Covert Intents: A Branson Family Novella

by Janie Crouch

  Seth wasn’t a real custodian, but he knew this was not right.

  He pulled out his phone to use as a flashlight, shining it in Rachel’s direction first.

  “You okay?”

  She nodded. “Did power go out in the whole building maybe?”

  He shrugged. “Even if it did, the back up generator should be on in here. Let me use the emergency phone.”

  Seth opened the small door that held a phone with a direct line to campus security or emergency services if the line was commandeered. But when he picked up the phone, it was dead too.

  Okay, thatreally wasn’t right. The elevator shifted again. It only dropped a few inches, but the terrifying lurch caused Rachel to gasp.

  He turned the light off on his phone and turned it around to make a call. He needed to get help here right now.

  “Elevator phone isn’t working, so I’ll just use my cell to call security and get a maintenance team over here.”

  “Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Rachel whispered. She was still standing right next to him. Seth didn’t blame her. The stillness and silence of the elevator was a little eerie. Waiting for it to drop again had them both tensed.

  He found the number for campus security then hit send. The call immediately died, so he tried again. Same thing.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Seth shook his head. “I don’t know. My phone seems to have a signal, but then the call drops every time.”

  “Want me to try mine?”

  “Yeah, good idea.” He read her the number and she punched it in, but the same thing happened.

  “Okay, I guess we’ll try 9-1-1.” An emergency call would bounce off any cell phone tower regardless of their carriers.

  But the call dropped again.

  Seth tried one more time to be sure, but he already knew what was going on. The power, back-up power, emergency phone and cell phones all not working or being blocked?

  Someone was deliberately sabotaging this elevator.

  Had the perp figured out he was investigating them? Had his cover been blown and they were trying to take him out? That seemed extreme. Plus, killing an undercover cop near where you’d be committing a crime would bring more law enforcement, not less. Not a good plan. Regardless, he had to get himself and Rachel out of here.

  The elevator lurched slightly again and Rachel gave a little screech. She was keeping it together, but just barely.

  He had to get them outright now. If this thing was about to fall then every second counted. He needed something to pry the door open with.

  “What do we do?” she whispered through clenched teeth.

  “Do you have anything in your bag that is thin enough to fit between these doors? If I can get something wedged in there to get it started, I should be able to pry the doors open.”

  He shined his light in her bag as she searched through it. “You need something strong, right? I have pens, notebooks, a clipboard…”

  “Let’s try the clipboard.” It wasn’t perfect but it might be strong enough.

  The elevator lurched slightly again when Seth took a step toward the door. He pulled Rachel with him. He slid the hard plastic clipboard into the crack and twisted it slowly, not wanting to break it.

  “Let me twist it so you can grab the doors once they open,” Rachel murmured. She shifted her weight slowly —neither of them wanting to experience the sickening jolt of the elevator falling again— and moved so she stood in front of him.

  Seth had to push his body all the way against Rachel’s, with his arms around her, in order to get the leverage that he needed. She shifted her weight, bringing her luscious curves more heavily in contact with him, to turn the clipboard.

  Was he really getting turned on when they were in an elevator where they both may fall to their deaths any minute?Get a grip, Harrington.

  “Turn on three, okay?” He placed his fingers at the edge of the door.

  “Will it crush your fingers?”

  “No, once I can get them in there, there shouldn’t be any pressure pushing the doors back together.”

  He hoped.

  “Okay, one, two, three.”

  Rachel turned the clipboard as hard as she could, twisting both the top and bottom sides. It was enough. The doors slid open a crack and Seth was able to get his fingers in.

  “Got it,” he told her through gritting teeth, using all of his forearm strength to pry the doors apart. Good thing his arms had been getting a pretty sizable workout over the past few weeks with his custodial duties.

  Instead of slipping under his arm like he expected her to do, Rachel slipped her fingers into the crack also and added her strength, as limited as it was, to his efforts. The door cracked a few more inches.

  “Okay, good,” he told her. “Let me get in here and use other muscle groups.”

  He guided Rachel to the side and wedged his shoulder through the door. Putting his back and legs into it, he was able to get the door open another foot. Enough for them to be able to fit through.

  The elevator had dropped far enough that the floor of the level where they’d entered was now up to his chest.

  “Hand me the clipboard.”

  She did so quickly, gasping as the elevator lurched again. Seth placed it in the crack of the outer door attached to the building, not the elevator. Thankfully this door opened without so much effort.

  The easiest way to get them both out would be to climb up himself then hoist Rachel up afterwards. He didn’t waste any time. Without jumping —not wanting to cause the elevator to fall any further, which at best would trap them, at worst would crush him— Seth used just his upper-body strength to pull himself up and onto the floor outside the elevator.

  Immediately he turned and stuck his arm back down to Rachel.

  “Give me your hand,” he said.

  She hesitated. “I’m too heavy for you to pull up.”

  Seth rolled his eyes. “Honey, trust me, I could bench press those perfect curves of yours a dozen times over without breaking a sweat. But now might not be the time to show you, okay?”

  He winked at her, feigning a calmness he didn’t have. She needed to get out of that elevator. Now.

  He felt her small hand grip his arm, not like they were shaking hands, but grasp his wrist, causing him to grasp hers. A much more secure grip. Smart.

  “Good girl.”

  True to his word, he hoisted her up easily. He slid back as she came up so that they both ended up on the hall floor in a tangle of limbs, Rachel half on top of him.

  Both of them just lay there for a few moments breathing hard. Seth was very well aware of every place Rachel’s body touched his.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Yeah, I think. Thank goodness you were there. If I had been in that elevator alone…”

  He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Neither of them wanted to finish that sentence.

  The elevator hadn’t gone crashing down to the ground yet, but it still could at any second.

  “We should probably go report this to security—“ Seth’s comment was interrupted by a group from the computer engineering faculty, some of the very people Seth was investigating, stepping out of the other elevator.

  All their chatter stopped when they saw Seth and Rachel tangled on the floor and the elevator door limbs all akimbo.

  “Rachel, what in holy hell is going on?” A female voice, Lydia Williams, said. “Somebody call security. The janitor has attacked Rachel.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  “

  Oh my gosh, so you just both almost died in the elevator?”

  Rachel was surrounded by most of the computer engineering department at Baxter’s Bar & Restaurant the next evening, telling the story again. Everyone seemed fascinated, although Rachel tried to downplay the whole thing as much as she could.

  Some people would enjoy being the center of attention like this, not Rachel.

  When it became obvious she was not goin
g to give a lot of juicy details, most of the people dispersed to talk about other, more interesting, things. Rachel may love to read stories, but she was not good at telling them.

  Especially ones that started with her being rejected by the janitor for a date and ended with her lying on top of him surrounded by a half dozen of her colleagues.

  Ryan and Lydia, the two computer specialists she’d become closest with, still sat with her even when the other college employees had moved on to more exciting conversations.

  Lydia popped an olive from her drink into her mouth. “All I’m saying is that the janitor guy—“

  “His name is Seth,” Rachel interrupted.

  “Whatever. Hot janitor guy was holding you pretty protectively there on the ground,” Lydia finished.

  “And then you threatened to call security. Way to go.” Rachel could feel herself blushing. “Anyway, it’s not like that. He’s not interested in me.”

  Lydia rolled her eyes. “How do you know? You’re pretty, in a sexy librarian sort of way.”

  Ryan seemed focused on something else and not even involved in their conversation, thank goodness.

  Rachel’s flush grew deeper. “I sort of asked him out. To come here, tonight.”

  That got Ryan’s attention. “You did?”

  “Look, I don’t want to talk about it.” Rachel wanted to talk about this even less than she wanted to talk about the elevator incident. “Excuse me, I need to go to the restroom.”

  She went upstairs and splashed some water on her face. She just needed a few minutes to pull herself together.

  She then headed to the second floor balcony which held outdoor seating. It was a chilly October night, and she welcomed the breeze on her heated cheeks. Leaning back on the balcony railing she looked inside the bar. Ryan and Lydia seemed to be arguing, or at least discussing something pretty intently. Dr. Dale Hudson, a professor, had also joined their conversation.

  Rachel didn’t know them well enough to know what they were talking about, and honestly didn’t care. She’d had enough drama for the week already.

  She shouldn’t have come here. She thought she fit in with these people, but she really didn’t. She would rather be alone than make small talk.

  Honestly, she’d rather be making small talk with Seth and his gorgeous green eyes, but that wasn’t going to happen. She turned away from the group inside to look out at the view of the Potomac River from the balcony. Others —singles, couples— were doing the same.

  She was about to turn to go back inside and say her goodbyes when she felt someone slide up next to her. “Hey Rachel, you doing okay out here?”

  It was Ryan, smiling at her, standing just a little too close.

  “Um yeah.” Rachel nodded. “I’m fine. Just enjoying the view and the quiet.”

  He scooted even closer so their shoulders were touching and she fought the urge to move away. Was Ryan just being friendly or was he trying to put some sort of move on her?

  “Yeah, for a bunch of computer geeks, everybody in the engineering department sure can talk a lot. I just wanted to say I’m glad you’re okay after what happened in the elevator. That had to have been scary.” He ran a hand down then back up her back before sliding it across the shoulder of her sweater.

  Okay, that was definitely a move. Rachel tried to step away, but Ryan kept her pinned.

  “Ryan—“ She didn’t want to make a scene, but she also didn’t want Ryan touching her. She wasn’t interested in him in that way.

  “I know you’re embarrassed about asking out the janitor and him turning you down.” His tone lowered and took on a ring of false intimacy as he leaned down to whisper in her ear. “But believe me, I can provide whatever you need, if you’ve got some frustrations you want to… get out. No need to go slumming.”

  Rachel was insulted on so many levels she didn’t know which to address first. And Ryan was putting pressure on her shoulder with his hand to try to turn her towards him.

  He actually thought she wanted to kiss him. Unbelievable.

  She used the momentum he was providing with his hand to curve around towards him but then ducked under his arm. He obviously wasn’t expecting that and stumbled slightly before shooting her an annoyed look.

  “No need to play hard-to-get, Rachel. You’re obviously looking for some company if you’re propositioning the janitor.”

  Seth may not have the advanced degrees Ryan had, but Rachel would vouch for his character over Ryan’s. She would wager no one would ever find Seth forcing himself on a woman or taking advantage of a delicate state she might be in because of a life-threatening event.

  “Look Ryan, I’m just not interested.” Rachel rolled her eyes at her own inability to say the much harsher things she wanted to. Things about equality and not judging a book by its cover. But she didn’t. She was terrible at confrontation.

  Ryan was still facing the Potomac and Rachel was turned toward the restaurant. A man, large and bald, wearing a suit, was standing just inside the door watching her. Although he looked away and took a sip of his drink when she glanced that way, he still made her uncomfortable.

  “Rachel…” Ryan turned around toward the building, then immediately stepped in front of her and turned back toward her, blocking the guy from her view.

  He kissed her. His arms came around her like tentacles, moving up and around her back and shoulders, nearly knocking her purse to the ground.

  She was too shocked to do anything at first, but then pushed against him. Hard. Fortunately, he took the hint and pulled back.

  “Okay, another night then,” he said. “Don’t make me wait too long.” He turned and walked back into the restaurant.

  Rachel resisted the urge to wipe her hand across her mouth. Barely. But at least when she looked back up, Ryan was gone. And the scary bald guy was nowhere to be found.

  That was it, she was going home. She’d had enough excitement in the last twenty-four hours to last her the rest of the year. She straightened herself from the railing and walked inside, hoping she wouldn’t find Ryan wanting an encore. Because there very definitely would not be one.

  Regardless of whether Seth wanted to go out with her or not, Rachel was not interested in Ryan. She had hoped to be friends with him, but now she wasn’t even sure she could be that. Definitely no more notes. She couldn’t believe how differently he’d behaved tonight than last week. He’d acted so friendly and normal.

  Rachel was hoping to be able to sneak out of the restaurant without saying goodbye to any of the dozen or so faculty and graduate assistants who were still here. It was one of the advantages of being known as the shy lit instructor: scurrying off without saying goodbye was considered just a quirky part of her nature.

  But Lydia caught her, dragged her over to a table.

  “Hey, are you okay?” she said. “You were outside for a long time.”

  Rachel shrugged; she definitely didn’t want to talk about what just happened. “When I came back from the bathroom it looked like you and Ryan and Dr. Hudson were in a pretty intense conversation and I didn’t want to interrupt. Then Ryan came outside and we were…talking.”

  Lydia sighed. “Yeah, there’s some crazy mess going on in the lab. Missing elements of a microchip and mislabeled data. So frustrating. But I don’t want to talk about that. Let’s have another drink and just talk about girl stuff.”

  “I’m pretty tired, Lydia. I’m probably going to need to take a rain check.” Not to mention Rachel was terrible at girl talk.

  “Oh. My. Gosh.” Lydia was looking at something over Rachel’s shoulder. Rachel was afraid she was going to have to scoop the other woman’s jaw off the ground.

  “What?”

  Lydia just pointed, mouth still agape. Rachel turned and saw Seth walking in the door of Baxter’s.

  Now someone might have to scoopher jaw off the floor.

  He wasn’t wearing his green work coveralls and cap like he’d been every other time Rachel had seen him. Now he was weari
ng a black t-shirt —one that fit snug enough to show off his excellent physique underneath— tucked into black jeans. He walked over to the bar where the female bartender fell all over herself to get the bottle of beer he ordered. He paid, then began walking in Rachel and Lydia’s direction.

  “How in the world did I miss that?” Lydia murmured.

  Looking at Seth now, infinitely more attractive out of his plain work uniform, Rachel was amazed he hadn’t laughed at her outright when she’d asked him out yesterday. The man walking towardthem, quite at ease with himself, obviously at home in this sort of social situation, and drawing the attention of several females in the room —including Lydia— wasway out of Rachel’s league.

  But he was still heading directly toward them.

  “Ladies,” Seth murmured, his deep voice making her want to take a step closer. He was looking at Rachel, even though Lydia —with her blond hair and long legs— was definitely the more attractive of the two women. He had to see that.

  “Seth, is it?” Lydia asked. “I’m Lydia Williams. I work in the computer engineering lab.”

  Seth stopped looking at Rachel and held out his hand to Lydia. “Seth Hardings.”

  Hardings. Until now, Rachel hadn’t known what his last name was. She didn’t want to ask and seem like she was prying.

  “I thought you had to work,” Rachel said.

  He turned to look at her again. “I decided I would go in early tomorrow and worry about it. I’d rather be out here with you tonight.”

  “Actually, I was just leav—“

  “She was just about to get another drink for us both,” Lydia interrupted. “You two sit down. I’ll get us another round, Rachel.”

  “Thanks,” Seth said, then touched the small of Rachel’s back leading her to a group of low love seats by the window, near where Dr. Hudson and some of the other computer engineering faculty and staff were sitting.