Destiny tried to stay positive as instead of taking her to the Colonel’s office, they went outside. The man drove her across base to another building. She recognized it as the one she had seen Mike heading for yesterday. She didn’t know what was inside. Guess she was going to find out now.
Her palms turned sweaty as she was brought inside. She had an image of a cold, sterile, white-walled room with a metal table and chair with a one-way mirror behind it. Why someone would want to interrogate her was beyond her. She didn’t know anything more than what she’d been told this morning about the break in. After that, a series of people came in and asked questions then left.
“In here,” the man held open a door and waved his arm forward indicating for her to precede him. Destiny stepped in then jumped when the door immediately closed behind her. She looked around the room—a sigh escaping—noting it was a basic meeting room with a large rectangular table and a dry-erase board on one wall.
“Ms. Sheppard, sit down.”
Destiny squeaked, hearing the voice. She missed him in her first perusal. With her mind overworking itself at the horrible interrogation scenario and the relief of a normal room, she missed the man sitting at the end of the table. He stared down at a laptop as he typed away.
“What am I doing here?” she demanded instead of following his orders. And that’s what it was. He didn’t ask her nicely. His voice cracked like a whip.
The man didn’t spare her a glance. “Take a seat.”
“No, I will not sit down until you tell me why I’ve been pulled away from my work.” She was proud her voice didn’t shake. She was still scared despite the nice room. For what reason could she be pulled away from her work? She’d already been interviewed.
The man stopped typing and finally looked up at her. She wished she had kept her mouth shut. Icy steel eyes stared back at her as if they could see straight into her soul. Maybe even steal it. Destiny took a step back, wondering if the escort had left the door unlocked when the door in question opened. Destiny looked to see Cora and another woman, this one shorter, come in.
“Thank you for coming, Ms. Sheppard,” Cora greeted her happily as if the order to come had been an invite.
“Did I have a choice?” She really needed to stop talking.
“Unfortunately not, but this is a serious matter.” Stepping around her, Cora took a seat on the left side of the man. The other lady took a seat opposite Cora. The man watched the new lady as she took her seat to his right. The woman whispered something to him and he turned the computer screen to show her. The woman looked at the screen then at her. Destiny didn’t like that look at all.
“I don’t understand. Why am I here?” She was getting really tired of non-answers or the stare downs from the other end of the table.
“Take a seat, Ms. Sheppard, and we’ll talk.”
“As I told him, I’m not sitting down until you tell me what’s going on. Why am I here?”
“I had some concerns about your computer and I wanted to talk to you about it.”
So, she worked on classified information. Why shouldn’t she take every precaution to protect her work. She wasn’t going to apologize for it. Today, it probably saved her work. That was no reason to question her about it. Colonel Burns could have told her a gist of what she was protecting. The extra firewalls were necessary. “And you needed two other people for that?” Destiny said, trying to appear casual. She was trained to decipher codes, not lie in an interrogation.
“Aaron and Abigail are top analysts. They are looking into what happened this morning.”
“That still doesn’t explain why I’m here.” Or what Cora may or may not have found on Destiny’s computer. Had something been tampered with that she overlooked?
Everyone stared at the door as they heard a commotion in the hallway before the door burst open again and a pissed off, almost-seven-foot-tall man stomped into the room. His eyes looked wild as he surveyed the room until they laser focused on her. Destiny instantly forgot about her computer concerns and the other people in the room.
“Mike.”
“Destiny.” He closed the gap between them in two strides and took her in his arms as his mouth swooped down over hers. Destiny opened for his probing tongue. His grip was almost painful as he held her close before ending the kiss as abruptly as it started and pulling back to look her over. She relished his attention as his gaze roamed over her. It was cute how concerned he was about her. “Are you okay? Did anyone hurt you? I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner. They sent me elsewhere on the base. When I heard they took you into custody I came as soon as I could.”
“I’m okay,” she assured him. Now. “No one’s hurt me. I’m just confused why I’m here.”
“I told them you had nothing to do with it. That you wouldn’t be involved with it, but they obviously didn’t believe me.”
“Who?” Believe what? It was sweet he defended her, but she didn’t know what from.
A throat cleared at the end of the table, reminding Destiny they weren’t alone. “Ben told you to stay away.” The shorter woman gave Mike a scathing glare. Destiny didn’t think she’d be scared of this shorter woman, but the glare she was giving Mike made her want to cower.
“And if it had been Aaron they were accusing, would you stay away, Abigail?”
“It’s not the same and you know it.” Abigail tilted her chin stubbornly.
“It is. You went against orders, Aaron protected you. Even took a bullet.”
“That isn’t fair. These situations aren’t the same. This isn’t a serial-killer case. It’s a matter of national security.”
