You and Only You

by Young, Brooke

  She looked up at Chris. “Chris, I should’ve come to you but quite frankly, I don’t like you and I never have, so I tried to download reports and was going to see if I could provide valuable information.” She continued, “not sensitive information…just asset size etc. and in return I would get leads for potential business here in the U.S. I wasn’t thinking it would send a red flag alert to IT and cause this huge uproar.” She looked at Adam, “Adam, you know I respect you as a boss, so again, I am sorry. I know I breached protocol in a major way and I understand the consequences that will result due to my actions.”

  Deep down she wanted to be let go given that TGS’ empire was about to collapse.

  The men sat there completely shocked staring at her, speechless. Finally, Adam broke the silence by sighing, “Well, Berkleigh, admittedly I am surprised…shocked really. You have been a great employee all these years, but you did violate our policies by downloading to an external device. By doing so, you could’ve compromised all our international clients’ information. I’m afraid in the best interest of the company, we must let you go. I’m sorry it has come to this.”

  “Me, too, Adam,” she said meekly.

  “Oh yeah, we will need that memory disk,” he reminded her.

  “I don’t have it with me, but I am more than happy to send it as soon as I get home.” She stood up to leave.

  “Berkleigh, I believe you weren’t trying to harm the company with your actions, so we will tell your clients that you resigned,” Adam said politely, sad to see her go.

  “Thank you, Adam,” she was humbled. “I really appreciate that.” She turned to Carlos, “The laptop you prepared for me is in Stacy’s office. Again, I’m sorry for the inconvenience and use of resources my actions caused.”

  With that said Berkleigh left the conference room, said goodbye to Margaret for the last time, grabbed her bag and left TGS without looking back.

  She stepped into the elevator and let out a huge breath. That was SO nerve racking! She attempted to calm her trembling body.

  As she exited the tall office building, she saw the ever so handsome Jack Ashford standing against a tree, clearly waiting for her, with a concerned look on his face. She stopped in her tracks for a moment not knowing what to do. She made eye contact with him and then started in the opposite direction, not certain where she planned to go. She didn’t even have arrangements to get home at this point. All she knew is she needed to get away from him and wanted to be home more than anything.

  Jack chased after her, “Berkleigh, wait. Please,” he pleaded.

  She whipped around talking louder than she meant to, “What Jack? It’s done! You got what you wanted! Now you can keep investigating them without raising any suspicion. Can’t you just leave me alone now?” she pleaded desperately.

  “How’d it go?” he asked softly, ignoring her question.

  Her shoulders slumped, “It was terrible…but then I kept hearing your voice that they may be involved in who knows what. My sympathy toward them went out the door. Oh, and they want the memory disk. I told them I would mail it when I got home.”

  “I’m sorry I put you in the middle of this, Berk,” he stated apologetically.

  “Jack, I need to get going,” she lied.

  “Where are you going to go, Berkleigh?” His voice escalated a little as his frustration grew out of concern for her safety. He’s CIA, he knew she didn’t have a flight booked home yet, but she was carrying her luggage so that meant she had already checked out of her hotel. “Look, the agency wants to ensure that you are protected, and they want to get you home… tonight…safely,” he explained.

  The last word clearly caught her attention. She looked up at him with a concerned look, “Really? You guys think I’m in danger?”

  “We aren’t sure. John arranged a private flight to California for you tonight, if you want to take it.”

  “Are you going to be on the flight?” she asked suspiciously.

  “No,” genuine deep sadness was apparent in his voice, “you’ve made it clear how you feel about me. I’m trying hard to respect your feelings and give you space.”

  She looked him in the eyes and said sweetly, “Thank you, Jack.” It was killing him that he was responsible for how clearly broken she was feeling.

  “If you don’t mind riding back to the airport with me, my partner Joe will meet us there. He will escort you to California,” he knew his timing was bad but he sheepishly grinned and said with his hands raised, “No strings attached.”

  That caused Berkleigh to smile for the first time all day, shocked that she was able to muster up a laugh given that everything had fallen apart in an instant, “Always the charmer, Jack. It will be torture, but I will ride with you. Please thank John for considering my safety seeing as I have no idea of how big this thing is that TGS might be involved in.”

  “Will do. C’mon the car is over here.”

  He took her luggage and wheeled it toward the car.

  32

  The airport was only 15 minutes away, but Berkleigh didn’t lie when she said it would be torturing to have to be that close to Jack and his amazingly familiar scent. She couldn’t help but relive the weekend at his house- the taste of his kiss, his stubble on her skin, the way his eyes lit up when he smiled, ‘their’ rocking chairs, the fire, the conversations, the way they navigated cohesively around his kitchen…all of it. She would undoubtedly miss him for a long time.

  They arrived at the airport and were escorted through a private terminal few people knew existed. Making their way out on the tarmac, she saw two planes waiting, symbolic of their final separation. It made Berkleigh’s heart hurt and Jack’s eyes welled up, he tried to compose himself but couldn’t.

  She turned to him, saw his tears and lost it with her own river flowing out of her eyes. He held her for a full minute and then whispered, “I don’t want to let you go, this can’t be it for us. I love you, Berk.” She looked at him but could not bring herself to return the sentiment, even if she thought that she still loved him. He collected himself, introduced her to Joe and she watched Jack as he walked toward his plane alone, her heart sunk into her stomach. Joe grabbed her bag and gestured for her to climb the small stairs into the private jet.

  On the plane, she didn’t speak much, and Joe respected her need for privacy. Being Jack’s partner, he was brought up to speed on everything that occurred except for the intimate moments she and Jack shared. Jack preserved those memories for only himself. He was not one to kiss and tell and certainly not with Berkleigh, he loved her too much.

  “I know it’s not my business,” Joe started, interrupting her thoughts, “but he does love you. I know it seems like he used you, but Jack’s a good guy doing good things. Hopefully when emotions cool down, you will see that, too.” He smiled kindly trying not to intrude in her life but couldn’t help himself because he had never seen Jack talk about a woman like he did Berkleigh. He had never seen Jack cry, except when he mourned the death of his mother. This spoke volume about Jack’s feelings as they had been partners for 15 years.

  She smiled while choking back tears, “Thank you, Joe. That actually does mean a lot.”

  Their plane landed in California and a car met them on the tarmac. They said their goodbyes after Joe explained that they had asked local law enforcement to keep an eye on her house for a couple of weeks.

  Berkleigh arrived home emotionally exhausted so she went straight to bed. On her way to her room, she saw the wedding invitation for Ken Rogers’ daughter’s wedding that was less than two weeks away in Destin, Florida. She had planned to ask Jack if he would be her plus one and then ask Emily if that was okay to change her RSVP. Though she contemplated now whether she should attend the wedding at all, she decided that since she already had her flight and hotel booked and a beautiful dress already purchased for the special event that she would still go.

  She fell asleep rather quickly and slept 7 hours straight. Jack visited her in her dreams, so she woke up s
ad and nonstop the whole next day…and the day after that…and the day after that. She knew that her grief would eventually subside, but it had to run its course.

  On the other side of the country, Jack worked tirelessly throughout each day on his case but when he was in the privacy of his home, he sat in his rocking chair, stared at Berkleigh’s empty chair and cried every night, listening to ‘their’ country songs. Her scent was on the pillow case she had slept on. He refused to wash it, worried he would wash away their memories, even though he knew that was impossible.

  His mind was consumed of thoughts of her-sometimes how great their intimate moments were, but more often how much fun he had hanging out, sharing his home and cooking with her along with the deep conversations they shared.

  As time passed, he watched the red roses that he had brought to the airport the day she arrived dying a slow death, symbolic of how he felt on the inside.

  He wasn’t sure he would ever be able to forgive himself for betraying her.

  33

  Four days had passed when Joe called Berkleigh to see how she was doing, discuss how the government was going to compensate her and ask her for one more piece of information.

  “Hi Berkleigh, this is Joe. How are you holding up?” he gently asked.

  “I’ve had better weeks, Joe.”

  He gave her details of the compensation package which was generous, but it didn’t make up for losing Jack. “Berkleigh, we need your help. What I am about to tell you is confidential, you have to give me your word.”

  “Of course, Joe,” she sat up, his tone alarmed her, “what is it?”

  “We’ve determined TGS is involved in what will prove to be the largest act of economic terrorism against the United States that this country has ever seen. There are three employee codes associated with the international reports that significantly alter the international banks’ assets, making it appear each of them are worth billions more than they are. Their plan is to get American banks to invest into fake international stocks that would promise returns that no American bank has ever realized. The return will never happen because these stocks don’t exist, and the international banks don’t have the assets or financial backing alleged in the doctored reports by TGS. This would cause the largest American banks to fail, but this time there would be no way to bail them out. It would be a much larger financial collapse than we witnessed in 2008, an economic meltdown of epic proportions, Berkleigh.” He paused to allow her to digest this information.

  “Oh my god!” she exclaimed in disbelief that she was working for a company that ‘cooked’ the books for terrorists.

  “Berkleigh, I’m going to put you on speaker. I’ve got John, the guy in charge of this operation, Paul, our IT brains of the operation,” he paused, “and Jack in the office with me.”

  Though Berkleigh didn’t see it, Joe winced when he mentioned Jack hoping she wouldn’t hang up on them, but Joe felt she had a right to know that Jack was part of the call. He held his breath for a second until she responded.

  “Hi guys,” she said hesitantly but politely. Jack was standing behind everyone, leaning against a tall book case and closed his eyes. The sound of her sweet voice made Jack’s heart drop into his stomach. He missed her more than anyone could possibly imagine.

  “Hey Berk,” he said quietly. She never told him, but he was the only person who called her that. Her eyes welled up with tears at the sound of his sexy voice. God, I miss him.

  She poised herself, cleared her throat and said, “Hi Jack,” she paused a second as she pieced some information together. “Joe, you said there are three TGS employee codes associated with those doctored reports? Do those numbers happen to end in 101, 104 and 123?”

  “Yes,” Joe confirmed.

  “101 is CEO, Adam Nicholson, 104 is COO, Chris Kane and 123 is TGS’ CSO, Carlos Garcia. That’s why they were all in the meeting at the beginning of the week. They were trying to figure out if I saw something I shouldn’t. When I said I was just looking for a networking opportunity, they simply fired me to get me out of the picture. Oh my god, they are all involved?”

  “Afraid so, Berkleigh,” John responded. He continued in a delicate manner, “This is John,” he paused, “Look Berkleigh, we realized you sacrificed…a lot…to help us. We really, really appreciate it. We will also keep security detail outside of your house until arrests are made. Lastly, we want to reassure you that you will never be mentioned in any classified document or any type of publication released to the American public.”

  “Thank you, John,” finally grasping the enormity of the situation. “You guys really are the good guys, aren’t you?” she smiled. Jack smiled, as well, at the inference, hoping that meant she hated him a little less.

  “We’d certainly like to think so.” John replied.

  “We’ve got a lot to do,” Joe chimed in when there was a pause in the conversation, “Berkleigh, do you have any questions for us?” he asked.

  “I guess just one. I was always under the impression the CIA could not perform operations on American soil, is that a line out of the movies?” she asked.

  “Well, in part, that is true. It is illegal for the CIA to investigate any United States citizen or company inside the U.S., unless an investigation is part of a foreign intelligence. In this case, the CIA was able investigate TGS because as a corporation it was suspected of being part of a terrorist plot being planned in a foreign country,” John replied.

  She actually laughed, “That makes sense. Here I figured Jack simply charmed the CIA’s way onto U.S. soil.” They all laughed on the other end, knowing how effective Jack was, in general. “I’m grateful that you all believed I was innocent, got me out of a corrupt company, and have entrusted me. I assure you, I will say not say a word to anybody.”

  John cleared his throat, “Jack believed in your innocence back in Hawaii if it’s any consolation.” She didn’t say anything, but it was. “If that is all, we will be in touch. Thanks again, Berkleigh.”

  “You’re welcome. Good luck and everyone be safe.”

  They all hung up.

  She worried for Jack knowing he didn’t really do bank consulting but was on the verge of bringing down some very bad guys and saving America, like Superman. “Ugh, why does he have to be so sexy and heroic?” she whined out loud into her pillow.

  Her weekend was spent relaxing and reading. She cried a little less but still missed Jack deeply. As she read her book, she found her thoughts wandering to him constantly- wondering what he was doing in ahhh… McLean, VA…near Langley, CIA headquarters. A little slow on the uptake, Berkleigh. Not having any work to keep her occupied, she had nothing else to do but think of Jack. It was starting to drive her crazy.

  Jack left her alone, trying to respect her need for space and time to digest everything but he longed to talk to her every day. He had some of the best self-control in the world and it took every ounce of it not to text her or call her.

  He printed their picture that she had sent to him, the one they took on their hike to the waterfall in Hawaii and put it on his nightstand.

  He missed her so much, it hurt every part of him.

  34

  Over the weekend, the CIA passed on their intelligence findings to the FBI and search warrants were issued. On Monday first thing, Eastern Standard Time, arrests were made. When Berkleigh awoke on Monday morning, there was breaking news on every station about how an economic terrorist attempt on the United States had been thwarted. The information was vague given that the investigation was on-going.

  Berkleigh smiled thinking about how she helped to prevent something awful from happening. Starting to understand where Jack was coming from, she almost texted him “congratulations” but decided against it even though as the days passed, her anger was subsiding.

  It was a HUGE win for the good guys! Ultimately, she decided that she didn’t want to open that wound back up for either of them- not that it was closed for her-it hadn’t really healed at all.

&n
bsp; On Wednesday, Berkleigh prepared for her flight on Thursday, for Emily Rogers, Ken’s daughter’s wedding. She packed her beautiful coral sundress that had eyelet lace over the main material. Having purchased it after arriving back from Hawaii, she had envisioned dancing with Jack at the wedding-assuming they would’ve let her change her RSVP-but it was a moot point now. She kept thinking she might be a hot mess during the ceremony watching two people publicly declare their undying love to one another, but she figured that light conversation, dancing and a beach vacation away from her house for a few days would be good for her.

  35

  Thursday came quickly and Berkleigh jumped in the taxi to head to the airport. She tortured herself on the airplane listening to hers and Jack’s music on her iPhone. The flight passed quickly and when she landed at the airport in Houston, she grabbed a sandwich before her connection. Berkleigh attempted to read her book, but her thoughts continued to wander. She grabbed her phone to text Jack, but something took her back to the moment when Margaret announced Jack Ashford was in the lobby. Feeling betrayed is something she felt she couldn’t get over, so she put her phone away. Her therapist tried to help her understand that not every man was like the babysitter, apparently that fell on deaf ears.

  She caught a smaller plane and landed at the Fort Walton Beach Regional Airport early in the evening, grabbed a taxi and headed directly to the grand resort where the wedding take place.

  She checked in and as she walked toward the elevator, the memory of Jack’s arm stopping the elevator in Hawaii for her overcame her. She found her heart breaking yet again, and then she heard a familiar voice behind her talking to someone. With a huge smile on her face, she turned to see two men talking over in the bar area. Her eyes scanned for the familiar voice.