Page 70 of Silver Fire
“What the fuck is going on?” Derek demanded.
“Where did you meet him?”
“At the bar, he was sitting beside me.”
Viktor moved forward, an alert, guarded look crossing his face. “The same bar where Maia’s picture was taken?”
“Yes,” Derek replied tersely.
“Someone took a picture of Maia?” Sophie asked, but no one seemed to have heard her.
Derek looked at Viktor. “Three men were in the car that took out the Escalade. I bet you these are the same three men. This.” He angrily tapped on the picture. “This is an in-your-face challenge to me. He wanted me to know that he got close to Sophie, and he could take me out when he wanted to. Fucking piece of shit,” Derek snarled viciously. “I should have beaten the shit out of him when I had the chance.”
“So, I’m gathering there had been some sort of confrontation,” Marissa clarified.
“Justin told me that Derek was too old for me,” Sophie informed the other woman. The brunette’s lips tipped up into the beginnings of a smile and Viktor, for the first time since she had met him, gave a short laugh, prompting a glare from Derek. “Which my friend Beth shared with Derek when he got to the bar. Justin and Derek exchanged a few words. I thought Justin acted very mature walking away.”
Derek snorted. “We know why. He’s after your research and did not want to blow his cover.”
“And here I thought he genuinely liked me,” Sophie quipped.
“This is not a joke, Sophie,” Derek said, his expression hard. “You do not want sociopaths like Justin to take an interest in you.”
“I find all this hard to believe. He appeared so harmless and just plain affable,” Sophie said, bewildered.
Viktor shook his head and weighed in. “His type is dangerous. He walked up and sat beside his mark with an experienced AGS agent, an ex-AGS agent, an ex-Navy SEAL and an investigative reporter sitting right there and no one clocked him.”
“I agree. The man is a chameleon experienced in blending into the environment,” Marissa said, glancing down at the photo. “He looks young, but I would bet he’s in his late twenties.”
“Are you all going to lock me down?” Sophie asked the one question that was foremost in her mind.
Marissa shook her head. “We’ve considered that route, but decided against it. We will have someone watch over you discreetly.”
“You want to use her as bait.”
“Very good, Lockwood, you know the game very well.” Marissa tossed Derek a snide look.
“I’m not letting her out of my sight,” Derek repeated his earlier statement. “And you spooks better not fabricate any lunatic plan to keep her away from me.”
Viktor sighed. “We’re aware, Derek and you make it extremely difficult to draw Justin out, but you better watch your six because this guy has you marked. He has already made an attempt on you. He may try again.”
“That’s my problem,” Derek told him. “Are we done here?”
Viktor and Marissa nodded.
“Come on, Angel.” Her man gently grasped her upper arm and guided her out of the room.
* * *
“I can’t believeour boy Justin stole the zee-bomb research,” Beth said as she forked a big piece of waffle into her mouth. Derek had gotten Sophie home around 4:00 a.m. and the poor woman was so wiped out, she could barely brush her teeth. By the time he got in beside her, she was snoring lightly. Sighing, Derek tucked her into him and tried to catch some shut-eye, but his brain was in overdrive figuring out how he could have missed Justin as a potential threat. Easy. He let jealousy blind him from anything else. If he had faced him squarely, he could have picked up the nuances of his coldness. A plain college boy who was a head shorter than he was, playing it cool and collected was unusual. Too mature and too experienced. Damn it to hell.
Three hours later, Beth called Sophie and demanded to come over. So now they were having coffee, waffles and bacon. Same as the first morning when Sophie and Beth had stayed over.
Sophie was sitting with one foot on the chair, knee cocked and shin pressing against the table. She was eating bacon as fast as Derek could fry them. Apparently lack of sleep and stress made her ravenous. For Derek, lack of sleep only made him horny as fuck, and he’d been trying to avoid looking down Sophie’s crotch as he leaned in to dish more bacon on the plate. She was wearing damned skimpy shorts and he was pretty sure she wasn’t wearing any underwear. He better not get a hard on right now.
“No question he is one slick son of a bitch,” Sophie said, stumbling on the cuss word. Derek chuckled. She didn’t curse much, but when talking to Beth she tried to match her friend’s brashness. Damned cute.
“Derek, aren’t you eating?”