I moved as far back in my chair as possible.
He grinned. “I’d like to protect you. I think your honor’s pretty safe.”
“You can’t fight Clive Warren, or bash his skull in, or anything like that. I have to be the one to handle him.” My mind started racing, and I tapped my foot, trying to keep up with it. “All I keep thinking is that maybe he had some sort of documentation or notes with his director materials—something he thought he could use against me after I refused his offer last night.”
Gabe sat back a fraction. “Like what? You don’t release proprietary information to your board, do you?”
I took a shaky sip of wine. “No. I present general data points and reports on testing, but I don’t get specific. The technology is classified as a trade secret, so there are no disclosures. That’s the way we’ve always done it.”
“So he can’t have anything he’s not supposed to have, or anything that he hasn’t seen already.”
I nodded. “So I can’t understand why he came and why he wanted that stuff. Unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless he didn’t really want his materials. Maybe he just wanted an excuse to be in the building.”
Gabe watched my face warily. “For what?”
I took an angry bite of my salad. “Like you said—to send me a message, whatever it is. That’s what I need to figure out. Tonight.”
We rushed through the rest of dinner, speculating about Clive and what he’d really been up to at my office. I begged Gabe to let me go back to the lab with my driver and my guard, but he wouldn’t hear of it.
He insisted on driving me to Paragon. “We’re still on a date. I’m taking you. Plus, I might get more information to fuel my fire against Clive. Then you’ll have to let me punch him.”
I shook my head at him, secretly pleased…even though the thought of fighting made me uncomfortable. I relaxed against the seat of his luxurious car, enjoying someone else sharing a burden with me, for once. I felt safe and protected as we drove over the hills and back down into the Valley.
But I knew feeling safe and protected was only an illusion, and a fleeting one at that. I stiffened in my seat. I shouldn’t let myself get too comfortable. It was just going to hurt that much worse when I said good-bye to Gabe, which I needed to do soon. I could feel myself getting attached, and of all the things I didn’t have time for, a personal relationship topped the list.
I watched the dark hills fly by. “This must be the worst first date ever.” I had nothing to compare it to, but it must be a disappointment for him. “You bring me to a fantastic restaurant, and all I can do is obsess over a possible corporate sabotage.”
“You have every right to obsess. Besides, we can still rescue the date. We’re just getting started.”
“I have to be at the office first thing tomorrow.”
“We’re going to your office right now. By the time we leave, it’ll probably be tomorrow. So you’ll have already clocked in and out.”
A flash of heat shot through me as I wondered exactly what he would like to do with me on my imaginary time off. “You know I—”
He held up his hand, silencing me. “I know, I know. You have to work. I get it. You’re a very important CEO of a very important company, and the world is depending on you.”
I stared back out the window. “The world isn’t depending on me.”
He reached over and patted my knee, then quickly removed his hand, as if he knew a lingering touch would make me uncomfortable. “Yes, they are. They just don’t know it yet.”
Timmy and Gabe waited as I entered the complicated code to the building. Gabe looked away while I punched in the numbers.
Gabe hesitated at the door. “Do you trust me to come in with you? I don’t want to compromise anything.”
“I trust you, but you still have to sign in and sign the NDA because I don’t deviate from our protocol.”
“Of course you don’t.” That dimple showed itself, making me want to reach out and caress his face—a thought I immediately, and somewhat violently, shoved aside in my mind.
We went into the reception area, and I turned to Timmy. “Please go up and let them know I need the tape of Mr. Warren sent to my office.”
He nodded and set off, his broad form disappearing down the dark hall. I sometimes had lab workers there on third shift, but on the weekends, I tried to let everyone have some time off. Except for security, which we maintained twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, including all holidays. I’d been vigilant with premises security since we’d moved into our large facility. The fact that Clive Warren had possibly caused a breach made me simmer with anger.
Gabe dutifully filled out his paperwork, then we headed through the dark halls to my office. He let out a low whistle as I turned on the lights. “This is quite the work space.”
I glanced at the couches, the artwork, and the view of the grounds, which were dark at the moment. “I spend a lot of time here, as you know. Hannah decorated it so I’d be comfortable.”
“Do you ever actually sit on those couches?” He sounded as if he already knew the answer.
I switched on my screen. “Never.”
Security had already sent the video feed. I watched it again as Clive came in, talked to the receptionist and the guard, then headed down the hall to the boardroom. Gabe sat next to me, his brow furrowed, as we watched it again and again.
“Wait—watch that,” Gabe said, pointing at the screen. “He just did something.”
I rewound the feed and we watched Clive walk down the hall on his way back from the boardroom, pausing for a moment at an employee’s workstation to lean down. It looked like he tossed something in the trash or adjusted his pant leg or shoe—I couldn’t be sure.
I shrugged. “He just threw away a gum wrapper.”
Gabe hopped up. “If he did, I want to see it.” We headed to the hallway to look for any signs of disruption or any clues remaining from Clive’s visit. Or for his gum wrapper.
I peered into the small trashcan. “Do you think he put something in here?”
Gabe got down on all fours and inspected the workstation where Clive had stopped briefly. He went around the desk, inspecting the computer. He took a Swiss Army knife out of his pocket and used it to pry the keyboard apart, peering inside.
“Gabe! What are you doing?”
“I’m looking. You saw it—he stopped here for a second.”
I was losing patience. “So?”
He crawled underneath the desk and started examining the hardware. “So he’s a slimy bastard. That’s why I’m looking.” Gabe cursed and pulled something off the hard drive of the computer. He held up a tiny, square chip. “I don’t know what this is. Do you?”
My heart started pounding as I looked at it. “Part of a computer?”
He handed it to me. “It was attached to part of a computer.”
I turned the miniscule piece over in my hands. I resisted the urge to crush the chip into dust, knowing I needed to analyze it. “You might just get your wish, after all.”
“What’s that?”