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“Of course. You should have received and reviewed the brief Nemesis prepared on what we’re calling Operation Purfleet.”
“I don’t believe I was included in the distribution,” said Zeppelin.
I shook my head. “You were.”
Nem leaned over and pointed to his screen. “It’s there.”
“My error. Forgive me, Nemesis.”
Her cheeks flushed. “Of course.”
“Are we ready to continue?” I barked. My eyes met Nem’s scrunched ones. “This is your case; why don’t you lead the briefing?”
When she nodded and stood, I took a seat at the far end of the table. Since I’d read the briefing several times, along with listening to her recounting of the events that night, I looked in the direction of the blank wall.
Maybe I should rethink the idea of a remote workplace. Not that SIS had room for us all to set up shop in Vauxhall Cross, especially after my team arrived. It might be best if we could go truly remote and work virtually.
I shook my head. Working from home—or in this case, working from a hotel—rarely resulted in the same kind of collaborative thinking that tackling investigations side by side did.
But could I count on these Neanderthals to focus on the bigger picture? To be professional? Or would they all be too busy trying to get in Nemesis’ pants?
I lowered my gaze and noticed each of the men in the room was sneaking glances at me rather than paying attention to her briefing.
Trying to be as least disruptive as I could, I got up, excused myself, and left the conference room.
“Hello, War God.” I looked up and saw Wren talking with Z.
“Hey,” I said, raising my hand in a half-assed attempt at a wave.
“Where are you headed?” she asked when her father went in the opposite direction.
“Nem is briefing the new arrivals.”
“Take a walk with me?”
I looked behind me, not that I could see into the conference room, trying to recall how far into the brief Nem had gotten when I stepped out. “I should probably get back in there.”
“We should talk instead.” She motioned for me to follow. “It’ll only take a minute.”
When we walked in the same direction Z had, I wondered if we were headed to his office. Before we got there, though, Wren entered a different one. She waved me inside and closed the door behind her.
“I wanted to let you know I’ll be consulting on Operation Purfleet.”
I couldn’t fathom why she felt the need to inform me of this behind a closed door or why Nem hadn’t mentioned it. “Glad to hear it,” I said when her cell rang. I reached for the door handle. “I should get back to the meeting.”
“Hold up. I’ll walk with you.”
“No worries. I know the way.” I motioned to her phone and walked out, closing the door behind me, anxious to return to where, no doubt, all four men present were hanging on Nem’s every word. Too bad Wren wasn’t single. Maybe then their attention would at least be divided.
I stepped into the men’s room on my way to the conference room, and as I walked past the mirror, something occurred to me.
I was behaving like a misogynistic prick.Jesus.What was wrong with me? Both women were highly respected in their fields—just like I was. Yeah, I was attracted to Nemesis, but I needed to get the fuck over it and treat her the same way I expected her to treat me.As a colleague.
Her assessment of me when we met yesterday replayed in my head. I’d been pissed at the way she was talking about me, and here I was, wishing Wren Whittaker was single, so she’d be able to take some of the attention away from a woman who didn’t deserve being thought of as a “piece of meat,” any more than I did.
If it wouldn’t mean confessing all the assholy things I’d been thinking, I’d apologize. Instead, I’d treat both women, and the men, with the professional respect we all deserved.
When I stepped into the hall after washing my hands, Nem was waiting.
