Bryn sighed.“Someone give me some good news.”
“Lunch is on the way,” Emmett contributed.
“There’d better be donuts or I’m withdrawing my labor.”
“I ordered your favorite,” Emmett said, looking up from his screen.“And I got extra because of…well, everything.We also have meatball subs because that’s what Gunnar requested.Turkey on rye with salad for Giles and Warden.”
“I hope you knew better than to get me salad?”Bryn said.
“Of course, but… I think I might be onto something interesting that’s unrelated to our food order.I noticed the external security cameras at the Burlington clinic tend to glitch every day at exactly three-fourteen in the morning.Probably a coincidence, though.”He paused.“Probably.”
“Your optimism is both adorable and terrifying.Please tell me those donuts are coming with a side of hazard pay.”
“No hazard pay,” Emmett said cheerfully.“But I did get you an extra-large coffee.”
“Well everything is fine and dandy then.”
Gunnar chuckled.“Someone had a tough morning getting fancy.Let’s get him sugared up.Today is going to be a long haul.”
Chapter Four
Tuesday morning brought what Giles called ‘cover story boot camp’.Hour after hour of drilling on financial terminology, corporate protocols, and the painful detail of being an executive assistant.
“No, no, no,” Giles sighed after their third practice run.“You’re still reacting to everything I say.Bryan wouldn’t bristle at my requests.He’s chosen this role, excels at it.”
“Maybe becauseBryandoesn’t have the misfortune to know the real you,” Bryn snapped.
“And who might that be?The person currently watching you butcher the pronunciation of ‘quarterly earnings forecast’ for the fifth time?”Giles pinched the bridge of his nose.“Can you not say it without sounding like you’re ordering at a drive-through?”
Bryn slumped in his chair.“Well, excuse me for not majoring in Corporate Buzzword Studies at Harvard Business School.”
“That’s exactly the attitude I’m talking about.”Giles began pacing.“Though I must admit, your creative interpretation of EBITDA as ‘eating burritos in the dark again’ was…memorable.I do hope that’s not a reflection of how you spend your evenings.”
“It’s not my fault the finance world runs on alphabet soup,” Bryn complained.“And there’s nothing wrong with drive-through food, it minimizes people interaction.”
“Perhaps we need to rebuild this cover identity from scratch so you can use words of one syllable.”Giles’ oozed sarcasm.
“Fuck off.”Bryn straightened.“Shall I fetch your artisanal water, sir?I hear it was hand-harvested from Antarctic glaciers by free-range penguins.”
“Better,” Giles said, straight-faced.“But perhaps dial back the sarcasm by about eighty percent.We’re aiming for devoted assistant, not passive-aggressive barista.”
Gunnar, who had just come back into the room, snorted and Bryn glared at him.
“What?That was kinda funny.”
“You’re supposed to be on my side,” Bryn protested.
“I’m on the side of whatever keeps you alive.”
“Good man.”Giles grinned, which made everything triply annoying.
“I hate my life.”
“You’d hate being dead more,” said Gunnar, stealing Bryn’s coffee cup and draining the last dregs.“Disgusting.Like being back at the precinct.”
“Right.That’s it.”Bryn pushed his chair back.“I’m going to go heist Gunnar’s Harley and ride it off a cliff.It’ll be less painful than whatever this is.”
“Touch my baby and you won’t be sitting comfortably for a week,” Gunnar said.
