“I’d really like that.” Evie nodded, trying not to sound too eager. She didn’t have many friends, especially female ones. Usually, she only made connections when forced into proximity, like with Thorn and Nissa. If Tommy hadn’t pushed her toward them, she probably would have remained polite but distant.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Tommy’s pleased smile and had to restrain the urge to roll her eyes. She had a feeling he’d told Lana about her social incompetence and asked her to try to overlook it.
“Lana, let the others know there will be a meeting at one in the main conference room,” he said as he took Evie’s hand and looped it through his arm, steering her toward the hallway on the right.
Lana nodded, pulling a small microphone toward her as she waved. “Please be advised that there will be a meeting at one in the main conference room.” Her calm, crisp voice carried over what Evie assumed was a division-specific speaker system.
“Mandatory meeting,” Tommy called over his shoulder as they turned the corner. “And call Thorn in.”
“Apologies. There will be a mandatory meeting at one in the main conference room.” This time, Evie could detect a faint hint of exasperation in Lana’s voice and giggled.
“She definitely has to do that every time you ask her to make an announcement.”
“Not every time,” Tommy protested, though the pink creeping into his ears gave him away, and she knew she was right. His brain moved so fast his mouth sometimes struggled to keep up.
They reached the far end of the floor, where Tommy stopped at a frosted glass door. “Are you ready to see your new workspace?” His excitement was palpable, and Evie found herself starting to match it.
“Yes, please.”
He slid the door back into the wall and stepped aside to let her enter first.
She had expected something sleek and sterile; all glass and chrome like the Tower’s design labs. Instead, the space felt alive. Deep blue walls framed in ivory moulding reflected the soft light streaming through tall windows trimmed with brass. Beneath them stretched a broad white desk that curved into the corner, its surface gleaming beneath recessed amber lighting that filled the room with a soft, golden glow.
Copper inlays traced the shelving and geometric ceiling panels, echoing the Tower’s Art Deco bones. The air carried the faint, citrusy scent of bergamot from the reception area, giving the space the same oddly energizing feel she’d noticed earlier.
Three curved monitors spanned the desk, their edges trimmed in brushed bronze. Above them, a larger screen rested flush against the wall, sunlight glancing across its surface. When she brushed her hand over the edge of the desk, the system came alive in a ripple of soft blue light.
Evie stepped into the center of the room, her gaze sweeping from the warm orange window shades to the patterned rug underfoot, woven in blue and burnt copper tones. A round white table with four chairs sat to the left, and a large whiteboard dominated the wall behind it.
Tommy grinned, clearly pleased. “Nissa and Lana helped pick the colours. I told them I wanted something that felt like you: logical, but warm and soft.”
Evie smiled faintly, still turning in a slow circle. Every inch of the space fit her in a way that made her chest ache. “It’s…” She hesitated, her voice catching. “It’s perfect.”
Tommy pulled out a chair at the table and waited for her to sit across from him before taking his own seat. “I’m glad you like it.” He gave her a warm smile, then glanced at his watch.“Now, I know you have a lot of questions, but let me explain everything before you start.”
“Sloane Consulting has been my main focus for the last six months. I’ve mostly turned Sloane Tech over to Kara, and Thorn has Sloane Security Services running with an efficiency that makes me wish I’d met him when I first took over as CEO.” Tommy shook his head, looking equally impressed and surprised.
“He was the head of the Serbian Prime Minister’s protective detail,” Evie reminded him, not appreciating the hint of surprise in his tone. “He spent three years as a child soldier and still managed to graduate high school on time and become one of the most trusted members of the Serbian military.”
Tommy chuckled. “Yes, Thorn is brilliant. I didn’t mean it as an insult. When I hired him to be my bodyguard, I just didn’t imagine I’d end up putting him in charge of an entire division.” He smiled faintly. “Now stop interrupting, I have a lot to go over.”
“Sloane Consulting is a quieter, more secretive branch of Sloane Security Services, but it operates on the same principles.” He paused, his brow furrowing as if he were choosing his following words carefully. “Do you know what grey ops are?”
Evie shook her head, a prickle of unease starting in her stomach. Whatever Tommy was about to explain, she had the distinct feeling it wasn’t going to be as simple as tech consulting.
“Grey ops are the kind of missions that sit between legal and deniable,” Tommy explained. “Officially, they never happened, but everyone knows they did. Think of the CIA’s supposed attempts to take out Castro; no paperwork, no witnesses, just rumours.”
He leaned back slightly, his tone calm and measured. “On paper, we’re a private risk-management firm specializing in systems, strategy, and containment. That’s what the documentation says. What we actually do is fix problems that cannot be addressed through official channels. Everything that happens here stays confidential. The fewer people who understand what Consulting really is, the longer it survives.”
“Sloane Consulting doesn’t just handle clients,” he continued. “We run field operations, extractions, intercepts, data recovery, and asset retrieval. Every one of those teams depends on tools we can’t buy, borrow, or leave behind. That’s where you come in.”
Evie frowned slightly, unsure if she’d heard him right.
“You’ll design what we need as we need it: portable biometrics, adaptive encryption, trackers that burn out in thirty seconds, whatever the situation demands. If an operative needs something that doesn’t exist yet, they’ll give you the specs, and you’ll create a design our engineers can produce.”
“Tommy…” She shook her head. “I work with AI. I don’t design hardware or surveillance tech. That’s your job.”
Tommy smiled, undeterred. “And I’ll be here to help you, but I’ve got three companies to run; I can’t be at everyone’s beck and call. Besides, I know you can do this. Before HELIX, you were doing tech design. You love science fiction! Do you have any idea how many real inventions came from Star Trek concepts? Hell, HELIX started because of something you saw in a superhero movie. Don’t tell me you can’t do this, Evie. We both know you can.”
