Page 25 of Dragon's Desire

As much as she could appreciate Peter's ability to work a suspect, she couldn't forget what he was. He was a witch hunter, and people like Legermain made him seem necessary. She hated a lot about Peter Winthrop, but him having any reason to be right was something that grated on her nerves like nothing had before.

She was ready to launch into her next round of questions when the knock on the door interrupted her. It was the wrong time for the assistant to arrive with coffee. If Peter had just let it go, they would have been fine.

But instead of a petite blonde opening the door, it was a much taller white guy with black hair and a neatly trimmed beard.

"Hey, Arnie, do you have—oh, I didn't know you were in a meeting. You okay, Arnie? You look a little flush."

"Mr. Xander," Mr. Bryce said. The first word sounded almost relieved, like he was happy to have the focus pulled off of him. But his voice hit an octave higher at the second part as he realized his boss had just walked into the room as he was being grilled by law enforcement. "I was just speaking to these agents from PEACE. Nothing wrong, sir."

"Nothing wrong?" Kiercy said, her anger rising. "Other than your technology ending up in the hands of dangerous criminals."

Gil Xander raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me, Agent ...?"

Peter stood. "That's Agent Kiercy Carrier. I'm Agent Peter Winthrop." He picked up the goggles and said, "We are trying to figure out how these got into the hands of a dangerous witch."

Gil Xander, perhaps the richest man in the world, looked at Mr. Bryce with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Arnie, have you been answering their questions?"

"Yes, sir. I'm willing to help in any way that I can with their investigation."

Kiercy stood up as well, pushing past Peter to look at Gil Xander. He towered over her in height, but she wasn't intimidated by that. She wouldn't be under normal circumstances, but now she was so pissed she could have taken on someone three times her size.

Having to do this investigation alongside a man like Peter Winthrop was about to push her over the edge. It didn't matter that she still had a dull and somehow pleasant ache from the way Peter had just taken her the night before. She was angry and tired and needed this investigation to end.

"How the hell does someone get technology from your facility that isn't even on the market yet?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, Agent Carrier, you're going to have to get me up to speed," Mr. Xander said.

"Oh, your security staff didn't inform you?" she pressed.

"I'm sorry. I have been away from my desk this morning speaking with some new potential clients."

"So, no one on your staff thought this was an important thing to bring to your attention?"

"I'm still a little lost here, agent." Xander might as well have had ice water running in his veins for all the reaction Kiercy was able to get out of him.

Peter laid a hand on her shoulder, and she shrugged him off, but Peter explained the situation. Mr. Xander remained calm, but his brow furrowed as Peter described what had happened, especially when he mentioned the flash of light that temporarily blinded Legermain.

"Damn."

"Are you upset that we got them off your man?" Kiercy asked.

"Oh, no. Sorry. I'm glad you did. But these were supposed to have a throttle on the exact amount of light they let in. That shouldn't have happened. It may have to be back to the drawing board with this model. I would hate to have it fail in the field for our troops, police officers, or PEACE agents."

"I didn't know you were supplying PEACE with equipment," Peter said.

"Oh, not yet. That was the discussion I was just having with one of the subcontractors. I want the law enforcement, armed services, and intelligence agencies in America to have only the best equipment."

"Seems like you should have better security if that were the case," Kiercy shot back.

"Considering that I leant out models to be tested by various groups, what makes you think this came directly from Xander Technologies." Then Mr. Xander turned to Peter and said, "May I see the goggles? I need to know if it was a failure of the mechanism or a calibration issue. Whoever we asked to test these may have damaged it in some way."

"No. We aren't going to be handing evidence over to a suspect in an investigation," Kiercy said.

"Am I really an official suspect? Should I make sure to have an attorney present?" Mr. Xander asked.

"If you're not guilty, then you've got nothing to hide," she said.

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