Edge of Honor: An EDGE Security Novel

by Loye, Trish

  What if they found the talk boring? What if she was so boring people fell asleep?

  Someone rapped sharply on her door. “Charlie?”

  Damn. Her mind had wandered.

  “Coming!” She whirled and grabbed her messenger bag from the bed, shoving her laptop into it. She threw open the door. Cat waited in the hall holding a metal briefcase.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  “Hell no,” she said. “I hate public speaking.”

  Cat smiled. “You’ll do fine. Just pretend you’re briefing us.”

  “Like that’s going to help. Most of the time you guys don’t understand me.”

  She chuckled. “True, but these people will. They speak your language.”

  They stepped onto the elevator. Charlie punched the first floor—which was actually the second floor, since the English called the first floor the ground floor. British craziness.

  “This is my first field assignment,” she said. “Where’re the thrills and excitement?”

  “You’ve been attacked twice. Haven’t you had enough excitement?”

  “Getting almost kidnapped was not exciting. I want to take down some bad guys. Not get beat up and have to speak in public.”

  “You get grouchy when you’re nervous. Do you need some candy?”

  “I’m not grouchy, I’m just impatient.” The doors opened and she strode toward the room. And she would swear it was impatience not nerves that quickened her stride.

  “Whatever you say,” Cat called after her.

  She didn’t bother replying, just marched into the room. She took one step and halted. It was huge. There were at least two hundred seats. She shook her head and took a step back. The room was already half full and there were still fifteen minutes until she was supposed to start.

  Cat placed the briefcase in her arms and gave her a smile. “You can do this,” she whispered.

  “But I don’t want to,” Charlie whispered back.

  Cat just walked to a position beside the door, crossed her arms, and surveyed the room. She wasn’t impersonating a lab assistant very well. Charlie stayed where she was a moment more, hugging the briefcase to her chest. It was even heavier than it looked, and holding it made her ribs ache where Freckles had kicked her.

  She hated public speaking, and avoided it whenever she could. She’d managed to skip out on the teaching part of her PhD. At the time, the university had been so enthralled with her research and the academic fame from her scientific papers that they didn’t care if she taught or presented at conferences. Her lab assistants had always done that for her.

  She’d been recruited by EDGE right after her PhD. Commander Knight, the head of EDGE, had come up to her after she’d completed her thesis defense. The dark-skinned man had looked impressive in his naval whites. He’d recruited her away from CSIS, who’d wanted her for themselves. For her part, she’d always dreamed of being a spy and Commander Knight said that she wouldn’t be stuck in a lab forever, which wasn’t a promise CSIS had made.

  So this was her first mission. Her shoulders slumped. And it involved public speaking.

  Get over yourself, Charlie.

  She looked around the room. Men and women sat in their business casual: collared shirts and khakis, with either laptops or notebooks balanced on their laps. Yes, these people spoke her language, but were they her people?

  She was a first-class geek with her degrees in electrical engineering and physics, but more importantly she also worked for EDGE, though maybe not as an operator yet. But EDGE only employed the best of the best. She could more than hold her own with these people.

  She nodded to herself. Not only that, she could probably take most of them in a fight. She may not get into a lot of fights, but she’d been practicing jujitsu since she’d been recruited by EDGE.

  She lifted her chin. She could do this.

  Cat gave her a nod as she walked by, acknowledging her as an equal. And she was. It was time she realized that. She went to the podium at the front of the room and placed the briefcase on the table beside it.

  Logan Frost walked in the doors, his blond hair glinting under the overhead lights. He winked, and his smile was just shy of condescending. It irritated her. She nodded back but didn’t smile.

  When it was time to begin, Charlie clicked open her briefcase and removed her 3D virtual projector, a small metal cube that presented the image she wanted above it. She turned it on and a few whispers of excitement ran through the front rows.

  A true smile graced her lips.

  These were her people.

  And they hadn’t seen nothin’ yet.

  * * *

  Jack watched Charlie smile at the front when her little cube threw up an image of what looked like a metal bug. The image was like something from a science fiction show. What was the word he was looking for?

  Hologram.

  She had holograms. Just how smart was she?

  He settled more firmly back against the wall and prepared to enjoy her talk. Dr. Douchebag sat near the back of the room with a few of his cronies. The man had caught Jack on his way to the bar and demanded to know where he’d been. Jack had, of course, refused to tell him. Dr. Douchebag then informed him he was leaving that afternoon, but until then he didn’t expect Jack to slack off. The mood Jack had been in had made it hard not to punch the man. He was almost thankful Charlie and her gang had followed through with the plan to get rid of Douchebag.

  Almost.

  Dr. Douchebag and another man snickered about something drawing Jack’s attention. His eyes narrowed. They were not going to be juvenile enough to heckle her, were they?

  Not on his watch.

  Charlie began speaking and Jack put Dr. Douchebag out of his mind and focused on her. He quickly realized she wasn’t speaking about holograms today, they were just her presentation aid. She said she was going to speak about micro-technology and its uses in surveillance.

  Jack crossed his arms. So far, so good. He could understand this. Maybe it didn’t matter that he’d never gone to uni. Within moments he frowned as he concentrated on her words, trying to piece together an image of what she was saying.

  It wasn’t working. He could barely repeat what she said, let alone understand it. It made him feel like a child learning a new language.

  She smiled as she spoke and the crowd of geeks smiled with her. They responded with excitement to what she was saying. He tuned out her words and just watched her.

  She was tiny compared to him, barely coming to his shoulder. Tiny and slender. She wore her hair up in a bun on the top of her head. If she was hoping it made her more serious, she failed. It accentuated her cheekbones and large dark eyes. The overall effect made her more feminine and…what was the word? Ethereal. Yes. Ethereal. Like a fucking wood nymph or something out of a fairytale.

  Her large dark eyes glittered with excitement as she waved a hand explaining something or other about…flying?

  Dr. Douchebag raised his hand from his position in the back. Charlie didn’t see it at first, until the man stood up. “Excuse me, Ms. Singh?”

  Jack growled and took a step toward him.

  Charlie’s gaze found Jack and her eyes widened, like she hadn’t expected to see him again.

  Well, he had stormed out of her room.

  She looked away and focused on Dr. Douchebag. “It’s Dr. Singh,” she said with a laugh. “I’m pretty sure all of us here are doctors of something.” Then she put a hand on her chest. “Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed that you were, too. What was your question, sir?”

  Jack smiled and relaxed back against the wall. She’d nailed him. The woman could certainly take care of herself.

  “It’s Dr. Levington,” Dr. Douchebag said. “And I find your idea to be a little lacking in the basics. While this is all nice to theorize, it can hardly work without taking into account the mass of the complex circuitry needed.”

  Charlie smiled broadly. “I’m so glad you brought that up, Dr. Dou—I mea
n Dr. Levington.” Jack snorted at her slip while she opened the briefcase on the table with two loud clicks. “It’s a matter I took care of months ago.”

  She slid on two gloves that seemed to be made of a metallic material, and took out several small objects from the case. “I call these micro-bugs,” she said. “Because, well…they look like bugs, and they are bugs.” She grinned.

  She threw the metal bits up in the air as if she tossed confetti. Before they could fall to the ground, she flattened her hands out in front of her at about chest height.

  The bits, or bugs as she called them, stopped falling and hovered in the air. Jack listened hard but couldn’t hear any motors. The crowd wasn’t completely silent, but only muted whispers went through the room. With her palms still flat to the floor she lifted her hands higher and the bugs zoomed closer to the ceiling. She spread her fingers and widened her hands. The bugs moved apart.

  “These bugs are for surveillance.” She did a finger twist on one hand and the project cube lit up with a picture of the audience from above.

  “I programed the feed to be patched together so the view would never be fragmented.”

  “What happens if one gets caught by wind?” someone from the audience called out.

  She made a deft motion with one hand and one bug veered off from the rest. The screen shot still showed the overview of the audience but now a small corner section depicted a man shoving his glasses higher on his nose as he peered closer at the camera. “Amazing,” he whispered, and it echoed from the box.

  “Thank you,” Charlie said. “I forgot to mention they have audio as well.”

  Questions came hard and fast like that and Charlie answered them all as she swirled her bugs through the air, zooming close to those who asked. It was technology out of a science fiction story. This woman really was a brainiac.

  He couldn’t help but smile as he watched her in her element. Gone was the nervous woman who’d walked in the door with hunched shoulders. In her place stood a confident scientist, beaming with excitement as she explained her technology to the crowd. After a bit, some of them moved closer to her podium to get a better look, still asking questions.

  A queen before her subjects.

  The blond-haired man who’d escorted Charlie to the meet-and-greet yesterday had come to stand near her, like a favored knight.

  Jack’s jaw jutted out. If she were queen, who would Jack be in her court?

  The answer soured his stomach. Because of course, he didn’t belong in any court. He was a simple soldier who, if he was lucky, would get a passing smile from the queen. That thought shouldn’t have irritated him, but it did.

  He narrowed his eyes as Blondie sidled even closer, leaned over, and whispered something to Charlie. She smiled, but Jack could see from here it was only a polite smile, not a genuine one. Not like she’d given him.

  Bollocks. Why did that matter to him?

  He clenched his jaw. It didn’t matter. It wouldn’t matter.

  Dr. Levington came up to him. “I’ve seen enough of these children’s toys. Let’s go.”

  His anger spiked at the comment. At the podium, Charlie made a slight sidestep away from Blondie. She needed a buffer. Jack may have only been a simple soldier, but he could make sure this queen had her space.

  He focused on the douchebag. “You’re heading home. My position with you is done.”

  “What?”

  But he wasn’t listening anymore. He strode toward the podium, elbowing his way through the people gathered. He could see the bugs moving up and down in the air, their hover no longer so smooth. Her arms must be getting tired. Did her ribs hurt?

  “How much area do you need to land them?” he asked.

  She smiled gratefully—a real smile, which somehow made him feel lighter and stronger at the same time.

  “I need everyone back about fifteen feet,” she said quietly.

  He raised his arms and cleared everyone back twenty, sending most of them to their seats. Blondie stepped closer to Charlie.

  That wasn’t going to work.

  “It’s okay, Logan,” she said. “You should really step back.”

  Logan didn’t like that idea, based on the way his skin tightened around his eyes. But Jack didn’t care as he got in the man’s space and forced him back just by taking steps forward. Logan appraised him with a little smile, almost as if he were letting Jack back him up. It didn’t bother Jack, as long as the guy moved. He dismissed the man when he got out of range.

  “Can you land them?” he asked Charlie in a low voice.

  “Sometimes,” she whispered back with a grin. She brought her fingers together and slowly lowered her hands. The little bugs—they really did look like metal flying cockroaches—lowered toward the table. He could tell right away some were going to drop to the floor. By her wide eyes and the way she pulled her hands in even tighter, she didn’t want that to happen.

  He picked up the briefcase and held it under one of the bugs. She didn’t miss a beat, flicking a finger and that bug dropped down into the case. He moved to the next, and the next, until all ten were in the case.

  “Wow,” she said. “That looked like we’d practiced it. Thank you.”

  “No worries.” He set the case on the table.

  The crowd applauded, and she told them she would have a booth at the showroom the next day if anyone wanted a closer look.

  As she packed up the rest of her gear, Charlie didn’t look at or speak to him again. He should leave, but he couldn’t. Not after the way he’d acted earlier.

  “I’m sorry,” he said gruffly.

  She looked up, but still didn’t say anything.

  “I got a wee irritated when you mentioned real jobs.” He sighed. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

  She arched a brow. “A wee irritated?”

  He shrugged. “It’s a bit of a sore point.”

  Her face softened. “You’ve had a tough go, since you left the army.”

  “Since I was kicked out, you mean.”

  She nodded, not speaking. Did she want him to open up, bare his soul? Tell her how fucking hard the last two years had been? No fucking way. Especially in front of a group of scientists. “I got by.”

  “I noticed Dr. Levington left and you’re still here,” she said. “Does this mean you’re working with us?”

  “No,” he said.

  She sighed and closed up her case. “I’m sorry you haven’t changed your mind. We could use a man like you, even if you are incredibly stubborn.”

  He put his hand on her arm, stopping her before she could move away.

  His instincts told him she needed his help. Not her team, but her. She’d been attacked twice, and he needed to stick around to help protect her.

  He didn’t usually trust his instincts anymore. Not after they’d gotten his friends killed. But he couldn’t let her face whatever this was on her own. If something happened to her, he’d blame himself. And he wasn’t sure he could handle any more guilt.

  “I’m not working with your team,” he said. “I’m working with you. I’m your bodyguard, until you get someone better, or until this is over.”

  She smiled. “It’s about time you saw things my way.”

  “Don’t push your luck, Sherlock.”

  She laughed, and he knew he was in trouble.

  10

  Charlie looked out the peephole of her room. Jack still stood out there. He wore a dark suit and leaned against the wall. His face a mask of patience.

  “Why is that man following you everywhere?” Aunt G asked her. Dressed in a deep purple sari, she sat at the table by the window smiling as she watched the people below.

  “I think this city suits you, Bua,” Charlie said, hoping to divert her aunt. Though it was the truth. “You seem happier here than in Montréal. Maybe you should move here.”

  Her aunt’s eyes widened, and Charlie could tell that the idea called to her. “Oh, I couldn’t.”

  Charlie was about to e
xplain why she could when her aunt held up her hand. “You’ve dodged the question long enough. That man has been following you all day. Why do you have a bodyguard?”

  Jack had stuck close since her talk yesterday afternoon. Closer than she’d wanted. How was she supposed to be bait if the man was always around? And how to explain his presence without alarming her aunt?

  He hadn’t let her out of his sight, except when she’d gone to bed at night. But he only left when he knew Cat was across the hall, and he was waiting there this morning when she woke up. Between him and her aunt, she hadn’t had a moment of peace.

  “It’s just a precaution-” she started.

  “From what? And why doesn’t anyone else have one, then? Is there something you’re not telling me?”

  Everything.

  What could she tell her aunt that would make the woman feel like she knew enough to stop asking questions, without actually giving away anything important? She stuck close to the truth.

  “He’s a bodyguard.” Charlie kept her voice matter of fact. “There have been whispers of people wanting to steal technology from the conference. As an employee of a security company, it’s easy enough for EDGE Security to have a bodyguard accompany me.”

  “But does he have to frown so much? Couldn’t they have given you a happier person? Perhaps like that Logan fellow.” Her aunt grinned. “I’m sure he could keep you safe with all those muscles, and make you laugh too.”

  Charlie frowned. “Jack has plenty of muscles.” Why was she defending the man? He’d barely spoken to her since agreeing to work with her. He’d kept a distance between them no matter how she tried to breach it.

  She wasn’t sure how she felt about Jack being around tonight. It was the dinner dance. There was still another day left in the conference, with the Awards Gala tomorrow night.

  Tonight was supposed to be the fun evening where everyone let loose. Charlie almost snorted at the thought. The dinner would be followed by an awkward dance where most people crowded the bars, rather than relive horrible high school memories of shuffling across the floor, or worse having one too many drinks and looking like a short-circuited robot on the dance floor.