Much better to shut that shit down before it got too irritating.
Yeun hesitated a moment, then apparently realized she wasn’t going to give him more of a response. Instead of looking put out, his smile only widened further and he took himself outside.
Both she and Diaz stood watching him until he reached the reception area. There wasn’t a direct line of sight, but if a person had a habit of using reflective surfaces to take note of what was going on around the corners, every part of the office space was visible from Diaz’s desk.
It required really good eyesight. Which she had.
And Yeun was in possession of a really nice ass.
Diaz chuckled. “Interesting guy.”
You betcha.
“Is there a reason you care?” She dumped herself into the armchair Yeun had just vacated, noting he’d left it warm. Normally that creeped her out but currently she wondered if the guy had a fever or if he just ran hot.
“He’s a businessman.” Diaz shrugged. “Not our usual type of client though. He’s not going for the political angle or the socialite status. Obviously has money. Prefers to spend it on what interests him.”
She snorted. “Women. Luxury junk. Food and booze.”
Assumptions. And not kind. But then again, she wasn’t inclined to overestimate people. They were less likely to disappoint that way.
“Background check says yes about the women.” Diaz was matter-of-fact about it. “But all discreet escort services and no black marks regarding him as a patron. Not even diplomatic commentary.”
Meaning he hadn’t used money to smooth over any issues that would’ve otherwise earned him red flags in an escort service’s point of view. Every escort service kept track of their customers. They might not share those records—in whatever unofficial form those took—with authorities conducting an investigation, but they might share with other information gathering personalities. And Diaz was building up a network of intelligence as part of Safeguard Division’s internal assets.
“So he’s not abusive and he pays up.” Good to know. She wasn’t going to judge the man for his choice in company or whether he paid for it.
“He does have expensive taste in cars and material items.” Dry tone there. “Also frequents some of the most expensive restaurants in town.”
Travel enough and people like her and Diaz didn’t tend to keep much in the way of things. Good food, on the other hand, was something worth spending on as far as she was concerned.
“There are worse things.” Yeun sounded like a normal guy, actually. She might’ve been less inclined to take a bullet for him if he turned out to be a horrible person. “Obviously, he’s done something to be on the naughty list in the corporate world though.”
“White-collar crime, and more than naughty. Anything involving Phoenix Biotech has more serious repercussions. That organization has serious funding and is involved in way more than cutting edge research.” Diaz sat in the other armchair and looked out the window, his gaze unfocused. A few months ago, they’d gone right into one of Phoenix Biotech’s facilities to extract a kidnapped woman—the younger sister of Diaz’s now-significant other, Maylin Cheng—and Diaz had barely come out of it walking. “It’s a slippery slope. A person starts out just with overlooking an email here, deleting an email there. Nothing intentionally wrong, per se. Then things slide into more questionable territory and they find they’ve dug themselves a hole.”
“Some of those corporate types do things they know are illegal and assume money and a good lawyer can get them out of it.” Maybe her comment came across a little sharp. But she’d met plenty of those during the social climber party she’d covered last evening.
“And we’ll get to know who those types are.” Diaz shook off his brooding and leaned forward in his chair. “We’re in shady territory here. We don’t know what to expect with Phoenix Biotech involved but they are willing to kidnap and kill their resources to accomplish their quarterly business goals. Keeping Kyle Yeun alive to testify against them in this case isn’t going to be easy.”
“Bring it on.” She wasn’t boasting, even though she liked a challenge. To be honest, she was spoiling for a fight and Phoenix Biotech tended to hire the kind of personnel who could give her a real one.
Diaz gave her a neutral look and continued without calling her on it. “Private security is going to be like this from here on out. The more we know, the more we can accept contracts on the right side of the law and maybe even help some people who otherwise find themselves in too deep for redemption.”