Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Two hours later, Jessica handed Liam a cup of coffee when he came into their command center. “You couldn’t sleep?”
He sipped the jet-black liquid, just the way he liked it. “Looks like I’m not the only one.”
Jessica tipped her chin toward Harper and Knox sitting at a table off to the side of the room near their safe, which was basically a wall with an access panel that opened up to their entire arsenal of weapons and other gadgets. “Harper and Knox have been working for an hour or so.”
“We’re making progress,” Harper announced without looking up from her screen.
“And Owen took off twenty minutes ago to try and secure an off-the-books helo in case we need one on standby,” Jessica said.
“Who do we know we can trust for that?” Using a helo in British airspace would be a first for them on an op like this without the backing of the U.S.
government for an assist. And since POTUS didn’t want the British government knowing about the op unless absolutely necessary—who the hell would they ask?
When Jessica’s gaze darted Knox’s way, as if she were uncomfortable with answering the question, well, enough said. “Emily’s brother’s tactical security company, right?”
“I know and trust them,” Harper spoke up when Jessica remained silent. “When I was at the CIA we partnered with their agency on a couple off-the-books ops.”
“Weren’t all your ops off-the-books?” Knox smiled.
Harper leaned to the side and got him with a playful elbow to the ribs. “Anyway,” she continued. “Most of the crew at the company in the U.K. is former MI6. They can get us access to helos.”
“I trust them, but—” Liam began.
“They’ll be our contingency plan. If we don’t need to borrow a chopper or a drone for ISR, we won’t,” Jessica said.
“They can get us eyes in the sky, too?” He had to admit that’d be a hard offer to pass up.
Jessica nodded. “Owen’s not mentioning Emily’s involvement. This won’t get back to her brother, either. They’re on a need-to-know basis for now, and they’re under the assumption we’re private contractors—same as them.”
The idea still made him nervous.
“We need British support in case things go south, too. And if the factory in Manchester is a potential target it’d be nice to have their help if we get into a jam,” Harper added.
“Yeah, okay,” Liam reluctantly gave in.
A.J. strode into the room a beat later wearing only his American flag boxers and cowboy boots, distracting everyone’s focus. “Morning, ladies and gents.”
“About time you got your ass up,” Knox said with a laugh.
“You said if I got up there’d be two smoking hot women waiting for me in here.” A.J.’s Alabama drawl was alive and awake that morning, more prominent than ever. “Clearly your idea of a good time is a little different than mine.”
“There are two hot women in the room.” Knox pointed to Harper and Jessica.
“Jessica’s like a sister, and Harper, well, I don’t want to scare her off just yet since she’s new.” A.J. plopped down on the sofa at the center of the room, which faced the drop-down screen on the far-left side wall.
Harper kept her eyes steady on the screen but replied, “Gee, thanks.”
Jessica grabbed a pillow and tossed it to his lap. “I don’t need to see your morning wood, thank you very much.”
“Honey, this is—”
“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” Jessica said, “because you love to walk around practically naked.” She waved a finger in the air. “And call me honey one more time, and I’ll drop you on that Alabama ass of yours.”
“Like you could.”
Liam leaned against one of the white columns in the room and drained half his coffee. He was thankful for the distraction in front of him. It meant he could take a five-minute break from thoughts of Emily.
The look on her face before he left the bathroom . . . he hadn’t been able to sleep after that.
“Well, I think better when I’m comfortable,” A.J. said.
Wyatt came into the room just in time to join the conversation. “Okay, so next op you go in your skivvies.” He spread his palms open. “And what, no hat this morning?”
“Jessica suggested I not wear it, or I won’t blend in with you Brits.”
Wyatt punched Liam in the shoulder—his morning greeting—then strode past him to get to the coffeepot on the desk near where Harper and Knox worked. “How come you call me a Yank when we’re Stateside, but whenever we’re across the pond I turn back into a Brit?”
A.J. propped both arms up on each side of him on the couch. “You’re both, brother. But you tend to go full-on Monty Python whenever you’re back home.”
Liam almost choked on his coffee.
“I’m gonna go Monty Python on your arse in about—”
“It’s too early for all of this testosterone.” Jessica clapped her hands together.
“I see why you needed another woman on the team.” Harper chuckled. “How have you handled this for so long?”
“They grow on you, I guess.” Jessica touched her mouth, fighting a smile.
“You know you love us.” Wyatt winked.
“Most days,” she said. “But now that some of us are here, maybe we can focus and talk about the op?”
Wyatt turned around with his mug in hand. “Maybe we should wait until everyone else wakes up from their beauty sleep?”
“We’ll catch them up,” Asher said as he came into the room.
“Shouldn’t you be kicking his ass or something for strutting around in boxers in front of me?” Jessica teased, elbowing Asher in the side after he planted a kiss on her cheek.
“You made me promise nothing would change on ops just because you and I are—”
“Making so much damn noise,” Wyatt began while jerking a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of Asher and Jessica’s bedroom, “that none of us could sleep if we’d even wanted to.”
“Oh, so you weren’t working, you were—”
“Don’t finish,” Jessica warned Knox. “Let’s focus, boys.” She grabbed a remote and cast a view of her laptop onto the drop-down screen on the wall. “Jeremiah Davis, Vanessa Blackburn, and Vanessa’s ex-husband, Elliott, have won themselves a place at the top of the suspect list.”
“I’m familiar with Vanessa from Blackburn Technologies, but are we talking about the same Jeremiah who is one of the ten geniuses invited to the gala tomorrow night?” Liam pushed away from the column at the news.
“He was a last-minute add when someone dropped out,” Harper spoke up without looking up from her own screen.
“Why do I feel like this person who dropped out wasn’t given much of a choice about it?” Liam asked.
“My thoughts, too,” Jessica said. “And guess where Jeremiah works.” She folded one arm under the other, propping a fist beneath her chin.
“Weston Tech?” Liam walked past the couch to get closer to the screen, committing every detail of the three suspects to his memory.
Jeremiah looked barely out of college, with long dark hair and brown eyes that were nearly black.
Vanessa was the polar opposite. Mid-forties, maybe. Pin-straight ice-blonde hair with eyes that bordered on paranormal looking—indigo-colored contacts, maybe.
“Jeremiah and Hans don’t exactly like each other,” Jessica said. “They’re both geniuses in the AI space, but they competed for the project at NORAD and, as we know, Hans won, which pissed Jeremiah off. He went to work for Weston Tech shortly after that in January.”
“Well, this is getting mighty interesting.” A.J. stood and came up next to Liam.
“Keep the pillow with you, or I’ll forget my promise to Jessica,” Asher said, his brows rising, and Liam was pretty sure he wasn’t bullshitting.
A.J. cursed under his breath and grabbed the pillow, holding it in front of his boxers, and Liam did his best not to laugh.
“Are you thinking there’s a connection between Jeremiah and Blackburn Technologies?” Liam asked.
“I’m trying to see if I can ID anyone from Blackburn on camera with Jeremiah, but as for Vanessa, she’s fairly reclusive. Well, she has been ever since her divorce from Elliott Nelson,” she explained. “No one has actually seen her out in public in over a year.”
“Elliott Nelson was her husband? As in Nelson Industries? Didn’t the guy declare bankruptcy three years ago before going off the grid?” Liam set his empty mug on the coffee table off to his right and folded his arms.
“Yeah, but right before that, he and Vanessa got a divorce, and he basically handed her everything not nailed to the floor.” Asher sat at the table on the other side of Harper and opened his laptop. “How often do rich assholes just offer their exes all their money and assets?”
“They do if they know they’re about to lose it all,” Wyatt pointed out.
“We’re thinking the divorce was planned so Vanessa could protect the money for him.” Jessica surveyed the team. “And then she used the nine hundred million from the settlement to start up Blackburn Technologies under her maiden name.”
“Any idea where Elliott Nelson is now?” Liam looked to Jessica. “Will he be at the event tomorrow? I assume Vanessa will be there since she’s the CEO, and her company is the main sponsor?” A.J. asked.
“Two seats have been reserved at Hans’s table under the Blackburn Technologies name. That’s all I know,” she said.
“So, the divorce was basically a scam, and both Vanessa and Elliot are pulling the strings?” Liam suggested. “Guilty of the fires at Weston.”
“I’m betting not only are they still together, but they’re also in bed with Jeremiah,” Asher said.
“Don’t people know threesomes get you into trouble?” A.J. sat next to Wyatt on the couch again, resting the pillow on his lap.
“All I know is the more and more pieces we put together, the more it looks like Blackburn Technologies is not only gunning for Weston Tech’s contracts, but they’re hell-bent on doing it no matter the costs,” Jessica said.
Asher shifted his focus to Jessica, a smile in his eyes. The man loved her and hard. Liam was happy for them. It was about damn time they got together.