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CHAPTER2
From the momentshe arrived at the training site, Cygny had busied herself with helping.
Anyone.
Anything.
Boxes carried from here to there?
Sure.
Setting up an area for an upcoming activity.
Happy to.
It kept her busy.
It let her mind drift off.
She could handle rote activities with ease, but her inner thoughts and her heart were a mess. She couldn’t help but feel like this opportunity was everything she needed even if it wasn’t what she wanted.
And the last thing she wanted to do was ruin it.
“Hey.”
She turned, fixing a smile on her face. The man standing in front of her had been pointed out to her when she arrived. Hank Patterson.
His smile was warm and the look in his eyes was open, straightforward.
Still, she held a little back when she reached out her hand in greeting.
There was a moment when he went still, and she wondered if he’d noticed her hesitation.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I’d like to speak with you for a bit. There are a few things in your background check that were flagged.”
She managed to keep her expression almost neutral.
Cygny had been used to moments like this.
She’d gone through several of them when she’d first been recruited for Homeland Security.
Once, she’d had to remind them that the very reason that they’d come to her with a job offer had been because of those ‘flags.’
“Sure,” she gave him a smile and hoped it reached her eyes. “I don’t mind talking to you about it.”
“Good.”
He’d gestured toward a small side building where she’d been a few hours before, packing in boxes of equipment and had set up the table and chairs that she would find herself in a few moments later.
When she entered the room, she saw Beck sitting at the table. There were five chairs set up around the table. Three on one side and two on the other.
Beck was sitting in the middle of the three and when Cygny stepped inside, Beck gestured to the opposite side of the table. “Have a seat, please.”
Cygny couldn’t help herself and read her friend’s body language.
Beck was a little nervous, but it hadn’t changed her usual demeanor. That didn’t bode well or ill. Beck was just as accomplished in subterfuge as she was, perhaps more.
Still, she couldn’t believe that her friend meant for anything bad to happen to her.
Friend? Cygny couldn’t help but remember what she’d done to a man she was in love with. Even though she’d done everything she could to right the wrong she’d done under orders, she really couldn’t blame karma if it slammed her down to the ground and kicked her teeth in.
She likely deserved worse.
So, she sat down and put both of her boots flat on the ground.
No matter what, she’d look Beck, and Hank, straight in the eye.
When Hank sat down, Cygny looked at the empty chair beside her friend and then turned to look at the chair beside her own.
“Who are we waiting for?”
Even as the words were coming out of her mouth, she saw two men approaching from the other side of the building.
The subtle shift in Beck’s posture and demeanor almost made Cygny smile. She’d already seen Beck around Jake McClain. And it took her all of a hot second to know there was something between the two. What, she couldn’t be sure, but she’d definitely ask about it later.
The voices that entered the room first were jumbled as they were speaking at the same time.
Cygny got to her feet to greet the new arrivals and placed a preemptory smile on her lips for the greeting.
She certainly wanted to make a good first impression on Jake and the man coming with him.
