Station Alpha: (Soldiering On #1)

by Aislinn Kearns

  “We’re getting the file today?” she asked, interrupting his errant thoughts.

  Heat crept into his cheeks. He wished it would do so more stealthily.

  “Yeah. It might take a while to scan and send it over, though. I wouldn’t expect before an hour is out.”

  She smiled, a teasing twinkle entering her eye. “I guess I can wait if I really have to.”

  He chuckled in reply and went to move towards the kitchen, craving a hot dose of caffeine to kick some sense into him. He needed to keep his mind focused on the job until Christine was safe. Only then could he start thinking about all the other possibilities.

  “I’ll get breakfast, shall I?” she asked, moving ahead of him.

  “I could eat.” Again. “But if you get breakfast, I’ll be responsible for coffee.”

  She gave him another of those heart-flipping smiles over her shoulder. He was almost glad he couldn’t feel his knees because he was sure they went weak at the sight.

  “Sounds like an excellent plan.”

  Once they were settled at the dining table with their food and coffee, Christine gave him a speculative look.

  “So, how should we pass the time until the file comes through?” She raised a brow, and Paul almost thought…was she flirting with him?

  He remembered the interesting tension during their question and answer session the day before, and wondered whether they could replicate it. “Uh, we never got very far on the getting to know you game yesterday. We could continue where we left off?” He took a sip of his coffee, acting casual.

  Christine gave him a wry smile. “Whose turn is it?”

  “I don’t remember.”

  “Me neither.”

  Their eyes caught, smiles lingering on their faces, and a frisson travelled up Paul’s spine.

  Christine was the first to recover. “What do you do with yourself besides work and read?” She took a bite of her toast, chewing as she watched him, waiting for an answer.

  Paul shrugged. “That’s about it, really. Sometimes I sleep. Or eat.”

  “No going out with friends? Or… a girlfriend?” There was a slight hitch in her voice at the last word. A slow smile tugged at his face. It hadn’t been so long since he’d had a date that he’d forgotten what that unsubtle question meant.

  “No girlfriend,” he confirmed. “I don’t often hang out with the guys from work, though I do occasionally. How about you?”

  “I have lunch dates with my friends every now and again, but most are married with kids. Or at the very least in long-term relationships. It sucks to be a third wheel.”

  “Sure, I get that.”

  She shifted in her chair, apparently contemplating something. “Actually, that’s really just an excuse.” She ran her finger against the wood grain on the table, watching it with seeming fascination.

  “Yeah?”

  “The only reason I don’t see my friends much—with or without the kids or significant others—is because I’ve been holding back.”

  A tug of recognition pulled in his gut. “Yeah.” His voice was rough in his throat. He took another swallow of coffee to soothe it.

  “Anyway.” Her smile was tight. “How did you get into your job at Soldiering On? Sounds like a cool place.”

  Paul’s shoulders loosened at the mention of his workplace, though he felt a slight twinge of disappointment that she’d changed the subject just as she was opening up. He let it go this once. “Duncan and I met in rehab. Same with Blake and Sam, though I served with Zack. Not sure you’ve met him yet.”

  Christine shook her head.

  “He was in the VA hospital almost as long as I was.” He swallowed, remembering that time. When for once in his life, he couldn’t just fight harder to get what he wanted. He’d never walk again. And then came the grief that had nearly overwhelmed him; the effects of which still lingered to this day.

  “Anyway, somehow Duncan got this mad idea to start a company. We’d had a bit of trouble when looking for work. Too many able-bodied people in the lines to pick from.” He twisted his mouth up into a semblance of a smile. “He only wanted to hire vets. Particularly those with permanent injuries from duty.”

  “And he’s managed so far?”

  “For sure. Mandy thinks it’s a great publicity move, but Duncan really just wants to give us a fair shot.”

  “Mandy?”

  “His partner. Of the business kind, since they mostly pretend to hate each other. She fronted up a lot of the capital to get his idea off the ground. It’s because of her that it’s already making money, though Duncan would chew off his own arm rather than admit it. We haven’t even been open a year.”

  “It sounds truly wonderful.” Her eyes were shining—with tears or idealism, he couldn’t tell.

  “Soldiering On—Duncan—saved me,” he agreed.

  A beep sounded from the next room, interrupting their heart-to-heart. Paul cursed Duncan’s timing.

  “Looks like we’re up.”

  The next few hours were spent sifting through a mountain of information. Since Blake had only had time to grab the current year’s folder, there were references to previous encounters, lawsuits, meetings, and disagreements that made zero sense. It was like reading a history book with eighty percent of the pages torn out. Only snippets of useful information found their way through.

  “You said that the Vovks wanted me watched because they thought I was selling information from the Disiks to one of their employees, right?” Christine asked.

  “Apparently, they’d been in some trouble before with one of their employees being discovered as a corporate spy. They claimed it was an employee acting of their own volition and they had nothing to do with it, but who knows. Still, the Vovks said that they didn’t want the same thing to happen again.”

  “Well, from these files, it looks like both sides had used all kinds of tactics to get information from each other for at least a decade. Corporate spies, assaults on employees, alleged seductions, hacking—”

  “That explains why they didn’t keep any of their files on a server, just hard copies.”

  She closed the file, leaning towards him with her eyes narrowed in thought. “I suppose so. What’s the real reason they wanted me watched, do you think? Maybe they thought I would be an easy target for information? Not knowing I didn’t really work for Disik and Sons.”

  “Might be. Though they were very particular, according to Duncan, that we watch any meetings or drops that you might have had.”

  “If that’s not a cover, then perhaps they really did believe I was passing on information. But to who?” When he didn’t have an immediate answer, she crossed her arms and sat back with a huff. “All we really learned was that there has been at least a decade of frivolous lawsuits between these two family-owned companies.”

  “I think it is looking more and more likely that the Vovks are the culprits behind all this. At the very least, they weren’t telling us the whole story.”

  “So, what do we do?”

  “We get them to tell us more.” He smiled at her, baring his teeth in a predatory grin.

  Chapter 12

  Mandy tapped her pen against the desk in increasingly rapid touches. Tck tck tck tck. She glanced at her desk phone, sitting silently on the neatly ordered space of her desk. Her frog ornament stared at her judgmentally, dismayed that she was letting her nerves show.

  When Duncan had set up this meeting with the Vovks, she had thought he’d been planning to talk to them. But, instead, he had insisted that she be the one, since she was the ‘people person’ between them. Mandy was not entirely sure what he meant by that, but she was certain that it was meant to be an insult.

  Given what they had found out about the Vovks’ history with the Disiks—particularly all those assault charges that had been levelled at them and never stuck—Mandy had no desire to be alone in a room with any member of the Vovk family. For the first time in her life, she could say sincerely that she wished Duncan would b
e next to her, if only to glare at them in that intimidating way he did when he was truly furious with someone.

  He hadn’t made any indication he intended to be there, though. He somehow expected her to convince these businessmen-slash-thugs to tell her what she wanted to know.

  Simple.

  Duncan had always had a skewed impression of her work and value to the company. She supposed it was flattering that he believed she could manipulate these people better than he could, but she had a suspicion that Duncan considered this her punishment for talking him into taking these people on as clients in the first place.

  She hadn’t met them prior to today. Duncan had taken that client meeting, an unusual occurrence, and Mandy had only read their file after the fact. She could admit to herself that she may have been a little overzealous in implying that Duncan had to accept the family as clients, but she had good reason. Duncan was a bleeding heart, and wanted to take any job for the underdogs and victims, regardless of their ability to pay. Usually that ability hovered around the ‘not a chance’ mark.

  Mandy, on the other hand, wanted clients with more cash at their disposal. The company would fail without them, simple as that. And if there was one thing that Mandy could not allow to happen, it was this company’s downfall. She’d given up too much, had too much riding on this venture to see it crumble.

  And she wouldn’t be able to bear her father’s smug face if she ever had to tell him that her rebellion—as he saw it—had failed. Just like he’d predicted.

  The door swung open. Mandy jumped, her pen clattering out of her hand. But it was only Duncan, slinking into the room like a thief in a mansion.

  “They just parked downstairs. You know what to do?” He’d had a haircut recently, trimming his dark hair even closer to his skull. He ran his hand over it now, his skin only a shade lighter than his black hair, as if familiarising himself with the feel. But Mandy had known him long enough that she knew it was a gesture of nerves and frustration.

  Mandy nodded, though her gut was a mess of knots. He’d explained what he wanted from them earlier, and said he trusted her to get it from them. God knows why. Most days he didn’t trust her to open their mail.

  “Good. I’ll be the muscle. Just pretend I’m not here.”

  So, he’d come to back her up after all. She hid a smile behind her fingers.

  In no time at all, Gladys, their secretary, was announcing her two o’clock and the Vovks showed themselves in.

  They were an attractive family, the father, son, and daughter that had turned up today. The two children must have been somewhere in their thirties, though good genes meant they could pass for a decade younger. The only thing that betrayed the father’s true age was his naturally grey hair. His trim figure implied self-mastery even into his sixties.

  All three wore suits; crisp, expensive, and, Mandy suspected, tailor-made. The two men had their hair slicked back from their faces, the daughter had her long hair bound in a ponytail from which no errant strands escaped. The three of them formed the perfect picture of intimidating business-people, and familial solidarity.

  Something clicked inside Mandy. A honed instinct from years of dealing with similar sharks. She could deal with these people. They weren’t thugs, they were slick corporate leaders. And that was exactly the territory where Mandy belonged.

  “Have a seat,” she told them with a smile.

  The two men took the comfortable lime-green chairs across from her. Darinya, the daughter, shot the two of them a contemptuous look as she settled on the black office chair with a short back. Anatoli, the father, appeared not to notice. Klim, her brother, raised a challenging eyebrow at her, but said nothing.

  “You have news of the girl?” Anatoli asked. His words were accented, but it was clear that he’d lived in the United States long enough that his English was perfect.

  “Yes,” Mandy told them. She could feel Duncan’s solid presence behind her, giving her strength. But she didn’t dare look.

  “Did she meet someone? Hand them something?” Klim, this time. Darinya was silent, watching the proceedings with narrowed eyes.

  “Tell me about your relationship with the Disik family,” Mandy said, ignoring their questions.

  Anatoli practically spat. “What is the relevance of those cretins?”

  “Papa…” Darinya began warningly.

  “You know what they are like, always spreading lies about us.” Anatoli turned to Mandy. “If they have come to you, do not trust what they say. They are without morals. And brutal.”

  Klim shifted in his chair. Mandy carefully noted his discomfort and moved on.

  Anatoli’s anger hid something deeper. She watched him, until she saw the shift in his eyes. He was afraid of Disik. Interesting.

  “Why did you really hire us to watch Ms. Ramirez?” she asked, filing away the information.

  Anatoli pursed his lips and sat back in his chair. “I don’t know what you mean.” His words were tight and untruthful.

  “It has become clear to us that you left out some pertinent information when hiring us, such as your long, contentious history with Ms. Ramirez’s new employers.”

  Darinya cut in, her expression cool. “We told you precisely what you needed to know in order to complete the simple task that we hired you for.”

  She felt more than heard Duncan shift behind her, his annoyance radiating at her back.

  “Which we were doing, until one of our employees had to intervene when Ms. Ramirez was attacked and nearly killed.” She paused. “Twice.”

  All three of the Vovks sat up straighter, their eyes riveted on her. “Attacked you say?” Anatoli was the first to speak. “By whom?”

  “Are you sure you don’t already know the answer to that question?”

  Anatoli’s lips curled up in a snarl. “Whatever that bastard Disik told you, we are not thugs, beating people in the night. We are business people. Legitimate business people.”

  Klim rolled his eyes. “You’d be better off looking at the Disiks. They are just the sort to attack their own employees.” One of his hands gravitated unconsciously to his ribs, and Mandy had the impression that he’d been on the receiving end of one of those attacks in the past.

  Darinya fixed her gaze on Mandy. “Did her attackers say anything to her? Ask her any questions?”

  Mandy almost shivered at the ice in the woman’s stare. “I’m not sure I should divulge that information.”

  Darinya scoffed. “You are still under our payroll, with a contract stating that you will inform us of any contact that Ms. Ramirez has with any persons.”

  Mandy raised a brow. Darinya must be in the legal department.

  She pulled a random piece of paper out of the stack next to her and glanced at it. “Actually, the contract states that should she meet with any persons that we would inform you. Being attacked by an unknown assailant is not meeting them.”

  Darinya eyed her. Mandy smiled.

  Anatoli shifted forward on his chair. “We are just concerned about her,” he said with a studied earnestness. “We wish to know why she was attacked. I would feel awful if it was because of us.”

  Duncan grunted, and Mandy had the sneaking suspicion that he was holding back a laugh. She was tempted herself, as Anatoli was laying it on a little bit too thick, but she schooled her face into the familiar cool mask.

  “Are you saying that you are responsible for Ms. Ramirez’s attack?” Mandy asked.

  “No!” Anatoli sounded scandalised. Instinct told her that this was the most honest thing he’d said since he’d walked into the room. Interesting.

  “Do you know who did?”

  Anatoli shook his head. “Where is she?”

  Mandy hesitated, wondering at the question.

  “I mean…” Anatoli began with a smile. “I want to make sure she’s safe. I feel responsible for her.”

  “You can be assured that she is safe.”

  Anatoli narrowed his eyes at her response, then turned away,
frustration radiating from him.

  Klim leaned forward this time, fixing her with his sparkling eyes and what he no doubt thought was a charming smile. “Listen, Mandy. Can I call you Mandy?”

  “Ms. Lennox is fine,” she replied.

  The warmth in his eyes chilled slightly, but he persevered. “Ms. Lennox. All we really wish to know is whether this Ms. Ramirez has certain information that might be of use to us. We have no wish to hurt her. In fact, it would be against our best interests to do so.”

  Ah, finally, some truth as to their real motivations. “And you could not just ask her about the information?”

  He sat back. “We wanted to know if she had anything of value to us first. It would help in any negotiation that we might have to make.” He sniffed.

  Darinya shot her brother a glare. “Klim,” she hissed warningly.

  Klim rolled his eyes. His lack of respect for his sister was clear. He slipped another notch in Mandy’s estimation.

  “Why is Christine the only way you can get to this information? Surely there are other methods.”

  Mandy waited while the Vovks looked at each other, some silent communication passing between them.

  It was Anatoli who eventually spoke. “Given our experience, we believe that we would put ourselves or our people in danger if we were to pursue…other methods of acquiring the information. If it must be done, we will. But Christine would be the safest path. For everyone.”

  Well. That was an interesting response.

  Darinya cleared her throat. Mandy assumed from the looks that she was throwing her father that the older man had said too much. She turned to Mandy. “I’m sorry we couldn’t be of more help, but we really should be going. I’m sure you understand.”

  Mandy nodded. “I do. As I am sure you will understand when I tell you that we must terminate the contract with you. We won’t be able to complete the assignment.”

  Darinya’s jaw tightened, but she nodded.

  “And the fifty percent upfront payment is non-refundable,” Mandy continued. Darinya glared but gave an even less enthusiastic nod in response.