Deadly Target [IAD Agency 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) (17 page)

Rock shook his head. “No, that’s the thing that has us stumped. We’ve watched the police interviews, read the reports and have spoken to everyone with access ourselves. We don’t know who is involved yet, but it had to be an inside job. They had numerous purchase orders properly filled out, but the doctors that supposedly filled out the request never knew about them. If someone is lying, we don’t know who yet.”

“Whoever it was they have to be working with someone who knows the current security system. The cameras were deactivated and the badges were duplicated to allow whoever it was entry into the building with no hint of who the fuck or why,” Rock concluded. “It’s pissing me off.”

“This is the list of what was taken?” Slade pointed to one of the screens. “Shit, that’s a lot of synthetic drugs. You need to be a scientist to understand this shit. I hate science.”

“Yeah. Whoever did it knew the protocol. There are safeguards that an outsider wouldn’t know about that were followed to the letter,” Adrian added. “The bogus orders as well as a lot of other inventory were taken. Some of the shit was even top-secret clearance level. Only someone who worked in that building would have known about these projects and how to get around all the security measures in place.”

“Or someone familiar with the company…” Mikayla said quietly.

All three men turned to her. “Talk it out,” Slade encouraged, knowing that she was working something out in her head.

“What if…” she began, then something clicked. “Wait a second. Can you pull up that data on that investigation the LA office was working on?”

“Which one?” Adrian asked dryly.

“The missing scientists,” Slade said, following where she was going now.

Adrian turned the computer and tapped a few keys bringing the data up on the main screen. A few months ago, six scientists and doctors went missing in California, causing a team of IAD agents from the LA division to help track their whereabouts when the local federal agency came up with no leads. The threat level was decreased when all of the missing doctors were found murdered, two of the bodies burned beyond recognition. The local police had figured they were dealing with a serial killer targeting individuals in the medical field, but now Mikayla wasn’t so sure.

They all scanned the information as Mikayla pointed at one of the screens. “See, right there. Dr. Diana Wu. She was an expert in toxicology.”

“Son of a bitch,” Adrian said. “She worked at Cryton Dynamics. So did this guy, David Henley, the pharmacologist. Henley was one of the two bodies they couldn’t identify. It didn’t pop because she was from the LA office and he’s from San Jose. Christ, those doctors died hard. Tortured to death then burned. Let me do a search for other missing Cryton employees.”

“I’d focus on North America for now,” Slade suggested and Adrian nodded before turning back to the computer.

“Now that I see this, it clicks,” Rock said. “It’s got to be related.”

Mikayla stood and paced the room as she studied the various screens. “They’re all in different fields. We have two veterinarians, a geneticist, a toxicologist and two pharmacologists.”

“Make that three,” Adrian said grimly. “We have a missing pharmacologist and one more toxicologist, currently deceased from the Philadelphia office.”

“Shit, Philly?” Mikayla questioned. “That seems like a stretch.”

“Not really,” Adrian said as he turned toward her. “I think you nailed it. The missing pharmacologist from Philadelphia and David Henley, one of the dead guys in California, went to college together. Wanna take a guess where?”

“Christ. Here? Here in Colorado?”

“Affirmative,” Adrian confirmed. “The toxicologist was killed when Robert Ellis went missing. Looks like Ellis is something of a boy wonder. Holds two PhDs and an MD before he went into research.”

“The unconfirmed burned bodies were a male and female. Could be that David Henley and Selma Amit are dead, but my spidey-senses are telling me one or both of them are still alive and they torched the other bodies to cover up when they went poof,” Rock said.

“I agree.” Mikayla nodded as she sat back down. “So, we have two Cryton employees, Robert Ellis and David Henley, in the wind with a third, Selma Amit from Merryl Pharmaceuticals, whose status is unknown at this point. They had to be working together on something together, willing or not. My guess is willing. At least the two that worked for Cryton Dynamics. There are too many tie-ins with the thefts.”

“They had to have an inside man here in the Denver facilities,” Rock insisted. “Now we need to figure out who is working with them and what the hell they’re working on. I’m gonna call this in to HQ. Tony or one of the other uber-geeks should be able to dive into Amit, Ellis and Henley’s accounts to see what they were up to before they went missing.”

“I’m telling Tony you called him an uber-geek again.” Mikayla chuckled, enjoying Rock’s wince.

“Looks like I’ll be flying out to Philly,” Slade said with a sigh. “I wanna check out this fucker’s house to see if I can find anything that ties him to the thefts.”

“But why here?” Mikayla asked absently as Rock got up and walked away to make his call to one of their computer experts back home in Chicago. “Why choose to steal from this location specifically? Is it because this is the headquarters and there’s more to take? Or is it because of the projects that are based out of this location?”

“Or it could be because someone higher up in the Cryton food chain is involved and making it easier for them to work on whatever this side project is,” Adrian stated.

Mikayla thought for a minute then shook her head. “No. If the CEO or a member of the board was in on this, they would have never hired Mac Securities to come and look over their security system. They’d have to be complete idiots to call us in with our reputation.”

“True.”

Mikayla opened her mouth to speak again but her cell phone sounded, distracting her. She looked at the screen, both dreading and hoping to see Gage’s name. Her breath rushed out in relief when she glanced down.

“Is it Gage again?” Slade asked.

“No. It’s Katie,” Mikayla replied, standing. “I’m going to take this.” She walked out of the room, heading back to the lounge for some semblance of privacy before she answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Hi, Mikayla! It’s Katie. Is this a bad time or do you have a few minutes to talk?”

Mikayla simply blinked at the cheerful sound of the other woman’s voice. “No, this is fine. What’s up?”

Katie chuckled. “Boy, did you miss an epic fight after you guys left.”

“Really,” Mikayla drawled out, not knowing what else to say.

“Oh, yeah. We were all wondering why you left in such a hurry and Sebastian finally confessed what he said to you. I love the idiot because hey, he’s my cousin, but man can he really be stupid sometimes. Dylan and I were pretty shocked about what he did, but that was before Gage lit into him. They fight a lot. We all do, but wow.”

“I’m sorry if this has caused any of you problems—”

“Are you kidding?” Katie laughed. “We should be apologizing to you! I mean Sebastian was in the Army too, so what right did he have to say anything! Plus, I think it’s pretty bad-ass that you’re a better shooter than he is. He’s always kicking our asses at the games and it was pretty sweet to see you in action. Anyways, after Gage knocked him out I—”

“Gage knocked him out?” Mikayla couldn’t help repeating, unsure she had heard correctly.

“Oh, yeah. Out cold,” Katie confirmed.

“Well, hmm…”

Katie laughed again then lowered her voice as she sobered. “My brother is really gone over you. I don’t know what exactly is going on with you two, but I’ve never seen him like this. Listen, after his accident it took him a while to get straightened out. He was drinking a lot and was seriously angry at the world, but he stopped all that. He hasn’t been drunk like that since, but right now he’s pretty much drunk himself into a coma or else he’d probably still be calling you. Mikayla…”

There was a brief pause. “Yes?”

“I know I have no right to ask you this, but do you care about him? Gage is my brother and I don’t want him to get hurt if you aren’t into him. I know I shouldn’t be sticking my nose into this, but I think you guys are really good together. “

“It’s complicated,” Mikayla hedged. “But I do care for him.”

“Well, I guess that’s enough for now.” Katie sighed. “So, what I really called for was because I wanted to know what you were doing on Monday.”

“Ah…I’m not sure. Why?”

“Well, if you have some free time I was hoping you’d come to Denver with me. I have to drop some paperwork off at a client’s office, but then I thought we could do lunch or go shopping or something.”

Mikayla thought it over for a few seconds then found herself smiling. Some girl time would do her good. “That actually sounds like fun. I might have to make a stop myself, but if you don’t mind waiting I’d be happy to go with you. Or I can drive.”

“I don’t mind waiting and I can drive. I know the area better. How ‘bout I pick you up around nine thirty?”

“Sounds good.” They said their goodbyes then Mikayla simply stared at the phone for a moment, wondering exactly what she was going to do about Gage. If he really was done with her, how was he going to feel about her spending time with his sister?

* * * *

“Hmm…”

Mikayla sighed as she watched Gage’s truck slowly making its way up the driveway toward the house with a feeling of dread in her stomach.

She had woken to another dreary gray day on Sunday morning. Adrian, Rock and Slade had taken off around noon to head back to Denver to drop Slade off at the airport. He was taking a flight out to Philadelphia to see what he could find on the missing scientist there. She had been back downstairs working in the security center when the alarm had sounded that someone was approaching the property. Obviously, her plan of a quiet day of work was blown to hell in lieu of her personal drama exploding in her face like a primed IED.

She opened the front door and stepped out into the cold to wait as Gage got out of his truck. Damn him for being so fucking handsome, even if he did look like shit run over…twice. As he slowly approached her Mikayla could see he had the bloodshot eyes of someone who had been on a bender the previous night and instantly took pity on him, even if she did feel slightly better at seeing how rough he really looked up close.

“Come on in. You look like you could use a cup of coffee.”

“Yes, please god,” Gage croaked out, his voice raspy from disuse.

Mikayla gestured him into the warmth of the house then closed the door. She led the way back to the kitchen and poured him a mug of coffee before refilling her own. She sat down at the table and waited for him to take a seat before looking at him. The misery in his eyes stirred her sympathy, but she wasn’t going to put herself out there for him to kick at again. She made sure her armor was in place and pushed back her emotions beneath the icy calm that protected her.

“What are you doing here, Gage?” Mikayla asked after he gulped down the hot, dark liquid. “What do you want?”

Gage looked down as he set the empty mug on the table and rubbed a hand through his dark hair so it stuck out in haphazard fashion. When he looked back up at her there was such stark longing in his gaze that it almost stopped her heart. “I want you.”

“Didn’t we already have this conversation before?” She sighed. Damn it, this wasn’t going to be easy. “Sometimes wanting isn’t enough, Gage.”

“Oh, fuck that,” Gage snarled as she watched the anger blaze into his eyes, lighting them up so they were like green fire. “So, I screwed up. I wasn’t the only one, Mikayla.”

“I’m not going to apologize for my past, Gage. Look, you’re obviously looking for someone that is clearly not me. Regardless of what you think of me, I like who I am and will never change for anyone, especially a man.”

His eyes narrowed as he stared back at her. “Now, didn’t that just put me in my fucking place.”

Mikayla stood up, walking to the doorway. “This is unbelievable. I’m not going to fight with you about this so you might as well go.”

“No.”

Mikayla halted in the doorway and slowly turned around to face him again. “Excuse me?”

“I said no,” Gage snarled as he stood up. She could see the barely leashed rage on his face. “I’m not leaving until we work this out. Yeah, I fucked up but so did you. Are you really such a coward that you’re willing to throw away what we have because we had an argument? Fuck that, because this ain’t gonna be the only time this happens, sweetheart.”

Her laugh was cold as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Do you really think calling me a coward is going to goad me into a fight? What are we, like twelve? Come on, Gage. Believe what you want, but I’ve never lied to you about who I am. Besides, I’d told you there was something I wanted to talk to you about after the games were finished, remember? I knew you were going to have questions, but I never expected you to react like that. Yes, I’m a sniper. That freaks you out. I get it. You and your cousin made that perfectly clear. We aren’t good for each other, so why don’t we just leave it at that.”

“I’m not leaving anything. Do you know how incredibly unfair it is for you to just throw that shit at me then walk away? You didn’t even give me a fucking minute to process everything before you left.” Gage’s voice rose with indignation. “Is that how you want to handle this relationship, Mikayla? Because if it is, that’s pretty fucking selfish.”