AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Roger that, Razor,” she replied.
She channeled that angry person she’d been as she mounted the stairs into the building, opting to power up the stairs to the third floor where the professor’s offices were, rather than ride the elevator. She passed Sebastian in custodian clothing, pushing a large, rolling trash bin just outside the doors into the wing the professor’s offices were in. Her gaze flickered to him, acknowledging that she saw him, but she didn’t react, didn’t speak to him. She knew Jimmy Wilson was somewhere close by. She didn’t see him, though.
As she approached Harrison West’s closed office door, she concentrated on her breathing. She focused on the angry person she’d been after the attack. She recalled his words from the previous evening, threatening to kill her family. She discovered both fists were clenched. Her heart rate was slow, and she felt an uncharacteristic centering, almost a peaceful feeling, settle over her. She was ready to do this.
Quebec
Laura Lee knocked once on West’s door, a hard, determined rap. Instead of his voice inviting her in coming from behind the closed door, it swung open, and she was face to face with that black man Jimmy had described. She didn’t recognize him.
“Ah, there she is now,” she heard Harrison’s voice say. She glanced past the man in the doorway. Harrison West sat at his desk. “Come in, come in.”
She marveled at his calm, friendly voice. Either he was perfectly at peace with his crimes, or he was a sociopath. If she had to bet, she’d go with the latter. She stepped past the unknown man and stood several feet from both men, dropping her left hand into the pocket of her jean jacket. Her fingers curled around the small knife within, her thumb on the mechanism that would deploy the blade with the right amount of pressure. Her right hand was left free in case she needed to draw the Sig .9mm from the small of her back.
“This is Laura Lee Saxton, or should I say, Lieutenant Saxton, United States Army, sort of,” West said.
Laura Lee scowled at him. Then her gaze shifted to the unknown man. “And you are?”
He extended his right hand towards her. “Happy to meet you, Lieutenant.”
Laura Lee knew by his manner and how he’d addressed her formally that he was prior military, probably prior special forces, as she was so accustomed to being around them now that she could identify one of them on sight. She kept her hand back. There was no way he was getting a hold of her.
“If it’s all the same to you, I’ll keep my hand back. After all, you haven’t volunteered your name.” Not that she was confident she’d get a real name out of him.
“Samuelson, Mark Samuelson,” he said, withdrawing his hand.
“You’re prior military,” she said for HQ’s benefit. It could help to get an ID on him.
“Perhaps,” he said with a shrug. “Perhaps not. Why does it matter?”
“I like to know who I’m dealing with,” she said. Her gaze flickered to West and then back to Samuelson. “He hasn’t served, and he’s been out of the field for decades with his cushy desk job. You’re different. I can see it in your eyes and in how you move.” That was another piece of info for HQ.
The corner of Samuelson’s mouth ticked up. “I need some verification of who you are and who you work for?”
“It’ll cost you,” she said. “I can be bought, but it won’t be cheap.”
“I think you’re confused on how this will work,” West said.
“No, Harrison, you’re confused. You threaten or go anywhere near my family, and I’ll kill you. My sister so much as gets in a car accident, I’ll assume you had something to do with it and suddenly your breaks will go out at the most inopportune moment. You reached out to me, and you started this. Now, if you still want me to work for you, it’s going to cost you big bucks. If you’re not interested, I’m walking out the door.”
“Why are you willing to turn?” Samuelson asked.
“It’s simple. The life expectancy in my line of work isn’t long. I’d like to pad my retirement account and get out soon.”
Mark Samuelson’s stone face gave nothing away. “If you truly have the skills you’re advertising, I’m sure we can come to an appropriate price for them.”
Laura Lee watched West out of the corner of her eye. A vein protruded from his forehead, and he looked like he was having a stroke. “Now hold on Samuelson,” West said.
Mark Samuelson held a hand up to West, who deferred to him. That was when Laura Lee knew that Samuelson held a higher position in the network. Through her comms, she heard that Liu was en route to the campus.
“Do we have a deal?” Samuelson asked her.
“I haven’t heard the expectations or compensation yet,” Laura Lee said.
“Favors, intel, and assignments that will coincide with your normal duties on your current team in exchange for compensation per job,” Samuelson said.
Laura Lee waited, unsure how to play this. She hoped someone would give her direction through her comms. When it didn’t come and too much time elapsed, she spoke. “I’m intrigued. Tell me more.”
“A show of good faith, first,” Harrison West said. “I was looking for a name last night.”
