She put the car in reverse and headed for IHOP. Jack, Liam, and Jenny were already there. They had a table near the back and Angie pasted on a smile as she joined them. She shook her hair out and picked up her menu, determined to be as positive as possible.
Jenny was beside her, and when Jack and Liam started talking about the Super Bowl and who they thought would win, Angie turned to the other woman. Jenny had always been sort of unassuming, but lately she’d started wearing makeup and coming to work in something other than a basic black suit.
Today she was wearing leggings with riding boots and a loose sweater. Her hair was in a ponytail, and there were worry lines at the corners of her eyes and mouth. No doubt she had a lot on her mind with that rotten ex-husband of hers.
Dan had been bad, but at least they hadn’t gotten married and had children before Angie discovered his affairs.
“Hey, Jen—I wanted to ask you. Did you get any of Martinelli’s accounts?”
Jenny blinked as her gaze snapped to Angie’s. “A couple. Why?”
“I was just wondering if you’d encountered any problems with any of them.”
Jenny frowned. “Um, no. Nothing out of the ordinary. Why?”
“I had one that wasn’t quite right. But it’s gone now, so it doesn’t matter.”
She thought Jenny might have stiffened. “Gone?”
“The company closed their account and the files are gone. They were deleted last night, apparently.”
Jenny’s mouth tightened. “I don’t know anything about that.”
“Doesn’t matter since it’s over. Just keep an eye out for wonky accounting in the files you have.”
Jenny was frowning. Hard. “Wonky accounting?”
Angie cursed. Why had she brought it up when it was a moot point anyway? Charles was gone and the Cardinal Group accounts had been deleted. She didn’t know who’d done it, but it didn’t matter. Her involvement was finished. If there were other messed up accounts, then let someone else find them.
“It’s nothing. I think Charles was just distracted. It’s not a big deal.”
“Who was the client?”
Angie hesitated. But it wouldn’t be difficult to discover which account had been closed recently. “The Cardinal Group.”
Jenny turned away quickly. “I don’t know anything about that. I never worked on that one.”
“I know,” Angie said. “I did, but I’m not now so it’s cool.”
Their pancakes arrived and the conversation turned to other things. They spent an hour eating and drinking coffee, and then went their separate ways. Angie drove home, thinking about everything that had happened in the past couple of days.
People quit their jobs. Files disappeared. Fires happened.
It didn’t have to be sinister. But it damned sure felt like it.
Colt drove to Black Defense International’s building and made his way through security. Handprints, eye scans, cipher locks. Ian Black wasn’t letting anyone in who didn’t belong. Which was good because BDI was a lot more than it seemed.
Officially, they were mercenaries. Unofficially, they operated like a cross between James Bond and Jason Bourne with a dash of Navy SEAL thrown in. It was a hell of a ride most of the time.
Colt stalked through the secret area of the building and into Ian Black’s office. Ian had just returned from Africa and he looked up when Colt gave a cursory knock on the open door and strode in.
“You’re looking a bit tense today. Did Angie Turner ghost you again?”
Colt gave Ian a look. Ian grinned, and Colt knew the boss was yanking his chain.
“No, she didn’t. Her office building burned down this morning. And the account she was working on evaporated from their servers last night.”
Ian’s gaze sparked with interest. “You don’t say?”
“It belonged to the Cardinal Group. They’re venture capitalists. They have an office in Annapolis, and they invest in local startups, among other things.”
Ian leaned back in his chair. “We have a missing accountant, disappearing financial records, and a burned out office building. Seems as if something’s shady, doesn’t it?”
“Looks that way from where I’m sitting.”
“Did you find anything on Martinelli in the database?” Ian asked. “I’m assuming not since you didn’t lead with that.”
“Not yet. I want to surveil his house, see if he’s there. Maybe he’ll have some answers if we can find him.”
“Go for it. Take Ty with you. I’ll tell Dax to keep searching the records. I’ll also see what I can find out about the fire.”
Ian studied him with flinty blue eyes. Colt had stopped wondering what Ian’s true eye color was. Tomorrow they might be brown. Or green.
“Don’t let this situation distract you,” Ian said. “If there’s anything wrong, we’ll find it. But don’t get twisted around the axle. Angie Turner is a grown woman, and a pretty smart one too. She doesn’t appear to be in any immediate danger, and you can’t be with her twenty-four hours a day. Our missions take priority. I need your head in the game, Colt.”
“Am I going on assignment?” Colt asked as coolly as possible.
Ian shrugged. “You never know, do you? Might have an asset in Paris who needs persuading.”
Colt didn’t like it but there was nothing he could say. That was the job. “Then I’d better get moving on finding Martinelli.”
Ian waved him off and Colt went to find Ty. If Colt found Martinelli at his home, then this whole thing could be over soon. Tyler Scott was at his desk, pouring over intel reports. He looked up when Colt approached.
“Hey, man. What’s happening?”
“Off to find a missing accountant. Want to help?”
Ty shrugged. “Sure.” He shuffled the papers on his desk and slipped them back into a folder marked TOP SECRET before returning them to the safe and twisting the lock. Then he grabbed his coat and the two of them headed for the parking garage while Colt
