Fire and Ice (Guardians) (8 page)

"Shit. Tanner," Maia muttered.

"You neglected to tell me that you've run into a detective," her mentor said softly. The comment carried a touch of censure.

"It didn't occur to me."

"Maia, you've become increasingly careless."

"Oh, shut it Viktor. You're beginning to sound like Derek."

"I think McCord is becoming a distraction."

"He is not even here. I'm just finding out that a small town isn't a good place to hide out. Everyone knows everyone. A newcomer is big news and attracts too much attention."

"I think your problem is getting on the radar with the local police the first day you got there."

"I had no control of that." Maia told him what happened at the beach and at the tavern. Viktor started laughing instead of getting mad at her exposure, much to Maia's annoyance.

"You're too pretty for your own good. I can't imagine you acting all damsel-in-distress, either. I can't really blame you for standing out, you'd do that anywhere which is why you're our top agent for seducing dictators."

"Gee, thanks, I think," Maia grumbled. "I'm pretty good with guns and knives too, you know."

"Yes, you are," Viktor said with some pride.

"Oh, another thing has been bugging me," Maia said. She told Viktor about the incident with Kyle and his mom. She always had great intuition and her gut told her not to ignore this.

"I think there's more to those three guys terrorizing Westcove. They've been talking to shop owners and I don't think it's extortion. I think they're trying to hook them into something illegal with threats of violence for non-compliance. And Rick Tanner is more than a detective, I think. He mentioned getting transferred from somewhere, something about trouble trickling down from bigger cities. Can you find out for me? What's on my cover right now anyway?"

"You're thinking this has something to do with Raul Vergara's organization getting shutdown and the remaining products having no where to go?"

Maia nodded. "It's almost winter. Kids are back in school and it's going to be slow to move that stuff."

"I'm on Rick Tanner. I've already looked into his creds. Looks good first go, but something doesn't add up. I'm having forensics look at the data. And your cover has been updated, you are still a traveling marketing executive for a pharmaceutical company, your phone records, bank accounts and credit card charges have all been updated and you still have that little Federal house in DC. I'm sending you the file right now. Memorize the changes, Katerina."

Maia smiled warmly. Viktor had called her by her real name. It slipped out whenever he was feeling affectionate, which was rare.

A phone was beeping behind her. It was the house phone; whoever wanted Jack at this time of the night or morning could leave a message. She ignored it and continued talking to Viktor. It stopped, and then rang again.

"You might want to get that," Viktor said.

"Hold on," Maia muttered.

The phone's caller id blinked Jack McCord. Maia sighed in irritation, lifted the receiver from the cradle and said, "What do you want?"

"Hello to you too, sweetheart," Jack drawled in greeting.

"Do you know what time it is?" Maia asked. "What if I was asleep, did that occur to you?"

"Ahhh, but you're not asleep, you are right now in a videoconference with Viktor." Jack said.

"Hold on," Maia told Jack, pressed the hold button, and turned back to Viktor. "I'll get back to you in the morning. This is gonna take a while."

"You look like you are about to blow," Viktor said in amusement.

"You are not wrong," Maia voiced irritably.

Switching back to Jack, Maia said softly, "Are you spying on me, Jack McCord?"

"Of course not. I have cameras in the control room, but I have the volume turned off."

"Do you have cameras in my bedroom?"

Jack chuckled.

"Well?" Maia demanded her voice rising.

"Look, the whole house has cameras but I am no voyeur. I prefer ...er... the real thing. I wanted to talk to you so I checked the public areas of the house: the kitchen, the living room and the control room," Jack said, then added suggestively. "Of course, if you walk around the house naked, I could hardly be to blame."

"What do you want to talk to me about?" Maia asked.

"Did you like your presents?" Jack asked in a low husky voice.

"And you couldn't wait until tomorrow to ask me?" Maia was peeved. First, he had been busy all day, letting her stew in her irritation about the clothes and now he thought he could talk to her any time he wanted to? She was not one of his employees.

"No, because I want you to wear that black bustier and lace panties when I get home," Jack whispered. Maia felt heat shoot straight to her sex. "I picked that out myself, you know."

"You did not. You were busy all day."

"The boutique was at the ground floor of our building. Ever since I've met you, I've been imagining you wearing it ..."

"Jack ...."

"Fuck, I'm getting hard just thinking about it," Jack muttered.

"Jack ..."

"I'm not fucking around, Maia. I want you. I want to be inside you, I want to taste you... everywhere."

Maia caught her breath. Was she about to spontaneously combust?

"Babe, did you hear me?"

"I did like the presents," Maia replied to his first question not ready to acknowledge his blunt proposal. "Laurie did well."

"Coward ..." Jack said with a hint of teasing.

It was inevitable, her attraction to Jack was nuclear, so she decided to take the grown-up lead. Might as well get down to the specifics. "Have you been checked?"

"Yes. About two weeks ago. I'm clean," Jack replied quickly. "Are you..."

"I'm clean and I'm on birth-control," Maia answered.

Jack laughed softly and in a husky voice that made her shiver all over again. "Babe, if I were there right now, I'd be fucking you."

"Can you not be crude?"

"You like me talking dirty to you."

"I do not."

"Liar."

Maia rolled her eyes.

"I can see you, you know," Jack said.

Not knowing where the cameras were, Maia raised her arm sideways and gave him the finger.

Jack burst out laughing.

"You are too cute to be doing the job you do," Jack said, now chuckling.

"Two to three weeks, this is how far this goes," Maia said firmly.

"Derek schooled me on that." All the humor had left his voice.

"Damn it, he is so nosy," Maia grumbled. "And stop sounding like you're the aggrieved party here. We're equally relationship-challenged; Viktor had briefed me on your girlfriend parade."

Jack was quiet for a beat before replying, "Glad we're getting all the nuts and bolts sorted out. I don't think we'll spend much time talking once I get back."

"You like to talk, can you follow through?" Maia challenged with a smile.

"Oh, you're being cute again," Jack replied in what Maia thought was affection.

Maia's eyes sparkled mischievously. "Cute, huh?"

She threw on a Juicy Couture velour hoodie over her sleepwear of silk camisole and drawstring pajama bottoms when Viktor texted her. With the phone cradled between her ear and shoulder, she slung one leg over the arm of the office chair and spread her thighs wantonly.

"What ..." Jack started over the phone.

Maia proceeded to unzip her hoodie, shoved it partly off her shoulder, flicked the left cami strap off so it exposed her left breast, and smoothly gave it a squeeze while brushing a thumb over a nipple.

"Fuck!" Jack exploded.

Smiling, Maia righted herself and returned the phone to her right hand.

"Talk is cheap, I prefer action," she murmured seductively over the phone. "Sweet dreams, Jack."

All she heard was a strangled groan over the receiver. Smiling, she flicked a two-finger salute, stood up and left the control room.

Two strokes was all it took and Jack emptied himself into his hand. He was standing in the shower. Stretching his arms out, he leaned against the wall and bent his head trying to catch his breath. He shook his head in bemusement. What had just happened? Damn her, he had not lost control like that since he was fourteen. He had gotten hard imagining her in that black lacy bustier, and then seeing her spread her legs and fondle herself like a siren just sent him over the edge. Hell, he was still extremely aroused. Cursing Maia again, Jack turned the lever of the shower to the maximum blue mark and let the cold water assuage the blood pumping furiously from his head to his groin.

It was appalling the way she made him lose control like that but it was also exhilarating, and he couldn't wait to see her again later that night. He wondered how he was going to make it through the day.

***

It was 10:00 am. Maia had just come back from her run on the beach with no incident and was now freshly showered and pouring over some transcripts of some chatter that had been captured over the Baltimore area.

Viktor beeped in his intent to videoconference. Maia clicked accept and her blond mentor appeared on the small inlay screen.

"Anything?" Viktor asked.

"There's a mention in a conversation about
Benny in Westcove
and the
Russian is impatient
. Also something about all Hallow's eve and
they'd pay with their blood
."

"That's not much."

"I know. But can you do a voice match with those lines with anyone in our audio database."

"On that."

"I need to be on the ground in Northern Virginia and Baltimore," Maia declared. "My hands are tied over here."

"Give it two weeks. I'll see what I can arrange," Viktor said carefully.

"You're planning something," Maia guessed. She and Viktor had been working together too long to be able to hide things from each other.

"There's a popular music hall in Downtown Baltimore. I think it's a good place to plant some eyes and ears," Viktor said slowly.

"And?"

"There's a popular local rock band that plays over there ..."

"Wait, one of ours?"

Viktor laughed. AGS had once put together a rock band as a cover for one of their German assignments. Several Guardians were musically inclined and Maia acted as the group's manager. They had successfully infiltrated a dance club that was a front for narcotics and firearms and taken down the mastermind of the operation.

"Hah! I wish. The band is called Ezra Crows, I believe you know their lead singer."

Maia groaned. "Lee Isaac. I thought they were in Philadelphia."

"They moved to Baltimore and they're almost an institution there. They play at Addison Music Hall every Friday and Saturday. It's well-attended by our target demographic."

"Our recreational drug users," Maia replied dryly. "What exactly do you want me to do?"

"Well, Lee was crazy about you."

"That was four, no five years ago, we were together three weeks."

"Three times in two years."

Maia scowled. She had met Lee at the exclusive Samabe resort in Bali, Indonesia. His band was playing at his friend's small wedding. She was in an outdoor restaurant when she heard him sing so she fleeted to the edge of the reception and watched him perform. His beautiful voice was wonderfully seductive, and she was mesmerized, so she stayed for a couple of songs and walked away before it became too obvious that she was crashing the wedding. Not that she really was, because it was outdoors anyway.

Later that evening as she was sipping a tropical concoction on the beach, Lee dropped down right beside her and said, "I thought I imagined you, I looked for you all night." They ended up in her room and made love all night. For the next few weeks, they just lazed around the beach. Lee would play on his guitar and sing to her.
 

It was a beautiful fling. Lee was busy with his band, he was artistic and did not need a relationship to weigh him down. They parted ways, both getting what they needed from the ephemeral nature of what they shared. They lived in the now and it was fantastic.

They talked occasionally over nine months until Lee suggested they go back to Bali. They met back at Bali two more times over a span of eighteen months.

Their coming together this last time was bittersweet. Three days before they were to leave, after making love to her, Lee told her that he was in love with her and wanted something more. Meaningless groupie sex left him empty and all he thought about was her when he was with other women. Maia turned him down.

"Tell me why," he asked brokenly.

"It's not gonna work. My job ..."

"Fuck your job!" Lee shouted angrily. "You are so fucked up!"

"Lee, calm down," Maia said while making a move to get up. She was sensing intense anger emanating from the man beside her.

His arm sliced across her waist and threw her back on the bed.

He held her down and settled between her legs.

"Lee don't!" Maia pleaded, dreading what he was about to do.
 

"You are mine, Maia. Mine!"

Maia closed her eyes and let Lee take her, she felt his pain as he wrapped his arms around her to grip her closer, she tentatively stroked his back. She needed to end this.

When he finished, he rolled off and said, "Fuck, I'm sorry Maia, I... I... was too rough."

She did not respond. Lee got up and left the room and did not return that night, probably getting drunk somewhere. Maia left the next morning, leaving a note and returned to the United States. She changed her number and never talked to Lee again.

"He may not want to see me," Maia told Viktor. It was a possibility. After all, she had left without saying goodbye personally.

"I just can't show up at his gig, that'll mean I want to connect with him again," Maia said. "I do not want to use him."

"We need to get in with someone at the club. Know who the regulars are, usually the groupies of the band. We're getting a comprehensive file of all the employees of the club. There's a medical conference in two weeks, if you want I'll get you into that. It's the perfect cover and staging for everything."

Damn Viktor. He had her. There was a possibility even Sergei Reznikov might show up.