Maximus (Guardian Security Shadow World #15)

Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

E lena accepted Max’s offer of a car ride to the office. Walking would be good for her sore muscles, but fear of Sokolov was a real and growing thing. Of course, she knew Max would try to protect her. She felt he was as dangerous as Sokolov, if not more so, yet the tendrils of fear kept lashing at her nerves. She’d jerked at her reflection in the mirror that morning. Stupid, yet it had happened. Now, pulling up to the office, her hands shook. She clenched them and tried to control her panicked breathing.

Max’s hands covered hers. “I’ll be with you. You can do this.”

She nodded a bit, still too stiff to do more than that. “It’s silly, but I can’t stop being … jumpy.”

“No. It isn’t. If you didn’t have some concerns, then I’d be worried. You’re having the appropriate response based on the circumstances.” He squeezed her hand gently. “Are you ready?”

She closed her eyes and tried to take a full breath before she said, “Yes.”

Max opened the door and got out of the car. She took his hand and carefully slid out of the seat, letting him help her onto the sidewalk. The mint green silk scarf she’d wrapped around her neck hid most of the damage Sokolov had caused. The blood vessels in her eyes couldn’t be corrected. The blood would take time to go away. Makeup covered the remaining redness on her cheek. She fumbled the security code twice before she could punch it in correctly. Max put the key in the lock. Her hands were shaking too much to do so. As she entered the office, the phone was ringing. She rushed over and picked up the receiver.

“Hello,” she answered in Russian. Max pulled out a small box and set it on the vacant desk in the office. She frowned but didn’t ask what it was.

“Elena. I just read your email. What happened?” Abrasha asked.

“I was attacked just outside my apartment. I’m … I’m very sore and shaken up. A neighbor scared the man away, but he was pretty rough. Could we postpone the showing for a week or two? I hate to ask, but …”

Abrasha was dismissive. “Of course. I’ll tell Sokolov to escort you to and from work. I will be directing him to find out who it was who attacked you. I will not tolerate an affront against one of my people. Sokolov will watch over you until we find this man.”

“ No , no, please don’t do that. The art dealer I’ve been working with to get you access to that private sale is with me. We’ve become very good friends. If it’s all right with you, he can work in the office with me since he’ll be staying in town for the next month to conclude his business. Sokolov is too busy to babysit someone like me.” She stared at Max as she spoke, and he nodded. Thank God . She hated lying and hated the fact her employer was a murderous bastard and his chief of security had viciously attacked her.

“I’m very pleased with your work on that point, Elena. You know how much I want that painting. You do continue to exceed my expectations. I will, of course, need this dealer checked out. I don’t want anyone near my collection who hasn’t been properly vetted.”

“Yes, I understand. His name is Max Stryker. I’m sure you’ll find his credentials to be impeccable. I did my due diligence.” She smiled at Max, who had used that term.

“You seem to be quite enamored with him. I’m sure Sokolov’s check will be thorough.”

She let the comment about being enamored go but continued, “Thank you, sir. So, I’ll push back the showing but keep it at the same venue. The manager of the Krasnaya Polyana shouldn’t have a problem accommodating you.”

“He better not,” Abrasha stated matter-of-factly. Before that morning, Elena would have chalked up the tone of his comment to bravado, wealth, and privilege. Now, the threat was clear and present. She tried to laugh it off as she would any other time, but her laugh sounded brittle and forced. She prayed Abrasha would attribute any weirdness to her recent drama.

“I’ll send you updates as I get them.” She didn’t want to talk to him any longer than necessary.

“Of course, you will. If you need anything, contact Sokolov. He can be there before anyone else.”

“I’m sure Max can handle anything that comes up, and yes, I’ll keep him in the office area until your checks come back and Sokolov tells me he’s cleared.”

“Good. I’m glad you weren’t too badly injured, but I’m also not happy someone dared to attack a person who works for me .”

“I think the man was a bit deranged.” Sokolov was absolutely not thinking before he acted last night. That was a fact.

“That is not an excuse.” Abrasha brushed her off. “Sokolov will find him. If not, I’ll have the local officials work on it.”

“Whatever you think is best.” She shivered. “I just want to forget it ever happened.”

Max’s arm went around her, and she leaned into him.

Abrasha made a sound in his throat. “That is a woman’s way of thinking. Letting this slide will not stop it from happening again. It must be stopped in its tracks.”

She shivered at the menace she heard in his voice. “I’m sorry. It’s just been a lot to deal with, to say the least.”

Abrasha made a dismissive sound before saying, “I’ll have Sokolov call when Mr. Stryker is cleared to enter the vault.” The line went dead. She put the phone down and stared at him. He’d warned her not to say anything in the office because it was probably bugged. He’d said he’d check for electronic devices when he returned from the hotel.

“I should let you get changed.”

“I’ll be packing my bag and checking out of the hotel. I’m staying with you.” Max wrapped his other arm around her, and God help her, she melted into his big, hard body. She wanted him with her. Not only because of what had happened last night but because of the feelings that had grown since she’d met him.

She sighed. “I should go to work. I have a lot of calls to make.”

“I just placed a jamming device in the office—that box. No one will listen to what you’re saying if there are bugs in there. Your desk phone will work, but your cell phone won’t. It won’t interfere with your internet connection. There’ll be someone watching the building. You’re safe. I promise.”

She nodded. “I know. I trust you to protect me.” She did. Only, no matter what her rational brain told her to believe, her raw nerves vibrated with tension, fear, and anxiety.

Max cocked his head to the left and then shook his head. “I’ll be right back.”

Elena sat down and watched as he left. As soon as he was out of sight, she went to the front door, entered the code to activate the alarm, and locked the door. If Sokolov came to the door, it would take him time to enter, and she could lock herself in the delivery area. As far as she knew, he didn’t have any codes for the interior of the building. Abrasha wanted two people to have the code: her and, of course, himself.

She huddled behind her computer and tried to stop shivering. It wasn’t cold in the office, but still, she was freezing. Her world had turned on its head last night. The violence Sokolov had unleashed had stripped her of her sense of safety in a matter of minutes. She never wanted to feel that way again. She reached up and touched her neck. The bruises there were a reminder she could be dead. A whole-body shiver ran through those raw nerves, and she closed her eyes, praying tears wouldn’t flow. No, she needed to be stronger than that. Max needed her help to take Abrasha and Sokolov into custody. She had no recourse except to be strong. Lifting her shoulders, she took a deep breath and then another. She powered up her computer and reached for her phone. She had calls to make and an event to push back. Sitting like a lump wouldn’t get either done.

The office's familiar needs eased the stress, and while she still glanced at the door anytime someone walked by, she’d made a dent in the items she needed to do and was feeling good about where she was when the phone rang. She answered and froze at Sokolov’s voice. “Max Stryker is cleared.”

She couldn’t find her voice and didn’t answer. The line went dead, and she dropped the phone onto the desktop. She pushed away from the desk, rolling her chair to the wall, staring at the phone. Her heart was beating hard against her ribs, and she started shaking again. No. No, she wouldn’t let him affect her that way. She rolled her chair back to the desk, hung up the phone, and put her hands on her keyboard. The buzzer for the front door made her jump. She looked at the monitor, and relief flooded through her. She hit the buzzer to let Max in through the front door, and when it clicked shut, she went to the interior door and let him in.

She launched at him and wrapped her arms around him. His free arm went around her and held her tight. “What happened?”

“Nothing.” She shook her head. “Well, that’s not true. Sokolov called and told me you were clear.”

“When did that happen?” he asked as he inched them into the office and shut the door behind him.

“Just now.”

“Ah, that explains the shaking.” He rocked a bit right and left as he held her.

She sighed and nodded. “I was doing so well until I heard his voice.”

“That’s understandable. The shock triggered the physical response.”

She pulled away from him and looked up at him. “Did you become a psychiatrist once?” He smiled at her and winked. Her jaw dropped. “You did?”

“I may have been bored one summer.” He shrugged.

She blinked and then laughed. “What is it like to be so smart?”

His smile fell. “It isn’t what you’d think.”

Reaching up, she slid her fingers along his cheek. “It’s hard, isn’t it? Having all that ability and keeping it all locked up.”

He shook his head. “No, day to day, I’m with people who know what I can do. My parents were the ones who encouraged me to develop my interests. The people I work for know who and what I am. I’ll take on a protégé when I get back, so there’ll be someone else to talk with. I have to connect with a person not to tune them out. That sounds strange, but if someone bores me, my mind will flip to something interesting. I’m still attending the conversation, to a degree, but only enough to make it seem like I’m not blowing someone off. That took a long time to learn how to do.”

She stepped back and waved to the spare desk in the office. “You can use this desk.” She glanced down at the suitcase in his hand. “I’m sorry, put that anywhere.”

“Thank you.” He moved to the desk and put the suitcase behind it. Taking off his suit jacket, he rolled up his sleeves and loosened his tie. “What did Sokolov want?”

Elena’s attention turned from his muscled forearms to his gorgeous face. How did she get so lucky? He stopped and cocked his head to the left. What had he asked? She couldn’t recall it for the life of her. “I’m sorry, what?”

“What did Sokolov want?”

“Oh, he said you were cleared to go into the vault.” She rolled her eyes heavenward. “I have a few more calls to make, then we can look at the paintings if you’d like.”

He opened his suitcase and withdrew what looked like a computer from the Stone Age. “I’d like to look at the paintings in the storeroom.”

She frowned as she sat down in her chair. “Why? They’re atrocious. What’s that?”

“And yet there has to be a reason he’s shipping them to you and instructing you to keep them in the most secure vault in the city. This is my computer.”

Elena pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and chewed on it as she silently agreed. But that computer … “I thought you knew a lot about computers?”

Max stopped what he was doing and answered her, “I know everything there is to know about systems, programs, computer languages, algorithms, engineering, and applications. I’m learning artificial intelligence as it evolves. Why?”

She pointed to the block now sitting on his desk. “Then why don’t you upgrade?”

He glanced down and then laughed. “If you had a choice between my computer or the one on your desk, which would you take?”

“Mine, of course.” She wasn’t a fool.

“That’s why this computer looks like it does. It’s rarely out of my possession, so the chance of someone taking it is almost nonexistent. Suppose a person was so desperate to take my ugly computer. In that case, it’s safeguarded by bio-registries, additional fail-safes that would wipe its contents before someone could click a key, and a program that would spike any system connected to it.”

“Spike?”

“Decimate it. Destroy it,” he clarified.

“Oh.” She turned back to her work. “That’s pretty smart. Camouflaging a priceless computer in an ugly shell.”

Max’s head cocked to the left, and quick smile passed across his face. “Exactly.”