Page 81 of Mountain Security

“And that?” she asked, pointing at a whiteboard in a corner. Lines had been drawn, separating the space into eight equal blocks. Of those, seven were filled with names. It took her a long instant to realize she recognized many of the names.

“This is everyone involved in the different proposals. I want you to look through the names, Yvette. Let me know if any of them strikes you as worth a second look, or if you think we’re missing anyone.”

Yvette focused on the first square. She remembered that file—the renovation of the town’s ice rink. It’d been an ambitious project, backed by the local hockey team and several banks.

She shook her head. “That first one was approved without any delay and carried out swiftly. The restaurants had to close for a few months, but they all got to come back once the renovation was finished, and the new space has led to a rebirth of that area of town. I think everybody’s happy with the resulting renovation.”

Alex nodded, making a note on the edge of the board.

Three hours later, Yvette’s head was spinning. At some point, as the sky darkened, Alex had turned on the lights.

They’d isolated three projects that had been rejected. It was strange to see all those names in black and white—a reminder of all the people she’d pissed off.

Alex circled several names on the board. “We’ll start with these people. They’re the ones we need to speak with.” He seemed to see something in her expression, because his voice softened lightly. “But first, we need to eat something. You guys up for ordering Chinese?”

Ry and Hugo shook their heads. “Sorry. We switched shifts with Gael and Hiro, so we’re working till seven a.m.”

“Rain check,” Hugo said. Yvette smiled.Rain checkwas one of her favorite expressions in English, one for which there was no direct translation in French.

Ten minutes later, she and Alex were alone in the house. He pulled a well-thumbed menu from the fridge and handed it to her. “Here. Choose something. I already know what I want, but I’m willing to share.”

27

* * *

Yvette

Yvette yawned.

Her stomach felt like it was about to pop, but she still lifted her chopsticks one more time to pick up the last shrimp dim-sum.

“That was amazing,” she said, looking up at him across the high wooden kitchen counter that doubled as a breakfast table.

“Are you done already?” Alex asked. He’d easily put down twice as much food as her, and seemed ready to keep going. “There’s a lot of food left, still.”

“That’s because we ordered enough food for six people,” she said.

“Ry and Hugo will eat any leftovers for breakfast tomorrow.”

Yvette pondered that for a second. She couldn’t imagine eating dim-sum for breakfast. “It must be hard to have both day and night shifts?”

Alex shrugged. “It’s okay. During a day shift, we can complete as many as five or ten missions. Nights are usually quieter, unless something big happens, and then, depending on what it is, everyone gets called in anyway.”

“Like the other day.”

“Like the other day. By the way, the boy left us a letter when he checked out of the hospital. Looks like he’s going to be okay. I’m glad he was unconscious most of the time he was in that hole. The thought of spending the night in there …” Alex let out a breath that was almost a shudder.

“And yet you didn’t think twice about going in after him.”

“That’s different. I’ve had the right training and know the risks. And my team was right outside, holding me up.”

It still took a lot of courage.

She kept it to herself, since she knew she would embarrass him if she said it out loud.

She stood up and made her way around the open-plan kitchen towards the living area, looking out at the dimly lit yard.

“I guess I’ll go up to bed,” she said, reluctantly. Alex had already showed her the guest bedroom, which she assumed doubled up as a home office.

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