Covert Intents: A Branson Family Novella (3 page)

CHAPTER THREE

“
Oh
my gosh, so you just both almost died in the elevator?”

Rachel was surrounded by most of the computer engineering department at Baxter’s Bar & Restaurant the next evening, telling the story again. Everyone seemed fascinated, although Rachel tried to downplay the whole thing as much as she could.

Some people would enjoy being the center of attention like this, not Rachel.

When it became obvious she was not going to give a lot of juicy details, most of the people dispersed to talk about other, more interesting, things. Rachel may love to read stories, but she was not good at telling them.

Especially ones that started with her being rejected by the janitor for a date and ended with her lying on top of him surrounded by a half dozen of her colleagues.

Ryan and Lydia, the two computer specialists she’d become closest with, still sat with her even when the other college employees had moved on to more exciting conversations.

Lydia popped an olive from her drink into her mouth. “All I’m saying is that the janitor guy—“

“His name is Seth,” Rachel interrupted.

“Whatever. Hot janitor guy was holding you pretty protectively there on the ground,” Lydia finished.

“And then you threatened to call security. Way to go.” Rachel could feel herself blushing. “Anyway, it’s not like that. He’s not interested in me.”

Lydia rolled her eyes. “How do you know? You’re pretty, in a sexy librarian sort of way.”

Ryan seemed focused on something else and not even involved in their conversation, thank goodness.

Rachel’s flush grew deeper. “I sort of asked him out. To come here, tonight.”

That got Ryan’s attention. “You did?”

“Look, I don’t want to talk about it.” Rachel wanted to talk about this even less than she wanted to talk about the elevator incident. “Excuse me, I need to go to the restroom.”

She went upstairs and splashed some water on her face. She just needed a few minutes to pull herself together.

She then headed to the second floor balcony which held outdoor seating. It was a chilly October night, and she welcomed the breeze on her heated cheeks. Leaning back on the balcony railing she looked inside the bar. Ryan and Lydia seemed to be arguing, or at least discussing something pretty intently. Dr. Dale Hudson, a professor, had also joined their conversation.

Rachel didn’t know them well enough to know what they were talking about, and honestly didn’t care. She’d had enough drama for the week already.

She shouldn’t have come here. She thought she fit in with these people, but she really didn’t. She would rather be alone than make small talk.

Honestly, she’d rather be making small talk with Seth and his gorgeous green eyes, but that wasn’t going to happen. She turned away from the group inside to look out at the view of the Potomac River from the balcony. Others —singles, couples— were doing the same.

She was about to turn to go back inside and say her goodbyes when she felt someone slide up next to her. “Hey Rachel, you doing okay out here?”

It was Ryan, smiling at her, standing just a little too close.

“Um yeah.” Rachel nodded. “I’m fine. Just enjoying the view and the quiet.”

He scooted even closer so their shoulders were touching and she fought the urge to move away. Was Ryan just being friendly or was he trying to put some sort of move on her?

“Yeah, for a bunch of computer geeks, everybody in the engineering department sure can talk a lot. I just wanted to say I’m glad you’re okay after what happened in the elevator. That had to have been scary.” He ran a hand down then back up her back before sliding it across the shoulder of her sweater.

Okay, that was definitely a move. Rachel tried to step away, but Ryan kept her pinned.

“Ryan—“ She didn’t want to make a scene, but she also didn’t want Ryan touching her. She wasn’t interested in him in that way.

“I know you’re embarrassed about asking out the janitor and him turning you down.” His tone lowered and took on a ring of false intimacy as he leaned down to whisper in her ear. “But believe me, I can provide whatever you need, if you’ve got some frustrations you want to… get out. No need to go slumming.”

Rachel was insulted on so many levels she didn’t know which to address first. And Ryan was putting pressure on her shoulder with his hand to try to turn her towards him.

He actually thought she wanted to kiss him. Unbelievable.

She used the momentum he was providing with his hand to curve around towards him but then ducked under his arm. He obviously wasn’t expecting that and stumbled slightly before shooting her an annoyed look.

“No need to play hard-to-get, Rachel. You’re obviously looking for some company if you’re propositioning the janitor.”

Seth may not have the advanced degrees Ryan had, but Rachel would vouch for his character over Ryan’s. She would wager no one would ever find Seth forcing himself on a woman or taking advantage of a delicate state she might be in because of a life-threatening event.

“Look Ryan, I’m just not interested.” Rachel rolled her eyes at her own inability to say the much harsher things she wanted to. Things about equality and not judging a book by its cover. But she didn’t. She was terrible at confrontation.

Ryan was still facing the Potomac and Rachel was turned toward the restaurant. A man, large and bald, wearing a suit, was standing just inside the door watching her. Although he looked away and took a sip of his drink when she glanced that way, he still made her uncomfortable.

“Rachel…” Ryan turned around toward the building, then immediately stepped in front of her and turned back toward her, blocking the guy from her view.

He kissed her. His arms came around her like tentacles, moving up and around her back and shoulders, nearly knocking her purse to the ground.

She was too shocked to do anything at first, but then pushed against him. Hard. Fortunately, he took the hint and pulled back.

“Okay, another night then,” he said. “Don’t make me wait too long.” He turned and walked back into the restaurant.

Rachel resisted the urge to wipe her hand across her mouth. Barely. But at least when she looked back up, Ryan was gone. And the scary bald guy was nowhere to be found.

That was it, she was going home. She’d had enough excitement in the last twenty-four hours to last her the rest of the year. She straightened herself from the railing and walked inside, hoping she wouldn’t find Ryan wanting an encore. Because there very definitely would not be one.

Regardless of whether Seth wanted to go out with her or not, Rachel was not interested in Ryan. She had hoped to be friends with him, but now she wasn’t even sure she could be that. Definitely no more notes. She couldn’t believe how differently he’d behaved tonight than last week. He’d acted so friendly and normal.

Rachel was hoping to be able to sneak out of the restaurant without saying goodbye to any of the dozen or so faculty and graduate assistants who were still here. It was one of the advantages of being known as the shy lit instructor: scurrying off without saying goodbye was considered just a quirky part of her nature.

But Lydia caught her, dragged her over to a table.

“Hey, are you okay?” she said. “You were outside for a long time.”

Rachel shrugged; she definitely didn’t want to talk about what just happened. “When I came back from the bathroom it looked like you and Ryan and Dr. Hudson were in a pretty intense conversation and I didn’t want to interrupt. Then Ryan came outside and we were…talking.”

Lydia sighed. “Yeah, there’s some crazy mess going on in the lab. Missing elements of a microchip and mislabeled data. So frustrating. But I don’t want to talk about that. Let’s have another drink and just talk about girl stuff.”

“I’m pretty tired, Lydia. I’m probably going to need to take a rain check.” Not to mention Rachel was terrible at girl talk.

“Oh. My. Gosh.” Lydia was looking at something over Rachel’s shoulder. Rachel was afraid she was going to have to scoop the other woman’s jaw off the ground.

“What?”

Lydia just pointed, mouth still agape. Rachel turned and saw Seth walking in the door of Baxter’s.

Now someone might have to scoo
p
he
r
jaw off the floor.

He wasn’t wearing his green work coveralls and cap like he’d been every other time Rachel had seen him. Now he was wearing a black t-shirt —one that fit snug enough to show off his excellent physique underneath— tucked into black jeans. He walked over to the bar where the female bartender fell all over herself to get the bottle of beer he ordered. He paid, then began walking in Rachel and Lydia’s direction.

“How in the world did I miss that?” Lydia murmured.

Looking at Seth now, infinitely more attractive out of his plain work uniform, Rachel was amazed he hadn’t laughed at her outright when she’d asked him out yesterday. The man walking towardthem, quite at ease with himself, obviously at home in this sort of social situation, and drawing the attention of several females in the room —including Lydia— wa
s
wa
y
out of Rachel’s league.

But he was still heading directly toward them.

“Ladies,” Seth murmured, his deep voice making her want to take a step closer. He was looking at Rachel, even though Lydia —with her blond hair and long legs— was definitely the more attractive of the two women. He had to see that.

“Seth, is it?” Lydia asked. “I’m Lydia Williams. I work in the computer engineering lab.”

Seth stopped looking at Rachel and held out his hand to Lydia. “Seth Hardings.”

Harding
s
. Until now, Rachel hadn’t known what his last name was. She didn’t want to ask and seem like she was prying.

“I thought you had to work,” Rachel said.

He turned to look at her again. “I decided I would go in early tomorrow and worry about it. I’d rather be out here with you tonight.”

“Actually, I was just leav—“

“She was just about to get another drink for us both,” Lydia interrupted. “You two sit down. I’ll get us another round, Rachel.”

“Thanks,” Seth said, then touched the small of Rachel’s back leading her to a group of low love seats by the window, near where Dr. Hudson and some of the other computer engineering faculty and staff were sitting.

She could feel Seth’s touch sear her skin through her thin sweater. Unlike Ryan’s deliberately intimate touch that had made her only want to move away, Seth’s almost absent gesture just made her want to move closer to him.

She introduced Seth as her friend to the faculty members and lab assistants. Obviously none of them could place him as the same man that swept the floors and emptied the trash in their building, so Rachel didn’t mention it. Neither did Lydia when she returned with the drinks.

Rachel sat next to Seth in one of the love seats and watched as he talked easily with the people around him. Even when they talked about work-related stuff he just listened and nodded. Everyone seemed to like him. When they asked what he did, he just said something about being a maintenance technician. Nobody questioned what that meant.

They did obviously question what he was doing here with someone like Rachel. She could see it in their eyes, could tell in the way that some of the women tried to shift his focus to them. Rachel had to admit, Seth never left her side, and drew her into the conversation as much as possible, but she could still see the questions everyone had about why he would be here with her.

Rachel couldn’t blame them.

CHAPTER FOUR

Seth
didn’t know what the hell he was doing here with Rachel. All he knew was that he couldn’t stay away.

He’d spent most of the day looking into the elevator incident. The head of the maintenance department, Charlie Hill, worked with him before they called the official repair service. Charlie had been thoroughly vetted by Omega and was one of the very few people who knew that Seth was an undercover agent.

“Definitely not an accident,” Charlie had said in his gruff, southern accent. “No way power would’ve blown from both the primary and secondary source at the same time.”

“That’s what I had figured too.”

“Plus the emergency phone line just happened to be damaged. Not sure when that happened, but it has been since inspection three months ago.” Charlie showed the elevator phone’s cord where it was torn. It could’ve come from everyday wear, but given everything else? Seth didn’t think so.

“And the kicker,” Seth replied, “is the cell phone blocker.”

“Yep.” Charlie nodded. “Someone was deliberately doing that, for sure. Everyone freaks out around here if cell coverage goes out. We’d have heard about it.”

“Okay, so it’s definitely sabotage.”

Charlie shrugged. “Looks that way.”

“Do you think it would’ve fallen to the ground? Killed us?” They’d cleared this area before beginning their search of the elevator, but Seth lowered his voice. “Maybe my cover is blown and someone was trying to get rid of me.”

“Could be, but the back-up brakes weren’t blown, so I think the intent might have been to trap someone. Scare them.”

“But not me.”

“Did anyone know you’d be getting on this elevator at this time?” Charlie asked.

Seth sat back on his heels as he pondered that. “No, I don’t think so. I wouldn’t have been anywhere near it, normally.”

But he’d run after Rachel and was damned glad that he had. He looked at the door, taped off for safety, but still ajar. The thought of her being trapped in there alone, unable to get out… Seth felt his teeth grind.

“Then I don’t think it was meant for you,” Charlie said. “I guess it’s your job to figure out who i
t
wa
s
meant for.”

Seth had thought about that all afternoon. He’d been on the elevator on accident, following Rachel. He didn’t think Rachel was the intended culprit; she wasn’t involved in the investigation at all.

Maybe there was more than one bad guy. Or maybe his perp was having second thoughts about selling the microchip and the elevator situation was the buyer’s way of gently nudging him or her back on track.

Nothing helped focus people like being trapped inside a steel box that might plummet down at any moment to a painful death.

Whatever it meant, it meant that something was happenin
g
soo
n
. Seth needed more information fast.

Going out with Rachel —with all the computer engineering lab colleagues there— was his best bet at gathering the intel he needed. Because he sure as hell wasn’t getting the intel on campus.

So here he was, gathering intel. Soft, sweet Rachel next to him looking bewildered.

He was treating this like a real date, which he was sure confused her even more. Fortunately none of her coworkers, except her friend Lydia, realized who he was. To keep the conversation flowing naturally, Seth pretended to be just a guy interested in Rachel.

Not that that was any hardship. Even knowing he shouldn’t, Seth couldn’t seem to keep his hands off her lush body. He’d made sure their arms and legs were touching on the couch. He’d leaned into her whenever she’d said something, which hadn’t been often, but usually what she said was funny or insightful.

There was definitely tension between Lydia and Dale Hudson, the professor directly in charge of the lab. But Seth wasn’t sure the root. Both of them had the means to steal the microchip.

Ryan Powell, his other suspect, didn’t seem to be around at all.

“Is Ryan Powell around tonight?” he whispered to Rachel.

Her face flushed. Seth had no idea what that meant. “He was here earlier but left. He was acting weird.”

“What do you mean?”

Rachel shook her head and shrugged. “He and Lydia and Dale were arguing or something. I don’t know what about. Then he left.”

Seth’s eyes narrowed. There was more to the story than what she was telling him, but Seth wouldn’t push. At least not right now.

Rachel was uncomfortable with the evening, Seth knew. But he didn’t know why. Could she tell his attention was divided? It was a fine line he was walking: needing to use her as a guise for getting information while not wanting to lead her on.

While at the same time very much wanting to lead her on. Not just lead her on, but lead her to his apartment and spend the entire night forgetting about janitors and microchips and investigations. Only thinking about her.

But that just wasn’t in the cards.

Soon everyone was getting up to leave, heading toward the exit of the restaurant. Seth stayed close to Rachel, his hand at her back. He could admit that was just as much for his enjoyment as it was for the cover.

He’d have to leave Rachel here. He wanted to follow Hudson — see if he really went home or if he was meeting up with Ryan. If a sale was going down soon, and the incident with the elevator suggeste
d
somethin
g
was about to happen, Seth wouldn’t be surprised if they were meeting tonight. He’d already arranged to have another Omega agent follow Lydia for the same reason.

“I guess I’ll see you around campus,” Rachel whispered, barely looking up from her shoes as they walked out the door.

Everyone else was certainly looking at them, some discreetly, others less so. Like the tall brunette —Seth thought she was from the math department— who had been trying to get his attention all evening. She had pressed a note into his hand as he’d walked by a few moments ago.

Call me later if you decide mousy bookworms aren’t your type and real women are.

He realized most of Rachel’s colleagues were attempting to ascertain the relationship between he and Rachel. To see if they were really romantically involved or if this had just been for some sort of show.

He looked at Rachel who was still studying her shoes and obviously had no idea what to do. Seth wanted to protect her from her colleagues’ prying eyes. He wanted to sweep her up in an embrace that would put to rest all questions of whether he was hers or not. A kiss that would burn to ash that note from the brunette.

Seth threw caution into oncoming traffic and did just that. Pulled Rachel against him, tilted her chin back by threading his fingers in her hair and kissed her as if he’d wanted her more than his next breath.

Which was pretty much true.

She was surprised, but didn’t pull away. After just a moment her soft lips parted under his and she gave herself over to the kiss, wrapping her arms around his waist.

Mousy bookworm, his ass.

After a few heated moments Seth forced himself to pull away. Not only did they have an audience, but he was undercover. Not to mention the Bransons were going to kill him if they found out he was about to jump their cousin’s bones.

He’d seen all four Bransons in action. Cameron, Sawyer, Dylan, and even slender Juliet could kill him in ways most people didn’t even know were possible. They’d probably all be willing to do just that if they knew he was kissing Rachel in the middle of a crowded street.

But damned if he didn’t want to keep kissing her anyway.

He put his forehead against hers. “Okay, we’re obviously going to need to talk, but not here. And as much as I want to, I can’t do it right now.”

“O-okay.” He could see her bottomless brown eyes in the light given off by the street lamp.

“I’ll see you tomorrow on campus, okay? Are you safe getting home?”

She nodded. “Yes, I just live a couple of blocks from here.” She mumbled off an address.

Seth didn’t want to let her go alone. He didn’t like the thought of her walking by herself even that short distance.

“Where’s your phone?” he asked.

She dug it out of her bag and handed it to him. He programmed his number into it. “Text me as soon as you get there so I know you’re okay. If I don’t hear from you in fifteen minutes, I’m coming to search.”

“Do you have to go back to work?”

Seth looked over at Lydia and Dr. Hudson who —now that the show was over— were saying their goodbyes.

“Yeah, I’ve got to get back to work.” He knew she meant his custodial duties back on campus, but didn’t correct that.

“Thanks for coming tonight. I know you said you couldn’t, so I really appreciate that you did.” With that she turned away and began walking down the street.

Seth was torn. He wanted to go with her
,
sta
y
with her, finish the agonizing heat that kiss had started. But he couldn’t. Even if this entire situation left her bewildered. Especially because of that.

Seth made his way to the parking garage, along with many of the others, now focused on the job. It was getting late —after eleven— hopefully Hudson would make a move tonight.

Ryan Powell was his number one suspect, but either Lydia or Hudson could be in on it with Powell, or perhaps be behind the elevator incident. Hudson had worked at the university for over a dozen years. Lydia was a graduate student who’d only joined the program two and a half years ago.

Things were more tricky with him tailing anybody from the department now. He’d done it before, but had been sure they wouldn’t recognize him if they saw him. He no longer had those assurances since he’d spent time with them. Someone else from Omega would have to take over all covert surveillance, but for right now he didn’t want to lose sight of Dr. Hudson.

Seth waved as he drove by Lydia and Hudson in the garage and they waved back. He watched in the rearview mirror as he made his way toward the exit.

And wasn’t that interesting. He saw Hudson pull Lydia towards him in an embrace before they both got into his car together. They were having an affair.

That could explain some of the odd behavior from both of them —calls that were suddenly disconnected when Seth had walked by in the hallway, suspicious looks over their shoulders. They were trying to hide a relationship that would be frowned-upon by the university.

Were they trying to hide more?

Seth pulled out of the parking garage and stopped his car on a curve half a block away, turning out the lights. He knew where both Hudson and Lydia lived. He would bet they were going to Hudson’s house. It was much nicer.

He hoped they would meet someone or someone would join them there. Anything that might clue him in that they were the ones trying to sell the microchip.

But nothing. Seth sat in his car most of the night watching Hudson’s home after following them there. Nobody came, nobody left. The highlight of the night was the text he received from Rachel early on letting him know she’d made it home safely.

Another day finished and Seth had nothing to show for it but gritty eyes. The sun was coming up when his phone buzzed on the seat beside him.

“Yeah, this is Seth.” Nobody but Omega would be calling on this phone.

“Hey, Sunshine, hope I didn’t wake you. This is Sawyer.”

Seth smiled. Sawyer Branson was one of Seth’s favorite people at Omega. Hell, Sawyer was one of everyone’s favorite people. He just had that charming way about him.

“Nah, Sweetheart, I’m already awake. Wishing I was in bed, but I’m camped out in front of Dale Hudson’s house.”

“Anything interesting happening there?” Sawyer asked.

“If you consider the fact that he brought his pretty young graduate assistant home with him and she hasn’t left all night interesting, then yeah.”

“That is a little interesting.”

“But not terribly helpful with the case.” Seth ran a tired hand over his eyes.

“Well, if Hudson is willing to break this rule, it may show he’s willing to break others too.”

“Maybe. But it doesn’t give us any actual direction to look for the buyers of the microchip.” Seth couldn’t hold back a yawn. It was going to be a long day after this all-nighter.

“I’ve got more interesting news that still doesn’t lead us anywhere,” Sawyer said.

That woke Seth up. “Oh yeah?”

“The other graduate assistant you’re looking into…”

“Ryan Powell. Yeah, he was at the restaurant last night, but left before I got there.”

“You went public at the restaurant?”

Crap. This was not the time to tell Sawyer about Rachel and how they’d connected. It was especially not the time to mention kissing her.