Friction. Part 11

"Norfolk, Virginia, Computer Crime Unit."

"Wait. You're not here to check up on me?"

"Why would I be?"

He didn't reply right away, unsure now of how much to tell her. This was an unexpected development, to say the least.

"So you had no idea who I was before we met?"

She looked down pointedly at the stack of photos in his hand. "I'm not sure I have any idea who you are right now. But no, and I repeat, why would I?"

He took another step into the room, aware that she was still guarded-an understatement, she was ready and apparently willing to kick his a.s.s, if need be-and crossed to the bed.

"Relax, Sarah. Let me explain."

Famous last words, her eyes seemed to accuse him, but she reluctantly closed the gap between them, pulling a chair up and sitting by the corner of the bed, a safe distance away. Her suspicion hurt, but he tried to get past that and consider how she must be feeling. It was probably a shock for her, to say the least, to discover that the man she'd taken as a lover had a stash of p.o.r.n in his dresser drawer. And if she was who she said she was, it was even worse. She thought he manufactured the garbage.

She threw the stack of photos to the bed, and they slid into an array of images sprawled over the bedspread, ending where he sat. Regarding him with hard eyes, she crossed her arms and legs. He almost smiled. In her robe she looked s.e.xy and tough, making him want to delve into her soft places yet again. But it was clear that wasn't going to happen, at least not at the moment.

"So, slick, go ahead. Explain."

"I wish you'd stop calling me that. And you said you were from Brooklyn. How is it that you end up being a cop from Norfolk?"

She just continued to stare at him, so he gave in. "Okay. Me first. See this woman?" He picked up one of the more debasing pictures and showed it to Sarah, trying to sound objective, debriefing her on the case like he would any other cop.

"Her name is Melanie Vincent. Detective Melanie Vincent." He stopped again, looking at the picture and seeing past the ugliness of it into Mel's sweet face, her strong face, the mouth that had often smiled at him, and swallowed hard. "She was my partner almost five years. We made detective at about the same time, worked together every day, and a lot of nights."

Sarah remained silent, but he felt the weight of her gaze upon him. He looked away from the picture, setting it back on the bed, and filled Sarah in on the rest of the story. Mel's troubles, the suspicions about her questionable behavior, her disappearance, the pictures, and what he saw as the betrayal of the department that had given up on finding her.

"Sounds like she had some serious problems. She's alive enough in those pictures-why do you think she did anything but go AWOL and find a new career for herself?

He felt every muscle in his body tighten in rage. "Do you have partners? A person or people you work with closely?"

She nodded.

"Do you know them? Really know them, trust them and feel confident when they've got your back?"

"Of course." She thought of Ian and E.J., who were closer to her than some of her own family.

"So would you be so willing to write them off if something similar happened?"

He had her there, he could see the understanding flicker in her eyes, but only for a second.

"Okay. So you're working on this solo? Why would they send you in alone?"

"It's a little more complicated than that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Leaning forward, she narrowed her gaze, focusing on him like a laser. He thought she must be h.e.l.l in an interrogation-but she'd said she was a computer cop, did they do interrogations? He'd only known feds in that field.

"Logan, in what capacity, exactly, are you working on this investigation?"

"I'm on my own-not exactly with the support of my department."

She didn't react, not overtly, but he saw the flicker in her eyes and she sat back.

"They don't know you're working on it?"

He s.h.i.+fted on the edge of the bed, his lips flattening in displeasure at having to explain. But in for a penny...

"This vacation was kind of an informal suspension. They wanted me to get my head together, forget about Mel, and I have one more chance to go back to my job. I was told if I touched the case again, so much as spoke about it, I was fired."

Sarah blew out a breath, obviously comprehending the spot he was in, and he didn't know if he should be thankful for that or not. At least she seemed to believe him, but would she turn him in?

"You were lovers? You and Detective Vincent?"

"No."

He couldn't tell if she believed him or not from her steady glance, but it was true. He and Melanie had never had anything romantic between them. It was all about the job. And the friends.h.i.+p.

"I want to make sure you're who you say you are. And from what you're telling me, I can't exactly call your department to double-check."

"I have my s.h.i.+eld, but you know anyone can pick one of those things up on online auctions-you're going to have to either trust me or turn me in."

He hoped desperately that she opted for the former.

"You're right. Okay, so how about you tell me about your investigation, what you have so far. Maybe I can help."

"Uh," he grunted, not quite sure what to say. Help? He hadn't expected that. And he wasn't sure he wanted her involved. This was his personal business. Letting her into this was like letting her into one of the deepest parts of his life, and, well, she was the woman he was sleeping with. He looked at her now, with fresh eyes, and yeah, he could see the cop, but he didn't want to.

He cared for her. He hadn't thought about that too deeply, but he knew she was more than a vacation fling.

He liked her, but enough to let her help him with his case? A strange sense of apprehension and protectiveness overcame him as he struggled for a response and found none. She saved him the effort.

"I saw the laptop-do you have records I could look at? How have you been...?" Awareness dawned on her features. "You're the one that's been hacking the inn's connection!"

"How'd you know that?"

She slanted a smug grin in his direction. "I shut you down, babe. It was smart of you to hook in at night when you thought it would go unnoticed, but you didn't count on the fact that Harry works on his books at night. He noticed his connection had slowed down, and had me look at it. I closed you out."

He put two and two together quickly, realizing she had been the source of his frustration that night. Now it was his turn to ask some questions.

"How long have you been on the force? What exactly is it you do? Were you a fed?"

She put her hands up to stem the flow. "Hey, whoa. You're the one going rogue here, so stop with the third degree. I really am just here on vacation."

"You want in on my investigation, you answer some questions." He could be stubborn, too, and he wasn't just going to let her have the upper hand that easily.

"You're pretty c.o.c.ky for a guy one phone call away from being fired."

"That won't stop me from working on the case, it would just make things a little harder." He shrugged, hoping she didn't call his bluff but refusing to take a subordinate position to her threats. "You want to make that call, you call."

She regarded him with grudging respect. "Fair enough. No, I wasn't a fed. I was a hacker."

"A criminal?"

"h.e.l.l, no. I won't say I never broke the law, but I functioned more as an informant to the feds, helping them get underground information on Internet p.o.r.nography operations." She smiled when she saw his surprise. "That's right, you're messing around in my playground, babe."

"So when did you join the force?"

"A little over a year ago. They were putting together a special unit, a high-level computer crime operation, an experimental thing. And they recruited me based on my work as an informant."

"You're a rookie? Jesus..." He slapped a hand to his head, looking shocked.

She was up and standing before him, looming and mad as h.e.l.l. Gorgeous as h.e.l.l. s.e.xy as all get out. "I am not not a rookie. There's no such thing as a rookie in our unit. I went through accelerated academy training, and I've never been a street cop, true, but we've brought down more sleaze in a year than most operations do in five. And I have more computer expertise than you can imagine-obviously, since I was able to shut you down." a rookie. There's no such thing as a rookie in our unit. I went through accelerated academy training, and I've never been a street cop, true, but we've brought down more sleaze in a year than most operations do in five. And I have more computer expertise than you can imagine-obviously, since I was able to shut you down."

"So you're a cop behind a desk, working on a computer?"

"No. Do you think we can arrest people by computer? That we do it over e-mail? Jeez, slick, don't be stupid." She pulled her robe to the side, exposing a length of perfect thigh, and indicated the bandage. "Not a biking accident like I told you. Sorry. I was chasing a perp and fell on some gla.s.s. Believe me, I can hold my own when I need to."

"I'm sure you can, but there's no way I'm letting you in on something this dangerous, Sarah."

When her eyes flashed with fresh temper, he took a chance and reached out, grabbed her hand and pulled her down beside him. She didn't resist his touch, which he took as an encouraging sign.

"Listen, as far as I know these women could be dead. There haven't been any new pictures on the Web site for a while-there's no evidence of it being more than a one- or two-time deal with each one. So what happened to them after the pictures were taken?"

"Maybe they were sent elsewhere? Sold? Put out on the streets in a foreign country?"

His stomach clenched at the thought. "Mel would have found a way out. Regardless of her problems, she wasn't that kind of person. If she could have gotten out, she would have."

"So you think she's dead." Sarah's voice softened slightly and she squeezed his hand. "I'm so sorry for that, Logan. But since you're all alone in this, you need me even more. If you are trying to track them down online, believe me, I can help you more than you can imagine. I have resources that-"

"No, I'm done with the computer searches. I'm taking it to their doorstep now."

"And where would that be?"

He wasn't about to tell her and she knew it, her full lips thinning.

"Listen, I can find out whatever you know, and faster than you did, believe me-you told me her name, and that's all I need. So I'm in on this-deal with it, or deal with your captain."

"You're blackmailing me?"

"Such an ugly word, but if that's how we have to play it, so be it. You are on your own, and you're looking at some pretty ugly crimes happening in my backyard."

Every muscle in his body tensed in response to her aggressive response, and he almost jumped back when she leaned in, slid her arms around his neck and pressed herself up against him. Was it only a few hours ago that they were lovers, and he was buried inside her, all of his secrets tightly kept? Where did this leave them? What were they now? Still lovers? Partners?

He didn't like it, but he slid his hands around to her back, unable to resist the softness of her body next to his. Confusion jammed his thoughts. These were dangerous people he was dealing with. He wasn't about to let Sarah end up as one of their victims, even indirectly.

"Just let me help, Logan."

"Why? You're on vacation, why would you want to get caught up in this mess?"

He pulled back, looked down into her face, softer now. She had feelings for him, too, he knew, though they'd have to sort all that out later. Maybe it was just s.e.x, but maybe not. There wasn't time to figure it out now. Still, it didn't stop his body from reacting to the closeness of hers, her warmth, her scent.... He saw her blue eyes melt as she put her hands on his shoulders.

"I couldn't care less about vacation. I hate being on vacation, and I would have found a way to go home the second day if I hadn't found you." The blurted confession made her suddenly uneasy, and her eyes s.h.i.+fted from his to the pictures on the bed. "This is my job. I want to help you. I want to help them. It's what I do. And I'm good at it-believe me."

He didn't say anything, just soaked up her earnestness and her beauty, emphasized by her real pa.s.sion for her work. He would bet she was excellent at her job, but that didn't mean he was going to take advantage. This was his fight, Melanie was his friend.

And Sarah was...well, she was not the right person to be working on this with him, for a lot of reasons. The fact the he was hard for her right this minute, sitting here beside her, struggling because all he wanted to do was push her back and slip inside her, was among the chief reasons working together was not a stellar idea.

"I don't think we should work together, Sarah. It's just not a good idea."

"I told you, it's not really your choice. I can help you wrap this up quickly. Let me in, tell me what you know. What you have planned."

He hesitated, knowing that his next words were going to come between them like a large, cold wall, but that was how it had to be for now.

"No. I can't do that. I don't want you involved in this."

"Too bad."

Now she was just p.i.s.sing him off, on top of arousing the h.e.l.l out of him.

"This is my fight, Sarah. My case. My friend, my research, my time into it. My risk with my job. It's nothing to do with you."

She didn't respond, but he could see her chest expanding and contracting more quickly beneath the sheer robe-he'd gotten her goat, too. He expected her to go head-to-head, and he braced himself, but then she surprised him, her voice so soft he had to strain to hear.

"There's another reason I do this. Another reason I want to help. It's important to me, in a very personal way."

"How could it be? You didn't know them."

She turned away, walking away from him to look out the window that offered a view of the quiet street below. He didn't follow, but just waited for her to speak, unsure what to expect.

"Because I've been there. Where those women are. Used, exposed. Humiliated. Just like that."

She couldn't have shocked him more, and he did stand, jumping to his feet, and then hesitated, unsure whether he should hold her or leave her be, too many responses flying into his head for him to articulate one before she continued. He stood his ground, listening.

"I was in college, in love, everything was perfect. I'd had a hard time convincing my family to let me go to a regular school-they wanted me in a faith-based college or a women's school, but I wanted to study computer science, and MIT was the best offer I had."

"You were at MIT?" He was impressed, not that he felt his Penn State education was anything to sneeze at. But MIT was, well, MIT.

She nodded, taking a deep breath, her face impa.s.sive.

"For two years. Top of my cla.s.s, proving to everyone, including my family, that I could make it on my own, excel in my field." She wrapped her arms tightly around herself. "Then I met Guy, and everything seemed even more perfect. A total computer G.o.d, handsome, funny and apparently nuts about me."

"I find that easy to believe."

She smiled, but just a little. "Yeah, I did, too. Too easy. I thought we were in love, so I slept with him."

"Your first?"