cold, skilled, and efficient.
Slade rolled his blue eyes. “Mistress. That makes you sound like some freaking nineteenth-century lord. No one has mistresses these days.”
“It’s the perfect accessory for the modern-day CEO.”
“You’re more than a CEO, Gavin. I wish you would understand that there’s more to life than work.” Slade’s eyes drifted to the woman at his side. She twisted in her sleep, and her head rolled from Dex’s shoulder to Slade’s. His brother cupped her cheek and kissed the top of her head, practically sighing at the contact. “There’s a lot more.” Resentment bubbled up in Gavin. Of course Slade thought there was more to life than work.
He’d been in college when their world had nearly been ripped out from under them. Gavin was the one who had to deal with the fallout of their father’s untimely demise. Slade had been in college, and Dex had followed him there for fraternity fun and games. Given the fact that Slade and Dex were only a few months apart in age, it was no surprise they had fallen in together. By the time Gavin had been able to come up for air, Slade and Dex had bonded, and Gavin was on the outside.
In the years that had passed, nothing had changed
“How about you work on your little engineering projects, and I’ll run the company.” Slade frowned. “My ‘little engineering projects?’ You mean like the project that found a huge reserve in the middle of the Gulf? That billion-dollar project?” Gavin was saved by the trill of his cell phone. He looked down at the caller ID. Burke Lenox.
The man worked fast. He stared for a moment wondering what he wanted from this call. If the Lenox brothers had solved the crime already, then he and his brothers could turn right around and take Hannah home. Or he could leave and let her, Dex, and Slade have a romantic getaway.
He didn’t want to leave. He wanted more. Damn it, he was tired of being on the outside.
But it wasn’t going to change.
“You’re right. I’m sorry about the engineering crack,” Gavin said shortly. If he wanted to get back in good with his brothers, he needed to stop being such an ass**le. He slid the answer button on the phone, and was surprised at how fast his heart was beating. “Lenox? What have you got for me?”
Burke’s smooth voice came over the line. “Not much yet. Cole is going over the tapes. I think you’re definitely right. This is an insider.”
He’d known that. Part of him relaxed. He didn’t have to decide yet what to do next. But Hannah was still in danger. “Run deep background checks on everyone. Human Resources would have done some of the legwork, but you have resources they don’t.”
“I’ll start with anyone who has daily dealings with Hannah. This is a big company we’re talking about, James. It could take awhile.”
“I understand. I want you to be very thorough. Start with Scott in IT. The way I see it, he might be hung up on Hannah in a dangerous sort of way if he’s suddenly demanding to have an important lunch with her. There’s nothing so critical about the project she’s coordinating that should require her to spend her lunch hour with him. And our CIO, Preston Ward III. He and Hannah had an…altercation recently.”
“Funny that you mention him. The other reason I called you was to let you know you’ve got trouble up there in Alaska.”
“Yes, there were some minor computer issues. It made a decent cover for us leaving, but it’s nothing we’re too concerned about.”
There was a long pause. “I was in your office this afternoon. Apparently, your minor trouble became something major. I overheard Ward saying that River Run is in serious trouble, and he’s headed up there himself with a couple of techs to fix it. You’re going to love this. One of the techs is Scott. The other is the head of your help desk, Lyle.” Gavin didn’t love it. It was the worst news possible. Preston was on his way down with two techs, and all three men were on Gavin’s list of suspects. Any of them could be Hannah’s stalker.
Son of a bitch.
While in Alaska, Gavin had imagined that he could go fishing with his brothers in an attempt to reconnect, but maybe a good old-fashioned ass-kicking was the ultimate bonding experience.
Because by the time the trio got here in the morning, he hoped they’d figured out the identity of Hannah’s stalker. The ass**le was going to have a welcome party he would never forget.
“Thank you, Burke. Could you find out what flight they’re on? One of the admins should know. I want to be prepared.”
“I just sent you an e-mail with that information. I’ll keep digging, focusing first on the men you’ve mentioned. But something is off here; I feel it. Watch your back, James. I’ll call back when I know more.”
The line went dead, and Gavin immediately opened his e-mail.
“What’s going on?” The expression on Slade’s face told Gavin he’d figured out something was up, but he couldn’t move because Hannah’s head was on his chest. Otherwise, they might be wrestling over the phone. “What did he find out?”
Gavin scanned the e-mail. It was a copy of the incoming employees’ itinerary. Preston hadn’t wasted a minute. He and two others were coming in on the redeye to Anchorage, followed by a puddle-jumper they’d hired to get them to River Run. First Class for Preston, but he’d shoved the techs into coach. Douche bag.
“It looks like we’re going to have company. Have you checked your cell lately?” Slade flushed slightly. “I turned it off while we were in the air. I haven’t turned it back on.” Because he was far too busy with Hannah. Work was going to come second for Slade from now on. Gavin could deal with that. He scanned through his e-mail, reading a group of them from the foreman at River Run, which had started minutes after Gavin’s plane had taken off.
“Don’t feel too bad. I just started mine again. There was a system failure at the facility. They got it under control, but it needs to be looked at by an expert.”
“I can be there in an hour,” Slade said.
“A computer expert. It isn’t an engineering problem. The system crashed, and now that it’s back online, it’s giving off some strange numbers. Ben Kunayak, the IT guy who runs our facility up here, thinks the system has been hacked. Preston decided it was serious enough to investigate in person. Scott and Lyle apparently volunteered to come with him.”