SeductiveTracks (13 page)

She felt blessed.

After emptying the sink and scrubbing the basin clean, she
pulled off her gloves and watched as Matt continued to dry and stack the last
few dishes. He looked so at ease with the task, yet at the same time so
masculine. He placed the final pieces of their cutlery away in the drawer, then
turned and leaned back against the sink as he slung the dishcloth over his
shoulder.

“Mmm,” she murmured, desire evident in her thick tone. “You
look so domestic and yet still so manly. It’s rather a turn-on.”

Her hands went to his belt buckle and undid it. A buzzer
sounded from the living room and they both froze as if caught in the headlights
of an oncoming truck. After the brief sound, silence rang through the apartment
and they breathed heavily as if they had been running a marathon.

Kelly raised her eyes to meet Matt’s as surprise and a
tingle of fear made a staccato beat in her chest.

“Did you tell anyone you’d be here?” she whispered, as if
someone could overhear their words. He shook his head without a word and
reached a hand down to his hip as if to pull a gun from a holster. Alarm had
Kelly’s eyebrows rising high. Matt cursed.

“Damn, that was weird,” he commented. “I’ve carried a gun
twice in the last month, and neither time did I even think to draw it. I’ve
never carried a weapon in my entire career before that, yet my first instinct
in protecting you here and now was to pull a firearm I generally loathe. It’s
telling.”

Kelly pressed a soft kiss to Matt’s lips and caressed his
jaw.

“Well I’ve never carried a gun, and have no plans ever to do
so,” she insisted. “If I’m going to need to do that in order to join or be a
part of your crew, I can tell you right now that hell will freeze over first. I
have never been violent before in my life and I have no desire to start any
time soon.”

Matt squeezed her shoulder and nodded his understanding.

“I’m surprised myself by how aggressive I feel when it comes
to protecting you, babe,” he assured her. “I’ve never fired a weapon of any
kind outside the practice range.”

The buzzer sounded again and the sharp, repeated rings
conveyed impatience this time. Kelly left the kitchen and she noticed that Matt
followed her into the living room as she went to the intercom to press the
button.

“Hello?” she said, thinking how stupid she would feel if it
was just some over-eager Saturday salesperson wanting to sell her a new deal on
her cable or with a discount offer from the local Indian restaurant or
pizzeria.

A feminine and familiar voice sounded over the intercom.
“Kelly, you can’t possibly still be in bed. It’s after one! I got your email
and tried to contact you, but when you weren’t online after a couple of hours I
started wondering if something had happened. I was visiting some clients and
was in the neighborhood and thought I’d check and see if you were in. Can I
come up, please?”

Kelly had by now placed the voice as Melissa’s, and a tiny
shot of panic raced through her. She threw a cautious glance over her shoulder
to see Matt intrigued but smiling at her, and decided Melissa was a big girl
and could make her own decisions.

“You’re welcome to come up, but I have a guest,” she warned
her friend. She winced at her words and the brief moment of obvious stunned
surprise from Melissa’s end.

“Business or pleasure?” she asked. Kelly made a face at the
intercom, glad Melissa couldn’t see. Of course, the intelligent witch could
probably guess exactly what she had just done if she thought about it.

“Both,” she admitted after a pause. “Matt is the one who
came and told me about the things my email explained. He’s working on a joint
Enforcer and police crew looking into this partial antidote.”

“I’ve heard about that team,” Melissa replied. Her tone
clearly conveyed her feelings, though Kelly didn’t think Matt would be able to
hear the inflection. To her, the witch sounded torn between curiosity and
caution. Kelly waited as her friend presumably explored her own thoughts and
reached a decision.

“I’d still like to talk to you about it, though I don’t have
any actual information to divulge,” Melissa said. Kelly smiled, relieved. Her
friend had decided to throw her lot in with them.

“Come on up,” she invited and buzzed her through.

She opened the door a few seconds after Melissa knocked,
having waited for her friend to climb the stairs to the door. Tall, leggy and
blonde, with a voluptuous figure men drooled over, Melissa appeared the epitome
of “blonde bombshell”. Most men became intimidated when they realized that, far
from being stupid or vapid, Melissa had a sharp, keen mind behind the blonde
goddess’ body.

Women, Kelly figured, tended to be put off by Melissa’s
beauty and didn’t bother to learn about the funny, smart, sensitive witch
beneath the gorgeous exterior. One afternoon Kelly and Liv had been discussing
Melissa’s seeming solitude. They’d decided Melissa had been isolated growing up
by the fact that her skills were so exotic. Added to that, her training and
interests ran the gamut. Only a few people, such as Kelly, knew Melissa’s
knowledge diverged further away from the already unusual repertoire represented
in the magical community.

Kelly had always had Liv by her side, even when her
interests had turned to things more politely phrased as “other”. Melissa, from
all she could tell, had never had a friend like that growing up. The two witches
had met through mutual client contacts on the shadier side of their respective
businesses, and as a fragile friendship had blossomed between them, Kelly had
decided one day on impulse to introduce the blonde to Liv.

The three women had been friendly and warm ever since,
though Melissa still kept a distance between herself and Liv. Despite that,
both Melissa and Kelly knew they could rely on each in a crunch and with each
meeting their friendship solidified.

The two witches embraced as Melissa walked through the door
and shared a brief, chaste kiss cheek to cheek. Kelly closed the door behind
Melissa.

Kelly introduced them to one another. “Mel, this is Matt.”
Matt came over and shook Melissa’s hand, seeming curious about her. Melissa
eyed Matt and turned to give Kelly a
look,
clearly indicating her
approval of his physical appearance at least.

“Melissa is a friend of mine,” Kelly continued, hoping she
wasn’t blushing. “She works in a corporate office with all sorts of people
passing through. She often knows about all sorts of things before I even hear
an inkling of them happening. Matt, like I told you, works for the Enforcers as
a Tracker.”

Sharp blue eyes probed Kelly as Melissa shot her a surprised
look. With a slight sinking of her stomach, she realized she should have warned
her friend more clearly about Matt’s particular talent, but it was too late
now. Besides, Matt was a good guy and Melissa was one of the best Assassins
Kelly had ever come across. The blonde was as good at leaving no evidence behind
as she was, so hopefully no problems would ever arise.

“Well, it’s a pleasure to finally find Kelly with a man
worthy of her,” Melissa said in her cool British tones.

Having spent five years in the United Kingdom in her late
teens, winning award after award for her hunting and shooting skills even after
she returned home to the States, Melissa had never been able to throw the
slight accent she had picked up. The more formal she became in her speech the
more strongly the accent came through. Kelly had come to recognize it as a sign
either of nerves or of reserve from her friend.

“I don’t know about worthy,” Matt replied with a small,
intimate smile to Kelly that made her heart and stomach flutter. “She’s the
most amazing witch I’ve ever come across, though, that’s for sure.”

“Good answer,” Melissa replied and grinned. “There aren’t
many women around whom I consider friends. Kelly is one of them and I would be
most…
displeased
to find someone had broken her heart.”

Kelly flushed and walked over to Matt and wrapped her arm
around his waist to hug him close.

“That’s not going to happen, Mel,” she assured her friend.
Matt pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Matt is one of the good guys.”

“Yes,” Melissa mused with a wicked smile, her accent
deepening. “That was what I was afraid of.”

Kelly threw her head back and laughed, more than
understanding the blonde’s reserve in that regard, as it mimicked her own
worries of the previous day. With a final squeeze of Matt’s side, she unwound
her arm and went to Melissa and touched her shoulder.

“I can’t even begin to explain it,” she said, not wanting to
gush or dwell in front of Matt and feed his ego. “But trust me, with a good
man, it’s…intoxicating.”

“Dangerous,” Melissa countered with a slight gleam of hunger
and curiosity in her keen blue eyes. Kelly laughed and agreed, knowing it was
the danger that tempted Melissa, not Matt himself.

“To a degree,” she said. “Tempting and tantalizing,
absolutely. But despite appearances, I’m sure you didn’t come here to talk
about my newfound romantic life. Would you like some tea? Or there might still
be coffee left in the pot from our brunch.”

“I’ll be fine with a glass of water,” Melissa replied,
relinquishing the topic with visible reluctance. “I honestly can’t stay long
anyway. Something personal has come up. Like I said, I was just a few blocks
away and as I had been thinking about your email for much of the morning and
hadn’t been able to make contact, I decided to just slip by on my way back to
the office.”

“A case?” Kelly replied, curious. “Anything I can help you
with? Backgrounds? Research?”

Melissa’s eyes flickered for a second to where Matt stood
before she shook her head. The glance had been so brief that Kelly couldn’t
even have sworn her friend had looked at him, but that had been the impression
she’d got.

Sadness shone for a moment deep in Melissa’s eyes. Kelly got
the feeling her friend would have liked to say something about it, but didn’t
feel quite comfortable enough to do it in front of Matt. The moment was over
less than a second later and Kelly didn’t want to push.

“Oh, no, but thank you for the offer—I’ll definitely keep it
in mind. Right now I’m not even certain it’s anything at all, let alone
something for you to get involved in. Just idle speculation on my part. No,
it’s your case I’m here to speak with you about,” Melissa assured her. Kelly
decided to let it go for now, knowing how private Melissa could be about
certain things.

Besides, that brief glance at Matt had also warned her that
the case was connected to something regarding her Assassin network and not her
regular day job. Melissa held a public job in an acquisitions firm as one of
their biggest sharks. With her curvy body and blonde good looks, it took many
corporate executives too long to realize that the teeth she hid were as deadly
as any of her other skills. Most didn’t even realize what had happened until
after the dust had settled.

“I’ll get you that water, Mel, have a seat,” Kelly said and
headed into the kitchen.

She returned a minute later with another cup of coffee for
Matt and a tall glass of chilled water for Melissa. They sat down around her
coffee table, Melissa on the overstuffed chair and Kelly and Matt side by side
on the couch.

After a few sips of water, Melissa placed it on the wooden
table and spoke again.

“I’ve heard quite a bit about this drug, Jolt,” she began,
“but I haven’t heard much about the antidote, though that doesn’t surprise me.
From what I’ve heard about the essence drugs, any modifications and supplements
would be worth their weight in gold, regardless of how temporary or rudimentary
they might prove to be.”

“Even if it was only for a few short months?” Matthias
clarified, looking surprised. Melissa nodded.

“Oh yes—many business entrepreneurs in this area want
something they can basically put their money into, see immediate and large
returns and a brief matter of months or even weeks later pull their money back
out with a fat profit and no more worries,” she explained.

“Just think about it—CEOs wanting to spice up their portfolios
a little,” Melissa continued. “Or investors who need a large injection of cash
silently and in a hurry. All these sorts of people will see this as a perfect
opportunity. And even though most of them will very likely sweat about their
involvement for every minute they’re a part of it, having it so very short term
with such high yields will keep them as one-time investors. That will also make
them next to impossible for the Enforcers to Track, or for any Tribunal to
prove anything one way or the other. It’s nearly perfect from every
perspective.”

“But surely there would be plenty of people who’d know when
these kinds of wizards were putting their money into the deals?” Kelly asked,
unable to believe that law-abiding men and women would be able to keep such a
thing secret, especially if the yields were so high.

“Oh sure, and chances are good I’ll hear about it through
the grapevine sooner rather than later,” Melissa agreed. “But you’re talking
about practically the death of the drug. Once antidotes start circulating, even
if they’re only partial ones like you’ve described, the end is nigh. Certainly
a handful of people will continue to mine money as the death throes start,
especially if the Enforcers and their labs are already all over the drug, which
seems to be the case.”

“Could you put out feelers?” Kelly asked. “Maybe send word
around you’d be interested in investing? See if anyone contacts you?”

Melissa thought about it for a minute, then nodded.

“I wouldn’t want to do it publicly myself—my name is too well
known,” she replied. “But I have a few…alternate sources that I can have put
their hand up and offer to invest. I’ll definitely give it a try.”