The message Irene had left on her phone on Saturday night replayed in her head. Callie had the opportunity, here and now, to put things right and settle the matter once and for all. First, though, she had to send those files through to Josh.
Once that had been done, and she'd received the pingback read receipt she'd requested, Callie debated logging straight back out again. There'd be a record of how long she'd been active on Josh's computer somewhere in the system if anyone bothered to look, but the question was Would they? Obviously, if she logged out and logged back in again it would send up a red flag, even if Josh's password worked for her again. She knew his access codes were changed on a random basis. Perhaps even after giving her this password, it would be invalid for future use.
This was her first and last opportunity. She had to do it, no matter how much it went against her grain. Callie's first loyalty had always been to Irene and she was permitting that loyalty to be compromised by her unexpected emotional response to a man she barely knew.
Taking a deep breath, Callie allowed her fingers to dash over the keyboard, executing a variety of searches using specific keywords. In no time at all she had a list of files and one by one she copied them onto a flash drive so she could study them at home. Silently she vowed to destroy the information as soon as she knew Josh was innocent of what the Palmers accused him of.
For some reason, when she got home, she was reluctant to turn on her computer. Eventually, though, after she'd had a light bite to eat and had brewed a pot of herbal tea, she opened her laptop and powered it up.
A sense of foreboding manifested in a burning sensation in the pit of her stomach as she slotted the memory stick into its spot. A burning sensation that grew stronger as she opened each file she'd copied and skimmed its contents. Josh Tremont seemed to have an awful lot of information about the corporate structure and current business plan at Palmer Enterprises for someone who didn't work there.
On top of that, he had a massive file on Bruce Palmer, detailing everything publicly known about the man, plus a great deal not generally known about him, either. The amassed information bordered on obsessive-certainly far more than one would expect from a business rival, no matter how competitive he was.
Callie sat back in her chair, her hands clenched into fists in her lap. From his notes his intentions were quite clear. He wanted to destroy Palmer Enterprises. But it didn't make sense. Sure, they competed in a healthy marketplace for similar work, and in business it was every man for himself, but why was he so hell-bent on bringing Palmer Enterprises to its corporate knees? This appeared to go much deeper than mere competitiveness. There was something almost chilling in Josh's systematic approach. As if he'd declared war and was working to a strategy that, once implemented, would not stop until his goal was reached.
Callie took a sip of her rapidly cooling tea, hoping the soothing brew would calm the anxiety that had now formed a tight knot in her chest.
For all intents and purposes, the man she had grown so attracted to was not the person he appeared to be at all. Sure, the Josh she knew was focussed, hardworking and driven. But he was also warm and interesting and there was something she glimpsed deep inside him that drew her in ways she'd never encountered with another person before. There was a hurt hidden behind the urbane exterior he presented to the world. A hurt that spoke to something in her heart and urged her to help him heal in any way she could.
Callie closed the windows she'd had open on her computer and was about to shut down when she noticed one file she hadn't opened yet. Its title was innocuous-nothing to even indicate why she'd downloaded it-but she'd searched for files that had the word Palmer in them and this one had cropped up.
She double-clicked on the document icon and waited for the file to open.
Her eyes scanned across her screen double-time as she scrolled through the many pages of the Word file. A buzz of excitement thrilled through her veins. This was definitely something big. Something that Tremont Corporation had in place to pre-empt Palmers with an innovative new contract overseas. It would leave Palmers in the corporate dust.
While it wasn't what Irene had specifically asked her to look out for, Callie's mind spun on the possibilities. If Palmers had this information, they would lead the world. And if Josh really was intent on bringing Palmers down, getting ahead of him in this work would stop him as effectively as a heart attack.
The next morning Callie phoned Irene before she left for the office, arranging to meet with her at the older woman's favourite café on the waterfront for lunch.
"I investigated the original author of some of the documents. They didn't try to hide their tracks very well." Callie mentioned the name of one of Bruce's up-and-coming business interns.
"Bruce isn't going to like that, but don't worry. We'll deal with him. He'll be sorry he sold us out."
For a moment Irene looked furious, but then she re-composed herself.
"Everything I found is on here," Callie said, passing the memory stick over the table.
A pang of guilt for what she was doing struck her square in the chest, but, she rationalised, it was no more than Josh had done to them. She'd allowed herself to begin to think he was a different breed from the man Irene had warned her about, which only served to show how cleverly persuasive he really was.
"That's everything?"
"Yes, everything I could find. Seriously, I was shocked when I saw how much information he'd gathered on your family, particularly Bruce. Surely that's not the norm when someone is trying to undermine another firm?"
"Not unless he was looking for dirt to dig up."
"Well, he certainly didn't find any in that lot," Callie said staunchly.
Irene slipped the memory stick into her handbag, a worried frown bisecting her brows.
"There's still something about the man that concerns me. He's a constant threat to us and I want to know why." Irene reached across the table, her perfectly manicured hand now curled like a manacle around Callie's wrist. "You're going to have to get closer to him. Really close. The information you need to get isn't going to be something he keeps on a hard drive anywhere. It'll be something he keeps inside him."
There was an iron command in Irene's voice and Callie shot her a worried glance.
"I mean it, Callie. You've come this far; you're going to have to take it all the way. It's the only chance we have to find out what on earth is behind it all."
All the way? While her mind rejected the idea of allowing herself to be used so clinically, her heart and her pulse rate both leaped at the idea.
"I'll do my best, Irene," Callie said, laying her other hand over the older woman's. "I promise."
Callie was on tenterhooks Wednesday as she waited for Josh's call to announce his arrival back in the country. She'd worked hard all day, trying to distract her thoughts, and her rampant hormones, from the prospect of seeing him again.
She'd just returned from the central library, where she'd delivered some archive material she'd finished with, when she became aware of a change in the air. A level of energy and intensity the office had been lacking while he'd been gone. Had he returned in the short time she'd been away from her desk?
"Callie? Come through to my office, would you?"
He was back. Callie smoothed the form-fitting sleeveless cream turtleneck dress she wore over her hips and walked through to Josh's office. Looking at her, no one would guess how her blood thrummed through her veins or how her nerve endings had suddenly become infinitely attuned to his presence.
She'd no sooner stepped through his door than strong arms wrapped around her body and drew her hard against him. She caught a glimpse of sapphire-blue glitter before his eyes closed and his mouth slanted across hers.
Instantly she parted her lips, giving him free access, allowing him to plunder the soft recess with a hungry sweep of his tongue. Callie reached her hands up around his neck and laced her fingers together, relishing the feel of his hardness against her body, savouring the taste of him on her tongue.
It had only been a matter of days since he'd last kissed her, but it felt like an eon.
When Josh gently withdrew his lips from hers she wanted to protest, but she held back the sound of dismay that gathered in her throat. Men like Josh Tremont did the chasing. It was up to her to allow herself to be caught.