Читать книгу Protecting Holly - Lynn Bulock - Страница 10

“You are so lucky.” Sara Phelps straightened a stack of papers fresh from the copier. “You know that everybody else in the Colorado Springs office wants your job, don’t you?”

Holly Vance waved a hand in her friend’s direction. She couldn’t imagine what Sara said being true. “That has to be an exaggeration, Sara. For one thing, ‘everybody’ in this office would only mean about three other people. And why would they want my job, anyway? I do the same things the rest of the assistants here do.”

When Holly told friends she worked for the FBI, they all thought her job must be terribly fascinating. She had to burst their bubble fairly frequently on that little fantasy. For the most part, working for the resident agency of the FBI in Colorado Springs was a lot like working for any other government office. The idea of the work might sound interesting to an outsider, but the day-to-day routine was just that most of the time…routine.

Holly knew that she went to work in a regular office building like most of the population. She spent hours on the computer and a lot of time just like this, queuing up for one of the printers or copiers in the suite of offices, processing a document for her boss, Jake Montgomery. The khakis and sweater she wore on her slender frame weren’t any different from the work outfits of any of her friends. Television, she decided, had overplayed the image of working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Of course there was the fact that Jake could easily have played one of those TV FBI agents. His dark-blond good looks would make him a casting director’s dream. But Holly knew that personally, she’d never make the cut on a television casting call, and neither would most of the people working in the Colorado Springs office.

Sara leaned on the side of the copier and sighed. Holly thought she looked much younger than twenty-five some days, with her spiky hair and clothing choices that always skated to the limit of what the bureau would allow its support personnel to wear. Today her slacks were gray pinstripe, but tailored in such a way that one wrong move would have exposed the tattoo that Holly knew covered the small of her friend’s back. Watching Sara made her feel even older than the twenty-nine she was, and like a much more seasoned veteran of the bureau.

“Maybe you do the same things,” Sara said, waggling deep burgundy polished nails. “But consider how you do them, and who you get to do them for. If either of the special agents I worked with were half as cool as Jake Montgomery, I’d be so happy.”

Holly picked her own documents out of the print tray. She hardly knew what to say to Sara. Jake probably did seem like the coolest guy in the Colorado Springs office. With his specialization in computers, he didn’t have some of the same restrictions or duties as the other special agents, so he was a little more fascinating than the rest of the professionals on staff. On top of that, he was a Colorado Springs native with plenty of history behind him. Most of the other agents were transplants from somewhere else, some still serving their first assignment probationary period with the bureau.

Still, it was hard to believe that working for Jake could be perceived as that big a plum. Colorado Springs wasn’t even that big an FBI office to begin with. There were only eleven people in the FBI offices in the brick building tucked away on a downtown side street, and six of those people were support staff like her, or other non-agent personnel.

“So you think working for Mr. Montgomery would be a cool thing, huh?” He might look handsome and glamorous, but Holly wondered how Sara would handle Jake’s constant flights into programming language. Most of it didn’t begin to resemble English when he started discussing the complex computer work that he did. Of course, most of it made sense to her, because she’d been assisting him for two years now. And the lingo wasn’t even the most challenging part of working with Jake.

Sara wrinkled her nose. “Well, usually. Not right now, though. I have a life already.”

Holly didn’t even have to ask what that reference was about. “I know. And thanks so much for reminding me that I don’t have one.”

Sara’s cheeks colored. “Hey, Holly, I didn’t say that.”

Holly smiled. “It probably wasn’t even what you meant. But if Jake really has to find all that information on the computers they took in the drug raid, and find it before the trial starts later this month, neither of us is going to have a life until it’s finished. And we all know that’s going to be harder on my boss than it is on me.”

Any casual reader of the Colorado Springs Sentinel’s society pages could tell you that normally, Jake Montgomery had a life. He had, in fact, one of the most glamorous and best documented lives in Colorado Springs. As the mayor’s son and one of the most eligible bachelors in the city, there always seemed to be pictures of Jake’s handsome face in the paper, getting out of his bright-red Viper for a charity event, or partying in a well-tailored tuxedo somewhere.

Holly wondered how much of that would go by the wayside between now and Alistair Barclay’s trial. The shady hotel tycoon was accused of everything from racketeering to running the biggest drug ring the city had seen in over a decade.

The FBI had given Jake the job of going over the computer files taken from Baltasar Escalante, head of the Venezuelan crime family Barclay had been accused of working for, in order to nail down Barclay’s prosecution. From what little her boss had told her, they were going to be working some unbelievable hours until all the information was deciphered. That didn’t really go along with Jake’s usual round of holiday parties and charity events right before Christmas.

It was hard for Holly to feel sorry for him on that score. If anyone had asked her—which no one was going to—she would have said that Jake Montgomery spent too much time flitting from one party to the next with a bevy of escorts. Surely at almost thirty-five he was getting ready to settle down.

“Hey, you still in there?” Sara teased, waving a hand near Holly’s face.

Okay, so maybe thinking about her good-looking boss led to a little daydreaming once in a while. Holly gave a wry grin. “Sure am. Just thinking about all the stuff I’m going to be doing around here in the next month. Of course, I might be talked into trading jobs with someone who only had to organize the office party and the gift exchange on top of a normal schedule.”

Sara shook her head emphatically. “No way. Like I said, Holly, most of the time I envy you because you work for Jake Montgomery. Now isn’t most of the time.”

“That’s true.” Holly knew what Sara’s answer would be even before she gave it. And in truth, that was the only reason that Holly offered to switch jobs with her friend, even in fun. Because when it came down to it, Holly Vance knew that her time every day with Jake was what kept her going. Prayer and her faith held her together through the dark nights, and working with Jake kept her going through the long days.

No matter how many hours of challenging work she put in, she wouldn’t trade for another job. There were cushier jobs out there, and there were better paying jobs out there, but none of them had the fringe benefit of working side by side with Jake eight to ten hours a day. There wasn’t a benefits package out there anyplace that could take the place of watching her handsome boss do what he was best at.

Holly finished her last bit of copying. “Tell you what. I’ll ask you again when this trial is over some time in January. Once you’ve watched Mr. Montgomery pace around snarling for a couple weeks trying to decipher all those files, we’ll see if you still want to trade jobs.” It was an easy offer to make. Jake might be charming to look at, but he growled like a tawny tiger when things didn’t go his way.

Sara’s smile was a little faded. “Sure.” She picked up her papers and headed toward her office down the hall. “But for now I better get back to planning the party.”

For a moment Holly wished that Christmas parties were all she was planning. But she already had an idea how much this prosecution meant to Jake, and to so many other people she knew. This might not be the most festive Christmas she ever had, but if the government won its case against Alistair Barclay, there would be plenty to celebrate later.

“You want this guy as badly as I do.” There was a note of surprise in Rose D’Arcy’s voice. The petite assistant district attorney seemed to be taking a fresh look at Jake. It always amused Jake that one of the toughest legal pit bulls in the county came packaged in this tiny redheaded person.

“Why do you look so surprised? Thanks to him and his crew I could have lost my brother. I know it’s not like Barclay pulled the trigger, but the man who shot Adam was working for him as much as he was anybody.”

Rose shrugged. “Him and Baltasar Escalante. But we can’t put Escalante on trial yet.”

“Not until somebody finds him. And I don’t expect that to happen anytime soon.” Escalante, the drug lord who made the activities of some of the sleaziest crooks in Colorado Springs possible, had managed to escape during the raids on his Venezuelan compound. “But at least Peter Vance got the goods on him.”

“Yeah, he did. With the two of you involved, this has been a great pretrial. He’s a friend of yours, isn’t he?”

“My best friend, from way back. Adam wasn’t the only one who’d risked his life taking on the La Mano Oscura drug ring. Peter built this case for years before you and I got hold of it.”

Jake tapped a stack of computer disks with a slim finger. “Now if I can just tie all this back to Barclay and find the corresponding info on his computer, at least we can put him away for a few decades. And maybe that will give us the time to find Escalante and put him away, too.”

“Yeah, well that’s possible. But I’m not here to congratulate you on helping us to convict Barclay, even though I’ll be cheering you every step of the way. I’m here to remind you to be even more careful than usual while you do it.”

“That will be hard to do.” Jake tried to sound more cool and calm than he felt. “I’m always careful to a fault.” For a change the work-issue sidearm in his shoulder holster felt like a comfort instead of an annoyance.

“Says the man who has paid so many moving violation tickets he’s paid for his own Colorado Springs patrol car.” Rose’s grin was wolfish.

“It can’t be that high. Maybe a scooter by now. Or part of the winter feed for one of the horses. But not a whole patrol car yet. It’s the car, anyway. A red Viper just screams ‘ticket me,’” Jake grumbled. “And the Escalade isn’t any more cop friendly. When I switch over to that when winter starts, it’s just as bad.”

“You could drive something more sedate.” Rose’s expression told Jake she knew that wasn’t going to happen. “Parking tickets aside, I know you’re a pretty safe guy for being FBI. But I don’t trust any of these guys that are still out on the street. Escalante may have vanished, but a lot of money vanished with him. And it would be in his best interests if Barclay walked. Or even better, if he died quickly and quietly and the evidence never materialized.”

Jake waved a hand in dismissal. “Not possible. You and your boss already have plenty of evidence to convict Barclay and put him away for longer than his natural life expectancy. And I know everybody’s watching him like a hawk after what happened to that doctor.” They might be months further along in this process if Escalante hadn’t gotten to his plant within Doctors Without Borders so quickly. After that jail-house murder, nobody was leaving Barclay alone for a moment.

“It’s still not enough to tie him to Escalante, which is just the way everyone would like it. I mean it, Jake. These guys play rough, and they play for keeps.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Jake knew he was beginning to sound aggravated. “I’ve been involved in this for months. I’ve seen what they can do.” Adam was still recovering from being shot months ago during a drug robbery at the Venezuelan clinic he’d been working in for Doctors Without Borders.

“I have, too.” Rose sounded grim. “I just don’t want to see any more of it this close to home. Don’t forget you’ve got one of my favorite cousins working for you, mister. I want her kept in one piece.”

Jake had to think about that one a minute. This tiny terror was related to Holly? Of course. When she wagged her finger in his face as she was doing now, she looked just like her aunt, Holly’s mother. Marilyn D’Arcy Vance had terrorized a couple generations of Colorado Springs high schoolers before moving on to another job.

“Holly? No need to worry on that score. I wouldn’t let anybody touch Holly. If I lost her, the office would fall apart.”

Rose grimaced, wrinkling her pug nose. “Glad to know you’re so fond of her on such a personal basis, Jake.”

Jake shrugged. “Dates are easy to get. But a good assistant…I couldn’t replace her if I tried.”

“See that you don’t have to. I’m holding you personally responsible for her safety, as well as your own. The task force is already spread pretty thin cleaning up the loose ends of Diablo.”

Jake knew there were still branches of the crime syndicate active in and around Colorado Springs. The task force didn’t need to worry about him as well. “We’ll be okay. Go get some rest. Go home and have dinner with your feet up.”

Rose made a most unladylike noise in dismissal of that comment. “Right, like that’s going to happen anytime the rest of this year. Maybe after the trial.”

The two said their goodbyes and Jake went back to his desk. There was still plenty to do in order to nail Alistair Barclay. It was a good thing he didn’t have one particular woman in his life right now, because if he had, she would be plenty peeved at him. Rose was right. Cracking this case was going to take every waking hour for the next few weeks.

On Wednesday Holly got to work at seven-thirty in the morning, sure that she would have a clean desk for a change. There was plenty of space in the parking garage this early for her Jeep, and the roads were clear of the light snow that had fallen the previous day.

She’d stayed until seven the night before, leaving only when Jake promised that he was right behind her on the way out. One look at her work station told her that was a promise he hadn’t kept. There were three files with notes jotted in his awful handwriting all over the margins, and at least half a dozen sticky notes on the papers and her computer screen.

Sighing, she hung her coat on the rack, put down her coffee and started deciphering the notes. The most interesting said “Book us a working lunch at the Stagecoach.”

Jake hardly ever took her out to lunch unless he needed something special from her. Given the nature of the case he was working on, she could only imagine what kind of favors he was going to ask this time. She hoped it wasn’t canceling all his dates to the various charity balls and benefit parties this holiday season. Or ordering flowers as an apology for all his stood-up partners for those functions. She could handle a lot working for Jake, but some things were beyond her comfort level.

Still, she wouldn’t turn down going to the Stagecoach Café for lunch and sampling some of her aunt Lidia’s marvelous cooking. It was just cold enough this morning to hope that Lidia had made minestrone soup and chili to counteract the chill in the air.

By the time Jake came in at eight, Holly had dealt with all the sticky notes except one, and checked her e-mail for bureau updates and other business. Coffee was steaming in a thermal carafe and Jake’s blinds were open precisely enough to let the morning sun in without any glare on his computer screen, just the way he liked it.

Of course he would never notice any of that. Whistling, her handsome boss hung his wool topcoat on the coat rack and went straight for the coffee, where his favorite Colorado State Rams mug sat next to the carafe, upside down and spotless.

“Good morning, Holly.” Her heart leaped at the sight of him, as it did most mornings. By now Holly knew she was practiced enough at keeping her outside appearance calm that Jake never knew how he affected her. His charcoal suit fit like no off-the-rack garment ever could, and his dark-blond hair was cut just perfectly. She was glad to see that, because it was hard to guess when he might get time for a haircut during this case.

“Morning, Jake.” She waved the stack of sticky notes she’d piled up. “What happened to leaving here early enough to go by the Toys for Tots drive at your dad’s office?” Mayor Montgomery had kicked off the local drive with a well-publicized cookies and cocoa party, complete with Santa Claus in attendance. Holly had seen it on the local news last night, but Jake had been conspicuous in his absence.

Jake grimaced, making the laugh lines around his blue eyes crinkle. “So I didn’t quite get there on time. I managed to duck in before Santa left, though. And I brought lots of cool toys, too.”

“I’ll just bet. All of them had wheels, didn’t they?” After two years of being in this office, Holly knew that her boss’s weaknesses were few. He was a hardworking guy who may have gone to a lot of parties, but was seldom, if ever, photographed holding anything stronger than a cola. Cars, however, were another matter.

Jake grinned. “They might have had. Are we on for lunch?”

“We are. Twelve-thirty at your favorite table.” Jake was at the Stagecoach Café so often he had his own spot near the fireplace in the winter, and a prime corner on the patio in the summer. Of course it wasn’t usually Holly who was there with him, even though she often made the reservations.

No, Jake’s lunch companions at the Stagecoach Café were normally beautiful young women from the high society of Colorado Springs, and hardly ever the same one twice. Holly often wondered if it aggravated Jake’s mother as much as it aggravated her that the man flitted from one woman to the next at a speed faster than the processors in his computer.

No matter who else it bothered, his activity didn’t seem to bother Jake. He looked over the messages Holly had already started collecting in the half hour she’d been in and gave a low growl. “Okay, well, I probably won’t be out here much before lunch. Fend off all calls and visitors unless they’re family. And I mean yours, not mine.”

“What?” Jake didn’t often confuse her, but he was doing so now.

Jake’s smile made the laugh lines around his eyes crinkle a little more, making Holly’s heart race a little faster. “You haven’t gotten through all your e-mail, I see. My new ‘calls allowed’ list includes nobody besides Rose D’Arcy and the Vance family, specifically Maxwell, Travis, Peter and Sam.” Holly understood why her cousin Rose topped the list, as assistant district attorney. But it was odd to have Uncle Max and all three of her male cousins make up the rest of that list.

“Well, at least my family will know where I am and what I’m doing.” Holly laughed. “Nobody can grouse when they don’t get a Christmas card from me this year.”

She wasn’t about to tell Jake that nobody ever got a Christmas card from her except a few of the people she volunteered with at the Galilee Women’s Shelter. By the time she was done sending out all the business-oriented ones from the office most years, she was tired of looking at them. And this year nobody was going to get those, either.

“Hey, there are always fruitcakes.” That was what made working with Jake so much fun. He had a quick wit and sharp sense of humor. “No absolutely necessary meetings from inside today?”

Holly shook her head. “I made sure you were off the list for anything but the highest alert levels from the regional field office or Washington. You should be able to make Barclay your only priority for as long as it takes.”

“Ah, Holly, you’re too good to me.” She wasn’t sure what made her smile back so quickly—the words or the smile that went with them. Both made her feel just a little more inclined toward taking care of Jake Montgomery.

His door closed and Holly stared at it with a sigh. What would be more dangerous…Jake remaining happily oblivious about how much she cared for him, or Jake knowing just how much she cared? Either one broke her heart. In the long run, she decided, going back to her cooling coffee and insistent computer screen, having Jake know she cared would be even more dangerous. Because there was no way there could ever be anything between her and a man like Jake Montgomery.

Four hours later Holly was ready to wring her boss’s gorgeous neck. “For a man who doesn’t want to be disturbed, you sure are disturbing me plenty,” she said, coming into the office with his latest request off the shared printer down the hall. He had his own printer in the office, but it wasn’t of the quality of the networked one, nor could it handle some of the bigger demands he put on it. So Holly was the one bouncing up and down getting what he’d ordered.

This was on top of fending off all the calls from everyone who was sure Jake wanted to talk to them and the requests for other computer work from bureau personnel around the state who kept getting put on Jake’s ever growing waiting list. By the time he finished up Barclay’s evidence, he was going to have enough other cases to keep him busy until Memorial Day of next year, Holly was sure. And lucky her, she would be the one placating all those people while they groused about why Jake hadn’t gotten back to them yesterday.

Jake glanced over the documents she brought in. “Thanks. There’s got to be a pattern in this someplace. Maybe if I rearrange it and print it out a couple more times I’ll have the basis to his algorithm.”

His harried comment told her that Jake was still trying to crack the passwords to get into Barclay’s private files. More than likely, there were passwords on top of passwords. Jake would be a bear to be around until he’d found at least one or two levels of them. After a moment of her standing in front of the desk, Jake looked up again. “Something else?”

“We had a lunch date at twelve-thirty, remember?”

Startled, he looked at his watch. “It can’t be that late. But it is.” He stood, setting the papers aside. “Right. Want to ride with me?”

“Sure. Let me get my purse and I’ll be ready to go. But I’m not using my ‘in’ with the police department to get you out of any speeding tickets.”

Jake grinned. “You won’t have to. I think Sam told them to lay off me for the minor stuff as long as I’m working for the task force,” he said with a teasing grin. “Besides, it’s lunch hour in the middle of the city. I can’t go fast enough anyplace to get a ticket.”

He was right there. The short trip to the Stagecoach Café only took about ten minutes anyway, and before they knew it Jake and Holly were sitting beside the crackling fire, looking at the specials. She was happy to see that Aunt Lidia had put chili on the menu today, along with her famous minestrone. A baked potato loaded with Lidia’s chili was just the thing to take the chill off the day. Holly didn’t have to look any further on the menu.

They ordered and sat waiting for their food. Jake pulled out his leather-bound PDA, turning it on and looking over at Holly. “We’ve been working together too long for me to pull one over on you.”

“No such thing as a free lunch,” Holly said with a sigh. “What’s this one going to cost me?”

“Not as much as you might think. Just a little bit of Christmas shopping. You work with the shelter my mom’s so involved in, don’t you?”

She was surprised he’d noticed, even at the gala in October. “Galilee? Sure I do.” It was on the tip of her tongue to ask what that had to do with anything, but she held off. Jake never kept her in suspense long.

“I never know what to get Mom for Christmas. It’s the one gift I usually stew over all of December and frankly this year I don’t have the time. I figured maybe you could figure out something the shelter needs and arrange to get it done in her name.”

He told her what her budget was and Holly’s eyes widened. She didn’t spend that much on her own mom if she added up gifts for a decade. But then, she wasn’t a Montgomery, either.

Their food came, and the waitress served it quickly and left. Holly was ready to ask him what else he needed done when a silky voice greeted him someplace close behind her. “Jake, fancy seeing you here. Please, don’t get up.”

The tone of the woman’s voice said she didn’t mean that, but Jake took her at her word. Holly looked back at the petite blonde, dressed for the Colorado winter in a ridiculously formfitting leather jacket with fur trim. It was the kind of “fun” coat that only someone with as much money as the Montgomerys, and far less common sense, would own.

“Zoe Taylor, Holly Vance. Holly’s my assistant, Zoe.” The woman’s speculating look eased a little. Not that Holly could imagine this woman seeing her as a threat.

“Ah. Business lunch?”

“The first of many, I’m afraid. Which is why I left that message on your machine last night canceling our date for the mayor’s Christmas party.”

Zoe’s full pink lips drew into a pout. “I heard it, and I think you’re mean, Jake. How on earth do you think I’ll get someone else to go with me at this late date? You can’t possibly cancel.”

“I can, I’m afraid. Already have if you remember. Why don’t you give my cousin Brendan a call, see what he’s doing? Or if you like, I could do it for you…”

Zoe backed off in horror. “No, that won’t be necessary. I can still get my own dates to charity functions. I’ll see you later, Jake.”

After Zoe left, Holly and Jake finished their meal in relative silence and before she knew it, Holly was back in the front passenger seat of the red Escalade. It was a reminder of the passing seasons that Jake had garaged his sports car for the winter and brought out the heavier vehicle, still the same deep, glossy red as the Viper. “Okay, now where are we going?” she asked as Jake pulled out of the restaurant parking lot in the opposite direction she expected.

“Courthouse. I need to get one more thing from Rose.” Jake was silent for two blocks, whistling thinly through his teeth.

“That’s odd,” he blurted, making the turn for the courthouse’s underground garage.

“What is it?” It was a rare thing for Holly to see her boss agitated over something while driving.

“I thought for a minute…” Jake trailed off, checking frequently in the rearview mirror. “No, must have been mistaken. There are so many dark-blue SUVs around here. I can’t have really seen the same one three times in the course of one afternoon.”

Holly was inclined to agree with him. But if she did, what was making the hair on the back of her neck underneath the tight dark-brown French braid start to prickle in apprehension?