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“Nope. I’m going to have a little of everything,” answered Sharlee. The women sat down and dished up.
“This is so good,” was mumbled over, “I have to go there for dinner.” And so the conversation went. There was talking, laughing, and teasing, interwoven with a little serious conversation. The hour was up in a flash. Becky’s cell phone alarm went off, and so did Sharlee’s, signaling the end to lunch.
“I’ll finish up here, ladies. You all go back to work,” Mallory said as all four women left to return to their offices.
Even Ivy had a project she was working on. It was nice that Jac allowed her to combine her home business with her Jacquard and Associates business in her office. Jac didn’t care so long as it didn’t involve bringing in any clients to his business.
Becky now worked in Jac’s outer office instead of the business reception area. It was safer for her. They had hired a previous service member to man the desk. While Mallory didn’t know what it looked like before, she was sure it must have made Becky more exposed if Carter’s demands were any sign. He sure loved Becky, and by the way she glowed when he was in the room or anyone spoke about him, Becky was in love with him.
There was so much violence in these men's and women’s previous lives that Mallory couldn’t understand why they wanted to find a civilian job that did the same thing. Garrett had said it was what they knew, but Mallory didn’t believe that was the reason they stayed.
Jac was a hard taskmaster. He allowed others to do the work they hired them to do, but Sharlee had said it wasn’t always that way. Jac was very hands-on. Very intense anytime they took on the high-profile jobs, which he hated. When they had a VIP to protect or extract from some sticky situation, Jac was all in. Now, he chose the team best suited for a job, and he directed when needed.
Garrett was the operations guy on the ground and in the office. Monroe was their strategist for all jobs at home, using his skill in personnel matters and the field. His talent was even more valuable on the ground when working with Carter’s well-known trait was his fast-processing time. He and Monroe worked well in tandem. Monroe, like the other team members, was observant, something Mallory could attest to.
His excellent memory didn’t always bode well for Mallory, but she usually benefited from his ability to remember what she liked and disliked. He didn’t seem to forget when she recently blew up at him because of the stress that she didn’t tell him about. He made her purge all the worries the last time and then sent her to soak in the tub. It was Heavenly. Then he edged her for what seemed like hours but was more like twenty or thirty minutes. While she still thought she shouldn’t burden others with her problems, she was learning that Monroe wasn’t just anyone.
She pulled out her tablet and checked her email while she waited for Monroe. There was a message from the Apothecary. Opening with trepidation, she wondered if they would terminate her employment because she had been gone too long. True, she had both paid and sick leave that she had used, but that was gone, and they needed to hire a temp pharmacist, which was very difficult to do. As she read the email, she relaxed. It was the paperwork to come back to work. Mallory smiled and checked on other mail. She needed to get the final agreement from Monroe, and then she thought she might be ready to try.
Looking at the list of emails, as she began deleting the trash, she saw one message from the district attorney. Until now, they had allowed the communication to go through Agent Gutierrez, but evidently, that didn’t work anymore.
Ms. Sasse,
We have tried to reach you this morning but have been unsuccessful. I hope you are well. I need to speak to you. Please call at your earliest convenience.
Kurt Rogers,
District Attorney
Mallory picked up her phone and started to call but remembered her phone didn’t work well inside the office due to the interconnected alarms, cameras, electronics, and computers everywhere. That was likely why they couldn’t get hold of her. Forgetting she was to stay inside, she stepped out to the front sidewalk to call.
“Ms. Sasse. Thank you for calling me.”
“Yes, I apologize. I’m at Jacquard and Associates offices, and my cell doesn’t work well in here.”
“Understood. Could we make an appointment to discuss the case?”
“Sure, but it will have to be when Monroe is available to be there, too. I don’t think he is going to allow me to go anywhere alone. In fact, you can count on it. You can come to me. I’ll be at Jacquard Reynaud’s home for a few days.”
“I rarely do that, Ms. Sasse.”
His hesitancy to meet her where she felt safe was odd, she thought.
“Well, I suppose you will have to wait, then. How about Monday of next week?”
“What? No, that won’t work.”
Mallory could feel her heart rate rise and her skin breaking out in perspiration. She wasn’t sure why her reactions were so intense, but they were, and if she had learned anything from Monroe, it was to listen to those deep, visceral feelings, even if you have no idea why they’re there.
“Let me call you back.”
Mallory hung up before he could respond and hurried back inside, but before she did, she had the uneasy feeling someone was watching her. Her belly cramped, and she felt icy tendrils of fear slide down her spine. It almost felt as though she were in danger. The hairs on the back of her neck even stood up. Her nerves and imagination pushed her to slip into Becky’s office, and immediately she had a slightly less heebie-jeebie vibe.
“Hey, any sign of when the guys are going to be done?”
“No, sorry. It could be a while. Here, let me get some coffee going; plus, I know where the pastries and donuts are hidden.”
“You mean the guys haven’t found and eaten them?” Mallory tried to match her mood to Becky’s, but it was no use.
