“He’s…scary and…I don’t know…he’s… You need to come in and deal with it…please. He’s talking about security threats and upgrades, which scares the shit out of me. He’s insisting on seeing you. Please can you come in?”
Carla is the most unflappable human being I know.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing.”
“Carla.”
“He is already in your office, where he insisted on waiting for you. I didn’t have a great reason to say no. He was sent bythe Council. Apparently, you’re supposed to know about his being here. He runs Security Central – I’m not sure if I mentioned that or not. I can’t remember his name, and I don’t want to ask him. Do you know about any of this?”
“I’m a little behind on my emails,” I admit, sounding sheepish.
“Again?” She sighs.
“Yes, I’ve been busy, Carla. Bite me!”
“I’ll pass, thanks.”
I smile, but it soon fades.
“Do you want me to help you clear your inbox?”
“That might be a good idea.” I rub my eyes. “Fine. Give me twenty minutes. Offer him some coffee.”
“I already did, and he turned me down.”
“I don’t like him.”
She chuckles. “Don’t worry, I’ll have fresh coffee ready for when you get here.”
“You know me so well.”
“I do, indeed.”
I end the call and lie there, blinking at my ceiling. Then I groan as I force myself out of bed.
Even though I showered a handful of hours ago, I put my hair into a bun at the top of my head and brush my teeth in the shower, cranking the hot water a little higher.
I wash my face and get out, drying off. After applying some underarm, I dig through the drawers for whatever is on top and clean. I settle on a pair of black jeans and a pale blue silk blouse. I’ll swap into scrubs the second I get to work. I very rarely wear suits. They’re uncomfortable for all the hours I spend at my desk or on my feet.
I pull my hair up into a ponytail and dab on as much mascara as will stick in under ten seconds, which isn’t much.
After pulling on a pair of soft ankle boots, I check myself out in the mirror and decide that I’m a hot mess.
“That’s what you get for waking me up,” I tell the guy in my office, even though he can’t hear me.
I yawn into my hand as I grab my keys off the kitchen counter on my way out.
The drive to the hospital takes ten minutes. I try to figure out what on earth the head honcho of Security Central wants with me at this time of the morning.
What security threats?
I thought the war was ending?
I keep running various ideas through my mind, but come up with nothing.
Carla is standing at the front desk as I come through the doors. She looks up, and her eyes do a quick, relieved sweep of me, like she wasn’t entirely sure I’d show.
