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“Not that Brock feels strongly about this,” said Seth with an evil grin. “Brock will act as point man. You can go into your suite if you like.”
“Considering the mess you guys made of my desk last time I took a day off, I’d rather go downstairs to work.”
The rest of the team looked at Brock. “She isn’t wrong. We’ll make sure there’s extra protection in the lobby. She’ll be happier if she has something to do.”
Seth shook his head. “You guys and your hard-working females. I just want a girl who wants to spend my money and take care of all my considerable sexual needs.”
Everyone, including Alicia, groaned. That’s what Seth always said, and not one of them believed it. For the next few hours, Alicia was able to focus on her job, knowing that while there might be a threat, she was in the best and safest place she’d ever been.
CHAPTER 14
BROCK
Brock re-entered the team conference room.
“How’s she doing?” asked King. “I can’t even imagine what this must be like for her.”
“She’s doing better than I expected, especially given I got all pissy about her being married and not telling me.”
“Exactly how did you expect her to start that conversation? Oh Brock, by the way I married a psycho and finally figured out how to escape…”
Brock growled, cutting Seth off. “Like I said, I fucked up. I think we’re in a good place now.”
“You are,” said Royce, “at least according to Camille, and she tends to be right about these things.”
“I just talked to Sully,” said Seth. “He’s started looking at the records surrounding her death. Pretty much the locals glossed it over and buried her. That was fine and dandy until about two months ago.”
“What happened?” asked Brock.
“Her death certificate has been flagged and the body is scheduled for exhumation.”
“Why?”
“According to the vital records office, the insurance company put in a request. So, Sully did a little more digging. It seems someone claimed to have seen Alicia in a recent internet posting. The original insurance investigator, a local guy, hadn’t been completely convinced but couldn’t find anything to stop the payment. When they got a tip from the guy who saw Alicia’s picture, they felt it was credible enough that they petitioned to have the body exhumed. Rennault tried to fight it, but the judge ruled in the company’s favor.”
“What’s our next step?” asked Royce.
“I think we need to go out there and nose around,” said Brock, “and I want a team and Alicia with me. I’m worried that if I go off without her…”
“She’ll decide to save us from herself.”
“Something like that, but I also think there might be people willing to stand up for her; people who saw something and will be able to help us deflect the things she did to save herself.”
They worked on making plans to get the team as well as Brock and Alicia out to the west coast.
“I just spoke to Damon,” said Miley. “He thinks we ought to take our plane—do you know how much I love saying that?—and he’ll come with me. He can make some excuse about making a grant or something to someone out there. He can also get us a nice place to stay where we can stage operations and keep our guys mostly out of sight.”
“You don’t have to go,” said Brock. “I don’t think there will be much need for a sniper on this one.”
“You never know. And I would be dead if it weren’t for you. There’s no way I would have made it out of Switzerland. I won’t forget that, and neither will Damon. No, if you and Alicia are going to beard the lion in the arena, Damon and I are coming.”
“Thanks, Miley. I know Alicia really likes you.”
Three hours later, one of the Knox Industries jets was winging its way to Stilton, California in San Mateo County.
* * *
ALICIA
