Chapter 181
"Let her in," Kate said as she released Brooklynn and told her to go wash up.
Barbara Matthews nudged her way past her son. "I could smell smoke all the way down the street. Is everyone okay?"
"Just a small grease fire," Jack told her.
Barbara looked down her nose at Adam.
"My fault," Kate blurted. "I wanted to surprise Fred and the kids with pancakes and bacon, but as you can see, I'm not much of a cook."
"I'm just glad my kids weren't involved. They can be a handful."
Brooklynn came out of the bathroom. "Hey, Mom. What's up?"
"Dad wants to take us out on the boat today. We're packed and ready to go." Barbara looked from Kate to Jack. "Thank you."
"The pleasure was ours," Jack said, walking the threesome to the door. "You have two great kids."
Adam was already halfway down the street with Brooklynn trailing close behind when Barbara shouted after her kids, "What do you two have to say to Mr. Reed?"
Brooklynn turned and waved. She nudged Adam's shoulder, prompting him to turn around. He gave Jack a crooked half smile along with some sort of hip sign language.
Jack gave him the same goofy signal back.
"Kids," Barbara said before hurrying after them.
After eating scrambled eggs and toast, and cleaning the kitchen, Kate found Jack outside with his laptop. Barney rested at his side. "Any luck?"
"No. The video disc is not a standard size. I'm going to need to find a manufacturer to see what's on here."
She came up behind him and rested her hands on his shoulders. s.h.i.+vers coursed over her. What was it about this man that made her feel so feminine, so safe?
Jack felt tense. She rubbed his neck. She wanted to finish what they had begun earlier, but Jack wasn't responding as she'd hoped.
"I need to get this video disc to A.J.," he said as she worked the tightness from his neck and shoulders.
"But you said A.J. wouldn't be coming back for a few days."
"Exactly why I need to take the disc to him myself."
"Why don't you mail it to him?"
He looked over his shoulder at her, clearly appalled by the idea. "My future could be tied to this disc. I can't risk putting it in the mail. You're talking about entrusting my life with the United States Postal Service."
She smiled, amused by his pa.s.sionate burst of stubbornness. There was more to Jack Coffey than justice and the American way, after all. His life was at stake. "If we're going out in daylight to find A.J.," she said, "we're going to need to change the way we look. I saw some hair dye we could use on you in the bathroom cabinet. We'll start there."
"Whatever you say." He gave her a wink, which annoyed her. The man was a tease.
"Come on Barney," Kate called, but the little dog ran in circles, hoping to play. She'd never had a dog before, and she hated the thought of leaving Barney alone. "We don't have all day," she said as she scooped Barney into her arms, laughing when he licked her chin.
After coloring his hair and rinsing off in the shower, Jack came out of the bathroom wearing a towel around his waist. Kate patted the chair in front of the mirror, letting him know he needed to take a seat. His chest was bare, and she had a difficult time keeping her eyes off of him. d.a.m.n. She was hornier than h.e.l.l, and she wanted Jack Coffey to take her here and now, hard and fast. But he seemed intent on getting on with the day. The fact that he seemed disinterested only made her want him more.
Using a fluffy white towel, she dried his hair, a little too hard, a little too fast. When she was done, she caught his gaze through the reflection in the mirror.
"Is something the matter?" he asked.
"Nope."
"You're sure?"
"Positive."
She combed her fingers through his hair. There it was again...a non-stop tingling in the pit of her belly. Why would she care that he hardly spared her a glance since the kids had left this morning? She wanted to think his disinterest had to do with his current situation, but maybe he decided she wasn't his type. If that were the case though, why did he keep kissing her when she least expected it? Why did he tell her she was beautiful? This was ridiculous. She had more important things to worry about.
Grabbing the scissors, she cut an inch of hair from the top of Jack's head. Maybe Jack did have a girlfriend and now that he had time to think about it, the guilt had settled in. After snipping the hair short around his ears, she put her mouth to his ear and blew the little hairs away.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught him staring at her through the mirror. She blew at the other ear. Her lips brushed like a breeze over his earlobe. She looked at his reflection. This time he didn't look away, forcing her to look away first since she didn't want to cut his ear off in the process.
After cutting another half inch all around, she sifted her fingers through his new bleached-blond locks. "I like the color. What do you think?"
"It's not bad if you like the Billy Idol look."
She stood back and examined him further. Blond and blue-eyed with a slight tan. "Yeah, you look like a rock star."
He smiled half-heartedly.
"Is that good enough?" she asked, "or do you want more?"
"I'm good," was all he said.
She walked to the bed where she'd laid out the cotton dress she bought the other day and had already worn once. After she pulled the extra-long T-s.h.i.+rt off, she realized the dress still had a price tag on it. She tried to bite the plastic thing off with her teeth. No go. She sauntered back over to the chair where she'd left Jack and noticed that his eyes were still on her.
She had his attention.
Standing before him in a pair of new lacey thongs and nothing else, she held up the little plastic thingamajig and gestured with her chin toward the scissors. "Do you mind?"
He took the dress from her, reached for the scissors, and snipped the tag off.
She rubbed
"That does it." He stood so quick his chair tipped over behind him. Her dress dropped from his hands to the floor.
She took a step back, but he was fast when he wanted to be, and he stepped forward and scooped her into his arms and carried her to the bed. None too gently, he placed her on the middle of the mattress and crawled on top of her, losing the towel on the way. A moan escaped her as he lodged a knee between her legs. Excitement coursed through her veins as her hands smoothed over chiseled muscles.
He lowered his head and nibbled on her earlobe. She turned her head until his mouth covered hers. His lips fit hers perfectly. As he deepened the kiss, every part of her tingled with antic.i.p.ation. She reached down and smoothed her hands over his firm b.u.t.tocks. He drew his lips away. "So, you think I'm a prude, huh?"
"Yeah. I do."
"You've been teasing me all morning, testing my limit," he said.
"Yeah. I have."
"You want me to f.u.c.k you, don't you?"
"It crossed my mind."
"You want me to talk dirty while I plunge myself deep inside of you? Or should I take my time, torture you until you beg for mercy?"
She remained silent, breathless.
"So, the question is: are we going to f.u.c.k or are we going to make love?"
She sucked in a breath, nodded and reached for his chest.
He took her hand and pinned it to the mattress by her head. Then he did the same with her other hand. "I can't hear you."
"Both. Do both."
A growl erupted from the back of his throat as he moved in for the kill and put his mouth over her breast, his wicked tongue causing chills to dance across her body. She arched closer as he teased and tasted. He was rock-hard, pulsing against her thigh, his erection in stark contrast to the softness of his mouth. For the first time since the day they met, she had him right where she wanted him.
Her body vibrated and hummed. She tried to release her hands from his hold, but he remained firmly in control. She was at his mercy, she realized as he tortured her with his tongue, tasting every inch of her and making her writhe with pleasure.
She bit her tongue, not wanting to beg for more as waves of desire coursed through her. Not even the feel of his hot tongue weaving a path over her body would make her beg. But d.a.m.n she wanted him...to h.e.l.l with it. "Please, Jack. Now. Take me now."
"Your skin is soft," he said without any sign of the urgency she felt. "You smell good, too."
Finally, she freed her hands from his grasp and used them to touch and explore the hard smooth muscles of his back. She traced her fingers down his sides, his muscles responding as she continued on. Her fingers brushed over well-muscled abs. A feathering of hair beneath his navel led her to hidden treasures. She stroked the length of him, thick and throbbing beneath her fingers.
When she looked into his eyes, he smiled at her, a devilish smile that made her insides flutter. She lifted her lips to his chin and jaw, kissing and nibbling before working her way down his neck and collarbone. He was all long and lean, lithe and hard, all sinewy muscle and tendons. He smelled like soap and sandalwood. His neck was corded and bronzed, his face and jaw a maze of hard angles and masculinity. s.e.xy as h.e.l.l.
Jack didn't know how to f.u.c.k, she decided. If he did, it would be over already. He was making love to her instead, making every part of her come alive. His splayed fingers moved slowly over her hips, kneading, exploring. His mouth followed, hot against her skin until her entire being hummed with antic.i.p.ation. She came at once...hardly able to breathe as intense waves of pleasure and release swept over her. He lifted his head and looked into her eyes as he hovered over her, his erection thick and hard as he moved inside of her, gently at first before diving deeper. A moan of pleasure escaped as every thrust built in intensity. And then she exploded again with climatic pleasure, shuddering beneath him as they came together. A low, vibrating growl came from his lips when she pressed her hips against him as he climaxed. Her fingertips made a path across his shoulders as his full weight relaxed against her.
After a moment, he rolled to his back and pulled her close to his side. His eyes were closed as she leaned into him and trailed her fingers over the steely hardness of his stomach and chest. Satisfied, she rested her head in the crook of his arm and sighed.
CHAPTER TWENTY.
Later that day, Kate watched Jack as he worked on the computer again. He looked tense, his jaw muscles tightening as he read whatever was on the monitor.
Ever since they'd made love, she felt something she hadn't felt in a very long time...satisfied and happy. She knew the feeling wouldn't last forever, but she didn't care because she would never forget her time spent with Jack. Nothing could ever change that. She would find the person or persons responsible for her father's death, and she would make them pay, even if it meant spending the rest of her life in prison. She had one purpose in life and anything less would be cheating herself of ever feeling whole again.
Jack must have sensed her standing there because he turned to her and motioned for her to come closer. "Look at this."
She moved to his side and rested her hand on his shoulder, hovering over him as he read.
"While the need to raise money for AIDS is undisputable," he read aloud, "the systems to use these funds appropriately are poorly developed. The 'performance' of a grant is often a.s.sessed by how fast it is disbursed, which inspires recipient(s) to allocate the money carelessly. For corrupt officials, rapidly expanding budgets make it easier to siphon off significant volumes of funds without anyone noticing. For instance," Jack said, his tone disturbed by his findings, "it says here that a 300-page EMU report revealed that Kenya could not account for forty-eight million dollars donated by the UK since 2001. Employees of fundraising groups were caught paying themselves inflated salaries and fraudulent allowances. Many people have been charged with embezzlement but later acquitted due to 'lack of evidence.'"
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
He nodded. "Nothing else makes sense. All these deaths: your father's, Dr. Forstin's, possibly Michael Lang and the other scientist working on AidVac...their deaths could very well be the result of simple greed."
Kate sucked in a breath.
"Unimaginable amounts of money are donated yearly to find a cure for AIDS," he went on. "It could be possible that someone is paying big bucks to keep the cure from ever being discovered so they can keep siphoning money for themselves."
"I never imagined my father was killed because of money. How could anyone let millions of people die every year due to greed?"
"We both know evil comes in many forms. But from everything I've read so far, siphoning money from large funds reserved for AIDS is happening all over the world. Everywhere I look when it comes to raising money for good causes, I see scandal," Jack told her. "Look at this." He clicked another b.u.t.ton and pulled up another page. "Investigators probed three of eight NGOs funded by NACC. They found wanton theft of the NACC money granted to n.o.ble-sounding projects that all turned out to be a sham." He raked a hand through his hair.
She gave his shoulder a squeeze.
"I was finally able to hack into Harrison's account. It seems that a large sum of money was deposited before he sent me to see Dr. Forstin and then rushed me off to Haiti."
"Oh, Jack. What are we going to do?"
"I sent A.J. another message this morning, but he hasn't responded. I'm worried about him."
"I'm sure he can take care of himself."
"Patrick Monahan, one of the men at the lab, befriended A.J. a few months back. I'm afraid A.J. might have his guard down around those he considers to be friends."
Barney circled at Kate's feet letting her know he needed to go outside.
"I'd like to leave in the next hour and stop by A.J.'s place in Burbank. Maybe I'll be able to read Dr. Forstin's video disc there."
"Okay," she said. "I'll let Barney take care of business and then I'll pack a few things."
He nodded and for a few seconds they held each other's gaze, knowing things were going to get a whole lot worse before their situation improved.
Kate stepped outside; she watched Barney disappear within the copse of pines. The number of boats on the lake had tripled since this morning. There were shouts and a loud crash coming from the Matthews' rental. She stepped closer to the path leading to their house. Through the trees she saw a barrel-chested man slap the back of his palm against Barbara Matthews' face. Brooklynn shouted at her father from within the house.
Kate ran back to the house to get Jack. He had shut down the computer and was sliding it into a backpack. "Jack," she said. "Mr. Matthews is on a rampage. I just saw him hit Barbara across the face."
Jack marched past her before she could say another word. She followed him through the family room and outside. Barney still hadn't returned.
Jack took the same path Barbara Matthews had taken when they first met her. The crying and shouting grew louder as they approached the house. The Matthews were all inside now. Kate followed Jack across a brown lawn and up a set of stairs to a wide deck leading into the house. The sliding gla.s.s door was open. Inside, Barbara Matthews was huddled in the corner between the kitchen and the dining area, her lip bleeding, her body trembling.
Brooklynn stood in the middle of the kitchen and held a broken bottle in front of her, aiming it at the hulk of a man who was holding Adam in a chokehold.
"Who the h.e.l.l are you?" the man growled at Jack.
Jack flipped open his wallet. "FBI. Let the boy go."