Chapter 2 #2
"And if she gets in over her head?" I ask.
"Then you get her out." He says simply.
I like simple. Except nothing about this suddenly feels simple. Before I have a chance to question him further, the door opens.
She comes in like she owns the room. Which she doesn't. She stands there confidently, like the room hasn't already decided what it thinks of her. Fair enough. It hasn't. Well, I haven’t anyway.
Not until I've looked at her for a full three seconds and updated my read.
What in the… She’s wearing scuffed combat boots with a fleck of blue paint dried into the leather. Her laptop bag is slung across her body, covered edge to edge in stickers. A cartoon skull, a paint-splattered peace sign and something that resembles a cat wearing sunglasses.
She looks like she wandered into the wrong building on her way to a comic con.
And then she looks at me. Really looks. I study her as she takes me in.
She doesn’t flinch or hesitate. I rise to meet her and she doesn’t glance nervously at my gun belt.
She doesn’t shift backwards as I approach.
All the things she doesn’t do speaks volumes, most civilians do at least one of those things.
Instead, she studies me the way someone studies a locked door they're fairly certain they can find a way in. She’s staring at me like I'm a problem she's already half-solved. And she's mildly delighted about it.
She looks at Hunter, then back at me. "So, you're the muscle."
Hunter's mouth twitches. He won’t smile, he doesn’t dare.
"Dozer." I reach my hand out to shake hers.
"Kenzi Sullivan,” she returns. "Dozer." She tries the name out like she's deciding whether she likes it. "Is that a nickname or a warning label?"
"Yes."
The laugh escapes her before she can stop it. The room is lit up from the sound of it. I can’t help but grin and the realization hits somewhere low in my chest. I don't like that. I file the reaction away and ignore it.
She drops into the chair across from me without waiting to be invited, sets the sticker-covered laptop bag on the table, and pulls out a computer.
She doesn’t fumble or show a single sign of being nervous, which is huge.
The number of civilian assets we’ve used who take one look at me and start to stammer is…
well, I’d rather not think about it. I’m not sure what it is about my presence that scares people.
Outside of my size, I’m a fairly regular Joe.
Sometimes, Ruby says I scowl without noticing.
I tell her it’s just my face doing its thing.
What is it they call it? RBF? I like to think I’m only scary when the situation demands it. Even if others disagree.
Hunter starts talking logistics and Kenzi starts typing.
I don’t watch her face, I watch her hands.
Faces tell you what people want you to see, hands will tell you the truth.
Her hands are steady and competent. She pulls up the mission files before Hunter finishes explaining what system she needs access to.
That gets my attention.
"How did you—" I start to ask but she interrupts me. I notice the quick upwards quirk of her mouth.
"I hacked the folder."
Hunter stops. I look at him. He looks at her. Kenzi glances up to see us staring at her. Someone hacked Hunter… that’s new.
"Technically, I authenticated."
Hunter stares her down. "Technically?"
"Your firewall is embarrassingly… polite." She explains.
Hunter rubs a hand over his jaw. "Ruby's going to love you."
"Who's Ruby?"
"Our resident computer genius." Hunter explains. “She’s said something pretty similar and wants to upgrade everything.”
Kenzi smiles. "You should listen to her. I like her already."
Hunter continues his briefing, giving me no new information. As I listen to him, I watch Kenzi and not because I want to but because I find her fascinating. Yes, there’s a difference.
At least that's what I tell myself.
She wears no makeup that I can see, and her hair is pulled back in a messy bun. She has a single tiny skull hanging from one ear and a diamond stud in the other. Her fingernails are different colors. Nothing about this woman matches, not even remotely.
I should not notice these things, but I do. Then she looks up and our eyes meet. For one second, neither of us moves. Her eyes are greener than I realized with a ring of gold closer to the center.
I look away first and damn if that doesn’t annoy me. I’m not one to back down from a dare and that’s exactly what her stare felt like. I need to remain professional, she’s an asset and it’s my job to protect the asset, not catalog eye color while Hunter briefs a body recovery.
I go back to listening to Hunter as he finishes the operational overview.
"The body leaves Charlotte within the hour. You'll travel under civilian cover. No Spartan vehicles. No electronic communication unless absolutely necessary."
Kenzi nods. "What's the estimated transit time?"
"Depends." Hunter answers.
"On?" Kenzi raises an eyebrow.
"Whether somebody tries to kill you." Hunter explains.
She considers that. "I guess that would be a reasonable delay."
I look at her and she shrugs.
"What?" She asks.
"You don't seem concerned." I inform her.
"I am." She says with a reassuring smile. I don’t believe her.
"You don't look it."
She smiles again. "That's because panic makes me ugly."