She stared down at the pages clutched in her hand, the ones she’d retrieved from the fire. In her mind, Globe Harvest and its obscene network really did exist. And that Russian bastard went to great pains to blow up an abandoned textile plant. The man wanted to bury the proof of his link to the larger organization, but not all of that proof had been burned.
She knew her instincts were dead on. An organization like Globe Harvest operated and thrived on secrecy. Compromising Baker and his laptop connection to the larger system had been the catalyst for what happened last night. And in her hands, she held a copy of the only evidence pulled from the fire. It had to mean something or else those men wouldn’t have gone to such great pains to destroy the facility and its control room. With any luck, she’d find a key to open another door into Globe Harvest.
For the sake of Payton and his family—and countless others—she hoped she was right.
Downtown Chicago
After the fire, Alexa had caught a few restless hours of sleep at her downtown hotel room, where she’d nursed her burns and bruises. When she awoke, she’d stretched her sore muscles and took a long hot shower to loosen up. Now, dressed in the white robe of the hotel, sitting at a table eating her room service breakfast, she got a call on her cell phone. Although no number was displayed, she knew instinctively who was on the line.
“Marlowe.”
“I hope you’re enjoying your time off, Alexa.” Over the phone, his low and seductive voice teased her ear as if she lay next to him in the dark. “How is Paris?” he asked.
Alexa contemplated lying to Garrett Wheeler, an associate of a covert organization she knew only as the Sentinels. But chances were that Garrett was only testing whether she’d come close to the truth. She got up to adjust the air-conditioning thermostat, to cut the chill from the room before she went back to her breakfast.
“Paris? I wouldn’t know. Why do you take such pleasure in playing these games?”
“For the same reason you feel the need to stall…answering a question with a question. You know I don’t like it when you keep secrets. What are you doing in Chicago?”
She had taken special precautions to keep her trip a secret from Garrett. But given the man’s resources, it was only a matter of time before he would have found her. The Sentinels preferred keeping her on a short leash, according to Garrett, and the alliance had no tolerance for personal agendas—except their own. She had yet to fully understand what mattered most to them—or Garrett. He was as addictive to her as crystal meth to an addict, and she hoped her name might come up on the list of necessities in his life. But she knew he was too secretive to confide such things to her. It wasn’t his nature.
“Globe Harvest is here in Chicago,” she told him. “I’ve got a solid lead that I’m—”
“Don’t you mean that in the past tense? From what I hear, your lead is nothing but a pile of rubble.”
“I retrieved documents from their control room before the explosion, but I’m sure you know that already or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” She sipped her coffee. “I’m confident I’ll find another way to track them.”
“That is, if a certain bounty hunter doesn’t beat you to the punch. Jessica Beckett is an interesting woman, wouldn’t you agree?”
A twinge of jealousy jabbed at Alexa, a reaction she hadn’t expected. When Garrett found people interesting, it usually meant he’d dug into their background on behalf of the Sentinels, but something in the way he’d said Jessica’s name triggered a more personal reaction.
He’d used that same understated word—interesting—to describe her two years ago when he recruited her to be his associate.
“Yes, she is,” she said. “I’ll be sure to add her to my Christmas card list. What’s on your mind?”
“It’s come to my attention that she retrieved documents from that fire, and hers are in much better condition than the burned fragments you sent for analysis.”
The Sentinels had a web of informants all over the world, but obviously, his list also included someone within the ranks of the local police force, if he knew about evidence the bounty hunter had retrieved.
“So what are you suggesting?”
“The police might’ve already confiscated her documents as evidence by now, but I hear that the FBI will be involved shortly. Once the feds get their hands on this case, you’ll have a much harder time keeping a low profile. You may want to talk to Jessica and pool your resources, whatever they may be.”
Garrett still hadn’t committed any Sentinels’ aid in her pursuit of Globe Harvest. With his access to powerful connections all over the globe, if he chose to help her, she had no doubt Globe Harvest’s days would be numbered. And yet he continued to sit on the sidelines, claiming the Sentinels had no interest in intervening. Why?
The most she had been able to ascertain about Garrett Wheeler’s secretive alliance and their “agenda” was that he carried out the wishes of an elite group of powerful men from various countries—an alliance of wealthy vigilantes. It appeared that in tough situations, where the court systems of the world would have difficulty rendering justice, the Sentinels intervened to quietly do what had to be done.
For the most part, she agreed in dispensing justice on a grander scale when the case was clearly out of the reach of legal jurisdictions, a common issue in today’s international arena. And she relished her role in playing devil’s advocate with Garrett and his associates. But there were times when she wondered if these men were treading on a slippery slope. After all, they backed a course of action that came close to crossing a dangerous line between eradicating what they pursued and becoming another facet of it—with the only distinction being their point of view.
For now, the organization still had her allegiance. And from her perspective, the benefits far outweighed the pitfalls. But with her loyalty came a skepticism these men would have to deal with. She wouldn’t follow any cause with blinders on. That was one of the reasons she had chosen to pursue Globe Harvest on her own, when Garrett and his backers failed to show interest in her private investigation.
She’d confronted Garrett before when she hadn’t comprehended the Sentinels’ motives, and she learned that he had boundaries…except in the bedroom.
“Why are you telling me about the FBI?” she asked, setting down her coffee cup. “If you wanted to, you could convince your associates to make a difference in bringing down Globe Harvest. I don’t understand why—”
“We’ve gone over this before. These men have their reasons.” A phrase she’d heard often from him. “Besides, the world is full of injustice, and they prefer to pick their own battles. However, I will share something troubling I’ve heard. A Russian by the name of Stanislav Petrovin was in charge of security for the Chicago operation. Stas is a dangerous man with even deadlier connections, Alexa. As we speak, I’m sending you an encrypted file on him.”
“You sound like you know Petrovin.”
“Just take care of yourself, Alexa.” He paused for a moment, then added, “I miss you.”
He ended the call without allowing her to respond to his personal message, words that came across her phone as a tender whisper to her ear. Garrett knew how to keep her off balance, but he’d also thrown her a lifeline in pursuing Globe Harvest. Now that he knew about her agenda, could she count on him for more support, or had his gesture been personally motivated? Like all the other mysteries surrounding Garrett Wheeler and his organization, she suspected her questions would go unanswered.
Once she got Petrovin’s dossier and quickly familiarized herself with its content, it would be time to call on Jessica Beckett. She headed for her bedroom to get changed. Knowing Garrett’s flair for understatement, she would have to work fast if she wanted to orchestrate an encounter with the bounty hunter before the FBI got too involved. But with someone as tenacious as Jessica Beckett, Alexa knew she’d have to be careful, making sure any interaction with the woman would be a one-way street.
She was determined to cut the bounty hunter out of the picture.
CHAPTER 22
Before dawn
The next morning
