Page 21 of Jacob

“I have money of my own, thank you.”

Jacob stifled a sigh. “Of course you do. This isn’t me playing big man. But a Black Inc. card is guaranteed to get you the best service. We need priority delivery, and the card will guarantee it. We need to be ready to go soon and everything will have to have been delivered.”

“I’ll pay you back,” she said and his jaws clenched so hard it was a miracle shards of enamel didn’t shoot out his ass. “And I will pay you back for all your expenses. I imagine you won’t have me pay your fee, which I’m sure is high. But we’re talking private plane, a team of operators… that’s expensive. I wasn’t really thinking it through when I turned to Black Inc. I was thinking more of a consultation.I had no idea it would require international travel and…”

“Stop it.” Jacob held up his hand, then pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t stand this anymore. “Just… stop. And none of this is important, anyway. What’s important is to get to your colleague and stop whatever it is he is planning.”

Jacob couldn’t even talk about it. He and every resource of his company was at her complete disposal. And would be forever. She was resisting the idea, but it was a fact.

She sat silently, watching him. Then let out her breath, destressing. “This isn’t over, but you’re right. We have things more important than money to deal with.”

Jacob didn’t let his relief that she’d dropped the topic of money show.

“I am going to contact my teammate, who is in Belgium at the moment. But you’re going to have to explain the situation. Can you do that?”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Of course.”

“You’re not too tired?”

She gave him the side eye. “I’m not a soldier but we’ve been known to work 24 even 48 hours straight if we have a deadline. I’m tired, yes, but functional.”

Yes, she was functional, but she looked exhausted. “Okay, you’re going to explain the situation, or the facts you have, to Nikolai. And then while I get dinner together, you order everything you need, and I mean everything. Order solid gold underwear, I don’t care.” She side eyed him again and he shrugged. “It’s all tax deductible.”

“Did you book a hotel room for me?”

Every cell in his body rejected the notion, but he didn’t let that show either. “The top floor is my home.”

“One of your homes.”

He nodded. “One of my homes.” He had four of them, in the major cities, bland decorator-styled residences so he didn’t have to sleep in hotels. But his real home, the one he loved, was a cabin in the Sierra Nevada that had zero creature comforts, an outhouse and was heated by a wood stove. He loved it and could feel stress sloughing off him every time he hiked there.

“I’m not sleeping with you, Jake. Jacob. Not tonight, not tomorrow, not ever.”

We’ll see about that.Jacob kept that thought way off his face.

“No worries. You’ll have your own bedroom. Your own suite. With a door that locks.”

“I imagine you’re pretty good at picking locks,” she said. “But I trust your sense of honor. So?—”

There was a beep and Jacob turned to the wall screen with relief. “That’s my colleague,” he said, as Nikolai’s face, bigger than life, appeared.

He was in some kind of comms center, tech-filled and unadorned. “Got your message, Jacob. What’s up?” he said.

“Alex, meet Nikolai Garin, my second in command, and now head of a spinoff of Black Inc., we co-own Go Solutions. Nikolai, meet Dr. Alexandra Hethering. She has a very serious problem.”

Not by a flicker of eyelash did Nick betray that he knew exactly who Alex was. One night, after a bitter firefight where they lost three teammates, Jacob got shit-faced drunk and told Nick the whole sorry story.

“Dr. Hethering,” Nick said solemnly.

“Mr. Garin,” Alex said.

“Nick.”

“Okay, Nick. Then, Alex.”

“Okay, Alex, can you tell me your problem?”

“First of all, I’m not a medical doctor. The Dr. is a PhD in virology and I have a masters in epidemiology. I work at the CDC in Atlanta. Or, worked. I might have lost my job by now,” she shot a glance at Jacob, “since to them I have gone AWOL.”

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