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“I know. I shouldn’t be out here. I needed to see the storm,” she said in a quiet voice.
“It’s fine. The perimeter security is set. This isn’t a prison.”
“Isn’t it?” she asked as she took a deep breath. “I used to accuse my parents of keeping me in a cage when I was younger. It annoyed my father to death, which is why I did it. The house is amazing, the grounds exquisite, and I loved going into town, but even the beautiful architecture and incredible food can’t hide the fact I’m never going to be able to wake up a single day and be allowed to go anywhere I want without some security person following me. That might not seem like a big thing to you, but it’s suffocating.”
“I do understand. Maybe more than you realize.” I moved beside her, studying the tumultuous water. “You wrote a white paper on your thoughts regarding nuclear fission in college, didn’t you?”
She seemed taken aback. “I did. It was under the advisement and encouragement of a professor who believed in me. How did you find it?”
“I didn’t. Jeremy did. I’m surprised it remained active.”
Isabella took a deep breath. “From what I was told when my father was running for vice president, it had been erased, no longer available to anyone. I don’t understand how Jeremy found it.”
Neither did I. “Would your professor have kept a copy?”
Her laugh was strangled. “I’m certain he did. The man was a consummate professional, leaving the field of science where he was highly respected in order to teach, which he often told his students had been a tremendous goal. Is there an issue? Do you think the paper was seen by these Russians?”
That was exactly what I thought, but at this point, I wasn’t going to alarm her any more than she already was. “Anything is possible, princess, but I doubt the group as powerful as who I suspect is behind your attempted capture would be willing to base their efforts on a single white paper.”
“The man you met with outside the restaurant told you more than you’re willing to share with me.”
I moved closer, inhaling her scent, my cock aching. “His information will be checked thoroughly; however, it provides a further indication of what we’re facing.”
“You use stilted words, still thinking me incapable of handling the truth.”
“Trust me. When I learn the truth, you’ll be the first to know.” When she looked away, I could feel her shutting down. “What was the professor’s name?” I waited as she debated the damn question, as if she couldn’t trust me. “Isabella.”
“Leonard Vaskin. His father had been a legend at the University. You can’t tell me he’s responsible. I won’t believe it.”
I made a mental note, every muscle in my body tensing. There were too many loose ends. “As I told you before, nothing can be ruled out at this point.”
“He’s not the bad guy,” she insisted.
“I’m not saying he is.”
“But you’re not saying he’s not either. In other words, I can’t trust anyone. Everyone I thought was a protector or a mentor is being questioned.”
While I heard the angst in her tone, I refused to fill her full of disillusionment. “My job is to find out what harm we’ll continue to face.”
“You told me your job is to protect me. That doesn’t include interfering with lives of the only people I trusted growing up. Leave them alone.” Her anger was justified.
“I can’t do that, and you know it. Things have taken an ugly turn.”
Isabella’s laugh was like a knife cutting through me. “Fine, Cobra, or whatever your name is.”
“Jagger. Jagger Stone.”
It was obvious she was shocked I’d told her, the darkness unable to hide the imploring look in her eyes. Then she smiled, albeit thinly. “I like your name very much. Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me.”
I brushed my fingers down her arm, clinging to a level of rage that wouldn’t do either one of us any good. “It’s not about trust, Isabella. It’s about security.”
“I understand,” she whispered, looking toward the darkened ocean waters as she’d done before. “I was thinking. If I could access the computers at the lab, I could end this, at least one part of the horrible equation.”
She was serious. “You can’t do that. Don’t you think that by now the system has been hacked?”
“What about the United States government security system?”
I hated laughing, but it was my first reaction. “The Russians employ hackers to do nothing but glean whatever information they want, similar to people that are hired in the States. From my experience, there isn’t a single system that can’t eventually be hacked. The lab was torched to prevent continued development even without your formula. I doubt the responsible parties will stop there. Even if you did alter the formula more than you already have, that doesn’t give you or us a bargaining chip to use.”
