Elliot (Guardian Defenders #10)

Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

“ D ude, will you wake the hell up?” Con’s voice in his ear snapped his eyes open. “I overrode your mute, and I can hear you snoring. Wake up. I have shit to tell you.”

Elliot looked at the woman asleep on his arm and smiled. Beautiful, sexy as fuck, brilliant, and snoring like a freight train. He curled his arm, and she rolled toward him, silencing the snoring. He pushed his earpiece in a bit before he grumped, “What?” Maya took a deep breath and settled against him.

“Well, good morning to you, too, grumpy pants,” Con sniped at him. “I got a match on the person who told the emcee there was a bomb. It wasn’t any associate of Kates, well, not really.”

Elliot closed one eye, trying to see what time it was. He’d been asleep for two and a half hours. “Explain that.”

“See, none of his associates matched. So, I was thinking. He wouldn’t call in the bomb threat himself, would he? Well, it turns out he did. I got a copy of the 911 recording, and it’s a perfect vocal match for Kates. He’s a fucking idiot. So, if he called from the bar … maybe, just maybe, he recruited help from the bar, too.”

Elliot was wide awake now. “And?”

“And it seems Kates is a regular at the bar. So is the man who accepted what looks like a wad of cash from Kates outside the bar and then jogged straight to the event center. Where he entered, went to the stage, and told the emcee about the bomb threat.”

He glanced down at Maya, who was looking at him. He smiled, kissed her nose, and then motioned to his ear. She promptly closed her eyes and burrowed in closer to him. Elliot said, “So he called in the bomb threat. Has forensics found anything on the device?”

“Dude, they do not work as fast as I do.” Con huffed his ire.

“You’re correct. You did great work.” Elliot gave the man his props.

“See, if more people were like you and recognized my greatness, things would be a lot easier around this place, but let me tell you, Shadows are hard to work with. Ow! Not you , other shadows. Shit, babe.”

Elliot blinked at that revelation and then completely shelved the information. He had no need to know, and it was probably higher than his clearance. Okay, his clearance was as high as it could get, but still. “Do you have anything else?”

“Isn’t that enough?” Con asked, still pouting from whatever happened on the other end of the connection.

“What happened at the office last night?” Elliot asked as he stared at the ceiling.

“Oh, with the assistant? She worked on her computer. I was curious, so I tunneled in after she left. It looks like she worked in the calendar app, updated several memos, and worked on a company bulletin. I didn’t go into the documents, but I can.”

“When you have the time. I need to know what that person was doing there and why.” He didn’t want to upset Maya by saying Jessica’s name.

“Why are you talking in code? Dude, I just woke you … oh, shit. Sorry, my man.” Con laughed.

Elliot rolled his eyes. “Have a good time getting out of trouble, Con.”

Con grumbled something unintelligible, and Elliot double-tapped his earpiece, muting Con and his side of the comms. He turned toward Maya.

“Good morning,” she mumbled from somewhere almost under him.

“Good morning.” He pulled her in closer and held her against him. Last night’s sex had been intense, both physically and emotionally. Not that he was the type of guy who wore his emotions on his sleeve—hell, for that matter, he never let his emotions peek through to the light of day. But … whew … the woman brought out his inner caveman. As he held her, all he could think was how he didn’t want to let her go. Perfection. That was how he’d describe the way they fit together. But she lived in a world he didn’t belong to. He’d take the time she was willing to give him and hold onto the memories. One day, she’d find someone who fit her world, and he hoped she’d be happy.

She mumbled something. He leaned away and looked down at her. “What?” he asked.

“What time is it?”

“Six-thirty.” Elliot rubbed his face. “Time to get up.”

“No,” she said and burrowed closer to him.

“Are you going to call Jessica and tell her you can’t make it in because we had marathon sex last night?”

She laughed and lifted her head. “She’d be scandalized.” She leaned forward and kissed him. “No tongue until after toothbrush,” she said when he went to deepen the kiss.

Maya rolled to the other side of the bed and stood up. Her body was toned, her breasts high, and her hair was crazy, sticking out in snarled bumps, but damn it, she was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen. She stretched and scratched her back as she walked toward his bathroom. “I vote for early bed tonight.” She turned back to him and licked her lips. “For both of us.” The door closed behind her, and Elliot closed his eyes. It was a mistake to get involved with his assignment, but damn it, he didn’t regret a second of it. Not that there was any rule against getting involved with the principle. He smiled. Several of the men he’d worked with had fallen in love with the person they were assigned to watch.

He got up, found his sweatpants, and put them on. Scratching his chest, he walked out to the front room and looked out at the golden glow growing in the eastern sky. He leaned against the window and stared out at the life beneath him. The memory of his men flashed through his mind, and so did Dr. Wheeler's words.

“You’ll find a moment when you realize living is okay. When that time comes, breathe deep and keep going. There was nothing you could have done. You saw the reports. The team was overpowered. You’d be dead. But because of innocent, everyday situations, you’re not. When you find that thing that makes you feel good again, you seize hold of it, and you keep on going.”

“What are you doing?” Maya asked as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Thinking of advice a friend once gave me.” He lifted his arm and tucked her against his side.

“This view doesn’t get old. I love the city,” she sighed. “Would you care to share the friend’s advice?”

He smiled down at her. “It’s nothing, really. He just came to mind.”

She made a humming noise, then asked, “I’m ordering breakfast to be delivered to the office. Do you want something?”

“One of everything?” He was damn hungry.

“Done.” She laughed. “Get going, sir. We have a busy day ahead of us.” She headed back to her room.

Elliot glanced out the window again. “Doc, I don’t know if I can seize this. She may not be meant for me.”

He turned away and headed to his room to get ready for the day.

Elliot drank his fourth cup of coffee as they wound down the day. He’d worked out the kinks of the elevator checkpoint, smoothed some ruffled employee feathers, and escorted Maya to each of her meetings. The file Jessica had put on her desk contained the next month's standing meetings with minutes, placed in date order.

Elliot felt his phone vibrate. He palmed it and swiped the face. “Go.”

“I need you to come down to the office,” Ross Stapleton said.

“Maya?” he asked as he looked across to where she was working with Jessica.

“I’m sending two operatives to take her home or stay with her if she still has to work. You need to see this, and a picture won’t work.”

“All right. I’ll leave when they get here.”

“The car will wait for you, and they should be there in a few minutes.”

He put the phone in his pocket and made his way to her desk. She looked up and smiled at him. “About another half hour?” she said.

“That’s fine. Ross wants me to come to his office. He’s sent people to stand in until I get done.”

Maya’s smile fell. “Oh, all right. Anything I need to be aware of?”

Elliot shrugged. “He didn’t expand, so I’ll let you know when I return.”

“Okay,” Maya said and leaned back in her chair. “Jessica, that’s it for today. I’m tired, and I’m going to make it an early night.”

Jessica frowned. “Okay.” She looked from Elliot to Maya and shook her head. “I’ll get this done before I leave for the day.”

“Perfect,” Maya said as she picked up her things.

Elliot watched her leave and then turned to Maya. “Not fair play.”

The woman laughed. “But it was true. I’m going to make it an early night. Aren’t you?”

Elliot glanced up and saw the checkpoint personnel shaking hands with two men. “I believe my replacements are here.”

Maya glanced out the door. “Nope. No replacement for you.”

Elliot looked down at her. “Don’t make me spank you.”

Maya barked out a laugh. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Challenge accepted.” He turned and headed to the door.

“That wasn’t a challenge!” Maya called after him.

He laughed, drawing attention from just about everyone in the office. As he caught up with his substitutes, he stopped, checked in with them, and then headed to the New York office.

The trip wasn’t exactly quick, but traffic wasn’t insane, which was a bit of a miracle, given the time of day. The car entered the parking garage and took him to the third level. Crime scene tape blocked their forward movement.

Elliot got out of the vehicle and lifted the tape to bend under it as Ross waved him over. Elliot walked up and stopped short. Two men were laid out on the ground. A single bullet hole through each of their heads. Two rifles were laid out beside them.

“An execution?” he asked, crossing his arms as he took in the way the men were laid out neatly on the ground.

“Somewhere, but not here. They were placed here. Not enough blood,” Ross said as they moved a bit so the photographer could get the angle he needed.

“I needed to see this why?” Elliot asked, still taking in the gruesome lineup.

“See those rifles?”

“I do.”

“They’re the exact gauge to fire our bullets from last night.”

Elliot frowned and looked at his friend. “So, someone killed our killers?”

“That’s my bet.”

Elliot scrubbed his face. “Shit, just when we think we’re starting to unravel this knot.”

“Exactly,” Ross said, putting both hands on his hips. “Asher has had Kates on ice, but we need to charge him soon, or he’ll have a wedge for his fucking lawyers, who are now pounding on our door. Want to sit in?”

“I’m here. I might as well.” Elliot stared at the dead bodies. “How did they get in here without being seen?”

Ross looked at him. “That’s a damn good question. Either the killer works in this building, or he has tech like we do.”

Elliot frowned. “What companies work in your building?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” Ross reached into his pocket and handed Elliot a paper with a list of six companies. “Accountants.” Elliot glanced up at him. “They’re all accountants?”

“Yep.” He laughed. “When we were shopping for office space, we figured they’d be quiet neighbors.”

“Nothing on the cameras. That’s … odd.” He tapped his earpiece. “Hey, Con?”

There was nothing for several seconds, but Con finally answered, “What?” He was eating something.

“The Guardian building in New York. We have two dead men with rifles we suspect can fire the same caliber of bullets found at the scene.” He took a picture of the men and sent it to the generic CCS folder. “I just sent a picture.”

“Dude, hold your phone still. I’m looking out your camera,” Con said. “Pan to the right, now left. Damn. Okay. I need all the crime scene photos, too. What level is this?”

“Third.”

“Hold on. I need to do some diagnostics.”

“He’s checking the cameras,” Elliot explained to Ross.

“Cameras are in a loop. There should be a camera in the corner of the garage to your left. Go over to it and let me see it.” Con’s mouth sounded full again.

Elliot walked over and lifted the camera. “Yep. Hold on, I’m going to see if I can catch a glimpse of who did this and when and then compare it to entry records to see if we can narrow the suspect pool.”

Elliot walked back over to Ross and explained what Con was doing.

“Dude, I want whoever is in your ear working for me.” Ross shook his head. “My life would be a lot easier. Now, come on. We have an interview that has a clock on it.”

“Con, we’re going inside to do an interview. Do you have anything on the forensics of the bomb?”

“Ah, hold on,” the man mumbled around his food.

“Hungry?”

“Dude, it’s dinner time, and my mother-in-law makes the best food in the world.” Elliot could swear he heard Con licking his fingers. “Okay. Forensics. Yep, looks like they slipped it in about an hour ago. So, there’s no trigger; the explosives are actually modeling clay. The box had nothing … Oh, here we go. A fingerprint and bingo. Chandler Kates. Right index finger. It’s a partial, but it’s a match. He’s your bomb threatener or whatever you call him. Go forth and do whatever it is you law enforcement types do. I’ll work on the camera loop and let you know when I find something. Probably after dessert.”

Elliot shook his head and sighed before looking at Ross. “Chandler’s fingerprint was found in the fake bomb. Modeling clay and no triggering device.”

Ross smiled. “I really want that guy or gal in your ear. Just saying. Let’s go get a confession and find out where the hell these shooters came from.”

Elliot followed him to the elevator. At least they solved part of the puzzle. He couldn’t help feeling like Kates was a round peg they were trying to shove into a square hole. His gut wasn’t convinced the man could mastermind an attack like they’d witnessed. The fake bomb, yeah, that was the guy’s level. Everything else … he wasn’t buying it.