Oh.
“So you brought me here because you couldn’t access something on my computer?” No offense to Mike’s friends, but she didn’t want to spend the rest of her day in this room listening to two people bicker while one was staring at her like a criminal. She had a crap-ton of work to get back to and hopefully another fabulous night with Mike.
“Yes, Ms. Sheppard, why don’t you have a seat and we can get this interview over with.” Cora took a seat and waited for Destiny to follow.
“Interrogation,” Mike muttered.
“Interview.” Cora scowled.
“I’ll answer what I can, and please call me Destiny.” She took her seat, her lip twitching in humor when Mike sat down next to her. And by next to her she meantliterally. Their thighs were pressed up against each other. His arm draped over the back of her chair. It was like a show of dominance.
Cora didn’t seem fazed. She had been raised by marines and was engaged to a member of Mike’s team. She was used to domineering men. “Perfect, so what do you do in the intel office?”
“Decipher codes.”
“What kind?”
Destiny kept her mouth shut.
“You really don’t expect her to answer that question, do you?” Mike asked with a mocking tone.
“You be quiet,” she said to Mike with a pointed finger. “You answer the question,” she said to Destiny.
“I can’t. I deal with highly classified information. That’s why my files are protected. I can’t tell you what I do any more than Mike can tell me what he does.”
Cora reared back as if slapped. “What do you mean like Mike? Has he told you what he does?” Her head cocked to the side as she studied her intently. Destiny wasn’t going to cave under that look. National security was on the line.
“No, but I know it’s not a desk job like he told me. I don’t probe if that’s what you’re wondering. I just know it’s more than he lets on.” Mike remained silent beside her, not that she was expecting him to declare himself to her. By the look on Cora’s face, Destiny would bet money Cora knew what Mike did for a living.
She tried not to let that fact sting. Cora had been with Liam for quite some time. They were engaged as well as expecting a baby. From what Mike had told her, the engagement hadn’t come soon enough for Cora’s thinking. Meeting her now, Cora could see that she was a woman knew her own mind and did things on her own time.
“I see.” She gave Mike another seething glare, Destiny didn’t know why. He hadn’t done anything wrong. “I understand you moved here six months ago from Los Angeles. Why here?”
“This is where I was assigned.” Destiny shrugged. It wasn’t the most exciting base in a major city, but she liked it. The town had personality and charm, being close to Grandma helped.
“But why a military base? I understand you could work anywhere in the world with your skill level. Why the military and why here?”
“Like I said, the military chose here. I chose the military because here was where I thought I could make the most difference with deciphering codes.”
“So you deal in secrets.” Everyone turned to look at Aaron who had spoken. His steel eyes bore into hers and Destiny instantly recoiled from it. “Right.” It wasn’t a question.
Destiny remained silent. It was a damned if she did, damned if she didn’t situation. Silence was better than lying and she refused to admit anything.
“Why are you so interested in what’s on my computer? I know a few other coders were called in. I’m sure I’m not the only person who puts up protection on their workstation.” She knew for a fact she wasn’t. Colonel Burns strongly encouraged it. National security could never be too safe. Just because they were on a military installation didn’t mean they were protected from all dangers.
“No, but yours was one of the few with firewalls none of us could get past. That raised a few flags. There’s also the fact you moved here in the past year.”
Destiny looked around the room, everyone staring at her like she was a threat. Everyone except Mike who reached down to take her hand in his own. “What exactly are you implying?”
“You know about the breach this morning,” Cora said.
“Yeah, I found out about it when I came in this morning. So?” And that’s when it hit her. “Wait, you think I had something to do with the breach?”
Chapter 19
When no one contradicted her Destiny fell back against her chair. “I don’t know if I should feel flattered or insulted.”
“Why flattered? Only a criminal would be flattered by that,” Abigail asked, her eyes watching her like a hawk. Since she was ex-FBI, Destiny guessed she was looking for any telltale signs Destiny was guilty. Now it made sense why everyone had been looking at her funny. They thought she had something to do with the breach – a thought that hadn’t crossed her mind until now. She had just assumed they thought she was keeping secrets on her computer that weren’t government approved.
