by Janie Crouch
* * *
SAWYER WATCHED AS for nearly the entire next thirty-six hours Megan labored on the countermeasure. She locked herself in one of the smaller labs and worked constantly, only stopping when he brought her food and to lie down in the early-morning hours.
She was using one version of Ghost Shell—the version he and Cameron had seized from DS-13 a few weeks ago—to create a way to stop the second version still out in the open and dangerous with Fred McNeil. Sawyer didn’t even pretend to understand the science behind engineering the countermeasure, but he had no doubt Megan could do it.
She wouldn’t let him stay in the room with her, claiming he ruined her focus. But Sawyer couldn’t understand how anything could ruin her focus when she was like this. Her concentration was intense—like a professional athlete or a surgeon. Watching her work for the past day and a half, Sawyer had no doubt she was as brilliant as her reputation suggested.
She worked in a room in the line of sight from where Sawyer stayed in her office. He was able to run reports on all of the Cyberdyne employees and still keep an eye on Megan’s room. As much as possible he tried to run interference for Megan—the fewer interruptions she had, the quicker the countermeasure would be finished.
The background checks Sawyer ran weren’t uncovering anything of much interest or suspicion. It looked as if everyone on the R & D team pretty much lived within their means. No one had made any unusually large deposits or purchases over the past few months.
Trish Wilborne, the programmer who had joined Cyberdyne most recently, was admittedly the most suspicious. But not because of her actions, really just because of the timing of her employment. Sawyer would be keeping a close eye on her. He’d be keeping a close eye on a lot of people. All of whom seemed to be a little miffed that Megan took them off the countermeasure project then proceeded to ignore them all for two days.
They were all gone now; it was late in the evening and everyone had left for the day a few hours ago. It was only Sawyer and Megan. Sawyer enjoyed the quiet and relative darkness of the lab. He was able to not be quite so on guard. He took off his tie and threw it on the table next to his laptop. He stretched his legs out in front of him.
Sawyer was beat. And if he felt this tired, he could only imagine how tired Megan must be with her intense concentration over the past hours. Sawyer didn’t know how long they were going to be here. It didn’t seem as though Megan was ever planning to come out of the intellectual cocoon she’d wrapped herself in.
The door to Megan’s office burst open. “Okay, that’s it. I’ve got to get out of here.” Megan strolled in and began tossing an armful of items and files onto her desk.
Okay, evidently she was planning to come out.
“Everything okay?” Sawyer stood up, bracing himself for another set of technological terms from Megan that he wouldn’t really understand about the latest problem with the countermeasure.
But instead, Megan turned and beamed at him. “Everything is fine. Absolutely fine. Hey, where is everybody?”
“Well, since it’s nearly nine o’clock, everybody left hours ago.”
“Nine o’clock? Wow. I thought it was about noon.”
Sawyer shook his head, one eyebrow raised. “You’ve been in there a long time. I was about to come drag you out for dinner.”
“I figured out the biggest part of the problem today, Sawyer.” Megan’s eyes all but sparkled.
“But I thought you were having trouble.” Sawyer leaned on the desk, happy to see Megan so lighthearted. Despite the dark circles under her eyes, she was more relaxed than he’d ever seen her.
“I was. But everything just clicked for me today.” She tapped on her temple with her finger. “Sometimes that just happens. It’s awesome when it does.” She walked unhurried to the door to hang up her lab coat. “Another day or two, Sawyer. That’s all I’ll need.”
With a satisfied sigh Megan perched against the desk next to Sawyer, her shoulder brushing his. “The problem was the block cipher and the substitution-permutation network. Now I can see why we were missing it, since we’re coming at it from reverse. We just needed a transposition cipher rather than a Feistel cipher.”
Her voice bubbled with excitement, but damned if Sawyer had any idea of what she was talking about. If she was anyone else, he’d think she was being smug—using words no mere mortal could possibly understand. But looking at her smiling, upturned face, Sawyer knew she was just sharing her joy.
Sawyer gave a theatrical sigh. “I tried to tell you days ago the problem was the substi-permeated cipher. But nobody would listen.”
She actually giggled. “Substitution-permutation network. That’s when a network takes a block of the plaintext—”
Sawyer turned and kissed her. A light kiss, just to shut her up and share in her relaxed happiness. But when Megan sighed and melted against him, it turned into something more than light. Sawyer grabbed Megan by the waist and boosted her up onto the desk. A knot of need twisted in him as he grasped her hips and drew her closer. Her lips parted and her arms came up to wrap around his neck.
Sawyer’s hands came up to cup Megan’s cheeks and entwined into her hair. He tilted her head so he could have better access to her soft warm lips.
But then something made Sawyer tense. In some part of Sawyer’s brain that wasn’t kissing Megan—the part that had been trained years ago to always be on alert for danger—something registered. Sawyer wasn’t quite sure if it was a sound or a motion that had subconsciously grabbed his attention, but something had.
He and Megan weren’t alone.
Sawyer pulled his lips back from Megan’s and he stepped away from her. Confusion clouded Megan’s eyes as she opened them.
“There’s somebody else here,” Sawyer whispered.
Immediately tension racked Megan’s body. “But I thought you said everyone had already left.”
“They did. Maybe it’s security.” Sawyer walked to the office door and called out, “Hello?”
No answer.
Most of the lights throughout the R & D department were still off, casting an eerie shadow among the desks and tables. Sawyer waited a few more moments, then turned back to the office. Maybe his overtired brain was just being too cautious.
But then they both heard it. The clicking of the exit door on the other side of the department. Megan’s gaze flew up to Sawyer’s.
“Stay here,” he told her as he turned and ran out the door.
“Oh heck no,” she told him, following right on his heels. They ran to the exit and Sawyer used his security card to open it, looking out into the hallway. No one was there. Sawyer immediately got on his cell phone, calling the Cyberdyne security station.
“This is Agent Branson. I’m in R & D. I need to know the last person who exited the lab.”
Sawyer looked at Megan while he waited for the security officer to get the information. Hopefully, this would be a big lead on whoever the mole was here at Cyberdyne.
“Yes, Agent Branson?” The security guard got back on the line. “According to the door security log, Dr. Fuller was the last person to exit the lab besides you.”
Sawyer looked over at Megan. She didn’t have her security badge around her neck the way she normally did.
“Okay. Thanks for your help.” Sawyer hung up with the security guard. He deliberately did not tell the guard about Megan’s missing badge.
“It was my badge used to open the door?” They began to walk back the way they had come, toward Megan’s office. “I took it off earlier this morning when I was trying to catch a few minutes of sleep.”
“Where did you leave it?”
“In the room where I was working. But I could’ve sworn it was there a couple of hours ago.”
“You’ll have to get a new one tomorrow.” Arriving at her office, Sawyer walked in, but noticed Megan had stopped and was looking across the hall.
“What wrong?” he asked her.
“The door to the room I was working in is o
pen,” Megan whispered. “I know it was closed before, Sawyer. I know it.”
Sawyer came out of Megan’s office and crossed to the small conference room she had been working in for the past few days. Four different laptops were set up, as well as detailed specs about Ghost Shell and the countermeasure, a soldering iron, and various microprocessors and pieces of hardware. And that was just the stuff Sawyer recognized. It looked like a geek bomb had gone off.
“I don’t think anything is missing,” Megan told him, looking around more closely. “I brought the countermeasure and all my findings into my office with me a few minutes ago after I finally reached a point where I could break for the day. There wasn’t anything valuable here.”
“Did you bring your ID badge with you when you left this room?”
He watched as Megan looked around, obviously trying to remember the last place she’d seen her badge.
“No. I remember it was hanging off this chair.” She pointed at one near the door. “I wanted to get it, but I had too much stuff in my hands.”
That meant—
“Sawyer.” Megan figured it out at the same time. “That means someone was in this room while you and I were just down the hall...distracted with each other.” Heat flooded her face.
Sawyer half smiled at Megan’s reaction and choice of words, but she was right. They had distracted each other and someone had used it to their advantage.
“Are you sure nothing’s missing?”
Megan looked around again. “No, like I said, all the critical items I took with me. I was going to put them in the vault before I left. But, Sawyer, whoever came in here—if they were the least bit familiar with the countermeasure—would’ve been able to see what I’ve done, the breakthrough I made today.”
It was obvious that leaving Megan’s work here at Cyberdyne wasn’t going to be an option. The traitor was able to get around too easily.
“I’ll drive you home.” Megan still didn’t have a car and there was no way in hell he was going to let her drive herself home alone anyway. “Everything you thought was important enough to bring to your office a few minutes ago needs to go home with you. Cyberdyne isn’t safe anymore.”
Chapter Ten
A little while later, in Sawyer’s car, Megan fought to get all her rushing emotions under control. Elation from making such progress in the countermeasure, adrenaline from the incident in the lab with the spy or whatever, exhaustion from getting only two hours of sleep last night. She wasn’t sure which one was taking precedence over the others.
Actually, that wasn’t true. She knew exactly what thoughts dominated her head. No matter what thought flooded her mind, her attraction to Sawyer was always at the forefront.
She couldn’t stop thinking about Sawyer Branson.
She’d managed to block him out of her mind over the past couple of days as she worked, but it hadn’t been easy. She’d done it because it had to be done. And the results had been the much-needed breakthrough in the countermeasure.
But sitting next to Sawyer in this car, she didn’t think she’d get him out of her head anytime soon. Not that she really wanted to. As a matter of fact, she’d like to get closer to him. And if the way he’d just grasped her hand was any indication, it seemed as if he’d like to get closer, too.
But he was temporary. Megan couldn’t let herself lose sight of that. Sawyer Branson may be interested in her, and they could probably have a wonderful time together, but it would definitely be temporary. When this case was over Sawyer would leave.
Her heart would do well to remember that.
Megan leaned her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes.
“You have to be tired.”
Megan nodded. “Yeah. It’s been a crazy day.”
“I thought we’d go get a bite to eat, but if you’re too tired, I can take you straight home.”
Before Megan could reply, her stomach grumbled loudly, answering for her. They both laughed. “I guess food is a good idea.”
Sawyer pulled over at a local restaurant and they were quickly seated due to the late hour. Megan glanced through the menu—since she was so hungry, everything looked good. She gave her order to the waiter almost at random the first time he came by their table.
The waiter looked at Sawyer. “Just repeat her order for me.”
Megan noticed Sawyer’s odd look as she handed over her menu. “What?” she asked.
“You.” Sawyer half smiled while shaking his head. “You read the entire menu and picked out what you wanted in about eight seconds. I wasn’t even through reading the appetizers yet.”
Megan shrugged and began to play with a little bit of straw wrapper. “Yeah, I can process information pretty quickly. Do you want to call the waiter back and get the menu again?”
“No. It was just pretty impressive.”
“My brain sees information and processes it as a whole sometimes, rather than me having to read individual words. Plus, I was hungry and in a hurry.”
“I could tell by the amount of food you ordered. It’s nice to be out with someone who isn’t afraid to eat. Although it’s hard to believe you can fit that much in your tiny body.”
Megan hadn’t really thought about how much food she was ordering—but really an appetizer, salad and entrée all for one person was probably a lot. Sawyer was probably used to going out with a different type of woman than Megan. Probably someone much more sophisticated, who actually considered the fact that ordering enough food for a small country might be a little off-putting.
“Yeah, I probably went a little overboard.” Megan tried for light laughter, but her laugh sounded uncomfortable even to her.
Sawyer reached over and took her hand from where she was tugging on her bottom lip. “No. Whatever you’re thinking in that giant brain of yours...just, no. You knew what you wanted and you got it. Not a thing in the world wrong with that.”
Megan gave a wry smile. “And I missed dinner.”
“We both did. So thank God for your ability to make a decision and not waste time.”
Megan was glad that he really didn’t seem to care. She was just so bad at dating. And had no frame of reference at all in going out with someone like Sawyer.
Not that this was really a date. But she had to admit, he hadn’t let go of her hand since he took it a minute ago.
“So on your first day you promised to tell me the story of how you ended up here in Swannanoa, even though you didn’t really want to be.”
Sawyer grinned at her from across the table. He didn’t let go of her hand. “Ah, yes, well, I accidentally punched my boss in the jaw and knocked him unconscious.”
“How do you accidentally punch somebody?”
“I tripped.”
“Is that so?”
“Well, let’s just say my boss—not the most likable guy in the world—was sure to say no to an extremely important question my brother was about to ask him. But I’m a clumsy idiot and I fell right into my boss, clocked him in the jaw and basically took my boss out of the equation. Terrible accident.”
Megan did not believe for one second that someone with as much masculine grace and control over his own body as Sawyer could have possibly stumbled to such a degree. And she was sure his boss—as soon as he regained consciousness—figured out the same thing.
“So as punishment for your clumsy idiocy you were assigned to us here at Cyberdyne.”
“Yeah.” Sawyer cleared his throat, looking sheepish. “At the time I thought it was a pretty bad assignment. But I was wrong.”
Megan felt his thumb stroking over her knuckles. She looked at their hands—hers was so much smaller than his big, capable ones.
“So your brother works for the FBI, too?”
“Why do you ask that?”
“Just figured he wouldn’t be asking your boss an important question unless he also worked with you.”
“Yeah, Cameron’s in law enforcement, too.”
“But not the FBI?”
> Sawyer shifted his weight so he was leaning his elbows on the table. He let go of her hand. “Actually, Megan, I can’t go into too many details, but no, my siblings don’t technically work for the FBI. Really, neither do I.”
Megan straightened in her chair. “I don’t understand.”
The waiter chose that time to bring their food—all of it. Megan had to wait while the plates were set on the table and general pleasantries exchanged before she could get her answer.
“So?” she asked as soon as the waiter was gone. She took a bite of salad while she waited for Sawyer’s response.
“Like I said, I can’t go into a lot of specific details, but my brother and I work for an interagency task force known as Omega Sector.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“Well, it’s not top secret, but it’s also not advertised. The people involved are handpicked.”
Megan understood. A best of the best type thing. Megan wasn’t surprised Sawyer had been chosen. And since Fred McNeil had been an FBI agent when he stole Ghost Shell, it stood to reason that another agency would be used to clean up the mess he’d left.
“So your brother is part of Omega Sector, too?”
“Yeah, actually, my sister, Juliet is, too. Although she’s not an active agent like Cameron and I. At least not anymore.”
Megan wanted to ask more about that, but decided not to. She didn’t want to put Sawyer in a position of not being able to talk about something. She took more bites of her food.
“So you’ve got one brother and one sister?”
“And one more brother. He lives in Virginia, runs a charter airplane business.”
“Four Branson siblings altogether?”
“Yep, I’m the youngest. And of course, the most charming, best-looking and smartest.”
“And don’t forget modest.”
Sawyer smiled. “That’s right. They remind me of that every chance they get.”
Megan envied Sawyer his close relationship with his siblings. Megan’s brothers were too young for her to be close with, although they were fun little kids.
They ate in companionable silence for a while, both of them starving.
