Operation Date With Destiny (30 page)

“
The best huh?
”
Johnny
said, removing the computer.
“
What you say to that, Lionel?
”
He asked as he handed the computer over to the man with the out of control hair.

Lionel obviously wasn
’
t impressed with this statement at all judging from his sour expression and the rather disgusted snort he gave before taking the computer and heading
down the narrow hallway
, mumbling beneath his breath.

Chapter
Seventeen

Destiny rummaged through the cupboards
in the tiny kitchen
and located three
stained
coffee cups
. She took a few of the complimentary packets of dried coffee in a basket on the bench and
debated whether or not she was desperate enough for caffeine to risk her health this way.

“
Man, th
at guy
can talk. He hasn
’
t stopped ranting since we got here,
”
Johnny
said coming into the room to take one of the cups and fill it with tap water.

This was the first conversation they
’
d had since leaving the island and
she
suddenly felt a little nervous. She sent a brief glance towards the room
behind them
where Tate was standing guard over the man
. He wore
an impassive expression and Destiny knew he was in some
happy place
in his
head so
he didn
’
t have to listen to
Lemont droning on about just how many of his constitutional amendments they were denying him by holding him here
.

“
Pity he
’
s a crook—he
’
d make a great lawyer
. H
e
’
d be able to talk the jury to death. You want coffee?
”
s
he asked, bringing her gaze back to the task at hand. She gathered by his turned up nose it was a big no thanks, and spooned the coffee into the two remaining cups instead.

“
I ah…I was impressed by how well y
ou handled yourself earlier,
”
he said,
staring at the
faded pattern on the kitchen floor
as though he found it
completely fascinating
.

Destiny gave a small smile.
“
It amazes me that you still find this
so
remarkable.
”

Johnny
shrugged a little awkwardly.
“
Yeah, well…I haven
’
t worked with too many females who handle themselves as well as you do.
”

“
Well, thanks…I
think.
”

“
Look
,
about the other day—
”
he started
and
Destiny began shaking her head.

“
Not here, Johnny,
”
she pleaded quietly.
God, she couldn
’
t handle this now.
“
We need to concentrate on this job. Everything else can wait.
”

“
Really? Cause I
’
m not sure when you think we
’
re going to have time to talk about it. I have to report back to base in a few days.
”

“
Then maybe we just need to accept that it
’
s over and done with and leave it at that
,
”
she said quietly, mindful of the lack of privacy.
Her breath caught in her chest as he took a step closer and forced her to lift her gaze to meet his own.

“
For a woman who
’
s not afraid to kick ass—you sure are one hell of a coward when it comes to dealing with the stuff that matters.
”

“
Maybe it
’
s just how you determine which stuff it is that matters?
”
she said tightly.

He studied her silently for a few moments before lowering his face even closer
. T
rapped against the kitchen bench as she was, there was no way of pulling away.
“
I got your number now lady. I know when you
’
re bluffin
’
and when you
’
re not. Took me a while and I had to learn the hard way—but I worked it out now. You
’
re scared of me
cause you feel something too and don
’
t want to admit it. Well that
’
s too bad…
be
cause
this time
I
’
m callin
’
you on it,
”
he said breathing
the words
against her lips
before
he moved his mouth across her own in kiss
so overwhelming and invasive
that for a moment
it
storm
ed
her fragile barricade and her heart leapt
in
traitorous delight.

Slowly he eased back but only enough to look into her face, his expression completely unguarded and his usual sarcasm nowhere to be found.
“
In the infamous words of the Dixie Chicks
;
If I fal
l,
you
’
re goin
’
down with me,
”
he said and had she not been so completely blown away by his unexpected kiss she may well have laughed at him…but the truth was…she was very close to telling him she
’
d fallen long ago
. A
nd he was right—she was scared of these emotions
. Absolutely
petrified even.

“
I can
’
t believe you
’
re admitting to knowing a Dixie Chick song,
”
she murmured, trying hard to ignore the tightening of her throat as the
comprehension finally dawned that
she
truly loved
this annoying, egotistical, pain in the ass of a man
and it was
refusing to remain dormant a second longer.
Holy bad timing, Batman,
she groaned desperately. This was all wrong! She didn
’
t have time to deal with a relationship right now!

“
Who
’
s ya Daddy!
”
a voice shouted from
the room at the end of the hallway
, ending whatever moment
they
’
d been
sharing
,
abruptly.

“
If I
’
m not mistaken—I believe that wou
ld be some kind of
g
eek war cry,
”
he murmured with a somewhat lopsided grin.
“
I think Lionel may have successfully hacked motor mouth
’
s computer
.
”

As Destiny went to step around him,
Johnny
grabbed hold of her hand and stopped her.
“
This is not
over. Not by a long shot,
”
he said when she reluctantly looked up at him
, t
hen released her hand so she could head back into the other room to see what all the commotion was about.

Destiny noticed Vincent Lemont had lost a little of his color as his gaze went towards the door opening down the hall.

“
Best security mines in the business
,
huh?
”
Lionel announced, swaggering into the room, his chest seeming to puff out and a smug grin spreading a mile a minute across his fleshy face.
“
Who
’
s da
’
man now,
bitch?
”
he crowed at the fat attorney.

Destiny could only stare
in bewilderment at
the overweight, frizzy haired, man doing the lousiest imitation of a street punk,
that
she
’
d ever seen.

“
Okay, brotha
’
I
’
m feelin
’
all the street cred and stuff…but you better calm down before you hurt yourself,
”
Tate
drawled dryly
, then had to step out of the way as Lionel broke out into a rather epileptic
-
fit looking version of a Mick Jagger dance. Tate cringed as he sent the hacker one final shake of his head
before carefully taking the computer from him,
and mov
ing
into the kitchen to
place the computer on the table
.

Satisfied that Lionel was quite content to stand watch over the attorney as he continued to torture the man with his uncoordinated dancing, the other three crowded around the computer to see what their hacker extraordinaire had uncovered for them.
A
rather stunned silence
followed for
a few minutes as they tried to digest the information on the screen.

“
Holy shit,
”
Tupper whispered.

Destiny lifted her gaze and glanced between the two men, a smile beginning to tug at the corners of her mouth.
“
We got him.
”

Tate lifted a hand in the air and bumped his fist with
Johnny
and Destiny, before
sitting quickly to
compil
e
an email and got busy attaching various files. They weren
’
t going to take any risks with this stuff. They needed to ensure this evidence didn
’
t get misplaced anywhere.

“
Look. Wait. Listen to me
,
”
Vincent began
.
“
Nothing on there is going to tie
Tre
’
ago
to anything—
”
T
he attorney seemed to have lost a little of his arrogance now that he was faced with being exposed
.
“
—but I know
someone
who can,
”
he added quickly.

“
Who?
”
Tate asked slowly. Like Destiny, he wasn
’
t sure if this guy could be trusted. How could all these files and spread sheets with company names and foreign bank details not link back to Tre
’
ago? But there was a lot riding on this and they couldn
’
t afford to ignore anything until they knew for sure Tre
’
ago was going down.

“
Bart Rothman. He
’
s the man who has all the dirt on Tre
’
ago. He
’
s been keeping a second set of records—he has it all recorded.
”

“
How do you know all this?
”
Johnny
asked suspiciously.

“
Because he
’
s been helping Rothman skim the profits,
”
Destiny said suddenly working it out.

The small flash of anger that crossed the lawyers face was all the verification they needed to confirm it.

“
How come Rothman has these records and not you?
”
Tate demanded.

“
To hold as insurance and keep him from telling Tre
’
ago,
”
Destiny said lifting her chin at the man on the chair.

“
Seriously.
Could you have
not
worked all this shit out earlier? It would have saved us a lot of trouble you know,
”
Johnny
griped dryly
.