Читать книгу Suspicious Activities - Tyler Anne Snell - Страница 13

Chapter Four

The first address was in Colorado. The second was in Wisconsin. The third was in Arkansas. All appeared to be, according to an internet search, residential.

Jackson stared at his phone for a moment as if it would explain who lived at the addresses, why they had been sent to Nikki and who had sent them. His phone didn’t answer him, so he decided that a more personal search might yield better results. Like a dog after a bone, he grabbed another cup of water and tried to look casual as he walked into the lobby. Kelli looked up and smiled.

“Taking a break or done?” she asked.

Jackson made a show of stretching his muscles.

“A break,” he answered. “I thought I’d come up here and say hello again.”

Kelli’s smile seemed genuine as she said hello again. She offered him a seat in one of the plush chairs, which he declined with the excuse that he was on the sweatier side of comfort. She laughed and rubbed her belly. Absently Jackson wondered if she knew about his past, too.

“Sorry again about sending you after Nikki this morning,” Kelli said, expression truly apologetic. “I heard the two of you didn’t get off on the best foot when you met and Jonathan made the point that maybe the ride would help. But honestly, I don’t think Nikki is in the best of moods today.”

Jackson arched an eyebrow. He could get somewhere with this conversation now.

“So it isn’t just me that’s gotten her wound tight?” he asked, half laughing.

Kelli shook her head. “To be fair, her job requires her to be somewhat tightly wound but, no, I don’t think it’s wholly you.”

Jonathan found he was a bit relieved at that.

“I imagine running your own security agency can’t be easy,” he said, already gearing up to aim for a specific question. “You make friends, sure, but I bet you make some enemies depending on each bodyguard’s success.”

The expression on Kelli’s face seemed to darken momentarily, her eyes unfocusing enough to make Jackson believe she was thinking of the past, before her happy disposition snapped back into place.

“Understandably, this job can be very dangerous,” she said. “And understandably, that has made some people very angry.”

“I’d imagine some hold a grudge,” he added on. “You think any of them might act on it?”

Kelli gave him a questioning look, one that didn’t seem to be suspicious, but he knew that wasn’t far behind. He’d been an Orion employee for only a day and here he was, asking about the bad side of things.

“Sorry, I just don’t know much about this place,” he admitted. “I just want to know what I’ve signed up for, and like you said, I got off on the wrong foot already with the boss, so I’d like to not ask her about the people who might dislike her and her company.”

Kelli seemed to like his answer and smiled.

“To be honest, all the people I think would hold grudges and act on them are mostly locked away in a prison somewhere with no hope of leaving,” she said. “At least not for a very, very long time. Believe me, I’ve personally seen some of those people put away.”

Again, Jackson felt his eyebrow rise in question. At some point he’d need to sit down and ask Kelli what she meant by that, but now he wanted to push the question he’d really been targeting. “So there’s no one who could really mess with Nikki, then?”

As Kelli shook her head, Jackson saw a new thought seemingly pop up behind her eyes. She furrowed her brow, about to voice it, when the door behind them opened. Jackson turned, feeling weirdly guilty, but stopped when he saw Nikki and the expression across her face.

She was angry.

“Is everything okay?” Kelli asked, but the redhead was already moving past them at a fast, determined clip.

“You two go to the conference room and tell the boys to wait,” she called, halfway down the hall. Jackson shared a confused look with Kelli, who merely shrugged. They followed orders as the boss disappeared into her office.

“Is this normal?” Jackson asked the receptionist.

“No,” she whispered, “it’s not.”

He followed Kelli as she knocked quietly on the conference-room door before letting them in. Jonathan was sitting at the table, leaning over a file, while a man’s voice came through a phone speaker in front of him. The bodyguard looked up, curious at their intrusion.

“Hey, honey?” Kelli said out loud as she took a seat across from Jonathan. For a moment Jackson thought the nickname was directed at Jonathan, but then he realized it was directed at the man on speaker. “Sorry to interrupt, but I think something’s wrong.”

The man who must have been her husband, Orion Agent Mark Tranton, quickly took on an edge to his voice, alert.

“Are you okay? Are Grace and the baby okay?” he asked, clearly concerned about his daughter and pregnant wife.

“Oh, yeah, we’re fine,” she hurried, placing a protective hand over her stomach. “I meant something seems wrong with Nikki. She just told us to come in here and make sure you and Oliver were still on.”

Jonathan looked to Jackson, who gave a half shrug.

“Who’s ‘us’?” asked another man’s voice, which Jackson assumed belonged to Oliver Quinn.

“It’s the new recruit,” Jonathan added in.

“Jackson, right?” asked Oliver.

“That’s right,” Jackson answered.

“Nice to meet you,” Oliver continued. “Well, you know what I mean.”

Jackson was about to say he did when Nikki showed up. She walked into the room with such a fierce mask of concentration that for a moment all the other people in the room could do was stare wordlessly.

“Hello?” asked Mark into the silence.

“Mark, Oliver, it’s Nikki,” she greeted. She didn’t sit down and instead handed Jonathan a piece of paper. From Jackson’s post against the wall, he couldn’t tell what was on it. Apparently Jonathan didn’t understand it, either.

“I want to preface what I’m about to tell you with the fact that I think it’s no big deal,” Nikki said, “but this job has shown me the importance of being cautious, so I feel like I should bring you up to speed. You deserve at least that.”

Jackson didn’t understand the change in tone. Kelli looked at Nikki while Jonathan was focused on the paper. Why did she owe them anything? Wasn’t she the boss?

A thick silence blanketed the room. Nikki certainly had their collective attention.

Finally she spoke. “Last night I ran into Andrew Miller.”

* * *

LIKE SHE’D THOUGHT, Jonathan, Oliver and Mark had instantaneous reactions of anger. Nikki had half a mind to mute the speakerphone but knew she couldn’t do anything about the trainer in the room with them. So she let them all talk at the same time, words jumbling together. She was able to pick out three questions.

“Why?”

“Where?”

“What did he want?”

Nikki’s eyes traveled to Kelli, whose brows were pulled in together as she seemed to be trying to place the name, which she was sure sounded familiar to her new recruit. Jackson leaned against the wall, giving Nikki a stare she could only describe as puzzled. Like Kelli he was trying to put together pieces of information that he didn’t have.

Nikki wasn’t sure why she’d asked him to come into the conference room in the first place. Very few people knew about Andrew, even fewer knew why a visit from him was so startling. Kelli had probably heard the name from her husband, but Jackson? He was as new as they came. So, why had she let him in?

She tried to keep her eyes from moving across his bare arms, toned and strong, or any other part of his body highlighted in his gym clothes. She also tried not to feel a hot rush of attraction that pulsed through her when she locked eyes with him. Shifting her gaze back to the speakerphone, Nikki finally realized that maybe hiring Jackson Fields was a little more dangerous than she’d thought it would be.

“It was at a restaurant, not my home,” Nikki said when the men had quieted enough. “And I think he just wanted to blame someone for his mistakes in life.”

Cause—you destroyed me. Effect—now I’m going to destroy you. Nikki remembered his words clearly. So get ready, Nikki. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

But that didn’t mean she was going to repeat them. Andrew Miller had changed her life as well as Mark’s, Oliver’s and Jonathan’s in such a horrible and fantastic way that bringing up what the man really said, which she still believed to be an aggressive form of venting, would slice through the happiness they had all managed to find in the last few years. Andrew was a sore reminder of their collective tragic mistake. Nikki didn’t want them to fully revisit that by putting them up close and personal with the man. Which she knew would happen if she told her friends and employees about what he’d really said.

“And then he just left?” Oliver asked, voice noticeably deeper. Nikki fixed Jackson with a pointed stare as she answered.

“Yes,” she said. “No other incidents.”

Jackson’s eyes, some intangible coloring between gray and blue, stayed with her as his mouth remained shut. She also didn’t want the men to know about her car. There were other things to worry about now.

“But the real reason why I called,” Nikki said, swinging her attention back to Jonathan and the paper he held, “is what I received this morning attached to a box of chocolates.”

* * *

“A NOTE WITH three addresses on it,” Nikki started. Jackson pushed off the wall, standing at full attention. “Oliver, Mark, I sent you an email before I came in here with the information.” There was silence as the two seemed to be opening up their emails through their phones or laptops. Once they confirmed they were looking at the addresses, Nikki continued. “These addresses are the homes of one family. A mother in Colorado, her daughter in Wisconsin and her son in Arkansas.”

“A family?” Jonathan repeated. “Whose? And why would someone send this to you?”

Jackson watched as an already perfect-postured Nikki straightened even more so. Once again she started to form a fist but caught herself. She let her hand fall back to her side. Whoever the family was, she was invested in them. Nikki cleared her throat and when she answered she didn’t meet anyone’s eyes. Not even his.

“Morgan Avery’s.”

There was a lot of information passing around that Jackson’s lack of experience with the group was hindering him from understanding. However, he didn’t need to be “besties” with them to know that Morgan Avery meant something big to them. Even Kelli managed a gasp. He was sure that soon the trainer and the two on speakerphone would start their yelling at the same time, but Nikki found her voice before them.

“After what happened I kept tabs on her immediate family to make sure they were...” Nikki seemed at a loss for words for the first time since he’d met her. She shook her head slightly. “I contacted Elaine, Morgan’s mother, and asked if she’d been having trouble with anyone lately. She admitted to getting a few hang-up calls within the last month. Ones that didn’t show up on her caller ID. Her daughter, Melanie, and son, Jared, have also received similar calls in the last few weeks. Normally, I wouldn’t worry, but—”

“But someone sent you the addresses for a reason,” Jonathan interrupted.

Nikki nodded.

“It was Andrew,” Mark piped in. “It had to be him. Otherwise that’s a big heaping sack of coincidences.”

“I agree, Nik. The timing is too perfect,” Kelli piggybacked on her husband’s sentiment.

“But why would Andrew be sending you information on the Avery family of all people?” Oliver asked.

“Maybe to remind me of what happened, maybe just to make me nervous, heck, maybe to show that he’s still crafty?” Nikki said, demeanor cracking slightly. She was clearly frustrated.

Jackson wanted to ask who this Andrew was and why the Averys were so important, but he kept his mouth shut. He resolved to ask in private, not wanting to stop what the Orion boss and employees were working through.

“Either way,” Nikki said. “I want to cover all my bases. Mark, I’m pulling you from your current contract and putting Robert in charge. Then I’d like you to go to Colorado to check on Elaine. Jonathan and Oliver, I know you aren’t bodyguards anymore, but I’d like you two to go keep an eye on Morgan’s brother and sister just until we see if the other shoe drops, so to speak.”

Jonathan nodded, surprising Jackson, since, like Nikki said, he wasn’t a bodyguard.

“You can take Jackson along as a training exercise,” Nikki added, further surprising him.

“But then you’d be alone here,” Jackson said without missing a beat. “That doesn’t seem smart.”

Nikki rounded on him, nostrils flared slightly.

“Listen—” she began, but was cut off by Mark.

“He’s right, Nikki. You need to keep at least one bodyguard at Orion.”

“May I remind you he’s a new recruit and hasn’t been trained yet?” Nikki ventured.

Jackson almost told them right then and there about her car, but Jonathan swooped in.

“I’m not going until you agree to let him stay,” he said, arms crossing over his chest to show he meant business. The two on speaker backed him up with the same demand. Their closeness, Nikki, Jonathan, Oliver and Mark’s, was starting to show. Jackson wondered what had created the bond. And then wondered if Nikki had ever been intimate with one of them. Jealousy sprang up again. He tried to ignore it as Nikki let out a long breath.

“Fine,” she agreed. “Now, Kelli and I are going to go make travel arrangements and then we’ll contact you with your information. Just remember, this isn’t a contract. This is a courtesy visit, so please try not to alarm them.” Nikki sobered. “We owe them at least that.”

Jackson couldn’t help it.

“Why?” he asked the room.

And the room promptly ignored him.

The meeting broke up as they all went about their separate tasks. Jackson returned to the gym, where he finished his workout, taking out some new frustration at being left with little to no information. His fists thrummed, his legs vibrated and his head was filled with made-up explanations of what was going on. Orion was shaping up to be more complicated than he would have guessed.

“Hey, can I grab a second?”

Jackson turned as Jonathan sidled into the gym, closing the door behind him. The way he looked back at the door tipped off Jackson that whatever the trainer was about to tell him would somehow tick off the boss. Which made him nearly lean in closer as the man spoke. “I know you signed up for this yesterday and don’t have any formal training or, really, even know what’s going on, but I’m going to tell you one indisputable fact that Nikki isn’t admitting out loud. Hate is a very powerful motivator, wouldn’t you say?”

Jackson nodded, instantly jumping into his own past before Jonathan continued.

“Andrew Miller has made no issue in the past of showing that he hates Nikki. So, while I’m gone I need you to do me a favor.”

Jackson leaned in, already knowing he’d say yes to whatever it was, since the trainer had stuck his neck out for him. Plus, he really didn’t like the sound of Andrew.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Protect Nikki,” Jonathan said. “No matter what it takes.”