidence. And I don’t believe in coincidences.”

Neither did Cassie.

“There’s more.” Evangeline focused on Mike. “Caruthers mentioned a specific name in connection to all of this. Milo Kardascian.”

Mike frowned. “The CEO of Vasco Pharmaceuticals.”

“The same.” She tapped a key on her computer and the screens in front of them flashed a picture of the multimillionaire.

Cassie recognized the man’s prominent flat nose and heavy jowls. PPS had provided security at parties he’d attended. She’d worked on the technical support end of the surveillance teams, though she didn’t know much about Kardascian personally. Just that the hard look in his eyes had given her the creeps. How is he involved in this? she asked.

Evangeline focused her attention on Cassie. “That’s what we need to find out. He might know something about this list, or something about the cipher or ciphers needed to read that disk. I’ve had no luck reaching Mr. Kardascian, but I have it from a reliable source that he’s vacationing in his cabin west of Denver. I need you to visit him in person, find out what he knows.”

Cassie straightened in her seat. I can go while the computer is running my next set of algorithms.

“The two of you can go.”

The two of them? Wasn’t that overkill? What was Mike supposed to do? Hold her hand? I don’t need a bodyguard to talk to the CEO of a respected company.

Evangeline shook her head. “Actually, you might be happy to have that bodyguard around Mr. Kardascian. Isn’t that right, Detective Lawson?”

Cassie turned to look at Mike.

A muscle tensed along his jaw. “Don’t tell me. You also brought me aboard because I’m acquainted with Milo Kardascian, or is that just a coincidence, too?”

Evangeline gave a calm smile in answer. “Any additional questions or comments?”

Cassie had dozens of comments. Though she doubted any of them would change Evangeline’s mind.

“Good. Report back to me after you talk to Kardascian. Don’t let her out of your sight, Detective. And, Cassie?”

The terse look on Evangeline’s face caused a hitch in Cassie’s stomach. She raised her eyebrows at her boss, conveying the fact that she understood. And was listening.

“Do your job. Nothing more. I need you back here in one piece to run those decryption programs.”

CASSIE WHIRLED to face Mike as soon as they pulled out of the PPS underground parking garage. What do you know about Milo Kardascian? What isn’t Evangeline telling me?

Kardascian. Not one of Mike’s favorite topics.

Hands on the steering wheel, he turned his head toward Cassie, to give her a clear view of his lips. “He’s not a nice guy.”

She stared, waiting for him to go on.

“He has a nasty habit of beating up women. When I was still on patrol, I was called to his house at the Polo Grounds a few times.” He didn’t need to tell her the rest. Ancient history. And not one of his prouder moments.

He caught the movement of Cassie’s fingers from the corner of his eye.

Then he’ll be defensive around you. I’ll ask him the questions.

He’d known from the first time he’d met Cassie that she was independent. He hadn’t realized she had a chip on her shoulder the size of the Rocky Mountain range. “Listen, I’m betting a self-absorbed bastard like Kardascian doesn’t know one word in ASL. How are you going to ask him anything?”

“I can talk when I have to.”

Her voice sounded low and rich. The inflections were a little flat, but her voice was still the sexiest he’d ever heard. He’d forgotten Cassie hadn’t always been deaf, unlike Tommy, who’d been deaf from birth. “Why don’t you talk more? You have a great voice.”

I don’t like not knowing how I sound, she said, back to using her hands.

“You sound beautiful. Sexy.” He didn’t know what had made him admit that out loud. He and Cassie were working together, not dating. He needed to keep things all business between them. And besides, even if something could happen between them, he didn’t need to add letting Cassie down to his list of screwups. But even knowing all that, the words had slipped out and he hadn’t wanted to bite them back.

She shook her head as if impatient with him. Regardless of how my voice sounds, I can make him understand me just fine. Don’t worry.

At least one of them had her head together. At least where aimless flirting was concerned. “Kardascian not being able to understand you is only one problem with you questioning him.”

I can handle him.

Maybe she could, maybe she couldn’t. Nothing against Cassie, but he wasn’t about to let her try. “It’s my job to protect you, Cassie. You’re going to have to let me do it.”

Her fingers flew with lightning speed. I’ve been working on the disk. I know more of the background on the case. I will be the one asking the questions. I’m good at my job, Detective. Just because I can’t hear—

“Whoa. Wait a minute. You might want to twist this into an argument about your deafness, but that has nothing to do with why I don’t want you near Kardascian. He’s one brutal bastard. Pure and simple. I can protect you. And damn it, I’m going to. You’re in charge of decryption, and I’ll take care of Kardascian and anything else that’s dangerous. If you have a problem with that, take it up with Evangeline.”

She crinkled her eyebrows and turned her head away, peering out the window at the foothills and gullies scrolling past. Auburn curls draped over her cheek, shielding her face from view.

So much for making his point. He wasn’t sure she’d chosen to take in a word he said. With a hearing woman, he could make her listen, or at least drone on for his own amusement. Cassie could shut him out with the turn of her head. There was nothing he could do to bring her focus back to him…unless he grasped her arm and physically turned her.

He pushed that idea as far from his mind as he could get it. He was attracted enough to Cassie Allen. He sure didn’t need to add physical contact into the equation.

The pavement curved south and climbed sharply. He focused on the road ahead, squinting into the sun. Pain stabbed his swollen eye like an ice pick jamming into his brain. At least he no longer had a hangover. Yesterday the sun would have killed him.

At least that would have made Cassie happy.

Twenty silent minutes later, they crested the ridge. He located the address and wound down the long driveway. Kardascian’s mansion hung on the side of the mountain, a log cabin with so much glass it was hard to figure out just where logs came into play. “Pharmaceuticals pay well, that’s for damn sure,” he said to himself.

He parked near the front walk and climbed from the car. By the time he’d circled to the passenger side, Cassie was out and smoothing her skirt with the palms of her hands. He stepped in front of her so she would have to look at him. “Are we on the same page?”

She pressed her lips together. Setting her chin, she stepped around him and marched up the stairs.

So much for their argument on the drive. He started after her, drawing even before she reached the front door. Extending a finger, he stabbed the doorbell.

The chime echoed through the house. The sound died, leaving only the spring chatter of birds and wind whistling through aspens and evergreen bows.

Cassie punched the doorbell, the chimes ringing a second time.

Still no answer. Mike stepped through the carefully landscaped bed surrounding the front step and cupped his hand against the garage window to shield the sun’s reflection. The red gleam of a convertible Corvette shone from one of the bays. A heavy-duty SUV hulked in another. And in the third, a chromedecked Harley. Only a fraction of his vehicle collection. The rest must be at his high-rise condo in Denver, the place he’d moved after signing his house at the Polo Grounds over to his ex-wife. Or maybe one of his other half-dozen homes.

Whatever his vehicle situation, the lack of empty garage bays didn’t mean he wasn’t driving a different expensive vehicle. Or that he didn’t use a car service. But there was something else about the garage that bothered Mike. Something that didn’t feel right.

The door. He looked closer. Sure enough, the door from garage to house was open. A minute ticked by, yet no movement came from the house. He focused on that open door. A smudge of something marred the pristine white steel just below the knob. Something brownish…

Blood?

There were a myriad of other possible explanations—dirt, chocolate, who knew what? But that didn’t explain the bad feeling chomping at the back of Mike’s neck like an attack dog. He signed to Cassie. Go back to the car. I’m going to take a look around.

Cassie shook her head.

Damn. He might be paranoid, but he couldn’t take the chance. The last thing he needed was for Cassie to get caught up in something bad. He wasn’t going to let that happen. This could be serious, Cassie. And you’re unarmed. I might have had my badge suspended, but at least I have my personal weapon. You’re going to have to do what I say. Go back to the car, lock yourself in and call 9-1-1. If anything happens, get the hell out of here. He tossed her the keys.

She caught them, hesitated, then nodded.

Mike waited until he saw her climb into the car, slam the door and hit the electronic locks before he circled the house.

The house’s doors were locked, windows secured. If he had a real reason to believe someone was in imminent danger inside, he’d break a window and let himself in. As it was, a hunch didn’t cut it with the law. He was already going out on a limb by calling the sheriff’s department out here all based on a brownish smudge and a bad feeling.

He circled the side of the log cabin. Four windows cut into the logs on this side of the house. He peered inside each one. A formal living room. A study. Rich earth-toned furniture, plush carpet and rough-hewn stone fireplaces decorated each space. The rooms looked spotless and utterly vacant, as if the only one who ever set foot in the place was the cleaning lady.

So why had she missed the smudge on the inside garage door?

After he’d circled about half the house, the ground fell away into a steep slope. Decking loomed overhead, arranged in three layers. The entire back of the house was glass, gleaming in the sunlight.

Mike stepped to the sliding glass door on the lowest level and peered inside. A shape loomed dark against white carpet. A prone body.

Gripping either side of the door, Mike fought the sliding door free of its lock and lifted it off the track. An alarm screamed through the house. He scanned the room for movement as he raced to the body.

Kardascian.

Blood bloomed from the millionaire’s chest, soaking his thick cotton sweatshirt and seeping into the white berber. His labored breathing rasped raw in the silence.

The bullet must have pierced a lung. The man was drowning in his own blood.

Grabbing the sweatshirt, Mike shoved it up Kardascian’s thick torso, exposing a small gunshot wound oozing blood. He needed something airtight to seal the hole in the lung. And he needed it now.

He sprang to his feet and scanned the room. Weight machines of every type imaginable dotted the space. A covered hot tub filled the adjacent room, visible through glass doors. A wet bar nestled in the corner.

Mike raced for the wet bar. He rifled through cupboards until he found a box of garbage bags. Pulling one free, he headed back to Kardascian.

Please, let him still be alive.

The CEO’s breath rasped, bubbling through blood.

Mike fitted the plastic bag tight to the wound. Centering his weight over the man, he pressed down on Kardascian’s chest. “Hold on, man. You’re going to pull through this.”

The sucking sound stopped. So far, so good. But Mike had no way of knowing how much blood was already in Kardascian’s lungs. Judging from the gurgling sound, it wasn’t a small amount.

The millionaire watched him through glassy eyes. He opened his mouth, straining for breath. Fighting. He thrashed his hands weakly, already slipping away.

Mike adjusted his weight, trying to keep up the pressure. The carpet squished beneath him. How much blood had Kardascian lost?

A gasp cut through the room.

Mike looked up and into Cassie’s rounded eyes. “Did you call for help?”

She nodded. She raced to his side, obviously eager to do something, anything to assist him. But there wasn’t anything she could do. There wasn’t anything either of them could do. Milo Kardascian was dead.