But cleaning up the mess in Grant’s heart wasn’t so easy. With a frustrated grunt, he stood and made his way to his bedroom. The best course of action he could think of to take right now was to get some sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a big day at the firm. Now that Grant and the other associates had been given a chance to read the memos from Hook Labs, they would be expected to begin drafting documents to start a lawsuit against Mr. Astor. With the scientists from Washington on their way to Chicago next week, there was a lot of pressure to get things done quickly. Grant already knew he had several extra-long workdays ahead of him.
Not to mention, he had the meeting with the Fur Coats tomorrow night. They were all coming over to Grant’s apartment, which meant in less than twenty-four hours Storm would be standing in his living room.
Grant tried his best not to think about Storm as he changed into pajama pants and an old t-shirt. If he didn’t somehow manage to get her off his mind, he was never going to be able to get to sleep. He squeezed his eyes shut and ordered the computer to play waterfall sounds in the background. He tried to imagine that he was back in Alaska sitting by a beautiful waterfall on a perfect summer day. It was the first time in a long time that he allowed himself to think about what life would have been like if he’d stayed to take over his clan, instead of coming to Chicago to blaze a new life. And it was the first time he had to admit to himself that maybe becoming a city lawyer hadn’t been the best choice for him after all.
It took nearly an hour, but Grant finally drifted off to sleep. His dreams were full of fantasies about kissing Storm under Alaskan waterfalls, and, for a moment at least, his heart was at peace.
Chapter Five
Storm stared blankly at her computer screen, and mindlessly sipped from her coffee mug. Was this her fifth cup? Sixth? Storm had lost count. All she knew was that it had been a long time since she’d been this dog-tired. She could feel the exhaustion in her bones. After she told Grant off last night, she’d been unable to sleep. She’d tossed and turned all night long, despite making her best effort to convince herself that she didn’t have any deeper feelings for Grant.
Who was she kidding? He made her feel things at her core that she’d never felt for anyone before. She had a small, creeping suspicion that he was her lifemate.
Too bad she had sworn off the idea of ever having a mate.
Storm hated the way everyone just assumed that every shifter needed a mate. Maybe that was true back in the dark ages, but times had changed. There was more to life than pairing off and having babies. Storm wanted to work, to lead, to make a difference. To matter.
She sighed again and put her head in her hands, trying to rub away the bleariness in her eyes. She’d had such big dreams when she moved to Chicago. She’d taken this job with the Mayor’s office because she’d thought that maybe she could actually do worthwhile work here. Sure, it had been a low-level, starter position. But she’d figured that with time, she’d be able to move up and get more responsibility.
That had been years ago, though, and she still hadn’t moved up the ladder. She’d underestimated how much government bureaucracy would slow down her dreams. Instead of being promoted and making a difference, she was still doing the same mediocre work. Worse, she was becoming disillusioned on the idea of government service as a way to actually make any kind of significant public service contribution. There had to be a better way, but Storm had no idea what that better way might be.
A little voice in her head told her that if she’d stayed in Alaska, and worked toward taking over as alpha of the clan, then things might have been better. Storm pushed the voice away and tried to focus on her computer screen again. She didn’t want to think about what life would have been like if she’d never come to Chicago. She was here now, and that was that. There was no use in playing the regret game.
A sharp knock on her cubicle wall pulled her out of her mental ruminations. Storm looked up and saw Maria, another low-level employee whose dreams of making a difference were slowly being crushed.
“Hey, Maria. What’s up?” Storm asked, trying to keep her voice pleasant. Maria had a bad habit of stopping by to talk for hours, keeping Storm from her work. Normally, this annoyed Storm. But today, maybe wasted hours wasn’t such a bad thing.
Maria squeezed into Storm’s tiny cubicle, and looked around suspiciously as though she was being followed.
“Did you hear?” Maria finally asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Maria’s eyes sparkled with excitement, and Storm couldn’t help but smile. Yup, Maria was in a gossiping mood. Whatever she was here to discuss was probably going to waste quite a bit of time.
“Hear what?” Storm asked in a normal tone of voice. Maria instantly hushed her.
“Shhh. Not so loud. We’re not supposed to know.”
“Oh, sorry,” Storm said, lowering her voice to a whisper, then repeating. “Hear what?”
“The President is coming to town,” Maria whispered, her eyes dancing. She couldn’t hold back a little squeal.
Storm was instantly paying attention. But, unlike Maria, her reaction was not one of joyful excitement. “The President is coming? When? Why?”
Maria smiled, pleased that she had grabbed Storm’s interest with her juicy gossip. “I don’t know why, exactly. But the Mayor has several meetings planned with him over the next two days. It’s pretty exciting. I’ve been waiting years for this. Maybe I’ll have a chance to actually shake the President’s hand. Or even get a picture with him! Can you imagine? All my Facebook friends will be so jealous!”
Storm could feel her heart sinking. She had a pretty good idea of why the President was coming to town. If she was right, this was bad news for the shifters.
“Maria, who told you about this? Did they say anything at all about why the President is visiting?” Storm probed.
Maria shrugged. “No one told me. I overheard one of the higher-ups whispering about it. No one is supposed to know yet. They said something about the President wanting to discuss safety concerns with the Mayor. My guess is it has something to do with the Mayor’s failed safety summit from last week. After that fiasco, the Mayor probably wants a way to regain credibility. And who better to help him with that than the President? Oh, I hope I get to meet him!”
Storm bit her lip and felt her heart pounding. As soon as Maria said the words “safety concerns,” Storm knew the shifters were in trouble. Not only was the shifter situation on the President’s radar, but it was also apparently of high concern to him. He wouldn’t be visiting Chicago otherwise.
“I have to go,” Storm said, standing suddenly and pushing past Maria.
“Wait, what? Don’t you want to plan out with me how we can get our picture with the President?” Maria called after her.
“Later,” Storm said, barely turning around as she spoke. “I just remembered something important I have to do.”
Storm made her way to the stairwell and started climbing the steps to the fifth floor, where the mayor’s office and the other executive offices were located. She had no idea what she was going to do when she got up there. She just knew that her heart was beating like crazy and that her days on this job were numbered, anyway. Once the mayor knew she was a shifter, he would fire her for sure—or worse.
Storm paused in front of the door that led to the fifth floor, leaning her head against the cool, concrete wall. What would the mayor and president do with the shifters, once they knew how to find them? Would they push to have them all locked up? Or, worse, killed off? Storm shuddered and then pushed the door to the fifth floor open. The future of her people was at stake. She had to do something.
The stairwell opened to one of the main hallways on the fifth floor. Storm had only been up here a few times, usually when her direct boss, John, wanted help taking notes during an executive meeting. She still remembered where the mayor’s office was, though. She marched directly toward his office, and was pleased to see that his secretary was out. The woman was probably out to lunch, which ga
ve Storm an excuse to try to talk to the mayor directly.
Taking a deep breath and summoning up as much courage as she could, Storm walked up to the mayor’s closed door and knocked. A soft whirring noise filled the air as the camera above the door turned to focus on Storm. A soft flash of light momentarily blinded Storm, followed by the sound of the computer’s voice from behind the door.
“Confirmed employee,” the computer said. “Positive eye scan identification for Storm Williams.”
Storm shuddered again, thinking about how this standard eye scanner would likely be replaced with a shifter-detecting scanner before too long. Moments later, Storm heard the mayor’s voice from inside commanding the computer to open the door. As soon as the door was opened, the mayor looked up from his desk, squinting at Storm. He probably didn’t recognize her, since it had been quite some time since John had brought her up here.
“Storm?” the mayor said. “How can I help you.”
Think fast, Storm told herself. She had about two seconds to come up with an excuse for being here.
“Uh, John sent me up here. He said you had something for him?” Storm fibbed. Maybe once the mayor told her that John must have been mistaken, Storm could fish for some information about the President’s upcoming visit. But, to her surprise, the mayor’s stopped squinting and nodded, turning around to the shelf behind him where several tablets were stacked.
“Oh, right. I thought he was going to come by himself to get it later, since it’s such highly sensitive information. But I guess he figured since it’s encrypted there’s not much danger if it falls in the wrong hands.”
The mayor was shaking his head, clearly not impressed by John’s lackadaisical attitude toward confidential information. Storm said nothing, waiting patiently for the mayor to find the tablet he was looking for. After rummaging through the stack, the mayor paused and pulled out one of the smallest tablets.
“Ah-hah! Here it is,” he said, spinning around and holding it up proudly. “It’s one of the newest models, with an eye scanner in it. Have you seen one of these yet? Probably not, since they’re brand new and incredibly expensive. I know they don’t pay you guys enough to afford toys like this. Government wages and all.”
The mayor winked at Storm, and she tried to force a smile. But on the inside, all she could do was think about the fact that eye scanners were going to be everywhere soon, even in tablets and phones. The mayor didn’t seem to notice Storm’s uneasiness, however. Instead he held up the tablet to his face.
“Watch this,” he said, then looked directly at the tablet. “Computer, unlock screen.”
“Eye scan required, please look at camera,” the computer required. A soft flash of light went off, and then the computer spoke again. “Welcome back, Mayor. Screen unlocked.”
The mayor let out a laugh and handed the tablet over to Storm. “Pretty impressive, huh? It’s the highest level in security. Encrypted information guarded by eye-scanning technology. No one can break into that stuff.”
Storm forced another smile. “Impressive,” she said, trying to sound like she really was impressed, when she felt more like throwing up than anything.
The mayor kept laughing as he handed the tablet over to Storm.
“I’ll get this straight to John,” she said.
The mayor nodded, still laughing as he waved Storm away and turned his attention back to the computer screen on his desk. Storm took this as her cue to leave, and turned toward the door. But as she reached the threshold, she turned to look at the mayor one last time. She had come up here to find out information about the President’s visit, but all she’d managed to do was get a glimpse of how proud the mayor was of his new tablets. She had to at least try to get some information that would help her before heading back downstairs.
“Uh, so, I heard we have a big, important visitor next week,” Storm said, trying to keep her voice casual. She plastered what she hoped was a teasing, flirtatious smile on her face.
The mayor looked up at her, surprised, and then let out a long sigh before shaking his head in frustration again. “John must have told you, eh? I swear, that man cannot keep a secret. I don’t know how he ever managed to get any kind of security clearance. Yeah, the President’s coming. Keep quiet about it, though, okay? We don’t want too many people to find out and start trying to get an in to get a selfie with him or other nonsense like that.”
“Right, of course. My lips are sealed,” Storm said. She made a zipping motion across her lips, and the mayor seemed pleased with her response.
“Good girl,” he said. “I suppose John also told you why he’s coming, eh?”
Storm shrugged. “You know John. He trusts me with everything. He did mention the eye scanners.”
Storm held her breath, waiting to see how the mayor would respond. Storm hadn’t talked to John in weeks, but the mayor didn’t know that. Storm only hoped that she was right about the reason for the President’s visit.
The mayor rolled his eyes. “I need to have a discussion with John about his blabbermouth. But, anyway, yeah, the eye scanners. We’re hoping they’ll be done before the President gets here so we can show them off. This is gonna be what history remembers me for, Storm. I’m saving humanity here!”
The mayor pounded his desktop, and Storm jumped. She forced a smile on her face.
“Very impressive, sir,” she said, swallowing back the taste of bile that was filling her mouth.
The mayor nodded, then waved his hand again, dismissing her. “Thank you, Storm. Definitely don’t mention the scanners to anyone, either.”
Storm nodded, and stepped out into the hallway, letting the door close behind her. She took a few deep breaths to steady her racing heart, then rushed back to the stairwell to head back to her cubicle. Now she had to figure out how to hand this tablet off to John without raising his suspicions about why she ended up with it. And she had to figure out how to actually concentrate on work for the rest of the day.
As soon as the stairwell door closed behind her, Storm sat down on the first step and took several deep breaths. This was all really happening. The shifter-scanners were moving forward, and the President was apparently on board with this. Time was ticking down. It wouldn’t be long now until everyone at the office found out she was a shifter. It wouldn’t be long now until the whole nation got behind a movement to eliminate shifters. Storm wanted to be optimistic, but she knew how these things went. People feared what they didn’t understand. And the Mayor and President would make sure that shifters were misunderstood.
Storm took in another deep breath and glanced down at the tablet, then widened her eyes. The screen was still unlocked! The mayor had never re-locked it, and apparently the automatic lock was either disabled or was set to only trigger after a significant amount of time. Right there on the screen in front of her was a document full of gibberish. Storm had no idea what it said, but she had no doubt that Grant could decode it.
Her heart did a quick flip-flop when she thought of Grant, but she quickly pushed away her own feelings. This wasn’t the time to deal with her own emotions. She needed to find a way to record this information before the screen locked itself. Storm glanced around for security cameras. There was a camera aimed toward the door, but there didn’t appear to be any other cameras in the stairwell. The government probably figured that being able to see who entered and exited a stairwell was good enough. Storm was in one of the only spots in the entire building right now that wasn’t under surveillance. Quickly, she whipped her phone out of her pocket and opened the camera app.
With lightning speed, she started taking pictures of the document on the screen, flipping through it and rapidly snapping a shot of each individual page. Even though she had no idea what this gibberish meant, she would have bet good money on the fact that it somehow pertained to the eye-scanners. The document was about fifteen pages long. After photographing that document, she minimized it and saw there was one more document on the tablet of about the same length. She
started taking photos of it, and had just gotten a shot of the next to last page when the screen went black. The tablet had locked itself again. She was out of time.
Storm let out a soft curse word, and stood to head back to her office. She wished she hadn’t missed that last page, but overall she was happy. She had just managed to get her hands on what appeared to be a significant amount of confidential information. She knew better than to try to unlock the tablet again. There’s no way her eyes were on the approved list for the tablet’s security scanner, and she didn’t want a record of her name on attempted scans.
Storm felt lightheaded as she made her way back to her office. She sat at her own desk for a minute, pulling out her phone and quickly emailing all of the files to Grant. She didn’t bother with a long message. All she wrote was, “You might find these interesting.” Grant would get the hint and start decoding right away. After sending the email, Storm stood and grabbed the Mayor’s tablet, then headed for John’s office. The door was open, and Storm rapped gently on the doorframe to get John’s attention.
“Hey, Storm,” he said looking up from the screen he was working on. “How are you? What’s up?”
“Uh, I’m good, thanks. I just, uh, ran into the Mayor on my way back from taking care of something up on the fifth floor. He asked me to give you this tablet.”
John furrowed his brow as Storm handed the tablet over to him.
“Oh, interesting. I thought he wanted me to personally come up and get this. He must trust you a lot.”
“Uh, yeah. I guess so,” Storm said with a shrug.
John smiled and shrugged back. “Looks like you’re going places in the office, Storm. That’s good. I’ve always thought you were one of our best employees.”
Alpha in a Fur Coat Page 4