Chapter 2
Chapter 2
L eo was early, but Esther still waited on the street for him, a bag slung over her shoulder, her hands loaded with something he couldn’t discern. He wondered if he was supposed to get out and open the door for her. How far did this chauffer gig extend? And how long would it take before it made him weary? He was a highly trained agent, and he had been reduced to shadowing the world’s most un-wanted woman. Ouch for him and his long and storied career.
She didn’t say good morning as she slid into the car, but she did hand him whatever was in her fingers. Bread, as it turned out, slathered thickly with butter. He was still half hung over, but he didn’t protest the offering. And it wasn’t until he’d polished it off in three bites that he realized how good it was.
“You make that?” he asked.
“Compliments of my grandmother,” she said, tossing him the almost smile again.
“Man, if I had access to something that good, I don’t think I’d share,” he mused.
“What’s the point of not sharing? It’s only fresh for a couple of days, and I can’t eat it all within that time. Hoarding does no one any favors.”
“Good point, give me some of your coffee,” he commanded. He was teasing her and therefore surprised when she put her travel mug in his hand.
“It’s for you. I already ate and drank.”
“Thanks. I’m not good with breakfast,” he said.
“Something told me you weren’t,” she said.
“Do others realize you’re secretly sassy, or is it too subtle for their notice?” he asked.
“People definitely realize something is different about me,” she said, turning to stare out the window.
“Nervous?” he asked.
“I don’t get nervous,” she said.
She didn’t seem nervous, but neither was she the cocky sort. In fact she seemed…flat. Her tone lacked intonation, her face lacked expression. If not for the fact that she’d mildly teased him twice and almost smiled once, he might find her robotic. As it was, he found her soothing, if a bit odd. He would rather have unnatural silence versus incessant chattering, especially when his head pounded. Though, after wolfing down her bread and coffee, his head didn’t pound so much. And the silence was so gentle on his nerves he felt downright cheerful as they pulled into the lot.
He paused at the gate while the guard inspected their credentials. He wore civilian clothes, but Leo could tell he was military. Was that his next ignoble landing spot, playing guard to a building full of spies? When he thought about it, maybe the guard had it better. At least his position was respectable. At least he wasn’t playing nursemaid to a civilian.
At last the guard waved them through. Leo found parking and faced Esther. “Last chance to back out.”
“I said goodbye to the life I left behind,” she said.
She seemed sincere in her lack of nerves. Leo seemed to be feeling them on her behalf. She had no idea the world she was about to enter. Clearly she was na?ve and innocent, had probably never seen death, probably never met a bad guy in real life. Behind the walls of this building, she would be confronted with all the ugliness in the world. He swiped a hand wearily over his face. Blast The Colonel for giving him this job that made him feel and think when all he wanted to do was numbly exist.
He lowered his hand and saw Esther watching him, eyes alight with questions she wouldn’t voice.
“Let’s roll,” he snapped, much harsher than he intended. Keeping her safe was one thing. Being in charge of her emotional wellbeing was quite another, a task he lacked the energy, stamina, or desire to do. He expected to see her face crumple like a wounded bunny. It was the female’s natural reaction to him, it seemed. But Esther merely turned her stoic eyes to the window as she reached for the handle of her door, and somehow that was worse. But Leo wasn’t the sort to apologize, so he didn’t. They entered the building in silence, both going through the many layers of security by rote, as if they’d done it a million times before, when in reality this was their first.
Leo pushed the button on the elevator, and the door slid safely closed. “How did you end up here?” he blurted when he couldn’t take the silence any longer.
“I like puzzles and patterns. I thought the contest was for a free can of coffee. And then someone called to tell me I’d been recruited.” She paused, frowning. “It was all very odd, even for me.”
“You didn’t have to go through with it,” he said, his tone half accusing, half exasperated. Did she even realize what she was in for?
“Did you ever feel like you’ve been wheeling through life coddiwomple?” she asked.
“Cobby what?”
“Coddiwomple, the feeling of speeding somewhere with no destination in mind. That was my life. At least this is a destination,” she said.
“Coddiwomple,” he repeated, letting the phrase fill up the oppressive quiet of the elevator. Somehow it did, soaking up the silence like a paper towel on an oil slick. Esther gave a little smile, as if thinking the same thing.
They arrived at the designated floor, and Leo took a breath. There was one part of the job The Colonel warned him about, one thing he dreaded. And it wasn’t a what, so much as a who.
The doors opened and Leo came face to face with his old rival and new supervisor, Lieutenant Cameron Ridge.
“Lieutenant,” Ridge said, nodding slightly.
“Lieutenant,” Leo said, nodding in return. “This is Esther.” The introduction was unnecessary. Esther stood between them, big-eyed gaze bouncing back and forth. But somehow Leo felt like he needed to establish dominance where Esther was concerned, in case Ridge got any ideas. Ladies had always gone gaga for his pretty boy features and SEAL pedigree, much to Leo’s annoyance. Ridge turned his megawatt smile on Esther.
“Esther, I’m Cameron Ridge. Welcome. Follow me to your cubicle and we’ll meet the rest of the team. That’s LuAnn.” He pointed to a woman with ebony skin, her hair in some sort of twist. Currently she was on the phone and did nothing more than toss them a distracted smile, but it was a nice smile and seemed unfazed when neither Esther nor Leo returned it. “Babs.” Ridge pointed to another cubicle where a pretty woman with long dark hair sat typing at a computer. She tossed them a hello. Leo made a mental note to come back to that one later for further inspection. “Ellen.” Ellen was middle aged and blond, her hair falling roundly along her chin. She gave them the same smile as her coworkers. “Blue. You’ll be working closely with him.”
They paused by Blue’s cubicle. “Esther and Leo,” Blue said with the odd tone of someone who was glad to be adding a face to knowledge he already possessed. In Leo’s last assignment, he was imbedded with a group of anarchists in Portland. Blue had all the markings of a hacker, and Leo was instantly suspicious. The good ones were usually not on the side of law and order. And if he was a hacker, he had doubtless peeked into all their personal records. Hackers couldn’t help themselves; they were the peeping Toms of the virtual world. Leo regarded him with a cool stare, wishing for his shades. He hated being without them, hated letting other people see his eyes. He wanted to be the observer, not the observed.
“And Maggie,” Ridge continued. His tone was different this time, pulling Leo’s attention off the hacker and onto the woman in question. She was heavily pregnant, possibly uncomfortable, but she smiled warmly.
“Hi, welcome to the team. We’re pleased to have you.”
Leo stared, not at her but at Ridge’s hand where it rested on her shoulder, his thumb rubbing a slow circle. Lieutenant Cameron Ridge was involved with a coworker, one who was pregnant, no less. The guy was so squeaky clean and by-the-book he could have been a military poster child, back in the day. Was he having an affair with this woman? Was the baby his?
“Maggie’s my wife,” Ridge added, as if he could sense Leo’s shock and judgment.
Of course they were married. Cameron Ridge would never do anything as scandalous as impregnate a random coworker. Still, he had bent his rigid self-control enough to become involved in a relationship with a coworker. Maybe he was human after all.
“You’re in your sixth month,” Esther said, taking them all by surprise.
“Yes,” Maggie said, blinking at her in question.
Esther reached out, laying her hands on Maggie’s bump. “A boy,” she announced. “He’s already in position. He’ll come early, quickly, and be over eight pounds.”
Maggie blinked at her. “Are you a baby psychic?”
“No, my mother is a midwife.”
“Oh, how fascinating,” Maggie exclaimed.
“Not really, it’s dangerous and a bit archaic. The fact that she hasn’t been sued or prosecuted is some kind of anomaly. So much can go wrong when a woman has a baby,” Esther replied.
“Oh,” Maggie stammered, her face paling slightly. Ridge looked similarly uncomfortable.
“Look, there’s our cubicle,” Leo said. “Let’s go.” He took Esther by the elbow and steered her down the hall to the empty office.
“Did I say something wrong?” she asked, her flat affect not revealing any emotion.
“Pregnant women generally don’t like hearing all the ways things could wrong,” he said. He sat and propped his feet on the table, prepared for a long day of boredom.
“Working here means she’s intelligent, and intelligent women know the inherent risks involved with childbirth,” Esther said.
“There’s knowing something and then there’s feeling it,” Leo said.
“The feeling part is where people lose me,” Esther said. She shrugged out of her oversized cardigan and sat. “Should I go apologize?”
“Nah, that would only make it weirder,” he said. “Let’s hide out here in our cubicle until they come tell us what we’re supposed to be doing.”
“Monachopsis,” she murmured.
“Who?” he asked, darting his head around her in search of coffee. Had they passed a tray of muffins on the way in, or had that been his imagination?
“Monachopsis, the subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place,” Esther said.
“That sums up my entire life,” Leo said.
“Same,” Esther replied, her eyes roaming the tiny cubicle. She turned on the computer and began arranging the display to her liking. The phone buzzed. Leo answered, momentarily forgetting he wasn’t the one who was supposed to answer.
“Blue for you,” he said, holding the phone to Esther. She took it and listened a minute before hanging up.
“What did he say?” Leo asked when it became apparent she wouldn’t volunteer the information.
“He wants me to look at some information they’re working on,” she said, clicking open a file in her email.
“Can I look at it?”
She glanced at him over her shoulder. “Why would I care?”
“Some women don’t like men to come in and take over.”
He thought she laughed, but the sound lacked amusement. “I can’t imagine. In any case, suit yourself.” She scooted her chair over so he could pull up beside her. Her scent overwhelmed him, shocking in its potency. He inhaled deeply and she glanced at him.
“I’ve been away from women too long, apparently,” he said.
“What?” She stared at him blankly, as if she hadn’t noticed the way his nose had tried to suck up all available scent molecules.
She was so…other. It didn’t occur to him to be anything less than honest. “You smell incredible.”
“Ah. Here.” She held out her wrist for his closer inspection, allowing him to take another lingering whiff.
“What is that?” he asked. Whatever it was, he was going to buy it for the next woman in his life and douse her in it like a baptism.
“Vanilla,” Esther said and faced forward.
“Vanilla what?”
“Vanilla, actual vanilla. My family buys it in bulk from Haiti.”
“It’s like sitting next to a sugar cookie,” he said, not resisting the urge to inhale again.
“Men are hardwired to enjoy food scents.”
She said it with her usual lack of inflection, leaving him to wonder if she purposely wore vanilla to appeal to men. “Is that why you chose it?”
“That would be absurd,” she said.
“That wasn’t a no,” he countered but she ignored him, intent now on reading whatever was on the computer. Even though a moment ago he’d been dead curious about the work, he was now more curious about her. He studied her profile, secure in the knowledge that she was so into her task she had no idea he stared. She was pretty in a wholesome, untouched sort of way. She wore no makeup, had probably never worn makeup, but she also had that sort of milky clean complexion that spoke of proper care and nutrition. Fast food and soft drinks likely hadn’t been a part of her life, if the homemade bread was any indication. Her hair was dark, long, and thickly contained in the milkmaid braid. He wondered, all of a sudden, what it would look like let loose and quickly reeled his thoughts back. Nope. She was the job, and therefore off limits. But more than that, her virginal wholesomeness put her out of reach. Even after such a short acquaintance he knew they were on opposite ends of the spectrum. Leo had lived hard and fast, shoving as much depravity as he could into his thirty two years. Esther had likely been sheltered from everything he’d done, from his very existence. Somehow the thought made him unaccountably sad, for reasons he couldn’t articulate. Maybe because long ago he’d been much closer to the person she was than the person he’d become. So many years on the job, so many emotional wounds had made him calloused, hard, closed off, other in a whole different way.
Suddenly Esther stood, jarring him from his morose reverie “What?” he asked, knowing already she wouldn’t tell him if he didn’t drag it out of her.
“There’s a problem.”
“What?” he asked again, but she was already out of their cubicle and heading toward Blue, now deep in conversation with the pretty brunette—Babs, was it? Are they a thing? Leo wondered but had no time to find out as Esther burst onto the scene, scoring their immediate attention.
“There’s a problem,” she declared.
“With what?” Blue asked.
“Can you bring up the thing you sent me?” She gestured to his computer the way his grandmother used to gesture at Leo’s gun, as if it were a thing beyond her comprehension.
Blue typed, his fingers a blur on the keys, and Esther leaned in. “There. That’s the same man.”
Blue leaned in, too. “What? No, those are two different people.”
“No. It’s the same man,” Esther said.
Blue stared at the screen. “How are you getting that?”
“See, the structure of the face is the same with slight cosmetic differences,” Esther said, tapping the screen.
“But these have been run through facial recognition software purposely designed to recognize facial structure,” Blue said.
“If I were going to get cosmetic surgery to change my appearance, I would go for something to fool the software,” Esther said. “Can you do an overlay of the skeletal structures?”
“I can do anything,” Blue said with so much underlying annoyance Leo wondered if he was the one who wrote the facial recognition software. Secretly, he hoped Esther was right, if for no other reason than she was his responsibility. They were the outsiders here, both of them together. But he wasn’t certain she was. He’d been in the spy game a long time, done a lifetime’s worth of surveillance. To him, the pictures looked like two separate men, at least until Blue did some sort of computer mojo and laid the images atop each other. He had some sort of software that mapped their features, something that looked like it might be used to reconstruct a face from the skull bones, like with mummies at the museum. Less than thirty seconds after he started the overlay, it beeped with a message: The match was exact.
“Uh-oh,” Blue said, reaching for his phone. He pushed a button and spoke again. “We have a problem, and you’re going to want to hear about it in person. Right.” He stood, suddenly tense. “Come with me.” Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked away.
Esther and Leo looked at each other. “ Are we in trouble ?” she mouthed.
“ You are ,” he mouthed in return, miming a halo around his head. The corner of her mouth tipped in the almost smile again. He took her elbow and propelled her after Blue.