Chapter 4 (Expect the Unexpected)

It's been a month since I left Trenton. Jack Daniels is holding a gathering at his house tonight. Margaret had called us and told us to get to his computer and get a switch his hard drive with an empty one. I am going as a guest while Marissa and Andrea will be waitresses serving the guests. Andrea will be the ones to get to his computer and Marissa would be outside the room making sure no one enters. When they are finished, they would pass the hard drive to me. There would be cameras, so Marissa would have to rewire it, but it would only be a matter of time before Jack finds out. He wouldn't dare to search the guests and risk insulting them. However, he would definitely be searching the waiters/waitresses.

I went into my walk-in closet and tried to decide on which dress to pick. I finally settled on a long black halter top dress. It was really low showing a lot of cleavage and there was a split that went all the way up to the top of me thigh. Also, the back was bare, so I couldn't wear a bra. I put my hair up into a French twist and let a few strands of hair hang loose. I painted my nails and toe nails light pink and added some pink eye shadow and lipstick. For jewelry, I had long dangling diamond earrings and a diamond bracelet. To finish it off, I put on four inch high black FMP shoes and grabbed my black Coach handbag.

I parked my black Lexus and looked at Jack Daniels' house. I think the more appropriate term would've been mansion. That place was huge!

A guy standing at the door stopped me and asked, "Hello. May I have your invitation please?" I handed him my fake invitation. "Thank you. You may go in. Have a nice time."

I went in and scanned the area. This looked more like a formal ball than a gathering to me. Just then, I saw Jack pick a rose from a vase and started coming towards me. My heart started beating fast thinking that he might have recognized me.

"A lady as beautiful as a rose shouldn't go unnoticed." I let go of my breathe that I didn't even realize I was holding as he gave me the rose. That bastard doesn't recognize me.

"But you should never forget that a rose has thorns which can be pretty dangerous."

He laughed and said, "Then you should know that I'm a dangerous man too."

"I'm Jessica." I held out my hand.

"Jack Daniels at your service." Instead of shaking it, he took my hand and kissed it. Then he smiled and said, "I would love to continue talking to you but then I would be neglecting my other guests. He walked away. I turned around and bump into a brick wall. I looked up into the face of a very familiar man. That man was none other than Ricardo Carlos Manoso. He was wearing a white tuxedo and his hair was short. OMIGOD, Batman cut his hair!

"Babe." Crap, he recognizes me.

"Your blue eyes are hard to forget." Margaret hadn't taught me ESP, but she did teach me how to control my facial expressions to keep people from reading me like a book.

"Hey Ranger, what brings you here?" I asked in my sweetest tone.

"It's Ric. I'm working." That got me curious. I hope we aren't both after Daniels.

"Are you going after an FTA?"

"No." Crap, please don't tell me that he got assigned Daniel's case.

I walked over to the corner of the room near the kitchen. I was suppose to be meeting Andrea there to retrieve the hard drive. Unfortunately, Ric had followed me.

"What are you doing here, babe?"

"Standing?" I looked at him innocently hoping he'd leave me alone.

"Babe."

"You cut your hair." I was trying to change the subject, but all he did was stare at me. I grabbed a cocktail from a waiter and downed it in gulp.

"Why can't I be here?" I snapped at him. He has no right to know what I do.

He backed me to the wall and growled in my ear. "There are some dangerous people here, babe. The last thing you need is to attract them."

Just then, Andrea came towards me. She looked at Ric and raised an eyebrow. There was no way for her to give me the disk without him seeing. Just then, I saw Jack going to each waiter/waitress and pointed to the kitchen. Crap, he must've found out, that was quick. I nodded to Andrea. Ric raised his eyebrow at me when he saw the disk but said nothing. I placed the hard drive into my purse and headed for the door. Ric just followed. I opened the car door and was about to get in when he spoke.

"Babe, get in my car. I want to show you some people."

"Why? Where are we going?" As I said this, I took the hard drive and dumped it into the drivers seat of my car. My actions were light and my hands were blocked by my car, so he didn't notice.

"If you want to know why I'm here, then get in." I was curious, so I had no choice but to go with him.

He drove me to a warehouse which seemed as if it was located middle of nowhere. When I stepped inside, I was shocked. What the hell are they doing here!