Page 63 of Death Wish

“Good grief. The damage must have been extensive.”

“Your ex punctured this mercenary’s lung and nicked his heart.”

Her stomach twisted into a knot. “Man, I hope Trevor stays away from us. He could cause major trouble if he finds us.”

“Yeah, he could. We’ll have to come up with a plausible excuse for your name change if he shows his face in Sayulita.”

She thought about the possibilities and decided the simplest explanation might be the best. “I changed my name and left San Francisco to get away from Trevor.”

“I’ll call Zane so he’s aware that he might receive a phone call to verify the information. Need coffee?”

“Water.”

“Coming right up.” He grabbed two bottles of water and handed one to Simone. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

She dove into her research, pulling up data on Griffin Daley first. Her eyebrows rose at the number of classified projects he’d headed over the years. The man had a knack for being in the right place at the right time to snag prime government contracts. He’d been recruited away from a think tank in Seattle, Washington five years earlier and hadn’t looked back.

Of all the computer programmers, Daley was the one to draw the largest salary and sweetest benefits package. Her temporary boss would never have to worry about his retirement. He had money stashed in various countries in several accounts. No scuttlebutt about him or his work except many sources reported that he’d sell his own mother for a buck.

She switched to reading the results gathered on Patrick Meyers. Nothing raised a red flag except he begged for overtime and moonlighted to pay for his children’s Ivy league education.

Trouble in paradise, though. His wife had recently returned to the States with no return date.

She moved on to Wyatt Hatcher. He was ambitious and angry to be passed over for promotion to the head of the Special Projects division. He felt as though the job had been snatched away from him and given to Daley. Definitely not a team player. Simone frowned. Was he angry enough to undermine the targeted project, or the programmer assigned to that task?

Not the project itself, she decided. Hatcher was the type to wipe out the competition and leave the way clear for him to sail in and take all the glory. What better way to thumb his nose at Daley and the Dragon Alley executives?

Nothing in Hatcher’s information said he was the culprit responsible for Allison’s collapse but Simone wouldn’t be surprised if it was true. If he was guilty, he must have been angry that Jesse forced him to help save Allison.

She blew out a breath. Speculation without proof was pointless. She could lead herself and Jesse down the wrong path. For the moment, she stuck Hatcher at the top of her suspect list and moved on to Allison Norbert.

Simone scanned the information on the other woman, her brow furrowing. She was good but nothing to write home about. Why had Allison been tapped to join the Special Projects division?

A good track record at five big-name tech companies but she wanted to get away from a terrible relationship, a familiar problem. Five months into her employment contract with Dragon Alley, her divorce from her husband of ten years was finalized.

As she read further, Simone ran across an interesting fact about Allison and Bastien Boudreax. The two had dated until two months ago when Allison broke up with him and moved on to Beckett Francen.

“Got something?” Jesse said. He dropped into the seat across the table from her.

“Allison and Bastien Boudreax dated until two months ago when Allison dumped him for Beckett.”

“Interesting. Wonder why Allison and Bastien broke up?”

“Don’t know. Maybe you can find out.”

He snorted. “Don’t bet on it. Boudreax isn’t my biggest fan.”

“Why not? You’re good at your job.”

“He only knows what my cover story shows, and he didn’t select me to be an employee. The CEO of Dragon Alley foisted me on him. Besides, Boudreax was Special Forces. He’s not impressed with a former military police officer with no special skills. He won’t make me his best friend and confidante.”

“His loss.”

“That leaves digging into Allison and Bastien’s relationship up to you. Should be relatively easy to talk to her. You have a reason to ask her how she’s feeling.”

“Wonder if she’ll be at work tomorrow?”

“I hope not,” Jesse said. “Her body needs time to recover.”

---