Sexy Bastards Anthology: Bad Boy, Biker, Alpha, Motorcycle Club, Contemporary Romance Collection (110 page)

Chapter Two – Nicole

Silicon Valley, California

“As soon as the prototype is replicated, your firm will receive two demo units,” she heard one of the Terratech executives say.

“My superiors at Delta Shandong appreciate your cooperation in expediting this request,” one of the Chinese men replied.

The TDE-5X was being developed for the United States federal government only, specifically under supervision from the Department of Defense and Homeland Security, and she was sure there were other, less obvious organizations involved. TDE-5X was a Level 3 adaptive encryption device. No non-American could be anywhere near it, let alone the people in that boardroom. And why the hell did Delta Shandong sound so familiar?

She needed to get a grip. She’d heard enough. More than enough, and as the only apparent witness to what was happening in that boardroom, it didn’t take a rocket scientist for her to know it was not the ideal position for her to be in. That discussion in there was way above her pay grade, and the best thing to do was ignore what she heard and get the hell out of there so no one could suggest she knew about it.

Plausible deniability.

That’s what her father would have aimed for.

To make a point of avoiding the area, Nicole turned on her heels and hurried back down the hall. If she gunned it, she could be out of the building in three minutes. She turned a corner and took a long breath when her workstation was in sight.

Good. Still no one around.

She didn’t even stop for a minute. A few seconds to unlock her laptop, a few more to save her progress and back up her files one last time, and three clicks to shut everything down. Tracking the seconds in her head, she looped her hand through her work bag that hung off the back of her chair and with the same hand, gripped her windbreaker and slid the laptop into her hand.

Good.

The elevator was in sight now. At this time of day there would probably not be any wait at all. On her way there, she passed the row of secure shredder boxes, and dammit, there they were.

Fuck.

Four men in black suits who could make NFL linebackers feel small. All were coming across the hall toward her. She ignored them and kept walking to the elevator, hoping they were here for someone else, not her.

An elevator was open and waiting when she made it over.

Score!

She hopped in and hit that close button about ten times before selecting the ground floor as her destination.

No one was waiting for her in the lobby, so she stretched out her access card, swiped the exit control panel, and slipped through the turnstile. She was out the front revolving doors and at the end of the block in under four minutes. Daddy would be proud.

Her breathing came back under control when she was two blocks away and the paranoia started to subside. There had to be a logical reason for what she thought she’d heard. At least she hoped so.

“I’m not approving your overtime for this, Nicole,” she heard a minute later.

She would have ignored it, if it weren’t for the fact that she recognized that damned voice.

Ryan Malone.

The fucking bastard.

She turned to look up at where the sound was coming from. Ryan was standing there, up on the raised patio outside
Envy
nightclub, with his hands around a redhead on his left and a platinum blonde on his right. He looked drunk and stoned, his dress shirt was now hanging over his slacks, and his tie was up around his head.

She had to get a picture of this. No way her coworkers would believe this, especially that tie.

Shit.

That was when she realized she had left her smartphone charging at her desk.

She nodded up at Ryan but kept walking.

“Hang on, Nicky,” he shouted down at her.

God, she hated that nickname he decided to give her without ever asking for her input. She’d corrected him countless times, and had resorted to completely ignoring him whenever he called her Nicky. This time though, she stopped and waited for him. She would tolerate it because she could use the time to find out if she was imagining things with that meeting she’s just overheard in the boardroom.

Ryan released his chicks and hopped down six or seven steps from the patio to the sidewalk to get to her. “You won’t request those hours as overtime, will you?”

She shook her head. “Seriously? That’s why you wanted to talk to me?”

“We’re already over budget. You know how the grownups frown on overtime.”

“Look. Whatever. While we’re talking, do you know anything about new involvement in our project with Chinese contractors or clients?”

“What the hell are you talking about? Of course not. Wait, why are you asking?”

“No reason. Just wondering.”

“Okay. So…” he took a step in Nicole’s direction and leaned in close. “Want to join us?”

“What?”

Ryan looked up at the ladies still standing on the landing. “You, me, and the two of them…we can have drinks at my place, relax…you know. You’d be perfect.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Ryan.” Nicole stepped around him and kept walking.

Ryan chased after her, and held on to her arm when he caught up. “What? It’s the weekend. You’re not into partying anymore?” He leaned down to her ear and told her, “You know how much you love feeling my hands all over you. Don’t fight this. Come on, let down that gorgeous head of hair, Nicky. You blondes are my weak spot.”

“Not this time,” she told him, trying hard to sound unaffected.

“We could use a bit of time to unwind with all we’ve accomplished on this project.”

We.

Yeah, right.

She dipped her chin to look at the spot where he held her arm, and stared at it long enough for Ryan to release her. As good as he was in bed—and she had learned a thing or two about scorching hot sex during their time together—she was not interested in him anymore. Not since the bastard started dumping his responsibilities on her, effectively doubling her work.

“See you on Monday, Ryan,” she told him, and kept walking.

She ignored whatever he grumbled before he was out of earshot.

Damn that thick, skillful, fuck-her-brains-out cock of his.

That little run-in, along with his tempting proposition, had her panties soaked right through.

Chapter Three – Nick

Weihai, China

Officials were already on the scene at the port of Weihai in China when Nick walked out the back of the warehouse. The blaze he had set already began to take care of his latest assignment. Maybe it was overkill, but it was exactly what was requested.

What the company wants, the company gets.

The scene outside the warehouse was mayhem, with workers fleeing, motorists being turned away, and nearby buildings being evacuated. The streets were clogged with vehicles. Most were stuck in this traffic jam caused partly by the panic as well as from pedestrians straying off the sidewalks, frantically trying to navigate around vehicles in the streets and those exiting nearby parking lots.

Nick looked at the timer on his watch. Thirty-two minutes. More than enough time for him and everyone in this industrial area to get out. A long time before the blaze turned into a massive inferno, and even enough time for the fire department to show up, sweep the area and put up a safe perimeter. He would know. He had done his homework for days before pulling this off. By his estimation, there would be a total of one casualty, if everyone did what they always had.

The casualty—one soul he had been hired to eliminate.

The fourth floor of the warehouse he just rigged contained one particular industrial chemical. Long before the fire department could arrive at the scene, the calcium carbide in the warehouse would eventually react with the water from the sprinkler system. His slow-burn rigging cord would take forty minutes to reach the first floor, where the flammable chemicals were stored. In thirty-one minutes there would be a blast massive enough to ignite other chemicals stored in the warehouse, creating a chain reaction of that would forever eliminate any evidence of that one casualty.

Anywhere else in the world, such an explosion would result in hundreds of lives lost and near-apocalyptic damage. That was not possible here in Weihai, one of the most disciplined, regimented, emergency preparedness-focused economic zones in China. This building he chose had already been identified as an emergency response no-go zone, which meant that emergency responders were instructed to erect a perimeter and evacuate the area, but could not enter to fight fires or for any other type of emergency response.

Still, Nick wasn’t hired to stick around and witness that part of it. He walked calmly to his black Yamaha FZ-09 parked at a curb twenty blocks from the warehouse so there would be no problem of being stuck too close to the action. Dressed in all black at this time of night and with so much going on, he wasn’t noticed by authorities trying to control the flow of people and vehicles.

The fire and the lights from the police cars and fire trucks lit up the night, creating convenient shadows. Nick was good at blending in. Residing in the shadows was his thing. In the commotion, he hopped on his bike and gunned it to get out of there. As soon as he was far enough away, he found a parking deck and drove up to the top to watch the outcome. He used the extra time to report his successful completion of stage one of the assignment. His report was a message on his secure phone—the code ‘Y1’ to his handler.

The reply that came up on the screen was a simple ’10-4’.

The first large explosion rocked the sky a moment after he received the text. Flames shot upwards, and a large cloud rose from the fire.

Another message came in. ‘N1FLX10800’.

He pursed his lips. They wanted him to get to LAX by Monday morning. There was one target—female, however his instructions were to follow and perform intel, not to eliminate the target. It sounded interesting enough, so he answered with, ‘10-4’.

A few moments later, a much larger explosion ripped through the warehouse. It shook the ground so violently, Nick felt it where he stood. Glass shattered, and distant car alarms went off from the impact. It felt like an earthquake. The resulting fireball grew as bright as the sun for a moment, lighting up the city like daylight. As the light faded, debris fell as far as a quarter mile from the source, well within the half-mile perimeter that had been erected.

It was a pretty drastic measure for just one casualty, but the company took no chances with high value targets. There was no room for evidence in this business. This was why his job included making people vanish off the face of the earth as though they never existed. The Port of Weihai officials would be sorting the mess out for days. They’d never find what caused it or why it had been started. Anything inside that fire would be gone.

He left the parking deck on his bike and sped and through the streets to his hotel, passing bewildered locals, journalists, and tourists standing in the streets and on the sidewalks to take in the sight. Time to get his gear and leave. He parked outside his hotel and hurried to his room for his backpack, which he had packed up before he left for the warehouse. The only reason he had kept the hotel room for the evening was he expected to at least get one decent night’s sleep before his next assignment. Sleep was not in the cards this time.

Well, he could sleep on the flight to LAX.

He stood at the window of his room, looking out over the port for a moment. A massive fire danced off in the distance, a black cloud rising from it into the sky.

Chapter Four – Nick

Weihai, China

The Weihai Dashuibo International Airport was busy when he arrived an hour later. He kept an eye out for his package. With the short notice about this new assignment, the airport was the most like place for the Company to pass on instructions. As he already knew too well, they hired operatives who excelled at blending in. Nick had to accept whoever it was this time had probably already spotted him.

He ducked into a restroom before checking in at the gate for his flight. He always took a stall in public restrooms for privacy. It gave him a rare moment to catch his breath and stop playing his part, but while he relieved himself over the porcelain, a sealed Manila envelope slid across the floor and hit the back of his feet. He flushed and turned to pick it up. It was labeled “N1FLX10800.”

His next job.

As always, there was the usual doctored photo and a trifold tourist brochure inside the envelope. He reached for his keyring and turned on his blacklight pen, the only light that revealed the details of his assignment.

He tucked the photo into his inside jacket pocket and ripped the envelope and brochure, flushing them down the toilet before washing his hands and leaving the restroom. He took a seat tucked away in a corner of the terminal. He had memorized the assignment. He had what he needed.

Nicole Hunt.

Blonde, 24, 5’6”.

Silicon Valley.

Flying out of SJC or LAX. Destination unknown.

Collect intel and prevent all non-US departures.

Only one operative assigned to the task.

The assignment seemed simple enough, but Nick knew to never underestimate it. Job likes these had the potential to go off the rails because there were so many unknowns, and because keeping a target alive took more effort. He pulled out the only item inside the envelope that he didn’t dispose of. The doctored photo was an image of Nick with his new target, as though they were close friends or family members. That was normal. It allowed operatives to keep their target’s description on hand without drawing any suspicion. 

As simple as the job seemed, it must have been pretty serious, to call for his departure from China on the heels of this last job. Nick wasn’t the only operative in the field, and although he liked staying busy, it didn’t make sense that they assigned him instead of someone else.

He put away the photo and waited for his flight to start boarding. It was the only down time he had, so he took the time to enjoy the extra winks.