Hidden Threat (5 page)

Great. Mariana would already be gone. Pulling up his calendar, he made a note for tomorrow and went back to his inbox. This was the first opportunity he’d had all day to take more than a quick glance at his incoming mail, and even that was only long enough to make sure he hadn’t had any messages marked urgent.

The first e-mail was the security list from the previous day he always reviewed. Of course, that usually occurred at the start of every day, not the end. Shaking his head in resignation, he saved the message and attachments to his flash drive. By the third e-mail, he knew what he’d be doing with his evening.

Matthew had just opened e-mail number four when there was a light knock on his door. Thinking it must be Jason, he called a quick, “Come in,” but didn’t take his eyes off the monitor in front of him.

The door closed softly, and footsteps too soft for his brother walked across his office. Glancing up, he found Cali Stanton standing only feet from his desk looking at bit disheveled. He felt an impulse to run his fingers through the loose tendrils of her hair and tuck them behind her ear.

After a moment’s silence, he realized her lips were moving. She was saying something. He forced himself to focus on her words. They were something along the lines of, “Sorry if I’m bothering you.”

“No, no. Not at all.” He paused for a moment and forced his palms flat on the desk. “What can I do for you, Ms. Stanton?”

“You sent me an e-mail today.”

Yes, he had, but he still didn’t understand her presence in his office. “Yes.” He watched her teeth worry her lower lip, and the impulse to kiss her bloomed in full force, causing him to press his fingers into his desk so hard they began to turn white.

She tucked one of the loose pieces of hair behind her ear before she spoke.

“Apparently, what you sent me is password protected,” she sighed, and then he understood.

Forcing himself to relax his hands, he pushed himself back into his chair and placed his fingers on the keyboard. Giving her a little smile, “Let’s see what I can do.” Focusing on the computer, he made a few clicks on the keyboard and entered the IT systems.

He didn’t hear her come up behind him, but he felt her. She leaned over to see the screen. Clearing his throat, he pointed and explained. “This is the backdoor system, you could say.” He typed in a few more bits of information and scrolled down to find her security information. “Here we go,” he said. Without thinking, he turned.

Her cheek was only inches from him, and when he turned to face her, his warm breath tickled her skin. Cali didn’t know what to do. She knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to turn toward those lips that made a starring appearance in her dreams for the last two nights. Her body seemed to respond without her permission, and her face turned.

Their eyes met and held for a brief second before Matthew’s computer beeped, breaking the spell. They both jumped back quickly.

Giving his head a small shake, Matthew made himself focus again and quickly pressed the print button. He didn’t waste any time. As soon as the paper was off the printer, he handed it to her. “Do whatever you need to do to memorize that tonight and then destroy it. Password protection means nothing if someone is able to get their hands on it.”

“Yes,” Cali said a bit awkwardly, rushing toward the door. “Thank you.” With her hand on the knob, she glanced back. “Goodnight, Mr. Andersen.” As soon as the door shut behind her, Matthew let his head fall into his hands.

He’d almost kissed her. What was wrong with him? He was a professional. A professional did not fool around with his boss. Period.

His computer beeped again, and he silently blessed and cursed it. Taking a much needed breath, he went back to what he’d been doing before Cali Stanton walked through his door.

***

Cali let herself into her father’s house and set the alarm behind her. The action, once again, reminded her of Matthew Andersen and, of course, her encounter with him. Mentally kicking herself for the thousandth time since she’d left his office, she threw her briefcase onto the couch before stalking into the kitchen to find something to eat.

With plate in hand, she plopped on the couch and pulled out the first file. It looked to be a client complaint. Great.

Thirty minutes later, Cali had finished off both her food and her response. It hadn’t been as bad as she’d feared. There’d been some shipping problems, no big surprise there, given the current situation. They just wanted some reassurance from the person in charge that something was being done to resolve those problems.

Just as Cali was picking up the next folder, the phone rang. Reaching behind her, she picked it up. “Hello?”

“How’s my girl doing?”

She smiled. “Hi, Dad.” She leaned back on the sofa and curled her feet up under her. “I’m good. Knee-deep in paperwork at the moment, but good.” They both laughed.

“Well if paperwork is all you have to contend with, then that’s good.” He paused for a minute growing serious. “Matthew and Jason filled you in?”

“Yeah.”

“Good,” he said gruffly.

“Dad...why didn’t you tell me?”

“Nonsense. There was no need to worry you.”

“No need to worry me? Dad, you’re getting threats.” 

He sighed. “Cali. I love you, honey, but—” He started to say something, but stopped. “Matthew and Jason are very good at what they do. That’s why I hired them.” He didn’t give her a chance to respond to that, instead, he jumped in asking her if she was keeping Jessie on her toes.

She knew better than to force her father into talking about a subject he clearly didn’t want to discuss, so she just went with it. They talked for almost an hour before saying their goodnights and hanging up. It was already after seven, and she’d only made it through one file. This was going to be a long night. Cali got up and put on some coffee before settling back on the couch with the next folder.

As Matthew drove into work Thursday morning, he remembered he still hadn’t talked to his brother about Lisa. He was not looking forward to it. Jason was his older brother, but sometimes it didn’t feel that way. As the two got older, their roles had changed a bit. While Jason was still strong, confident, and fiercely protective of his younger brother, he was also very impulsive. That trait served him well when he had to make split second decisions in tight situations, but it didn’t always mean he thought things through beyond the immediate future.

Matthew arrived early that morning, even for him. He’d been up until after one last night, and even then, he couldn’t sleep, his mind full of the events of his day.

He’d made arrangements to drop off the surveillance tape to a friend of his in the police department. Needing to know who was hiding in the shadows of the parking garage as soon as possible was top priority with the shipment so close at hand. He knew that even if his friend could pull a few strings, it would be a long shot for them to have something by the end of the day, but he had to try.

What bothered him more was what had almost happened with his boss. The memory of being so close to her and the feelings that closeness invoked in him was frightening. Obviously, there was a physical attraction. He could deal with that easily enough. The problem was, that wasn’t the end of it. The time he spent with her Tuesday had been quite enjoyable. Well that was until she’d suggested being there Friday and he’d lost his temper. He never lost his temper, at least, not before he’d met her, anyway. Since meeting Cali Stanton, he’d lost the hold on his temper twice; once with her and once with his brother. This was not good.

The elevator opened. He stepped inside, and rode up to his floor. The office was deserted of course; none of the staff were in at this ungodly hour. His office door stood like a sentry, guarding the space that would shield him from whatever the day would bring. His sentry hadn’t been able to protect him last night. He knew it wouldn’t protect him from the woman that was haunting him, and she was haunting him. Every time he closed his eyes, she was there. Every cell in his body wanted to kiss her. At the same time, every logical part of him told him to stay away.

Shaking his head, he walked through the door and into his office.

***

Cali sat at her desk drinking her morning coffee. It was beautiful out today. The sky was clear blue, and the sun brought with it promises of warmth. There was one problem. She was in no mood to enjoy it.

She’d spent her night combing through the folders she’d brought home.

Somewhere during the long night, her eyes had shut, and she’d fallen asleep. The sound of Jessie’s arrival this morning had awakened her, and she’d been rather embarrassed to be found on the couch still in her work clothes.

Jessie, of course, was great about it. She’d helped her pick up the papers that scattered across the floor as a result of her restless sleep and then prodded her up the stairs to shower and dress for the day. Cali had no idea what time she’d actually fallen asleep, but the couch had been less than comfortable.

The one good thing that came from her exhaust-ridden sleep was she hadn’t dreamed. And although that was great, her mind seemed to think because of that, it needed to catch up. As she stepped into the shower, the steam warmed her skin, reminding her of last night and the feeling of Matthew’s breath on her face. Try as she might, the memory wouldn’t leave her. 

She finished her shower and dressed only to be met with the sun—the warm sun. It seemed everything warm turned her thoughts back to the memory. This was not good. And now? Now she was sitting there, starring into her coffee mug, relishing its warmth.

With a frustrated sigh, she pushed the mug away from her and ran a hand through her loose curls. This was not going to work. She needed to get Matthew Andersen out of her head if she was going to get any work done today.

***

By lunch, Matthew had managed to get quite a bit of work done. He’d reviewed the surveillance tapes from last night and found nothing of interest. Jason was already down in the warehouse by the time he went back upstairs, and his brother still wasn’t back yet. Their talk would have to wait. Pulling yesterday’s tape out of his drawer, he got up and slipped his jacket on. It was time to find out who was on the tape.

He arrived at the police station just after noon. The front desk clerk gave him a familiar smile as he walked back to find Detective Martinez. The man was easy to spot sitting hunched over his desk, his bald head sticking out like a sore thumb.

“Need some help?”

Martinez’s head snapped up at the sound of Matthew’s voice. “Nah. I think I can handle it. Besides, you need to leave the real work for the real detectives.” He smiled. After another moment’s pause, he stood and stretched out his hand. “How you doing man?”

Matthew took the offered hand and pumped it with a warm greeting. “Good.” He held up the envelope.

Martinez nodded. “Follow me.”

The two men ducked into a tiny conference room containing a small TV and VCR.

Matthew handed him the tape. Martinez popped it in the VCR and hit play. The image was grainy, dark, and far from the camera.

Martinez looked up at his friend from his perch on the table. “Well, man. Whoever your mystery man or woman is, I’d say they knew where those cameras were. It’s just too much of a coincidence they picked that exact spot.”

“That’s what I’m thinking.” They watched a few more minutes of the tape. “You think your guy can do anything to clean it up?”

“Don’t know, but my guy can give it a try,” Martinez said, hopping off the table, giving Matthew a wink, and removing the tape. He slipped it back inside the envelope. “We’ll drop this off to Nikki on our way out.” With a firm pat to Matthew’s shoulder he added, “Come on. I’m starving. Let’s go get some grub.” 

***

It was almost two o’clock before Cali remember Matthew Andersen’s e-mail from yesterday. Well that’s not entirely true. She’d remember this morning, but since she’d been trying to banish him from her thoughts, she’d ignored it. Sighing, she figured she’d put it off long enough. Following the instructions given to her by Lisa and Matthew, she opened the mystery e-mail.

At the top in bright red letters were the words
“Information contained in this correspondence is confidential.”
She followed the instructions to click on a separate link to confirm that she was, in fact, Cali Stanton before the e-mail finally appeared on her screen.

Friday’s transport may have been compromised. As a precaution, we are moving the departure from Friday evening to Friday morning at 6 am.

Everything is in order, and I will give a full report after the delivery is underway.

~ M. Andersen

Cali sat with her fingers hovering above the keyboard. She wanted to be there tomorrow to make sure the shipment got on its way safely. But remembering both Matthew and her father’s words made her pause. Alvin Stanton trusted Matthew and Jason, and she knew she should too.

The thing was, it wasn’t about trust. Someone came after her father and his business. After working for the last two years in third-world countries where nothing, including one’s safety, was taken for granted, Cali was not used to sitting on the sidelines waiting for things to happen. She wanted to be useful. She needed to be useful.

A buzzing noise from her phone brought her out of her musings. “Yes?”

“Mr. Carson is here to see you. Should I show him in?” 

Cali didn’t remember having an appointment with him today. “Sure.” 

***

Matthew finished going over the last minute details of tomorrow morning’s plans with Jason in the warehouse. With too much riding on this to take chances, Jason decided he would personally accompany the shipment to its destination. After looking over the amount of ground they had to cover and the isolated nature of the route, there were just too many points of interception, so the brothers decided to have a car follow the loaded truck. The drive would take almost ten hours, so additional arrangements had to be made for overnight accommodations.

By the time everything was ready, it was after six. The team was exhausted, including Matthew, so he went directly to his car. As he drove out into the evening traffic, he punched in Martinez’s number. It wouldn’t hurt to see if Nikki had found anything useful.