The Company of Darkness (10 page)

“What do you want from me?” she managed to get out, her chin coming up as she refused to be cowed, even though her heart pounded in her ears so loud she was sure he could hear it in the close quarters. 

“I want the truth.” 

“I don’t know what you think that is, but if you keep harassing me I’m going to go to the cops.”

“Be my guest,” he shrugged, unconcerned.  “Speaking of cops – funny, you don’t seem to have much contact with your boyfriend.”

It took her a second to realize he meant Lucas, not Ethan.  If he’d been keeping close enough tabs, he must know she hadn’t seen him since the other night at the bar.  He might’ve even seen Ethan come to her window.  “He’s a busy guy.  There’s a lot of crime in this city,” she said lamely. 

“More than you know.”

“Then why aren’t you out there doing something about it?” she said hotly.  “Why are you wasting your time bothering me?”

“What makes you think it’s any business of mine?”

Cady took a deep breath, looking him straight in the eye.  He must’ve been a good guy at some point or they wouldn’t have hired him to work for the Company.  It was time to stop dancing around the truth.  “I’m not your enemy, Rikard.  Try and remember that.”

His face registered her use of his name and a thrill of conviction lit his face.  “I hope for your sake that’s true.  I’m not a good enemy to have.”  He reached past her to unstick the elevator and a shiver tore through her shoulders as he leaned close to press his nose against her hair.  The elevator continued on its way, the doors sliding open when it got to the top floor.  Only then did Rikard back off, stepping out into the hall. 

“Goodbye, Cady.  I’ll be seeing you.” 

Ethan’s gaze flicked to the phone lying in the center of the bed.  He’d already picked it up and put it down three times before throwing it farther out of reach.  If he hadn’t needed to keep it on him at all times in case the Company tried to reach him, he would’ve tucked it away in a drawer, out of sight, out of mind.  As it was, all he could think about was calling Cady to hear her voice and listen to her ramble on about her day. 

The phone chirped and his hand shot out before the first ring was over, stomach tightening when he saw it was Cady’s number.  “Hey,” he smiled on his end, leaning back on the bed.  “This is a pleasant surprise.”

“I really wish it was, but I’m thinking not so much,” she replied, the tension thick in her voice and he instantly sat up higher.

“What’s wrong?”

She took a long breath, and he could hear the sound of water running.  “I just had a run in with Rikard.”

“Rikard is here?”  His feet came off the bed, every sense alert for danger.  This was bad, very bad. 

“I’ll say he is.  Why, shouldn’t he be?”

“Because he’s supposed to be on assignment in Oakland.”             

“Since when?”

“Since… I don’t know, for a while.  I gave him a call before to sound him out and see if he was actively investigating you and he said he was working a job up there.  I suppose he could’ve finished and come back.”

“Or it was total bullshit, because he’s definitely keeping tabs on me.”

“Where did this happen?”

“Here, at my place.  This isn’t the first time I’ve talked to him either.”

“I know you told me about the coffee shop.”

“After that, I ran into him at a bar.”

“What were you doing in a bar?”  His focus shifted for a moment, accusation getting the better of him.  He’d first met her in a bar – how much time did she spend in them and who was she talking to this time?

“Having a drink, why?”

“With who?  Did you let Rikard pick you up in a bar?”  For some reason the thought of her sitting there with someone like Rikard bugged the hell out of him.  Drinking, smiling, her hand brushing over his arm as she laughed… it was enough to set his teeth on edge.

“What?  No, didn’t you hear me?  I said I ran into him.”

“Out of the blue?  And I’m supposed to believe that?”  Why did her voice sound like she was making up excuses?

“No, that’s my whole point, he’s keeping tabs on me.  Ethan, are you alright?  Why are you flipping out so bad? I haven’t even gotten to the scary part yet.”

“I think the idea of you getting hit on in bars is scary enough when I can’t be there to protect you,” he muttered.

“Ethan, I wasn’t getting hit on by guys.  I was there hanging out with Kelli, she works there.”

“Oh.”  Shit, what was wrong with him?  He was being stupid, getting off track.  There were much bigger issues at stake here.  “Sorry.  Let’s go back to these visits from Rikard.  What did he say to you?  Did he ask you any questions about me, or is he still fishing for information?” 

She took him through the conversation in the bar, and at her apartment building, the thinly veiled threats making his jaw tighten in anger.  But Ethan forced a calming breath, not wanting to freak Cady out any more than she already was. 

“Okay, relax, he didn’t hurt you, right?  I’m going to take care of this.”  His mind was already spinning scenarios, thinking what he’d have to do to get her to safety if necessary, with and without him. 

“But what if…”

“There’s no point in borrowing trouble.  At this point we still don’t know if he’s acting on his own or if the Company knows you’ve been drawn into this.  If they know how deeply involved we are…”

“What?”

Again he tried to downplay it, no sense in making her more upset.  “If there’s any disciplinary action I’ll be the one to take it.  You were an innocent bystander, Ash came after you.  The fact that you’ve held our secrets so well already should count in your favor.”

“What do you think they’ll do to you?”

“It probably depends on how well this is contained.  It does happen that outsiders learn about the Company and what we do.”

“And what happens to them?”

“That all depends on the value they can provide to the Company.”

“What if they decide I have no value?”

He didn’t answer, not wanting to even contemplate what that might mean.  Instead he pulled the black duffel bag out of his closet, pulling it open to check the contents. 

“Ethan?”

Realizing that he had to give her something to cling to, he spun an unlikely fantasy.  “Best case scenario, they rearrange some of your memories.”

“That’s the
best
case scenario?” she said, her voice raising an octave.

“It really is.  I want you to try not to panic, though.  If it comes to that, I can get you out before they try anything, don’t worry.”

“You’d really risk that for me?”

He’d do
anything
for her, without hesitation.  “One thing at a time.  Let me worry about the Company, you go about your life like normal, that’s the best thing you can do.  Rikard didn’t accuse you of anything outright and he didn’t bring you in.  He chose to confront you out in the open.  When we have to really worry about him is when we can’t see him in plain sight at all.”   

“Is that supposed to be comforting?”

“Trust me, when we’re talking about Rikard, it is.  I think you’ve made him curious and he’s still trying to figure out if you can be trusted, that’s all.”  At least he hoped so. 

“Are you going to talk to him?”

“Not yet.  First I want to see how deep this goes.  I’ll do some checking around and get back to you.  Try not to worry.”

“Oh sure, easy for you to say.”

Her voice was light, but he heard the concern behind it and wished like hell he could be there to take her in his arms.  But that could prove disastrous, depending on whether or not he was under surveillance as well.  “Cady, I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.  Do you believe me?”

“I guess so.”

“Your confidence is underwhelming,” he chuckled at her tone.

“Sorry, it’s been a weird day.  Ian got a new job and we went out to celebrate but he spent all his time drooling over Kelli.  He didn’t even offer to walk me home.”

“That’s good.”

“I don’t see how.”

“For instance, can you imagine how that conversation might’ve gone down with Ian present?  Plus, a distracted Ian works in our advantage.  Too many people asking questions about your movements at any one time and you’re bound to trip up at some point.”

“Now whose confidence is underwhelming?”

“Point taken.  Listen, I’ll text you later with what I find out.  Just to be on the safe side, you probably shouldn’t call me either.  Texting only until I can figure out how deep this goes.”

Cady let out a long, forlorn sigh.  “I’m guessing no more Chinese take out either?”

“Not around here, no.  Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out.  In the meantime, keep your eyes open, don’t do anything out of the ordinary.  If anyone but Rikard is watching you it’s better to drive them bored out of their minds with how ordinary you are.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“You know what I mean.  Don’t give them any excuse to want to bring you in.”

“What happens if they do bring me in?  What if Rikard told your bosses about me and they want to interrogate me and find out how much I know?”

“That probably won’t happen.”

“But if it does?”

“Then relax and go with it, you haven’t done anything wrong.  I’m the one who broke the rules.” 

“I’m not throwing you under the bus like that,” she snorted, offended.

“You won’t have a choice.  You won’t be able to lie to them.   They have ways of making you talk.”

“Like torture?”

“Like spells.  They don’t have to resort to hurting you, Cady.  So like I said, try not to worry, it won’t get that bad.  You might wake up somewhere with no memory of me or our time together.”

“That sounds pretty bad to me.”

And it would kill him to leave her now, he felt it in his bones.  He needed her.  “I’d better go.  Stay safe.”

“I will.  I love you.”

“Me too.” 

He loved her so much, in fact, he did the stupidest thing he could think of.  He broke into the Company’s database. 

There were definite dangers involved, but before Ethan gambled with Cady’s life, he needed to know how bad the risk was.  It took him the better part of an hour to get into the system, taking a long, circuitous route to protect himself against whenever they detected him in the system.  Because if there was one thing he was sure of, they’d definitely catch him once he broke in, the system had too many safeguards to allow
anyone
to roam around freely for too long.  He only hoped he could find what he needed before they kicked him out. 

There was a rush of satisfaction as he wormed his way in, and the first thing he checked was whether or not there was a file on Cady.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t as simple as typing her name into the database, there were far too many nooks and crannies where a file could be hidden.  Ethan’s toes tapped with nervous energy as he doggedly searched through them all, leaving no stone unturned until he could be fairly certain there was no active investigation on Cady or anyone remotely matching her description.

That left Rikard.  This was easier to access, and he quickly determined that the fixer wasn’t actively assigned to
any
case.  He was listed on personal leave, the last assignment being one he’d taken weeks before in Oakland.  Ethan slumped back in the chair, wondering what the actual fuck was going on with the man.  If Rikard wasn’t investigating for the Company, why all the attention on Cady? 

Still, the panic receded as he realized Cady wasn’t in the Company crosshairs.  Whatever Rikard’s interest, he no longer had to worry about her life being in danger.  If Rikard had been interested in hurting her, he could’ve easily struck with none of them being the wiser.

Ethan decided to try one more thing, hoping it gave him a clue into his friend’s interest, accessing his own file.  It would take longer to sort through, and he hit the download prompt, knowing his time was growing shorter by the second.  Barely a quarter of the way through the file transfer, the system booted him out, access denied.  So much for that idea.  Of course, he could always log in under his own name and review his file, but that would leave a trail and possibly raise questions as to why he felt the need to review his own file.  Best for now to leave it alone and deal with what he
did
know. 

A quick check of the time showed it was late.  He sent a text to Cady anyway, figuring she was either asleep and wouldn’t hear it or she’d be worried, not able to sleep and need to see it. 
You’re in the clear, they aren’t investigating you.
  When twenty minutes went by without a response, he figured she was sound asleep and got some rest himself.  There would be time enough to sort it out tomorrow.

* * *

The next morning, Ethan rose early, went through his normal workout routine, ate breakfast, nothing out of the ordinary.  No word from Cady either until a text while he was in the shower.

Okay, but what about R?

Deciding to risk calling her at work, Ethan took a walk, picking up another drop phone and calling her office line. 

“Good morning, Pacific Surety, how can I help you?” Cady answered, sounding bright and chipper. 

“I thought you might feel better if we had a chance to talk.  Do you have a few minutes?”

“Oh, thank God,” she breathed.  “I started to worry when you didn’t text back.”

“Sorry, I thought it would be easier to talk about this way.  Listen, you can relax, it doesn’t look like the Company is interested in you at all.”

“But Rikard…”

“Isn’t assigned to any investigations right now.  Whatever he’s doing, he’s doing it on his own personal time.  For all we know he’s got a crush on you.”

“It sure didn’t seem like it.  Well… maybe, but I don’t think so.”

There was something there, he was sure of it.  “Maybe what?”

“I don’t know.  Half the time he scared the crap out of me, but the other half, it almost seemed like he
was
trying to be charming or something.  He kept smiling at me and leaning in close.  In the elevator… it was like he smelled me.  He did that before too, in the coffee shop, it was weird.”

Could it really be that simple?  Was Rikard taken with her himself?  She was a beautiful girl, and the fact that he’d followed her down to the coffee shop from his apartment that first day… all that asking about her boyfriends and whether he had a clear line of sight – did it have more to do with Cady as a woman and not as a suspect?  A surge of jealousy had him gripping the phone tight enough to make the plastic creak, but Ethan forced it down, keeping his voice light.  “Maybe he thinks you smell good, I do.”