“Are you done?” I asked, tapping on the toilet cubicle door.
“Yes.” He unlocked the latch and stepped out, pulling up his pants and adjusting them as he made his way to the basin to wash his hands.
I pushed on the soap dispenser button for him. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“YES! Mum can we please go back now? I don’t have anymore farts.”
“Okay … unless you want to go lie down in my office? We can just head straight back there instead.”
“NO! I want to watch the security screens again and catch bad guys. Dale said I was a really good cadet. I like him.”
Ugh! I really didn’t want to go back to where Dale was, but I seemed to have no choice. And there was the whole finding-out-what-happened-to-Kristine thing as well. Damn it!
Sucking in a deep breath, I quickly gave my reflection a once over and tucked some loose strands of hair behind my ears. It was always in my face. Wayward. Boofy. There was far too much fro goin’ on, and I’d been meaning to chop most of it off for some time now. But then Dean would be pissed at me. Then again, he might not care anymore. He hadn’t mentioned anything about my hair in years
“Should Mummy cut her hair short?” I asked, twisting my head to the side so that I could see my neck.
Thomas grabbed some paper towel and dried his hands. “Why?”
“Something different.”
“Okay then.”
“Yeah? You think it would look good?”
“Yep. You’re the most beautiful mum in the world.”
I smiled at my little golden sunrise. How he happened to be fair-skinned and fair-haired when both Dean and I were darker was beyond me. “And you, my sweet angel, are the cutest little seven-year-old in the world.”
“Eight,” he corrected me.
“Not yet. You have a few more days to wait.”
He pouted.
I winked. “Come on. We better get back then.”
Thomas and I made our way along the corridor, and just as we were about to enter the security camera operations room, I stopped him. “No more talk of farts, okay?”
“But you told me to always tell you—”
“Never mind what I told you. There’s a time and place to talk about that sort of thing. Mummy’s work and in front of Mummy’s colleagues is not that place.” I slowly pushed the door open to let us back in the room.
“But Allison isn’t here.”
“Allison is not my only colleague.”
“There’s two Allison’s?”
“NO!” I huffed. “Thomas, just … just … never mind.”
He shrugged and pushed past me, heading straight for the glass door where he stopped, pounded his fists on it, and shouted, “BUTTHEADS SAY WHAT?”
I facepalmed and peeked through my fingers, watching and smiling as Dale placed his hand to his ear and mouthed ‘what?’. Thomas giggled, as did I. It was an incredibly cute gesture.
“All done?” Dale asked, as he opened the door to let us back into the screen room. “No need to declare a state of emergency or man down?”
I simultaneously shook and nodded my head, as if to say yes and no, as if to say I don’t freakin’ know.
Thomas scratched his head. “What’s ‘man down’?”
“It’s when a soldier or, in your case, a cadet is injured in battle.” Dale scruffed Thomas’ hair, stopping Thomas from scratching any further, and seeing him do that reminded me of Dean. It was something my husband did often, and watching Dale do it felt a little strange. Sure, it was endearing and sweet and it made me smile, but it also felt a little wrong.
“Yo, little man, come take a seat over here,” Reed said, pulling out a chair for Thomas. “Your mum and Chief Butthead have a few things they need to do.”
Thomas bounded over and sat down next to Reed, instantly flipping a switch on the keyboard.
I shrieked. “Thomas! For the love of god don’t touch anything.”
“He’s fine,” Reed replied, raising a hand and dismissing my concern before threading his fingers together and resting them on his liquorice coloured hair while leaning back on his chair. “As long as he doesn’t touch the big red button. That one is bad.”
My overly inquisitive son studied the button in question. “What does it do?”
“Blows up the entire building!”
“What? Cool!” There was a slight pause before Thomas spoke again. “But why? Why would you want to blow up the building?”
“Duh. Zombie Apocalypse.”
“What’s that?”
“When zombies take over the world.”
I rolled my eyes, playfully, and turned toward Dale. “Shall we start? Thomas should—” I stuttered, finding that he was but a hair’s breadth away, “should … er … keep Reed busy for quite some time.”
Dale’s eyes met mine and they sparkled like a star-lit sky. “I might have to employ your son,” he said quietly, his lips moving in slow motion. “Until now, I’ve never been able to shut Reed up.”
Twinkle twinkle, little star!
“Tash!”
“Yeah?”
How I wonder what you—
“TASH!”
“Yeah? What?” I yelled back, snapping out of my twinkly daze, heat immediately surfacing on my cheeks.
“You were lip-syncing.”
“I was what?”
“Lip syncing. What were you singing?”
“Oh. I wasn’t. I must’ve been yawning.”
“If that was a yawn, my man Bill here is a unicorn.”
Bill neighed.
“Ha!” I said, pointing to Bill. “See? It was a yawn.” I walked around Dale and sat in a seat facing one of the screens. “Right. Back to work … Kristine Donaldson: City Towers Conference Manager. She was in the ballroom earlier this morning but now appears to have vanished. No one has heard from her since, which is highly unusual.”
Dale didn’t argue with my abrupt change of topic, instead leaning over my shoulder and pressing his chest firmly against my back. Warmth and aftershave once again infiltrated my senses, dazing me. I held my breath. I didn’t know what else to do.
“Donaldson,” he murmured aloud, typing her name into the computer one-handed.
The movement of his jaw and vibration from his words gently tickled the side of my head. I could feel his stubble, smell his skin … breathe the same air as he. Oh wait! I’m not supposed to be breathing, Damn it.
His close proximity was sending waves of excitement, longing, caution, and heat right through me. It was too much for my body and mind to handle so I shifted away just slightly.
“Yes, Donaldson,” I said, my voice cracking, which turned into coughing and then choking.
Dale’s hand found the centre of my back again, where it rubbed and patted me firmly. Oh my God! I’m a horny adult baby being burped.
“I’m fine. I’m fine,” I coughed out, trying to shrug him off. “I just swallowed wrong.”
He stepped back. “Do you always swallow wrong?”
“No. I swallow just fine, normally.”
He cleared his throat — something I needed to do — and walked over to the water machine where he bent over and proceeded to fill a plastic cup. The water trickled … and trickled … and trickled. And I swear that as I listened to the endless damn trickle while devouring how snug his trousers were against his arse and legs, that it was the longest pouring of a drink I’d ever witnessed.
And the best.
“Here,” he said, handing me the cup. “Show me how you swallow normally.”
My eyes widened and darted in the direction of where Reed, Bill and Thomas were all sitting, and to my surprise, I noticed that Bill had left the room without me even knowing, and both Reed and Thomas were wearing headphones.
“Well?” Dale prompted. “Can you swallow properly or not?”
I nearly choked again ... on air. Cheeky fucker! In that moment, I didn’t know whether to rai
se the cup and pour it over his head or to press it against my lips and show him exactly how I swallowed. Both were viable options. Both sent different signals. I just wasn’t exactly sure what signal I wanted to send. Sure, he was stepping over a line, but that line was barely strung, and everything said between us was essentially harmless wordery.
Realising that he was just mucking around and that bathing him with my drink would be an over reaction, I chose option two and slowly raised the cup to my lips while eyeing him heatedly. I, too, could play games, games with cups, games with words, and games without words because they could be spoken with just your eyes, which was what I was doing as I gently clamped my teeth around the rim of the cup before slowly, very slowly, swallowing the water. Yeah, I could play that game too, and with each gulp I took, it elicited a wicked flare in his eyes — hot and sinful, as if he were ready to demonstrate how he could swallow me whole. Holey Donuts!
“Kristine!” I blurted, putting the cup down. “We need to find Kristine.”
Dale’s jaw twitched and he nodded, turning his head back to the screen, except this time he didn’t lean over my shoulder. “Right. This is a facial recognition program called ScanDec. Using Kristine’s employee identification photo, ScanDec will tap into every security camera we have on the premises and match her nodal points.”
I had no freakin’ idea what he was talking about. “What are nodal points?”
He sat on the edge of the desk and looked deep into my eyes, his hand lightly settling on my cheek. My breath hitched. “Dale, what are you doin—”
“This is a nodal point,” he said softly, interrupting my objection. “The shape of your cheekbones and the length of your jawline.” The tip of his finger trailed along my jaw, and I tried desperately not to close my eyes at how nice it felt. “And so is this,” he continued, edging toward my nose. “Width and depth and also the distance between your eyes.”
I couldn’t have stopped him from tracing the contours of my face as he explained, even if I’d wanted to. I was transfixed, paralysed. I was learning about … what was I learning about?
“Right,” I sighed. “Focal points. Yes. I get it.”
“Nodal points,” he corrected.
“Yes. Nodal points. That’s what I said.”
He chuckled, and I wondered if the crinkles beside his eyes were nodal points as well. I should ask him. No, I shouldn’t.
“So what next?” I whispered, needing to move things along.
He removed his hand from my face, and the absence of his touch was felt instantaneously. I wanted it back even though I shouldn’t have. Ask if your neck is a nodal point, Tash. Tell him to show her where.
I contemplated the stupid question for the tiniest of seconds but, instead, shifted in my seat and broke our stare.
“We press this button and we wait for the magic of technology to find her. That’s if she’s in the building, of course.”
“What if she’s not in the building?”
“Then I’d have to call in a few favours from my mates at the City Security Centre. They monitor the open street CCTV.”
“Oh! So you can pretty much track anyone anywhere?”
His mischievous eye crinkles reappeared. “Pretty much.”
“That’s kinda cool … and a little creepy.”
“You think watching people is creepy?”
“Well, yeah. It can be.”
He leaned in closer and lowered his voice. “You learn a lot when you watch. I like to learn … watch.”
Before I could choke or make a puddle between my legs, a beeping noise distracted us.
Dale twisted and tapped a button. “She’s not here. At least not where the cameras can see her.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, clearing my throat.
“It means that if she’s in a ‘white zone’, like the ladies toilet cubicles, change rooms, hotel suites, etc, we won’t be able to see her. Surveillance in those areas breaches the Privacy Act.”
I frowned. “Crap! I mean that’s good. You shouldn’t be able to ‘watch’ in those zones,” I said, sarcastically.
Dale smiled at my dig. “Fear not, Tashy. We can track her from her last known position. Didn’t you say she was in the ballroom first thing this morning?”
“Yeah, she was.”
“What time?”
“I’m guessing eight a.m.”
“Okay.” He lifted his arse off the edge of the desk and turned around, leaning over my shoulder once again. “If I pull up the camera footage from that timestamp, we can find her and follow her movements.”
Dale reached for the computer mouse and started clicking on files, and while he was focussed on the task at hand, I stole a glance at his face. His expression was determined and serious, perfectly accentuated by an amazing jaw — ridged, strong … defined. I wanted to lick it … I wanted to—
“There she is!” He glanced down and caught me staring.
I quickly diverted my attention to the screen and spotted Kristine, iPad in hand, wandering about the ballroom like it were any other day. And from what I could see, she seemed fine.
“What I’m gonna do now is set it to fast forward but on a slow progression so that we don’t miss her movements.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
Kristine wandered back and forth on the screen, appearing to go about her tasks as expected, and just as I was about to suggest he speed it up a little more, she retrieved her phone from her pocket, read something on the screen, and then headed out of the room in a hurry.
“Here we go. It’s ‘chase the rabbit’ time.”
“It’s what?”
“We follow her.”
“Why is she a rabbit?”
He paused and looked at me, an amused smile on his face. “Hmm … I wonder where Thomas gets his inquisitiveness from?”
“Oh shut up.” I nudged him with my shoulder.
“Rabbits are quick. So is she. And now we have to ‘chase’ her using different cameras as she moves about the complex. Get it?”
I made a rabbit face at him and he tapped my scrunched up nose. “You’re cute, you know that, Tashy?”
“Oh, I’m not cute,” I said dismissively.
“Yeah, you are.” He kept his finger resting lightly on the tip of my nose.
I wanted to bite it, but instead, I offered him a not-so-cute alternative. “For instance, if you call me Tashy one more time, I’ll bite your fucking head off.”
This time Dale choked.
“Having problems swallowing? Need some water?” I asked, my tone sweet, my smile sweeter.
He coughed a little more. “Nope. All good. Let’s focus on Kristine, shall we?”
I smiled at him. “Yes, let’s do that.”
We both watched the screen, Dale pressing buttons and switching to various cameras as Kristine made her way into a staff only section of the hotel. She was definitely in a hurry, occasionally breaking into a mild skip type run.
I leaned forward to get a better look. “What is she doing?”
“My guess is meeting someone.”
“How do you know that?”
“Secret Security School Training.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “No, seriously. What makes you say that?”
“Well, she received a message and took off immediately. She’s in a hurry to be somewhere. Plus, I can tell by her body language, by how she scans her surroundings every time she enters a different room. It’s precautionary behaviour. She doesn’t want to be seen … or placed. Also, she has an excited and expectant look on her face. She’s definitely meeting someone.”
“Huh. I guess you could be right.”
“I’m always right,” he said with an air of superiority.
I scoffed and smiled. “Says a liar.”
His mouth opened, and I expected him to object but we were both distracted by the screen when Kristine pushed open the door to the stairwell and entered, which was when we lost sight of her.
“Shit! Gi
ve me a second to find the stairwell footage.”
The screen changed, and an image of Kristine being pressed up against a wall by a man confronted us. I shrieked a little, my hand covering my mouth momentarily.
“There she is,” Dale murmured as he zoomed in a little.
“Oh. My. God! What is she doing? And who is that with her?”
“Isn’t it obvious what she’s doing?” He zoomed in a little more. “And until the dude turns around, I won’t know who he is. If I get a good enough shot, I can run facial recognition.”
“He’s got to be an employee. How else would he have entered that particular part of the complex?”
“I should fucking hope he’s an employee or I have a bigger problem on my hands.” Dale sounded a little anxious as he pushed buttons to zoom in further. He also signalled Reed to take his headphones off. “Do us a favour and take Thomas to the lunch room. Show him some shit while we do this?”
Reed furrowed his brow. “Yeah, sure. Everything okay?”
Dale paused the screen. “Yeah. I just don’t want Thomas accidentally seeing what we’re about to see.”
I smiled nervously at Reed. I didn’t exactly want to see what we were about to see either let alone my seven-year-old son.
Reed lifted Thomas’s headphones. “Hey, wanna go check out the lunch room? We have an Xbox in there.”
“Really? Cool! Mum, can I? I feel better now.”
I laughed a little. “That doesn’t surprise me. But yeah, you can go. Just be good and do what Reed says, okay?”
“Okay.” Thomas jumped up and waited for Reed to finish logging out of his screen. “What games do you have? Minecraft? Lego? I’m really good at Lego Batman.”
“Not as good as me, little man.”
“That’s what you think, older man.”
Reed laughed as they both left the room.
“Thanks for doing that,” I said to Dale, shifting nervously, knowing what we were about to see.
“Sure. But let’s get back to it. I want to know who this guy is. He looks familiar.” Dale unpaused the screen, both of us watching intently as Kristine and the mystery man attacked each other passionately.
Heat coursed through my body as mystery man clasped Kristine’s thigh and snaked his hand under her skirt. I swallowed and tensed at the exact moment his fingers entered her, her head dropping back, her mouth forming an ‘O’ and her hands finding and gripping his hair.
Commitment Page 7
