The scanner flickered again, clearlytryingto scan the fingerprint she’d given it – and just as Zina was about to give up hope and snatch her hand away, it blinked green, greeting her with the messageWELCOME, DR. SUMNER.
Well, she definitely wasn’t Doctor Sumner – Doctor Sumner was probably up on the fifth floor, enjoying a coffee and none the wiser his fingerprints were being used to break into his own laboratory.
Zina took a deep breath as the doors opened before her. She stepped into the lab.
The room was dimly lit, but that only made it easier to find what she was looking for. The glow of a warm, red light over by the far wall told her all she needed to know.
Zina was used to danger. She was used to having to put on a calm face, no matter what was happening around her. But as she took the first few steps across the room, there was nothing she could do to stop her racing heart, or stop the slight shake in her fingers.
Okay,she thought, as she tried to tell herself to just keep breathing in and out, slow and deep and even.Remember. This is where the hard part starts.
Chapter 1
Being called into the boss’s office first thing in the morning wasnevera good thing.
It didn’t matter how much Trent Bowman tried to fortify himself with coffee, it didn’t make the sinking feeling in his stomach get any better. It also didn’t matter that, unlike in the past, hereallycouldn’t think of anything he’d done recently to warrant getting such a summons, completely out of the blue like this.
Trent was more than willing to admit that in the past, he’d occasionally been a little… unorthodox in his approach to missions – but Trent kind ofthought that when you were an operative of a highly specialized, highly trained undercover agency, whose sole purpose was to take down some of the nastier shifter criminals out there,unorthodoxwas sometimes required.
And it wasn’t like he’d ever actuallyfaileda mission, even if it had been a near-run thing at times. And he’d never actually broken any laws or done anything totally inexcusable, either morally or legally! Occasionally he’d had to put a few creative omissions in his mission reports to avoid the wrath of his higher-ups. But it wasn’t like they’d ever find out about those, right?
Right?
Trent stared down at his coffee as it burbled happily out of the espresso machine.
I wonder what the statute of limitations on stealing a ferry is?
He’d put the ferry back where he’d found it – no one even knew it had gone anywhere in the first place. So no harm done, right?
Swallowing, Trent plugged a second espresso pod into the machine, making another cup of coffee. It couldn’t hurt to front up to the boss’s office with a pre-emptive peace offering, right? No one could getthatangry when presented with a piping hot coffee, right?
Trent glanced over his shoulder as the espresso machine bubbled. Eight fifty-eight a.m. He’d been told to present himself at nine. No more time to put things off.
Sighing, Trent picked up both coffees and made his way down the hall to where his boss, Robb Lockwood, had his office. There were no other staff in the office at the moment, and Trent couldn’t help but think Robb had wanted it that way so he could yell as hard as he wanted without causing a disturbance to the usual office goings-on.
Not that Robb ever reallyyelledat anyone, Trent thought as he jostled the coffee cups, trying to hold them both in one hand so he could use the other to knock on Robb’s office door. He was much more of anI’m not angry, I’m just disappointedkind of guy – which, as anyone could tell you, was much,muchworse.
“Come in, Trent.”
Robb’s voice sounded from the other side of the door before Trent had even finished lifting his free hand to knock.
“Uh. Right,” Trent said, juggling his coffee mugs back into two hands, before pressing the door handle down with his elbow. Okay, so a little coffee had slopped down the side of the mug now – but it was the thought that counted, right?
Robb certainly didn’t seem to appreciate the thought at all, though, when Trent finally did enter his office and put the mug down on his desk.
“Just some hot coffee for you, Boss,” Trent said chirpily, hoping Robb wouldn’t notice the way the coffee he’d spilled down the side was now seeping into the wood of his desk. “Take the edge off these early morning meetings.”
Instead of saying anything, Robb just stared at it as if he didn’t know what it was, but was pretty certain he didn’t like it.
Not a good sign.
“I see.” When he did finally speak, Robb’s voice was totally emotionless. Hedidpick up the coffee mug, but it was only to put a coaster under it. “Sit down, Trent.”
Trent sat. He did his best to look relaxed, and not like he was expecting to get the bollocking of a lifetime for some as yet unknown transgression that perhaps Robb had only just now found out about. There might be a statute of limitations on stealing giant boats, but Trent was pretty sure there was no limit to Robb getting angry about it.
We had a very good reason for stealing that boat,Trent’s inner kangaroo spoke up.
Maybe we did, but if it comes to that, let’s just take it on the chin and not make excuses, all right?Trent told it – sometimes, the best way to get through these kinds of meetings was just a quick,Yes, Boss. I’m sorry, Boss. It won’t happen again, Boss.
