His Secret Desire by Drew Sinclair

sorry boss, but it looks like it's over
already. At least for now. Do you have enough money to stay low for
a while?"
    "Sure. Money's not an issue. I've got bigger
problems than that right now. The cops were at my house today. A
disturbance was reported but I live in the middle of nowhere.
Someone put them up to it and I have my suspicions who."
    "Forget suspicions, it was your boy
Patterson."
    "Shit, shit, shit. I knew it wasn't my
imagination. Someone's been following me for days. I thought I was
going crazy. Damn it. Of all the people to get me, that schmuck.
The dumbest, most arrogant--"
    She stopped in midsentence. There was no use
in getting upset about what was done. She needed to focus on more
immediate problems and finding solutions.
    "What's new on Hargrave?" She said.
    "He's the least of your worries. Apart from
his bizarre relationship to women the guy is clean. Cleaner than
clean. He's up to his ears in lawsuits over patents and other
corporate stuff but only because his company is so good. All the
other guys are falling over themselves trying to copy his
equipment. He's a big time philanthropist and a lot of his tech
goes into ground breaking medical devices that have changed
people's lives. Him and his brother are pretty damn awesome. Right
now they're working on light weight tracking devices to be worn by
military and security personnel. The days when warzone kidnap
victims can't be located will come to an end by all accounts.
Pretty amazing and 'out-there stuff'. Despite all that, still no
rabbit-holes."
    'Rabbit-holes'. This was Suzy's way of
talking about red flags that threatened to lead down to less than
savory places. Katy was familiar with her friend's terminology.
    "What's the bizarre relationship to women
thing?"
    "Oh shit."
    "What is it?"
    "I'm watching CNN. This guy Patterson has a
picture of you."
    "Fuck. God damn it." Katy glanced nervously
in her rear view mirror. That damn sedan with the scary looking
Latino was still following her.
    "How the hell did he get that?"
    "How should I know? Maybe I've been getting
sloppy or maybe he had some technology already that passed my sweep
when we met. Maybe the guy just isn't as dumb as he looks."
    "Obviously not."
    "Is it a clear shot of my face?"
    "Clear as day."
    "God damn it."
    "You better stay low baby. This doesn’t look
good. If your old employer sees this--"
    "Shut up. Not another word. I've got to go
because it looks like they already have."
    Suzy froze. Her crazy long distance, no name,
covert relationship to her old friend was a lifeline to her. She
was the oldest friend she had and the loss of her to that evil
crime dynasty had hit her hard. She desperately wanted to call her
friend by her old name but didn't dare.
    "Stay on the line. Don’t hang up."
    "I've got to go. Someone's following me. This
isn’t safe for you anymore."
    "It never was. Don't hang up. Tell me where
you are."
    "No way. Come on, I don’t know how much
longer I've got. What else do you know about Hargrave."
    "It's not important."
    "Just tell me for Christ's sake."
    "Okay, it's about his women. He's choosy.
Very choosy. But he always goes for geeks, engineering types, high
IQ. Always slim and good-looking but always tech-heads."
    "I'll be damned."
    "He has a thing for girls like…"
    "Girls like you." They both said at the same
time.
    "Ah, ah. Girls like you. Suzy said.
You're the hot one."
    Suzy glanced in her rear view and saw the car
behind her looming closer than ever.
    "Cut it out Suzy… shit, I've got to hang up.
I need to take care of this right now."
    "Wait--"
    Katy ended the call and pulled her car over.
Her Sig Sauer was in the glove compartment and she considered
taking it out. If this was her old boss tying up a loose end then
it might actually come to that. On other hand, whoever it was
probably had more experience with firearms than she did.
    She looked in her rear view mirror to see how
close her pursuer had come but there was nothing there; just trees
and