A Christmas Proposal: A Hidden Threat Short Story (9 page)

Matthew got off on the thirtieth floor, and Cali continued up to her office. The walk back was tense and silent. Matthew didn’t even comment as he exited onto his floor. He was clearly upset, but so was she. 

When Cali stepped off the elevator, Lisa stood. “Cali, there you are…Are you okay?” she asked, concerned.

Cali took a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She would not let him get to her.

Still unsure, Lisa hesitated. “Mr. Carson was a little early, so I went ahead and put him in the conference room.” She gave Cali an apologetic look. “Do you need me to get you anything?”

“No,” she said with conviction. “Please let Peter know I’ll be with him in five minutes.”

Lisa nodded and Cali disappeared into her office. 

Once the door was closed, she took the entire five minutes to calm down. During her time in Africa, she’d learned how to relax in stressful situations since you never knew what you would encounter in the area where you’d be placed. The breathing exercises helped. Looking at herself in the mirror, she smoothed her hair back and tugged on her jacket before walking into the conference room.

As she entered, Peter Carson stood and offered his hand in greeting. “Hello again, Cali,” he said with a smile.

“Hello, Peter.” She took a seat and he followed. 

“So how are things going?” He paused and tilted his head. “You look a little…frazzled.”

“No. I’m fine. Just a business lunch that ran late.”

“Oh,” he said. “Well if you ever need anything, you just let me know. You know your dad and I have been working together for years. I’m sure I can help you with anything that may come up.”

“Thank you, Peter,” Cali said, reaching for the file in front of her. “Well now, I suppose we should start going over these financials.”

He was silent for a moment and then said, “Yes. We don’t want to be here all night.”

A member of the security team detained Matthew on the way to his office. Scott had just received intel of a possible threat to Friday’s shipment, and Jason wasn’t in his office. It wasn’t something Matthew could blow off. The shipment was too important. He’d grabbed the closest empty room and questioned the man. By the time he managed to reach his office, he’d almost forgotten about his lunch with Cali Stanton. Almost. 

Lunch with her had been relatively pleasant before she’d insisted on being there Friday night. What was she thinking? Of course, the fact that he’d lost his temper hadn’t helped. He was a professional, not a punk kid who couldn’t control his emotions. His blood started to boil again at the mere thought of her suggestion. He needed to stop thinking about it, about her. 

As he shook his head to clear it, he turned his thoughts to the other rather disturbing fact she’d told him. His brother was apparently fooling around with Lisa Morgan. This relationship brought with it a new wave of agitation. How could his brother keep something like this from him? They never kept secrets from each other, and this had the potential to be huge. 

What he’d told Cali was true. Emotional attachments meant vulnerabilities, something they definitely didn’t need right now. He was going to have to talk to his brother about this. 

Looking at the clock, he realized it was already after six. Had he really been sitting here that long? Obviously. 

Matthew shut down his computer and turned off his light. Running a hand over his hair, he took a long look at his office before shutting the door. His life was getting much too complicated. 

Slipping her key into the lock, Lisa smiled. Jason was behind her door, and she couldn’t wait to see him. Turning the knob, she entered quietly. The living room was empty. “Jason?”

“In here,” he called from the bedroom. 

Lisa locked the door behind her and dropped her purse to the floor before following Jason’s voice. Pushing the door to her bedroom wide, she found him lying on the bed. Naked. 

“Miss me?” he asked. 

“Hmm,” she responded, looking him over from head to foot. “You know you gave us away this morning.”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

She walked to the bed and stood before him. Reaching up, she popped open the first button on her blouse and saw him swallow. “Cali knows about you and me,” she said as she moved on to the second button.

His eyes were on her hands. “Are you…sure?”

“Mmm,” she murmured as her hands skimmed the cleavage she’d just revealed. 

Jason began to sit up, but she took a step back, and he stopped. Her hands continued slowly on their journey. “I bet it’s only a matter of time before your brother finds out.”

“I’m allowed to have a sex life.” 

She reached the final button on her blouse and released it. “Is that what I am? Just sex?”

Jason groaned. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

Lisa pushed the blouse from her shoulders and let it slide to the floor, revealing a red lace bra. “So what exactly am I, Jason?” He didn’t answer. Her hands moved to the zipper of her skirt and slid it down. “Am I your lover? Your girlfriend?” Her hands pushed the skirt slowly over her hips and down her legs, revealing the matching panties. 

He swallowed again. “Yes.”

She walked until her legs brushed up against the bed. Jason came up on his knees to meet her. He went to touch her again, and she shook her head, making him ball his hands into fists. “Yes what?” she whispered as she reached behind her and unhooked her bra. 

He watched her slide one strap and then the other off her shoulders. This was torture. He needed to touch her. She stopped, waiting for his answer. What did she ask again? Oh yeah, what was she to him. “You’re all I can think about. The only one I want.” 

She didn’t move. He looked up. Her face was serious, and he was afraid he’d said the wrong thing. Then he saw the smirk. 

“Good answer,” she said, finally releasing her bra and letting it fall to the floor. 

Cali caught a whiff of breakfast coming from the kitchen as she came out of her room. Smiling, she went downstairs. 

    Jessie stood at the counter, placing a stack of pancakes and sausage on a plate. “Special occasion?” Cali asked.

“Nope.” Jessie smiled as she took a seat in front of the older woman. “Just felt like pancakes and sausage this morning, so eat up.”

“Thanks,” Cali said as she reached for the syrup. 

Jessie got a plate of her own and pulled up a stool. “So how’s everything going?”

“Not bad,” Cali answered between bites. 

“That’s good.” 

Both women were quiet for a few minutes before Cali asked, “Jessie, did Dad say anything to you about some trouble with the company?”

Jessie was silent for a long while, considering. 

She’s keeping something from me,
Cali thought. “Jessie?”

Jessie sighed and laid her fork down. “He didn’t say anything specific, mind you, but he’d been putting in some late nights, and two of his security guys came over to the house to check on the security here and tighten it by installing that fancy alarm system.”

As soon as Jessie mentioned security, she knew that one of the two men had been Matthew Andersen. After spending half the day with him yesterday, she got the impression there were just some things he liked to oversee himself. The security of his boss’s house would, no doubt, fall into that category. “I see.” 

Matthew turned a little too fast into his parking spot when he got to work that morning. For some reason, his alarm clock didn’t go off that morning, so instead of arriving at seven as he usually did, he was late. It was already eight forty-five. Grabbing his jacket, he ran for the elevator.

He was just outside his office when his brother stuck his head out. “There you are, Matthew. Where you been, man?”

Taking a deep breath, Matthew turned to face his brother. “I overslept.” He needed to discuss the shipment on Friday and the new information he’d received last night. “You got a minute?”

“Yeah sure,” Jason said, following Matthew into his office.

Matthew sat behind his desk looking lost for a minute. Jason took the seat across from him, smiling at this rarity. Matthew ignored his brother’s obvious amusement and went straight into the new intel. Details about Friday’s shipment had been leaked. Scott, the man who’d come to Matthew last night, didn’t have much information other than he’d intercepted the end of a phone call coming from this building. What he’d heard had been enough to make him think the shipment had been compromised. 

They’d always figured the leak was internal. It just made sense. Even if they pulled phone records, it wouldn’t be that easy. Scott just happened to hit the right button looking for an open line and stumbled onto the conversation. If he’d not been at a security station, the lines would never have crossed. Even if they did find the phone from which the call had been made, that didn’t mean anything. Anyone in the building had access to any number of phones. Matthew was positive this person was smart and didn’t use their own extension. 

It took over an hour, but in the end, they had a game plan. They moved up the shipment time and changed the route slightly. Unfortunately, the starting and ending points had to be the same, which made major route changes difficult, so it was decided Jason would be personally escorting this delivery. 

They were just finishing when there was a knock at the door. “Come in.” 

Jason gave his brother a nod and walked to the door as it opened. Matthew and Jason’s assistant, Mariana, passed Jason as she entered Matthew’s office. “Sorry to bother you, Matthew, but Brad called asking if you wanted to take a look at last night’s security tapes before he archives them.” 

Matthew pushed himself up from the desk. He’d completely forgotten about the tapes. “Yes, I do. Please call him back and let him know I’m on my way.” Mariana nodded and closed the door again. Looking down at his desk, he realized he hadn’t even turned his computer on yet. This was not going to be a good day. Resigned, he grabbed his radio and went downstairs.