DARC Ops: The Complete Series

by Jamie Garrett

  “Hmm,” Jackson mumbled. He took a big, loud breath and Sam could almost imagine the wheels turning in his boss’ head. The suspicions. As an expert in body language and voice analysis, Sam could identity and interpret lies with almost one hundred percent accuracy. The head and eye movements, the minute affectations to voice. As a seasoned expert, he had a systematic way of breaking it down, of translating the subtlest of clues. But for all that knowledge, it didn’t mean that he could lie to save his life. Just because he knew all the tricks, didn’t mean he could pull them off, himself. In a way, that was a source of pride, not being a good liar himself. But then again, there were times when lying was absolutely necessary. And in those times he’d falter.

  In lieu of hiding his true intentions for staying in New Orleans, Sam could always just change the subject. “So how are Matthias and Laurel doing?”

  A momentary silence on the other end stirred up a little worry in Sam. But his jaw finally unclenched when Jackson decided to go along with the misdirection. “They’re good,” Jackson said with almost a dragging hesitation. “Matthias is recovering quiet well. He’s on crutches now.”

  “That’s good.”

  “He has no feeling in two middle toes.”

  “Oh,” Sam said. Was that serious? He tried to imagine two of his own toes having no feeling, if it would have any ill effect. He was undecided, and so he asked. “Is that, like, a big problem?”

  Jackson paused for a moment and then, in an equally cautious voice, said, “To the best of my knowledge, he doesn’t surf, or walk tightropes, so . . .”

  “What about Laurel’s mother?”

  “The surgery was a success. She’s still undergoing treatment, but the prognosis looks good. Laurel’s quite happy.”

  Sam asked, “Have you had much time to talk with her?”

  “Laurel?”

  “She’s a hacker. Looking for work now her boss has gone to jail, I suspect.”

  “Alright, Sam.” Jackson’s tone had reverted back to the annoyed boss of a D.C. cybersecurity company. “You’re really going to stay in New Orleans?”

  Sam wasn’t too happy about the latest subject change. He’d been walking around in a little circle and now he stopped dead in his tracks, looking back at the front of a three-story, sky-blue-colored building. A restaurant, its warm glow seeping through the windows. He looked for inspiration, from anywhere at this point, on how he could explain things to Jackson.

  “And what about your class?” Jackson asked.

  “I’ve got some assistants that will cover for me.”

  Jackson sighed loudly, his breath blasting against the microphone. “You know I’ll need you back at here at some point.”

  Looking at the entrance, Sam spotted a woman. Black cocktail dress above bare legs. She stopped right before the door and was putting something away in her purse, fishing around in there before her hand re-emerged and went up to her hair, fluffing it out just right. She began to work on her clothes, flattening a wrinkle, all of this in front of the window. The light reflected on her hair, making it shine as she tussled it out and back over her shoulders. Even from the distance, she looked beautiful. And she was a good reason to end his call with Jackson.

  “Yeah,” Sam said, finishing up. “I’ll get back to you on that.”

  Sam ended his call, still watching as the woman reached back into her purse to draw out her phone. She checked something on it, and then finally straightened her shoulders and made her way through the front door. In her absence Sam wondered what it would be like, to date such a woman, to be with her. Sam put away his own phone, and then proceeded to adjust his own clothes, and his hair, feeling to make sure that the wind hadn’t kicked up something unruly, all before proceeding to the restaurant.

  He’d been feeling it all day, but now the nervousness had ramped up considerably. It would be good to finally get in there and sit down and have a drink. Settle in. It was almost comical, feeling this way. Like a kid. Like one of his damned students.

  “Reservation,” he answered to one of the wafer-thin blonde girls behind a small podium. “Hyde.”

  “Sam Hyde?”

  He nodded, and then followed her into the warm glow of the Maison Rouge. Walking past tables and plate-handed servers, he’d had the chance for a sneak peek at the menu. The aromas, the smiles of the recently served, the sounds of fierce cutlery. But food was the last thing on Sam’s mind.

  And when he finally saw what he truly wanted, he felt almost no appetite at all. It was a stark contrast. He had been famished for hours, but suddenly, instead of hunger, an odd fluttering sensation grew in his stomach. But even this sensation vanished as soon as her eyes met his. Then, there was nothing. No other people. No restaurant. Not even time itself, but just a blankness, a warm, cozy blanket surrounding them—and only them.

  “Hi, Clara,” he said, sounding a lot more nervous than he’d hoped.

  She greeted him with her own silly smile, and a contagious silly energy spread between them as Sam took his seat opposite. And for a moment, they just sat there smiling, waiting for the next introductory bit of small talk to get out of the way. He was instantly glad that she seemed as bad at this as he.

  “Nice place,” Sam said, before two menus and water glasses were dropped before them. He ordered a bottle of red and then sat back, admiring her. Still more silence until, “Okay, why is this so awkward?”

  She laughed with him. “I don’t know. But, seeing as how it’s already awkward, I might as well just get this over with now.”

  “Get what over with?”

  She had the napkin in her hands, twirling it, squeezing it. “I’m just curious about something.”

  “How can I help?” He studied her carefully, watching how she pursed her lips and looked down at her water glass, a hint of red on her cheeks. He chuckled softly. “Clara, what is it?”

  “I’m just, uh . . .” She laughed again nervously, still playing with the napkin. “Fuck, I always say the stupidest things.”

  It was a big part of why he liked her so much. He’d finally met his match for social awkwardness. She was certainly unique. A professional. A poet. Speed reader and typist. Clara worked at the courthouse as a stenographer. She was also a single mother, a good one, who worked her ass off yet still had a little time to enjoy life. More than ever, he was hoping to be a part of that time, even in some small way like this diner at Maison Rogue. And perhaps more.

  “I was just thinking,” she said, her voice trailing off.

  “Uh-oh,” Sam said with a smile.

  “Yeah, I know. Not smart, huh?” Her gaze finally moved up to meet his, her hazel eyes burning so beautifully. The muscles around her mouth seemed to loosen, her lips almost quivering open as she seemed ready to finally say it, whatever it was.

  God, he hoped she would say it.

  But then her head shot down and she was looking next to her chair. “Ah, damn, hold on.” She was reached down and brought a phone back up to the table.

  Although it was an etiquette faux pas, Sam really didn’t mind. She was a busy professional, a juggler of many important odds and ends. At least one of those odds or ends was well worth an interruption.

  “What’s wrong?” she said into the phone, her voice half concerned and half annoyed. “You sure? Molly isn’t being a terror, is she?” Clara looked at Sam with an apologetic wince before mouthing the word sorry.

  Sam shook his head with a furrowed brow. Nonsense. Don’t be sorry at all. And when Clara got back to her conversation, he made sure to avoid eye contact. He tried to be as unobtrusive as possible, a non-entity looking away, at anything but Clara’s conversation. He took a sip of wine. He picked up the menu. He perused the entrees: the smoked steak tartare, the crab and green papaya remoulade. Should he get the chicory coffee lacquered quail, or a fig-braised duckling on a sweet potato mascarpone pancake? Or maybe play it safe with shrimp and grits . . . He’d been eating that almost daily with no let up.

  Sam then sudd
enly felt Clara’s eyes on him, and then heard her quiet, hesitant wording of, “It’s . . . going well.”

  It . . . He wondered what that ‘it’ could be, how it was phrased in the original question. Had Clara just been asked about her night? Was she asked about her . . . date?

  He took a peek at Clara. She was growing a little antsy, her body shifting around more often and uncomfortably. She kept talking, saying, “Yeah . . . yeah . . . okay . . . yeah . . .”

  He’d known about Clara’s eight-year-old daughter from the beginning. Molly, in fact, was their first point of contact, the first excuse to talk to each other, after the little girl had bowled into his knees after turning a blind corner in a courthouse hallway. Molly must have grown tired of waiting for her mom to finish up a conversation, and decided that a brisk run—eventually into the belly of a grownup—would be a good enough distraction from the boredom of adulthood. Even for Sam, the outcome was well worth the buckling of knees. He and the court stenographer could finally talk—rather, exchange an apology and its acceptance. A simple little nothing that, as he’d hoped, could blossom into several weeks of having somewhat of a reason to talk again. And there they were, at Maison Rouge, blushing over wine.

  Hell, he owed that little girl a lot. She broke the ice for him. What’s a simple little dinner interruption in contrast?

  “Sorry,” Clara said to him when the call was over.

  “For what?”

  “The phone. I know that it’s bad form.”

  He shrugged. “Special circumstance.”

  “Yeah,” Clara laughed. “She’s special, alright.”

  Sam could well imagine. Molly was certainly cute, if not occasionally demonically spunky. Like her mother, she had quick and intelligent eyes and an uncanny adult’s wit. Sam knew enough about adolescent psychology not to scare Clara with the forecast of a troublesome, yet supremely worthwhile little girl. “Is everything okay, though?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Clara said, reaching for her wine. “That was just the sitter, asking about some rules.”

  “Rules?”

  “You know, Molly thinks she can con her way into some further allowances when I’m not around.”

  Sam smiled and said, “She’s clever.”

  “Yeah, exactly.” Clara was not smiling. She grabbed a menu, cleared her throat, and said, “So, anyways.”

  “Yeah, you were just saying something about . . . about saying something uncomfortable?”

  Her look of confusion quickly morphed into a little scowl. “Oh . . . Oh, for God’s sake.”

  “What?” He chuckled a little, amused with how much fluster she’d kicked up in only the first five minutes of their dinner. What was it? What the hell did she have to say?

  Clara said, “She even brought it up again.”

  “The babysitter?”

  “Yeah, she, uh . . .” Clare winced slightly. “She used the word date.”

  Sam rolled his eyes. “Oh, my God.”

  “What?”

  “Nah, I’m just kidding. It’s not a big deal.”

  “Like, it’s not a date?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “Well, I was kinda hoping it was, to be honest with you.”

  She let out a deep breath, her shoulders lowering like a weight had been lifted off them.

  Sam felt relieved, too. “That’s what this is, right? Or . . .?”

  “No,” she nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Which one?”

  Scrunching up her mouth, Clara seemed to be deliberating on the spot. She finally asked, “But what about Washington?”

  She was skipping ahead. Way ahead. And Sam liked it. However, his job in D.C. and the necessity to be there for it and for Jackson would become a problem sooner rather than later—if this was, after all, a date.

  “When are you going back?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m trying to put it off.”

  “The semester, though.”

  “I’ve got it covered.”

  “And what about when it’s back in session?”

  Sam bowed his head in a sad little nod, a most unfortunate acquiescence. That damn school . . .

  “Not that I’m trying to jump too far ahead,” she said.

  “It’s a perfectly reasonable concern. And maybe not too far ahead. I will have to return, sooner or later.”

  She forced a smile. “Am I worrying too much?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Typical me. Here we’ve just confirmed date status, and already I’m . . .” She rolled her eyes.

  And he shook it off. “Nah . . .”

  “. . .already sabotaging it.”

  “Well, let’s celebrate it.” He reached for his glass and held it up across the table. “To our first, official, awkward date.”

  She smiled and it was a great relief. She even held up her drink to his, the unification of glass clinking brightly in the restaurant. “To us,” she said.

  “To us.”

  Clara licked her lips after taking a drink. She complimented the wine, and then leaned back into her chair. She seemed much more settled now, despite their possibly unsettled future. D.C., New Orleans . . . What mattered most was that they were here, now, together. And so after the tense opening, each of them relaxed over wine and menu deliberations. Sam made what he thought was a very obvious and unforced compliment about her dress, as well as her restaurant selection. Although he hadn’t even tried the food yet, the dark ambiance had already seduced more than one of his senses. So typical of New Orleans. He’d miss the hell out of places like this. D.C., in contrast, seemed ever the more plastic and fake. Everything there seemed to have an ulterior motive. Lies to be deciphered.

  “So how’s the quitting going?” he asked.

  “Smoking?”

  He nodded. “Did you light up today?”

  “Nope,” she said, pulling her right hand off the table and hiding it in her lap. The move spoke volumes.

  “I know how hard it is. Took me years, off and on.”

  Clara frowned and said, “It sucks so much. Doesn’t it? I hate it.”

  Sam nodded, trying not to stare at her so intently, trying not to let on that he knew she was lying. “It’s a process,” he said. “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

  It wasn’t always particularly wise to explain everything about his unique powers—especially on a date. He’d already let one relationship get ruined by the paranoia that his abilities could generate, warranted or not. It would take a strong, confident—and above all else—honest woman to live with it. He knew it was tough. After all, it wouldn’t be much fun for anyone, living with a human lie detector.

  Besides, honest people were hard to come by. Perhaps he could settle for mostly honest. He could settle for a 99% Clara, especially if it was just about smoking.

  “I like that,” Clara said. “It’s a process.”

  “Absolutely. One step at a time.”

  “I’m all for taking things slow,” she said, her fingers gliding up her wine stem. “Especially, you know, if it’s the right thing.”

  2

  Clara

  They took their dessert to a park bench away from the crowds and the glowing amber of street lamps. There, under the cozy darkness of a cypress tree, their bodies moved in with an instinctual magnetism. Animal magnetism. Sam had what someone less distracted might call the right match of pheromones, but in the moment all she cared about was the scent of cypress wood, alcohol, and him. It was intoxicating. She needed to get closer to it. First was his chest, her head resting on it, finding it a little more immense than she’d expected. Sam tended to wear a button-down shirt and jacket, sometimes even with a waistcoat, and she was surprised at the muscled mass of him underneath an unbuttoned and spread sports jacket.

  God, it was so wretchedly bittersweet. The magnetism, the attraction, was immediate and easy, and, it seemed, deliciously available. The sadness, however, was of a deferred variety. An extended unanswered question. It hung over them, even
as they sat on the park bench, the wings of an albatross hovering over them dark like the cypress: their uncertainties and worries about the future. Possibly their future. Or not. Sure, the feel of his unflexed bicep under her hand was warm and sexy and all . . . Well, no, it was pretty fucking amazing—like the rest of him, outside and in. But what about the questions? Those damn questions . . . What could silence those?

  For the time being, it was Sam’s lips. His hand had gone from her neck to underneath her jaw, lifting her face to greet his. Smiling, and then not smiling, and then touching softly there, his late-day stubble scratching a little on her cheek. And their kiss, the shared taste of restaurant breath mints, the shared exuberance of tongues. The connection of their mouths, just like everything else about this surprising connection, had grown hot and unwieldy and so impulsive. So strange that she’d fallen this way, drawn happily into quicksand, into the unknown. And already, on that first real date, on the bench and on each other, already she’d felt the possibility of being ruined in some way—only she wasn’t sure if it was the good or bad type. All Clara knew was that she wanted it decided.

  Clara turned off the radio and drove the rest of the way from downtown to the suburbs in silence. She couldn’t stop thinking about him. A good problem to have. It was like an almost trance-like meditation on her man, her funny, sensitive, sexy Sam. It had been going so well. The date especially, to cap it off. The date. Hell yes, it was a date. She’d wanted that so badly. It had been declared like the victorious finding in one of her court cases, outright and unquestionably. And then, the kiss outside on their park bench. It made her feel warm again, reliving it, the way he kissed her so deeply. It made her feel at least eight years younger—and not at all like a parent of an eight-year-old. And for that, Clara was almost tempted to feel guilty. She rarely took nights off for herself, time and energy away from Molly, who had been so central to everything. But it was at the insistence of her friends—especially the one watching her daughter tonight, a friend, Bren, who had facilitated this whole thing. According to her, it was time to branch out and reclaim some personal time. A personal, extracurricular life. Fun. Was that the kind of fun that Bren had in mind? Park-bench fun?