Critical Density Page 7

  The man stopped in front of the chair where Diesel was sitting and glared at him.

  “I’ll stop pacing when that stupid bitch is found and taken care of. You said you had it under control. Everything was planned. Everything was in place. She’d be labeled a traitor then quietly disappear. She couldn’t stir up any kind of trouble that would derail what’s up for me. You assured me. I wish I knew how the hell the so-called fucking security team let her slip through their fingers.”

  ‘Slip through their fingers.’ That was an interesting way to put it. It was a little more than a slip, and no one knew it more than he did. Paul Santos, nursing a bad headache and a large lump on his head, might put it differently, but it meant the same thing. And the ten men who had scoured the entire downtown area where the hotel was also had a different opinion. Hannah Modell had somehow vaporized. Disappeared into thin air. She was gone, and no one knew where.

  Fucking hell.

  “Henry, it will be taken care of before it’s time for the announcement. Nothing is going to change that.”

  “So you say. I’ll feel better when she’s exposed as a traitor then dumped six feet under.”

  She couldn’t have called anyone, Diesel mused. That much he knew. They’d confiscated her cell phone and forbidden the hotel to put calls through on her room phone. One of the things that had made her ideal for this was her lack of social life, close friends or acquaintances, and—as far as they knew—no family. Her commitment to work and nothing beyond it pretty much isolated her, at least to their knowledge.

  Her hotel location had been known only to a select few and no one had even tried to find her or see her. They had kept a careful watch on that. Lowden had put out a believable story and they’d been working toward the second part. The part where she’d disappear forever. Then, shockingly, she’d somehow disappeared from that hotel. Pfftt! Gone! She hadn’t taken a cab or an Uber or Lyft, although he wasn’t too surprised. She had no money, as far as they knew, and she was smart enough not to use her credit cards. She also wouldn’t want to leave a trail for someone to follow.

  So how had this happened? How had the asshole who was supposed to be guarding her room been so fucking stupid that she’d knocked him out?

  Hannah Modell was smart enough to know if they made too much noise looking for her, they’d draw attention to things best kept hidden. Of course, she was thinking of their top-secret contracts and not the real reason behind the creation of Lowden Tactical. Only a select few were aware of that, not including her, and it had better stay that way.

  “We have to find her,” Henry insisted. “We’ve been building this since before Lowden Tactical opened. Since this first all came together that one weekend, as a matter of fact. When Hegman became a liability, we had all the pieces in place to get rid of him and keep moving forward. Millions—no, billions—are at stake, not to mention everyone involved in our private group. And my appointment as committee chair. If the top moneyman feels like it’s falling apart, he’ll pull the plug, take everyone with him and we’ll be left holding the bag. Do you really want to walk away from that kind of money? And power? Or maybe end up in prison?”

  “Of course not,” Diesel assured him. “But while we’re searching for her, we have to clean up any other loose ends so we don’t get unexpectedly smacked. If everyone gets cold feet and bails after this, I’m not going to be the one left with my naked ass hanging out in the wind.”

  “Yeah?” Henry snorted. “You can cover it with the millions you’re making from this. But I’m prime meat for the media. And there goes my future.”

  Diesel shifted in his chair, doing his best not to show his growing irritation. He’d only invited Henry because he provided a vital piece of the process. But even more than that, the man had focus. When there was a goal, a target, he never lost sight of it and never let anything deter him.

  “We knew this would happen with a high-profile target,” he reminded the other man. “We chose Modell to be the sacrificial lamb because she has no support system or anyone who would make a huge fuss. It’s logical. It’s doable. And the fact that she’s disappeared is only a little blip on the screen. We’ll find her. She has no resources and no place to go. Now tell me what’s going on at the senator’s? Are there still guards at the house?”

  “Yes. There are guards all over the senator’s estate in Kentucky. I don’t think even the president could get in to see his widow or the family.”

  “I’m not sure his people would even let him try.” Diesel grunted. “This is a very toxic situation for him right now.”

  Henry studied Diesel’s face. “You don’t think he knows anything about this, do you?”

  “Hell, no. If he did, you and I would damn sure not be sitting here. We’d be in the basement of some federal building praying to god we could find some lawyer to save our asses. And he’s not involved in the appointment process, so there’s no problem there.”

  “How’s Hegman’s wife holding up?”

  Henry shoved his hands in his pockets and stopped pacing, nervous energy rolling from him in waves.

  “Devastated, as you’d expect. Their kids are with her. The whole family is in shock.” He shook his head. “That’s the only downside to this whole thing. The effect on them.”

  “Collateral damage is always a bitch,” Diesel agreed. “I wish there was a way to avoid it, but mostly it can’t be helped.”

  “I’m playing the role. I have to, especially right now.” Henry sighed. “But it’s hard, knowing what I do.”

  “That should be easy for you. Playing a part is what every politician does. Am I right?”

  He rose from the big armchair, refilled his coffee mug from the silver pot on the sideboard and added a splash of Jim Beam for good measure. The alcohol warmed his blood and soothed his nerves. Henry was going to give him a goddamned heart attack if he didn’t settle his shit.

  “It’s what we have to do.”

  “As long as our plans progress the way they should,” Diesel told him, “it’s a loss we’ll have to deal with.”

  Henry slugged down a swallow of his drink. “I know I sound like a broken record, but I’ll just feel a lot better about everything when we have the woman back and taken care of.”

  “Henry.” Diesel gritted his teeth. “Listen to me. I’ll repeat this all one more time. It’s all logistics. Where can she go? She has no friends except at work, and it seems they’re just acquaintances. No family. No one with the resources to help her. Calm down. There’s a broader picture here that overrides everything else.”

  “And nobody better fuck with it,” Henry growled. “You know what’s at stake here.”

  “Power and money,” Diesel growled. “Especially yours.”

  “Yours, too, and my appointment is critical to keeping it that way. And protecting a lot of our ‘friends’. You know that.”

  “Yes.” Diesel gritted his teeth. “It will cover a lot of people’s asses.”

  “And your situation is at stake, too,” Henry reminded him. “So don’t act holier-than-thou. If we can’t find her, we’re all screwed. The president of the Senate is getting ready to appoint the next chairman of this committee and we’ve managed to get me at the top of his list. That’s the key to moving our agenda forward. So pardon me for asking again, but are you sure we’ve looked everywhere?”

  “We’re working on it, looking for places in Houston where she could have gone to hide. Fucking damn. I’m telling you.” Diesel wanted to punch someone—maybe Henry if he asked the question one more time. “Even though there’s no sign of her, that could be a good thing. She hasn’t gone to the media or the Feds.”

  “Yet,” Henry snapped.

  “You think I don’t have a lot at stake here, too? Maybe more? We’ve had a good thing going here and it’s about to get better once we get rid of this woman. We’re still checking the area around the hotel, but I don’t expect anyone to remember a woman who spends her life being invisible except at work.”
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  “My point exactly.” Henry glared at him. “A nobody like her can just fade into the woodwork until she reappears at the wrong time.”

  “I’ll tell you this once more, then we’re done.” Diesel was sick of this. Henry just needed to suck it up and let the pros handle this.

  “Done? Not until we find her and get rid of her.”

  “You’ll have to take my word for it. I’m damned tired of repeating myself.” Diesel took another swallow of his drink. “We’ll get her. She has no network. That was checked out thoroughly before she was hired. People on the GO-Teams don’t need excess baggage distracting them from their jobs. Both parents are dead, and she seems to have no social life. Everything is focused on the drones. Studying them. Working with them. Learning more sophisticated ways of developing them.”

  “She’s definitely the right person to have this tied to her,” Henry agreed. “No loose ends. No one to care if the roof all falls on her.”

  “As long as it’s done the right way,” Diesel reminded him. “It can’t look like a coverup. That’s what’s taking so long. There has to be a buildup. A detailed investigation, or at least a report of one so that we all look good. It’s being handled.”

  “The way keeping a tight lock on her was being handled?” Henry snapped.

  The other man glared at him. “Then answer this for me. If she’s such an isolated individual, how in the hell could she just disappear like this? We should have made her disappear at once. Permanently.”

  “And ignite a gigantic investigation? You’re kidding, right? We have to do this the right way. We have to make sure all the blame falls on her first. If everything falls apart and people learn what really happened, we might as well all figure out how to take the next spaceship to the moon.” Diesel took another swallow of his spiked coffee. “For fuck’s sake, Henry, we’ll get it done. My group has good people on this. They’ll find her. They’ll stash her. And at the right time, we’ll get rid of her.”

  “Your group?” Henry stared at him. “I thought we were all in this together. Now I’m on the outside looking in?”

  “I’m talking about the people who handle stuff like this for me. We are all in this together, so calm down.”

  Diesel would have liked nothing better than to wrap his hands around Henry’s throat and squeeze until his face turned red and he stopped breathing, but that wasn’t possible. The man was a vital cog in their machinery. He couldn’t afford to have him walk away, or worse, screw things up. His connections were vital to the execution of their plan, so he drank some more of his ‘coffee’ and forced a calmness he was far from feeling. He understood Henry’s panic. He himself was goddamn pissed and a little scared that Hannah Modell had somehow found someone to believe her and help her.

  It was okay to blame something on her if she was totally absent and no one could contact her. That had been the original plan. Sequester her until everything was in place, then cover her in irrefutable proof that the whole thing was her fault. Finally, at the right time, get rid of her if they had to.

  What they could not afford was to have her just show up with proof of what had really happened. He just hoped that goddamn proof was being buried so deep it would never surface. Millions were riding on this, as well as a lot of people’s futures.

  “This is the last time I’ll say this for now, but we have to find her,” Henry said again. “We have other parts that have to fall into place. The critical point here is not knowing who might have helped her or who she’s with now. She had to have help getting away from Paul Santos. He’s done a lot of jobs for us. He’s experienced and not easily fooled.”

  “She could have caught him off guard,” Diesel pointed out. “If she hadn’t done anything to put them on notice in two weeks, it could have happened.”

  “I agree. But we’ve checked everyone she’s ever spoken to since she was six years old. I’ve had every source on it and they’re good, and they’ve come up with nothing.”

  “Then get a new team on it. Go back to every business close to the hotel where she was purportedly sequestered and show her picture. Spend a little cash if you have to. You have the resources, Henry. Call them. And have a drink. The meeting’s here in two hours. Maybe we’ll be lucky, and someone will have news for us.”

  “They’d better,” Henry snarled, and poured himself a drink. “Too much is riding on this.”

  Chapter Six

  Hannah hadn’t been sure how Viper would act in the morning. Would he pretend nothing had happened between them? Would he be resentful for losing control? Decide he didn’t want to be bothered with her after all?

  And what did she feel? More than she wanted, which shocked the hell out of her. Satisfying sex was…well…satisfying and last night’s had been beyond that. But she was stunned to realize they’d made some connection beyond the physical. Did he feel it too? Was she getting herself in a bigger mess? God, god, god. She couldn’t afford to do anything to antagonize him to the point where he just walked away. She truly had no place else to go. But this feeling, this unfamiliar feeling…

  Suddenly, sitting in bed with him naked, she felt slightly embarrassed and completely defenseless. She’d had her share of meaningless sex, but she’d never, ever connected with a man the way she did with him, and she wasn’t even sure how to act.

  As if he read her mind, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tight against his body and telling her in a soft voice that everything was okay. He treated her as if they’d known each other forever, going out of his way to ease her nerves.

  “It’s all good,” he murmured in her ear. “Relax. We’re fine. Least I hope so. I hope I wasn’t the only one into it all.”

  The tension eased from her muscles and she smiled, even though he couldn‘t see it.

  “Not even a little. I was the one worried about your reaction. Some female picks you up in a bar and jumps into bed with you.”

  “Then we’re good. More than good. Great, even. First of all, I believe I was the one who did the picking up, and the jumping was mutual. Right?”

  “Um, yes, you’re right.” She swallowed a smile.

  “Then there’s nothing to worry about.” He was quiet for a moment. “Listen to me, Hannah. Taking on your kind of problem? This is just what we do. If it looks impossible and no one else would touch it, it’s made for us. Galaxy will be all over this today.” He squeezed her gently. “And I’ll be all over you personally.”

  “How much did you tell them in the texts you sent?”

  “Enough to pique their interest and get them started on the list I put together.”

  She nibbled her lower lip. “Don’t they want to meet me first?”

  “I met you, and that’s all it takes. Promise. And that means we’d better get up and out of here. I’m calling Saint to tell him to get ready for takeoff. Why don’t you grab the first shower?”

  Hannah hated to wash off the scent the man had imprinted on her body. She showered and washed her hair, taking advantage of the courtesy items the hotel stocked in the room. But then she had to put on the same clothes she’d been wearing. Somehow, she needed to acquire a limited wardrobe, so she wasn’t living in the same undies forever.

  Viper exited the bathroom with the fresh scent of pine soap clinging to him. He dressed quickly, then grabbed the gun and shoved it into his waistband at the small of his back.

  “I’ve never been a big fan of guns,” Hannah said, “but I have to admit they make me feel a lot better.”

  “Good. And just so you know, our first priority is always to avoid using them. But we never leave home without them. None of us.”

  “Thank you, for everything.”

  He nodded, then put his hands on her shoulders.

  “Let me make this very clear, Hannah. Last night wasn’t just burning off energy, or taking advantage of your situation. Truth to tell, I’ve been free and easy with relationships for the past several years. I had no desire to lock myself into one. The sex was great and I
had fun.” He shook his head, as if trying to puzzle this out. “Then you fell into my life.”

  “Viper, I—”

  He held up a hand. “No. Let me say it. We’ve known each other, what, twelve hours? I’ve known women for twelve years I didn’t feel this way about. I don’t know about you, but I felt something that’s been missing from my life for a long time. If I’m all alone in this, if you didn’t get the same feeling, now’s the time to tell me. No hard feelings, I promise. And you’re still our client.”

  She blew out a breath, searching for words.

  “I’m sure I don’t have near the experience you do, but I do know when something works for me. It hasn’t for a long time, but it did last night. It woke something inside me, and I want more. A lot more. Is it okay to say that?”

  He grinned at her. “Damn right it is. You have no idea the things I want to do with you. I don’t want this to be another short-term fling. Crazy to say it after a few hours, and my partners will think I’m nuts, I know. But I don’t care. When this is over—”

  “If it’s over,” she interrupted.

  “It will be. That’s a promise.”

  She stared up at him, searching his face for answers.

  “Just so you know, I’m not…I don’t…” She stopped and wet her lips. God, she sounded like the queen of idiots. “It’s not my usual style.”

  His smile warmed her. “Just so you know, I didn’t think so. I never mix business with pleasure, so this is not a regular thing for me.” He brushed a strand of hair back from her face, a gesture so tender she wanted to cry. “So maybe something good comes out of this after all. But no matter what else, Hannah, count on this. My partners and I are going to take good care of you and keep you safe while we handle this situation. That’s a promise.”

  As if to emphasize what he’d said, he brushed a soft kiss over her lips.