Page 32 of Tiger on the Prowl

Something in his words made her suspicious. “What does he mean by take care of him?” She looked the blond guy up and down, and noticed that his beard didn’t look all that natural either. “We have to call the police to get him arrested. He tried to kill my sister.” And perhaps Timothy too.

“We can’t do that,” the blond guy said.

“But I saw it all. I can testify. He’ll go down for attempted murder.”

“We can’t go to the police,” Jay said. “Nobody can know that we were here today—”

“But you’re heroes. You saved my sister, and who knows how many others he would have shot.”

“Olivia, you must believe me when I tell you that we can’t go to the police. Yan—my friend and I can’t go to the authorities. We have to do this our way.”

She gasped. “You’re wanted by the police.”

Jay shrugged. “Not by the police, no. But if the police have us on their radar, soon our enemies will too.” He addressed his partner, “Make sure this scumbag knows we’ll kill him if he ever comes anywhere near Grace’s family again.”

“Not a problem. I’ll make sure to pound it into him, so he won’t forget it anytime soon.” The blond guy slid the side door of the van closed. “Be careful.”

Jay nodded, then turned fully to her, while his eyes roamed their surroundings as if checking to see if anybody was watching them. “I wish you hadn’t recognized me. I had no intention of spoiling this day for you. But since you saw what happened, I owe you an explanation. But we can’t be anywhere in public. Nobody must overhear us.”

Olivia nodded. “I have a room in the hotel. We can go there to talk.” She turned toward the service entrance, but Jay stopped her.

“We’ll go in the other entrance.” Then he shrugged out of the tuxedo jacket he wore and tossed it behind a bush, loosened his bow tie and rid himself of it too. “It’s best if we look like a couple. We’ll blend in more easily. You mind?”

He reached for her hand, and she took it. It reminded her of the evening when he’d walked her home from the restaurant. Was it stupid of her to allow this? To invite him to her hotel room where they would be alone, and where nobody would come to her aid if she needed it? At the same time she recalled the moment when she’d noticed the gun in Dirk’s hand. There was no doubt in her mind that Grace’s stalker had planned to kill the bride and groom. And Jay and his partner had prevented the tragedy. She owed him her gratitude for this heroic action. If he really meant her any harm, he could have tossed her in the van with Dirk, and driven off with his partner, without anybody noticing.

When they reached the elevators, Olivia looked up at him. Who was Jay really? A thief for hire? A reluctant hero? Or something else altogether? Because for sure he wasn’t some meek yoga instructor. The way he’d acted only minutes earlier was evidence that his training was rooted in something else. Military, if she had to guess, since he denied being in law enforcement. Still, nothing that she’d seen today explained why he had searched her cottage. That act didn’t fit at all with what had happened today. But she wouldn’t stop asking questions until she had all the answers she needed to determine if Jay was worth caring about. Because she still cared about him, despite him betraying her trust.

16

Smith emerged from behind a large planter in the foyer of the hotel, which he’d used to hide behind so the man he’d spotted walking toward the elevator in the company of the bride’s sister, didn’t spot him. He’d stepped out of the ballroom to make a phone call after the bride and groom had danced with the bride’s parents, and then invited other guests to join them on the dance floor. Smith wasn’t interested in dancing. Dancing was something for happy people. And he wasn’t happy.

Jones was breathing down his neck about the slow progress of their plan. Even though Smith was doing everything to get the new facility up and running after the ex-Stargate agents had blown up the old facility, progress crept along at a snail’s pace. It hadn’t helped that one of their key scientists had been killed during the attack, together with several of the supporting personnel, though those were easily replaceable. The head scientist was not. And Smith’s own expertise didn’t extend into neurological science.

At least, he’d been able to save the brain scans they’d already undertaken, and Smith had fed the data into the prototype that would soon be a fully functioning quantum computer. However, the computer would only be as good as the data it received, which meant more data was needed. More former Stargate agents were needed. He had to extract that data from their brains that was responsible for their precognitive skills, that part of their brain that gave them their gift of foresight.

Once sufficient quantities of good data were fed into the computer, artificial intelligence would take over and create a machine that would be able to precisely predict future world events. And whoever held the power of knowing the future in his hands would indeed be omnipotent, and rule not just the United States, but the world.

For now, he had to keep Jones happy, because without Jones’s money and influence, the project would be dead on arrival. He would deal with Jones later. The only obstacle between him and that power were the members of the top-secret Stargate program. Their very gift was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because it enabled Smith to harness their powers, and a curse, because at any time they could have premonitions that would reveal all of Smith’s plans. They knew too much already. Tiger, the agent they’d rescued before Smith’s people had been able to complete the brain scan, had witnessed too much. Some of his secrets were out, and he could only hope that he’d remain a step ahead of them.

Smith glanced at the closing elevator doors. The tall black man with the goatee, the full hair, and the glasses, holding the hand of the bride’s sister, had something familiar about him. It took only a couple of seconds, before he realized why. This was Jay Garner, ex-CIA Stargate agent, Code Name Tiger, the man who over two weeks ago had lain on a gurney about to have his brain scanned, when several ex-Stargate agents had rushed in, killed everybody, and saved Tiger. And here he was, holding hands with Olivia Morikawa, the maid of honor. What were the odds?

By the looks of it, Tiger was in a relationship with Olivia, or why else would they be holding hands and sneaking away from the wedding reception, no doubt heading to a room? He hadn’t seen Tiger at the ceremony, nor the cocktail reception in the garden, or the dinner earlier. It appeared he wasn’t an invited guest, otherwise he would have been there earlier and sat next to his date.

It wasn’t hard to guess why he hadn’t joined the party: he couldn’t risk attending such a large event, particularly not in a place like Washington D.C. where he could be recognized by anybody connected to the CIA. He had to sneak around to see his girlfriend. And while his disguise was good, and most people wouldn’t have realized who was hiding beneath the fake beard, hair, and glasses, Smith was familiar with all kinds of disguises and trained in spotting a fake beard from a distance.

He almost chuckled to himself. Tiger would lead him to the other agents, who were clearly harboring him somewhere. And then he’d get them all. It would be child’s play. Soon, they would all be strapped to a gurney, and this time, Smith would drain every last brainwave from them. And to punish those bastards for messing with his plans, he’d make them watch when he killed the women helping them. Payback was a bitch.

“There you are.”

He turned to the female voice behind him, and saw Evelyn approach. She looked stunning in her long silver dress, despite her age. At fifty-nine she was still beautiful and slim, but he was getting tired of her. Sleeping with her was boring, though luckily, she didn’t initiate sex very often, and he had too many more important things on his mind to care. For now, she provided him with what he sought most: connections and respectability. Soon, he wouldn’t need any of it anymore, and then he would trade her in for somebody more suitable for a man with power.

He pasted a smile on his face. “Yes, dear?”

“I was looking for you. You promised to dance with me. What were you doing?”

“Apologies, I just had to take a call from the office.”

“Everything all right?”

“Nothing to worry about.” He took her hand. “Now, how about that dance?”