Carol Ericson - Navy Seal Spy

Chapter Five

Katie slipped back up to her cubicle and dropped to her chair, her fingers pressed to her buzzing lips. Even a quick, hard kiss in a cold stairwell from Liam McCabe beat any other lip-lock she’d experienced in the past few years.

She squared her shoulders and stuck her card into the card reader on her computer. The kiss didn’t mean anything—just his way of sealing the deal that they’d work together on this thing. She didn’t want to jump back into a relationship with Liam, anyway. She had life-and-death matters to take care of now.

She logged on to her computer, and her fingers flew across the keyboard. She’d broken into the security cameras weeks ago, which allowed her to freeze the cameras and erase certain inconvenient images. That capability allowed her to wander around the facility at night, as long as she stayed a few steps ahead of security.

Would security make anything of the jammed door? Given the high level of paranoia around here, most likely. She and Liam would probably have to find another secure meeting place. She’d check out the online map of the buildings and the surrounding area to look for something.

Once she adjusted the footage from the security cameras, she got into the access badge area, located her badge code and erased the recorded swipes of her leaving and entering her office area. If the rigged stairwell door sent someone on a quest to identify late workers and trace their movements, she’d be safe. According to the computer codes, she’d never left her office.

Liam didn’t seem to have an access badge, so how he managed to wander around the compound at night, she didn’t have a clue. But Liam could do just about anything he put his mind to, and the thought of working with him excited her.

She wrapped up her work and headed to the parking garage. As she strode across the quad to the structure, her nose twitched at the smell of a cigarette. Her steps slowed as she picked out two figures lurking near the entrance to the garage and a pinpoint of light glowing in the dark.

Tensing her muscles, she drew closer, and one of the men turned his head in profile. She instantly recognized Liam. He’d been worried about her leaving late, but who was smoking the cigarette next to him?

She cleared her throat and clutched her purse under her arm.

The cigarette smoker spoke first. “It’s okay, ma’am. It’s just us recruits from across campus.”

“Oh, I was wondering who was out here so late.” She pointed at the cigarette, ignoring Liam. “I don’t think smoking is allowed on the facility grounds.”

The man threw back his head and laughed. “If it’s not even allowed on the facility grounds, can you imagine the consequences if the powers-that-be found out a recruit was smoking?”

“Is that what you two are doing over here? Sneaking smokes?”

He crushed the cigarette against the side of the parking structure. “Kinda like middle school, huh? That’s what I’m doing out here, anyway. I’m Dustin, by the way, and this is Liam, and I don’t know what the hell he was doing here.”

“I’m KC, and I really don’t think we’re supposed to be fraternizing.”

Dustin snorted. “You mean like the school dance in the gym? The employees stand on one side and the recruits stand on the other like a bunch of wallflowers? Just like middle school.”

He held up the butt of his extinguished cigarette. “You won’t tell the principal, will you? Principal Romo, or worse yet, Vice Principal Spann?”

She shrugged her shoulders, made stiff by Dustin and his irreverent comments. Was he trying to trap her? Trap Liam?

Liam had obviously been lurking around the parking garage to keep an eye on her as she left the property, and Dustin had discovered him. Or had he followed him?

“Whatever you do is your business.”

He held out the butt. “You wanna take this with you? Destroy the evidence? Help a brother out?”

She folded her arms, tucking her hands beneath her armpits. “I—I...”

“Let’s go, man.” Liam took the cigarette from Dustin’s fingers and plowed his toe into the loose rocks on the ground. He dropped the butt onto the rocks and with his boot, covered it with more rocks. “We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, and you still need to rinse that tobacco smell out of your mouth.”

“Okay, okay.” Dustin held up his hands in surrender. “I’m just messin’ with you, KC. If you don’t rat me out, I won’t rat you out.”

She forced a laugh and regretted the fake tone. “I won’t rat you out, but all I’m doing is leaving work after a long day.”

“If you say so.” Dustin’s eyes shifted from her to Liam.

Liam nudged Dustin’s arm. “Let’s get back before lights out.”

As she passed them, Liam said, “Have a nice evening, ma’am.”

She put her head down and scurried to her car, looking neither right nor left. She didn’t want to run into anyone else.

Liam had taken a big risk hanging around to see her off. Was Dustin even a smoker or was it all a ploy to get them in his confidence? She had no intention of playing that game.

She trusted no one here—no one except Liam.

As soon as she dropped onto the seat of her car and closed the door, she sank against the backrest and relaxed her muscles. She had to pick up the pace on her efforts to hack through Tempest’s computer system. She couldn’t take much more of this stress. She’d much rather be in San Diego with her chocolate lab, Mario, working on the newest video game.

Of course, Liam’s appearance on the scene and knowing they were on the same team had just brightened the situation considerably.

She’d have to show him some pictures of Mario. They’d been looking for a dog together before he’d up and decided to abandon her. And then in the dark days after Liam had left, Mario had found her. They’d found each other. Figured one lost soul would seek out another.

God, she missed that little guy.

She sighed and cranked on the engine. Her tires squealed on the cement as she wound her way down the parking structure. She followed the long road out toward the guard shack and waved to the attendant on duty as he raised the parking arm for her.

Tempest’s facility was located about five miles from a small town on one of the many lakes up here. The residential area, where most of the Tempest employees lived, fanned out from the town with the more expensive homes farther afield and situated at the lake’s edge. Tempest employees, retirees and ski resort workers populated the town and environs since the logging company had closed down several years ago.

As she sped down the highway, she glanced at the illuminated numbers on her dashboard clock. It had been over three hours since Samantha had left the office. She and the others had probably deserted the Deluxe by now. Thankfully, she still had a half a bottle of wine in her fridge. After the day she had, she could use a glass or two. She needed two just to turn off her brain.

She took the turnoff for the town, anyway, and rolled through the quiet streets. A couple of cars were parked in front of the bar—not enough to make it worth her while.

She swung out of town and hit the highway again. She lived in an apartment complex peopled with a few Tempest employees and a gaggle of retirees from California—more functional than fancy, but private.

A set of taillights up ahead had her tapping her brakes. Traffic often clogged this road, the only one into and out of town, but not usually at this time of night. As she crested the hill behind two other cars, a flood of lights illuminated the night sky.

Red-and-orange emergency lights revolved, looking almost festive. The cars ahead of her blocked her view of the accident, and she slowed to a crawl as the cops directed single-file traffic to the left.