Seduction of Steel: The Complete Series (18 page)

Jessica found herself wishing she had more interest in technology.  Sure, she owned a smart phone and a notebook computer and a few other gadgets, but these were just tools that she needed for everyday life.  They weren't anything she was passionate about.  Yet here she was in a huge convention center full of demonstrations of stereo systems, huge flat screen televisions, and the smart phones, tablet computers and notebooks of tomorrow.  Of course, she wasn't really supposed to be watching the demonstrations; she was supposed to be looking out for Ryan, Bob Kellerman, or the mysterious Mr. Kim.

The day was wearing on, and Jessica hadn't had any luck.  She hadn't seen Ryan, or any mysterious behavior from anyone.  She was beginning to wonder if she'd have to repeat this for the remaining three days of the convention.  The thought of having to do that wasn't very appealing; she'd already seen everything at the convention that was of interest to her and keeping a constant watch for several different people was tiring.  The longer she had to keep this vigil, the less alert she was likely to be.

In order to stay alert, Jessica decided to find a cup of coffee, preferably something with espresso in it.  She stepped out of the main convention area and into the adjacent food court.  As she approached the coffee counter, someone standing off to the side caught her attention.  He wasn't that unusual looking; he was about of average height with brown hair and thick glasses.  What caught her attention was the fact that the man was standing against the wall, holding a briefcase and looking rather nervous.

Jessica froze.

She'd found Bob Kellerman, the engineer with the stolen smart phone chip!  He appeared to be waiting to meet someone.  Jessica kept her eye on him while ordering her latte.  He kept checking his watch, as though someone were late to keep an appointment with him.  She paid for her coffee and stepped aside, hoping that the crowd around the coffee counter would obscure the fact that she was watching him intently.

She stood off to the side, drinking her coffee and waiting to see what happened next.

A few minutes later, another man approached Kellerman.  He was tall; at least six foot three.  He was also Caucasian, and clearly
not
Korean.  They spoke for a moment, and then the two men proceeded to walk down a long hallway towards an area of the convention center that wasn't in use.  They walked about fifty yards and then went through a door at the end of the hallway.  Jessica wasn't sure what to do.  She looked around to see if Ryan was nearby, but she saw no sight of him.  After a few moments, she decided to follow the two men.

Jessica got about halfway down the hall when the tall man came out of the room at the end of the hall alone.  He had a briefcase in his hand and he seemed to be in a hurry as he quickly walked by Jessica.  In his hurry, he brushed against her.

“Get out of my way,” he said brusquely in an eastern European accent.  He kept walking.

Jessica came to the doorway at the end of the hall and opened it.  Just inside the door she found Kellerman lying on the floor, stabbed and bleeding.  She did what she could to put pressure on the wound to slow down the bleeding and called 911 to get help.

When the paramedics arrived, she told them that she'd seen the men go into the room and only one had come out.  She thought that was odd, so she opened the door out of curiosity.  She told them that she didn't know anything else, and she figured that she'd let Kellerman tell the authorities whatever story he wanted to tell them.  He was no longer her concern.

So now it seemed that Kellerman was out of the picture, the chip had been stolen and Ryan was nowhere to be found.

Worse than that, it appears that Ryan's “boring” job was actually quite dangerous, and Jessica was worried about him. 
That man bleeding in the hallway could just as easily have been Ryan
, she thought. 

What do I do now?

Chapter 9

Ryan had spent the day wandering around the convention center, looking for either Kellerman or Mr. Kim.  He had actually located Kellerman early in the day, but wasn't able to get close enough to him to activate his pulse device, as he was behind a counter in a trade booth. 

He decided that the best course of action was to wait until Kellerman and Kim had made contact.  After all, while they might simply meet in public, it was more likely that they'd step aside and conduct their business in private.  That might present a better opportunity for Ryan to get close enough to damage the chip.  Once he did that, it didn't matter if the money changed hands or not; the chip was effectively worthless.

After hours of nothing happening, Ryan saw Kellerman take a phone call.  After that, he started walking towards the concession area.  Ryan began to follow him, hoping that he'd either lead him to Mr. Kim or at least get far enough out of the main convention area for Ryan to get close enough to him to activate the pulse.  Ryan reached into his pocket and turned the device on.  Like a camera flash, it took a few seconds to fully charge.

Kellerman abruptly stopped just past the concession stand and paused to stand by the wall, as if waiting for someone.  Ryan had hoped to approach him without being seen, but now he realized that this wasn't going to work.  He stopped to observe, stepping into a stairwell near the concession area.

He watched as a tall man approached Kellerman and the two of them began to walk down the hall.  He watched them step into the doorway at the end of the hallway.

Ryan had to decide whether to approach the two of them or to wait to see what happened next.  He opted to wait.

A few moments later, he saw that tall man come out of the doorway, alone, carrying a briefcase, and seemingly in a hurry.  Ryan watched him push a red headed woman aside and he prepared to approach him with the pulse gun.

Just as Ryan approached the tall man, a man returning from the concession area happened to walk in between them.  The tall man grabbed the man by the arm and pushed him into Ryan as he approached with his pulse gun.  Ryan fell down a flight of stairs, spraining his ankle in the process.

As he sat, stunned, at the bottom of the staircase, Ryan knew that Kellerman, and the chip, were likely gone.

Worse, he knew he would probably be walking on crutches for a while, which is hardly a way for a spy to get anything accomplished.

After sitting in a daze for a few minutes, he managed to crawl back up the flight of stairs.  Just about that time, the paramedics were arriving in response to Jessica's emergency call.

A few minutes later, a redheaded Jessica walked by.  Ryan didn't recognize her, but she couldn't miss him as he sat on the floor at the top of the stairs.

“Ryan! Are you all right?”

“Uh...Jessica?  What are you doing here?  What's with the red hair?”

“It's a long story.  Can you walk?”

“Not easily.  I'm not sure if it's a break or a sprain.”

“Lets get you to a doctor and find out.”

She managed to help him get to her car, and they went to the nearest emergency room.  Ryan was diagnosed as having a severe sprain and he was given a pair of crutches and told to stay off of his feet for a few days.

They returned to his hotel room and had a lengthy chat about their day.

“Jess, I thought you said you were going home.  You promised.”

“Well...I really wanted to watch you work.  I needed the research for my book.  Besides, if it weren't for me, where would you be now?  Who took you to the doctor?”

“I guess I should thank you for that.  Still, I can take care of myself.”

“Like Kellerman?  He's in the hospital now.  You told me your job wasn't dangerous.  You lied.”

“It's never been dangerous before.  This was supposed to be simple.  Get near the guy, set off the pulse, leave.  Stabbings, sprained ankles and third parties aren't usually part of the equation.”

“It seems that somebody has another idea.  Any idea who the tall European guy might be?”

“I don't know.  Russian, maybe?.  I doubt whoever took it really wants the chip.  They probably just wanted to grab it so that they could sell it to the Koreans.  Just a quick way to make a huge profit.”

“What do you do now?”
 

“I'll make a few phone calls and see if I can find out something about the European guy.  Can you describe him?”

“Sure.  He was about six feet two; maybe a bit taller.  Blond.  He was wearing a light gray suit.  He had an athletic build. Looked pretty mean.”

“That's not much to go on.  Still, it's better than nothing.”

Ryan spent the next half hour on the phone, placing calls to several different people.

“I've got some people looking into it.  They'll call when they know something.  I”m not sure what we do next.”

Ryan was lying on the bed with his bandaged foot propped up on a pillow.

“Is there any chance we can find this guy?”
 

“Maybe.  If the plan is to sell to the same Koreans that Kellerman was dealing with, then the guy is probably still around.  We just need to find him.”

“I wish I could have done more, Ryan.”

“You did plenty.  I wish you had gone home like you said you would.  You could have gotten hurt.”

“You're right.  But who's the one lying in bed with his foot propped on a pillow?”

Ryan laughed; he had to admit that Jessica had a point.  She sat down on the bed next to him, and ran her fingers through his somewhat messy hair.   She leaned in to kiss him.  As their lips met, he pulled her closer to him. 

The kiss was the most intense that Jessica had ever experienced, heightened by the realization that they had both survived a dangerous encounter.  She was grateful to have Ryan safely back in the hotel room and equally grateful to have him kissing her passionately.

They continued to kiss, almost with desperation, as she continued to run her hands through his hair.  Jessica marveled at Ryan's tongue, imagining what it could do to other parts of her body.  She could feel herself becoming wet as Ryan ran his hands over her breasts.

She could tell that Ryan was growing hard as he lay there on the bed.  She got on her knees next to him and unbuckled his belt and unzipped his pants.   She pulled his pants down near his knees as he struggled to help her.

Jessica, still wearing her dress, stood up and removed her panties.  She got back on the bed on her knees, and wrapped her hand around Ryan's growing erection.

She gently licked the salty drops from the head, and swirled her tongue around it.  She cradled his balls with her hand and took the head into her mouth, moving up and down on it and licking the underside with her tongue. 

“That feels wonderful, Jess.  Don't stop.”

She then began to stroke his shaft more aggressively, while continuing to work the head of his penis with her mouth.  Ryan's cock was hard and slick.  Jessica knew that Ryan was in pain from his ankle injury and hoped that she could make him forget about it for a little while.

“Climb on top of me,” he said.

Jessica got on her knees and pulled up her dress.  She straddled Ryan and slowly lowered herself onto his hard cock.  He entered her easily, as she was about as wet as she had ever been.  Her legs began to quiver as she felt him thrust deeply into her wetness.  The fullness she felt whenever Ryan was inside of her was intensely satisfying.  She closed her eyes and savored the pleasure. 

Ryan's sprained ankle gave him limited ability to move, however, so Jessica was having to provide most of the motion.  She moved up and down on him, doing so increasingly quickly as they both became more aroused.

He reached up and stuck his index finger into her mouth.  She greedily sucked it as though it were a second cock.  Jessica was lost in the moment, with her mouth and her wet pussy both being put to work at once.