Page 64 of Perfect Order
“Where am I? I’m at the office, Lee,” I respond aloud, certain she has my computer microphone on.
I’m proven correct when she responds,I mean, whose office?
“Is this supposed to be funny? Are you going to walk in any minute?” I joke.
It’s not a joke. I need to know.Now.
Her emphasis on the word causes my heart to leap. My voice comes out rusty. “Keene’s. I’m in his…” Before the word “office” can escape, I hear the door latch click. The view that so enthralls me begins to disappear as metal shutters begin to drop and lock into place. Before I can utter a sound, a light over the desk comes on. “Nice parlor trick.”
I jump when her voice comes out at me. “Every office on the executive floor has this capability.” Her voice is cool, certainly not that of the emotional woman who ran out of practice earlier.
“Lee, about earlier. Are you all right?” At her silence, I hastily continue. “I was there at practice. I wanted to talk with you.”
“You were?” The confusion in her voice is better than the flat ice from just a few moments ago.
“Yes. Lee, Beckett didn’t mean…”
The cool filters its way back into her voice. “I don’t want to talk about Beckett Miller. Not right now.”
“What do you want to talk about?” I immediately reply.
“Your clearance is still active.” Before I can formulate a reply about how she came about that information, she muses, “I wonder if mine is. I mean, technically, I’m dead. So, who knows if my boss some strings and kept it active. Then again, regardless if mine is, my sharing what I’m about to might be considered by some to be violating all kinds of laws. For certain once I announce I'm still alive after I find out who killed my sister, I would go to jail if yours wasn’t still active, Captain McCullough.”
I stiffen at the use of a title few have referenced since I departed the Marines. Then I start coughing when she airily declares, “Oh, what the hell am I saying. I can double check by hacking back into…”
“Don’t!” I shout. “Swear to me, Leanne. You haven’t hacked into any sort of agency database.”
There’s a dramatic sigh before she grudgingly agrees, “Fine.”
My eyes narrow. I’m pretty damn certain she’s crossed every limb and appendage while saying that. “Turn on the damn camera. I want to see your face when you make me a promise that was the last time you’ll do something like that.”
“You’re no fun,” she pouts. But within seconds, the light above my monitor turns green. A small box appears in the upper-left corner.
And there she is.
It’s obvious she’s been crying. Her deep blue eyes are swollen, makeup streaked. Her hair is haphazardly twisted into a knot. Tissues are scattered around the desk she’s sitting at. But she’s never looked more real, more beautiful, than I’ve ever seen her. “Hi,” I murmur. “It’s good to finally meet you.”
But Leanne must think differently. Her hands fly to her cheeks. And when she finally speaks, she only manages to gasp, “You!”
I jerk my head from side to side before my eyes return to meet hers. “Me what?”
“You’re the one who…” And she blushes bright red.
Like lightning, her words slam into me, sending every nerve ending sizzling. I finish her sentence. “Who crashed into you.”
Her lips part slightly, giving me more than words could. I know now I wasn’t the only one who felt the pull in the few seconds we collided. I don’t say anything, hoping the intensity of my expression conveys my emotions.
I click the button in the corner to expand the chat so Leanne’s face is the only thing filling my screen. For long moments, I memorize the features of her face, committing them to the recesses of my memory. The hints of gold and brown that weave through the lighter blonde in her hair. The shades of different blue that make up the fathomless color I wanted to lose myself in that afternoon on the street. Her naturally plump lips are still parted in shock.What would they look like after I kissed them?I wonder.
“All these years, and you’re finally here. There were times I started to believe I dreamed what happened.”
Her soft sigh jolts me back to reality. Leanne’s holding me captive in Keene’s office with a swipe of her delicate fingers. “As much as I want to explore that comment, you have me trapped in here, Leanne. The question is why?”
Her face pales. Then she says words that send me reeling back in time. In my mind, I’m standing in uniform, listening to the intelligence subcommittee replay each moment of my last maneuver minute by minute. “What made you trust the intelligence fromQ?zaon your final mission?”
On automatic pilot, I reply, “BecauseQ?za’s intel had never let us down. It was the best we had in the region.” I surface from my trance and give voice to my suspicions that began at Christmas. “You hacked the DoD.”
“I didn’t have to,” Leanne sniffs.
