Fired Up

official capacity, why the rush to find a missing lamp?” she asked. “Is someone else after it?”
    “Not as far as I know.”
    She tapped the tip of her pen on the desktop. “You’re a dealer, aren’t you? And you’re under a deadline. Either you produce the lamp within a short period of time or you don’t collect your fee.”
    “No.” He walked to the desk and stood looking down at her. “I’m a businessman, Miss Harper. I’m not interested in the art and antiquities world. I run a venture capital firm. Winters Investments. I doubt that you’ve heard of it. I keep a very low profile, too.”
    She smiled, oddly pleased that her intuition had hit the nail on the head, even if it was in a rather indirect way.
    “So you are an angel,” she said.
    His eyes tightened a little at the corners. “What are you talking about?”
    “Isn’t that what they call people who provide the start- up money for small companies and businesses? Angels?”
    “I’ve been called a lot of things in my time but none of my clients or competitors has ever called me an angel. At least, not after they found out that I would be taking a seat on their board of directors and a controlling interest in their business.”
    “I see.” She cleared her throat. “Moving right along, are you going to tell me how you found me?”
    He studied her for a moment. She was almost positive she could feel currents of energy shifting in the atmosphere. Over on his bed Hector moved restlessly. Jack had cranked up his senses, she thought. Well, it wasn’t as if she wasn’t employing her own talent.
    After a few seconds, Jack inclined his head again. This time she knew that he had decided to accept the terms of the deal.
    “If I don’t tell you how I came up with your name you won’t take my case, will you?” he said.
    “No, Mr. Winters. I have some rules here at Harper Investigations. I need to know how you found me.”
    He waited a beat, and then he smiled slightly. “I found you in a computer database,” he said.
    She froze, anxiety and a wholly irrational disappointment coiling deep inside her. She pulled on everything she had in the way of will-power to keep her expression calm and controlled.
    “Oh, damn,” she said. “I was afraid of that.”
    “Afraid of what?”
    “You’re from Jones & Jones, aren’t you?” She shook her head, disgusted. “Really, I should have guessed. Well, if you think for one moment that you can blackmail me into helping you find your lamp, you can think again. I have done nothing wrong, and I refuse to allow anyone connected to that dipsquat investigation agency to try to manipulate me.”
    Something in his expression told her that she had managed to catch him off guard. She got the feeling that the accusation was the last thing he had expected. He recovered swiftly and even seemed to relax a little.
    “Take it easy, Chloe,” he said. He flattened his palms on the top of her desk, leaning in a little to emphasize his point. “I give you my word, I am not from J&J. Believe me, I’ve got an even better reason than you do for wanting to avoid drawing the agency’s attention. The fact that we share a similar attitude toward that outfit is one of the reasons I’m here.”
    “That’s not exactly the most reassuring thing you could have said. If you’re not from J&J, how, exactly, did you find me?”
    “I told you, in the agency’s files.”
    She got to her feet and faced him across the desk. “Let’s back up here for a moment. I’m not officially registered with Arcane. I’ve suspected for a long time that J&J probably had a file on my family, but I would have thought that only one of their agents could access it. How did you get into it?”
    “The usual way.” He straightened, taking his hands off the desk. “I hacked into it.”
    “Oh, great. So you’re not only ducking J&J, you’ve invaded their files. And you think this information is going to encourage me to help you? I should throw you out of my office as fast as I can.”
    “If you do, there’s a good chance you will be signing my death warrant.”
    She raised her eyes to the ceiling. “I’m really not in the mood for this kind of drama. Especially if it involves J&J. I’ve got enough excitement in my life, trust me.”
    “Here’s the bottom line, Chloe Harper. If you don’t help me there’s a strong possibility that at some point in the next few weeks or months J&J will hire someone to take me out. The only thing