by Margaret Kay
“Doc with him?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Have a good night.”
She watched his powerful arms propel him down the hall. Then she mounted the stairs and rushed to her office to pack up her laptop. She felt a sense of relief as she pulled her car from the garage and into the late afternoon sun. She would be home before sunset. She was beat, her mind exhausted from all she had learned the past four days. She phoned an order into a local steak house that she picked up on the way home. She planned on a glass of wine with it as she read over the grief counsellor’s report, followed by a hot bath in her jacuzzi tub and an early bedtime.
Juliette
Shepherd entered Cooper’s office and the men settled in at the conference table going over the schematics. Fifteen minutes later, Garcia rushed in.
“You’re late,” Shepherd barked. “How’s Miller doing on the protocols?”
“Perfect scores on all tests. She has only one unit left of the regular agency protocols. I’ll queue up the Ops Center training once she is through the regular ones.”
“Hold that off until after these first two Ops,” Cooper said. He pointed to the schematics. “We’re looking for points to mount the surveillance equipment. I want it in before Miller goes in next week.”
“These buildings are old, there aren’t too many power and data runs,” Shepherd said. “We can’t pull any, need something unobtrusive we can sneak in. We are cleared to send in our exterminators on Monday.” He chuckled at his own use of the word exterminators when it would actually be their own Bravo Team going in to plant their surveillance equipment. “I want eyes and ears in the dormitory and in that science building. We’re going to need a little magic to get the coverage we want.”
Garcia’s lips drew up. He aimed to please. Magic coming up. “I’ve got just the tech to pull it off. Michaela modified a micro-power supply, runs on lithium. If we use motion sensors, the power supply will idle until it’s needed, making it last three times longer.”
“What kind of timeframe are we looking at?” Shepherd asked.
“With the modifications, I’d expect each to last at least four weeks,” Garcia said.
Shepherd and Cooper liked it. “That’ll work. We will be able to get back in there in a month for the next exterminator service. We can switch out batteries then if needed.” Though Cooper hoped it wouldn’t take that long to wrap this one up.
They went over the schematics determining the points needed for proper coverage. The meeting ended at nineteen-hundred hours. Garcia would work with Michaela the next day to secure the needed number of modified power supplies. It was late. He’d stop in Ops to make sure all was well before heading home.
After he left, Shepherd pinned Cooper with his steady gaze. “Will Miller be up for this by the end of next week?”
“Yes, she is as good as we thought.”
“Doc said that you were frustrated this afternoon.”
“I’m dick-deep in the planning, Shep. Doc got me at the wrong time. My frustration had nothing to do with Miller’s readiness.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Senator Corbin is counting on us to get Miller in there next week.”
“She’ll be ready,” Cooper guaranteed.
Madison had just finished reading the counsellor’s report when her phone signaled a text. Cooper. Her lips formed a smile.
“I guaranteed Shepherd today that you would be ready for this Op on Friday of next week.”
“I will,” she text messaged back. “I finished reading the counsellor’s report. You were right, not much to glean from it.”
“They weren’t looking for anyone who was lying. If it wasn’t one of the adults, hazing or bullying by the other kids is another option.”
“I really hate to think a group of the other kids held the door closed to that refrigerator while she was in it.”
Madison sipped her wine waiting what seemed like forever for another text to come in. In reality it was five minutes later.
“Someone held that door shut. It would have popped open easily.”
“I know,” she replied.
There was another five-minute pause before another text message displayed. “How do you think it’s going?”
She thought about that for a minute. She wondered what he meant. The training? Her fitting in and feeling a part of the team? Mentally being up for this operation? “It’s fine,” she typed out.
“I meant to ask, did you have a nice girl’s lunch today?”
Madison chuckled as she read his text. She sipped her wine and then sat the glass down to reply. “I did. I didn’t know Angel was pregnant.”
“Yes. The first baby for anyone at the agency.”
“How’s that going to change the dynamics?” She asked.
Cooper read her reply and he felt a smirk set on his lips. He wished he knew. He knew Shepherd had offered Jackson a desk job. He also knew Jackson declined. He wasn’t sure if that would change after the baby arrived.
“I’m not sure,” he typed out his honest reply.
They texted for almost an hour. Twice, Cooper thought about just calling her to talk. That would be easier, but he opted not to. He felt less pressure by texting. It also brought him back to center, calmed his frustration.
“Okay, Blondie, I better get going.”
“Is that going to be my callsign?” She asked rather than saying goodnight.
Cooper smiled. He had given it a lot of thought and hadn’t come up with a good one yet. “No, I’m not sure on it yet, but not Blondie, too obvious.”
“And Coop isn’t?”
Cooper laughed out loud when he read it. “It actually started out as Chicken Coop. I shut that one down and Coop stuck.”
Madison laughed as she read it. Yeah, she couldn’t imagine anyone calling him Chicken Coop. For a minute she wondered what he was like in his younger days. She had plenty of experience with guys like him when she was on active duty, cocksure and full of themselves, and looking for another notch on their bedposts. Somehow, she didn’t think he would have been the same as the guys she had encountered.
“See you tomorrow. Be in by zero-eight-hundred.”
“I will. Good night, Cooper,” she texted.
Then she went upstairs to her master bathroom to take that jacuzzi bath.
The following morning began a week of five straight, twelve-hour days to train and prepare for the Inverness Academy Op. She studied the facts of the case, the layout of the buildings, as well as the bios on the people she would encounter. She continued working with Cooper on the street smarts and everyday survival skills, with Doc on field first aid, and she spent time in the range getting acquainted with all of the weapons Shepherd Security stocked. Doc also insisted she spend an hour a day in the gym.
When she headed home at nineteen hundred hours, she was again exhausted, physically as well as mentally. When the text message from Cooper displayed with its accompanying vibration at nine pm, she had just crawled into bed.
“How do you feel? It’s been an intense five days. You looked tired when you left.”
For a minute she debated not answering. But the nightly text messages from Cooper had been nice to circle back to what she had studied or trained on that day and talk about it in a more informal, friendly way. They were also conversations that pushed the edge of flirting further each night. Though when they were together, his manner was one-hundred percent professional. It left her confused, and admittedly, didn’t help lessen her attraction to him.
“I am tired. Will go to bed soon.”
“We’ll knock off earlier tomorrow. You’re almost ready.”
She smirked at that statement. She felt she was as ready as she’d ever be. “It was good to see the live feed from the cameras the team installed on-site. That helps a lot to get acclimated to the buildings.”
“Yeah, I’m glad we were able to get a team in there to install them yesterday.” There was a long pause. Madison considered typing in her
goodnight. “Do you have any reservations about going in?” Cooper texted before she could.
“No, I feel ready. I’ll hide my badge and gun in the air vent like we discussed, along with another camera to monitor my quarters.”
“Just remember it’s there and disrobe only in the bathroom, unless you want to give Ops and everyone there a good show, but if you’re going to, let me know so I can tune in.”
She contemplated his wording. He’d never say that in person. It didn’t piss her off, it actually brought a smile to her face. “Like a good SO would,” she typed back.
“Only you, Blondie. I sure as hell wouldn’t tune in if it were Garcia or Jackson.”
She laughed aloud. “So, Blondie is sticking.” She opted not to comment on the rest.
“No, I have come up with the perfect callsign for you, with Garcia and Jackson’s help. You’ll get it tomorrow.”
“You won’t give me even a hint?”
Cooper laughed at his phone. “Nope, my lips are sealed.”
“What about your fingers?”
Cooper moaned in sexual frustration. “My fingers are staying away from this one.”
The next day, Cooper called a meeting with the ground team to go over the Op. The five of them, Doc, Garcia, Jackson, and Madison sat around the conference room table in his office.
“And now to reveal Madison’s callsign. After much deliberation and consultation with the rest of the team, and because Blondie here is such a tough girl, I am bestowing on you the callsign of Xena.”
“Xena? She has black hair,” Madison pointed out.
“Who the hell is Xena?” Doc asked.
“Xena the Warrior Princess,” Madison replied. Her face was twisted in a distasteful scowl. “Seriously, you’ve never heard of her?”
Doc Googled her. “Wow, sexy! She puts Wonder Woman to shame,” he said followed by a whistle.
Madison’s eyes focused on Cooper. “You have got to be freaking kidding me!”
“What, you don’t like it?”
“No! I hate it,” Madison replied. “How about Xenamorph? That was the name of the creature in the Alien movies. I’d be down with Xenamorph.”
“You’re badass, but not that badass, Madison,” Cooper said.
“I like Xena,” Garcia said. “She’s a badass and beautiful. It fits you, Madison.”
Her eyes turned on him. “You’re not helping.”
Garcia barked out a deep laugh.
“Jackson?” Cooper asked.
“Sorry, Madison, but it fits.”
“I’m telling your wife on you!” Madison said, followed by a pout, which got laughs all around the table.
“Doc?” Cooper questioned.
“Sorry, Miller, we’re unanimous.”
“I hate every single one of you,” Madison said, crossing her arms over her chest. The men laughed.
This time when Madison entered Lassiter’s office, she knew what to expect. She was only within the outer waiting room for a split second when he opened the door to the inner office. “Hi, Joe,” she greeted.
Lassiter smiled and motioned her in. “The kitchen table or my office?”
She pointed to the kitchen. “I could use a cup of coffee.”
He motioned her ahead and followed her in. She grabbed the same dark blue cup, with the letters spelling out Aruba around the sailboat and got busy brewing her coffee.
“You ever been?” He pointed to the mug.
“Yes, but my favorite island is Saint Maartin.”
“When you go next, bring me back a mug for my collection.”
“So that’s what it is, a collection?”
Joe Lassiter laughed. “Everyone thinks it’s a psychological test. It never fails to amuse me.”
Madison returned his smile. She did believe the cup choice did give him insight into a person. But she did make a mental note to get him a St. Maartin mug the next time she would go, which she was unsure how soon that would be. He sat at the table as she made her cup of coffee. She offered to brew one for him. He declined.
“So, you are heading out on your first Op with Shepherd Security. A dead little girl, that’s a rough one.”
“Yes, I hope we can find the answer and bring some sort of peace to her mother. I can’t even imagine what that would be like.”
“Your own mother had to face that possibility when Sandstorm went south.”
Madison shook her head. “I’m sure very different. I was an adult and in the Army. Losing a little girl has to be a hundred times worse.”
Now Joe Lassiter shook his head. “As a father I can tell you I don’t think it would be any different. Your child is your child no matter what their age is.”
“You’re a father? I didn’t know.”
“Yes, my wife and I have been blessed with two amazing kids, a boy and a girl.” He beamed a proud smile. He showed her a picture of his family on his cell phone.
“You have a beautiful family. Your wife must be a saint to put up with your hours.”
“She’s just a saint in general. Everyone needs close relationships. It’s been my experience that it’s those close relationships that get most people through the rough times.” His eyes went through her. “Have you formed any on this team?”
She laughed to herself, smooth transition to get down to it. “I’d like to think so,” she replied. “I really like Yvette, Michaela, and Angel. You know, I hadn’t really formed any close female friendships since I left the Army, but I think I already have with those three. I feel very comfortable with Anthony,” she paused and then amended his name, “Garcia, and I think I have a solid relationship building with Cooper. They’re the only ones I’ve had a lot of contact with.”
This statement piqued Lassiter’s curiosity. Especially how she categorized her relationship with Cooper. “The three ladies are very different from each other but are close. I don’t know if it is because they are the only females in the agency or if there is something else bonding them.” He left it open ended on purpose.
“They all care deeply about this agency, the work we do, and all the guys in the field.”
Lassiter picked up right away on her statement of the work ‘we’ do, counting herself in. She already considered herself part of the team. Good. He suspected that was due more to her friendship with the ladies and feeling a part of the Ops Center team. He wasn’t so sure how bonded with Cooper or the field team she was, as she had said ‘the guys in the field’. Certainly, she realized she was one of them, however, it didn’t sound like it. That could be a problem getting ready to go out on this Op.
“I’m curious about this solid relationship you are forming with Cooper.”
His eyes penetrated hers in a way that unnerved her. She didn’t want him to have even an inkling that she felt an attraction to her boss. She waited, but he said nothing more. “Is there a question there?”
Lassiter’s lips quirked into a grin. “You don’t feel as comfortable with Cooper as you do Garcia?”
“I wouldn’t say it that way.” She pulled her eyes from him and gazed out the window at the busy mall parking lot and took another drink of her coffee. “He’s my boss. The interactions are different.”
“Garcia’s your boss in the Ops Center.”
“Yes, but I know Cooper is the second in command of the entire agency. He’s my SO and will be the mission commander on this Op. That’s a different level of authority than Anthony has.”
“Cooper hasn’t been as real of a person as Garcia, is a loftier superior.”
Her eyes flickered back to Lassiter. “I didn’t say that.”
If anything, she felt closer to Cooper than she did Anthony. She wondered if Lassiter knew of all the text messages that she and Cooper had exchanged the past week in the evening after work. After all, they had texted on the company cell phone. Was it eavesdropped on? She also realized in that moment that even though she felt closer to Cooper she felt more at ease with Anthony than she did Cooper.
; Lassiter waited a few moments. “What did you mean then, if I got it wrong?”
“I don’t know. I’ve spent probably more time with Cooper these past two weeks than I have Anthony, but the interactions with Cooper seem, I don’t know, more formal, or maybe it’s that the time being shown things from Anthony has been less formal.”
“You’re splitting hairs,” Lassiter said.
“Maybe.” She was thoughtful for a few long seconds. “It’s hard to explain the difference.”