Holdin' On for a Hero (113 page)

Her voice trailed off and a frown marred her face. Max touched her on the hand and she looked up at him. “Max, that day when Christian asked me to meet him, he dumped out his briefcase and crammed some files and computer discs into it from a locked file cabinet. When those men were chasing us and he said we had to split up, he didn’t ask me to protect whatever was in the briefcase. He gave me the pendant. When I thought about it later I assumed whatever was in the briefcase was important. But now…”

Max took the iPhone from her and keyed in a comment.
The briefcase could have been a ruse. Knowing that whoever was chasing you would follow him, he took with him something that was unimportant and left the valuable safely hidden with you.

“Only it wasn’t! Safely hidden, I mean,” she added when he gave her an inquisitive look. “I ran and hid out in a coffee shop. When I thought it was safe I left and as I was on the sidewalk a car pulled up and a man jumped out and grabbed me and threw me into the backseat. We were fighting and I kicked him in the nose and jumped out of the car. I don’t remember anything after that. I just woke up in a hospital and was told that I was very lucky because I’d only suffered a minor concussion and some bruises and scrapes.

Max was furiously keying as she finished. “I was supposed to start my job on the estate earlier, but was delayed because of being in the hospital.”

She looked at the display as he turned the phone to face her.
We have to find out what that pendant is and if it’s related to the sphere.

“Kind of hard to do that from in here.”

We have to get out of here. Call Grandfather. Tell him some of my memory has returned and we have to get back to the estate without anyone knowing we’re there.

Nikki nodded and pulled out the phone Simon had given her. He answered on the second ring. “Simon? Hi, it’s Nikki. Max is awake and he said to tell you that some of his memories have returned and we have to get back to the estate without anyone knowing we’re there.”

She listened to his reply, nodding, then ended the call. “Yes, I’ve got it. Okay, I will. Bye.”

“He said someone will be here for us within the hour and will identify himself as Simon’s representative with the words ‘We are such stuff as dreams are made on and our little life is rounded with a sleep’. Does that make any sense to you?”

Max nodded and turned his attention to the phone. A minute later he showed it to her.

It’s from
The Tempest,
Chapter four
.

“Oh! Well, okay. So now I guess we just wait.”

How long have we been here?

“Three days.”

Max sighed and lay his head back, staring at the ceiling in silence. Nikki watched him for a few moments, nervously chewing her lip. There were things she needed to say to him. Her realization about the importance of the key pendant had suddenly made seemingly disconnected pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

“Max?”

He raised his head to look at her. “About the key,” she said. “I think I know what it is.”

Tell me
he signed.

“Okay, now bear with me ’cause this might sound a little farfetched. I told you that reason I got the job at the estate is that I met a man in a coffee shop named Gaspar de Troyes.”

Max was keying in on the phone before she got the words out of her mouth.
Yes, he’s an associate and close personal friend of my grandfather’s.

“I know. They both belong to some ancient society. Anyway, Gaspar is the one who turned me onto the job but he also told me that at least one of the Blue Stones of Atlantis and possibly even the housing device was hidden somewhere on the estate.”

She paused to see what he’d keyed in.

I know of the Stones. Grandfather has searched for them for years.

“Good, then I don’t have to explain what they are. Anyway, according to Simon, a man named Lucien sent him a message that he’d found part the housing device for the Stones. He was scared and thought he was being followed. He came to the estate and Osgood contacted Simon who was in Jerusalem. Simon told Lucien to wait for him there.

“Now…this might be a little hard for you to take, Max, but the story comes from Simon, not me. Apparently your mother ordered everyone to take the night off after she had an intimate dinner prepared for her and Lucien. It seems she’d had a falling out with her lover, Mark Robinson, and was at odds with your father over his mistress, and so she used Lucien as a temporary distraction.

“No one really knows what happened except that your father returned home unexpectedly and shortly thereafter the police were summoned. According to your parents, your father returned home to find a man raping your mother. A fight ensued and the intruder—Lucien— was killed.

“Now what complicates the plot is that it seems two of the staff knew what had really happened and tried to blackmail your father. They were found dead in an apparent car fatality several days later.

“And, what’s more, this happened right after you were returned home from Iraq. The private nurse they’d hired to see after you was also ordered to take the night off. When she came in the next morning no one could wake you. In fact no one could wake you for three days but when you did wake up, you couldn’t speak and apparently had no memory of what had happened to cause the sudden loss of speech. Does any of this sound at all familiar to you?”

Max shook his head.
Is there more?

“Unfortunately. According to Osgood, before the police arrived he went upstairs to check on you and found your mother sitting on your bed talking to you. Now I don’t know if that seems odd to you, but Simon says that it was an unprecedented event.

“And whatever Lucien brought with him was never found.”

She fell silent and studied Max who was staring at her with a tight frown on his face. At length he turned his attention to the iPhone.

I don’t remember anything about it. I wish I did. But I believe Grandfather.

Nikki took his hand. “Max, I’m so sorry. It seems like you’ve been shit on every step of the way.”

He shook his head and signed,
Not every step.
It brought me you.

Nikki’s eyes filled with tears. This wasn’t the time or place to profess love, but it’s what was in her heart. And that love gave her strength and the resolve to get to the bottom of things and see that Max was set free from the prison his family had constructed for him. No matter what it took, she was going to see that happen.

She smiled through her tears as he leaned over to cup her face in one hand and thumb away the tear that tracked down her cheek. Suddenly she realized something she’s always wished for had come to pass.

She had discovered her heart, and it belonged to Max.

Chapter Eleven

Ben checked the address again to make sure he had the right place. He’d gotten a call that afternoon from a psychiatrist who needed a computer expert to help retrieve data from a laptop. Charles Abernathy had explained that the computer belonged to the deceased husband of his client and there was financial and personal information on the computer necessary to settling the man’s estate. Ben had been recommended by an attorney friend of the psychiatrist’s as being the best.

Naturally he was flattered. And the man had offered a nice fee for the service. He went inside and gave his name to the man at the reception desk. “Benjamin Marshall to see Dr. Abernathy.”

The man placed a call and announced Ben, then directed him to the elevator and the proper floor.

Charles opened the door at the first knock. “Benjamin?” he asked, extending his hand. “Charles Abernathy. I appreciate you coming at such short notice.”

“No problem. Nice to meet you.”

“Come, I have the computer in my dining room. I hope that’s all right.”

“Fine.”

Ben followed Charles through the lavish apartment to the dining room. A ORCA FXw AMD FX-60 Dual Core CPU sat on the polished table. Billed as not only one of the most powerful laptop on Earth, the  FX2 sported the nVidia 7800 GTX CPU.

Ben wasn’t convinced it had truly earned the title of one of the most powerful laptop son the planet, but did appreciate the fact that it was a very nice machine, and one that a regular Joe couldn’t afford.

He took a seat and turned on the machine. The familiar sign on screen for Windows 7 Pro appeared. Ben leaned back and regarded the login screen. “Do you have the login information?”

“Actually no,” Charles said as he took a seat beside Ben. “And his wife doesn’t either. Which is why we had to bring in an expert.”

“Hmmm, yeah, I see,” Ben replied. “Okay, let’s go at it this way. Write me up a list. The man’s name, birthday, social security number, driver’s license number, children’s names and birthdates, wife’s name and birthdate and we’ll see what we can do.”

When Charles did not move or reply Ben turned his head to regard the man. Charles looked distinctly uncomfortable, giving Ben a jolt. This wasn’t the first time he’d been asked to hack into a computer that didn’t belong to the asker. He hadn’t expected this from a psychiatrist but then there was no rule that everyone was on the up-and-up.

“Or,” he said, “I go at this from another angle.”

“You can do that?” Charles’s face noticeably brightened.

“Yeah, but it’ll take some time.”

“Take all the time you need. Could I offer you something to drink?”

“Coffee would be great,” Ben responded, turning off the machine and rebooting it. He interrupted the boot process and flexed his fingers. Time to find a nick in the castle walls. At least that was the way he thought of it. One little opening and he’d worm his way in.

Charles got up and left the room. All of Ben’s attention focused on the task at hand. He barely noticed Charles coming and going, delivering fresh coffee. Three hours passed during which admiration for whoever set up the computer’s defenses grew in Ben’s mind. The computer obviously belonged to someone who knew what they were doing. And obviously had something they didn’t want anyone else to have access to.

It took him nearly five hours to break in and when he did, a sinking feeling hit him in the gut.

Charles stepped into the room for his hourly check. “Anything yet?”

“Getting close,” Ben replied. Before he let Abernathy know he’d hacked his way in he wanted to find out what was stored on the machine because now he knew that it belonged to Max.

He didn’t bother with getting into any of the password-secured files. Instead he concentrated on the secure server Max had set up. It took him another two hours to break in, during which time he kept assuring Abernathy that he was almost there.

Once he had access to the server, he realized Max had set up an access to it via an iPhone. Ben quickly sent an alert to the iPhone.

Charles Abernathy got his hands on your laptop. He hired me to break into it, telling me it was the system that belonged to the deceased husband of a client and contained personal financial info. As soon as I send this alert, I’m deleting all access and reference to the server and all personal files. I’ll leave game applications. Be careful. Ben.

Once the alert was sent, Ben set to work deleting everything but gaming applications. It took him only half an hour. He pushed back from the table. “Dr. Abernathy?”

Charles hurried into the room. Ben stood and gestured to the laptop. “I’m in but I’m afraid there’s nothing on this system but games and a user account for some online gaming sites.”

“Are you certain?”

“Positive,” Ben assured him, feeling pleased that in a roundabout way he was telling the truth.

Charles hurried over to the table. “But there has to be…are you quite positive about this?”

“Couldn’t be more sure. But feel free to take it to someone else if you don’t believe me.”

“No, no, of course, I don’t doubt you. I’m just disappointed. For my client that is. Thank you for your time, Ben.”

He dug a wad of cash out of his pocket. “Twenty-five hundred as agreed.”

Ben accepted the payment and stuffed it into his pocket. “Sorry it turned out to be a bust, Dr. Abernathy. Guess your client’s husband didn’t want her to know he was a closet gamer.”

Charles’ laugh at the comment sounded false. “I suppose so. Again, thank you for your time, Ben.”

“Sure.” Ben followed Charles to the door of the apartment and stepped outside, turning to face Charles. “Have a good night.”

“And you,” Charles said and closed the door in his face.

Ben grinned and hurried to his car. The moment he was sitting behind the wheel he pulled out his phone and called Nikki. There was no answer on her cell. He left a message for her to call him immediately then headed home. He’d memorized the address on Max’s server. As soon as he got home he’d send another message. He didn’t know what was going on, but it was clear someone was trying to get information on Max. And that meant Nikki was in the line of whatever fire was coming.

* * * * *

Nikki and Max buckled in for takeoff. True to his word, Simon’s representative had shown up less than an hour after Nikki placed the call to Simon. She and Max were both surprised that the man turned out to be the doctor on record at the hospital. He had Max get in a wheelchair and left notations on his chart that he was scheduled for an MRI.

Then he wheeled Max right out of the hospital where a car was waiting. The driver took Max and Nikki to a private airport where a private jet was waiting. Now they were about to take off.

Once they were in the air, Max unbuckled and stood to check out the plane. He opened a door behind the seating area and motioned for Nikki with a sexy grin on his face.

She got up and went to him. Inside the next cabin was a well-appointed bedroom. She cut her eyes up at him. “Are you suggesting…?”

No suggestion. A demand. I want you,
he signed.

The look on his face sent a thrill of need spiraling through her.

“Tell me what you want.”

He took her by the shoulders and backed her into the bedroom, kicking the door closed behind him.

Naked and on your hands and knees on the bed.

Something akin to a current of electricity sizzled through her. His eyes seemed to gleam with an inner fire and there was a look of such sexual dominance on his face that she felt her sex grow wet just looking at him.

She stripped off her clothes, watching as his eyes moved over her body. When her clothing lay in a puddle at her feet, she climbed onto the bed as he’d directed, looking back over her shoulder at him.

Max wasted no time stripping off his clothes. He climbed onto the bed behind her, pressing against her, the length of his erection filling the cleft of her ass. She grunted in surprise and excitement as his hand clenched into a tight knot in her hair, pushing her head down onto the mattress. She knew what he wanted. Control and dominance. She thrilled to his need, wanting him to be her sexual master.

He rubbed the head of his shaft against her wet sex then pushed inside her as deep as he could go.

She screamed into the mattress in pleasure and his hands moved beneath her abdomen, lifting her up, impaled on the length of him.

She moaned and moved on him, thrilling to the heady mixture of pleasure and pain. His hands cupped her breasts as his lips moved down the side of her neck. She wound one arm behind her head to grab his hair and pull his face down to hers.

Rather than kiss, she bit his bottom lip then sucked it into her mouth, feeling his hands tighten on her breasts a moment before he groaned and crushed her to him in a kiss that brought the first hum of release to her body

His fingers tangled in her hair, pulling her head back to expose her neck. His teeth nipped at her ear, the tender flesh at its base and moved lower to the junction of her shoulder.

Nikki pressed back more firmly against him, wiggling her ass in slow erotic circles as she moved on his hard, slick shaft.

Max suddenly withdrew and flipped her over onto her back. When he moved between her legs and entered her, she wrapped her legs around him and forced him over on his back. She loved being dominated, but sometimes she wanted to control the momentum.

He didn’t argue, but smiled and lay back, letting his hands fasten on her hips to guide her as she rose and fell on him, using the inner muscles of her sex to squeeze and pulse as she rode him, slowly increasing the tempo until they were both straining to hold back from the climax that threatened.

She didn’t want it to end, but couldn’t hold back. Feeling his strong hands guiding her firmly up and down on his hard shaft, and seeing his eyes narrow as need pressed in on him had her coming before she could stop it.

“Max, now, now, now!” she moaned.

He slammed up into her and she succumbed, feeling him pulse inside her as he joined her in release. She collapsed on top of him as he shuddered and went still.

The pilot’s voice came over the intercom.”Sir? We’re preparing for descent. If you’re not currently seated, please do so and fasten your belts.”

Nikki rose up and looked down at Max. “Does this count as seated?”

He grinned and signed
I wish.

She chuckled and climbed off him to go to the bathroom and clean up. Five minutes later they were back in the main cabin, buckled in and ready for landing.

Max pulled out his phone and turned it on. His eyebrows rose and he handed the phone to Nikki. She read the message. “This can’t be good,” she said as she gave the phone back to him. “He has to have a spy on the estate to get possession of your laptop. And for him to take it means he suspects or knows that you’re not incompetent…but…” she trailed off with a perplexed expression.

“But why steal your computer?”

Max shrugged and keyed a message on his phone for her.
Not enough information. Maybe grandfather can help fill in the blanks. Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out, and I won’t let anything happen to you.

Nikki smiled at him. “Funny, isn’t it? I’m supposed to be protecting you and yet you’re protecting me.”

Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be. Protect one another?

She nodded and took his hand to give it a squeeze. “It sure is.”

* * * * *

A second Scotch did little to ease the hammering in Mark’s head. He’d finally located the hospital where Maxwell had been taken, but Maxwell was no longer there and no one at the hospital knew why or when he’d been released.

If that wasn’t bad enough, there’d been no sign of Maxwell or Nikki. Mark had checked the flight logs of every Weston jet, and all passenger manifests of every commercial flight and charter service in the area of the hospital, and could not find any record of a man and woman matching Maxwell and Nikki’s descriptions having taken a flight.

Richard had gone ballistic when he’d heard the news, particularly when Mark subtly suggested that perhaps Nikki had spirited Maxwell away in some kind of kidnapping ploy. Richard was on the verge of contacting the authorities when he was contacted by his father who told him in no uncertain terms that he was to take no action in the matter.

Mark and Richard both would have preferred to deal with kidnappers, terrorists or hostile corporate raids than Simon. Neither of them could afford to make a move against the old man. If he said to let it go, they had little choice but to accede to his wishes.

But it did not sit well with either of them. Mark had mobilized the weight of the entire Weston empire to locate Maxwell. Thus far, they’d made no progress.

Which left him and Richard in a sweat. What was Simon up to?

* * * * *

At present Simon sat in front of a large bay window in the library, waiting for Maxwell and Nikki to get up and meet him. They’d arrived late the previous night and had gone immediately to bed. He’d not argued when Maxwell communicated to him via the iPhone that he and Nikki would be sharing a room at the end of the wing.