12. Chapter 12
twelve
Asurprisetobesurebutawelcomeone - Bilmuri
Following Evening; Eleven Days Since Talia’s Abduction
The office was dark and quiet as Dimitri made his way up the stairs to Jackie’s office.
Most agents had long left for the day. He’d overheard a few talking about their evening plans during his workout that morning, so he wasn’t surprised to see the building mostly abandoned when he returned that evening.
He leaned in the door to the office, watching Jackie work at her desk for a few minutes before asking, “Were you planning on going home tonight?”
Jackie’s head shot up from where she was staring at her computer. Her eyes glanced back toward the time on the screen. “It’s only five. I’ve got a few hours before you need to be asking that.”
He nodded as if accepting her answer. “Alright, well, I had plans tonight, so I was wondering.”
Jackie’s face fell. He couldn’t quite read it, couldn’t quite tell why. She was clearly distracted by something, so why did the idea of him having plans without her make her face shift like that?
“No worries,” she said, trying to sound casual. “I’ll let you know when I make it home.”
He smiled, snorting softly at her. “Well, I kind of need you for said plans.”
Her face changed again, curiosity blending into conflict as she decided if she had time for whatever he had planned. She turned back to whatever was on her computer screen and sighed. “Give me a few minutes to finish this up, and we can go.”
“Take your time,” he replied, excited that she was actually going to go home at a reasonable hour. “I’ll be back in ten minutes to walk you home.”
Her eyes narrowed at him, but she turned back to her work.
Dimitri had an unnerving way of arriving at the exact moment he said he would. Exactly ten minutes after leaving her office, Jackie looked up to find him leaning in her doorway again, this time holding a small square box.
“What’s that?” she asked, shuffling a stack of papers before making her way to the filing cabinet and locking them away.
“You’ll see.” He smiled.
She returned to her desk and paused, eyes shifting from the box to his face.
His dimples were almost visible under the beard.
There was a softness around his eyes that she hadn’t seen since the night of Emil’s show.
Jackie’s stomach sank watching him now. He’d worked so hard trying to take care of her.
Whatever he had planned for her, she’d go along with it.
She needed to think of a way to repay him for all the care he’d tried giving her.
“Can you come here?” she asked. Besides everything else happening, what she needed to discuss tonight weighed heavily on her.
Dimitri walked to her, setting the box down on her desk and gently wrapped her in his arms.
She pulled out of his grasp and crouched down behind her desk. He watched with a raised eyebrow before following her down to the floor.
“I hate to say it, Jacks, but I don’t think there’s enough room for sex down here,” he joked, his head poking into the leg hole of Jackie’s desk where she was waiting for him.
She rolled her eyes at him before leaning forward to press the back of the desk.
A short and wide drawer popped out, and she collected it before climbing out and sitting on the floor with her back against the drawers.
Dimitri remained on his knees before her.
He stared between the box in Jackie’s hands and the small hole it had just come from.
“Did Theo know about this?” he asked.
Jackie shrugged. “If he did, it was empty when he found it. Masters hid the contents in my things the night of the coup so Theo wouldn’t have access to it.
” She stared down into the small box and sighed.
“You need to know where it is, how to access it and what’s in it in case something happens to me. ”
Dimitri’s anxiety spiked. “What are you planning?” he asked, not hiding the panic in his voice.
She reached forward and gently cupped his cheek in her palm. “I don’t have anything planned at the moment. But they weren’t supposed to take Talia. It was supposed to be me. And it made me realize that you need to know what to do and how to run this place if something happened to me.”
“I have no interest in running this place, so you better not leave it to me anyway.”
She sighed again, ignoring him and pulled a flash drive out of the box. “All financial records, safehouse information, every agent's personal information, all passwords, and basic housekeeping to run this place are on this flashdrive. All encrypted and password-protected.”
He stared at her, the bile in his stomach feeling like acid. “What’s the password?”
“I changed it when I took over the place.” She finally looked up at him. The sadness on her face made Dimitri sick. “It’s our birthdays. Year, month, date; yours then mine.”
She returned the flash drive to the drawer and the drawer to the hidden compartment in the desk. She then explained exactly where to push on the desk to release the drawer before asking Dimitri to repeat it and try doing it. He opened it on the first try.
Jackie nodded, satisfied. She leaned back against the side desk drawers and planted her hands against the floor, trying to centre herself.
She felt something metal under her fingers.
“Oh my god,” she breathed, picking up the slim ring with a marquise-cut ruby in the centre.
She turned, showing the ring to Dimitri, whose shoulders fell at the sight of it.
“How’d it get there?” He took the ring from her, turning it over to examine it in the overhead light.
Jackie had explained its significance during their rushed drive home from Montreal.
Their priority was to get Talia home, but Jackie had urged that they also needed to find the ring to give her when they finally did get her home.
“It must have fallen off when… she was in here…” Dimitri gave her a sideways look as she trailed off. She looked at him from the corner of her eye, as if embarrassed. “Okay, so you’re not the only person I have sex with in here.”
He snorted, handing the ring back to her. “You should find somewhere safe to keep that until we get her home.”
Jackie nodded, turning the ring over in her fingers now.
She sighed again and met his gaze. “I don’t have anything planned,” she reaffirmed.
“We have to figure out where Talia is before we can figure out how to get her back. But… I’m scared,” she admitted.
“It was supposed to be me. I don’t want to think about what she’s going through because she doesn’t deserve it…
and it was supposed to be me,” she breathed, a tear falling down her cheek.
Dimitri leaned forward, pulling Jackie into a tight hug. “I know, baby. I’m scared too.” He held her as she sniffled, wiping a tear from her eye when she finally pulled away. He stroked her hair gently until she seemed settled again. “We should get going.”
They stood, and Jackie glanced back at the box Dimitri had set on her desk. “What is that?”
He smiled at her. “Did you not notice what day it is?”
Her brows furrowed as she thought about it before checking her watch to confirm. Her shoulders fell as she looked back up at him. “It’s Valentine’s Day.”
His smile grew. “Let’s go home.”