Katie Reus: Targeted

Legend: an agent’s alleged background and personal history, usually supported by documents and memorized details.

Printing out flight logs from Keane Flight’s most recent deliveries, Sophie frowned at the computer screen in front of her when her intercom beeped. She’d been too terrified to get more than a couple of hours of sleep last night, and her calls to Ronald had gone unanswered. Since she hadn’t wanted to leave a message on his phone about what she’d found, she’d decided to talk to him this morning. Right now he was in a meeting, but as soon as he was free, she was telling him everything. She’d e-mailed herself the pictures, but she’d also printed some to give him. He needed to see everything in color. Then they could figure out how to move forward. If that meant involving the police, then so be it.

“Sophie, I’ve got Hannah Young on line three. She says it’s urgent,” Mandy, her assistant, said.

“Got it. Thanks.” She wanted to ignore the call, but Hannah was her best friend and she needed to act normal at work right now. “What are you doing up at seven thirty on a Monday?”

Her best friend groaned. “I can’t sleep. I’m still reliving the horror of last night’s date.”

Despite the rampant adrenaline still pumping through her, a small smile touched her lips. Talking about Hannah’s dating life would be a welcome momentary distraction. “I thought you were going out with the ‘hot Italian.’ What happened?”

“After dinner we went back to his place. We’re on his couch, making out, when someone knocks on his door.”

“How late was this?”

“Ten. He looks through the peephole, freaks out like a little girl, and makes me hide in his closet.”

“Uh, what?”

“Thank you! Ridiculous. He told me it was his ex-girlfriend and that she’s crazy, so I asked him why he didn’t just ignore her. He says that if he does, she’ll keep knocking all night.”

“What did you do?”

Hannah sighed. “What else? I hid in the closet until they started going at it. On. His. Bed.”

Sophie choked out a sound.

“They actually started having sex on his bed with me in the closet. Freak,” she muttered.

“I can’t believe you stayed that long!”

Hannah chuckled, the sound wicked. “Just as he was about to, you know, I walked out and told him never to call me again. His expression was priceless and I could still hear her shrieks by the time I was outside.”

“If I didn’t know you, I’d swear you made this stuff up.” Sophie had been listening to these stories since college. If there was a crazy in a ten-mile radius, Hannah would find him. It was as if she had a homing beacon attached to her.

“Now that you’ve heard my horror story, you have to take pity on me and meet me for happy hour after work. If that doesn’t convince you, two-fifty martinis better.”

Under normal circumstances Sophie would have loved to have met her friend. But she couldn’t say yes to anything until she’d talked to her boss. “I can’t tonight. Work is insane right now.” Okay, not exactly a lie.

“Come on, one night off won’t kill you.”

Sophie shut her eyes and massaged her temple. She was desperate to tell someone what she’d seen. It was like a need growing inside her to just get the information off her chest, but she bit it back. There was no way she’d ever put anyone she loved in danger. “I can’t, but I swear I’ll make it up to you.”

“You suck, but okay.” There was laughter in Hannah’s voice, so Sophie knew her friend wasn’t actually mad. “By the way, my mom wants to know why you haven’t been over in the past couple of weeks. She thinks you’ve found someone else to cook for you.”

She snorted. “Right. Will you tell her I’ve been busy?” Sophie had met Hannah’s mom during her first spring break in college, and the woman had taken her in as her own. After Sophie’s growing up in foster care, having a real mother figure was a new experience but one she’d embraced.

“ You tell her. I talked to her last night and she wanted to know why I haven’t married a rich doctor yet. I’m taking a couple days off from torture.”

Sophie shook her head. “Fine. I’ve got to go but I’ll see you tonight.”

As soon as they disconnected, she pulled the logs she’d been reviewing back onto her screen. Gas charges and mileage weren’t matching up, and after last night she knew why. They were carrying way too much cargo. She clicked her pen up and down as she stared at the screen. Damn it, why wouldn’t Ronald call her back? She wanted to scream. When an e-mail marked urgent from one of their biggest suppliers popped up on the bottom of her screen, she sighed and closed the other file. She could stare at her computer all day or keep herself distracted with work.

After taking care of her client, she made a serious dent in the quarterlies, though images of grenades and guns hovered at the back of her mind. She’d tried buzzing Ronald three more times, but he hadn’t been in his office and no one had been able to find him. Just as she stood, ready to hunt him down, her assistant buzzed her office. “Sophie, Mr. Weller wants to see you in his office. There’s a man from Keane Flight here. He’s yummy.” Mandy whispered the last part before clicking off.

Sophie’s knees weakened for a moment. Someone from Keane Flight? Oh God, what if it was one of those scary men from last night? Maybe they’d figured out she’d been the one to break in. There hadn’t been any video cameras—she’d noticed that Paul had taken them down when she’d been there for her last surprise visit—but maybe they’d seen her car. Sophie swallowed hard and shoved the folder containing the pictures she’d taken into her desk. She’d wanted to bring them to Ronald, but she wouldn’t risk it with someone from Keane Flight in there.

She swallowed hard but found her voice. “Thank you, Mandy.” Mandy had been her intern last year and, when she graduated, had applied for a job. She definitely didn’t have the experience Sophie had been looking for, but the woman was a fast learner.

After straightening her pencil skirt and smoothing on lip gloss, Sophie grabbed a notepad and pen. She had to appear normal when going to Ronald’s office. Plus, holding something felt a bit like having armor. She shut her office door behind her and stopped at Mandy’s desk. “I sent some stuff to the printer. Would you organize everything and put it in a binder for me?”

“No problem.”

“One more thing.” Sophie glanced behind her. Two other administrative assistants shared the open space with Mandy, and she didn’t want them overhearing. “Don’t let anyone into my office while I’m gone. I’ve locked it and you have the only other key.”

A slight frown marred her pretty face. “Is there a problem? Did I do something wrong?”

“No. I’m just working on some stuff right now that Mr. Weller wants to keep private.”

Immediately Mandy’s mouth relaxed into a smile. “Oh, okay.”

Sophie clutched her notebook to her side as she headed down the long hallway toward her boss’s office. In addition to what she’d discovered last night, lately she suspected that things in her own office had been out of place. A paperweight and paper clip holder had been moved on more than one occasion. It was small stuff and maybe she was being paranoid, but she’d learned long ago to trust her gut. Considering what she’d found last night, she was never ignoring her instinct again.

She half knocked as she entered Ronald’s office. She was officially his assistant, but not in the sense that Mandy was her assistant. He didn’t like to deal with anyone but her, which was why Sophie was surprised he’d told Mandy he needed to see her instead of coming to her directly. Maybe he really was ignoring her calls.