Chasing Victory (The Winters Sisters) Read online

  “I’ll see you back to your room.” Dave said as he nodded towards the hall. Victory gave one last scowl in Braxton’s direction and headed out of his office.

  “I need to give Sarah some information, and then I have been given permission to make some calls,” she hissed at Dave. Sarah looked up ready to receive her instructions. “Sarah, I will be joined by my lab assistant, Tristan Grant.” She recited from memory, every exact word that had been on the recording.

  “Thank you Ms. Winters. I’ll take care of all the details,” Sarah responded. Victory prayed that his cover was good and would hold up to Sarah’s scrutiny. At this point she didn’t trust anything Tristan told her.

  “That’s fine. Mr. Braxton said that I could phone both Tristan and my sisters.”

  “Yes, there’s a phone right over here.” She led her across the hall to a chair and side table with a phone sitting on it. Victory looked at the phone then back at both Sarah and Dave. Obviously they weren’t going to let her speak to anyone privately.

  “Is this the only phone that I can use?” she asked.

  “It’s this or nothing,” Dave snapped before Sarah spoke up.

  “Fine.” She sat in the chair, turned her back to them, and dialed Payton’s cell phone. Payton answered on the second ring. She was aware of the plan, but in case their call was overheard, Payton was to convince the kidnappers that she was in the dark.

  “Hello,” Payton answered.

  “Hey sis.”

  “Victory! Thank god you’re safe. Where are you? Why did you disappear? Are you okay?” She rambled on, it wasn’t a stretch trying to act upset. Knowing the plan didn’t make her any less distressed that her sister had indeed been kidnapped.

  “Calm down Payton. I’m okay. Seems there was a bit of a misunderstanding with one of my business associates. They insist I stick around and help them work out a problem.” Dave gave her a bit of a frown. “How’s Dax?”

  “He’s okay. He was really agitated for the first day or so that you were gone, but he is settling down now.”

  “Give him a kiss and a big hug for me and tell him I’ll be home in three weeks. Tristan will be heading out to join me tomorrow. You know how I can’t get anything done in my lab without him.”

  “Ahh, yes, I do know. I’m really glad that he will be there to help you,” Payton answered.

  “I need to still call him and Willow, so I guess I had better get moving.”

  “Okay, Victory...”

  “I know sis, I miss you too and all the doberkids.”

  “Please, take good care of yourself and call again when you can,” Payton said.

  “I will.”

  “I love you, Victory.” Payton whispered into the receiver.

  “Right back at you, bye for now,” Victory hung up the phone. For a short span she sat, her eyes closed, centering herself, replaying the recording in her mind. Then she opened her eyes and picked up the phone, punching in Tristan’s number as if she had done it a million times before.

  “Yep, what’s up?” Tristan answered.

  “Hi Tristan, I’m sure you’ve missed me.” Victory said as if they had known each other for years.

  “Hey Doc. I haven’t heard from you in one whole week. That’s a change; you must actually be enjoying your vacation for once.”

  “About that. I have a new project for us, starts tomorrow.”

  “Of course it does. You never have been one to give much notice,” Tristan said.

  “Nature of the beast, why change now. Make sure to drop the boss an email to let him know that we will both be out of the office together. Pack up all our gear. If you could make a stop at my place and get me some clothes, we’ll be in a warm climate so pack accordingly.” She glanced over her shoulder to see if Dave was still there, he was chatting with Sarah but was glued to the same spot. If she was going to do it this was her chance. “I also have a small jar of crystals next to my bed, can you bring those too. They look like a kaleidoscope.” The last part she barely breathed out. “Thanks,” she said in her normal voice.

  “Will do, name the place and time,” Tristan said.

  “Nine tomorrow morning at Boeing Field, there will be a private helicopter waiting on the tarmac for you.” Victory thought this first conversation was going very smoothly, as if they had indeed worked together for years. This wasn’t as difficult as she had imagined it would be.

  “Wow, this one sounds like a first class kind of job. I think I’m gonna like this,” Tristan replied.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow Tristan.”

  “See you tomorrow Doc, take care.”

  ELEVEN

  Tristan hung up the phone and looked around the Situation Room. “She seems to be keeping it together. She gave us a couple of good leads. They will be moving us to somewhere warm. She also mentioned kaleidoscope.”

  “Are you sure she said kaleidoscope, I could hardly hear her,” Jack responded.

  “Yes, I’m sure. I heard her plain as day. She said her crystals remind her of a kaleidoscope,” Tristan said.

  “Jack, get on your computer and pull up all of Biotec’s properties and labs,” Wyatt said. “That might give us a starting point as to where they will be taking Tristan and Victory. But the real problem is we still don’t know who else is involved with this group. You could be shipped anywhere in the world depending on who Lawrence Braxton is in bed with. Logan you work on the term “kaleidoscope,” see what you can come up with. Tristan, you need to head out to get all your stuff together. Spend some time at Victory’s place and see if there is anything there she might need or that you can use. That’s it guys, let’s get started.”

  Four hours later the group was back together for an update in the Situation Room.

  “Give us an update Jack,” Wyatt said.

  “Captain, seems Biotec owns or has shares in a vast number of properties, over three hundred of them. I have compiled a list and ranked them according to the likelihood of priority. Then I took the top twenty that are located in a warmer climate.”

  “Let’s hear your educated guess,” Tristan prompted, trying to wait patiently while Jack rambled on.

  Jack handed them each a page of the top twenty locations. Each location had a detailed accounting, containing the number and type of projects, specific buildings, and number of employees currently working at each site.

  “Great, this gives us a starting place,” Wyatt said.

  “Wait Captain, it gets even better than that. Tell them what you came across in your search Logan.” Jack said, pushing at Logan’s shoulder with a big smirk on his face.

  “Logan,” Wyatt said.

  “I input kaleidoscope in all our search engines, to see what kind of hits we would get. We pulled up thousands, but one that really jumped out at me.”

  “We’re all ears,” Wyatt replied taking a sip of his coffee.

  “Biotec owns one of the smaller Hawaiian Islands where they recently completed a hi-tech lab last summer. Two months ago they sold their island and lab to the Kaleidoscope Group.”

  “There you go,” Tristan replied. “We finally have our first big lead.”

  “The Kaleidoscope Group is very clandestine. I can’t get a real lead on any of the players in this group. If they can keep themselves this under the radar, I believe we are working with people who have, or are being backed with, a lot of money,” Jack said.

  “They would have to have a lot of money to be able to purchase an island and build the facilities you are talking about,” Logan responded.

  “No, you don’t understand. I don’t just mean have money. I mean unlimited amounts of money,” Jack said.

  “Seems like that should help us narrow the playing field,” Wyatt replied. “There are a limited number of people that have that much money. I think the island looks like our best target.

  I’m going to call Noah back in. I’ve lined up a four man team for Payton; she will have two guards twenty-four hours a day. I think she is safe for now, bu
t if anything changes with Victory, we will move Payton to a safe house. Noah and Logan will head out to this island tomorrow and do some recon.”

  “If this is the place, I should be touching down utterly the same time the guys hit the shore. Should I try to make contact?” Tristan asked.

  “No. Your priority is to keep your cover. I don’t want to give them any reason to doubt you are who you say you are. Okay, go through the gear that you will be taking. Our next job is to integrate some must-have equipment into that gear. Remember guys, they have a couple ex-military working for them, so we have to be extra careful and extra clever.” Wyatt said.

  Victory was sitting out in the gardens when she heard the distant sound of the helicopter approaching. As if on cue, Sarah walked up to her.

  “Ms. Winters, your helicopter will be here in five minutes. Would you like to follow me to the helo pad please?” Sarah asked.

  Victory rose and followed Sarah to the other side of the gardens. They approached a twelve foot tall chain link fence with a locked gate that Sarah opened by imputing a combination into a keypad. They both stepped through the open door and it swung shut and locked behind them. A shiny black helicopter came into view with gold letters spelling Biotec on its side panel. It touched down scant yards away from where they stood. Sarah escorted Victory to the helicopter, the door slid open, and Tristan jumped out to greet her.

  “Hey Doc, great ride,” he threw his arms around her like they were long lost friends and hugged her. Two sensations ran through him; first, that same zip of electricity he felt at the dog show when he caught Victory sizzled up his spine, and second, she stiffened in his arms the instant he touched her. Seems she really didn’t trust him and he was in for a challenge. He whispered in her ear “don’t forget, I’m here to help you, so lean on me, act like we’ve known each other for years and that you like me.” With that he pulled away.

  Victory’s questioning gaze locked into the depths of his familiar violet eyes, but she recovered quickly. Smiling brightly, she leaned in to give him a quick peck on the cheek.

  “Glad you enjoyed it. I know what a thrill seeker you are,” Victory said.

  “Okay you two, enough with the hellos, get in the damn helicopter,” came a gruff voice from inside the craft.

  Victory abruptly went rigid; an icy chill flooded her entire body. Suddenly that day in the forest played back in her mind, the blast of the bullets, making Victory startle. She spun back around towards Tristan with a shocked look and mouthed the words “he shot Jeffery.”

  Tristan looked inside the chopper. Jerry was busying himself with the pilot. Tristan took Victory’s hand and whispered, “put that out of your mind for now, you can do this. You can’t let him know that you know.” Jerry turned from the pilot and refocused his attention back on them.

  “Let’s go! We’re burning daylight and fuel. You’ll have all the time in the world to catch up when you get there. Get your butts in this chopper right now.”

  Tristan made sure that he got in first to place himself between Jerry and Victory, then reaching out his hand he helped Victory inside. For the entire trip she kept her attention on the scenery out the window or on Tristan.

  “As you can see we have the entire place to ourselves.” Jerry said as they approached the island. “The company bought the lab along with the island; it makes for the ultimate facility to do R and D.” The helicopter took one pass around the small island and then landed on the helo pad inside the main gate. “Everything you need for your work will be provided in the lab,” Jerry said.

  A Hawaiian boy approached them as they got out of the helicopter. “This is where we part ways. Go with Andy, he will show you both to your rooms.” Jerry reached into the helicopter, grabbed his bag and walked away.

  “Guess, security isn’t an issue here,” Tristan mumbled.

  “This way,” Andy said gesturing with his arm. “I will take you to your rooms. You can get settled.” Victory and Tristan followed along behind.

  “So Andy, how long have you worked here?” Tristan asked casually.

  “I helped build the place,” he responded.

  “Really. So you must live on the island.”

  “I used to. But when Biotec bought the island they moved my whole village to the next island over. The elders were upset at first, until they saw the new village that was built for us.”

  Tristan and Victory glanced at one another. “So, you think Biotec is pretty great people,” Tristan said.

  “The elders think so,” Andy responded. “Here are your rooms. Miss Winters you are here, and Mr. Grant you are across the walkway,” Andy informed them as he handed each of them a key card. “If you need anything else there is an inter-island phone in your room, press 0 to reach me.” He gave them a slight bow and turned and left.

  Victory stood silently staring down at her key card. “You look beat. Why don’t you go in and get settled, take a nap for a couple of hours. I’ll find out where and when dinner is and wake you later this evening,” Tristan said gently leading her towards the door to her room.

  Victory glanced up at Tristan. “Shouldn’t we talk?”

  “We will have plenty of time for that. Besides this is not the place or time.” Tristan stepped closed and hugged her. Again he felt her tense in his arms. “The walls may have ears,” he murmured. “I need to get the lay of the land.” Then he backed away from her. “Really Victory, I won’t let you miss dinner. I’ll come and wake you in a few hours. Go and rest now, you’re no good to anyone when you’re this worn out.” He smiled at her as if he had known her for years.

  “I guess you’re right. Promise you won’t forget me. I know how you get when a meal is on the line.” She tilted her head up to look into his smoldering eyes, the molten violet color intensifying to a midnight blue. A shy smile lifted the left corner of her mouth.

  Tristan could swear his pulse almost doubled as he gazed down into her sleepy face. Even with the stress of the last couple of days beating on her, Victory’s dazzling jade eyes sparkled up at him, framed by her silky caramel-colored hair. Coupled with the subtle fragrance of lavender and chamomile, it was all he could do to keep from running his hands through her beckoning locks. Tristan swore he would never get her scent out of his head or his blood.

  “Tristan,” Victory said.

  “Humm?” He shook his head trying to clear his thoughts.

  “You will wake me, right?”

  “Yes. I said I would. Now go, take a nap.” He took her key card from her hand and inserted it into the door, opened it and handed it back to her. “See you soon,” he turned and walked away leaving her standing in the doorway.

  Tristan strolled around for over two hours and no one had made the slightest effort to stop him. The compound was massive. It was thoughtfully laid out, containing dorms, labs, offices, test areas, and a mess hall. They even had a community center housing a theater large enough to seat seventy-five people, a bowling alley, canteen and a coffee shop that would rival Barnes and Noble. The coffee shop housed thousands of books, that he was informed could be borrowed as often as he liked. There was a pool, spa, weight room, basketball and tennis courts, even an indoor running track. Each building and trail was clearly marked with what looked like hand-carved signs and the local foliage was expertly placed throughout the entire compound, giving it a flare of authentic island flavor.

  Tristan was the new guy here and acting the part, trying to get a “feel” for the place. In fact several people greeted him along the way, giving him the opportunity for conversations with some of the employees. He noticed one fenced-in area with “security clearance” and “high voltage stay clear” signs posted at the gate and what looked like a fingerprint scan lock. He kept a wide berth from the area, but peripherally plotted its layout in his head, which he thought contained at least two large and three smaller buildings.

  Victory opened her eyes to what sounded like a hammering. Who was making that god awful noise she thought to herself. It
was pitch black around her and a sudden panic shot through her. “Where am I?”

  “Victory, Victory, are you awake? Are you in there?” Tristan nearly yelled at the door. Damn he had been standing here for over ten minutes knocking on her door. Now the knock turned in to a full fled pounding. He was beginning to worry. Had she wandered off, or did someone take her from her room when he left her there. “Vic—“

  “Stop making so much racket. Do you want the whole facility to hear you?” She pulled the door open during his last panicked banging and was standing in the doorway, all fiery five feet of her. Her hair tousled, hands on her sexy hips, a slight tint of rose-colored glow on her milky smooth face, and her eyes all ablaze of deep aquamarine. Tristan was being pulled into the abyss, he had never seen eyes change color with a person’s mood the way Victory’s obviously did.

  “I’ve been standing here for over ten minutes. I was beginning to worry.” He replied in little more than a mumble, marveling at the intensity of her eyes.

  “Oh, sorry. I must have been more tired than I thought, I didn’t hear you.” She replied, her voice having dropped decibels to match his, her cheeks immediately pinking darker from her embarrassment. “If you give me a sec I can get myself together and we can go to dinner.” Victory switched on the light in her room and headed for the bathroom. “Don’t stand there, come in and have a seat, I’ll be ready in a second or two, really.”

  Tristan blinked at the bright light and rubbed his face. “Jesus,” he muttered to himself. It happened again. He was going to have to really work at staying focused and in the present when Victory was around. “Jesus,” he said again. He felt like some sixteen-year-old kid with his first crush.

  “Did you say something?” Victory asked. She knew what he said, now that she was back in the land of the living she could hear a pin drop in the next room, but she didn’t want to intrude.

  “Damn,” Tristan mumbled under his breath. He had forgotten about her hearing; he wouldn’t make that mistake again, he hoped. “Nope, only talking to myself; your lights are really bright.” God, was that the best you could do, he thought to himself.