Till Death: Deep Six Security Series Book 1 Read online

  “Oh, I haven’t told anyone,” Jenna replied.

  Susan sighed, picked up the pack of cigarettes by the ashtray and shook one out. She looked at it, crumbled it in her fist and threw it into the ashtray. “Just go to class, Jenna, and enjoy your friends. Be a kid while you can. I promise you that you’re not going to like it once you graduate and get into the real world.”

  “A couple of my friends are involved with the project too. It’s only for the upper-tier girls here. The program is very selective.”

  She sounded so damned excited, Susan couldn’t make herself put her foot down. Not that it sounded like it would matter one bit if she did. “Okay, but if it interferes with your regular school work, you have to promise me you’ll quit.”

  “Promise!” Jenna squealed like she was thirteen again. Susan almost wished she was, because then she could tell her sister exactly what she needed to do.

  “Once I find another job, I’ll get your tuition caught up. I don’t want you worrying.” Like I am twenty-four hours a day. The education fund she’d set up for Jenna from her parent’s life insurance money was almost depleted, and it looked like she wasn’t going to have an easy time finding another job. Certainly not as easy as she thought she’d have. Her so-called friends in the business were not returning her calls. It was quickly becoming obvious that since she wasn’t useful to them anymore, they had no use for her.

  Susan reminded herself yet again, she had no friends. Only former business associates, and acquaintances. But stupidly, she still held out hope that one of them would call and offer her a job when they found out she was a free agent. It had been ten days since she left the agency, and she started her job hunt ten minutes after she’d walked out of the federal building, and she had zero prospects in the hopper.

  On her way home from the dojo last night, she thought of one person she hadn’t contacted yet. Dave Logan, the mysterious and tight-lipped owner of Deep Six Security. The more she thought about the situation, the more she realized her path out of the front door of the federal building was marked by his footsteps inside to her office.

  The reason she had to leave was because that man climbed on her back to make himself a name in the security and private investigations business. Dave Logan rushed headlong into her investigations and solved them before she could even get through the government red tape, which devalued her stock with her bosses at the agency.

  The last few cases of hers that he’d been involved with, he ended up smelling like a rose, and she smelled like the stuff used to fertilize the rose bed. Like their last operation, which involved a corrupt state Senator. His unauthorized side operation had produced the desired arrest, but he’d failed to include her in even though she’d given him inside information, made her look incompetent for not knowing about it or participating. Add in the cluster fuck that happened at the Diamond Bar Ranch with Carlos Ramos being shot by a man she had released from prison to assist in the investigation, and she had a goat fuck to her credit. Carlos was a hero, Dave Logan was a savior, and she was fertilizer.

  Deep Six Security was only the best in the private investigation business in Texas because of her cooperation, so Dave Logan owed her, and he was going to pay up. Today, right after she finished her workout to make sure she didn’t climb over his desk and kill him. Her ex-boyfriend Carlos was damned lucky she was going to the dojo daily to work out her frustrations too.

  “Sue?” Jenna asked, startling her.

  “Yeah, sorry—I was daydreaming.” Of killing two men who betrayed me in the worst possible way, even while wearing a smile.

  “Don’t worry—I’ve got this, Sue. Just take your time and find your dream job.”

  Dream job? Since Susan felt like she was living in a nightmare, that’s probably the only kind of job she was likely to find. And she’d taken all the time she could. She needed a job, and would take whatever she could find, and Dave Logan was going to give her one.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Line one on his phone rang, and Dave stared at the red flashing button a moment before he picked up the receiver just as line two chirped. He growled a half-ass greeting to the first caller, pushed the hold button to answer line two, and his foot slammed into the heaping box of unfiled papers under his desk. A rustling of sheaves preceded a landslide of paper around his boots.

  Stabbing the hold button again, Dave slammed the receiver into the cradle. “Slade! Carmen is on line two! And get line one when you’re done!” he shouted.

  He might not have to yell, if he had time to schedule the meeting for Dex to explain the stupid new digital phone system that included everything except a digital asswipe, which they didn’t need. The old analog phones had been just fine. And at least they didn’t require an advanced degree to use them. Dave didn’t know why he’d approved that purchase.

  If he hadn’t maybe he could afford what they really did need, a team secretary, he thought as he dropped to his knees and shuffled the scattered papers into a stack. They either needed a secretary, or he needed a box of matches and a burn can out back.

  Lifting up, he whacked the back of his skull on the lower edge of the desk and stars danced behind his eyelids, as the papers slid out of hands. “Fuck this,” he grumbled as he rubbed the back of his head.

  “Funny, that’s exactly what I said to my boss, before I walked out,” a raspy, somewhat smug female voice said from the doorway of his office.

  A cold chill sliced down Dave’s spine as he crawfished out from under the desk. He knew who the owner of that voice was before he met her eyes. Susan Whitmore stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips, legs spread dressed in a white martial arts gi with a black belt, which sported two red bars at the trailing edge. The tall, angry blonde looked ready to kick someone’s ass, probably his, he thought, as he stood, and sat in his chair. Dave knew from witnessing it firsthand, she was more than capable of doing it too.

  “You here to kick my ass?” Dave asked, scooting his chair up to his desk. He pointed toward the outer office. “If so, the line forms out there.” He didn’t have time for her today.

  Susan’s jaw tightened and her eyebrow lifted. “Trust me, I’d love nothing better. But if I kicked your ass you wouldn’t be around to give me the job you owe me, would you?”

  “I owe you a job?” Dave asked with a hoot. “How do you figure that?”

  Susan Whitmore seated herself in the chair across from his desk, and crossed her arms over her chest. The vee at the neckline of her gi separated to show surprisingly ample flesh pushing over the low-cut tank top underneath. Dave had never even noticed she had breasts in those ugly black suits she wore at the agency. If she knew he was noticing now, she probably would kick his ass. Hell, he wanted to kick his own.

  With a shake of his head, Dave dragged his eyes to hers, as he scooted his chair closer to his desk. He slammed his feet down on top of the mound of paperwork under there. “You have five minutes to explain yourself. I’m busy,” he said gruffly, tenting his fingers on his desk.

  “I’ve had nothing but time to think about it. It’s partially your fault I had to leave the agency. I let you get involved in several of my operations, cooperated with your little sidebar investigations, and I gave you just enough rope to hang me. Senator Allison Rooks and others gave you credit for my takedowns. Of course you didn’t correct them, or mention my involvement at all. No, you cozied up to them, took credit that was mine to make yourself look good, and left me with credit for the fuckups. Nicely played, Logan. Congratulations on your success. I was glad to be a part of it, but now you owe me a job.”

  The hair on the back of Dave’s neck raised along with his anger. Susan had done a lot of thinking alright, but as usual the Barracuda was still blind to her own shortcomings, which led to her damaged reputation at the bureau. That had absolutely nothing to do with him, and everything to do with her abrasive personality. Dave usually held his tongue around her as much as possible to avoid confrontation, but right now a little plain talking w
as in order to wake her up to a few facts she’d evidently overlooked. He doubted anyone else ever dared to clue her in, but he was about to do just that.

  “I appreciated your cooperation at the agency, Susan, and I would have been the first to sing your praises at the federal building, but by the time we finished an investigation most of the people involved in the case were usually ready to kill you for one reason or another. I kept my opinions to myself and my mouth shut. If you had done that a time or two, you might still be there. Listening is a powerful tool to use sometimes. A lot more effective than a mouth loaded for bear.” Dave stopped to take a few calming breaths, then shook his head. “For a self-proclaimed genius you’re pretty dense sometimes, Susan. Social clues that should tell you to back off are a mystery to you. You miss those and charge right into that buzzsaw without a second thought, because yours are the only opinions that matter, right? You have the market cornered on brains and everyone else is an idiot.” He laughed, and leaned back in his chair to tent his fingers across his middle. “Well, I hate to break it to you, Susan, that is not always the case. That kind of attitude does not make for a good team leader or a supervisor. They should have fired you long before you quit. I would have.”

  Dave just watched her for a second, as her face twisted comically in her effort to remain silent. He could see in her eyes it was killing her to keep quiet. Having her squirming in his hot seat this time felt damned good.

  “I did nothing to damage your reputation, Susan. You did that all on your own. You also chose to quit your job all on your own, and I’m sure there aren’t a lot of tears over at the federal building about you leaving. None of this is my fault.”

  Susan dragged her eyes away, and her voice was a little defeated as she said, “I quit because my supervisor expected me to play second fiddle on a new op to a man I hired and trained. I was basically demoted, because the bureau chief has no faith in me now.”

  “Again—not my fault,” Dave repeated.

  Her eyes flew back to his, and were filled with anger. “It is your fault! I was demoted because of the Diamond Bar fuckup. If you’d have just stayed out of that operation, I wouldn’t be in this situation. Ronnie Winters only asked you for information, not to get involved. But before I could blink you were knee deep in my op. You teamed up with Trace Rooks, a man I got out of jail to help me with the operation!” she said, stabbing a finger into her chest. Her chest was heaving as she finished, “He killed a man I needed information from to finish my investigation, and injured two of my agents, one seriously. The finale you two pulled off at the Rooks mansion was just the cherry on the cake. You should have called me that night instead of taking things into your own hands.”

  She had a point there. “Trace Rooks—”

  “Was a convicted felon on the run,” Susan finished shortly. “You aided and abetted him, and interfered in a federal investigation.” Hot blue fire shot across the distance between them, as she pointed a finger at him. “I should have arrested your ass when I had the chance. I trusted you, and you sold me out.”

  “I didn’t sell you out,” Dave argued, leaning further back in his chair. He’d given this woman as much as she’d given him during investigations. “You got information from me for your investigations too. It was a win-win arrangement.”

  “For you maybe. Senator Rooks can’t sing your praises high enough these days. According to her, you broke the whole crime ring out at the Diamond Bar Ranch wide open single-handedly. The only credit I got was getting Trace Rooks out of jail to fuck things up.” Susan huffed a breath and leaned back in her chair, looking a little dejected and a lot frustrated. “You should apply for my job, I’m sure she’d make sure you were hired.”

  “They couldn’t pay me enough,” Dave replied, and something very much like pity tickled his gut. It was a feeling he never expected to have for the woman sitting across from him. Ever. But no matter how rough around the edges she was, Susan did care about her job and was always on the side of justice. “You were right to get Trace out of jail. He wasn’t guilty.”

  She shrugged. “He was a convicted murderer and I got him out of jail to beat up one of my agents and steal his gun to shoot another. Whether it was accidental or not, I wouldn’t have confidence in my ability to manage an op anymore either.”

  It was obvious that was exactly her problem right then. The bravado that always came with Susan Whitmore was gone after her verbal explosion. The woman who sat before him now had an air of defeat around her that strangely made him want to comfort her. Somehow he knew that would be a mistake. A big mistake. Susan wasn’t a typical woman, someone who wanted comfort when she was upset. What she wanted was a job.

  His foot slid off of the mountain of paper under his desk and an idea hit him. No way was he going to do it. Dave was not going to hire her.

  “Now, I don’t know how I’m going to continue to pay my sister’s tuition,” she said, and her full lips turned down at the corners and wobbled.

  Dave’s heart did the same, and he mentally shoved a fist into it. He was not going to ask, absolutely did not want to know about her personal life. But his mouth opened, and he asked, “You have a sister?”

  “Yeah, Jenna is twenty-three, and still in college.”

  “Can’t she work to pay for her own schooling?” Dave joined the military to pay for his education. Why Susan had taken on covering her sister’s tuition was a mystery. And that was a helluva age difference between twenty-three and thirty-six. With thirteen years between her and her sister, Susan could almost be her mother. It’s funny how little he knew about Susan Whitmore and they’d worked together indirectly for six years. But in his defense, she was not an easy woman to get to know, or to want to get to know.

  “I’m sure she would if she wasn’t buried in schoolwork,” Susan replied, with a roll of her blue eyes. “Jenna is halfway through her advanced degree in science at a private residential college for intellectually gifted women. It’s not cheap, but there are others like her there, so it’s the best place for her. She fits in and is normal there. Jenna won’t have to take the crap that I put up with during school. I’m hoping she graduates a little more socially well-adjusted than I did.”

  Yeah, being as smart as Einstein had to be tough, Dave thought, sarcastically. He’d had to study his ass off to graduate, while she probably ate bon bons in her dorm room. How could being smart have made things harder for either one of them?

  Evidently it did though, if the frown pinching her eyebrows together was any indication. “If she’s that smart aren’t there scholarships or financial aid she could get? Or a less expensive school? What about your parents?” he asked.

  Susan dragged her eyes down to her hands, which were resting in her lap. “My parents are dead, and the college she’s going to offers very little financial aid. I took on responsibility for her when they died in a car crash when she was thirteen.” Susan shrugged, and let out a long-winded sigh. “I’m hoping maybe she’ll be able to teach there once she graduates in a few years. She’s majoring in forensic science to follow in the family footsteps. I really don’t want her anywhere near law enforcement. As smart as she is, Jenna is very naïve. She’s soft like our mother was…too soft for that kind of work in the real world.”

  Shock rocked him to the center of his being. That story was just heartbreaking. Losing her parents at thirteen had to be extremely traumatic for her sister. As traumatic as having to take on responsibility for providing for and educating a teenaged sibling at twenty-six.

  Dave’s foot slid on the papers under his desk again, and he cleared his throat. This was the worst idea he’d ever had and he knew like hell he was going to regret it, but he couldn’t stop the white knight inside of him from laying his neck into the cradle of the guillotine. “Do you have any secretarial skills?”

  Susan laughed loudly. “I’m a former federal agent with a master’s degree in criminal justice, an IQ higher than Einstein, and a black belt in jiu jitsu. You want to offer me a s
ecretarial job?” Her tone indicated she thought he was a moron. That was the problem. Susan Whitmore thought everyone was an idiot except for her.

  Well, she wasn’t as smart as she thought she was evidently.

  Dave shrugged, as he leaned back in his chair to casually tent his fingers. “You walked out of a federal agency management job with no notice. I suspect that’s all you’ll be able to find immediately considering those circumstances.” And your attitude, he added mentally. “But I understand you’ll be looking for something else while you work here.” Leaning forward again, he propped his arms on his desk and pinned her with his eyes. “As long as you can manage to rein in your mouth and get along with the guys, it could be a mutually beneficial temporary arrangement.”

  Very temporary if she couldn’t manage that.

  Susan pushed up to her feet to put her hands on her hips to glare down at him. “You’re an arrogant asshole, Dave Logan.”

  Dave laughed. “Takes one to know one, sweetheart.”

  “You’re only doing this to humiliate me. I’m as good as any of the men you have and you know it.” Susan threw her chin up and snorted. “I’m better.”

  Grudgingly, Dave admitted she was as good as any of his men in skills and experience, and would be a fantastic addition to his team. But not with her present attitude. Unlike her sister, Susan hadn’t developed the social skills needed to function in a team environment. Maybe the secretarial job could work into more if she got along with the guys, but that wasn’t likely.

  The only way to find that out was to put her in a submissive position, slowly introduce her into the mix, and see how things worked out. If she was going to be on his team, she would have to learn to be a team player and not the boss. He was the boss at Deep Six.

  The chances of that happening were as likely as the sun not rising in the east tomorrow morning. It was probably stupid on his part, but he was going to give her a chance. “Well, what I need is a secretary, and I’ve offered you the job. Do you want the job or not?”