Free Mad Season by Katia Wildermann Page B

didn't even know I had."
    As Cal spoke, Adam moved around the desk until he was standing next to Kincaid's keyboard. "May I?"
    Kincaid looked up sharply, then shoved the keyboard over to him. Within seconds, Adam had opened a Google search screen and typed in Cal's name.
    "You'll recall what used to come up when you searched Cal's name," Lyla said. "Well, have a look now."
    Masters stood and leaned over Kincaid's shoulder as they read the top hits. Kincaid began reading aloud.
    "MMA bad boy Callum Reed calls press conference at MGM Grand, six P.M. today."
    Masters was peering at the screen. "He's got a website now? Where are all the photos? The sexting? The elevator footage? The...."
    "Gone," Adam said quietly, all mirth put aside for the moment. Even though he had heard Cal rehearsing his little speech, it still moved him deeply. "Scrubbed out of the internet. I even hacked into the hotel's security server to delete the original elevator footage. There might be a few more undesirable images that turn up here and there, but you can rest assured that if and when they do, they will be scrubbed, all the way down to the original device."
    "You can do that?" Masters squeaked.
    Adam just winked at him. It wasn't entirely true, but he was going to let Masters think he could.
    "What's the press conference about?" Kincaid asked.
    "Come and find out," Lyla said. "The decision you have to make is whether you are going to stand with us as the firm behind this dramatic turnaround, or if Cal is going to give all the credit to me and my new agency."
    She pulled a document out of a file folder and held it for Kincaid and Masters to see. "This is an application for a business license to practice as a publicity firm under my own name. My associate," she nodded to Adam, "will make sure it flies through the system and is backdated to yesterday's date. You have to make a leap of faith, gentlemen, that I can do the very thing you believed I could do when you gave me this assignment. Otherwise I can and will move forward on my own."
    ***
    Lyla's heart pounded in her chest as she put the business license application back in her file and put the file back in her slim briefcase. There was a little more—well, a lot more—to it than that, but she knew she could do it with Adam's help. If she had to. She'd rather not have to, but the bottom line was that it wasn't a bluff.
    She paused for a moment, watching Kincaid. Masters would do whatever Kincaid decided. He was a pussy that way.
    Kincaid steepled his fingers and rested his chin on them, considering her. She gave him just one minute before she stood, Cal just a breath behind her, and handed her briefcase to Adam.
    "Gentlemen," she began, but Kincaid held up his hand.
    "We'll be there," he said, his quiet voice expressing total confidence in her.
    Lyla smiled. "You know the drill, I believe." She nodded to them both, then turned to leave. She didn't fail to notice Ginny scampering back to her desk, and knew the receptionist had been eavesdropping. Good. Let the bitch know that she was going to have to serve the coffee at meetings from here on out.
    She wanted to scream in victory and jump in the air, but she held back even after they entered the elevator and began their descent. She felt Cal and Adam slipping their hands in hers, and she squeezed them, giving each of them a smile she hoped conveyed her gratitude and elation.

 
    THIRTEEN
    "The world calls Callum Reed the MMA's bad boy, and with good reason," the news anchor said, deadpanning for the camera. The PIP screen beside him only showed the dead air SMTPE test pattern, though, and the newscaster frowned as he saw what was happening in the monitor.
    He cleared his throat. "Our file room must be having technical difficulties, but our viewers surely recollect many instances of public lewdness and misconduct that are shocking even by Las Vegas standards."
    His eyes cut to the side as though checking the other teleprompter, hoping for better news