Page 63 of Between Love and Honor

“I thought you didn’t want to be seen.”

“And I thought you said I was perfectly safe here?”

Grinning foolishly, he led her down the hall lined with candid photos of agents protecting various presidents. “You caught me. You are safe here. I just wanted to kiss you.”

She had the sense she wasn’t the only one punchy over what they would find on the micro card. He stopped in front of a set of sliding glass doors. A sign beside them read, Cyber Security Lab. Dr. Bennett Segar, Director.

“Doctor? You have your PhD?”

“Mmm,” he mumbled as he punched a code into a keypad.

“No retina scans?” she quipped. “I have to say I’m disappointed.”

The doors slid open admitting them into a low-lit corridor with a series of cubicles housing everything from laboratory equipment to sophisticated printers. At the end of the hall, he punched a code into another keypad and the glass door in front of them unlocked. He gestured for her to precede him into his office. And suddenly she understood why Ben’s bedrooms looked so pristine. He confined the mess to his office. Multicolored Post-it Notes were scattered about the desk, the multiple computer monitors, and just about every available surface. Two white boards were decorated with lines, symbols, and numbers that made absolutely no sense to Quinn. Although, upon further examination, the chaos surrounding her looked to be organized. Evidence of a brilliant mind at work. A stab of pride shot through her. How could she have ever thought him just some boring computer analyst? How had she not seen he was clearly at the top of his field?

“So, this is where the magic happens.”

“Sort of.” He moved a pile of periodicals off the sofa so she could sit down.

“I can see why you like the lighthouse. This place can be confining compared to the vastness of the views the torch room provides you. You always did think better near the water.”

He brushed a kiss over her lips. “Nobody else gets that. Nobody but you.”

“You’ll be able to find it in this mess?” she teased.

“Very funny.”

Pulling open the top drawer of his desk, he rummaged around until he lifted out the tiny micro card. He studied it carefully before gingerly handing it to her.

“Crazy how something so small can bring on such chaos,” he said.

She let out a long sigh of relief as she cradled it in her palm. Suddenly, she was desperate to see whether or not the file was real. Reaching around him, she tried to plug the thin card into the drive on his desktop.

“Hey!” He grabbed her wrist. “What are you doing?”

“I need to see the file.”

“Yeah, but not before I make sure it isn’t booby-trapped.” He took it from her fingers and walked over to a file cabinet on the other side of the office.

Once there, he pulled a laptop out of one of the drawers. Sitting beside her on the sofa he powered up the machine.

“Do you know anything about computers?”

She chalked up his condescending comment to the tension in the room. “I know how to boot one up.”

He let out a frustrated sigh. “That’s not the same as knowing how one works. This thing could contain a virus that would shut down the whole agency if we uploaded it onto my desktop computer. They’re all connected by a network,” he explained. “But if we use this one and anything goes wrong, all I have to do is replace the hard drive.”

“I use a computer every day to edit my images,” she added, feeling like she had to defend herself. “But I’m not as familiar with the inner workings of one, no. I never would have considered the virus angle. I leave that to the geniuses like you.”

“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “I’m just—”

“Edgy,” she finished for him. “So am I.” Placing her hand on his thigh, she moved in closer once the computer screen blinked on.

“Here goes nothing,” he said before slipping the card into a drive no larger than a sliver on the side of the keyboard.

Quinn held her breath, half expecting the laptop to spew smoke any minute. A line of numbers scrolled across the screen before it went black.

“No,” she cried.

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