by Galen Rose
“This morning.”
“If he asks you about your underwear ignore him. You’ll find that we are a little offbeat here and don’t follow the normal standards set by many companies. Our backgrounds are as diverse as bounty hunters to MIT graduates. There might even be a hacker or two employed here. We’re a close-knit group with a common goal of protecting those who need it. If you have a problem with someone, you take it up with them. If it can’t be solved then you can go to Mike, Sean, or me.”
We stepped off the elevator on the top floor. “This is where Tim Woo’s office is, as well as Mason’s and the cafeteria.” Chase pointed to a set of glass doors to the left of the offices.
“Do I get to meet Tim Woo or is he a myth?”
Chase snickered. “Oh he’s real enough, but he loves to be called a myth or a ghost. Tim is currently in Seattle. We’re expanding our offices to that area.”
I almost lost track of what Chase was saying. A wonderful smell had reached my nose and was permeating my brain. This place even had a cafeteria?
Chase smiled and pointed to the doors to my right.
“If you eat here, you use your key card and it’s deducted from your pay. There are a few places around the neighborhood that are good but the cafeteria has some terrific food. When you are in the office you get an hour for lunch. When you are in the field you are on your own for food or even time to go to the bathroom.”
I followed Chase through the glass double doors to the right and my stomach growled in appreciation. Long glass cases were filled with food. You could get deli sandwiches, pastas, salads, fruits of every type, baked goods, and the dessert case alone was staggering. “Why would anyone go anywhere else?” I commented as my mouth watered at the fresh blueberry muffins.
“You know, I ask myself the same thing.” He smiled.
I was usually a bottomless pit when it came to food. My metabolism ran high and I sometimes had trouble keeping up with it.
I must have looked a bit overwhelmed. Hell, I was overwhelmed. I had never seen a company like this. Chase just patted me on the back and we went back down to the cubicles. Chase had a meeting to go to so I was handed over to a young woman named Mindy with bright pink, spiky hair.
“Come on, Laney. I’ll get you squared away at your desk and online and I won’t even ask you about how it felt to deck Sean.” I had to laugh. It was going to be one hell of an experience working here.
I spent the rest of the morning learning the computer system. Not hard just tedious. At noon a handful of daisies fell on my lap as Mike came around the cubicle. “You ready?”
“No.”
“Okay, I’ll wait.”
I turned around in my chair and stood up. “You can wait until hell freezes over, Mike. I am not going to lunch with you.”
“Why not? I’m a great guy.” He flashed me a charming smile. His eyes said he knew he was full of it.
“Because.”
“Well that’s a good reason. I like ‘because.’ But I think you’re afraid of me.” Mike leaned his hip against the desk. “I think you felt something the other night when I almost kissed you. I would have kissed you had Sean not interrupted us.” Mike had slowly been sliding along the edge of my desk until he had me almost pinned against the wall.
I sighed, “I think that you are entirely full of yourself and I am not afraid of you.”
“Prove it.”
“I don’t have to prove anything to you.”
“Good, then let’s go. I’m hungry.” He stepped back and turned to walk out of the cubicle, then looked back at me.
His voice softened. “Laney, it’s only lunch. I just want a chance to get to know you.” Of course he did. I was being silly. Other than being very late for our first date he had really done nothing wrong.
“You’re right. I’m being silly.” As I walked out of the cubicle, Sean came walking down the hall toward me. He stopped in front of me ignoring Mike. “Laney, can I have a word with you?”
“I am going to lunch right now. Maybe later?” Sean glared at Mike. “Sure. Fine. As you wish, your highness,” and he walked off toward the elevator.
I stood there watching him walk away and shook my head. “For the life of me I can’t figure him out. I just don’t get it.”
Mike took my hand, a thoughtful look on his face. “You really don’t understand do you?”
“No. I don’t.”
Mike just smiled and tugged me along toward the front door. “So apparently you understand what Sean’s problem is. Do you care to explain it to me?” I was really becoming quite exasperated.
“Nope,” Mike said with a sly laugh.
“Why not?”
“Because, Laney my love, some things are best kept a mystery until it is time to solve them.”
“Argghhh.” I tried pulling my hand free of his, but he only tightened his grasp. “You people are going to drive me nuts!”
Mike laughed harder and pulled me along after him.
Chapter Seven
When I returned from lunch most of the cubicles were empty, so I took a few minutes to just sit and take stock of my new place in life. Sitting on my desk was a vase with a pink rose in it. No note as to who it was from. It smelled lovely so I said thanks out loud hoping the deliverer would hear it if they were around. Also on my desk were my business cards. I pulled one from the stack and looked at it. I felt like jumping up and down and yelling, “I’m somebody! I’m somebody!” I kept quiet because I didn’t think anyone else would understand, and they’d start to consider me nuts. I had never held a job that gave me a place or reason to be proud. Dishwashers hardly warrant a business card; neither do janitors.
Laney Murphy, the card said. I found an envelope and quickly addressed it to Officer Chen. I looked up the address in Los Angeles and hoped he might be pleased and in a small way I had hoped he’d be proud. It meant something to me for him to be proud of what I had finally accomplished.
I had always felt I owed him for helping me. I found a stamp and placed it in the outgoing mailbox.
When I got back to my desk Chase was waiting for me and for the next three weeks he barely gave me time to breathe. Three hours a day, Chase put me through the ringer in evaluating my previous training in self-defense. The man had moves I’d never seen before. If Mason was a panther, Chase was a snake. But he also had an incredible amount of patience, which he needed when he pushed me too hard and too far and I let my temper take over. The only person that usually got hurt — or at the very least slammed on the mat — was me. Time and time again he cautioned me about letting my anger take over.
Then I had weapons evaluation. All Woo employees had to be trained to use a handgun. “You will be licensed to carry a concealed weapon but most of the time you won’t carry one. There have been times that one is necessary, though,” Chase told me.
Then there was the technical end of it all. Although I wasn’t installing alarm systems I still had to know them inside and out. So when I could dredge up the energy, I was studying schematics on alarms and surveillance systems of every type, Woo-manufactured or otherwise. This meant I got to spend time with Dallas. I felt hesitant at first. The man had a voice like warm honey with that New Orleans accent of his, and he was smoother than silk. He exuded a strong sexual vibe and yet his exuberance for his job was almost kid-in-a-toy-store. He and Mindy worked together most of the time. I never would have guessed they were friends but they were thick as thieves. Mindy was punk, goth, and outrageous, Dallas was sultry and loved setting up pranks like a high school kid. When it came to surveillance he was bonkers for the stuff. He had microphones planted all over the place. At first I thought this was a bit extreme, but he mostly did it to test out any of his latest inventions. I was sitting at my desk one day when I found one of his mini cams, neatly nestled inside a rose. My mysterious rose deliverer still left me a rose once a week. It varied in time or day but it was always a pink one and always delivered when I was away from my desk. Dallas had offered t
o set up a camera to catch them but I told him no. I had no ideas as to who it was and since I was enjoying them I saw no reason to stop them. That is, until week number four when they stopped.
Every Monday I had lunch with Mike. We got along very well and he always made me laugh. Other than that night at the movies he had tried nothing more than a peck on the cheek. I had thought he was interested, but I had either read him wrong or he had changed his mind. In the grand scheme of things it really didn’t matter. I needed his friendship, and anything else would have interfered with work.
What did matter was Sean — and he was driving me nuts. I thought about him at the oddest times. In particular, I remembered the kiss that had bruised my mouth and made me want more. I dreamed about Sean every night. On top of being exhausted from training, studying, and helping Tommy out when it was busy, I was now losing sleep too. Sean hardly had more than five words to say to me on a daily basis and when I was in the same room with him he either left the room or started an argument with me. Mike and I had been running all over the city as I learned how to install the alarms I had been studying, and also bypass them. By the end of the fourth week my get up and go had left me dragging.
Finally, I had a Sunday to myself. Tommy and Molly were off to Mass and to see some friends for the day, so after I managed to get myself out of bed and showered, I wandered over to their house and into their oh-so-well-stocked kitchen. I knew Molly would have left something yummy for me. She still felt sorry for me, having basically no cooking skills whatsoever. I did figure though that it was just a matter of time before she chained me to the counter and made me learn basic cooking 101.
I was just sitting down to a plate of my favorite — blueberry pancakes — when Mr. Arrogant himself walked in. Molly had mentioned that Sean was only temporarily living there while his apartment was being fumigated. I had hoped to avoid him altogether. He grunted at me and headed to the coffee pot. I decided the best way to deal with him was to eat and get out of the kitchen as soon as possible. But instead of leaving the kitchen as he usually did when I was in it, he sat down. Great; and I was so looking forward to a quiet breakfast. Well I might as well try and be friendly. “Good morning.”
“It’s noon,” he said pouring cream into his cup.
I took a deep breath. “Good afternoon, then.” I even managed a smile.
“Why are you so damn happy this morning?” He grumbled and took a drink of coffee.
Another deep breath. I reminded myself that I was going to try and be nice and I was eating as fast as I could so I could get out of there. But my ambition was slowly drifting away and the pancakes were now starting to taste like cement. I sighed.
“Look, Slick. I came here to eat my breakfast and to enjoy my first day off in four weeks.”
“Oh, waaa, first day off? So you don’t count your extra-long lunch with Mike the other day as a day off?”
I had to think for a moment; extra-long lunch? Lately my lunches with Mike had been working lunches on the run if we even had time to eat at all.
“My extra long lunch? I … ” Sean didn’t even give me time to finish what I was going to say.
“Sure. I guess you being Chase’s new darling that no one notices when you go off fooling around on company time.”
A lovely shade of red mist filled my head and I counted to ten. Then I counted to ten again. Nope it didn’t work. I took the remainder of my breakfast over to the garbage can and threw it in. I counted to ten again. Nope. Still not working. I cleaned up my plate and counted again. No, not yet. Sean stood up. Maybe he sensed I was near complete and total annihilation. Maybe he wanted more of a fighting chance if I decided to deck him again. But I could tell he knew he had pushed too far. I’d like to think Chase would have been proud of the way I held my rising temper in check. I counted to ten again and quickly thought of my choices. Upending the bottle of syrup on his head or walking out. My hands itched to pick up the bottle and pour, but somehow I saw my way clear to actually smile at him.
“I hope you have yourself a real nice day, Sean. I truly do. Now if you’ll excuse me I have a date.” I didn’t really have one, but I’d like to think that maybe — just maybe — that last little dig did some damage.
Monday arrived with rain and my mood mirrored it. I had spent the prior day being thoroughly and totally pissed off at Sean. So much so, that I must have walked ten miles of the city before I managed to regain some sense of calm. Chase, being the calm and astute man he is, must have sensed I was in a pisser of a mood because as soon as I sat down at my desk he announced that I was going to be tested.
“Tested? You didn’t say anything about a test.”
“No I didn’t. Go get your sweats on. This one is physical.”
Great. I’d had my brain tested all last week so why not test the body too? I headed to the locker room and found Mason already there, changing out of a gorgeous, dark blue skirt and jacket. Her silk shirt looked like fresh cream. Now, far be it from me to notice clothes or what other women wore, but on the few times I had seen Mason, the woman had dressed in style.
“Mason, I normally don’t care squat about clothes but you have some of the prettiest things I have ever seen.” I looked down at my new jeans and sighed. I must look like a rag mop next to her.
“Thank you. I don’t mean this to sound condescending and it probably will, but anytime you want to go shopping you let me know.”
Mindy walked in at that point. “Shopping? Who said shopping? Are you going to Madame Elise’s again?” Mason laughed at Mindy who was bouncing up on her toes. “I think we need to take Laney on a girl’s day out.”
Warning bells went off in my head. Danger. There lies madness. “Oh, no. Really that’s okay.” I backed away from them but Mindy came up behind me and stopped my escape. “After work today. You’ll thank us. Besides, it will drive Dallas nuts.” What the hell did Dallas have to do with it? Did he go too? I know the guy was strange and all, but he liked shopping?
Mason, now dressed in sweats and a t-shirt, laughed harder at my reaction and headed out of the room.
I lay down on a bench and groaned. Girl stuff. How did I get into this? Okay, I know I’m a girl but somehow I missed out on all the girl stuff that girls do. Maybe it was because my two girl cousins had made my life a living hell with constantly tormenting me and making me feel three inches tall.
Mindy stood over me and smiled. “Laney. Trust us. I think you’ll be surprised how much fun you’ll have.” Mindy left me to myself as I finished getting changed. Could the day get any worse? I really knew better than to ask that question, I really did.
When I walked out onto the gym floor I saw that not only was Chase waiting for me but Mike, Mason, and Sean were there as well. Oh lovely. I quickly understood just what kind of test this was going to be. Chase turned away from me and nodded to Mike. I wasn’t even given a chance to go on the offensive. I was on the floor in the blink of an eye.
“Come on, Laney. This isn’t playtime,” Mike said, as he tried to pin me. It took me a minute to fully understand what was expected of me. I had to fight. I had to do whatever it took to either gain the upper hand or get away. In real life you are rarely granted a minute to think. Reactions have to be quick. I couldn’t get my brain to grasp what was expected of me immediately as I hit the mat again, hard.
This wasn’t Mike the gentleman, the man I had been hanging out with. This man was hard, and seemed to be enjoying my discomfort with a maniacal gleam in his eye. I had heard rumors about Mike. He had been a bounty hunter before he was a bodyguard. I had heard that he’d even tracked down Mason once. I also heard that he never walked away from a fight. In fact, the general consensus was that he was a bit touched in the head. I didn’t buy it. Not then and especially not now. What I did buy was that he had a raw, channeled anger that had probably kept him alive a lot longer than anyone would have given him credit for.
Stop thinking! Start reacting, I told myself. I still didn’t get it until I tasted blo
od. My blood. Then the training took over. Training for defense or offense has to be mind, body, and soul. You have to have all three parts in one. I had the three parts now — granted, they were running off in different directions right then — but I managed to plant a nice punch on Mike’s chin. He stepped back, shook his head and laughed. Damn.
But before I could think of a plan B, Mason stepped in. She and I were about evenly matched in weight but she was a good three inches taller than me. I had no delusions that she wasn’t far superior when it came to fighting as I let the reflexes take over. I felt the hits and either rolled with them or blocked them. By the time I was wearing down, Chase motioned to Sean. I moved back and forth, trying to keep my guard up and ready and catch my breath. I had no idea what Sean was capable of.
He looked at Chase. “I can’t do it.” Chase just looked at Sean. “Look, get someone else, Chase. I won’t do it.”
I stopped pacing and looked at Sean. “Why not, Slick? Are you too good for this? Don’t want to get your hands messy?”
Sean glared at me. “Cut it out, Laney.”
“No. You’ve been wanting to push me around ever since we met, Ace. Since the moment you thought I was after Tommy’s money you’ve done nothing but glare at me. Come on, Slick, now’s your chance.” I walked up to him and got in his face. “I bet you felt real good after I decked you, huh? Boy, let me tell you, I think I was almost made a national hero around … ,” Sean shoved me back and tried to walk away, but I got right back in his face. “Well let me tell you something else, Mr. High and Mighty.” All the anger from Sunday boiled back up. “I’ve been taking long lunch breaks with Mike not to fool around, as you so delicately put it, but to learn alarm assessment and installations. If I was eating lunch, it was on the road. I don’t know what your problem is with me, Slick … ”
I never saw it coming. I was on the floor in a heartbeat and he had me pinned but instead of being angry he lowered his head to mine and just looked at me. Those beautiful green eyes looked into mine and I was lost. “The problem is, Laney, I find myself wanting to kiss you more than hit you and I don’t like it!” He quickly stood up and walked off.
