woman in the eye.
“Look,” Alexa said, “the partial page I got my hands on…the numbers were jumbled to throw us off, but the page I retrieved gave us coordinates where Globe Harvest had a handful of their covert organizations. But since each location is compartmentalized, we would need to hit them all at once to shut them down for good, otherwise they’d fold and disappear, only to regroup in another locale. Petrovin is doing that now, like a damned cockroach scurrying away from the light.”
“Nice analogy, but I’d hate to insult the roach population.” Jess propped her chin in her hands, prepared to listen.
“Don’t you see? With your pages, we’d have a better look at more of their locations across the world. We could hit them at the same time. My organization has the resources to quietly handle it…without fanfare.”
“Or the pesky intrusion of law enforcement. Right?”
Alexa raised an eyebrow. “Is that a concern for you?”
Jess thought about it. “No, not really.”
“Good. I was beginning to think you’d gone bleeding heart liberal on me.”
Before Alexa got too comfortable, Jess added, “I want in on this.”
The woman shook her head, not giving any thought to her proposition.
“No, the alliance wouldn’t allow it.” She looked adamant. “As it is, I’m pushing this investigation. Like you, I’m going it alone, but if I can give them Globe Harvest on a platter, I may convince the alliance to give me the resources I’d need. Having you involved would only complicate things.”
The woman’s expression softened. “I know you have no reason to, but you’re gonna have to trust me.”
Trust? She wasn’t exactly a master of the concept. She didn’t always trust herself to do the right thing. How could she place her faith in a ruthless woman like Alexa and her secret alliance? Her organization sounded like no more than a group of international vigilantes. Yet, did she have a choice? If she wanted Nikki to be rescued and play a part in taking down Globe Harvest, she had to trust someone. More lives were at stake. Could she afford to let her ego get in the way if Alexa had a better shot at shutting down Globe Harvest and rescuing Nikki?
Besides, Seth had copies of the pages, she reminded herself again. And Alexa had told her enough about the analysis her alliance had done to locate a few of the Globe Harvest locations. Maybe Seth could benefit by the input if she chose to move forward with her own investigation.
With a show of reluctance, Jess walked into her bedroom and retrieved the documents from her nightstand drawer. When she returned, Alexa was standing by her front door. But before Jess handed over the pages, she had one more thing to ask.
“If something should come up, how do I get in touch with you?” she asked. When Alexa hesitated, she added, “Come on. Throw me a bone. You said it yourself. I gave you this priceless opportunity. I might have something to contribute after you’re gone.”
The woman thought about it, and after a moment, pulled a long gold chain over her head. The chain had a gold locket with a beautiful sapphire-cut stone in the center. Jess wasn’t much for jewelry, but this piece caught her eye.
“Keep this with you. Press down on the stone only in case of an emergency. And I mean that, Jessica. Only for emergencies,” Alexa warned with a stern look. “It’ll send out a beacon no matter where you are, and the alliance will contact me. Once I get that call, how can I reach you?”
Jess started to give the number to her cell phone, but stopped when she noticed Alexa wasn’t jotting it down.
“Why aren’t you writing this down?”
“I don’t need to. Tell me once and I’ll remember.”
“Call me gullible, but I’m gonna ask this anyway. I’d appreciate knowing what happens after your operation goes down. Call it…a need for closure. And Payton’s niece is still missing. Even if you put a stranglehold on Globe Harvest, that doesn’t mean we’ll ever find her.” The truth of Payton’s situation twisted in her gut as she said the words. “Surprise me. Have a heart, will ya? Give me something.”
The woman considered her plea and her expression softened. “You’ve earned that much, Jessica. I’ll see what I can do.”
When Alexa slipped through her front door, Jess noticed it had begun to rain outside, which contributed to her somber mood. After locking the door behind her late night visitor, she was left with an aching hollowness, a recoil to the nebulous ending of her investigation into Lucas Baker. She had nothing but her hope that Alexa would do as she’d promised. She looked down at the locket in her hand and rubbed her thumb lightly over the gemstone.
“For emergencies only,” she whispered.
She replayed the conversation with Alexa Marlowe in her mind and hoped she’d done the right thing. If the woman had told the truth and the Russian had flown out of Chicago, enlisting the aid of Alexa and her mystery alliance might make all the difference in finding Nikki alive. Jess’s gut told her it was worth the risk, but she had no idea if Payton would feel the same. Petrovin escaping with Nikki and leaving Chicago would be enough of a blow.
How would she tell Payton? He had to know what had happened. She had no choice but to clue him in that she’d relinquished control to another person—a stranger—who made promises of alliances and resources. Would he be relieved, or would he resent her unilateral decision to leave him out of this very important change in plan?
Jess slipped on the gold necklace and headed for her bedroom to freshen up and change. Payton had given her the number to his cell phone and his room at the Marriott in Oak Brook so she could contact him directly. But what she had to say needed to be done in person.
All she wanted was to give Payton hope. But in her heart she knew it wouldn’t be that simple. For her, nothing ever was.
CHAPTER 24
Marriott Hotel
Oak Brook
In damp clothes and hair to match, Jess stood outside Payton’s hotel room staring at the peephole of his door as if its glaring eye watched her in return. Once she got out of the rain and hit the air-conditioning inside the hotel, she’d taken on a chill. Her fingers were like ice. At least with her hands stuffed into the pockets of her jeans for warmth, she had two less moving parts to give away her jitters.
Chewing the inside corner of her mouth, she finally mustered the courage to raise a hand and knock, but stopped again to glance at her watch. A little past two in the morning, five minutes after the last time she checked. She wondered why she’d come at this hour. A short time ago, back at her place, driving straight here seemed rational. Now, standing in the quiet hallway, it felt like a colossal bonehead move.
She was about to knock on a man’s door in the middle of the night. Even if she had a legitimate reason to speak to him, a part of her felt the awkwardness of her intrusion on a personal level. But if she waited until a decent hour to wake him, he might resent her unilateral decision all the more, as if Nikki didn’t rate in importance enough to inconvenience him. Yet rolling him out in the middle of the night had its risks too. She had no idea how he’d take her midnight encounter with Alexa Marlowe.
Jess suspected that no matter what she did, she’d be damned one way or the other, but did she have another reason for being here at this hour?
Her attraction to Payton played more of a role than she wanted to openly admit. If she only had it in mind to talk, she could have phoned from the lobby and given him warning that he had a late night caller. Instead, she’d chosen to stand at his door like a damned schoolgirl, debating what to do next.
And she couldn’t deny that she felt completely outclassed by him—a chronic condition on her part, and one of the reasons she’d always made the wrong decisions about men. Venturing a toe into Payton’s world implied she felt
