Chapter 45
CHAPTER 45
LUKE WATCHED MACK’S fingers fly across the keyboard as she came up with another permutation to add to the mission simulation program. With two teams on the way to the Middle East, they couldn’t afford to miss even the smallest issue. Her shoulders were rigid with tension, and she muttered under her breath as she stared at the screen. Luke didn’t understand enough about the logistics of the operation to be of much assistance, but he waited on hand, just in case.
“Anything I can do?” he asked.
She shook her head then changed her mind. “Maybe a cup of coffee?”
“Sure.”
He’d put it next to the other two she hadn’t touched from earlier.
When he came back with drinks for both of them, Mack was staring open-mouthed at the screen. With his attention on her, it took a few seconds to register the voice flowing from the speakers, dripping with sarcasm.
“Nice to hear from you, Emmy. How are you, Emmy?”
Luke barely recognised his ex’s voice. Although the line was crystal clear, she sounded much harsher than he remembered. The girl he knew had been soft and sweet, not confident and slightly antagonistic. But when Mack’s face relaxed, he knew it must be Emmy.
Luke listened as she condensed her nine-day journey into a single sentence of “fly, walk, camel, more camel, truck, climb, boat, swim, walk” and when she hung up, he squeezed Mack’s hand.
“That’s good news then, huh?”
Mack hesitated, motionless, then leapt up and danced around the room. Her happiness was infectious, and Luke couldn’t help laughing. On her second circuit, she jumped into his arms, and he swung her in a circle, her feet narrowly missing the cups of cold coffee sitting next to her mouse.
“She’s back! She’s really back!”
“Certainly seems that way.”
Mack touched her feet back to the floor and smiled. On tiptoes, she was level with Luke, and when her arms wrapped around his neck and her chest pressed against his, their lips were only an inch apart. All he needed to do was lean forward and…
No. He couldn’t. Not with Mack. Not when Emmy was coming back. Luke needed to give things some serious consideration.
Mack seemed to have the same thought because she pulled back and put her heels on the floor.
“Thank goodness,” she whispered, and Luke wasn’t sure whether she meant Emmy’s return or the fact that they’d narrowly avoided kissing.
He sat back down, feeling drained. “We were right about the plane too—she said she flew.”
“You were the one who cracked the puzzle. If you hadn’t, the new team would have gone in by now, and they’d probably have been killed. So thank you. Everyone is more grateful than you could ever know.”
“It was you who put two and two together about her flying.”
“But I couldn’t have done it without you finding the plane in the first place.”
“Let’s call it teamwork, then.”
Mack paused for a second. “I don’t normally work well with other people, apart from Nate. Not on computers. But we make a good team, don’t you think?”
She grinned at Luke and the effect was dizzying. His heart started to beat faster, and he nodded. “We do.”
“And we need to celebrate. This calls for champagne.”
“I saw a bottle in the fridge.”
“No, Emmy keeps the good stuff in the cellar for special occasions. I’d say today qualifies.”
Mack went off to hunt, and by the time she got back with a bottle of Cristal, Luke had found a couple of glasses and a box of chocolates.
He held them out to Mack. “For your sweet tooth.”
That earned him another smile. He really needed to buy shares in a chocolate manufacturer, because he saw himself buying a significant amount of the stuff over the next few months.
Luke had a happy buzz from the alcohol when Emmy called back, and he listened with growing admiration as she described how she’d escaped Syria. The woman may be a few sandwiches short of a picnic, but she was undeniably resourceful.
He was just musing over how different she was to the Ash he’d known when Mack yanked him off his chair and shoved him under the desk.
There was no need to be quite so forceful—honestly if she wanted him down there, she only had to ask. He was about to say something when he heard Emmy address Mack directly and guessed, correctly, that Mack must be on camera.
Although it was uncomfortable being wedged in front of Mack’s knees, Luke couldn’t complain about the view. He stifled a groan. Really, he shouldn’t be thinking like that, although it was hard not to with his face so close to the jackpot. Judging by the way Mack squirmed on the chair, she may well have been having the same thoughts.
Eventually, she told Emmy she needed a bathroom break, and the speakers fell silent.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t know how to explain to Emmy that you were here.”
Luke understood that. It wasn’t as if their last words had been amicable.
“Maybe I could call her or something. You know, apologise for shouting at her about Tia.”
He didn’t relish the thought, especially as he was still sore over Nick, but if it would make Mack happy, he’d do it.
“That might help. I’d give her a day or so, though. She needs some rest, and she’ll already get interrupted with the CIA’s debrief call.”
Hmm…A debrief. That sounded like a pretty good idea to Luke.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.
“Like what?”
“Like I’m lunch.”
“Oh, uh, I didn’t realise I was.” He needed to be more careful. “Do you want another glass of champagne?”
“Better not. Emmy’s sending through some files she wants me to look at.”
She was? Luke hadn’t heard that part of the conversation. Most likely because he’d had other things on his mind.
“I could do with checking in at HC Systems, I guess. My staff have probably all started partying with me out of the office for a couple of days, and I’ve got at least fifty emails I need to go through.”
They went back to their desks and sat side-by-side, relaxed in each other’s company. Luke could get used to that. He already dreaded the thought of going back to his big, empty office with only his PA to talk to. Sure, his picture window had a great view over the city, but the one here was prettier. Each time Mack moved, her waterfall of red hair did funny things to his insides.
He was trying, and failing, to focus on a particularly dull contract when Mack suddenly retched, then grabbed the waste paper bin and threw up. Okay, maybe that wasn’t quite so lovely.
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” he asked. “Are you ill?” Then he looked up at Mack’s computer screen. “What the…?”
A scene that made Silence of the Lambs look like a fairy tale filled the screen. Surely that couldn’t be real?
“Is that…?”
“Philip? Yes.”
“I was going to say ‘real.’ But I guess you’ve answered that.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be sick. I just couldn’t help it.”
“I almost lost my lunch myself. Did one human being honestly do that to another?”
“The world’s full of monsters, but most people never realise how vile they really are. You can see why Jed and Logan were so worried about Emmy being captured now, can’t you?”
“Yes, I can. I can also see why Emmy has nightmares.”
“If history repeats itself, she won’t get much sleep for a few days. It’s a good thing she’s got some time off.”
Luke slowly began to understand why Emmy was the way she was. How many more of these unspeakable horrors had she witnessed? No wonder she’d hardened her soul.
And what about Mack? Seeing that…that… He closed his eyes, picturing Philip’s insides spilling out into that rusty bucket. The vision would haunt him for a long time. He put an arm around Mack, needing to feel her warmth to counteract the darkness that threatened humanity.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” he asked.
“No, it’s sunk in now. I’ll be fine.” She gave him a sheepish smile. “It’s not the first time this has happened.”
Luke closed his eyes, struggling to hold back his true thoughts, none of which were polite. “What more do you need to do with the pictures?”
“Just zoom in on certain parts and clean them up.”
“Do you want me to do it?”
“No, I’ll manage.”
Luke kept a careful eye as Mack opened the files again. She did what she had to without further incident, but he suspected she was putting a brave face on things. He couldn’t help glimpsing more of the gruesome images, and his appetite deserted him come dinnertime.
After spending so much time looking for Emmy, Luke and Mack both had work to catch up on. Two days passed in a blur of emails, programming, and meetings. Apart from a quick visit to Lower Foxford to check Tia hadn’t destroyed his house again, Luke spent all his spare time with Mack.
On Thursday evening, they ate a delicious meal of beef stroganoff, courtesy of Ruth, and after coffee, they hacked into the servers of a well-known dating website. After spending an hour or two reading who’d messaged who, they fired off a polite email suggesting the company update their security, signed Loki and Diablo.
“I can’t believe that guy sent a photo of himself dressed in that rubber outfit.”
Luke shuddered, wishing he could un-see the overweight man stuffed into the gimp costume. “And I can’t believe she agreed to meet him for a date.”
“And that guy who tried to sue the website when he burnt himself... What was he thinking?”
“Exactly. He really should have worn an apron when he tried to cook his date a bacon sandwich.”
Good food and a broken firewall—every hacker’s dream. Despite the money, the cars, and the made-to-measure suits, Luke was a geek at heart, and he’d finally met his soul mate.
Mack lingered outside his door as they headed for bed, and it took all his self-control not to invite her in. What would she say if he did? Apart from the near kiss in the control room after Emmy came back, she’d kept him firmly in the friend zone. He tried to see her the same way, but every time she bit that bottom lip or arched her back as she stretched, blood flowed straight to his little head. Life with Mack was hard, but without her? That didn’t bear thinking about.
“What do you want for dinner?” Luke asked Mack the next afternoon. His last meeting had dragged on for hours, and all he’d eaten since lunch was a packet of digestive biscuits.
“I don’t know. It’s Ruth’s day off, so we’re on our own.”
“In that case, why don’t we go out to eat? Call it a late celebration of Emmy’s return.”
“Why not? As long as we don’t have chocolate for dessert. I ate most of that box of candy you bought me while I upgraded the secondary database this afternoon.”
“You didn’t save me any?”
“I left the Turkish delight.”
Fantastic. The only ones he didn’t like. “Thanks.”
“I’ll make it up to you.”
Oh, she’d better. “How about Japanese?”
“I love Japanese. There’s a great place in Kensington.”
He smiled at her. “Give me the name, and I’ll make a reservation.
“Perfect.”
Yes, she was.