Troubled Paradise (Gray Tower Book 2) Read online

  That face, though, she thought wistfully as she tried to get some composure.

  Jack had classically handsome features, including stunning blue eyes and a strong jawline. His medium brown hair was kept short and professional. She always thought that he could model for something manly like sports equipment or cologne or beef jerky or something.

  She had to laugh at the beef jerky thing. Why was she so random all the time?

  “Hello? Earth-to-Kat?” Jack said, looking even more annoyed.

  “Um, what?” She said, trying to focus back on what he had said and not on him specifically—and that amazing body of his.

  “I said that I hope you weren’t sending secret messages back and forth on that thing,” he said, pointing at her laptop screen, which was still running her game.

  “Oh, yes,” she said, hastily. “It’s single player. Not connected to the network. Just trying to pass the time until my security update gets pushed out tonight.”

  Jack stared at the laptop screen and smirked.

  “I’m not sure why your type likes that kind of shit. Why not go out and actually do something?”

  Kat frowned.

  “My…type?” She asked hesitantly.

  “Yeah, the geeky, nerdy thing that you’ve got going on.”

  Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. She repeated to herself.

  “Whatever, Jack,” she told him, trying to sound dismissive.

  Why did such a handsome man have to be such an asshole?

  Instead of leaving her alone, he walked further into her office. Why was he even here in the first place? Didn’t he have work to do or something?

  “Did you have a reason for bothering me right now?” She asked, trying not to notice how physically close he now was to her.

  A flashback came to her from a year ago when Jack had been forced to shoot and kill Brenden. The guy had taken her hostage and was threatening to kill her when Jack had intervened. Once Brenden had fallen, Jack had taken her into his arms and just held her. It was such an odd thing for Jack to do, and she had thought about that moment a lot since then.

  “Like you’re doing anything important right now,” Jack retorted.

  Nice thought ended. Oh well.

  Sweet, sensitive Jack only existed in her fantasies. And yes, she had many, many fantasies about him.

  “You’re still bothering me,” she told him. “What do you want?”

  “Actually, I—uh—wanted to see how you were doing,” he said, almost reluctantly. “After yesterday’s op, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  “Oh,” Kat said.

  She had not expected him to say that. The sass that she had been working up for the past few minutes seemed to dissipate.

  “I’m fine,” she continued. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

  Jack fidgeted as if uncomfortable.

  “I don’t know. It’s just been an interesting year for you. I’m sure it’s been an adjustment going from your previous work to this.”

  Was that actual concern? She must be dreaming right now.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s the same stuff. Different company.”

  “I meant about the extra duties you’ve taken on. You’ve been assisting on a lot of the high priority missions lately. It’s more stress than you’re used to. I’m sure yesterday’s mission wasn’t easy for you.”

  Kat grumbled to herself as she remembered how astute Jack was at pretty much everything. Nothing got past the guy.

  “Like I said, I’m fine,” she lied.

  In reality, she had terrible anxiety about most everything and helping out with all of the missions was just making it worse. But for whatever reason, she didn’t want Jack to know that.

  Jack frowned and stared at her intensely. Kat became immediately self-conscious and suddenly wished that she was wearing something other than a worn button-down sweater and jeggings. Her dirty blonde hair was up in a messy ponytail, and it was in desperate need of a trim. She wished that she could be more like Alex, who always looked put-together.

  “Well, you should let me or Bryant know if that changes,” he finally said, though he didn’t look convinced.

  “Sure,” she said a little too quickly.

  Kat sat there awkwardly and wondered when he would leave. Her heart felt like it was beating through her chest, and she could feel herself sweating. She hated that he made her feel this way. Nothing like a school girl crush to make work interesting.

  “You’re both here!” A female voice from behind them said.

  Alex Thorn peeked in from behind Jack, smiling. Kat saw her a lot as she was Miles Bryant’s Administrative Assistant.

  She wore a stylish navy-blue suit with a pale pink shirt underneath. Her long, blonde hair was done in beachy waves, while her make-up was done to accentuate her eyes and cheekbones. Kat wished that she had the know-how and energy to look so amazing all the time.

  Jack turned and nodded at Alex.

  “How are you, Alex?” He asked, giving her a smile.

  A spark of jealousy came across Kat. It felt like Alex had every guy at Gray Tower wrapped around her little finger, and she secretly wished that Jack would be as nice to her as he was with Alex.

  “I’m doing well,” Alex replied. “I’m glad I was able to find you guys this late in the day. Miles wants a meeting with both of you as soon as possible.”

  Kat frowned.

  “The both of us?” She asked, feeling apprehensive.

  “It’s nothing bad, Kat,” Alex said, knowing how anxious she could get with stuff like this. “Logan and Keira will be there too if that makes you feel any better.”

  “Oh, boy,” Jack snorted. “We’ll get to watch the happy couple make googly-eyes at each other the whole time.”

  Logan Slade and Keira Amherst had been through quite an ordeal the previous year. Keira’s father, Damien Amherst, had been pure evil, locking her away for years when she had found out that his company had been doing nefarious deals. With the help of Gray Tower and Logan, she was finally free and now was working as Miles Bryant’s second in command.

  In the meantime, Logan and Keira were now engaged and their wedding would be in a few months. It seemed like they were the couple that everyone at Gray Tower was talking about.

  “Jack,” Alex scolded. “First of all, they are both professionals. And second, what do you have against love?”

  Jack shrugged.

  “Nothing,” he said. “Just not my deal. I don’t want to go all soft like Slade did.”

  Alex shook her head and sighed.

  “For as much trash as you and Logan talk, you’d assume you guys hated each other,” she said. “Luckily, we all know better. Now, can I get you guys down to the War Room in five minutes? I know it’s short notice, but it’s important.”

  “Sure,” Jack said and turned to Kat. “You coming?”

  “Yeah. Just give me a moment. I need to talk to Alex.”

  He nodded and left without another word. After he was out of the room, Kat let out a long sigh.

  Alex raised her eyebrow and said, “So, I see Jack came to visit you. How’d that go?”

  In a moment of weakness, Kat had told Alex that she had a huge crush on Jack. Alex made it a point to remind Kat about it ever since.

  “Intensely annoying,” Kat said with a sigh.

  Alex laughed and said, “That pretty much sums up Jack. But seriously, was there any reason that he was here? I’m just curious.”

  “I don’t know. He said he came to check on me or something, but he only ended up making me feel bad about myself.”

  “Well, he is a bit rough around the edges,” Alex admitted.

  “He’s abrasive and has made me cry on multiple occasions.”

  “But he’s hot.”

  Kat tried to smile, but it fell short.

  “True,” she said. “I hate that I have a crush on him. It’s annoying.”

  “I think he means well. I don’t think he knows how to communic
ate it. At some point, I think you should ask him out. He might surprise you.”

  Kat wrinkled her nose.

  “First of all, I don’t think he likes me as a person, let alone as a possible lover. And secondly, I highly doubt that he finds me attractive.”

  “Kat! That’s ridiculous, and you know it.”

  “It’s true, but whatever. I guess we have a meeting to go to? Do you know what it’s about?”

  Alex smiled.

  “You’ll have to wait and see.”

  “Okay. That sounds ominous.”

  Kat could feel another wave of anxiety run through her. She hated surprises, especially work surprises.

  “It’s fine,” Alex said. “Come on. Let’s get to the meeting. I’m sure Miles wants to start soon.”

  Kat nodded and started collecting her things. Maybe this meeting could take her mind off Jack for a while.

  Chapter 3

  Miles Bryant sat at the head of the big conference table in what everyone had dubbed the “War Room” in Sublevel 3 of Gray Tower Headquarters. Next to him sat his second-in-command, Keira Amherst, as well as her fiancé, Logan Slade, who now headed up staff training and development. Both Keira and Logan had been through an ordeal the previous year, but Miles was happy to have Keira seeing out his vision. Meanwhile, Logan had stepped up to his new position, going from a field operative to training staff.

  Gray Tower was starting to become the company he had always wanted it to be, minus one glaring detail. He had created Gray Tower as a reaction to the murder of his daughter, Jasmine, eleven years prior. She had boarded a plane that had crashed in the middle of the Atlantic when a planted bomb had exploded. Miles had initially thought that he had been the one targeted for assassination. Due to a change of plans, it was only Jasmine that had gotten on the private jet.

  However, he had found out that an organization called the Conglomerate had been responsible. The bombing had been a warning when an apparent business deal Miles had done in his previous life pissed off the wrong people. That had been during his old life before he had sold off his shares in his old company, one that was in the defense industry.

  He had formed Gray Tower as a reaction to his daughter’s death. His goal for the company was to make up for her untimely death by taking out the worst of the worst and helping those in need. Creating and heading Gray Tower allowed him to do so unconventionally. As he had learned after the investigation into her murder, going through the proper channels didn’t always get the results needed.

  Miles had learned to pull the right strings and was now operating the most lucrative private mercenary company in the world. It had been his hope that he would eventually bring those responsible for Jasmine’s death to justice with the resources of Gray Tower. This meeting would be a step forward in bringing Jasmine’s murderers down.

  Jack Hunter strolled in and sat heavily next to Logan. Miles had to smile. It had been one of his proudest accomplishments to give Jack a new start. He had thrived in his role at Gray Tower as Head of Tactical Operations. More importantly, though, Jack had stayed sober through it all.

  “What’s this all about, sir?” Jack asked. “I feel like I’m in the dark here.”

  With Keira in her current position at Gray Tower, Jack had taken on a narrower focus, which was probably a good thing, considering the company had been spread thin for years. That meant that Jack wasn’t as involved in mission selection anymore. He made things work once an operation was designated.

  “You’ll find out soon enough,” Miles told him.

  He was being a bit secretive about this mission because he knew that Jack would object. However, it was important that this op was completed as it could be the break Miles needed in pushing back at the Conglomerate.

  A few minutes went by before Kat and Alex showed up. The two were best friends, although two people could not be more different. Besides having completely different personalities, Alex was a petite and always looked put together. Meanwhile, Kat was tall and very casual.

  However, he knew that was kind of an IT thing—something about crawling around on floors to get to wires, opening computer cases, which had extremely sharp edges, and going in and out of dusty server rooms. Kat was on the security side of things, but that didn’t mean that she occasionally didn’t have to get down and dirty.

  When Kat and Alex sat down, Miles started the meeting.

  “Thank you all for coming on such short notice,” he began. “Miss Amherst and I were just able to coordinate this a few hours ago, and I wanted to get this mission moving as quickly as possible.

  “As some of you may know, Gray Tower has been keeping an eye on any information that will lead back to the Conglomerate organization. The only intel I have on it is that someone there wasn’t happy about a deal I made back in my days with my previous company.

  “I have been in contact with Orson Carr, the guy who owns the software company Cypherus. He was also the person I was working with eleven years ago on a defense prototype. This prototype was for a sort of smart armor that would be given to special ops forces. All of the work that we did was put on hold and eventually canceled after the death of my daughter.”

  Miles cleared his throat and pushed down the emotion that always came with discussing Jasmine.

  “Mr. Carr has expressed interest in hiring Gray Tower for private security, which would be an amazing opportunity for the company,” he continued. “He owns a private island in the Bahamas and would like it secured properly. He’s invited a Gray Tower representative to visit and evaluate what needs done. I’m going to send Hunter there to do the assessment.”

  Jack sat up straight in his seat and exclaimed, “Fuck yeah! When do I go?”

  Miles had to stifle a laugh.

  “Hold on there, Hunter,” Miles said. “There’s more to it than that. I’ll allow Miss Amherst to explain.”

  Keira smiled, tucking her mousy brown hair behind her ear before saying, “I have a government contact who would like us to do a little digging around in that location. Carr has been under watch just like Amherst Global was, although not to the same degree. They’d like us to hack in his private server and do a little digging, which is where you come in Miss Langely.”

  Kat, who had been sitting quietly at the table, perked her head up.

  “Yeah, I can do it,” she said. “I just need a little time.”

  Keira grimaced.

  “Time is something that we don’t have,” she said. “Jack leaves in a week. But also, there’s a bit of a hiccup with this operation.”

  Jack frowned and said, “What kind of hiccup?”

  “Carr has a closed network on his island,” Keira replied. “So, Miss Langely would have to physically be there in order to attempt any kind of hack on his network.”

  “No!” Jack said loudly. “Absolutely fucking not.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Jack could feel his blood pressure rising as he stared at his bosses in disbelief. They couldn’t be serious about sending Kat with him on an op. It was way too dangerous, and he didn’t need to worry about a civilian while he was trying to do his job.

  “There is no way she’s going. Period,” he said angrily.

  “It’s the only way, Jack,” Bryant said. “As long as she’s willing to go.”

  Everyone stared at Kat expectantly. She looked nervous as hell.

  Pushing up those ridiculous glasses of hers on her nose, she said meekly, “I can go. It’s not a problem.”

  You’ve got to be kidding me, Jack thought.

  “Doesn’t matter. I’m not taking her,” he said firmly.

  “The risks are minimal, Jack,” Keira said. “The place is like a tropical resort. It’ll almost be like vacation.”

  Jack folded his arms across his chest and said, “There are always risks.”

  “I understand that, and I still want to go,” Kat replied more confidently now.

  “Thank you for that,” Bryant said. “I know it’s not in your job descr
iption, but it would be a great help to the company—and to me personally.”

  Jack was starting to get pissed, but he wouldn’t attempt to override his boss—the guy who had literally saved his life. They’d just have to make it work. Somehow.

  Then it dawned on him.

  “Wait. How are we going to explain Miss Langely’s appearance with me? I’m just doing an assessment. Is she supposed to be my assistant or something?”

  Keira looked at Bryant. They both seemed a bit apprehensive.

  “Well,” Keira started. “Maybe I should have said this up front. Mr. Carr likes to show off and expected this to be a bit of a working vacation, so he—uh—invited a significant other to go too.”

  Jack stared at her as the realization hit him.

  “Oh, no,” he said. “Not going to happen. I mean…it’s Kat for crying out loud!”

  “What’s that supposed to mean, Jack?” Alex said, glaring at him.

  What was that supposed to mean? He wondered.

  Kat was cute in her own little nerdy way, but they would look like a complete mismatch.

  “I mean,” he stammered. “She’s just not…I mean, she’s Kat. Does she even own clothes that don’t have video game logos on them?”

  “You are such an ass,” Alex said, rolling her eyes. “I’m sure we’ll get her up to ‘Jack Hunter standards’ before you go.”

  Flustered, Jack said, “That’s not what I meant.”

  He glanced over at Kat who was sitting stiffly in her chair, her face almost white as a ghost. Apparently, she was not keen on the idea of them pretending to be a couple for a week either.

  “Yeah, okay,” she said quietly. “That’s fine. Are we done here? I have a security update that I need to monitor that’s being pushed out soon.”

  “Almost,” Keira said. “You guys will leave in a week, but I’ve asked Logan here to give you a crash course in basic self-defense and firearms training. It’s a low-risk operation, but he didn’t want anyone going into the field without some basics.”