Page 46 of Spooked

“I-I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean… There’s a problem in New York.”

“What problem?”

“A fire. Everyone’s okay, but the fire department… Water damage…”

“Shit.” Mr. Vale scrubbed a hand through his dark hair. “Cancel the rest of today’s meetings and book us plane tickets while I finish up here. A car to the airport too.”

“Okay, I’ll—” Wait a second. “Us?”

“All hands on deck, Meera.” He smiled grimly. “Don’t worry about packing. You can buy clothes in New York.”

I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to travel with Mr. Vale. I didn’t want to risk running into the Wicked Witch of the East Coast. And I needed time to process what I’d just seen.

But this was my job.

I had to go.

“Yes, Mr. Vale.”

CHAPTER18

BRAX

As if Brax’s life wasn’t complicated enough right now…

Preliminary indications were that one of the clothes dryers had malfunctioned, and a pile of bedsheets had caught fire. Although the sprinkler system did its job, an overzealous passer-by had called the fire department when they saw smoke, and the fire crew had wanted to be absolutely certain the blaze was extinguished. The laundry room was out of commission, the kitchen had smoke damage, and just for good measure, water had gone through the floor and damaged some of the rooms downstairs.

And that wasn’t even the worst part of Brax’s day.

No, that had come when he turned to see Meera watching Roxanne and Michael, her expression a mix of shock and horror.

He needed to speak with her about it, to make sure she understood that they were only doing their jobs, that everything was consensual, but she was steadfastly refusing to look at him as she studied the airline website. And when he moved closer, she flinched.

Fuck.

“What are you doing?”

“Booking flights, as you asked.”

“Why is one ticket business class and the other economy? Are they short of seats?”

“I just thought—”

Hell, she really did have a low opinion of herself, didn’t she?

“Book two seats in business, Meera.”

“Okay.” She swallowed and clicked with the mouse. “There are only two left, and they’re next to each other. Is that all right?”

No. “Yes.”

At least if there were no more seats, Carissa couldn’t have a spy hop onto the plane alongside them, but spending six hours sitting next to Meera promised to be torture.

“The car will be here in twenty minutes.”

“Good. Pack our laptops, and don’t forget the chargers. I need to brief the staff here before we leave.”

* * *

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