Page 20 of Harry

“Your neighbor was walking past and noticed that your place had been broken into. Were you aware?”

She shook her head. “No. I had no idea.” Real fear filled her. The day she’d copied information from the laptop at work, someone broke into her house. What were the odds?

“Do you know why someone would break into your place?”

She shook her head, lying to the man. She knew exactly why someone had broken into her place. They wanted the files she’d copied. She had to get rid of them.

“Okay, well….” The officer looked around. “You should get a room at the hotel on base. I’ll call and see if they have any openings.”

She was about to tell the man she could handle it, but he already had his phone out. “Did they take anything?” she asked the other guy.

He looked confused, and she lifted one hand, realizing the guy could see that she’d bought paper and the stencils that were obviously visible in the store bag. That meant her plans had to change yet again.

“Of course, you don’t know. You don’t live there. Gosh, this is so weird.”

“Yes, sir—ma’am. It doesn’t happen often.”

She wanted to go in and see what they’d taken. They hadn’t found what they’d been looking for because she had it. She knew questions would follow, and now she had a spotlight shining on her. This couldn’t be good at all.

Chapter 14

Rory had little doubt she was being watched. Whoever had come to her place and broken in would still want the information she’d copied from those drives. Did they know what she’d done, or were they just hedging their bets?

The break-in could be unrelated. Maybe some jerk came by and decided to rob her. She didn’t believe that for one moment. They were on to her, and now she had to figure out how to react.

After settling in at the hotel used by visiting military personnel, she went out on foot to grab something to eat. She’d made a decision and took the burner phone and the thumb drives with her. Something had to be done. The threat to her was serious. She stopped in a store and bought three padded envelopes and enough stamps to send the drives elsewhere.

She found the address for a news station, the FBI, and the last one she decided she needed to hide somewhere. She thought about leaving it at the hotel but decided against hiding the drive somewhere there. After eating dinner, she stopped by a mail drop, her hand sweaty. Was she doing the right thing? Could she trust someone to figure out what she’d sent?

The break-in at her place was a warning. She was in danger. Eventually, she would have to pay for putting her nose where it didn’t belong. Dropping the thumb drives in the mail put her at risk, but she had to do the right thing. Hopefully, someone would figure out the information, and they would be able to do something to stop the human trafficking ring.

Rory tossed and turned for most of the night. Long before her alarm rang, she was out of bed and ready to run with Harry. Though mailing those drives would put her at risk and end any hope for a normal life, she didn’t want to let Harry go. She needed to see him at least a few more times before it was discovered that she had released information to the press.

Her stomach hurt on the drive over and hadn’t abated by the time she arrived at the trailhead. Harry was there, so she pushed the worry away. She could deal with her troubles later.

The hug she got from Harry felt good and almost made her cry. She was thankful for the cloud cover and low lighting, so he couldn’t see how upset she was.

They didn’t chat as much on this run. She felt off with everything happening. After they finished, Harry suggested they go back to his place to eat breakfast.

“Sure, that sounds good. I’ll follow you over.”

Harry’s smile made her melt a little. If only she’d met him before. She would still try to expose the information she’d found, but she would have had a chance to be with Harry before hell came down on her.

She had the drive with her, and when she arrived at Harry’s place, she grabbed the envelope containing the drive and took it upstairs. They worked together to make breakfast, which was fun. Doing things with Harry, even the mundane, was nice.

She could see them in a relationship long term. But first, she had to figure out where to hide the thumb drive. She could mail it to herself to buy herself some time. But then it would be back in her possession. She wished she’d never gotten involved in this.

“So, have you thought more about leaving the Marines?” Harry asked as they finished their breakfast.

She shrugged. “I have. I’m going to set up interviews, eventually. I need to wait until it’s closer, but I’m ready. I think I’ll turn in the first part of my paperwork this week. I don’t know what the paperwork will trigger, though.”

Harry nodded. “I bet it’s weird leaving.”

She shrugged. She’d seen too much bad stuff now. She couldn’t turn a blind eye to the injustice she’d found. She didn’t think the thumb drives were traceable back to her, but she didn’t know for sure. Maybe some random camera picked her up. All of it was too much. She didn’t want to think about the people trafficked or how she’d betrayed rules the military depended on. She had tried to bring the information to the attention of her superiors back in Virginia, but they’d blown her off. Now, with even more proof, she couldn’t afford to ignore the obvious.

Harry’s buzzer sounded, and he grabbed his phone. “Oh shoot, I have a package being delivered. I’m going to run down and grab it.”

“Sure,” Rory said as Harry left the condo.

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