Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 74597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
“I know him from the club,” JT replied.
“The club?”
“Sanctum.”
The room seemed to get much, much hotter. He was a member of Sanctum? He belonged to a damn BDSM club? He would be a Dom, an indulgent one. He would be the kind of top she’d always dreamed of.
“Of course,” she replied, praying her voice hadn’t gone up a notch.
“Hutch hasn’t spent any time at Malone Oil,” Big Tag explained. “He’s done some consulting with their IT department, but they don’t know what he looks like. It’s why he’s on a plane right now. He’s going in as the resort’s IT guy, but don’t think he can’t handle himself. Like Sandra, he’s there to back you up if you need it.”
“He’s a very smart guy. I don’t understand why he left the Agency.” Drake looked thoughtful for a moment. “He could have gone places.”
Hutch had been one of Ten’s men, as her boss Damon Knight referred to them. Michael had been on Ten’s team as well.
Michael leaned forward, giving the CIA agent his attention. “I left at the same time. We didn’t like how the Agency treated our boss.”
Drake shrugged one broad shoulder. “You were on a Special Ops team. You were good cannon fodder. Hutch was on track to be an agent.”
JT snorted slightly. “Well, I’m sure you were the best cannon fodder, Mike. Now someone tell me who you think stole my prototype. I’ve been working on that material for years. I was worried it was my chief engineer.”
“Your chief engineer is dead,” Tag said flatly.
“Yeah, he was in a car…” JT stopped. “You think someone killed him. You thought he was the one, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Drake acknowledged. “We discovered William Murphy was meeting with a man we believe works for the Reconnaissance General Bureau.”
Nina leaned toward JT because the only reason she knew what Drake was talking about was years of intelligence work. “North Korean spy agency.”
He gave her the most intimate smile. “Thanks.”
She was not going to go gooey. “But we’ll be looking for a Westerner. His name is Joe Hall. He formerly worked for the embassy in South Korea, which is where the North Koreans likely recruited him. He’s the go-between. He’s the one who met with your engineer.”
JT shook his head. “Bill and I worked together for years. Why would he do this?”
Charlotte took that question. “He was diagnosed with terminal cancer six months ago. I believe he was looking for a payout to help his family.”
The expression on JT’s face made her heart twist. “He didn’t tell me. He’s got two kids and his wife…she quit her job to stay home with them. I went to his funeral and they didn’t say anything.”
“Probably because I could arrest the wife if I could prove she was involved in his decision,” Drake mused. “I haven’t been able to yet.”
“Leave her alone.” JT pointed his way. “She’s going through enough. You leave her out of this.”
Mike put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Hey, I’m sorry about Bill. I know he was a friend of yours, but he was spying.”
“No, he was in a bad place and didn’t know how to get out of it.” JT sat back, looking weary. “I should have known.”
“He should have told you, but he didn’t, and we’ll leave his wife out of it. Somehow I don’t think a housewife from Houston will be doing any spy work,” Tag offered. “Now the reason we believe one of the workers on this retreat killed him is the fact that they all had contact with the engineer in his final days.”
“We have an office in Houston,” JT explained. “He worked out of there. I would expect a lot of people came in contact with him.”
Drake was studying JT as though trying to figure him out. “But only three of them are going to the retreat.” He pulled a tablet out of his bag and flipped it around to show JT something. “Your assistant took a vacation to Hawaii a few weeks ago.”
It was a screen capture of one of Deanna’s social media pages. She was wearing a bikini, a fruity drink in her hand, with the caption “loving life in Oahu.”
JT nodded. “Yeah, she takes two weeks a year and almost always goes to Hawaii. I’m afraid my business isn’t great for fun travel. We’re in the Middle East a lot. And North Dakota. It’s not so surprising she’s goes to the islands with her friends. Friend. From what I can tell she’s only got the one.”
“There’s a problem with this picture.” Drake moved his finger over the screen to zero in on the sign behind her. The Beach Bar, established 1972. “The Beach Bar burned down six months before she posted this shot. All the other shots of her vacation appear to be from different times as well. Except for this one.”