Page 19 of Invincible
CHAPTER6
“What’s our first job?”Dex asked as they drove toward the shipping terminals.
Tyler had expected, after Dex’s last comment, for the ride to be awkward.Surprisingly, they quickly fell into an easy conversation about the merits of surfing the coast of California, something Tyler had never even thought about before.Apparently, Dex simply didn’t get unnerved or uncomfortable in other people’s presence like she did.
“There are two major container shipping terminals near LaPorte and one farther north near I-10.I took a minor job up there to see if we can rule it out first before taking on the two big terminals,” she answered.
Pulling a folder out of a messenger bag Dex had brought with him, Tyler was impressed when he started reciting information about where they were heading.
“This says there are three berths with a 437,000-square-foot storage facility containing almost five acres of uncovered storage.If we can get into the computer systems of as many as possible, we can look for any containers carrying cargo from Unified Instruments.That’s the cargo Mia saw in the container with them.”
He stored the folder back in the bag before pulling his new work permit out to present to the guard at the gate.Tyler was amazed that he had managed to get it overnight, even if he was with the government.
“Just act disinterested in what’s going on, maybe even a little surly,” Tyler said.She wasn’t nervous about trying to break into the shipping office.They were not trying to steal from the company, they just needed information.But somehow, it still felt like she was about to commit a felony.
“I got this, it’s not my first rodeo.”Glancing over at Dex, she relaxed, finding him smiling at her.She returned his smile as they pulled in line behind a truck pulling a trailer load of large pipe.If she thought jumping him in the diner earlier had seemed like a reasonable plan to her misfiring libido, her thoughts now made that idea sound like child’s play.
Relaxing in the passenger seat of her truck, wearing sunglasses, and his shirt opened, revealing the T-shirt stretched across what promised to be a rock-hard body, had her absolutely salivating.
“There’s not another choice.I have to find them, there’s not really another option,” he said with quiet conviction.She studied him for another moment, wondering why this was so important to him.He had to have worked on hundreds of cases.Why this one?There had to be something in his history that made this case special to him.
“Hey, Ty.Haven’t seen you in a little while.”The gate guard looked at their orders, then studied their cards.“You finally got a helper?Not bad,” the woman said, running her eyes over Dex.Tyler felt a surge of possessiveness race through her body.Where had that come from?With a small shake of her head, she forced the thought away.She needed to get her shit together, she barely knew the man sitting next to her.
“Yeah, I’ve got some big jobs coming up, so I needed to start breaking him in.They’ve been asking me for a while to come reinforce the railing to their office.Figured it was a good place to start him out.”
The guard looked at him for a few minutes more while Dex looked out the windshield, feigning a bored look that could have won an Oscar.Handing back their cards, Tyler continued on to the shipping office.
Dex unloaded the equipment they would need while Tyler went in the office to find the supervisor.
The job wasn’t that big and by noon, they were almost done.Even though they worked the entire morning next to the office, they hadn’t seen an opportunity to look at the shipping manifest by the time the job was wrapping up.Tyler could tell, even though he was good at hiding it, that Dex was starting to get impatient.
“I have an idea,” Tyler said, motioning for Dex to follow her to the truck.“The secretary has been staring at you all morning.Do you think you can distract her while I look at her computer?”
Dex looked over her shoulder, finding the woman propping the door open, complaining of the heat.
“Yeah, I think I can do that.”After he explained how to find the information they needed, Tyler turned and headed to the office.
She had climbed the stairs to ask the secretary if she could use the bathroom when she noticed the woman’s attention on something happening behind her.Looking over her shoulder, she caught a glimpse of Dex whipping off his work shirt before taking a long drink of water.
When he pulled his T-shirt over his rock-hard abs to wipe his face, they both stood for a moment with their mouths open before the secretary all but pushed her out of the way to go talk to him.
Quickly verifying that the rest of the office was at lunch, she sat down behind the desk.Pulling up the shipping software was easy, understanding how it worked was a whole other creature however.
After stumbling through several screens, she finally managed to pull up the manifest.Filtering them by alphabetical order of manufacturer, Tyler scrolled down to the bottom looking for Unified Instruments.
With a brief check on the secretary’s whereabouts, she shook her head at the view of Dex, sans shirt, pouring water from his bottle over his head as he smiled at the woman.Tyler couldn’t blame the woman, she had a hard time focusing around him too.
Not finding the company listed, she expanded the dates of shipment until she had covered the next two months, to no avail.Returning the computer to the original screen, she walked back out of the office, shaking her head at Dex.
He had managed to keep the secretary’s attention while he wound up the leads on the welder.Tyler was almost positive watching his muscles flex while he worked the cables back on their holders had kept the secretary’s lust-filled eyes on him the whole time.
After the woman signed the work order, Tyler assured her she would send the bill at the end of the week.Rolling his window down, Dex dropped the woman his sexiest smile as they pulled away from the office.
“Can I just say I haven’t seen that much drool from a woman since ladies’ night at Fancy’s.”With a grin, Dex wrestled his T-shirt back onto his body.Tyler fought her disappointment at the sudden lack of flesh.“I bet I get a lot more calls suddenly needing work done after that show.”
“Thanks.I’m just glad my being pimped out like a gigolo was able to help your accounts receivables.But did you find anything?”he asked.
“When I pulled up the manifest by shipment name, I didn’t find United Instruments on any of the lists.So, I looked for the next two months but didn’t find the name anywhere there either.If it was in that system, I couldn’t find it.Besides, I was a little worried she’d have your pants off soon.”Dex barked out a laugh.
