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Roger rose, braced his hands on the edge of Philip’s desk, and leaned forward. The effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that the desk was so huge, he could only loom from a few feet away, which probably wasn’t quite as intimidating as he’d hoped. “How well do you know the people working under you? Because if something should happen to you, your business is mine, anyway.”
I winced, waiting for the inevitable frog spell, but instead, Roger just whirled and stalked out of the room. I jumped up and hurried to follow him. The atmosphere in the car on the way back to the office was tense. Since I’d already watched him turn someone into a frog, I didn’t think I could play dumb with him. But then I didn’t think any normal person would dare ask him questions while he looked that angry. Or would a normal person question his threats to a friend?
Really, a normal person would have fled after the first frogging. Or possibly even after the “our security is so tight, you’ll have to take off your underwear and put on our company-supplied undies to enter the office” routine. The red flags had been flapping furiously in the gale-force winds from the initial interview. The hypothetical “normal” person would be long-gone by now, so it did no good to gauge my actions by that yardstick.
Back at the office, we spent another couple of hours with me turning pages and Roger reading over my shoulder. I didn’t think the book’s plan for world domination was all that groundbreaking. It just made sense to get funding, hire staff loyal to you, then infiltrate the key magical organizations. There were some more spells in the mix, and while I thought I could remember the gist of the plan, there was no way I could memorize the details of spells to share with Owen. I did get the impression that Rod would need to be extra careful about the people Roger made him hire. It sounded like these new hires would be personally loyal to Roger rather than ordinary Collegium plants.
I felt like I’d done a day’s hard labor by the time I left the office. The car ride home seemed to take longer than ever, but I wasn’t sure if that was merely perception or if it had something to do with traffic, or if perhaps they weren’t taking me home, after all. I was greatly relieved to step out of the car and find myself in front of my new apartment.
As I juggled bags to open the front door, I noticed something stuck in the door frame—a small slip of paper. Curious, I pulled it out and held it in my hand with my keys as I carried everything upstairs to my apartment. There was another door to unlock there, and finally, I was home. I let the bags drop so I could read the note. In Owen’s handwriting, it said, “I could really do with a bookstore browse.”
Since it was still early in the evening and Owen never got away from work on time, I took the time to hang up the clothes I’d brought over and put out some of my personal items. It was starting to look like my home rather than impersonal corporate housing. That done, I spiffed myself up a bit, put on my coat, and headed across town to the Strand, hoping that was the bookstore Owen meant. All those dense rows of bookshelves were tailor-made for secret meetings and the chance to talk without being observed.
Once in the store, I browsed my way casually toward a more remote corner and waited for something to happen. I’d pulled a big book full of colorful pictures of gardens off the shelf and was flipping through it when I heard a soft voice from the other side of the shelf say, “Good, you got my note.”
I peered through the gap on the shelf the book I held had occupied and saw Owen looking back at me. “And I’m glad I picked the right store.”
“Where else would I have gone?”
“Exactly. You would not believe what happened today.” I filled him in on everything, from the book to the visit to Philip’s office. “Maybe you could put a security detail on him, or something,” I concluded.
“Wouldn’t that give it all away?”
“Roger already threatened him. Wouldn’t security be appropriate?”
“Good point, though I suspect he’ll have thought of the same thing himself.”
“And Rod should know that anyone Roger wants him to hire isn’t just Collegium—or may not even be Collegium at all—but rather is personally loyal to Roger. There’s no telling what he’ll do if he sees this as his chance to leapfrog ahead. Pun very much intended.”
I couldn’t see his whole face through the gap between books, but the part I saw looked worried. “I think you’ve done what you set out to do. We should get you out of there.”
“But I’m just starting to get to the good stuff!” I protested. “All that time, going through the motions, and now I’m in. I’m seeing his plans firsthand. This is where the assignment really gets going. We’d lose everything if I left now.” I knew that was exactly what he’d said I’d say, but it was true.
He was silent for a long moment. I was about to say something when he put back the book that fit in the gap he was speaking through and pulled out another one. Now I could see even less of him. “Oh, excuse me,” he said, moving up against the shelves as someone passed behind him. That made me look around to see if anyone was
on my aisle. No one was, but I put back the book I was flipping through and took one opposite the gap Owen had just opened.
“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” I quipped.
He didn’t smile. “That’s what I was just saying.”
I dropped my voice to what I hoped was a sexy purr. “You’ve got to admit, these clandestine trysts are kind of romantic.” I reached my hand across the tops of the books on the shelf below the one we were speaking through. After a moment, he noticed what I was doing and put his own hand across to take mine. It seemed like it had been forever since we’d touched. I felt like the soundtrack should be swelling with sad, romantic music as we made a desperate connection across the barrier that divided us. Then I remembered the Elf Lord’s scheme that had put us in the middle of a romantic movie and made myself forget the mental image. We didn’t need to go through that again. Funny, though, we always seemed to end up having these moments in bookstores.
“You’re crazy, you know that?” he said, but I could hear the smile in his voice.
“I thought that was my line about you. You’re usually the one taking crazy risks. At least I’m not making myself be bait.”
“Be careful, and the moment you feel like you’re in any danger or that they’ve figured you out, get out.”
“I will,” I assured him. He gave my hand one last squeeze, so tight my knuckles popped, before slowly releasing it. Finally, only our fingertips were touching, then he was gone. The book reappeared in its slot, and I was left alone on my side of the shelves.
With a sigh I didn’t even bother trying to conceal, I put the book I held back on the shelf. To cover for the time I’d spent browsing in that section, I bought a book of fashion photography. I hoped it might give me wedding dress ideas without looking like I was doing anything to plan a wedding.
The new apartment felt rather empty when I went home. I was so used to having roommates that it was odd having no one at all around. I had to wonder just how alone I was. Was the place bugged or under surveillance? As paranoid as they were about security procedures at the office, surely they’d do something to watch people away from work, or did they think that the office security covered it all?
*
Roger called me to his office as soon as I arrived the next morning. He was standing slightly away from his desk, and he gestured toward the book that still sat where we’d left it. “Would you mind taking this and transcribing it for me?” he asked. “I’d like to use my desk again, and I’d like to be able to read the information at my leisure without needing someone to turn the pages.”
