"I thought she was done."
"Obviously she isn't."
Senator Plow glared at the Directeur. "Once this little attempt was over with, that woman was to pack up and get the hell out of the county."
Directeur Bermen shrugged slightly. "I cannot control what she does in her free time."
"This better not lead back to me." The Senator glared. "You're already on thin ice... don't make me reconsider your importance."
"Senator," he replied smoothly, "With all due respect, if you threaten me again, then this whole assassination deal with hit the media so fast that you'll be looking for a new profession by noon."
She glared at him, but knew he was right. She had made a bargain with the devil, and for now, had to dance to the tune called. "That will be all," she said tightly, ignoring him as he left her office.
~~~~~~~~
"Idiots!"
The man glared at the woman, then stood, trying to intimidate her with his size. "Shut the fuck up."
Keren glared at the man, not the slightest impresses with his attitude. "It was simple...and your men fucked it up!"
"You hired us to rough someone up," he snarled. "Well, he got roughed up. And two of my guys are dead, with the other two on their way to prison after they get out of intensive care."
"Had I known how incompetent your men were, I would have gone elsewhere."
The man walked around the desk and grabbed her by the arm. "Listen, you little cunt. You cost me two men, and that's gonna cost you more..."
Not one to like being threatened, Keren quickly raise her leg, catching the man in a tender spot. His grip loosened slightly, which gave her the leverage to grab his arm, pivot, and twist him over to the floor. Before he could get up, she stomped hard on his already tender area, and as his hands flew to cup himself, she placed her foot over his neck and pressed down.
"Now," she said in a conversational tone, "it's not polite to threaten me." Her face turned dark. "You fucked up, your men fucked up, and now...you're going to get the pleasure of looking at me while you die."
"No!" A hand came up to grab at her, and he jerked, trying to throw her off.
Keren dodged his attempts, and put all her weight on his throat, smiling as his struggles slowed, then stopped. Raising her other foot off the floor, and balancing on his neck with the other, she bounced a few times to make sure he was done. Then she took a step back and calmly walked out of the room.
As she as passing through the bar area in the front, she slowed as she saw a man watching her from the corner. Blonde hair, a little longer than she would have liked, framed a handsome face. Deciding she needed some release, she walked to him, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and kissed him as she rubbed her body against his.
~~~~~~~~~
"You look like shit."
"Hey, thanks Celia," Kyle said dryly. "It's comments like that that get you those glowing evaluation recommendations." He repositioned himself on the veranda, and picked up a computer disk. "Pull up some veranda and start working."
Celia sat cross-legged on the veranda and started looking through the information. "The Senator would like to know if she should continue with the speech in two days?"
Kyle snorted slightly. "Would she cancel if we advised her to?"
"Probably not."
Kyle leaned back against the side of the cottage. "Did you and Ceilidh get settled in at the base?"
Celia nodded. "I don't like leaving my apartment."
"I don't blame you," he said. "But, Chalmers, then the attempt on me.... it makes sense to think that one of you two will be next."
"Why aren't you on the base?"
Kyle leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "I don't know. Guess I'm just a bigger masochist than I thought." He opened his eyes to find Celia gaping at him.
"What?" she said, not sure if she heard that right.
He smiled slightly, more to cover the slip of the tongue than anything. "Joking. Get to work." Although it never bothered him, he didn't exactly advertise that he was a little kinky at times. So he liked a little pain with his pleasure...so what. Not like it hurt anyone except for him.
He looked up as Jillian walked out of the cottage. He wished she would go someplace safer, but after last night, she refused. She was relieved when she found out she didn't kill the fake officer, and even more relieved that Kyle wasn't angry that she had shot in his direction. If he hadn't moved, she would have nailed him in the back with the shot. She handed him a small pill.
"Come on," he sighed. "I've been flying on these things for days now," he complained. "The pain in manageable."
"They're non-addictive," she told him, wondering if he as worried about that.
"I know," he said. "But they fuck with my concentration." He grabbed his phone as it rang. "Yeah." He pulled the phone away to look at it, slightly confused, then brought it back to this ear. "Yes." He slowly closed the phone with a sigh.
"What?" Jillian asked, not sure what else could possibly go wrong.
"Senator Plow wants to see me...in one hour."
~~~~~~~~~~
Keren rode him hard, sweat glinting on her back as she moved up and down frantically, pressure building between her thighs. The stranger with her pulled against the ties holding his arms to the bedposts as his hips raised to meet her thrust for thrust. Keren reached down and dug her fingernails into his upper arm, drawing a pain-filled hiss from him as she dragged them down. Welts immediately appeared some with small blood marks. The sight of her damage fueled her more, and she pumped harder against him as she exploded with a small scream. She felt as he soon followed with his own climax, and she continued grinding herself against him, intending to make him beg her to untie him.
As if reading her mind, he looked at her. "Untie me," he said. "Please." He had at first considered himself lucky when this woman kiss him in the bar, and quickly followed her to a seedy hotel a block away. He had been hesitant to be tied, but when she started riding his leg, his brain lost all reason. It was when she raked her fingernails down his arm that he wanted out.
"In a minute," Keren panted as she started to move faster, sighing as he grew in her again. She dug her nails into his chest, and smiled slightly as he tensed. She reached for her jacket at the side of the bed, and pulled out an object. Bringing it up, she grew hotter as his eyes widened in fear. She flicked the knife open, and slowly ran it along his arms and chest, with just enough pressure to scratch, but not cut.
"Please," he said quietly. He closed his eyes as the knife raised, and tensed in anticipation of it being driven into his chest. All he wanted was an anonymous fuck, and now he was seriously getting screwed.
Keren came again as she saw the fear on his face, and leaned over to cut the ties that held him. She watched as his eyes opened, and visually dared him to throw her off.
Fearing that she could stab him if he got up, self preservation took over as the man wrapped his arms around her, and sat up while still holding her. He ground himself into her, bringing small moans to her lips. When they were both done, he gently took the knife from her hand, and cut the ties that held his ankles down. He kept hold of the knife as he slipped out of the bed and got dressed.
She lay back on the bed, watching him with an amused smile. Suddenly feeling charitable, and not only because this man had brought her multiple orgasms, she decided not to kill him. She didn't worry about her DNA being found, since she was already on file, and she would be changing her description as soon as she got back to her hotel.
The man pulled on his pants, slipped his feet in to his shoes and grabbed his shirt. He headed for the door, not taking his gaze off her the entire time. He vowed to himself that this would be the last woman he picked up for casual sex. He opened the door, and quickly walked out, pocketing the knife with intent to throw it in the harbor.
Keren watched the door close and laughed lightly. She always picked up some stray when she needed her itch scratched, and always went for men with blonde hair and good looks. Part of her knew that they were just a stand-in for the man she really wanted to ride until he begged her for mercy.
~~~~~~~~
"Commander," Senator Plow smiled diplomatically at him. "I heard about the problem at your place. I hope everyone is fine."
"Everyone except the ones who tried to kill me," he replied evenly.
"Yes." She motioned to the chair across from her desk.
Kyle sat down, trying not to show the pain he was in. "How can I help you, Senator?" He was glad he had not taken the pain killer earlier, since he knew he would need all his senses for this meeting.
"Although I despise to admit it, I believe I need your help."
She explained the fake assassination attempt, and he listened stone-faced. He didn't know why he was surprised to find this whole thing had been a set up from the start.
"Now," she said, "I have the feeling that the assassin doesn't want to stop. I think she'll want to carry through."
Kyle stared at her, alternating between wanting to tell her to fuck off or laugh and tell her that it would serve her right. But, he had sworn an oath all those years ago, and it became reactivated when he did. He finally spoke, his voice hard with anger. "Because of your political games, a good CAA agent is dead." He glanced out the window to collect his thoughts. "I want every piece of information you have regarding this, and I do mean everything."
"Of course."
"I'll need three level five authorization clearances within five minutes."
She pushed a button, and made the order. "Done."
"If I find out you withheld even the tiniest thing, I'll let Keren Pelgrew have her go at you."
"Commander..." she started in a dangerous voice.
"Don't bother to threaten me, Ma'am," Kyle said. "There is nothing more you could possibly do to me."
~~~~~~~~
Checking her messages, Keren sighed in annoyance as the Directeur once again tried to contact her. She was tired of him thinking she was at his beck and call, and decided to call him to put this to an end. She grabbed her phone, activated the program that would scramble any trace, and dialed his private number.
"Directeur Bermen."
"How can I help you now?" Keren asked, her words dripping with saccharine sweet sarcasm.
"What do you think you're doing?" he hissed. "Someone could be listening."
"Then you best get off your ass and meet me at spot number four in fifteen minutes." She hung up, and looked at a small map on the back of her phone, double-checking where meeting place number four was.
~~~~~~~~
"She what?"
Kyle heard the disbelief in her voice, and smiled grimly. "Yeah."
"That…bitch!" Celia exclaimed as the three of them sat on a bench far from the CAA offices. He wasn't sure what was bugged, and didn't want anyone to find out anything. "What do we do?"
"Same as we've been doing," he said with a tired sigh. "We find Keren Pelgrew."
"How?"
"If I fucking knew...." Kyle stopped and exhaled. "Sorry, sorry...I'm pissed off, but it's no excuse to take it out on you two." He stood and paced in front of the bench, stopping when he heard a car door slam. He looked up to see Directeur Bermen's private car speed out of the secured parking area. "You know..." he said slowly. "This might be a good time to take a peek at Bermen's office."
"Is he suspect?" Ceilidh asked.
"Everyone's suspect," Celia replied, eliciting a slight smile from Kyle.
"Atta girl," he said. "You'll have that anal CAA training broken in no time." He pulled his phone out and dialed a number. "Is he in?.... Commander Kyle Suene..." He looked at the other two while he waited, and covered the phone so he could talk. "Just covering our collective asses," he explained, then removed his hand quickly. "Thank you.... Sir...yes, sir, it has been a long time..." he smiled slightly. "Thank you sir, it is interesting to be back...." He paused. "Could I have a five minute window of your time?" He looked at his watch and grimaced. "No sir, that's fine...I'll run." He motioned for the other two to follow as he started to walk back to the buildings. "Thank you sir." He disconnected the call as he started to walk faster. "Meet me on the eighth floor in fifteen minutes," he told the women, then broke into a fast trot towards the buildings.
Kyle burst through the main doors and held his identification up for the guard, who nodded as he ran past. He ignored the elevators and took the stairs two at a time, pausing on the landing of the third floor to catch his breath and to stop the pain in his side that wanted nothing more than to sit somewhere for a week or two and relax.
He pulled the door open, trotted down the hall and entered a large office. The secretary placed her hand under the desk as she looked at him.
Kyle knew she had it resting on a gun, ready for any trouble that may come through the door. "Commander Suene," he said evenly.
"The Admiral is waiting for you," she replied, her hand not moving.
Kyle nodded as he went to the door to her left and opened it. He walked into a room that one wouldn't expect the head of the Central Atlantica Armed Division of the CAA to have. Light and airy, pictures of beach scenes lined the walls; most of them painted by the Admiral himself. Kyle stood at attention until the Admiral indicated for him to sit.
"Commander," he said with a slight smile. "It is a pleasure to see you."
Kyle nodded slightly. "Thank you for seeing me on such short notice."
"I always make allowances for my best," the Admiral said. "What can I do for you?"
Kyle hesitated, unsure if he should even be talking about this. "What do you know about my reactivation?"
"You're leading a team to stop an assassination and to find Keren Pelgrew."
"Yes, sir." He forced himself to relax. The man in front of him had been one of the few people in his life that actually made him nervous to be around. He never knew why, but that didn't stop him from feeling like a kid in the principal's office every time he had to talk to him. "That was the original reason, but lately, a few things have come to light, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to call in a favor."
The Admiral regarded him silently for a few moments. He had always liked the no-nonsense attitude of the Commander, and was slightly saddened when he had been discharged after his stint in a mental hospital. He had kept tabs on the man after he left the armed service, and knew Kyle was as sane as anyone else... he just had certain issues that he dealt with differently than others, and the sooner he realized that, the sooner he would let go of a past that could do nothing but hurt him. "Commander," he said slowly. "I’m not sure how I can help, but..." He stopped and motioned with his hands for Kyle to talk. "We'll never know until I hear what you have to say."
~~~~~~~
"The Senator is getting suspicious."
"So?"
Directeur Bermen glared at the woman. "Killing CAA agents was not part of this deal."
Keren shrugged, not concerned. "I changed the deal."
"Listen…"
She glared at him, her stance immediately turning into something highly lethal. "No, you listen." She leaned in close and spoke in a low even voice. "You and the good Senator wanted to play the country for fools, then you decided that power was what you wanted, so you were more than willing to stab Plow in the back, then kiss up to Wellian, so that when she wins, she won’t expect that bullet in the brain." She leaned back. "You’re playing both sides, and invariably that ends up with one getting squished between them."
"Kyle Suene was not to be touched. He’s too dangerous to piss off."
Keren shrugged. "I know exactly what buttons to push with that man." She brought her dangerous look back. "I would suggest that you don’t ever call my methods into question again."
"Are you threatening me?" he asked, using anger to cover his fear.
"Not at all," she said, smiling. "Just let me do my thing my way, and you’ll be in charge of the country before you know it."
~~~~~~
Admiral Cathet leaned back when Kyle finished talking and regarded him evenly. "Any proof?"
Kyle looked frustrated. "Nothing concrete...it's more of a feeling."
"I’ve always trusted your intuitions," the Admiral said, "I see no reason to stop now." He pushed a button on his phone. "Get me an all-inclusive authorization," he said, and looked up as the door opened and his secretary walked in. She passed him a piece of paper, and walked out. "She's good." he said, then signed his name to the bottom of the paper, adding his military stamp of authorization. "This will allow you search access to every inch of this base, including private vehicles and space. If it's on this base, you have access to it."
Kyle held the surprise off his face, but couldn't stop the exhale that escaped. He hadn't expected a search authorization that held everything on the grounds. At most, he hoped for access into Directeur Bermen's office. "Thank you, sir."
The Admiral gave him a stern look. "You understand the implications that this carries, and the very thin ice you're going to have to tread to keep anything from coming back to bite you."
"Yes, sir."
"I don't like the woman any more than you do, Commander," the Admiral admitted. "But it would be very bad for this country if she were to be assassinated." He leaned back. "Dismissed."
Kyle quickly got to his feet, ignoring ht pain it caused, saluted, and then left the office with the All-inclusive authorization clutched firmly in his hand. He paused at the secretary's desk when she held her hand up, and held out the paper when she motioned for it. She took one look, copied down the information without glancing, then turned to her desk, took a keycard out, ran it over a small reader and then passed it to him. "Lose this, and you'll hear from me."
Kyle shivered at the no-nonsense tone in her voice, and knew that she meant it. He looked at the gold strip on the top that would allow him access to any locked door. "Yes, ma'am." Although he didn't have to, he gave her a brief salute, then headed out of the office.
~~~~~~~~
Celia and Ceilidh were standing outside the Directeur's office on the eighth floor, two small cases beside them as Kyle burst through the stairwell at the end of the hall. He hurried down the hall, passed the keycard over the reader and pushed the door open.
"What?" Celia asked, surprised.
"Huh?" Kyle looked over his shoulder. "Oh...this." He held it up. "The Admiral just made our job a lot easier." His eyes opened wider as he remembered something and he dug into his inside coat pocket to withdraw two identification tags. He handed one to each of them. "Forgot to give you these earlier."
Ceilidh gaped at the level five-security clearance she now had. "Just like Christmas," she whispered.
"Ho ho ho," Kyle muttered as he flicked on the office light and started to look around. "Don't make a mess, but I want it obvious that someone was here." He didn't look up as he pulled out the chair and sat. "If he's involved, I want him paranoid of discovery."
~~~~~~~~
Jillian picked up her suitcase and took a long look around the living room. She didn’t want to leave, but had spent the morning going over recent events in her mind. She had to face it; Kyle was dangerous to be around. Part of her told herself that this was an exception, and that it would be over once the Senator was either assassinated, or the election ended.
Putting the suitcase down again, she rubbed her hands over her face and swore loudly. "Kyle! Fuck, damn it! Fuck you to fucking hell, you fucking prick!" She kicked at her suitcase as tears streamed down her face. "Damn you for telling me that you love me! Damn you! Damn you! Fuck!" Grabbing the nearest thing, she threw it against a wall, not caring that it broke both itself and the picture that it hit. She went for anther object, but stopped herself.
What good would it do? she thought. Pull it together, Jillian. She sniffled, annoyed with herself for the outburst. She suddenly laughed at the absurdity of it all, and wondered what she would tell herself if she were her own patient.
She sat on the floor by the suitcase, completely exhausted both physically and mentally, and stared at nothing as images flashed through her mind. She winced as the memories from her office surfaced, and tears came when she again saw Kyle being kicked as he lay on the floor not three feet where she was now.
She knew she couldn’t leave. She loved him, and although her life had been in danger, she felt safer with him than she ever had with anyone else. He could make her smile with a simple look, and at times, she envied his ‘who the fuck cares’ outlook that he had on certain issues.
Suddenly feeling like she couldn’t keep her eyes open, she let them slide shut.
~~~~~~~~
Directeur Berman stood in his office and looked at the papers on his desk. He couldn’t place it, but everything looked like it had been moved, then put back. He went to his computer, brought up the entire base’s security log, and looked for any access to his office.
"Damn it," he whispered when a name sprung out at him. He stood, stormed from his office, and headed up four floors.
Fuming the entire time, he had worked up an anger as he strode into the offices that held the team he had put together, and stopped in front of Kyle’s desk.
Kyle glanced up, took in Bermen’s stance and angry eyes, and knew exactly what he was there for. "Directeur?"
"What do you think you’re doing?" he asked, forcing himself to be calm.
Kyle knew he could play this one of two ways. He could either feign ignorance, or get straight to the heart of the matter. "I’m doing my job, sir," he said, opting for the second way.
"Your job does not include breaking into my office."
Kyle held up his gold rimmed security pass and had the extreme satisfaction of seeing shock and something similar to worry on the Directeur’s face. "Before you reactivated me," he said calmly, "you really should have done a complete study of my methods." He leaned forward slightly. "I don’t play around and I don’t back off when someone threatens my safety, or those around me. If you wanted a mindless fall guy, then you reactivated the wrong guy."
"I can deactivate you just as quickly," he threatened.
"Could you?" Kyle asked, his voice filled with hope. "That would be great if you could have that done by the end of the day."
"Consider it done."
Kyle looked thoughtful. "Before you do…would you like to ask why I thought your office was worth inspection?"
Bermen glared, knowing that Kyle had him in a very hard spot. As much as he hated it, the only way to keep tabs on him was to keep him on the military payroll. "When this is over," he said in a low, ominous voice, "you better hope I don’t have you court marshaled."
Kyle barked out a laugh. "Careful with the accusations, Directeur," he warned, his voice bordering on insolence. He watched as the other man turned and stormed out. "Does this mean I don’t get fired?" Kyle called after him, chuckling rather evilly when the Directeur stopped for a moment, then continued down the hall.
Celia watched, wary but impressed as the man was taken down a rather large peg. She traded amused glances with Ceilidh, then looked at Kyle. She frowned when she watched him slowly stand and grab his jacket. "Leaving?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Fun as that was, there are things I need to do before the end of the day." He looked at them. "You have your level five’s… try to get into what we couldn’t access before, and if there’s anything that catches your attention, shoot it on over a secured line to me."
~~~~~~~~
Directeur Bermen opened the door and tried to look calm as he approached the secretary. "I need to see him," he said with an official voice.
"Admiral Cathet has directed that he not be disturbed," the secretary said as she made a point of her hand going under the desk.
"He’s too busy for his superior?"
"No," she corrected him. "As head of the Central Atlantica Armed Division, he is too busy for the Directeur of the Central Access Agency, which, as a matter of record, is not a superior department when it comes to security measures regarding this base."
He glared at her, annoyed that she knew why he was there. "Please let him know that I wish to speak with him at the earliest moment."
"Of course, Directeur," she replied, and watched as he turned and stormed out of the office. She then touched a button on her phone and spoke, "Directeur Bermen has just left, and requests a meeting with you at your earliest."
"Schedule him in for two, tomorrow afternoon," the Admiral ordered. "And no more interruptions, please. I’m trying to paint."
~~~~~~~~
The drive home was uneventful, and Kyle sighed when he realized that. The past week had been full of one thing after another, and it seemed odd that he could be experiencing this respite. He would give anything to go back a week, and tell the two men who came to his door to take a flying fuck.
He drove past two vehicles parked at he end of his driveway, slowing long enough for them to see that it was him, and not someone out to do harm, then continued on to his house. He hated living with security, and didn’t want to think about the sensors that had been installed recently on top of his own system.
Stopping the car, he leaned his head against the steering wheel for a while, working up the strength to get out of the car and go in. He felt completely wiped, and actually contemplated closing his eyes and falling asleep where he was. Determined to get more than the fleeting sleep that he had gotten lately, he forced himself to get out of the car and grimaced when he stumbled on the bottom step.
"Sleep," he whispered, "need sleep." He had a hard rule about never going to bed before ten in the evening, but was more than willing to make an exception tonight. The way he felt, he could have sacked in the hammock on the veranda, and snoozed while the sun set. He glanced to the side, eyeing the hammock, but shook his head as he opened the door.
Kyle stood in the door and looked at Jillian as she lay on the floor, her body curled by her suitcase. He reached her in two steps, quickly checking for any injury, and was ready to call for an ambulance when she stirred and opened her eyes.
"Hey, sexy," she whispered and brought a hand up to run it along his cheek, the stubble tickling her fingers. "You need to shave."
Kyle sat down beside her, his gaze flicking to her suitcase before going back to her face. He tried to keep his expression neutral even though his chest felt tight. "You okay?" he whispered gently.
Jillian rolled over so that she was curled against his body. "I don't know," she admitted. "I was ready to leave..."
Kyle closed his eyes and sniffed to stop the emotions that wanted to come. "And..." he prompted gently. He long ago promised that if a woman wanted to leave, he wouldn't stand in her way. It would most likely push him to some dark place he had no intention of ever visiting again, but he wouldn't stop her from going. All it would take would be a word from her, and he would drive her to the airport himself.
"I got this far, and realized that I couldn't leave." She stared blankly at the wall, not seeing the look of relief on Kyle's face. "This isn't your fault, and to blame it all on you would be completely unfair."
"Come on," Kyle slowly stood, scooped her from the floor, and took her in to the bedroom. He placed her on the bed, and sat beside her. "Sleep, okay?" He tried to smile as he ran a finger over her cheek. "Just…sleep for a while, and we’ll talk when you wake up."
She nodded, too tired to talk, and raised a hand to place it over his. "I love you," she whispered.
"Yessss," Kyle hissed, which brought a smile to her lips. He watched as she almost immediately fell asleep, and waited before easing his hand out from under hers.
Going back to the living room, he picked up her suitcase to move it and noticed a stain on the wall behind the couch. Walking over, he glanced down to see a picture on the floor, glass broken, and another object that he took a moment to identify. He sighed when he realized it was a crystal floating candleholder that someone had given as a wedding gift.
"Fuck," he whispered. Until now, it had sat on a small wall table, with scented water and a floating candle. He wanted to be angry that Jillian had broken it, but he wasn’t. He had broken many objects himself over the past few years when anger overtook, and it gave him both a slight chuckle and uneasy feeling that he and Jillian were more alike than he thought.
~~~~~~~~
Senator Wellian tapped her fingers on the arm of her chair, impatient while Directeur Bermen paced in front of her. She was starting to think that her involvement in this had been a mistake, and was rapidly working ways to remove herself cleanly from the mess.
She sighed in annoyance as he continued to pace. "Okay, listen," she snapped, bringing him to a dead stop. "Why don’t you stop fretting, and start planning? You didn’t get to where you are on your looks, so there must have been some brains on your part." She ignored the look her gave her.
"What do you suggest?" he asked.
"Plant something to throw this man off your trail for a few days." She shook her head in annoyance at the confusion on his face. "On the day after tomorrow, I will be the only person of worth running for Leader. Point the finger at someone else, regardless of how loosely, and by the time the dust settles, it’ll all be done."
"What do you suggest I…oh," he stopped and smiled as a completely wicked idea occurred to him. "I have the perfect thing." He nodded to her computer. "May I?"
"Be my guest," she said. "Care to enlighten me?"
"Not really," he said as he accessed certain level four information sites, and typed in a few things. "You can be as shocked as the rest of the city when they arrest Doctor Jillian Johnston."
~~~~~~~~
"Find anything?"
Celia shook her head as she touched a file and opened it. She wished she had Kyle’s method of scanning information quickly, but she knew it would be years before she could do something like that. "How about you?"
"A few things," Ceilidh said. "A few communiqués and travel vouchers that don’t add up." She touched another file on her computer. "Huh!"
"What?"
"I could swear that this file was empty a minute ago," she said as she read.
Celia glanced over. "Temp logs?"
Ceilidh nodded. "Someone is accessing a level four information source."
"So?" Celia asked, not overly concerned.
"They’re altering things."
That caught her attention. "Only someone with a level five can do that," she whispered. "Log it, tag it and try to follow it back to its source."
"Yes ma’am," she replied, her eyes skimming across the characters that floated in front of her.
Celia glanced at the file, and cleared her own computer space as she opened the same things her partner did. "I’ll cache the changes, and loop them from permanently posting until we can confirm the authenticity of the information."
~~~~~~~~~
She turned to him as soon as he slipped under the covers, her hands traversing his body in a way that made him instantly hard. Before he could form a coherent thought, he felt her weight on him, and all reason was banished as her lips covered his. Usually he was the one doing the ravishing, and having her taking initial charge was definitely a major turn on.
Jillian slowly rocked against his stomach, enjoying the feel of his fit body against hers. She nipped at his lips as her tongue darted in and out, and sighed as she felt his hands slowly work their way up her thigh. She could feel his rock hardness below her, and moved slightly so that she could snake a hand between them.
Kyle gasped in erotic surprise as she held him, gritting his teeth to stop himself from grabbing her, flipping her over, and riding until they both collapsed in a spent heap. No…she had initiated this, and he was more than willing to let her set the rules tonight.
Jillian moved down his body, and kissed him as he slowly entered her. She moaned his name, which caused him to jerk inside her, and her mouth was back on his as she moved up and down.
Kyle didn’t realize he’d moved his hands until he felt her breasts below his fingers as he gently rubbed and teased. She was doing things to his libido that he hadn’t know he had, which shocked him since he’d always had a healthy one, and was pretty much open to anything.
She took him soaring to a level that nearly gave him a headache with the intensity, and caused him to moan loudly as their thrusts quickened.
She lowered her face to his. "Tell me what I want to hear," she said.
He brought his hands down to her hips to help with their movement. "Oh, god…Jillian," he whispered. "Jillian." He couldn’t say more as she dove at his mouth, filling his senses with her.
~~~~~~~~
"This is bad," Ceilidh said.
"Bad, bad, bad," Celia agreed as she read through the information again. She checked her watch, then picked up the phone. She waited, then hung up. "No answer on the cell." She glanced at the information again, not wanting to send it to Kyle until she had a chance to tell him about it. "What’s his home phone?"
~~~~~~~~
Kyle rolled over as he heard his cell phone ringing and was considering the possibility of opening his eyes when it stopped. Snuggling against Jillian he fell back to sleep, only to jump slightly when the phone by the bed rang. He reached his hand out, grabbed it, and turned his head so he could talk.
"Yeah?" he whispered in a tired voice as he rolled over on to his back.
"Did I wake you?" Celia sounded both confused and apologetic.
"Yeah," he whispered again. "S’okay."
"We found something that you should see."
"Send it over the secured, and I’ll take a look later." Try as he might, he had no real energy to want to get up to do anything.
"Someone was adding on to a level four file when we were looking around," Celia told him. "They’re trying to make it look like Jillian is involved."
Kyle sat up, swung his feet off the bed, and was halfway to the door before he doubled back, grabbed his robe, and pulled it on. "Send it now," he said as he went to his computer. "Everything you have."
He logged into the secure server, entered his pass code, and waited for the files. Reading it through quickly, he touched the folder to close it. His weariness had completely vanished and was replaced with a slow simmering anger.
He reached into the computer information area and touched the file again to open it, this time reading it through carefully.
"…same characteristics as a Doctor Jillian Johnston, noted psychiatrist from Halifax and Australia," Kyle whispered as he read it to himself, still not believing what he was seeing. "Dr. Johnston’s current arrival in Halifax coincides with the arrival of Keren Pelgrew. There is no proof that CAA Agent Chalmers’ was killed by an outside source while in Dr. Johnston’s office. It is hinted that Dr. Johnston may be an alibi of…" he stopped reading as the anger went up a notch. Reaching in to tap another file, he gave a brief smile at the steps his team had taken to stop this information from reaching its intended source.
He picked up the phone and dialed. "Yeah… listen… log into the computer, level five area…got it? Type in the following, exactly as I tell you. Capital lock on, dashes between each letter and number." He waited a moment for Ceilidh to get to the area he needed her to be. "Okay… ready… T-R-A-C-5-S-U-E-N-8-9-6-W-O-R. End. What’s it doing?" He smiled slightly. "That’s what it’s suppose to do. It’ll work its way back to every computer that added information to that file in the past twenty-four hours, and send a report back."
"I’ve got two flags so far," Ceilidh told him. "Both for earlier today…wait…one more, from around the timeframe needed."
"Where?"
"Senator Wellian’s office," she said, confused. "But she doesn’t have a level five…does she?"
"Right now, nothing would surprise me," Kyle said and yawned. Fatigue was working its way back in through the anger. "Type in the same thing you did before, but instead of W-O-R at the end, use G-L-U. It will pull up her entire drive and you’ll be able to see who used her computer tonight."
"Is that legal?"
"Probably not," he admitted. "But if she’s involved in this, I’m pretty sure she won’t complain. Besides, that’s my code you’re using, so I’ll be the one busted."
"Oh, okay then."
He smiled at her blasé attitude over that. "There’s nothing I can do from here," he said. "I’ll leave this in your capable hands. Just make sure you let the computer department know that they may have been hacked, and that they should ignore that certain area. If they have any issues with that, tell them to contact me."
"Yes, sir."
Kyle disconnected the call, and stopped the urge to read the file through again. It would do him nothing but make him angrier, and he didn’t think he could deal with that in his tired state. He couldn’t even think straight, and knew he needed more sleep before he could even attempt to work this out.
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