A Tangled Web Read online

  The fact that Jeremy Alster had called him two hours earlier to tell him he was not likely to accept his offer because, in his words, Ian would not be the appropriate person to care for his company, and that Ian suspected this had something to do with the story a morning show had run earlier that day, a gossip item involving his date with the brunette, which they had elaborated to include his “feats” as depicted by the enthusiastic interviewee, Cecilia Heart herself, was not helping his mood any. That’s what happens when there’s no real news to report, he thought to himself with irritation. He hoped Robert would solve his problem soon, but at that moment Robert was right there, following him and Davis around InSyn in this visit that shouldn’t have been necessary. And so he could expect a delay on that, too.

  It would, it seemed, be a day of delays for him. And he hated delays.

  “This is an interactive session with the balancing algorithms team upstairs,” the man was saying. “If we stop working on this now we’ll have to start over again. And this is an important loop for the—”

  Davis didn’t give him a chance to finish. “I don’t care what you’re doing, it will wait.”

  “You don’t understand,” he tried to explain, finally looking up. “I’m sorry, Ms. Davis, I don’t mean to offend you. I know you’re not a tech, maybe I can speak to someone in your technology team? They will understand, they can help—” He saw Ian beside her and obviously recognized him. He stood up. “Mr. Blackwell, sir, you understand, you need me to continue this now, as it is with the transition we are losing time—”

  “Excuse me, you will speak only to me. Mr. Blackwell is not here for this, and you may not address him,” Davis said indignantly. “You know what, that’s it.” She was shouting now. “You’ll be the first, maybe this example will straighten out the others, which is long overdue. You’re fired. You will transfer your work to Ms. Andrews and leave.”

  “Please, you can’t do this!” the man blurted out and stood up.

  “But I can do whatever I damn well want.” It was Ian who answered him, the anger in his voice unmistakable. He’d had enough of this. Of Davis, of this man, of this shouting and the unprofessional conduct. Of people around him being complete idiots and standing in his way. “InSyn is mine now and I’m sick and tired of you people telling me what I can and cannot do with it—”

  “That’s enough.” The voice was quiet but left no place for argument.

  Ian turned around. And froze. Before him stood what could only be described as a classic beauty, the kind of beauty that would unfailingly stand out, even in the understated way she was dressed, too understated for his taste. In a long sleeve, navy blue pullover, one size too big—there was no way she would need that—and a pair of jeans, plain blue ones. Plain, that was it. A woman who looks like that shouldn’t be dressed this plainly, the thought went through his mind. And she certainly shouldn’t be hidden away in some basement. Tall, slim, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. Auburn. No, a true dark red, the mix of lights in this underground hideaway playing with its hues to confuse him. And her eyes, those beautiful eyes that rested on his, full of fire, were a piercing gold amber.

  “God.” That came out involuntarily.

  “No, just me,” she said and turned her back to him.

  Anger flared. At her, and at himself for reacting this way. He wasn’t used to being taken by surprise.

  Nor was he used to being slighted.

  Beside him, Davis gaped. And in the shadows behind them, Robert watched with growing interest.

  “Jayden Rees,” the woman said, walking to the shocked man standing at the desk. “That’s his name, and he’s been with this company since its inception, no one knows it as well as he does. What you need from InSyn wouldn’t be if not for him. Although”—she turned her angry gaze to Davis—“apparently loyalty doesn’t matter now that you have what you want.”

  “Do you know who this man is?” Davis was appalled.

  “No, I don’t know.” The woman turned back to Ian and he was hit by the force of that golden gaze again. “Who are you for him, Ian Blackwell?”

  The eyes that met hers narrowed, gray ice meeting her fire with equal force.

  “You will be fired for this!” Davis was nearly screeching.

  “Couldn’t care less. I wouldn’t want to stay in the type of place that treats good people this way,” the woman said, never raising her voice, never taking her eyes off Ian’s. “Of course, now that you’re firing me, you can’t fire Jayden. He’s the only other person here who can keep the data function working.” And with this, she turned her back on both of them again and went over to Rees.

  Davis was about to follow her, seething with anger, but Ian motioned her not to, a deep frown on his face. Instead, he turned to leave, Davis following him after a last hateful glance behind her.

  Hidden by a divider to their left, Robert moved back, wanting to remain unseen. He had watched the exchange between his friend and the woman, had seen his reaction to her. Under any other circumstances Ian wouldn’t let things get this far, nor would he react this way, knowing intimidation came too easily for him. But he was in an extraordinarily bad mood. And it showed.

  And yet this woman, whoever she was, had easily stood up to him, to his anger, not in the least caring who he was.

  And Ian Blackwell had backed down.

  Robert looked on as the woman walked up to Jayden Rees and spoke to him. Rees gestured toward Ian’s and Davis’s distancing backs in obvious shock and disbelief, and she put her hand on his arm and spoke quietly, soothingly. Inconsolable, Rees shook his head, but she continued to speak, her voice gentle. Robert moved a little closer to hear better. She was assuring him, letting him know everything would be all right. Promising him it would be. And he seemed to take her word for it, breathing in deeply, calming down. Sitting down again.

  Robert turned and left, unseen.

  He waited until he was alone to check InSyn’s employee register on his laptop. Then he took out his phone and made a call. The report was in his private email early the next morning. It was prepared by the only person Robert would trust with this, the man who headed IBH Internal Security, the Ian Blackwell Holdings company in charge of integrated security in all its subsidiaries, including the vetting of its employees.

  Tess Andrews had no skeletons in her closet, that was Ira Gold's bottom line. She was adopted as a baby and raised in Denver as an only child by an elderly couple who died less than a year apart, her father first and her mother just after she graduated from high school, at seventeen. This had left her all alone. She had joined InSyn almost immediately after, choosing not to go to college. Twelve years later, she was still at InSyn. And she still had no one, no family. Nothing to stop her from moving to another city, another state. Good.

  When InSyn was awarded its first IBH Pythia Vision contract, Tess Andrews had undergone a preliminary background check, the only one needed at the time by all InSyn employees and that Gold had attached to his report. Skimming over it, Robert nodded to himself, pleased. Among other things, the background check, which included both information she provided and some information collected about her without her knowledge, disclosed also her personal status and living arrangements, and required her to provide changes in these while InSyn worked with Pythia Vision. This provided Robert with some insight into her personal life.

  Not that she had one. None to speak of, anyway. She lived in the same address she had moved into when she had joined InSyn and spent her entire time at work. The only people she was in any sort of contact with outside work seemed to be Jayden Rees and his wife, her only pastime the gym around the corner from InSyn, which she went to most days before working hours.

  Not married, and no boyfriend, neither at the time of the initial background check nor currently, according to Gold. This suited Robert’s purpose, but it also interested him. A woman like her, who looked like she did, leading a solitary life. He thought about the way she dressed, understating her own femini
nity. He looked again at her employment record, at the hours she kept. Workaholic, it looked like, work for her superseded everything. Just like Ian.

  Except that she didn't push to advance her career, although she could have. She had taken courses over the years, some InSyn had offered, others she had asked for. Yet she had never made an effort to get a formal degree and had refused any promotion that would have taken her outside her comfort zone, it seemed to him. Certainly nothing that would have led to her working with anyone outside the small company. Nor had she responded to persistent attempts by headhunters to lure her to other companies. Still, her status at InSyn was that of a valuable asset to be retained, and so she was left to decide her own and do as she pleased.

  There were some questions there, no doubt, and some curious gaps. People usually had more of a life to show, a life they shared with others. They had friends, hobbies they engaged in. Presence in some social media or other. It was odd that she didn’t have any of that. She was somewhat of an enigma at close scrutiny, Robert mused. A very solitary enigma. But the fact was that, according to Gold, she was clean. He remembered the way she had intervened in favor of Rees, protecting him, the way she hadn’t hesitated to stand up to those who had the power to fire them both. The way she had spoken. Quietly, not once raising her voice. Assertive but never aggressive. The intelligence in her eyes. The gentleness in her voice when she had soothed her upset friend.

  The way she had been with Ian. The way he had been with her.

  Gut feeling, he had long ago learned from Ian Blackwell, had a crucial role in one's fortunes.

  Robert made his choice.

  Chapter Three

  Tess Andrews looked out of the window of her tiny living room, her gaze thoughtful. Outside, her view in the quiet Greenwood Village neighborhood, just south of Denver, consisted of the house her apartment was a part of, on top of its detached garage. The house, and the man who was just then coming out of it. Jayden Rees was on his way to his Saturday morning golf game, the only outdoor activity he thought was worth his time. As he was leaving, his wife Aisha hurried out of the house after him, holding a light sweater in her hand. She wrapped the sweater tightly around him and tipped her face up for the kiss Jayden never failed to give her on her cheek. Then they went their separate ways, she back into the house and he to his game, both with smiles on their faces.

  Tess's brow was furrowed, her eyes full of worry. She needed to find a way for this not to have any repercussions for them. Jayden and Aisha were the best people she knew, and she would not let them be hurt by their association with her. She had hoped the events of the day before, her run-in with Davis and with Ian Blackwell, would lead to her simply being fired, which would, in a way, solve her problem. But to her surprise she found out later that neither she nor Jayden were being fired. She was happy for Jayden, but for her this was the worst thing that could have happened. She’d certainly not meant to antagonize Blackwell, but once she had, she had hoped that her clash with him would have the windfall of allowing her to disappear without too many questions being asked.

  Blackwell. The mere thought of him infuriated her, because of the way he had spoken to Jayden. She didn’t like people who talked down to others, and Blackwell and especially Davis, whom he had sent to head the transition team, had done just that. She knew who he was, of course, he’d been the most talked-about person in InSyn’s hallways since the takeover, and Jayden had told her he was in the building, that he’d finally come to see them himself. She didn’t care, but Jayden had been excited at the prospect of meeting Ian Blackwell, and even more excited that it was his company that had taken over InSyn, if that was the way it had to be. And that’s despite the conduct of Blackwell’s transition team, and especially Davis. He is a brilliant business man, Jayden had told her every chance he got. There’s no way he would allow Davis to do this to us, he’ll fix this, you’ll see, that was what he had said to her that very morning. Blackwell was a fair man, Jayden seemed to think.

  Some fair, she thought angrily. Jayden had been terribly hurt by the way Blackwell had treated him, and by what he had allowed Davis to do. As far as she was concerned, Ian Blackwell was just another one of those domineering people who were used to nothing and no one daring to stand up to them. Everyone at InSyn certainly seemed to cower when he walked by and he didn't even seem to notice, walking around with the arrogant confidence of a man who owned the world.

  Her mind unwittingly brought up his image. He was younger than she had expected, but then she didn’t really know much about him. She didn’t watch television, had no patience for it. Or for spending endless hours online, for that matter. Nor did she have any inclination to join social media, the exposure it brought with it wasn’t for her. She liked her privacy, and she preferred to read. Reading was solitary, quiet, and allowed her mind to go where the words went rather than where her thoughts wanted to take her. She didn’t even keep a television here, in her apartment. The laptop was enough.

  And she had never bothered to check out Ian Blackwell when he had taken over InSyn. She already knew the company he’d intended InSyn to work under, Pythia Vision, from InSyn’s ongoing cooperation with it, and anyway it was only his plans for InSyn that mattered to her, and that information she could get most efficiently from inside InSyn itself.

  It was just that she’d thought he was older. And not looking like . . . that. Nor had she expected to meet him. She’d been busy, working in that part of the building that had become her hiding place, where she liked to work alone, away from everyone. And then he was there, she’d heard the exchange, had heard him side with the head of his transition team as Davis treated a good man unfairly. In the time it had taken her to get to Jayden, she’d heard Blackwell’s tone of voice, the same icy anger he then had in his eyes for her. He had expected her to yield, just as Davis had expected her to.

  But she hadn’t yielded, she thought with satisfaction. The arrogance! He seemed to expect everyone to kowtow to him, just as Davis had expected them to do for her. She was angry that InSyn’s founders had sold out to this man who didn’t seem to bother to listen to those who really knew the company and what made it so good at what it did, and who thought he could treat his employees the way he had, the way the people he had sent to take care of the transition had. She couldn’t believe this guy.

  Restless, she went to her laptop, which sat on the small coffee table. She looked him up, then closed the browser tab before the search results even came up. What was she doing? She didn’t need to know anything about him. She’d already seen enough. She remembered his eyes, gray ice that bored into hers, which she imagined answered his with just the right amount of fire. She’d infuriated him. And surprised him, too. That one almost pleased her. It would have, if she wasn’t so worried.

  Which brought her back to her most urgent problem. She wasn’t fired for angering Ian Blackwell. And although the relocation was off, for now at least, InSyn would still become a subsidiary of IBH Pythia Vision. Which meant that her life was still about to be scrutinized along with those of the rest of its employees, by Blackwell’s background investigators, people who didn’t know her and who worked within a system she didn’t know and had no control in whatsoever. It was going to happen, and she had run out of time.

  She closed her eyes. What on earth was she going to do now?

  The ringtone made her jump. Her phone. She didn’t have a landline here, only her smartphone, and the generic ring let her know it wasn’t Jayden or his wife, nor anyone from InSyn. She picked it up and looked at the screen. A blocked number. She considered rejecting the call but then answered anyway. Maybe someone was calling to fire her after all, she thought with some cynicism. And some hope.

  “Yes?” she said.

  “Ms. Andrews?”

  The caller was a man. Couldn’t be someone trying to sell her anything, she thought absently. Her number wasn’t listed, and not for that reason.

  She didn’t answer, and the caller continued. “I�
�m sorry to disturb you, Ms. Andrews, but I need to speak to you. I’m an attorney.”

  She focused instantly.

  “There is a matter I would like to discuss with you, a matter of a personal nature.”

  “What is this about?” She kept her voice calm, guarded.

  “Nothing that can be explained on the phone, I’m afraid. I know this is highly unusual, but I wonder if you might give me a few minutes to explain, face to face.”

  When she said nothing, the attorney continued. “I would appreciate it if you could meet me at the law offices of Parker and Williams.” He gave her the address, in an area that housed mostly law and accounting firms in Denver’s Central Business District.

  “And your name is?”

  “In fact, we can meet there in, say, an hour, if that’s all right with you. I happen to be on my way there right now,” he continued without answering her question.

  “You don’t really expect me to agree to this, do you?” she said.

  “Please, Ms. Andrews. I know it’s a lot to ask.” The attorney’s voice remained calm, confident. Not angered in any way.

  Tess closed her eyes. After a lengthy pause during which the man on the other end of the line remained silent, she confirmed she would meet him. She didn’t want to, but knew she had to, had to know why an attorney was calling her out of the blue, refusing to identify himself or to explain what he wanted unless she met him. And this wasn’t about curiosity.

  It was about survival.

  In InSyn’s too cramped a conference room for his taste, Ian was sitting with the transition team. The administrative part of it, not the techs. And the new administrative part of it, not the one originally assigned to this company. The latter no longer worked for him, and the former were an experienced bunch, who’d worked well together on several of his previous acquisitions and had done an excellent job. He had them flown in overnight on his company’s executive jets from a number of locations, taking them away from well-earned vacations. Now that he had a good idea of what had been going on at InSyn, he had changed his mind about how to approach its integration into Ian Blackwell Holdings, deciding to give another try to his original plan of letting it stay as it was, in Denver. And this team, they would do the job he needed them to.