Lost Faith (The Firm Book 1) Read online

  “I suppose it depends on what you want, Gabriella. You’ve had too many choices taken from you and I don’t want you to feel pressured into anything. This hasn’t exactly been an ideal situation either, between the stress and the unknown. When everything is settled here I think you need to take a few days, alone, and consider your options. If you realize it was all the intensity of the situation I’ll make sure you are looked after and safe.” His hand slid down to curl around her nape, his fingers gently working the muscles there.

  “And you will take a few days and figure out if this was all just the heat of the moment as well? If you are asking for me to take time to figure out if this is what I want will you also please take those days or whatever it takes to ensure it’s what you want as well? I like you, Tobias, very much. I feel as if I’ve known you forever and it is so very confusing to me. I have such a sense of deja vu when I’m with you that it stuns me. It’s not bad, it’s good. Very good, which is why I think that you need time to ensure that being with me is what you would want as well.”

  “For you I’ll take those days, but I’m used to making decisions on the fly and knowing they are right. I couldn’t be in the position I am without that ability. But I will take a couple of days, like you will, to think it through fully. Don’t be surprised if I am impatient for your answer though. It has never been my strong suit. Amazing really, given all we seemed to do in the service was hurry up and then wait for days.”

  “And how long are you making me take to decide?” She asked with a grin. “Because I would like to know how long I have to be away from you, not sleep with you, not have you close. I have to tell you, I’m not liking this, at all. I’m not enjoying the idea of being away from you for a long period of time.”

  “Two days, minimum, but we really should take a week to be absolutely sure. Like you, I’m not happy with the plan. The thing is, we both need to be sure it’s what we want and not the heat of the moment. You and I have been closeted together with you having no other contact. There is a term for such situations, especially when the individual in question has been kidnapped, which we did do to you. Stockholm Syndrome. Best you have the time to clear your head, focus on everything around you and then choose.”

  She nodded and took a deep breath. “And how will I be safe? Where will I be to take this time to clear my head and so on? Are you going to send me on an Alaskan cruise for a week so that I am safe and I am keeping myself busy and thinking if this is what I want or not?” She knew however, she knew that this was what she wanted.

  “Something to that effect, yeah. If that’s the route you want to go, that’s what we’ll do. You’ll have security with you because we can’t take any chances, slim though they will be at that point if the op goes according to plan. And on that note, I need to update the team. We’ll have to acquire some materials, double check the caves and footings. We’ll also need to figure out how to drill the floor to help with the collapse, all without being detected. Should have brought the ninjas,” he muttered. For a second Gabbie wasn’t entirely sure he was kidding.

  “The ninjas? I don’t understand. Please tell me that this is just you joking? You don’t really have ninjas on your payroll, do you?” She took a deep breath and nodded. “I’m good with having security with me on a cruise. I figure it will be safest but where will that leave you?” She was curious what he would be doing while she was on a short cruise trying to figure out what to do with her life and how he was a part of it.

  “Probably trying to figure out what our next job will be. And sadly, we don’t actually have any ninjas, wish we did though. That would be sweet.” Breathing out he lifted his head and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Why don’t we go watch a movie for now? I can’t update the team until later, which leaves us with a little time to kill.”

  “That sounds good to me. Pull out your laptop and get us whatever you might have on there so we can watch something. Anything.” She had no idea how they got the things that they got there but she wasn’t going to argue it at all. “Your team, they are good at what they do, right? For the explosives and so on?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said with a nod. “We have someone that, while not officially an explosives expert, is damn close. We’ll need to get the materials to take out that section which will take some time to collect. It’s not like we can go into the local store and pick up several bricks of C-4. We’ll have to create our own mix, something with a big bang but that won’t go wild on us. I don’t want to set the forest on fire. My team will know how to make it happen and we’ll figure out where to get the materials. Best guess we’ll be ready to go in three days, less if they already have some supplies marked as part of a different plan.”

  “And as I said if you put it in the right place the glass enclosure that he’s built inside of the house then it will be contained by the bullet proof glass and so on. Add that to the concrete that’s in the floor. I would however have them possibly use a depth detector to ensure that there isn’t thick steel or whatever between the thin part of the ground and the house.”

  “We’ll be drilling the concrete. Enough that when the first blast occurs the slab breaks up and drops to allow the secondary blast to take out everything in the space. If we didn’t do the drilling, given the information you provided about the space and our educated guesses, all they’d feel would basically equate to a three or four on the Richter scale. A rumble and not much else, they’d scatter so far and so fast we’d never get them all. With the concrete compromised and a two stage blast we ensure that anyone within the space is taken out of the equation.”

  “Smart, very smart.” She replied to him. “You guys have everything together and that’s good.” She nodded, couldn’t help herself then from sighing. “Do what you need to do, just tell me when you need my help. As I said, I know how to get to his money and will be able to get it to all the players that you are telling me that we need to point to so please make sure to get their names so that I can get it into all of their accounts and of course a dummy account for the so-called hacker.”

  “I think we can set up an account for our hacker to have. We’ll want it looking new and shiny and unused, it’ll raise his suspicion more. It’ll appear disposable, like the money is going in and then out again in no time. Or maybe we set up a couple and route the money through them to a final account somewhere relatively secure but not impossible for him to track down. Think on that part, we want it to appear believable to him in every way. Any suspicion he has could end this before it gets started.” Tobias pulled out his laptop, a high end seriously durable piece of hardware, from under a stack of maps and went to the sofa along one wall. He got it set up and then sat back to watch her. “Do you want horror, action, comedy, or romance? Not entirely sure how the last ended up in my account but I have an idea and the guilty party may well pay for it for years to come.”

  “I think a comedy would be best. I don’t want anything else because I’m living in an action-horror movie right now and later I really hope that you will show me romance.” She stated simply. She didn’t touch anything he said about the dummy account because she knew what he was saying. While her father didn’t know it, Gabbie was actually fairly brilliant with computers and hacking courtesy of a boyfriend she had who went to MIT and wanted to impress her and taught her all he knew.

  “Well then, we have several choices. Get over here and give me some input into what you want to watch.” Tobias patted the seat cushion next to him. Leaning back, he rested his arms along the sofa back. “Come on, Gabriella. Time’s a tickin’.”

  one.”

  He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. Starting the movie, he cuddled her in and pressed a kiss to her hair. “Well, this may be a horrible idea if we both end up passed out, snoring and drooling while the movie is still playing. My team members will gladly take advantage, at least a couple will.”

  “I doubt that they would dare because they haven’t met me and they wouldn’t take
the chance of me waking and seeing them.” She once again yawned. “I like you, Tobias. Odd, I know, but I really do like you. It’s not Stockholm Syndrome, it’s you being you.”

  “You can’t know that for sure,” he said quietly. “It’s part of why I’m insisting on our few days apart. To ensure that we’re both on the same page with everything. You know, before I strip you naked and lick you into orgasm and then fuck you hard, deep, and long. Need to make sure we’re playing by the same book.”

  She pulled back from him and gulped, literally. “Dear God, you have no idea how much I want you to do just that. I would do anything to be able to have you doing just that.” She could just pray that he would be all she needed because she knew she needed something more than just sex.

  “That’s only for starters, to burn off that desperate sexual edge. Then we can settle in for a long night of playing. But enough about that, watch the movie and definitely do not think about all the possibilities of what may come in the future. No need to think about that, it’ll only put you on edge and make it harder to focus on the here and now.”

  “I’m already on edge.” She admitted freely to him. “I’m trying not to think about it, I really am so yes, the movie.” She turned to look at the screen again and yawned when she did so. She felt herself drifting off again and tried desperately not to think about sex with this man and instead simply relaxed enough so she could drift off.

  “Good girl, the movie is what we both need.” She felt him rest his cheek to her hair, his fingers coasting up and down her arm lightly. A couple minutes later his hand drifted down to rest near her elbow and she felt his large body relax more going loose against her.

  Chapter Ten

  Gabbie hesitated as she looked at the computer before her. She knew exactly what was ready and waiting. She had even seen the men dressed in head to toe black with even their faces covered so she knew they meant business. She wasn’t sure she could do it. All she had to do was hit enter and the transfers would start, the worm virus she had created would make it appear as if the IP address was popping all around the place which would give his team time to do what they needed.

  “I have changed one thing.” She told him, and his men. “After you are certain they are all dead the money is going to be anonymously donated to a hundred children’s charities to help traumatized children. I have to do something to ease my own conscious.” She hoped that they understood, but she was still fighting everything inside of her to actually do this.

  Tobias put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “That sounds like a good idea to me,” he said quietly. He turned to look at the others and gave them a nod. As one they turned for the door, picking up duffel bags as they went. When they were alone he crouched down at her side and looked up at her. “I know this has to be hard for you, harder than I can even imagine, but are you still sure you want to do this? None of us would blame you if you changed your mind.”

  “I don’t want to do this but I also know I have to. If I don’t do this and help you and your team it will never stop, will it? It will only get worse. No matter what, if he’s not stopped now he will never be stopped and I can’t live with that on my conscious. I just pray that this will take out all of them, or at least enough of them that it will take them years to rebuild.”

  Cupping her cheek, he drew her in enough their foreheads pressed together. “We will ensure that this empire he built is crippled badly. There will be no option to consider retribution on their end because they are too frantic to rebuild to hold off others circling when the news hits. I never make promises Gabriella, but in this case, I will. I swear to you that we will ensure you are able to walk down any street in any city and never need to look over your shoulder again. True freedom.”

  “I trust you.” She whispered and looked down at him. “Okay, let’s do this. Do you need me to wait a bit longer or am I okay to start now? If I am I will go ahead and get this show on the road.” Her finger nervously hesitated over the enter button on the laptop.

  “We’re as ready as we’re going to get. The others are already heading into position to keep watch on who arrives. Once we know they are all in, or at least the majority, then we’ll activate the bombs. At that point, there is no turning back.” Lifting his chin, he pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Press the button, Gabriella.”

  She nodded and did just that. She pressed the button to start the dominos falling where they would. She took a nervous breath as she watched the money coming out of her father’s accounts and transfer to his upper echelon. “Now we wait. Right?’

  “Yup,” he said. Sliding his arm around her waist he lifted her from the chair, took the seat and settled her into his lap. “Breathe, Gabriella. It’s out of your hands now. There is absolutely nothing that can be done to stop what is coming so try not to focus on it.”

  She nodded and shifted slightly so she could sit sideways in his lap. Laying her head on his shoulder she closed her eyes and simply tried to force herself to relax. “I really hope your team is very good at what they do. Not let any of those assholes go.” She muttered.

  “We are quite good at our jobs, and we’ll ensure everyone is in place. Except for whomever shows up last. He’ll be the reason they all get overly suspicious and start to hatch a plan involving revenge. We’re going to stop the last one in, using him as our fall guy. Something we cooked up yesterday while talking about it. We thought that if they all showed up then there would be arguing, some threats, and a bunch of posturing. But if we happened to catch the last attendee they would all automatically assume he was the culprit, throw blame on him for various other things, and start to plan his demise, gaining us possibly more time. It’s our hope anyway.”

  “That’s rather brilliant of you. Smart, smart man.” She praised him. “I’m glad that you were thinking of what to do and how to do it. How to ensure that someone was taking the fall in a way other than just the computer trail. Very smart move on your part.”

  “Thought it would help nudge him further over the edge. We need him to keep everyone there long enough to figure out what’s going on. When the last individual doesn’t show, he should, in theory, go into lockdown to plan how to take the guy out of the equation. Once we have the individual I’ll want you to syphon the money from the other accounts through his into the fake account. It’ll look like proof positive to the others, especially if they are all in the room when the transfers occur.”

  “Perfect. You just let me know when and where and I will do it.” It was just a keystroke and she could do that. “They will, I’m assuming, know when we should put everything in play? It’s going to be a chess play of time that we have to be ahead on. We have this, right?”

  “We’ve got it,” he said. Hugging her closer he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “The team will be in place on rotation the entire time. We have the head count on how many individuals will be arriving at this thing so they will know the moment to grab the last man coming. Hell, maybe we’ll get lucky and one just won’t show up. That would be convenient and save some time. Either way, once enough time has passed they’ll arm everything, you’ll move the money one last time for them to see and then they blow the place. They will remain in position to ensure only non-combatants leave the compound, anyone on the security team or armed will be taken care of. When I get the all clear from them you can then send the money to wherever you’d like.”

  “That sounds like a good plan. Your guys will make sure that everyone is taken care of I’m assuming, right?” She asked him and when he nodded she smiled. “Good, we will do what we need to so that we can give that money to those that need it.”

  “For now, we have nothing but time,” he said. Tobias rubbed his hand up and down her back. “I think we should set something up food wise for whenever this is done. The team will be hungry and will need to eat and hydrate. We can leave it all in the fridge for when the call comes in they are inbound and then start it. Want to help so you’re not bored silly or worrying?”


  “I would like that. Do you have the makings for a lasagna? If so then we can make that. If any of the team are vegetarians I have a great vegan recipe that we could use as well. But again, I don’t know what you have and don’t have here.”

  “We’re all carnivores,” he said softly. “Lasagna’s a good idea actually. We can do all the prep and leave it in the fridge until they are coming back. Pop it in the oven and have it hot when they arrive. I like how you think, sweetheart. We should have everything here.”

  “Sounds like a plan. How could you do that?” She asked. “Bringing in all that stuff and food without anyone knowing? You had to have brought in a lot of crates and so on to have stuff here to make lasagna and coffee. Amazing, you are amazing.”

  “Hardly, but I will admit we are sneaky. That and we brought everything in during the wee hours of the morning when everyone is either asleep or dreaming about being asleep. Around that four mark, is when even the most dedicated doesn’t care any longer, they just want to go home and crawl into bed. We also prefer to have comfort items when we’re somewhere for any length of time. We’d got our latest drop the day before we snatched you up. If we get all this done we can cancel the next one since we’ll all be heading home.”

  “I’m very hopeful that you will be able to do just that. Get home. I still don’t know how you will get me out of the country without a passport but I trust you, Tobias and if you say that you can, I know you can. I hate the whole why we will be able to go, but I get it. I really do.” She said softly.

  “I always have ways to do things. We just won’t discuss the slightly shady nature surrounding it. It’ll be all under the radar and very hush-hush.” He pressed a finger to his lips and then looked around the room. “But as far as anyone here in power will know you are still in the country. Anyone your father spoke to will assume you’re still under federal protection, and no one will be looking because they will be too busy dealing with the fallout. In a couple of weeks, you’ll fly out from here, land in the US and proceed to disappear. At least on paper.”