Christmas Guardian Page 8
He took out his PDA and routed the security surveillance to it so he could keep an eye on the place while this meeting was going on. Jordan also temporarily disengaged the side gate so the agents could enter.
“Go back inside,” Jordan whispered to Kinley.
She nodded, took one step, but then Burke stood. “Kinley Ford.”
That stopped her. It stopped Jordan’s heart for a second as well. Both Kinley and Jordan turned to face the man who’d called her by her real name and not by the alias she’d used the night before when Cody had introduced them.
Jordan eased his hand over the butt of his weapon that he had concealed beneath his jacket.
Burke laughed and held up his hands. “You’re going to shoot me, Jordan?”
“If necessary.” Jordan made sure there was nothing joking about his tone or demeanor.
Burke chuckled again and sank back down into the chair. “After our conversation last night where you accused me of having you tailed, I decided to check through some surveillance footage taken at the Christmas party. I ran Ms. Ford’s image through the facial-recognition software.”
“And?” Jordan prompted when the man didn’t say anything else. Because she seemed to be holding her breath, Jordan slipped his left arm around Kinley.
“There’s no and to this,” Burke insisted. “I wasn’t pleased with your accusations, and I merely wanted to see what was going on that would make you have that kind of reaction.” He paused. “But I have to wonder…why would a Ph.D. researcher want to worm her way into a party, only to leave mere minutes later with the host?”
“Because the host is extremely hot, and I wanted to be alone with him,” Kinley answered before Jordan could tell Burke to mind his own business.
The tension got worse. A lot worse. And that’s how Cody and Desmond found them when they crossed the backyard and came into the pool house. That brought Burke to his feet again, and judging from his suddenly tight jaw, he didn’t seem pleased with his employees’ impromptu visit.
Both agents wore jeans and jackets. They also wore formidable expressions that matched their new boss’s. Cody took the lead, walking in first. Tall and lean, his former agent looked like an all-American with his sandy blond hair and blue eyes. Desmond had more of an international look and had often done undercover assignments as someone from the Middle East.
“There’s a problem,” Cody announced. He tipped his head first to Burke and then to Jordan. “You two are in some kind of surveillance war, and you’re putting us in the middle. Now, we want to know what this is all about.”
Jordan wanted to know the same thing, and all eyes went to Burke.
Burke shrugged again. “I had Cody follow you last night.”
“Yeah. I know. Why?” Jordan demanded.
“I thought there was something suspicious about you leaving with Kinley Ford.”
Cody’s attention snapped to Jordan, and even though he didn’t ask the question, he probably wanted to know why Kinley had used an alias. Jordan didn’t intend to give his former employee an explanation. The fewer people who knew about her, the better. Now maybe Cody wouldn’t continue to dig when this meeting was over.
“I thought maybe Kinley’s arrival at the party was connected to the sale of the company,” Burke explained. “I was within hours of taking ownership, and I didn’t want anything to go wrong. I also considered that maybe Kinley was blackmailing you, and that her actions would put the sale of Sentron at risk.”
Jordan wanted to believe that Burke was telling the truth, but he couldn’t. After all, Burke was connected to Kinley and the research facility. Depending on how much involvement he’d had with his investment, he might have recognized her the moment she stepped into the party.
Or even before.
Because if Jordan had noticed she was spying on him from the coffee shop, someone else like Burke could have noticed it as well.
Desmond stepped up to stand side by side with Cody, but he aimed his comment at Burke. “I know you’re the owner now, but I don’t want to do communications surveillance on my former boss.”
“Neither do I,” Cody agreed.
And the silence returned. Several snail-crawling moments later, Burke finally nodded. He looked at Jordan. “No more surveillance. Can I have the same assurance from you that you won’t spy on me?”
“No.” Jordan didn’t even have to think about it.
There it was. For just a second. A flash of hot anger in Burke’s otherwise cool eyes. Then he chuckled. “Go ahead. Keep me in your sight. Dig into my accounts. You won’t find anything illegal.”
No. But he might find a motive for Burke to go after Kinley, especially if Burke thought she could provide him with the missing formula for the antidote.
“I’ll leave through the yard gate,” Burke announced, and without lingering, he headed in the same direction from which Cody and Desmond had entered.
Jordan waited until Burke was out of earshot before he spoke to Cody and Desmond. “I’m sorry you two were put in the middle.” But he wasn’t sorry they’d ratted out Burke. Jordan intended to make full use of whatever loyalty to him the men had left. “Exactly how deep a surveillance did Burke put on me?”
Desmond tipped his head to Kinley. “It was aimed more at her. When Burke told Cody to follow you, he had me give him a comm pack.”
A comm pack—a sensitive device that could be used for long-range eavesdropping. Hell. Jordan had developed the device himself and knew it was highly effective. Worse, it could bypass detection with nearly all security systems, including the one Jordan had in the Porsche.
“I only used the comm pack when I followed you in the car,” Cody explained. “And I told Burke that I couldn’t pick up your conversation.”
Which meant he had.
It also meant Cody and Desmond had likely heard all about Gus. Of course, Jordan hadn’t mentioned the child was at his estate, not until he was in his secure bedroom, but Cody and Desmond weren’t fools. They could fill in the blanks.
“There’s more,” Cody continued, his voice practically a whisper. He stared at Jordan. Nope, make that a glare. Cody obviously wasn’t happy about this meeting or with Jordan. “Consider this your retirement gift because after today, my allegiance will lie with Burke. Understand?”
“Yeah.” Jordan also heard and understood Cody’s resentment. It was there and was feeding the glare the man was still aiming at him.
“Desmond and I know who Kinley is,” Cody explained. “Burke had us check on her most of last night.”
Jordan’s stomach tightened. “Did he say why?”
“He gave us the same spiel about being concerned that she could somehow hold up his taking ownership of Sentron,” Desmond continued, keeping his voice low as well. “But after a while, Burke changed his tune and told us to dig into her background. It didn’t take long for us to learn that she worked at the Bassfield Research Facility.” Now it was Desmond’s turn to pause. “We know about the research project and the missing formula. And we also know that this morning at six o’clock, Burke met with Martin Strahan.”
The investor.
And the person with the most motive to find and hurt Kinley.
Jordan tried not to react. Hard to do, though, because he certainly hadn’t expected Burke to do that. “Did you hear their conversation?”
Both Cody and Desmond shook their heads. “He met with him at the Sentron command center.”
And that was the one place where Burke’s conversation would indeed be private.
What the devil was going on? Since Burke and Strahan were the last remaining investors, maybe they’d teamed up to come after Kinley. If so, this wasn’t good. Jordan didn’t need the pair trying to sniff out Gus’s whereabouts. And eventually that’s what they would do.
Cody extended his hand for Jordan to shake. “Goodbye, Jordan. I wish things were different. I wish we could go back to the way things were.” And he slipped a piece of paper into Jordan’s palm.
<
br /> Desmond echoed the sentiment, and the men left through the yard gate.
“My God,” Kinley mumbled under her breath. “What do we do now?”
Because they both needed the contact, he tightened his grip around her waist. “We go back inside. I’ll beef up security to make sure Burke doesn’t have free rein of our privacy.” He leaned in and put his mouth to her ear. “Don’t say anything out here about Gus.”
Her eyes widened, and she looked around. Yes, Burke could still be monitoring their conversation. So Jordan decided to play that to his advantage.
“If Burke is after the missing formula for the antidote, then he’s going to be disappointed when he realizes you don’t know anything about it.”
“Yes,” she said, obviously playing along. “Maybe he’ll quit hounding us once he realizes that.”
Jordan added a “yes” of his own. And he kissed her. It was supposed to be all for show, just in case Burke was somehow watching them. But for some reason his body missed the part about this being a pretense. Just like the other kisses, this one fired through him.
Oh, man.
Her mouth was foreplay, and he had to stop and get his mind back on business.
First, he checked his PDA to make sure the house was still safe. It was. Just as he’d expected. If someone had tried to break in, he would have been alerted. Unfortunately, that level of protection didn’t extend to the pool house so he got Kinley moving.
He also discreetly looked at the note that Cody had handed him.
“What is it?” Kinley whispered.
“Martin Strahan’s phone number.” A real gift, since Jordan hadn’t had any luck tracking down the man. “Cody must have gotten it when Burke arranged the meeting with Strahan in the command center.”
“Will you call Strahan?”
Jordan hoped to do more than that. He hoped to meet with the man to see if he could get to the bottom of this. Of course, he couldn’t do that until he had Kinley tucked away in a safe place. He didn’t want Martin Strahan within a hundred miles of Gus and her.
He hurried their pace so he could get Kinley out of the glass corridor and into the house. Jordan didn’t breathe easier until they were inside and on their way to his suite, where they couldn’t be monitored. But they’d barely made it to the corridor next to the kitchen when he heard the sound.
There was no warning. No time to react.
The explosion ripped through the house.
Chapter Eight
“Gus!” Kinley managed to shout a split second before Jordan shoved her to the floor.
She landed hard on the slate, and Jordan landed on top of her. Shielding her, she realized, from the blast.
The sound was deafening and shook the entire house. Crystal glasses from the open-faced cabinets crashed to the countertops and floor around them, and the stainless-steel pots on the rack overhead clanged and slammed against each other. Everywhere in the house, there were sounds of things falling and crashing.
Kinley fought to get up so she could race to check on Gus, but Jordan held her in place. She braced herself for the roof or walls to collapse, but other than the broken glasses, nothing else fell nearby.
The security system began to pulse through the house. Not nearly as loud as the blast, but it sent her adrenaline up another notch. If that was possible. Her body was already screaming for her to get to her son.
Jordan must have felt the same overwhelming need because he got up and hauled her to her feet. He began to run toward his suite, just as his cell phone rang.
“Pamela,” he said, answering it. It was obviously the nanny, and Kinley held her breath, waiting to hear what the woman had to say about Gus.
“They’re okay,” Jordan relayed a moment later. “She’s calling the police and the fire department.”
The relief nearly made her legs go limp, but Kinley kept running. She couldn’t take the nanny’s word that they were safe. She had to see for herself.
But Jordan didn’t head toward the closet entrance. He stopped at the laptop on his bedroom desk and started viewing the security cameras. It was a smart thing to do. He could maybe pinpoint the origin of the blast. And, God forbid, maybe he could see if there was another one about to happen.
That thought sent her heart racing even more, but Kinley tried to force herself to stay calm.
Jordan touched the top right corner of the screen where she could see the cloud of gray smoke.
“A fire,” she mumbled and tried again to run to the closet and the secret stairs.
Jordan held on to her. “Not a fire. That’s just limestone and stucco debris from the blast.”
That made her breathe a little easier, until she realized where the blast had occurred. On the very side of the house where Burke, Desmond and Cody had made their exit just minutes earlier.
Jordan continued to zoom in on all the areas around the house. The security alarm continued to wail. Her heartbeat continued to pound in her ears.
“The system’s detected pieces of a detonator,” Jordan informed her.
A detonator. In other words, this had not been an accident. Someone had just tried to kill them by blowing them to smithereens.
He typed in some codes, and the nursery area came onto the screen. Gus was playing with his rocking horse, and both nannies were in the room with him. Standing guard, though all appeared to be well. Thank God those inner rooms hadn’t been damaged.
Jordan obviously felt the relief as well because he let out a long breath and pulled her into his arms for a quick hug. “We can’t go in the nursery,” he told her. Kinley shook her head, but he caught her chin to stop her. “We can’t. The police will be here any minute. We’ll be questioned, and they’ll make sure there’s not another explosive device, something that maybe my security system isn’t picking up.”
“What if there is another one?” Her words rushed out in an unbroken stream. “What if this monster tries to blow up the place again before the cops get here?”
“The house was built to withstand a heavy impact,” he let her know. “And Gus’s area is reinforced with steel.”
That didn’t eliminate her fears. “But what about a fire?”
“There’s a sprinkler system through the place, even around the exterior.” With his hands still gripping her face, Jordan stared at her. “We can’t tell the police about Gus, understand?”
Her mind was racing, and it took her a moment to fight through the fear so she could nod. “Yes. I understand.” It wouldn’t be safe because all it would take was for one cop to say something, and Gus’s whereabouts would be known.
“What’s wrong?” she asked when she saw the renewed concern on Jordan’s face.
“Normally, I’d call Cody at a time like this.” He let go of her, took out his phone again and scrolled through the numbers. “But I need to stay away from him and anyone else at Sentron. I’ll call a friend. Cal Rico. I know I can trust him.”
Kinley hoped that was the case. They certainly needed someone on their side.
While Jordan made that call, he continued to check the surveillance cameras. There were no signs of Burke, Desmond or Cody. Just that billowing dust to indicate how close they’d come to being hurt.
She heard the sirens, and while Jordan finished up his call to his friend, they made their way toward the front of the house. The Christmas tree was still standing, but many of the expensive Waterford ornaments had shattered onto the floor.
“Stay back,” Jordan warned her when he reached for the doorknob.
Oh, mercy. She hadn’t even thought of an attack from something other than an explosive, but the culprit could be waiting outside. Waiting to kill them.
Still, Jordan put himself right in what could be the line of fire when he opened the door. The SAPD were there. Three cruisers and, in the distance, she could hear the sound of a fire engine.
One of the uniformed cops came up the steps and flashed his badge. “Any idea what caused the explosion?” he asked.
The cop motioned for them to move. “You need to evacuate.”
“Evacuate?” Kinley challenged. “No—”
But Jordan cut off the rest of her protest by touching his fingers to her lips. “It’ll be okay. We have to let the police do their job.”
She shook her head and tried to tell Jordan that she wanted to stay in the house so she’d be near Gus, but that didn’t stop Jordan from latching on to her arm and taking her down the steps. “We’ll wait in the cruiser,” he told the cop.
And then Jordan froze.
Kinley froze too and followed his gaze. She braced herself to see another explosive. Or something worse.
It was something worse.
Because across the street, standing on the sidewalk, was a man that she recognized from his photos.
The ruthless investor who was likely after her and her son.
Martin Strahan.
JORDAN CURSED. They certainly didn’t need this now. But a confrontation was apparently about to happen because Martin Strahan stepped off the sidewalk and started toward them.
Jordan automatically moved in front of Kinley, and he opened his jacket so he could put his hand on the butt of his weapon.
Martin Strahan only held up his palms to indicate he wasn’t carrying a weapon. That didn’t mean, however, that he wasn’t armed. He certainly looked the type to need a weapon. He was around six feet tall and had a solid enough build, but his pale blond hair and milk-white coloring made him look more like an anemic high school computer nerd than a high-stakes investor and businessman.
But he didn’t need strength to set explosives.
Jordan figured that’s exactly what he’d done. Well, maybe. It did seem stupid to hang around if Strahan had been the culprit. Still, he was there and had the means, motive and opportunity.
So did Burke.
And that meant Jordan had a mystery to solve. Fast. Because until he found the person responsible and put him behind bars, Kinley and Gus were in danger.