Read Knock Out (A Reynolds Security Novel) Online
Authors: Melissa Hale
Knock Out (A Reynolds Security Novel)
Knock Out
A Reynolds Security Novel
By
Melissa Hale
Knock Out © 2014 Melissa Hale
All Rights Reserved. This ebook is for your personal enjoyment and may not be resold
All characters, locations, and situations in this book are fictional and a product of the autho
r’
s imagination.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form.
Another Friday night spent in the office. Leading to another weekend spent in the office. He really needed to hire a new assistant. Of course given that his last assistant was part of a conspiracy to take over the world, he was a little gun shy. Okay not the world per say, but his company and therefore his world. Yes he had trust issues. He freely admitted it, but when your former assistant turned your life into a soap opera that involved stalking you and your business partner and trying to kill your business partner’s girlfriend, you were allowed to have trust issues.
His watch beeped the hour and his eyes slid involuntarily to a bank of monitors on the wall. He had a monitor for every camera in the facility. Given that they were a security company and this was how he demoed the cameras, there were a lot of them. Only one held his interest. Only one kept him coming back at ten pm every week night. The camera was in the onsite gym. He watched her walk from the locker room. She began stretching out and he waited. He liked to watch her work the heavy bag. He was a boxing aficionado and she had excellent form. That was all.
He wasn’t a pervert for Pete’s sake. She was an employee. Officially off limits. Plus she was too young for him. She was probably about twenty four, he would not look at her personnel record, and she had done a tour in the Army but she looked a lot younger. She looked like a teenager. A Latina, she looked it with mocha skin and blue black hair. An observation only, not that he really noticed. He also didn’t notice the tiny frame or the long lean muscles she cultivated with a strict two hour workout routine every single night. No his interest was purely academic. He was interested in where she learned to box because there was no doubt she’d been trained. Clearly she wasn’t training anymore otherwise she wouldn’t be working out in their small gym in the dead of night. Did she compete? Had she ever? He would kill to see that. Some chauvinists thought women should stay out of the sport, he disagreed. Women brought finesse to the sport. A grace a man just couldn’t duplicate.
He watched as she began to work the bag, wishing again he could see her in the ring with a sparring partner. Suddenly she stopped and looked up. He knew something was wrong. She never stopped. He waited with the kind of edginess he
’d felt as a Marine before he went on patrol. It only took seconds for the distraction to come on screen through the other locker room door. He knew the man, another employee. Of course it was another employee. It wasn’t as if the general public had access to the gym. He had a decision to make. He could either admit he’d been watching by going down there or he could wait and see how it played out. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe they would simply share the gym for a workout, but he could tell by the man’s determined stride that it wouldn’t go that way.
She missed her music. A work out should be paired with a good beat. But she didn't wear headphones anymore. They took away her hearing, they blocked out the sound of the world around her. She needed all five of her senses to be alert and ready. Case in point, she heard someone in the locker room. The men's locker room. She stopped and waited until he stepped through the door. Greg Evans. She hadn't worked with him but she knew the name and face of every Reynolds Security employee. He smiled when he saw her. A confident smile. This was a man with a sense of entitlement. This was a man who was going to be a problem. She knew it, could sense it. Part of her wanted to simply leave. Avoid the whole situation. But she couldn't do that. She wouldn't be driven away by the presence of another person. She was stronger than that.
"Well hello there. This late I figured I'd have the place to myself." She inclined her head to show she'd heard but didn't respond. "Since you're here too maybe we can spot each other."
"I don't think so." She tightened her gloves.
"Gonna make me work for it, huh?" He laughed and continued coming closer. She regarded him coolly no change in her bland expression.
"I'm Greg, and you are?"
"Not interested."
"Ah come on sweetheart, we're the only ones here. We both know why we're here. You don't have to play hard to get." Her temper was getting close to the surface. She could feel it even as she tried to push it back.
"Let me explain this in small words so you can understand. I am not interested in playing games. I am not even interested in sharing the gym with you. But since we are both here I expect you to stay out of my space and I will stay out of yours."
"Listen you uppity bitch." he grabbed her arm and her temper spiked.
"Take your hand off me." She interrupted his tirade. Instead of letting her go he jerked her wrist. He had at least a hundred pounds on her. She had no choice but to step forward but she made use of the momentum stepping into it as she swung with her right smashing into his nose. The glove she wore blunted the blow but thankfully spared her knuckles. He howled in pain and released her as blood poured from his nose. She was just about to follow it up with a kick to the groin when someone else entered the gym. It was Jace Carpenter. Her boss, hell her boss's boss. One of the two owners of the company. She was so fired. Not the first time her temper had messed up her life. Probably wouldn't be the last. She decided not to fan the flame and backed off from the kick. She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin waiting.
"You bitch! You broke my nose!" Greg howled through hands cupped around his nose. He obviously hadn't seen their boss approaching. Could be because his eyes were watering so badly. "I'll kill you, you little cock tease!"
"That's enough of that." Jace said with little emotion. Greg jumped and turned his head finally seeing the other man.
"Mr. Carpenter look what this crazy bitch did!" He was whining now and it was all she could do to keep from sneering at him.
“
Mr. Evans, consider yourself terminated. Clean out your locker and your desk. Someone will escort you from the building.”
“
What? She hit me!” He sputtered causing blood to spray along with his spit.
“
You’re the one on probation.”
“
This is bull shit! She hit me, it was totally unprovoked!” She finally saw a hint of emotion when Jace’s eyes narrowed a fraction. Apparently he took exception to being lied to. She couldn’t blame him.
“
Shall we watch the tape?” He lazily pointed to the nearest camera. Evans fell silent. “Didn’t think so.”
Evans turned and stormed into the locker room. Leaving them alone in the gym. After a moment she turned to leave.
“Where are you going?”
“
To clean out my locker.” She said defiantly.
“
What for?”
“
Aren’t I fired too?”
“
I’m not firing you.”
“
Why not? I hit him.” She snapped her mouth shut when she realized she was arguing against herself.
“
Did he have it coming?”
“
Yes.”
“
Good enough for me. What’s your name?” He knew the answer of course but he asked anyway.
“
Lou Santiago.”
“
Lou.”
“
Yes.”
“
Short for…”
“
Just Lou.” He could tell she was holding back. Lou was short for something but she wasn’t going to say what.
“
Let me ask you a question Just Lou.” She stiffened and he almost smiled. “Why aren’t you in the personal protection department? It’s better pay, better hours and just plain more interesting.”
“
I am happy where I am.”
“
Suit yourself.” He turned to go and said over his shoulder. “Just Lou, you telegraph your punches. You drop your left before you swing with your right.”
“
I do not!” She said indignantly.
“
Watch the tape.” He said just before he walked out the door.
As nonchalant as he appeared, he was actually worried. He immediately called building security to have Evans escorted from the building. Evans was a loose cannon. He
’d known it for a while but he hoped he’d straightened out. Obviously he hadn’t. This wasn’t the first time he’d had problems with him. He couldn’t afford to have that kind of person representing his company to his clients. He knew he should call his partner and let him know too but he was newly married and probably wouldn’t want to be disturbed at this time of night. He returned to his office and stood in front of his bank of monitors to check on the state of the darkened building. To his surprise he saw that Lou was continuing her work out. He had half expected her to go home.
The name didn’t
fit her. Lou was genderless. The woman was anything but. She was extremely feminine, delicate, pixie like, even though he was entirely certain she would hate the comparison. No Lou was definitely short for something. He wasn’t going to look into her paperwork though. No he was looking forward to getting her to tell him.
Lou arrived early for work on Monday. She wasn’t sure what to expect. Would everyone she worked with have heard about Evans? When she stepped off the elevator on her floor and looked around nothing looked amiss. No one looked her way. Granted there weren’t too many people on the floor. Nearly all of them men. None looked her way. She breathed a sigh of relief. She could get her new assignment and get out of the building before the rumor mill started.
Her supervisor was a gruff no nonsense guy. He was easily six feet tall and had a hard muscular chest despite the fact that he looked to be in his fifties. Former military
like most of the company he wasn’t big on small talk. He never asked her about her weekend or if she was seeing anyone. It was exactly how she liked it.
“
Good morning Frank.” She dropped her bag on her desk. They all had desks despite the fact that the entire department was usually stationed somewhere else.
“
Morning.”
“
Got my new assignment?”
“
Looks like some one likes you.”
“
I beg your pardon?” She froze half way to her chair.
“
Big wigs requested that you be put into personal protection training.”
“
What?”
“
Don’t look at me. I told you I would have put you in for it months ago but you said no. Looks like someone else caught on to your potential.”
“
I don’t want to do personal protection. I don’t like… people.”
“
Neither do I, you don’t have to like people to keep some little starlet from getting snatched.”
“
Why can’t I just do site security?”
“
I suppose you can, when you wash out of personal protection training.” Lou glared at him. She knew he was pushing her buttons but she also knew that he knew she wouldn’t back down from the challenge. If he said she couldn’t do it she would do it just to prove she could. As much as she didn’t want too it was like a physical force compelling her.
“
Don’t I get a choice?”
“
There is always a choice.” He didn’t wait for her to respond just handed her paperwork. “You are expected on the second floor to begin your classroom training at eight am.”
The classroom training wasn’t hard. She had always been a good student. She had graduated among the top in her class. This was mostly regulations, what was and was not expected of a personal protection body guard. She was the only woman in the class of ten. Some of the men she was familiar with and some appeared to be new hires. At the end of the first day they were given a quiz.
The man next to her grumbled.
“No one said there was going to be a test.”
“
Didn’t think literacy was a job requirement?” She said before she could stop herself. The other men laughed and to her surprise the man smiled. The fact that she had said anything was shocking to her. She used to have a great sense of humor, but that was before. Nothing really struck her as funny anymore. Nor did she feel the need to make jokes.
After she finished training for the day she went through her usual routine. She went to the grocery store, she went to her apartment, she ate dinner, she cleaned her apartment, did her laundry then left again. She went back to the Reynolds security building. While it stayed busy during the day, no one used the gym at night. She worked out on the heavy bag and then she ran. Afterwards she went home and showered before falling into exhausted sleep for a few hours before the nightmares woke her. She started her day with a cold shower to shake off the nightmare and the adrenaline sweat and headed back to work.
Jace looked up when the door opened.
The fact that he hadn't bothered to knock told him it was his business partner and best friend Ethan, but he looked to be sure anyway. Ethan crossed the room and sat in the chair in front of his desk tenting his fingers in front of him. Ethan looked as if he were waiting for something. Jace searched his brain trying to remember what it was that he had clearly forgotten.
“
What?” He finally gave up his mental search and asked.
“
You have to hire a new secretary.”
“
I think the PC term is administrative assistant.” That got a smirk from Ethan and his cool blue eyes twinkled with mischief.
“
Fine you have to hire an administrative assistant.”
“
I am done with administrative assistants. I have had nothing but bad luck with them. I am doing just fine on my own.”
“
You've had bad luck because you are thinking with the wrong head.”
“
What are you talking about? I have never slept with any of my assistants!”
“
That may be true but you hired them more based on their cup size than their typing speed.”
“
I did not.” Jace denied and Ethan shot him a ‘bull shit’ look. “I am more of a leg man.” He added and Ethan burst out laughing.
“
You’re just smug because you have Norma to take care of you at work and Erica to take care of you at home.”
“
True.” Ethan didn’t bother to deny it and Jace wanted to smack him. “Seriously hire an assistant. You’re working through your lunches and late into the night. I haven’t even seen you in the gym in weeks. I’m worried about you.”
“
I told you, I’m fine. I have it under control.”
“
Jace,” Ethan sighed, “You just missed the video conference with Mr. Yoshida.”
“
What? I did not.” He started shuffling papers on his desk looking for where he had written it down.
“
Why isn’t it in your calendar on your computer? You know the one that reminds you and makes your blackberry chime?”
“
I hadn’t gotten around to putting it in there yet.”
“
Jace, hire an assistant.”
“What do you get for a woman you have no romantic interest in?”
“
That depends, before or after you sleep with her?”
“
Harold you old dog.” Jace laughed. Harold had to be pushing sixty but he was a charmer. They put him out front because he had a way with the clients. It seemed that a dirty old man lurked under that charming exterior. “Never mind, I need an expert.” Jace laughed as he walked out of the building. He crossed to the little coffee shop across the street and quickly stepped inside shaking off the rain. A short very pregnant woman with honey brown hair greeted him.
“
Jace, I haven’t seen you in forever.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek.
“
Hey Erica, you look fantastic. Should you be on your feet so much?”
“
Oh you sound as bad as Ethan. I am fine, and I have cut back to two days a week.”
“
Alright sugar, if Ethan is on the case I’ll back off.” He allowed his southern drawl to slip through a little more than normal because it always made Erica smile.
“
What can I get for you?”
“
How ‘bout some advice?”
“
Really?” She looked surprised.
“
Yeah, I need some female help.”
“
Ah I see.” Erica laughed. “Did you meet someone special?” Jace’s mind immediately flashed to the dark haired beauty he couldn’t stop thinking about.
“
No,” He laughed, “Nothing like that. I want to ask Norma for a favor and I was wondering if you had any ideas as to how to butter her up.”
“
Norma?” Erica laughed. “She’s such a sweetheart. You probably don’t even need to butter her up.”
“
She’s a sweetheart to you! To me she’s… not.”
“
That’s because you are always picking on Ethan about her.”
“
But that is about Ethan not about her.”
“
So tell her that.” Erica laughed.
“
All right.” He sighed, he would so much rather buy her something than have to apologize for giving her a hard time and he was sure that’s what Erica was getting at.
“
Here I’ll make you her favorite tea.”
Armed with the tea and a goal Jace climbed in the elevator and pressed the button for his floor. When the elevator stopped he wasn’t paying attention and started to step out only to have someone barrel into him. He managed to catch the person and himself without falling but sloshed hot tea on his hand. Much to his surprise huge dark chocolate eyes looked up at him. It was her and her eyes were full of tears. His arms tightened automatically as he was swamped with a fierce desire to protect this woman from whatever had scared her. If it was Evans or one of the other guys he would take him apart with his bare hands.
“
What’s the matter? What happened?” The elevator doors slid closed and the elevator continued its ascent. She jumped when it lurched and straightened away from him.
“
Sorry.” she mumbled. She was shaking. The elevator doors opened and he managed to herd her out.
“
Why don’t you catch your breath in my office?” He hoped his voice sounded soothing because he didn’t feel very soothing at the moment. He led her to his office and sat her down on the sofa. She immediately leaned over and put her head between her knees and began drawing in deep breaths. Clearly she knew what to do for herself better than he did. He sat down in the chair adjacent to the sofa and waited while she calmed herself down. Finally she sat back up and grabbed a tissue dabbing at her eyes.
“
Are you alright?”
“
Yes.”
“
You wanna tell me what happened?”
Lou stared at him,
was he crazy? Of course she didn’t want to tell him. “Um, just PMS.” When in doubt claim female problems. His eyes narrowed a bit and she knew he could tell she was lying.
“
PMS doesn’t cause a panic attack.”
“
How do you know? Have you ever had PMS?”
“
I have four older sisters. I had PMS by proxy.” He said dryly. Much to her surprise she actually smiled. Almost felt like laughing. “Would you like some tea?” He offered her the cup and she took it.
“
You drink tea?”
“
No. Well yes I do drink tea, but sweet iced tea not the hot stuff. That was for Ethan’s admin.”
“
You are giving me someone else’s tea?” She lowered the cup.
“
It’s okay she didn’t know I was bringing it anyway.”
“
Then why were you?”
“
I have a favor to ask her. I thought it might help.”
“
Doesn’t she work for you?”
“
Technically.”
“
So can’t you just tell her to do whatever you want?” Jace laughed at that and Lou frowned.
“
I’m sorry I will have to introduce you to her. No one can tell her what to do. It would be like ordering around your mother.” Lou nodded and took a sip of the tea and he realized that she had completely redirected the conversation.
“
Hey you’re good.”
“
I beg your pardon?”
“
You completely distracted me from my original question.”
“
Look.” She sighed, “Yes, I had a panic attack at the thought of close combat training. No I don’t want to talk about it. Obviously if I had a panic attack it is a touchy subject.” Jace smiled. He knew it wasn’t the appropriate response but he couldn’t help it. He appreciated the bluntness.
“
Fair enough.” He saw the relief that he wasn’t going to push in the set of her shoulders, they relaxed a bit.
“
Close combat training is a requirement for personal protection certification.”
“
I know.”
“
So are you going to quit?”
“
I never quit.” She was indignant and he smiled. He let her sit there thinking about it for a moment before he gave her an alternative.
“
I could certify you.”
“
Without seeing me fight?” She looked suspicious and he laughed.
“
Of course not. But you could spar with me. If you can give me a challenge I will certify you.”
“
I could knock you on your ass.” She said immediately and he forced himself not to laugh.
“
Oh really? Can you actually back that up or are you all talk?”
“
I can back it up.”
“
Okay I
’l
l meet you in the gym at ten thirty.”