An Act of Persuasion - By Stephanie Doyle Page 0,19

when Mark’s routine searches into Ben’s employees turned up a résumé on a job search site from one Anna Summers, he knew he’d hit pay dirt. The ultimate steal. Anna wasn’t just some woman Ben showed interest in, she had been his trusted assistant for six years. Six years. As far as Mark knew this was the most committed and long-term relationship Ben had ever had with a woman besides his mother.

But as intriguing as competing with Ben in the private sector might be, the reality was Mark had much more personal reasons for making Philadelphia his home.

Helen’s death had decided everything.

“He knows I’m working for you.” Anna’s announcement brought Mark back to the present.

He grimaced, recognizing how futile the hope to keep his presence in the city under wraps awhile longer had been. “How did he find out?”

“I told him.” She said it as if she didn’t understand why he might care.

It figured Anna would confess. She was too bone-deep loyal to not be up front with the fact that she was working for the man who confessed to be Ben’s competition. Mark had liked having the upper hand for a time, had liked being in the city covertly, but now that was over.

Since hanging up his private investigator shingle, Mark had solved a few small-profile cases, but nothing that would have registered enough attention to attract Ben’s notice. Now that notice would be notched up to full-alert mode. “I’ll go out on a limb and say he wasn’t happy to learn you’re working for me.”

One didn’t need to be a good detective to know how Ben would react to the news that Anna was now in Mark’s clutches...employment.

“Correct. He insisted I quit and said you were dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” It was silly, but the idea that Ben considered him enough of a threat to call him dangerous was flattering. Someday, Mark would really need to let Ben know what their rivalry was all about. Then he would see that Mark wasn’t the enemy. Mark actually respected the hell out of his old section chief. Ben was the guy Mark wanted to be when he grew up. If he ever did.

But he didn’t plan on sharing that information anytime soon. At least not until after he’d watched Ben go crazy with the idea that Anna worked for Mark.

“This was yesterday?” he asked.

“No, the night before at the party.”

Surprising, he hadn’t already heard from Ben. Maybe because he had a few other things on his mind right now. Like being told he was about to become a daddy. It was enough to shake any man up.

Which meant he’d seek out Mark today.

Home or workplace?

Workplace, Mark concluded. Kept things less personal.

During the day or after work?

After work. After Anna had left because Ben wouldn’t want her to see him confronting Mark directly. Hell, Ben was probably scouting the building now.

First he would figure out where Mark had rented office space. Child’s play for a professional of Ben’s caliber. Then he would locate the building and determine the layout of the parking garage. Posing as someone interested in renting an office, he would ask at the security desk in the lobby if parking spaces were reserved for leaseholders or open to the general public.

He would learn that only a few select spots were marked for the executives in some of the higher-rent offices. Which meant he would spend some time finding Anna’s car amongst the five parking levels beneath the building. Once he found it, he would tag it with an electronic device to monitor her movements and alert him when she’d left the building. Or, if performing such an act as a civilian left him feeling squeamish with guilt, Ben would simply locate a discreet place from which he could watch her car unseen and wait for her to drive away.

He would—correctly—assume that Mark would remain in his office after normal business hours, because he knew the only thing Mark ever cared about was his job and he dedicated nearly every waking moment to it. Starting a new business would only make his work ethic even more stringent.

None of this Mark would share with Anna, of course. No, this was just a little game between former spies. Still, he wondered...how well did she know Ben? She had been with him for six years, after all.

“He’ll come for you, you know. Probably tonight after I leave,” she said matter-of-factly.

Yeah, his Anna was no fool. “Yep, he will. Worried he might sway me and I’ll