Chapter 16
B lue arrived home a few hours after Jane but similarly exhausted. He turned on his computer and reached for a box of cereal, a bowl, and milk while it warmed up. After demolishing half a box of cereal, he would want nothing more than sleep, but he couldn’t do that until he checked in with work and eased his mind about the encrypted message he’d seen on the dark web about Jane.
The dark web was a hacker’s paradise, untraceable, easy to encrypt, the perfect place to buy and sell anything illegal. He found the site that mentioned Jane and plugged in his decryption key. It would take a while, given the innumerable possibilities. He ate a couple of bowls of cereal and pushed back in his chair, resting his feet on the desk. He would close his eyes while the decryption key did its thing.
Forty minutes later, the computer chimed, letting him know his program had hit on the correct combination to unlock the site. Blue sat up, yawning as he wiped the sleep from his eyes. He woke his monitor and leaned in to see what he’d uncovered and then his feet hit the floor with a bang.
He leaned in, practically pressing his nose to the monitor. Someone had ordered Jane’s kidnapping, dead or alive but preferably alive. The fee was a hundred thousand dollars with a ten thousand dollar bonus if she was kept alive. Last night’s kidnapping really had been about her and not him, but why? Was their case enough to put her life in so much danger? Whoever was doing the forgeries had to be making a killing, and somehow that money was being funneled into terror cells bent on wreaking havoc on the United States. Jane was one of the only people who could detect the forgeries and had, in fact, already detected two of them. She could put a serious dent in the operation, perhaps even bring it to a standstill. Of course she was a high value target. Now she was at her house, alone and unprotected. And Blue was the only person who knew how much danger she was in.
He dashed to his feet and grabbed his phone, but it was dead. He was supposed to charge it when he got home, but he fell asleep first. No matter, there was no time to call anyone besides Jane, and she certainly wouldn’t take his call. Instead of worrying about his phone, he dashed to his room, unlocked his safe, and reached for his gun and holster.
The holster was something he’d bought on a whim, almost as a joke. At the time, he hadn’t been able to imagine a situation he would need to use it. Now as he attempted to put it on over his t-shirt, he realized he had no idea how to wear it. Feeling like the world’s worst secret agent, he returned to his computer and Googled, “How to fasten a holster.” Once it was fastened, he added a hoodie over it to conceal it and then reached for his gun. He took two steps toward the door and remembered his gun wasn’t loaded. Pivoting back to the safe, he grabbed the ammo, loaded the gun, and slid it back in the holster. Being a spy was exhausting. He had no idea how Ridge and Ethan made it look so easy. And he had never seen either of them hide a gun under a hoodie.
Once he was armed, he plugged his phone into the car charger and took off, double parked outside Jane’s house, and sprinted up to her apartment. The one spy-tech gadget at his ready disposal was a computerized lock pick, something he could plug in and open any electronic lock. Jane had such a lock, he had absently noted on his first visit. He plugged his device in the keyhole, pushed a button, and the lock easily sprang open. Taking a breath to prep himself for whatever he might find inside, he pushed open the door.
Jane sat on the couch looking like she’d just stepped out of the shower, her temporary roommate, Nick, beside her. They both turned to survey Blue with shock. He said the first thing he could think of.
“Get your things, you’re coming with me.”
“No, I’m not. Go away,” Jane said, frowning.
“I’m sorry, did that sound like a request? Get your things or don’t, but either way you’re coming with me.”
She shook her head. He took a step inside and closed the door, securing it behind him. He grasped her hand, hauled her off the couch, marched her into her bedroom, and closed the door, leaning on it to prevent escape.
“Someone ordered a hit on you,” he whispered. “You are in extreme danger. You need to leave now.”
She paled slightly. “Someone wants me dead?”
“No, they want you alive, but that could be worse because I can’t figure out why unless they plan to get information from you first. But the people who will respond to the ad will most likely end up killing you in the process of trying to take you in. We got lucky last night. We might not again. So gather enough stuff for a few days because we’re leaving.”
“Where are we going?”
Blue blinked at her. He hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. “For now I’m going to get you out of here and then we’ll see what Ridge wants to do with you.”
“I don’t like this,” she said.
“Neither do I, but I’m not joking around. We need to be gone from here in two minutes, so pack your things.”
Reluctantly she turned away from him, opened a few drawers and her closet, set some clothes on the bed, and began arranging them in a case. Blue saw the silk nightie she’d worn the night before in a sad little pile at the end of her bed and swallowed hard, remembering the feel and smell of her in it. She was mad, he could tell. He’d try to deal with that later. For now he needed to focus on her safety.
He followed her into the bathroom while she gathered her toiletries, or what was left of them since most of her things were still at the hotel in New York. Blue had tried to get them for her, but the hotel assured them they would ship them home to her. She took a new toothbrush from beneath the sink, and then she was ready. “What am I going to say to Nick?” she whispered, more to herself than him.
“Tell him we’re going away together,” Blue suggested.
She shook her head. “Wouldn’t work. He was privy to my emotional state when I arrived home.” She sighed and rubbed the area between her eyes. “I’m going to have to tell him a little bit of what’s going on.”
“You can’t.”
“I can, and I will. If I’m in danger, then he’s in danger. He needs to know to be careful, to keep an eye out for himself and for Emily.”
“Are you purposely contradicting everything I say?” he asked.
“Not everything is about you,” she said, bypassing him as she stalked toward the living room.
“I bet it’s about me a little,” he murmured to himself as he trotted to keep up.
“What’s going on?” Nick asked, looking duly alarmed.
“There’s been an incident. I’m in danger, and I need to go,” Jane said. “You might be in danger also, so keep an eye on Emily for me, please.”
Blue expected some sort of reaction. Instead Nick blinked at her, his face going the same shade of pale as hers. “Your dad?”
She shook her head. “Long story, I’ll tell you when it’s over.” She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek.
“You didn’t answer my question,” he replied, picking her up and holding her at eye level.
“We’ll talk more later,” Jane said.
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“I’ll hold you to it,” Nick said. He squeezed her and let her go, giving Blue a look he couldn’t discern. “Anything happens to her, I’ll hold you personally responsible.”
“Get in line,” Blue said. He stepped in front of Jane, pulled his gun from its holster, hoping it looked smooth and not as clumsy as it felt. It would be his luck to drop the thing and accidentally shoot himself or one of them. Feigning confidence, he led the way through the door. Taking Jane’s hand, he herded her down the stairs and to his car, keeping a wary eye out for anyone suspicious. The problem was that when he was really looking, everyone seemed suspicious. He began to feel some sympathy for Jane’s decision to pepper spray him that first day. She was right—when you were vulnerable, everyone looked like a possible predator. And he had been following her that day, though not for any nefarious purpose. He must have looked scary to her, tall, tattooed, blue haired, and skulking behind her. Knowing how much danger she was in made everyone they passed look similarly sinister to him. He had to stay rational, to keep a cool head. It would be his luck to take down a nun or harmless falafel cart guy because he developed a panicky trigger finger.
They reached the car and he shut her inside before sprinting around to ease in behind the wheel. For a moment, he was tempted to slide across the top of the car, but he didn’t want to risk his paint job or getting impaled on his hood ornament. Plus it was likely he would run out of momentum halfway through and end up crawling off the car like the dejected, non-athlete he was. A quick glance in the mirror showed no one in their wake. He would keep a close eye out as they drove to…where should he take her? Where was safe?
There was only one place he could think of. After a few circuitous false starts to make sure they weren’t followed, he turned once again and headed home. His building had a garage, protected from the street. It was high security and, thanks to his job, completely off the radar.
“What is this place?” Jane asked as they parked underground and he retrieved her bag.
“This is my place,” Blue said, pushing the button for the elevator. Once they were inside and the doors were closed, he breathed a sigh of relief, took out his key, and put it in the elevator.
“You live in the penthouse?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Huh.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“What?” he prodded.
“I find it interesting a government employee drives a Jaguar, lives in a luxury penthouse, and you think I’m the one who is suspicious.”
“I told you I sold an app,” he said.
“So you say.”
He scowled, not liking her inference. “Look, I could easily be making a solid six figures in the private sector. I could leave tomorrow and write my meal ticket in Silicon Valley. It’s not like they haven’t offered. Google practically begged me to… I stay because the work I do is important.”
“What’s the problem? Does it bother you when someone questions your intent, your very morality based on circumstantial evidence?” she said.
He opened his mouth to reply and closed it again when the elevator dinged. “Make yourself comfortable, I have to call work.” He reached for his phone, thankful it had enough battery to make a call, while Jane meandered around his space. He tried to see it through her eyes. The space was grand, and it had a great view. Otherwise it looked like any twenty nine year old’s bachelor pad—sparse, mismatched furniture and a couple of random pictures hung haphazardly on the walls. The only difference was that one entire wall was taken up with his massive computer and hard drives, powerful enough to allow him to work from home, if needed. The nature of his job didn’t keep regular hours. Sometimes he needed to track what governments in different time zones were up to. Working from home allowed him to do that more comfortably.
“What now?” Ridge answered.
“Just making sure you didn’t die laughing,” Blue said.
“Jury’s still out.”
“There’s a hit on Jane. I found it on the dark web, encrypted.”
“I’ll send a team for her,” Ridge said.
“I already got her, she’s here, at my house.”
There was a pause. “You got her yourself?”
“It seemed critical and time sensitive, and my phone was dead.”
Ridge clicked his tongue in disapproval. It was likely his phone had never died inconveniently. He probably always remembered to charge it and had a few backup phones just in case. As if to remind him how much of a super spy he wasn’t, Blue’s phone low-battery warning beeped ominously. Surreptitiously, he reached for his charger and plugged it in.
“She can’t stay there. Ethan’s coming home tomorrow. He’ll take her to a safe house.”
Blue eyed Jane, now paused in front of one of the pictures on his wall, inspecting it with the same intensity she did everything, including kiss. “I don’t think so.”
There was another pause. “You don’t think so?”
“She would not be comfortable with Ethan,” Blue said. And he would not be comfortable having her with Ethan. The last woman Ethan rescued fell in love with him. It was a job hazard for men like Ethan and Ridge. They couldn’t help themselves. He saw the way women looked at them and responded to them, regardless of the fact that they were both now married, though secretly in Ethan’s case. Women were programed to respond to masculine men, to heroes, to rescuers. Blue was none of those things.
“It’s not about comfort; it’s about safety,” Ridge reminded him.
“She’s safe here.”
“But for how long? Eventually they’re going to track her if she stays in the city. You know how it is; the intelligence community is tripping over itself here. Everything everywhere is wired, recorded, photographed. She needs to be out of the city.”
“I’ll take her,” Blue heard himself volunteer, turning his back to Jane.
Ridge did the pause thing again. Sometimes it meant he was thinking, and sometimes it meant he was trying to keep a cap on his temper. Since Blue hadn’t done anything to draw his ire for the moment, he figured he must be thinking.
“Let me ask you this, Blue, and I need an honest answer. If it came to it, could you kill a man to keep her safe?”
Blue turned to eye Jane again, now picking up a paperweight on his desk, turning it over and studying it as if it was one of her artifacts. “Yes.”
“Okay, then. She’s in your hands.”