Countermeasures

by Janie Crouch

  Burgamy had chosen Sawyer’s punishment well; he knew how much Sawyer would hate this.

  Burgamy filled Sawyer in on a few more details—none of which made Sawyer any more excited about the operation ahead. But fine, Sawyer would pay his dues, protect some old head of computer-nerdom for a couple of months, then get back to Omega, where he could do some real good.

  And he would damn well make sure he never punched his boss again.

  Chapter Two

  Sawyer’s arrival at the Cyberdyne Group Headquarters in Swanannoa, NC—more like Swananowhere, NC—the next afternoon did nothing to help reassure him that he would be doing any good in the fight against DS-13 while here. Sure, he could recognize the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains all around him. But he’d give it all up to be inside some sleazy warehouse somewhere, with no views but concrete and sewage, about to arrest some bad guys.

  This place—no matter how beautiful the surrounding scenery—was a waste of his time.

  Not that Cyberdyne and the work being done here was a waste of time, but as far as Sawyer could tell, Dr. Fuller and his cohorts were not in any danger. No attempts had been made on their lives, nothing out of the ordinary had been reported recently. Which was great. But it also meant that somebody with a little less experience in the field could be here completing this assignment rather than Sawyer.

  Sawyer sighed and got out of his car. There was no point bemoaning this any longer. He cursed his brother Cameron once again on his way up the steps. This assignment from hell was all Cameron’s fault for falling in love and trying to rescue the girl and save the world.

  Sawyer rolled his eyes. Evidently Sawyer was a sucker for a good love story. And this was what he got for it: Swananowhere.

  Sawyer looked at the file again as he walked through the door. Cyberdyne Group had been around since 1983, a midsize company, mostly focused on conceptual and computer engineering. They’d done some contractual work for the US government over the years, but not as much as bigger corporations. Most companies similar to Cyberdyne in this area were located a couple of hours away in the Raleigh-Durham Research Triangle. But the original owner of Cyberdyne had loved the Blue Ridge Mountains so much he had built the Cyberdyne offices and labs just outside Asheville rather than Raleigh.

  There wasn’t a lot of information on Dr. Zane M. Fuller, the head of Research & Development at Cyberdyne—the person who had helped develop Ghost Shell and then turned it over to the FBI. Sawyer glanced at the file. Looked as if Dr. Fuller held two doctoral degrees from MIT—barrels of fun.

  What the file didn’t hold was any useful information about Dr. Fuller to help Sawyer plan out his protection detail. Was he married? Did he work fourteen hours a day? Did he have any bad habits that might get him into trouble?

  Sawyer pictured a balding, cranky older guy with thick glasses and probably a bow tie. If that really was the case, Sawyer was going to take a selfie with Dr. Fuller and send it to Burgamy. His boss would probably cry tears of delight.

  Sawyer might cry tears also, but they definitely wouldn’t be of delight.

  Sawyer made his way inside Cyberdyne, taking a few minutes to chat with the attractive and attentive receptionist at the front desk. Far be it for Sawyer to miss an opportunity to talk to a pretty lady, especially in a situation like this.

  The receptionist called a security guard—not nearly as friendly or attractive—to escort Sawyer to the R & D wing. Sawyer gave the woman a wink as he walked away. Maybe a couple of months here wouldn’t be so bad, after all.

  The security guard led Sawyer down a series of hallways to a set of double doors. Sawyer watched as the man swiped a key-card through a scanner to unlock the door—adequate security, but not excellent and certainly not unbreakable—and opened it.

  The Research & Development area was a much more open space than the hallway they had come through. It buzzed with activity, at least two dozen people working and talking at different stations and tables around the large room.

  Another reception-type desk was near the door. The woman working here was not nearly as put-together as the graceful blonde at the Cyberdyne entrance. Here was a sort of mousy brunette with hair piled up in a messy bun at the top of her head and glasses perched on the edge of her nose. She didn’t even acknowledge Sawyer and the guard as they entered the room—she was too busy rooting through a drawer.

  Evidently she didn’t find what she was looking for because she got up and walked over to a nearby filing cabinet and began searching through there.

  Her gray pencil skirt and high-heeled black pumps with little bows made it difficult for Sawyer to stop staring at her legs. Wow. She might be mousy librarian on the top, but those legs... Sawyer noticed the security guard was also taking in the view.

  When it became obvious the receptionist wasn’t going to notice them, the security guard cleared his throat. “Excuse me, ma’am—”

  The woman turned and took a few steps toward them. “Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry, Mark. You know me.”

  “It’s no problem, ma’am.” The guard’s Southern accent was noticeable. He gestured toward Sawyer. “This is Agent Branson.”

  The receptionist glanced over at Sawyer, looking away before he could even smile at her. She turned back to the guard. “Thanks, Mark. We were expecting him. I’ll take it from here.”

  The security guard smiled and nodded as he turned to leave—the man obviously had a little crush on the receptionist. Sawyer stepped forward to shake her hand and talk to her further, but she moved back.

  “Can you give me a second? I’ll be right with you.” She didn’t quite look him in the eye as she said it; her gaze never seemed to move past his chest.

  Sawyer watched as the woman reopened the drawer in the filing cabinet and began rooting through it again. When the search proved fruitless, she moved to another drawer. She seemed to have forgotten Sawyer was even there. Sawyer just enjoyed the view of her legs until it seemed as if she might never come out.

  “Did you lose something in there?” When the woman glanced up over her glasses, blinking at him with big round eyes, Sawyer offered her his most engaging smile.

  She just continued to blink at him for a few moments, then shoved her head back into the search without saying a word.

  Okay. Sawyer crossed his arms while watching her. He wasn’t used to being ignored outright by women—especially cute little librarian ones with glasses, even though cute-librarian wasn’t generally his type.

  Of course, that didn’t mean he couldn’t still appreciate her. Sawyer could appreciate all women.

  Eventually Cute Glasses found whatever it was she was looking for in the cavernous drawer—some sort of stain-remover stick or something. She gave a small sound of triumph and turned around. And seemed authentically surprised to see Sawyer standing there.

  More blinks. “Um, yes. Agent Branson, right?”

  Sawyer’s eyebrows rose. “Forget I was here?” Sawyer shook his head with a half smile. She might be cute, but she was definitely the worst receptionist ever.

  “I’m sorry, my mind tends to only focus on one thing at a time.” She looked back up at him, again more at his general chest area than in the eyes. Meanwhile still blinking those big brown eyes of hers.

  Maybe she was shy. Sawyer didn’t mind shy and scatterbrained. Although the sophisticated beauty he met when he first entered the building was generally more his type, Sawyer certainly didn’t mind spending a few minutes with shy, either. So he winked at her, when she finally peeked up at his eyes for a second, trying to put her at ease.

  But that just seemed to throw her into more of a tizzy—she began reorganizing all the items on the desk—so Sawyer decided to just try to talk to her.

  “So, I’m Sawyer Branson, the law-enforcement agent you were expecting. What’s your name?”

  “Megan.” She was still clutching that stain-remover stick in one hand, moving office-supply products on the desk with the other.

  “Have you work
ed here long?”

  She looked at him oddly, then nodded. “About eight years.”

  Eight years? Wow, she must be somebody’s relative or something if she was still this bad at her job after eight years. Sawyer smiled at her again—when he could catch her eye for a second—and leaned up against the desk. “That’s great. Maybe if I have some questions about how things operate around here I can ask you about them.”

  Cute librarian Megan just nodded.

  Sawyer looked around the open R & D area. People were still working, although Sawyer noticed he and Megan had drawn some attention.

  “I’m sure you know Dr. Fuller, right?” Sawyer asked in a conspiratorial tone. He might as well try to get as much information as he could before meeting the man.

  That question certainly got Megan’s attention—she finally looked him fully in the eye. “Oh.” She said it with wonder as if some puzzle had just become clear to her. “You don’t know who Dr. Fuller is.” It wasn’t a question.

  “No, unfortunately, I was sent here without much information about him. Just that he needed protection while finishing a project for the government. As director of R & D, he would be your boss, right?”

  Megan nodded. “Um, yes. Dr. Fuller is everyone’s boss, I guess.”

  Sawyer smiled encouragingly; at least she was talking to him now. “Do you like him? Is he easy to get along with?”

  Megan looked down and began moving items on the desk around again nervously. She obviously didn’t want to answer his questions. That was fine. Sawyer didn’t want to put her in a place where she had to speak badly about her boss. He decided to change the subject before Megan rearranged everything on her desk.

  “Megan, do you think you could get me a cup of coffee somewhere or point me in the general direction of one? I’d just like to get some caffeine in my system before I meet Dr. Fuller.”

  Megan opened her mouth as if to answer him, but then just shut it again shaking her head. She seemed at an utter loss at what to say.

  Cyberdyne really needed to look into replacing Megan as their R & D receptionist.

  A man in a white lab coat, probably in his early forties, walked over to where Sawyer and Megan stood looking at each other. “Megan, is everything okay?” When Megan nodded, the man turned to Sawyer. “You must be Agent Branson. We were told you’d be arriving today. I’m Jonathan Bushman, Dr. Fuller’s assistant.”

  Sawyer shook the man’s outstretched hand. He decided not to mention the coffee; it had just been an attempt at changing the subject and he didn’t want to get Megan in any sort of trouble.

  “Great, Jonathan. I’m ready to meet Dr. Fuller whenever it’s convenient.”

  Jonathan looked to Megan and then back to Sawyer, frowning. “But you already have.” He gestured to Megan. “This is Dr. Zane Megan Fuller, lead conceptual and computer scientist for Cyberdyne.”

  * * *

  OKAY, HAD THE federal agent just asked her to go get him some coffee? Megan had to admit he hadn’t been obnoxious about it, but still...coffee? Of course, she couldn’t really blame him. She had been puttering all around the desk, resorting back to her college behavior when she’d had no idea what to do when she was attracted to a member of the opposite gender—she’d practically lost her ability to speak for goodness’ sake.

  She had thought those days were long behind her, but evidently not when a man as gorgeous as Sawyer Branson talked to her. She could barely bring herself to meet his eyes for most of the conversation. He must have thought she was the worst secretary in the history of the world.

  Megan had to remind herself that she was no longer that socially awkward, painfully shy sixteen-year-old girl she had been at MIT, intellectually ahead of all her classmates, but emotionally much less developed. Now Megan was twenty-nine years old, well respected and liked in her workplace and confident in her abilities and accolades.

  If still a little shy socially.

  Megan could see the wariness crossing Agent Branson’s face as he realized his mistake. He probably wasn’t too thrilled that he had asked her for a cup of coffee, either.

  Megan stuck out her hand for him to shake. “Hi, I’m Dr. Fuller. Megan.”

  “Not the receptionist. I’m sorry about that.” Megan could appreciate that Agent Branson had the good sense to at least look sheepish. His handshake was firm, and if Megan didn’t know better she would almost swear she could feel his thumb caressing the back of her hand. That totally had to be her imagination. She pulled her hand back quickly.

  “Yeah, there’s not actually a receptionist for R & D, despite this desk. We just pretty much keep the desk as a catchall for office supplies and stuff.” Megan held up the stain-remover stick. “I got a stain on my lab coat, so I was coming to see if I could use this to get it out.”

  Agent Branson nodded and gave her a half smile. “Well, a lab coat might have clued me in that you weren’t a receptionist, but I definitely didn’t know you were who I was here to see. My apologies.”

  Wow, if that was only a half smile, Megan didn’t want to be around if he decided to turn his full charm on her. “I can still direct you to the coffee if you want it.”

  Agent Branson gave a bark of soft laughter. “Believe it or not, that was to make you feel more comfortable. You seemed to have lost the ability to speak for a while there.”

  Megan could feel a flush spilling over her. “Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t have made a good receptionist. I’m more of a computer-person than a people-person.”

  Megan heard a throat clear from the other side of the desk. Jonathan. She had almost totally forgotten her assistant was there. Good Lord, she needed to focus. On the situation, not on Agent Branson.

  “Jonathan, yes, okay. Um, Agent Branson, it sounds like you didn’t know very much about me and we know even less about you. All we were told was that you would be ‘a presence’ here at Cyberdyne for a while. I don’t really know why.”

  Agent Branson looked around. “Is there somewhere we could go to talk that isn’t so open to everything?”

  “Yes, of course. As you can see, we have an open workspace in general, but everyone also has offices. Mine is in the back.” Megan began walking that way. “Should Jonathan join us?”

  Agent Branson shook his head. “Right now, I’d just like it to be the two of us if that’s okay. I’ll need to talk with all of the R & D employees while I’m here, but I’d like to start with just you.”

  Megan could tell Jonathan didn’t like that. But her assistant tended to be a little high-maintenance in that way. He always wanted to be involved with whatever was going on and tended to get a little churlish when he was left out. The behavior had been getting worse more recently. Megan tried to smile at Jonathan, but he had already turned away with a huff. Megan just shook her head and led Agent Branson back to her office, closing the door behind them.

  Megan stood behind a chair at the table and gestured to another seat for Agent Branson. She couldn’t help but admire the casual fluidness in how he filled the chair. As if he was a model.

  If it wasn’t for the scar on his chin and slightly crooked nose—it looked as though it had been broken at some point in his life—Agent Branson definitely could’ve made a living in front of the camera. Black hair, cut short and stylish, a perpetual five-o’clock shadow, gorgeous green eyes. Megan put a hand up to her chin just to make sure she wasn’t accidentally drooling.

  It was time to rein in all of this nonsense. Okay, yes, Agent Branson was attractive. Megan didn’t know the specifics of exactly why he was here, but she did know that it wasn’t for her ogling enjoyment. Megan took a deep breath in through her nose to focus herself, then released it gently through her mouth.

  One of the advantages of being so intellectually advanced for her age when she was growing up—and always surrounded by older people—was that Megan had learned early how to act professionally even when she didn’t feel that way. She wasn’t going to let Agent Handsome discombobulate her any more than he alre
ady had today. She hoped they both would just totally forget the incident at the reception desk. That wasn’t how she ran the R & D department—all flighty and unable to speak. She was a professional and she could handle this.

  She could handle him.

  Even though her lab coat had a small coffee stain on it, Megan grabbed it from where it hung on a hook on the back of her door and put it on. She immediately felt more secure with its familiar weight on her shoulders. She sat down and looked across the table.

  “So, Agent Branson, how can we help you here at Cyberdyne?”

  Evidently she had succeeded in adding the desired professionalism to her tone as she watched Agent Branson sit up a little straighter in his chair, his eyes narrowing slightly for just a moment. Obviously he was also expecting the nervous woman he had met earlier at the desk.

  Well, she wasn’t around anymore.

  Chapter Three

  Sawyer watched pretty Megan transform into stuffy, prickly Dr. Zane Megan Fuller—just like her name tag said—as she pulled on that drab lab coat and buttoned it. The skirt underneath, and evidently the shy woman from the desk, disappeared. Sawyer could almost feel the temperature drop around him.

  Okay, the asking her for coffee had been a bit of a misstep. Sawyer totally read that situation wrong—not something he was used to doing. He tried to think back to his conversation with Burgamy. Sawyer definitely would’ve remembered if his boss had said Dr. Fuller was an attractive young woman. Or if he had said woman at all.

  What had Sawyer been expecting in Dr. Fuller again? Someone balding, with thick glasses and a bow tie? Sawyer could admit he’d let a stereotype get the better of him. It was his own fault and he knew better. But when he’d seen pretty little Megan fumbling around at the desk, blinking up at him with those big brown eyes and blushing for goodness’ sake?