Page 48 of Locked Down

“You know, and I know, your uncle’s up to something. Something that doesn’t just affect you. He’s up to something big and scaryandwe need to know what it is. I need your help to figure it outIcan’t do it on my own. If I get busted checking your friend’scomputerthat’ll be the end. He’llget rid ofme and cause a huge mess at the Society. Then he’ll be protected, and we won’t find anything out. But Tracy’s your friend. No one would twig to anything if they saw you at her desk.”

Vic threw her arms in the air.“It would not be natural.I do not check up on my friends, nor do Iget into their laptops and see what they’re working on.”

“But you can go into the office and check.I canmake sureshe’saway fromherdesk for enough time for you toget apeek at the project.

Vic glared at him.“Why can’t I distract Tracy? I can stall her and keep her busy while you check.”

“No one will think anything of you being at her desk. You sit right next to her. If I do it, the whole office will notice. They all watch me when I move around in there, Joyce especially. There’s no way to do it without attracting at least some attention. You can bring her coffee or a muffin, whatever. It will look normal.”

Vic frowned.

“If I have to access the laptop, then the best wayfor meto do it is to break into her apartment. Do you want me to break in, Vic? That’s the only way I can do it. Doing that exposes me to the least amount of risk.”

Vic got off the couch and headed into her kitchen. She pulled out the bottle of scotch and grabbed a glass from the cabinet. The cork screeched asshejerked it from the neck of the bottle. She poured herself a mouthful and swallowed it in one gulp.“I don’t like this Ryker. It feels wrong. I don’t want to betray my uncle or my friend.”

Ryker knew he was getting to her. He gritted his teeth.Hehad to drive the point home.“But isn’t he betraying you?Do youreallybelieve that crap about how much he cares about you andjustwants you to be taken care of in case something happens to him?It isn’t like he’s leaving you all his money if he dies. I heard him on the phone saying his will is up to dateandhe’s leaving his money to some charity in Texas that will put his name on a building or something.”

Vic choked.“He’s always been upfront about that, even when he had me make a will and leave my stuff to him. I didn’t have to, but it seemed only fair since he saved me from the commune.”

“What do you mean?”Did Davisreallymake Vic leave the little she hadtohim?

“Nothing.Ijustdon’t like betraying either ofthem.”Vic glared at him.

“Look, Vic, I need to see that laptopandit’s much better for Tracy if I don’t have to break into her place. It will destroy her peace of mind once she discovers someone has broken in.”

Vic met his gaze again.“Fine. Fucking…just fine. But promise me Tracy will never find out. She’s a good friendandI hate going behind her back like this.If your plan goes to shit, it’s on youandI’m telling you right nowIhave tobe employedon my birthdayorI’m screwedfor life.If this fucks up royally, you better find me a job, a real jobinno time flat.”

Ryker cocked an eyebrow. Of all the things she could’ve demanded, making sure she had a job on her birthday didn’t enter his mind.“Why do you need a job on your birthday?”

“I’m not fucking discussing this with you.I’m just telling youifthis goes to hell, I’ll need a job on my birthdayandit’s gotto be a real jobOK?Thisis a deal breaker. If you can’t dothisthen we’re done.”

“Deal. But I want to hear all about this job on your birthday business, and I want to know about the commune. I want to know everything, Vic.”And he meant it. He did want to know it all. He wanted to know all about this intriguing woman. She was driving him crazy. It didn’t matter howmany timeshe tried to put her out of his mind, thoughtsof her still lingered there. And it wasn’t just the sex, which had beenamazing. It was her spirit, her fundamental need to find the good in people. As a Society monster wrangler, there was rarely a time when he saw anyone with any redeeming qualities. He hadn’t seen the good in people in many years. The fact that she had gotten this far in life and still believed that people were intrinsically good…Well, that was quite something. And it was more a testament to her thanit was to herknowing good people.

“When do you want to do this?”she mumbled whileshe fingered the top of the scotch bottle.

“First thing in the morning.”When she started to balk, he hurried on,“Your uncle said he wanted you in there bright andearlyso let’s make sure that happens. What time does Tracy usually arrive?”

Vic shrugged.“I’m not sure.With his special project it could be any time. I’m guessing thoughif we gotthere at six a.m., she’ll be along soon after. The issue becomes how many people are coming with her? I mean it’s all well and good that I bring her coffee but if she’s already there at her desk and bring her coffee she’s not going to get up and leave.”

Ryker’s shoulders relaxed just a fraction. Vic was going to do itandmore importantly, she was calming down. When she was upset, his overriding desire was to remove the reason. His biggest worry, the one he refused to acknowledge, was that Vic would end up hating him.Hejustcouldn’t take that.

“Don’t worry,I can find a reason to get her up from her desk. You are right though, if there are lots of other people it might be a bit of a problem.”

He got up from the chair and went to lean against the wall across from Vic.“I can call a meeting,something about upgrades to security.”He stared at Vic, lost in thought.“Yes, I’ll talk to all of themallabout using their ID cards and having them on them at all times. I’ll say something like somebody tried to get in without valid identificationandit caused a fuss at the entry security station. Now, they all have to carry them, and I’ll make sure to stress that and have a long meeting with them about it. I can buy you ten minutes.”

She bit her lip.“But thenwhyaren’t I at the meeting?”

“We’ll say I drove you to work and gave you the lecture on the way in. You’re already upset with your uncle, and you can tell Tracy about it before she comes to the meeting. And remember, this is all if there’s more than just her in the office. Otherwise, we’ll have to come up with something else.”

“You make it all sound so easy.”Vic sighed and poured herself a second drink but didn’t touch it.

“It’s not easy to betray your friends. But it’s simple, and simple is good. I know you don’t want to do this, Vic. I know it goes against everything you’vebeen brought upto believe. Everything that makes you a good person.

“I’m not a good personandI make no excuses for that.I’m a bad guy, Vic.I have to beorIcouldn’tdo my job.And when you become a member of the Society, you’ll learn all about it, but in the meantime, bad guys like me existandwe have to do things like this because your uncle…God help me, Vic, he’s even worse.”

Vic folded her arms across her chest.“You say thatbutwhat has heactuallydone?I meanreally, what have you seen him do that issoabsolutelyhorrible?”

“I don’t want to get into that?—”

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