Chapter Eleven

For three solid days, Jordan and Woody worked the case, going over each tiny detail endless numbers of times…pulling it apart and then putting it back together. The Boston PD was searching for Cynthia Hough. Woody and Jordan were trying to figure out why and how the microchip was implanted into Patrick Buchanan.

Jordan's health was slowly returning to normal. Her wounds were healing…albeit they were taking their own sweet time. She still tired easily and it frustrated her that she still could not work more than a few hours straight without tiring out. Woody told her not to worry about it, but to rest as she needed to…her well-being was most important.

And her resting gave him a break…a break from fighting the need and desire simply to put his arms around her and hold her. Sometimes his determination not to let her affect him went up in smoke…he tried to remain professionally aloof. He felt over all he was succeeding, but having to keep looking into those whiskey-colored eyes was weakening his resolve. On the third day at the beach, late in the afternoon, he noticed her energy was flagging. "Go lay down," he told her. "Rest. When you get up, you'll feel better and maybe we can piece a little more of this together." Truth be told, he needed the break, too. From her and the case. Not that Jordan was being difficult to get along with. Quite the contrary. She had developed into a warm, peaceful woman…who had put her past behind her and was living for the present. He wished he would have stayed in touch with her after he left homicide. They may have been able to work something out.

She nodded and made for the hammock. Woody had a hammock on his porch off the den. Jordan had quickly discovered it soon after they had arrived and more or less claimed it for her own. She could rest there, enjoy the breeze, hear the ocean, have solitude, and pretend, just for a little while, that things were like they were in the old days between her and Woody. Just a few moments of escapism to keep her sane. Being this close to Woody was playing havoc with her peace of mind….she felt like she was raw and bleeding on the inside all over again. But to her, he seemed to be dealing with their close proximity just fine. She snuggled down in the hammock and pulled up the light throw that Woody kept there and soon she was asleep.

Woody watched her from his desk…the soft breeze ruffling her hair, the hammock swinging gently under her slight weight. She still was incredibly beautiful…and incredibly smart. And they both were stuck on how the microchip got in Buchanan's spinal cord. He sighed. He knew what they needed to do, although he was reluctant to do so with her. They needed to play Max's game…his role playing game. It could be an emotional roller coaster, especially for the two of them. But it was the last resort. He patiently waited for a couple of hours…until he saw her begin to stir in the hammock. He went over to help her get out…sometimes that was still a little tricky for her and would pull on her stitches.

"Hey," gently helping her sit up. "Feel better?"

"Yeah," she replied, pushing her curls behind her ears. He helped her down and into the house. It still bothered him to see how weak she was…

"I've been working on the 'how' angle of this Buchanan thing why you've been resting…and I can't seem to get it together….so I was wondering if you'd be willing to play the game."

Jordan caught her breath. "I haven't done that in a long time, Woody….I don't know how good I'd be anymore."

"You were always the best at it. And it's the last thing I know to do."

She swallowed hard. "Okay," she said, entering the den in front of him. "You be Buchanan….I'll be Cynthia Hough."

"So I have developed this child tracking device and it's a huge success….but I'm not content with that. I want something more…something even better. I come up with this chip that will alter and monitor behavior," Jordan began, turning around to face him.

"But your investors thing it's too intrusive and back out. You know it's a great idea, but need some backers….that's when you contact me. But I keep telling you no…." Woody answered.

"I won't take no for an answer. I keep calling and calling until I wear you down. You finally agree to meet me in the Hilton's restaurant for dinner."

"And I still tell you no."

"Only I still won't take no for an answer. I have a back up plan….If nothing else, I'll show you how effective it is…I'll win you and your money over. I am a very determined woman."

"So now what happens? He tells her no, yet they leave the hotel together…where do they go?"

"Did they go back to her apartment?"

"No. No sign of him at her apartment…"

Jordan thought for a moment. "No. I take you somewhere else…somewhere where I can convince you of the chip's usefulness…."

"Or his usefulness," Woody said suddenly. "We've been thinking all the time that she took him back to the lab or somewhere that she could show him more details about the chip and then somehow talked him into letting her put one in him for a trial run. What if that didn't happen at all? What if she took him somewhere to seduce him?"

"Seduce him? But I thought Buchanan was a solid guy?"

"No one is lily-white, Jo. There was soft-core porn on his laptop."

Jordan backed up and started over. "Okay…so sometime during dinner I tell you it's okay that you don't want to invest in my chip. I am attracted to you."

Woody stepped closer to Jordan. "Yeah. And I fall for it. I mean, I've been married for a long time to the same woman…things get a little boring….you could be a little spice in my bland life…..I figure I'm out of town…we could go to your place….have some fun…I could come back to my hotel room….and no one would be the wiser."

"Only I've already got this angle figured out. No way are you coming back to my apartment…too many witnesses. I've found a hotel already and have a room set up…just incase. You fall for it hook, line and sinker."

Closing in on her, Woody picked up where Jordan left off. "Once I'm there, you offer me a drink or two….maybe drug me with something in the drink…then after the seduction scene, I pass out and bang – you use the injection gun to implant the chip in the back of my neck. And I leave, never feeling a thing…never knowing. Meanwhile you have your cousin in the room next to me at the Hilton….just in case."

"No…not quite like that….Buchanan had elevated alcohol levels in his body, but he wasn't drunk….but he was on a decongestant. Between the amount of alcohol he did have in his system and that prescription allergy medicine, he was out like a light. He didn't feel a thing."

"But I'm right about the seduction thing, aren't I, Jordan?" Woody asked so close to her now she could fill his breath on her cheek.

Looking up into his blue eyes, she realized suddenly it was hard to breathe with him this close. Swallowing hard, she nodded. "Yes…I think…" She got no further. His lips came down on hers to finish playing out the seduction scene he had in his mind…he had gotten too much into character…. "Woody," she managed to get out between kisses.

"What Jordan?"

"You need to stop. It's over…the game's over…"

"This isn't a game….we've both been wanting this since we got here…and you know it."

On that point, she had to admit he was right….she did want it, but not like this…not while pretending to be two people they weren't. And she didn't want seduction….she wanted love. She didn't want to be just another notch on his belt…like she had heard about other women…she may not deserve any better after the way she had pushed him away in the past, but she wanted more.

But if he kept kissing her like he was doing now, her resolve was going to go right out the window. Unknowingly, he provided her an out when he tightened his arms around her waist. "Oh," she said…her hand going down to cover her stitches.

Woody pulled back then. "Are you okay Jordan?" He didn't mean to hurt her…he wasn't thinking. That was the problem. The only thing he was concentrating on was how good she felt in his arms again.

"Yeah…" She gave him a half-grin. "Stitches are still a little sensitive."

"I'm sorry….I really am, Jo. I guess I got too caught up in the game…." And your perfume, and your lips, and how soft and wonderful you still feel in my arms, he thought.

"That's okay…nothing happened….and I think we've made some important discoveries….When he passed out, she injected him with a chip that would allow her to alter her behavior and track his movements. With that knowledge, she could get whatever she wanted out of him….only thing she didn't count on was the stroke…and when that happened, she had Myers shoot him and set it up like suicide…she had all her bases covered." She smoothed her hair back in place…avoiding Woody's eyes. Her lips still tingled, as well as other parts…..

"Only she didn't count on you….and your finding out how she operated. That's why she's out to get you."

Jordan drew a shaky breath. "Does the Boston PD know where she is yet?"

"No…but they and along with the MSBI are looking for her 24/7. We'll get her, Jo." He walked back over to her and gently circled her waist with his hands…he bet if he really tried he could completely encircle her tiny waist with his hands to the point his fingers would meet. "You don't need to be frightened….of her…or me."

Jordan wanted to tell him that she wasn't frightened of him…but of herself…and her feelings for him.