AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Alison was going through the drawers. A moment later, she returned with a plastic knife and fork, sat at the table, and started eating fettuccine right out of the tray.
“Hungry, huh?”
“I told you I was.”
I rolled my eyes, but the truth was that I couldn’t have said why her behavior was annoying me so much. I’d put the food out for her to eat, and it wasn’t as if there were plates.
“Maybe I’ll take some of this into my office.” I picked up the tin of spaghetti and meatballs and grabbed a plastic fork of my own.
She looked up. “So now you’re fine leaving me alone? Unsupervised?”
“Well, you’re not going to do anything with the power out,
It’s not like you can start going through the computer files now.”
She sighed and put her fork down. “I don’t know what your problem is, and I don’t know why you’re treating me like I’m your enemy. I’m not. I know you have people come to audit the SEALs every year, and I assume that you cooperate with them.”
“Why are you looking into five years of records? Every year, the feds come and reviewoneyear, the most recent one. I know your higher-ups didn’t order you to do that deep dive.” I drew a breath. “You’re trying to make your bones by digging up dirt on the SEALs.”
I hadn’t realized I thought that until I’d said it out loud. But now that the words were hanging in the air, I realized I meant them. Alison was so eager to succeed on the first assignment that shewantedto find something scandalous.
Alison stood up quickly—so quickly that I was afraid she was going to spill the pasta.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” she snapped, her voice chilly. “And I’m not going to sit here and listen to you talk shit about me anymore, Brian.”
“Well, where the fuck are you going to go? We’re locked in!”
“I’ll eat in the women’s room if it means getting away from you.” The light was even worse in here than it had been in his office—there was only one small window—but I could see that she was shaking with rage. “I’ve fucking had enough of it. I’m trying to do a job, and you’ve been treating me like—like—”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know! Nobody fucking treats me like this! Like you can tell me what to do. Like you have some authority over me.”
“You’re in my office!”
“And I’ll bet you don’t treat anybody else who comes in here like this. Iknowyou don’t because if you were the type of guy who routinely fucked federal agents who were just trying to do their jobs, my father would know about it.” She drew a breath. “But you wouldn’t want my father to know about it.”She was watching me steadily now, and I realized—that was a threat. Maybe the feds would believe me over her if the story of what had happened between the two of us were to come out. But Henry would take his daughter’s side—especially if I did something to cost her her job.
It was a standoff.
“Stay here,” I told her. “Don’t eat in the damn bathroom. I’ll eat in my office.”She looked at me.
“Just come and see me if the lights come back on,” I told her. “I’ll get on the phone to maintenance the minute that happens.”
I grabbed the pan of spaghetti and stalked out of the room.
Chapter nine
ALISON
Fourhourslater,thelights still hadn’t come back on, and I was starting to feel anxious.
I’d ducked into the bathroom and taken off my jacket and pantyhose. No power, no AC, it was warm here—or maybe it was just my anxiety making me feel warm. Being in the building in my skirt and shell tank made me feel a little less professional, a little more out of control. And that locked door was not helping matters.
It was spooky being alone in here, weird not knowing what time it was. It was upsetting that Brian still hadn’t come out of his office. I had returned to the desk where I’d been working earlier that day and was sitting in the swivel chair, spinning around slowly, lost in my thoughts.
Every time I spun around, I looked at the door to Brian’s office, hoping it would be open and he would come back out. I had no idea why I wanted to see him—I only knew that being with him would be better than being alone.
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I got up, went to the office door, and threw it open without knocking. He couldn’t keep me out like this. He couldn’t just—
