by Janie Crouch
“Oh, okay.” Megan stood, but tripped when the blanket she’d wrapped around herself caught her legs. Sawyer caught her just as she was about to stumble face-first onto the ground, a pile of limbs and blanket.
“Careful there.”
Megan cringed, heat flooding her face. “Obviously my college awkwardness is not as far behind me as I would like.”
Sawyer helped wrap the blanket around her in a more organized, safe-to-walk fashion. “I think anyone who gets T-boned and robbed in one day gets a free pass to be as clumsy as she wants to be.”
“I wonder what excuse I’ll use tomorrow,” she said softly. Sawyer became aware of how close they were to each other.
“We’ll just have to figure out tomorrow’s problems tomorrow.”
She leaned in just the slightest bit closer and Sawyer couldn’t help it. He kissed her.
He half expected Megan to turn cold and step back from him unresponsive. But after a moment of surprised hesitation, she let go of her blanket and her arms slid up his chest to his shoulders. And Sawyer found it was him that was caught unprepared. Unprepared for the heat that flared up between them the instant his lips touched hers.
It was fair to say that Sawyer had kissed his share of women, but he couldn’t ever remember feeling like this.
His hands slid to Megan’s waist. A knot of need twisted in him as he pulled her closer. Had he really ever thought her cold? The very idea was absurd to him now.
Sawyer wasn’t sure how long the kiss might have gone on if Megan hadn’t made a small sound of pain when Sawyer wrapped his arms around her tighter.
Her head. Her injuries. How could he have forgotten?
Sawyer backed away from Megan just the slightest bit. “We should stop.”
He loved the way her eyes opened and blinked up at him half-dazed. “Wh-what?”
Sawyer smiled down at her. “I think we better stop.”
“Oh.” Megan took a step back. Now her eyes were focused, but Sawyer didn’t like what he saw in them. Confusion. Doubt. Embarrassment.
“Just to be clear.” Sawyer grasped her waist tighter so she couldn’t retreat any farther. “It’s not that I want to stop. But you did have an accident today, remember? And you’re on some pretty serious painkillers. How about if we try this again soon when those two factors aren’t in play?”
Megan gave him a soft smile. “Okay.”
* * *
THE NEXT MORNING when Megan awoke, she felt as if she had been hit by a truck. Which was pretty close to accurate. She lay in bed, keeping her body still to help with the aches and pains, but her thoughts were flying a million miles an hour.
A lot of them centered on her kiss with Sawyer last night. Megan replayed it in her head with a sigh, feeling like a giddy teenager. Sure, she’d been kissed before—she’d even had a couple of quasi-serious relationships. But those relationships had been with other computer specialists she’d met at different professional functions. The men at these functions, although polite and usually moderately attractive, tended to be relatively boring. Nerds, if she had to sum them up in one word.
They were not, by any stretch of the imagination, as handsome and confident and engaging and hot as the man who’d slept on her couch last night.
The man she’d kissed with pretty reckless abandon. And would’ve kept kissing—and more—if he hadn’t stopped them.
Sawyer said he had stopped because he was worried about her injuries. And while Megan appreciated the consideration, she couldn’t help but wonder if there was more of a reason why he’d stopped. After all, why would someone who looked like Sawyer Branson—six feet of lean, solid muscle, thick black hair and gorgeous green eyes, who was friendly and confident—be interested in Megan, who was, well, a nerd if she had to sum herself up in one word?
Yeah, it was probably good he’d stopped the kiss when he did. They’d both just gotten caught up in a moment. Megan decided she wouldn’t bring it up or make a big deal about it. That would just make things awkward and uncomfortable with Sawyer.
Megan sighed. If there was one thing she was good at, it was awkward.
Megan forced herself out of bed, barely holding back a groan. Every muscle in her body hurt. She needed to get some food into her system and take one of the pain pills. Then she needed to get to Cyberdyne. Because besides the kiss with Sawyer, there was one other thing she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about. The fact that in order for the SUV that hit her to have known she would be at that particular red light at that particular time yesterday, somebody at Cyberdyne had to have tipped them off.
There was a traitor working against them at Cyberdyne.
Megan had no idea who it was. She knew she needed to tell Sawyer, although she suspected he had already figured it out.
Megan showered to try to loosen some of the tightness in her muscles, then got dressed and made her way downstairs. Pastries and coffee from the coffeehouse down the street rested at her kitchen table. So did Sawyer, who was reading through the news on his tablet.
“Morning. How are you feeling?” he asked with a smile.
Seriously, could he be any sexier with his deep morning voice? And he brought coffee and food.
“Like I was in a car accident yesterday.”
“Ah, yes, an unfortunate by-product of being in a car accident yesterday.” Sawyer stood and held out the chair for her at the table. “Why don’t you eat something. I’ll get your medicine.”
“Okay, thanks.” Megan sat down as gingerly as she could and began pulling apart a blueberry muffin. “Thanks for staying last night.”
Sawyer brought her medicine and a glass of water. “No problem at all. You feeling up to going to work today?”
“That’s something I want to talk to you about. I think we’ve got a mole or a traitor or whatever you want to call it at Cyberdyne.”
Sawyer sat back down at the table. “Why do you say that?”
“The people who hit me yesterday. They had to have been waiting for me, knowing when I’d be coming.”
“And you think somebody from Cyberdyne tipped them off.” It wasn’t a question.
“Am I letting my imagination run away with me?” When she said it out loud, it sounded so cloak-and-dagger.
“No. I completely agree with you. As a matter of fact, before I went to pick you up yesterday I found evidence that someone—I couldn’t tell who—had tampered with security log-ins for the vault.”
Megan pushed her half-eaten muffin away, having no taste for it now. While formulating her theory that someone was a traitor at Cyberdyne, she hadn’t considered it would be one of the people she worked closely with. But if someone who had access to the vault was the DS-13 collaborator, then it had to be someone pretty high up in the R & D department. Maybe even someone on her own team.
“What should we do? I can finish the countermeasure myself, but it will take a lot longer.”
Sawyer pushed her plate of muffin back toward her. “Maybe not as long as you think, especially if all the problems you’ve run into over the last few days have really been sabotage attempts. Which would make sense.”
Megan ate more of the muffin, running through scenarios in her head. Yes, she could finish the countermeasure herself, but it would mean stepping on quite a few toes. Yeah, there was a traitor, but there were a lot more innocent parties at Cyberdyne who had been working nonstop to get the countermeasure developed. They would not like the idea of being taken off the project.
“We wouldn’t be able to tell my team why we’re taking them off the project, would we?”
Sawyer shook his head. “No. We need to use this situation to figure out who the mole is at Cyberdyne. We’ll have to think of something else to tell your team.”
No matter what she told them, they weren’t going to like it. Megan finished the last of the muffin.
“This isn’t going to get any easier by waiting any longer. Let me go get ready.”
Megan got up and was turning to leave t
he kitchen when Sawyer’s arm snaked around her waist. He turned her back toward him gently.
“Because last night’s kiss can’t possibly be as good as I remember it.”
Whatever Megan was about to respond was lost as Sawyer’s lips came down on hers. Just like last night, thought of anything but the heat between them flew out of her mind. Megan reached up and wound her arms around Sawyer’s neck, feeling him pull her closer with his hands at her waist.
When Sawyer pulled back, they were both out of breath. He rested his forehead against hers. “I guess my memory wasn’t faulty at all.”
Sawyer put his hands on her shoulders and spun her back around toward the doorway. “You go get ready. Tragically, I have to put saving the world above my own personal wants. But it’s not easy.”
Chapter Nine
Knowing someone out there was working against them—leaking information, and maybe a lot more, to a group of criminals intent on causing harm to innocent people—made just being at Cyberdyne more difficult for Megan. All coworkers, people Megan would’ve deemed completely trustworthy yesterday, were now cast in the light of suspicion.
Every shut door to an office made Megan wonder if someone was selling secrets behind it. People who smiled and waved seemed fake, those who didn’t seemed secretive.
“I don’t know how you live in the law-enforcement world,” Megan whispered to Sawyer. “I’ve been doing this for all of thirty seconds and I’m already about to go crazy trying to figure who the bad guy is.”
Sawyer chuckled. “Don’t overthink it. Just try to act as normal as possible and let them make the mistakes.”
Megan snickered. “Have you met me? Overthinking is my middle name.”
They entered Megan’s office. “Just focus on getting your team off the countermeasure project. Let me worry about looking for suspicious behavior.”
Easier said than done. Megan felt a little jumpy just being here. She felt even worse knowing she would upset her entire team by pulling them off the project. Megan took off her jacket, which caused every ache she had from yesterday to announce itself. She winced.
“You okay?” Sawyer came over and helped her put on her lab coat.
“Yeah. Just—” Megan turned to him and smiled wryly. “I’m about to make most of my closest colleagues pretty angry. And I feel like hell. And now the pressure is all on me to get the countermeasure done. And I feel like bad guys are watching me from every corner.”
Sawyer winked at her. “But besides that...”
Megan chuckled and walked out of her office, asking Jon Bushman to get the main team together in the conference room. Might as well get this over with.
Trish, the newest member of the team—a talented software developer—was the first to enter the conference room.
“Oh my goodness, Megan!” Trish rushed over and gave Megan a hug. “I am so sorry about your accident. I can’t even believe you’re back at work so soon. You should’ve stayed home longer.”
The woman was much taller than Megan and her hug pressed right up against Megan’s bruises. Megan grimaced in Trish’s embrace.
Trish immediately let go. “Did I hurt you? I’m so sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it,” Megan assured her.
The rest of the team filed in.
“And we heard you were robbed.” Trish said. “That’s just terrible. An accident and a robbery.”
How had Trish known that? Megan certainly hadn’t told anyone. She glanced over at Sawyer, who shrugged just slightly.
“Where did you hear that, Trish?”
“Oh, honey, are you kidding? Everyone is talking about how they took your purse and briefcase. The audacity of those thieves.”
The rest of the team murmured their agreement. Evidently both the accident and the robbery were common knowledge. Everyone provided expressions of sympathy and support, many of them hugging her. Listening to them just made Megan feel worse.
Surely none of these people were the traitor. She’d worked with most of them for years. The thought of it being one of them was devastating to Megan.
“Thanks, everyone, for your concern. I’m feeling much better today.” Not true, though it didn’t really matter. “But it was pretty scary yesterday.”
Megan tried to watch people while she said it, to see if anyone gave away any hint of guilt, but everyone just looked concerned. Megan knew Sawyer was in the corner watching also—maybe he would notice something. She didn’t stop to look at him, but his very presence gave her a sense of strength.
“We’re going to have to make some changes in what everyone is working on. As of right now, all work on the Ghost Shell countermeasure is to stop.”
There were murmurs all around as her team tried to figure out why Megan would pull them off something that had been a top priority just yesterday.
Michael Younker, the oldest member of her team—and often the surliest—was first to speak up. “Megan, what’s going on here? First we drop everything for this project, work frantically on it, and now a few days later you’re telling us to completely stop.” His lips were pinched together.
Megan could understand Michael’s frustration. None of the team knew the details about why they had been working so hard on the countermeasure to begin with—the fact that Ghost Shell had been stolen and was about to be sold on the black market. To be jerked back off the project so abruptly was a professional slap in the face, not acceptable for people of the caliber and talent of Megan’s team.
“Michael, I understand your frustration.” Megan looked around at her team. “I understand the frustration all of you must feel. But circumstances have changed, and I can’t say much more than that. Everyone will need to go back to the projects they were working on last week before we changed focus to the countermeasure.”
Michael stood. “Well, I’ll be in my office working on older projects until you decide to reroute me on those, too.” He stalked out of the room. The other members of the team left also, none of them as upset as Michael, but not happy, either.
Trish stopped to speak with Megan on her way out. “Don’t worry about it, Megan. Michael just doesn’t do well with abrupt change, you know that. He’ll come around.” She smiled and then headed out. Megan was preparing to go back to her office when Jonathan stopped her. He had the same pinched look as Michael.
Megan touched Jonathan on the arm. “Jon, I know these changes are a scheduling nightmare for you. Thanks for understanding.”
Jon shook his head. “Well, I have to admit, I don’t really understand all these abrupt changes. But you’re the boss. Do you want me to put the countermeasure project items back into the vault?”
Megan hesitated, unsure of what to tell her assistant. She looked to see if Sawyer was still in the room, but he’d already left.
There was no point trying to hide the fact that she’d still be working on the countermeasure from Jonathan. He had eyes on everything in the lab; it wouldn’t take him long to figure it out.
“No. Actually, I’m going to still be doing a little work on it. It’s just not going to be a team effort.”
“Then I’ll help you!” Jonathan perked up quickly. “Two heads are almost always better than one.”
Megan knew Jonathan was protective of everything she worked on. She didn’t want to hurt the man’s feelings, but neither did she want to invite him in on the project. “I’ll let you know if I need help, okay?”
Jonathan didn’t say anything else, just nodded and walked away. But Megan could tell she had pricked his pride.
Sawyer caught up to her as she headed to her office. “You doing okay? Doesn’t seem to be an angry mob after you.”
Megan rolled her eyes. “It looks like I’ve only totally alienated two of my eight team members, so that’s not too bad.”
“That Michael Younker guy is no barrel of fun.”
“Yeah, he’s been like that ever since I arrived. He applied for the position I got. Wasn’t too thrilled about
it. We aren’t ever going to be buddies, but I don’t generally have problems with him.”
There was a timid tap on Megan’s office door.
“Hi, Megan, Sawyer.” It was Trish. “Megan, I just wanted to tell you that I don’t have many other projects on my plate right now. I know you said we won’t be working on the countermeasure anymore as a team, but if you wanted me to work on it individually, I’d be glad to. I just mean I have time to, even if the team is off of it. In case it becomes important again.”
Megan looked over at Sawyer, who stood behind Trish. His eyebrow was raised. Megan agreed with Sawyer’s skepticism. Why would Trish volunteer for extra work?
“You know what, Trish, I’m not going to have anyone working on the countermeasure right now. But thanks for offering. I know Jon has some new projects that have come in recently. Let him know that you’re able to take on a little more. I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.”
Trish smiled. “Sounds good. And really, I’m glad you’re okay from yesterday’s accident, Megan.” The woman left.
“Her interest in the countermeasure was a little odd, right?” Sawyer asked Megan. “How long have you known her?”
“She’s worked here for less than a year. As a matter of fact,” Megan said as she looked through a scheduling file on her computer, “she started working here two weeks after I first got in touch with Fred McNeil at the FBI and told him about Ghost Shell.”
“That a pretty interesting timeline.”
“In her defense, Trish is definitely a go-getter. This isn’t the first time she’s asked for extra work. She’s still trying to prove her value to the team, I think.”
“I’m going to do a full work-up on her. On everybody who would’ve had access to the vault the day I arrived.”
“Did you notice anything suspicious while I was talking to the team?”
Sawyer grimaced and shook his head. “No, but that doesn’t mean anything. We just keep watching and you keep working.”
He was right. Megan was going to have to stop worrying about who the traitor might or might not be and get to work on the countermeasure. That was the most important thing.