Bind (Manhattan Lux Book 1): Manhattan Lux (21 page)

“We’re all grownups here,” said Aiko. “We know what we’re getting into.”

“This is shadow stuff,” said Jack. “Deeply covert.”

“Yeah Black Ops, we get it.” Aiko nodded and jerked a thumb at Wyatt. “We’ve got a SEAL on our team remember? He’ll whip us into shape. We can have like bootcamp training.” She turned to Wyatt. “You guys do bootcamp or something like that?”

“Something like that,” Wyatt said, raising an eyebrow.

Aiko turned back to Jack and held out her fist waiting for him to bump it. “Then yeah. I’m in. Semper fi and all that shit.”

Jinx slapped her sister on the back of the head. “That’s the Marines you idiot.”

“Well we need some kind of motto. Like a war cry or something!”

“While I myself am a fan of a good war cry,” said Conroy. “I feel the need to point out that this entire situation is still a matter of some urgency.”

Heads swiveled and everyone stared at Conroy.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “Did you think that because I’ve confessed my part in the affair, and because Torrid appears to have vanished, that all was well?”

“Maybe not all well, but at least kind of stalled,” Aiko said, shrugging. “It’s not like mission critical anymore is it?”

“Dear girl,” said Conroy, tilting his head at her in sympathy. “This entire adventure has been a clever ruse. Torrid’s objective was never me, Daisy, or even this club. Their entire objective was—”

A loud beeping sounded from somewhere. Everyone looked around for the source of the sound. Aaron patted down his pockets, reached inside his jacket and retrieved his mobile phone. “Someone’s broken into my apartment,” he said, his tone incredulous. He looked up, pinning Conroy in his gaze. “This was all…to get to me,” he said.

Conroy tapped his nose delicately. “Ding, ding, ding.”

“Jack,” said Aaron, turning to his friend. “Everything is at my apartment. All my research, everything.”

“It’s been about Eldridge Innovations all along,” said Aiko. “They want your VR tech.”

“Yes,” said Conroy, raising the teacup to his lips. “That’s why I came here. To tell you, that you have a traitor in your midst.”

“
W
ell who is it
?” Jack demanded.

“I don’t know,” said Conroy, setting his now empty cup of tea on the nearest flat surface. “I hoped you might.”

“Daisy was our traitor, we figured that out ages ago, and now you say there’s someone else,” said Aiko. “How do we know that’s even true? He could be lying, trying to manipulate us.”

“I’m not,” said Conroy. “I’m trying to help.”

Jinx moved to Wyatt’s side, put her hand on his arm and opened her mouth, about to voice her thoughts. But she didn’t. Her lips moved, but no sound came out, her gaze fixed to the wall, her brow knit and her expression pained.

“What is it?” Wyatt whispered.

“Just give me a second,” she said, her gaze darted unseeing around the room as if she was trying to process an overload of information. It was there, just at the edge of her consciousness. All the clues and signs were present, like the pieces of a puzzle. She just needed to put them together. Who was this traitor? Another of her staff, that much was obvious, someone who had used Daisy not just as an accomplice, but a diversion. Someone with complete access, someone she’d never suspect. Jinx’s spine snapped straight and she whirled to face Wyatt, whose gaze lifted to meet hers.

“It’s—” Wyatt began, but Jinx finished the thought with him at the same time.

“Kristie,” they both said in unison.

“What the fuck?” Jack snapped. “You’re insane. She was just here, how could she be at Aaron’s?”

“I live just a few blocks away,” said Aaron. “And we’ve been talking for a while.”

“Wyatt?” Jinx said, her expression pleading.

“Already on it.” Wyatt flung open the door and bellowed into his mic. Seconds later, footsteps pounded in the corridor beyond.

“No way.” Jack shook his head vigorously. “No way it’s Kristie. She’s been with us for over a year. And really, she’s not the type to pull off corporate espionage.”

“She’s exactly the type,” said Aiko. “She’s been acting this whole time, and her cover has been perfect. No one would suspect the ditz had it in her.”

“I’m telling you it’s
not
Kristie!” Jack glared at Aiko.

“Stop thinking with your dick,” Jinx growled. “It’s her.”

“Thinking with your dick?” Aaron asked, frowning. “You two are sleeping together? You and Kristie?”

Aiko laughed. “I doubt they get much rest.”

“Shit.” Aaron scrubbed a hand over his jaw and glanced up at Jack with pity. “Sorry to tell you this, but I’m on board with the Kristie theory.”

“Oh really?” Jack sneered. “You’ve known her for a hot second, and you think you’re qualified to make that kind of judgement on her character?”

Aaron slapped a hand on Jack’s shoulder and looked him straight in the eye. “I do buddy. Here’s why. She propositioned me tonight. Was very aggressive about it too. Said she’d be happy to meet me at my place for a private sex party of our own.”

Jack’s features grew dark, and his mouth drew into a thin line. “Dammit,” he said, as reality sunk in.

“Yeah. I may not know her well, but I know you, and I know—”

“Eh,” Jack held up his hand to stop Aaron from elaborating. “We don’t need to fill my staff in on the details of my sex life. I get your point.”

“I’m just saying,” Aaron continued. “I’ve known you to be inclined to share, but you’ve never handled it that way. That’s why I turned her down. Well that, and I don’t go much for blondes.”

“Hell boss!” Aiko said, a toothy smile spreading across her face. “You’re kinky after all! Dig a little of the ole
ménage à trois
?”

“Whatever you think you just discovered,” Jack snarled, “you don’t know the half of it, so I suggest you zip it.”

Aiko snapped to attention and offered a mock salute. “Yes captain my captain. Zipping it right up!”

“Jack,” Aaron said, his eyes glued to his mobile phone. “I’ve got the camera feed from my apartment up on my app. Visual on Kristie. See for yourself.” Aaron held up the phone. “In case there’s any lingering doubt.”

Jack looked at the phone and swore. “Alright. It’s your place, so it’s your call. What do you want to do? Call the NYPD, FBI, NSA or what?”

Conroy spoke up from his perch on the chair. “Seems like a touch of discretion is required,” he said, an undercurrent of amusement in his tone.

“Definitely.” Bryce added, nodding.

“Don’t you have your own security team for shit like this?” Jack asked, squinting at Aaron with confusion.

“I do.” Aaron sighed. “But I like my privacy. The security at my home is all automated, precisely so I don’t have to rely on man power.”

“Man power is corruptible,” said Jinx.

“Exactly. Listen, I’m confident in my security. She won’t be able to get access to anything sensitive. But if we handle this ourselves we’ve got a better chance of finding out who’s really behind all this, and exactly why.”

As if on cue, Wyatt stormed back into the room. “We’re good to go. My guys and the rest of the staff have their instructions. Sasha’s taking over for Jinx, so Lux is covered.” He clapped his hands together. “Fuck it. Let’s do this.”

“That’s it!” Aiko pointed at Wyatt. “That’s our war cry!”

Noses wrinkled, eyes rolled, and Jinx sighed heavily as if she was preparing to shut that shit right down.

But Malcolm walked up behind Aiko. “It’s hardly Shakespeare,” he said. “But as a call to arms, it’s as good as any.” He grabbed Aiko’s fist in his and lifted their arms together. “Fuck it indeed comrades. Let us proceed!”

Aiko shook her head and flashed him a grin. “You are so weird.”

* * *

“
P
retty sure
the night vision is overkill, sport.” Jinx smiled and patted Wyatt on the cheek.

“Hey.” He smiled back. “A SEAL is always prepared.”

“Thought that was the Boy Scouts?”

“They stole it from us.”

“Whatever you say, cowboy.” She leaned in, pressed a soft kiss to his lips, and backed away to join the others. They were all lined up, staring at him. He knew he was a pretty sight. Body armor, firearm, blade, a few smoke bombs, respirator, and of course, some zip ties. The lights were on in Aaron’s place but Wyatt hadn’t been able to resist the goggles. It was just so
fun
getting all geared up. He almost wanted to giggle.

After they’d figured out that Kristie was not only
the traitor
but currently engaged in thievery at Aaron’s place, they’d hightailed it over to his building and set up a makeshift command center in a maintenance room on the floor below Aaron’s pad.

Of course everyone,
literally everyone
, had wanted to storm the castle with Wyatt. That was a very bad idea. Kristie was a slip of a thing, this was true, but the first mistake a SEAL makes is underestimating their enemy. Kristie had proven herself capable of great deceit, so for all he knew she was also hiding some serious Krav Maga skills, or a weapon. There was no way in hell Wyatt was going to allow untrained civilians into a danger zone. Even if that danger zone was a swanky penthouse on the Upper East Side.

“Alright,” said Wyatt rubbing his hands together. “Everybody clear on their job?”

The row of heads nodded.

“Good. Do not deviate from the plan unless I instruct otherwise. Do not enter the apartment until I give the all clear.”

“You sure you don’t want to sneak up on her from the service entrance?” Aiko asked for what seemed like the tenth time.

“Nope.” Wyatt shook his head. “My knee can’t take the stairs. We’ve got eyes inside, we can see she’s not covering the elevator.”

“True, she’s still in my office,” said Aaron, looking at his phone.

“It’s okay if she hears me coming. Maybe she’ll give up. The objective is to confront her, Aiko. To end this.” Wyatt patted her arm reassuringly. “I don’t need to sneak up and surprise her to do that.”

“Just seems like more fun.” Aiko pouted.

“Probably.” Wyatt nodded. “Tell you what, when this is all over, I’ll take you to play laser tag. Okay?”

Aiko nodded and grinned. Wyatt patted her on the head and heard Jinx sigh heavily behind him.

“Let’s go already,” she said impatiently.

“‘I’ll go with you to the elevator,” Aaron said, opening the door to the maintenance room. “It needs a passcode.”

“If it needs a passcode, how did Kristie get up there?” asked Bryce.

Aaron frowned. “She stole the keys out of my suit pocket during her attempt to seduce me. I’ve got a key fob that bypasses the need for the password. Handy for when your hands are full. All she had to do was wave it at the elevator and it let her right in. I’ll be switching to more secure verification after this adventure.”

“Yeah good idea,” said Aiko. “What are you thinking? Retinal scan? Actually no, don’t do that, people could still break in if they ripped your eye out first.” The room silenced, and all attention shifted to Aiko. “What?!” she said, scowling back at their stares. “It’s true!”

Wyatt kissed Jinx on the cheek, opened the door to the maintenance room, and strode with Aaron the few short feet to the elevators. The rest of the gang—a band of misfits if ever he’d seen one—watched from the doorway, a mixture of expressions flashing over their faces as the elevator doors closed with a chime.

When they opened again, the lights were out and Aaron’s penthouse was smoky. Wyatt pulled the goggles down over his eyes and patted them affectionately. Aaron’s foyer came into view.
Thank God for overkill.
The smoke was weak, already dissipating. Probably some cheap hobby canister she got at a dollar store. Something meant for parties. Good. He wouldn’t need his respirator.

“Jesus,” Aiko’s voice sounded in his ear. “I swear she literally just did that, I didn’t even have time to warn you.”

“It’s okay,” Wyatt answered. “Shush now.”

“Who drops a smoke bomb in a penthouse?” Aiko continued. “I mean honestly. What a fucking drama queen.”

“Shut her up guys,” Wyatt growled into the mic. He heard a scuffle and then Jinx picked up the line.

“Done. Let me know what you need,” she said simply.

“Quiet for now. But keep me informed of what you see on the cameras. She still in the office?”

“That would be a negatory!” Aiko’s voice again, distant and tense. “She has disappeared. I repeat, we do not have eyes on the subject, her current whereabouts are unknown!”

Wyatt stifled a laugh, drew his weapon, and edged quietly along the wall of Aaron’s foyer.

“Will someone get the kid a valium please? This is not Black Hawk Down, I promise.”

He heard whispers and more movement, but this time it was coming from both his earpiece and locally.

“Quiet,” he hissed into his mic.

Down a hallway, someone laughed.

Greeeeaaaaat,
thought Wyatt.
Chick’s got a taste of the spy life and thinks she can rope me into a game of cloak and dagger. I so do not have time for this shit.

“Kristie!” he yelled down the corridor. “I’m not doing this.
We’re
not doing this. Enough with the cat and mouse routine, come out and chat with me like a big girl.”

“Or what?” Kristie yelled back. “Gonna get your kinky girlfriend to come in here and tie me up?”

“Oh, she did not just bring me into this,” Jinx said in his ear. “She is
so
fired.”

“Yeah, kitten,” Wyatt said. “I kind of figured that, what with the corporate espionage and breaking into Aaron’s place, and—”

“Don’t get cute with me SEAL, get the job done.”

Wyatt eased his shoulder around a corner and smirked to himself. “You are too sexy when you’re bossy, babe.”

“Wyatt,” Jinx warned.

“Stop talking in my ear—it’s distracting.” He crouched, wincing when his knee complained, covered the shadows with his weapon, and tiptoed softly over the marble floor, opening his mouth to still his breathing so he could hear better.

Soft rustling sounds off to the right. Aaron had showed Wyatt a floorplan of the apartment on his phone. Wyatt pulled the image up in his memory now—foyer, office…over to the right down a side hall, there was a powder room and laundry, so she was probably—

“You know she and Jack fucked right?” Kristie yelled. Her voice was closer now.
Much
closer.

“We did not!” Jinx hissed in his ear.

Wyatt didn’t answer, Kristie’s voice was close enough there was a risk of her hearing his response. In fact, the apartment was so quiet, and Jinx’s protests were so furtive and loud, there was a real risk of Kristie hearing some of that squawking coming from his ear piece. He reached up slowly, felt for the volume and pushed it way, way down.

“She’s a hot piece of ass, your girlfriend,” Kristie continued. “I’ll give her that. I don’t blame Jack one bit for hitting it, even if he is her boss. Hell that didn’t stop him from fucking me. Right?”

Wyatt made his way down a short hall, putting distance between him and Kristie’s voice. He slid around a large Ming Vase and into Aaron’s dining room. Jinx was still in his ear, her voice low and pleading now. Clearly she was taking Wyatt’s radio silence as proof that he believed Kristie’s claims.

He cupped his hand over his mouth and mic and whispered, hoping he was loud enough for Jinx to make him out, because there was no time to repeat himself.