by Margaret Kay
With this thought came the realization that the same held true for her, regarding sharing the details of Operation Sandstorm. For the first time in over two years, she felt almost ready to talk about it with someone. No, not just someone. She felt ready to talk about it with Cooper, Anthony, or Doctor Lassiter…almost. She thought about that for a long moment. Given that she wasn’t quite ready to talk about it, maybe that meant she hadn’t dealt with it as well as she thought she had. Maybe a discussion with Lassiter was something she should consider.
“Madison are you still there?” Cooper asked. She had gone quiet.
“I’m sorry, yes. I was just thinking about something,” she said. “Anyway, I will be ready to roll with this case as soon as I arrive back in Chicago tomorrow.”
Cooper chuckled. She remembered the sexy sound of that chuckle as he held her at her house that night after the Inverness Academy Op. That night had brought a different dimension to their relationship, one that had only shown glimpses of itself the weeks leading up to that Op in the after-hours text messages they had exchanged.
“Madison?” Cooper asked. “Did you hear me?”
Madison snapped out of her thoughts. Cooper had said something after his chuckle, but she hadn’t really heard it. “I’m sorry, the phone seems to be cutting out. Let me step outside.” A lame excuse, yes, but she surely wouldn’t admit her thoughts had gone elsewhere, to a place they shouldn’t have. She sat at the outside table. It was only zero-eight-hundred, and it was hot, over ninety degrees already. “I’m outside now and have a full signal. What did you say?”
“I asked if you were changing the subject on me on purpose.”
“No, did it seem like I had?”
Cooper chuckled again. “No worries. If you don’t want to talk about going to a Caribbean island with me during our Thanksgiving break, I won’t take it personally.”
Madison laughed nervously. “I guess the phone cut out more than I thought. Yes, the island vacation we’ve talked about, I’m in.”
“I said, Garcia will really need a vacation after the mission at the Silo.”
“Yes, I’m sure he will,” she agreed. “Have you mentioned the trip to anyone else yet?”
“Not yet, but I want to get some plans made soon.”
“That sounds good. I hope Angel and Jackson will come with us. You said he has family he is close with. They may want to spend the holiday with his family instead of us.”
“Maybe. What about you? Will you want to spend it there in Arizona with yours?”
“I’d like to at least come back for a few days, but I don’t need to be here on Thanksgiving,” Madison said. “What about your brother? Will he still be at sea?”
“Yes, he’s out for another six months.”
“So, he won’t even be back for Christmas.”
“No, but he and I are used to working through the holidays. Since our parents died, it’s just been that way.”
Madison considered that for a minute. She knew very little about Cooper’s personal life, or any of her coworkers for that matter. “I remember Christmas when I was on active duty and away from home. The unit all came together to celebrate the holiday like the family we had become, an okay substitution for our real families. I appreciate Shepherd trying to arrange our workloads to allow time off for the holidays.”
“I’m going to do everything I can, to talk Shepherd into coming. He needs a break more than any of us. Anyway, I should get going. I have a meeting with him in a few minutes. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Yes, bye until later.”
Madison disconnected and sat the phone to the table. She was startled by her mother, who walked up from behind her and took a seat at the table.
“You were talking with your boss?” Her mother asked.
“Yes, just our daily calls.”
Her mother beamed an instigating smile at her. “Is there something about this boss you want to tell me?”
Madison smiled as well, wondering why her mother was asking. “Not really.”
“You’re going on a trip together over the holidays? Is there something romantic going on?”
A pang of something hit Madison. She wasn’t quite sure if it was guilt, or discovery, but it felt very much like either or both. “Yes, Cooper and I have talked about seeing if the whole team wants to go to a Caribbean island over the holidays. Our boss is trying to arrange our schedules to allow each team some time off. It’s not like it’s a romantic getaway for just him and me.”
Her mother smiled wider. “That’s a shame. I’ve heard you talk with him. Are you sure there isn’t more there?”
“Mom, he’s my boss!”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t have feelings for him.”
“Mom, he’s my boss,” she repeated.
“Interesting, you didn’t argue that you don’t have feelings.”
Madison wanted to dispute that she felt anything for Cooper, but she didn’t want to lie to her mom about anything else. Besides, her mom knew her too well. If her mom could see it, should she even try to deny it?
“He’s a great guy and I wish we didn’t work together. But since we do, it has to be kept strictly on the level of friends and coworkers. He and I have never talked about if there is any kind of attraction, but I’m sure he feels it too. But, the friends and coworkers’ zone is where it will stay. There is a strict no fraternization rule. One or both of us could lose our jobs if we ever let it go any further.”
“That’s a shame. I’ve always wanted you to find a good man to be with. Maybe someday you two won’t be working so closely together and who knows then.”
“Yes, maybe,” Madison agreed.
Her mother went back into the house, but Madison sat for a while longer thinking about what her mother had said. Her confession to her mother was sobering, the first time she had said her thoughts about Cooper aloud. Yes, any feelings she had for Cooper had to stay pushed down. Their relationship had to stay in the friend’s and coworker’s zone. Both their jobs could be at stake if they didn’t. She decided she had to limit the after-hours contact with him.
Quebec
By the time Madison returned to Chicago she was ready for the Van Joosten Op. She had studied the material that Cooper pushed through to her laptop so much that she had memorized every detail. Her flight landed at Midway at noon. Cooper was there to pick her up. She pushed through the door to the arrivals pickup lane and went to the black SUV parked near the police cars.
He smiled warmly as she climbed in. “Hi, welcome back.”
“Thanks. It is good to be back,” she said as she fastened her seat belt.
They had talked on the phone while she waited at the gate for her flight and she text messaged with him after she had preboarded while the other passengers filed past her. She had told him he didn’t need to pick her up. She could have taken an Uber to the office. She was happy he had insisted. After this past week of texting and talking so much she felt very at ease with him, like a different relationship had formed. She rethought her decision to limit the extra contact that she had been so sure about the previous morning.
“We have an all-team pre-Op briefing after we get to the office and you have a pre-Op appointment with Lassiter after. We’ll knock off by four, so we can all get home and prep for our departure tomorrow morning.”
“Sounds good.”
“Do you have several short skirt suits that you can put a sexy top on underneath? And heels, got to have high heels. Van Joosten will receive you when we land in New York tomorrow and he already has a meeting scheduled with Schmidt at seventeen-hundred, so he can parade his sexy new assistant in front of him.”
Madison laughed out loud. “I have the shirts and suit jackets. No short skirts though.”
Cooper pulled a credit card from his shirt pocket and handed it to her. It had her name embossed on it. “It gets billed directly to Shepherd Security. Don’t go crazy with it but stop on your way home and buy anything you need.”
“Oh, darlin’, that’s a disappointment,” Cooper joked.
Or was he joking? Madison couldn’t quite tell. “Sorry, it’ll be blue jeans and a comfortable t-shirt for me tomorrow morning.”
“Such a disappointment.”
“I’ll tell you what, if you wear heels all day, then I will too.”
Now Cooper laughed. “Me, in drag? I don’t think anyone wants to see that.”
Madison laughed as well. “I don’t know. Of all the guys at the agency, I have to say you’re the prettiest. You might even throw off a gay vibe.”
“Oh, I am mortally wounded,” Cooper said, feigning injury. “My alpha-male ego will not let me accept that, not that there is anything wrong with a gay vibe, it’s just that I prefer to attract women.”
“Or massage therapists,” Madison joked.
Cooper laughed again. “Speaking of massage therapists, mine has a friend, a very masculine friend, if you’d like an introduction.”
“Stop,” Madison said firmly.
“You started it.”
“Yes, I did,” she admitted, her lips tugging upward.
Cooper smiled. She had categorized him as the prettiest of all the guys at the agency. What did that really mean? He doubted she meant what she had said, assumed she meant most attractive of them all. That thought filtered through him and he liked that her thoughts went in that direction.
He glanced at her out of the corner of his sunglass covered eyes. He actually couldn’t wait to see her in a sexy short skirt and heels. Just the thought of her dressed like a woman woke his cock up. He knew he wouldn’t act on those thoughts, so he had convinced himself the thought did no harm. Not that he could control those thoughts or how his body reacted to them and to her.
They joined Yvette, Doc and Jackson in the conference room upon their return to the office. Garcia was still at the Silo. Yvette laid out the timetable for the following day. The Lear would depart Chicago Executive Airport at zero-eight-hundred and fly them to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. Yvette would run things from the Ops Center. The others would be onsite. An immediate meeting with Van Joosten would occur when they landed to brief Van Joosten of the plan.
Madison would keep a comm in her left ear and again explain it as a hearing aid if it was detected. With her long hair covering her ear though, it shouldn’t be. Up to the minute info on Schmidt was shared as well as the angle Madison should play with him. She recognized Lassiter’s input in that angle. The team would listen in on all conversations with Schmidt. She’d have help if it was needed at all times, though no one thought that would be the case.
When the mission briefing was over, Madison took the public stairs down to four, to Lassiter’s office. She grabbed herself a water bottle and sat at the table within the kitchen area. She had decided she wanted to talk with him at some point about what went down in Iraq, but today wasn’t the day.
“You seem anxious today,” Lassiter observed.
“Just moving at a hundred miles per hour.”
Joe Lassiter sat back in a more relaxed position in his chair, hoping to model a demeanor Madison would unconsciously follow. “Let’s slow down for a few minutes. How was your dad when you left him?”
Madison took a drink of her water. “Better. It’s amazing how fast they had him up and moving around and then out of the hospital.”
“How do you feel about coming home today and leaving him and your mother?”
“It was time for me to come back to my life. I spent time prepping for this Op every day while I was in Arizona.”
“That isn’t what I asked,” Lassiter pointed out.
Madison sighed. “I’m still worried about him. I realize he has a heart condition now, a weakness. It sucks and reminds me that my parents are getting older and won’t be around forever. But there isn’t much I can do about it. I can be phone support for my mom and let my dad know I love him, so I have no regrets when he does die.”
“I’m glad you do realize that it’s when, and not if.”
“I didn’t think of it in any terms before this,” Madison admitted.
Lassiter nodded. “It’s something we all face, the eventuality of losing our parents. I like that you are already thinking ahead and doing what you think is the right thing to do so you will have no regrets. That’s a very healthy approach.”
“I had to tell them the lie that I work for the FBI, had a very unpleasant trip down missing in Iraq memory lane with my mother. She didn’t like that I took this job.” She gazed out the window.
“And your father?”
Madison smiled as she made eye contact with Lassiter. “He said he was proud of me for wanting to make a difference and doing what I am good at.”
“But you feel bad for lying?”
Madison nodded. Tears suddenly filled her eyes.
“You’re not really lying you know.”
“I minimized the danger I could potentially be putting myself in.”
“Maybe, maybe not. You have a very competent team backing you up. I’d say you’re in less risk with them having your back than if you were on any other team.”
“True, but more risk than if I had stayed at my last job.”
“You don’t know that either. How many employees have been killed in the last five years by a workplace shooter? Look how many people die in car accidents every year. What I’m saying is life has inherent risks. You minimize those risks by carrying a weapon you are trained very well to use, and you are surrounded by a team that is the best of the best. Hell, even the tracker planted in your back offers a level of protection. How many women go missing every year? You go missing, we can find you immediately.”
“I understand what you’re saying.”
“Do you know the statistics of how many law enforcement officers are killed in the line of duty every year?”
“No, but I’m sure it’s not that many or you wouldn’t be bringing it up.”
Lassiter chuckled. “Less than one hundred fifty nationwide.”
“What we are doing isn’t exactly regular law enforcement,” she remarked.
“No, this team is better than regular law enforcement in its approach. We have more tools and more support available to us. Just the Ops Center alone puts this team in a different category. And this next Op you are getting ready to go out on, is pretty low risk.”
“Yes, I feel pretty confident and at ease about this one.” She laughed sarcastically. “As long as it doesn’t result in breaking up another child pornography ring, I’m fine with it.”
Lassiter laughed. “Yes, that one set the bar pretty high for shock-factor going forward. So, you feel ready? No issues?”
“Yes, I feel ready and am good to go. I have no issues.”
“And if you need to have a moment to yourself after?”
Madison laughed. “I tell my team how I feel and what I need to do for me.”
Lassiter smiled and nodded. “Good luck with your Op. I’ll see you after you get back.”
“Does that mean I’m dismissed?”
“Unless you want to hang out and chat with me about anything else.”
Madison came to her feet. “Another time. I do have to shop for some short skirts to match my suit jackets and get packed. I would like to get going.”
Lassiter stood as well. “I am glad your dad is doing better, and that you took the time to be with your family.”
Madison gave him a hug. “Thanks, Joe. I’ll see you when we get back.”
She left his office and jogged up the public staircase. She ran into Cooper who was just leaving Shepherd’s office. He had his car keys in hand.
“Are you already done with Lassiter?”
“Yes, just need to grab my things from my office and then I will be heading out.”
“That was fast,” Cooper said. “I just checked out with Shepherd. I’m h
eading out too. Jackson and Doc already left.”
“I’ll be right behind you. Have a good night. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
Within the stairwell, Cooper went down, Madison went up. They were all out of the office by sixteen-hundred. Madison swung by her favorite store where she had purchased the four suits she bought when she began interviewing for jobs after her separation from the Army. She knew they still carried the matching pieces to the suits, including short skirts. Twenty minutes later, she tucked the Shepherd Security credit card back into her wallet and carried her purchases to her car.
