“My buddies call me Bean. I put that in the name field.”
“Interesting.”
“Not really. I’m big, and they thought it was a funny juxtaposition.”
“You are big. I mean, the suit looks good on you, but you are huge, like the Jolly Green Giant, but not green.”
Her words struck him funny, and he threw back his head, laughter spilling out. “You’re funny.”
“Thank you. I try to be. It comes in handy while entertaining tall men with impressive beards.”
He liked chatting with her. She was fun. “You’re witty.”
Again, she did that one-shoulder pop-up thing, and her lips tipped up higher on one side. “My brain got me here, so I just keep using it.”
The doors opened at the end of the hall, and dinner was announced. There wasn’t any chance he was sitting next to Garnet, and he wished he could force the issue and sit with her through dinner. It wasn’t that type of event. He had to sit in the seat assigned.
Next time they got together for a meal, it would just be the two of them. He couldn’t wait for her to call or text. He saw promise in this woman, and he hoped she felt the same way.
Chapter 2
Garnet wantedto find Brady before leaving, but she’d received a text right before dessert and had to head out. It was during one of the speeches someone was giving about honor and service, so she slipped out one of the side doors and made her way to the exit.
Leaving the White House without saying goodbye to Brady made her sad, but work cut in. Being a programmer and overall technical geek was usually boring as heck. There were few true emergencies, but she had a unique position. Sometimes she was called overseas to work on recovering information or beefing up security in sensitive government locations.
The text she received informed her she was needed in the Middle East to work on security at the US Embassy in Beirut. The embassy had a team working on the issue, but they feared something had been done physically at the location. She was traveling to Beirut to check the actual buildings while setting up security measures that would keep the data safe.
She slept on the flight over, knowing that the next few days would be crazy busy. When the plane landed, she switched on her phone and decided she really wanted to see Brady when sheheaded home. Her text to him was short but concise, telling him that she wanted to see him but that she was on business travel and wouldn’t be home for at least a week.
With that done, she grabbed her bags and almost skipped off the plane, but held back because she didn’t want to draw too much attention to herself. Getting to the embassy didn’t take long, but she did have enough time in the transport to go over the information they’d gathered since she hopped on the plane and left DC.
She skipped dropping by a hotel for a shower because she wanted to get started working on the problem. After giving her documentation to the guards, she was given a pass that would get her into every area of the building.
It would take hours for her to investigate every inch of the place. First, she would start plugging directly into the servers. Then she would look at each computer. The task was time-consuming, but based on the information she had, someone had been given access to these computers who should have been barred from the building.
By eight local time that evening, she was exhausted and ready for a break. Her hotel was only a few minutes away, but she still had an escort take her over. They didn’t accompany her up the elevator, so she gave a little wave as the doors shut.
She sagged against the wall as the elevator started to climb from the main floor up to the sixth floor, where her room was located. The hotel wasn’t big, but she had a shower in her room. Having an in-room bathroom was absolutely necessary for her. She’d stayed at a few places where there were shared bathrooms, and she said never again.
After taking a long, mostly warm shower, she was ready to drop into bed when she realized she needed some water and there were no bottles in her room. She pulled on jeans, a t-shirt,and a jacket. She grabbed her tennis shoes from her bag and some comfortable socks.
It would only take her a few minutes to bop down to the lobby to retrieve two water bottles. She entered the elevator and pressed the button for the lower floor before leaning back and closing her eyes.
Then something made a noise that sounded like the doors opening again. Her eyes popped open, and she spied an arm blocking the doors from closing.
Shock pulsed through her as a man in a dark jacket, with dark hair and sunglasses, stepped into the small space. He didn’t turn to face the now-closing doors, making her even more uncomfortable. She made a move to exit to the hall, but the guy moved, blocking her access to the doors that were now closed.
An uncomfortable feeling slid down her spine, and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She should get off the elevator before the lobby, but what if he got off, too? No, she needed other people around when she exited.
The man reached back and pressed the button for the second floor. Worry twisted through her. Not only was this guy still facing her, but she also couldn’t see where he was looking because of his very dark shades.
She tried to squeeze into the corner, but there really was nowhere to go. He moved fast, and though she tried to fight him off, he had a rag over her mouth in seconds.
She fought the impulse to breathe, but it was impossible to hold her breath when he pulled her close, causing her to gasp. It became harder to breathe the longer he held the rag over her mouth.
She wanted to fight but felt weird. She tried to get her face away from the rag, but he was big and much stronger than she was. He turned her in his arms and held onto her as he jerkedher close to his body. She clawed at his arms to no avail. He wasn’t letting go, and she couldn’t escape his hold.
The elevator stopped moving, and the door slid open. No one was in the hall, leaving her all alone with the maniac. They didn’t move far down the hall before a door opened, giving her a second of hope, only to have it dashed as he pulled her into the room.
