The woman, Irene Finch, had pledged her support.
Gail smiled and put her phone back into her pocket and picked up the pot of coffee.
“Darling, how about you pour me a cuppa as well?”
Gail closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Don’t engage him. Don’t encourage him.
“Agent Dumbarton. I’m sure you’re capable enough to know your way around a coffee maker.” Gail turned to walk off with her boss’s mug of coffee. Blond, four sugars, she’d counted them carefully to avoid a repeat of her first week, when she accidentally had added too much.
“Come on! No need to be rude.” Dumbarton blocked her way.
“I’m needed in my office,” Gail said.
Ugh. What a repugnant man. She didn’t have time for this. Gail stepped aside to dodge him to be on her way.
That’s when Dumbarton changed position, cutting off her exit route.
“What’s the rush, darling?” He grinned.
Her heart started to beat faster, and a thin layer of sweat formed over her entire body. This was unacceptable. His behavior—
Gail scanned the room. Where was everybody? Normally, there were at least half a dozen agents hanging around the coffee maker or the water cooler, depending on the season. Another two or three would be sitting at their desks doing actual work.
Today, everyone seemed to have vanished.
Wouldn’t someone - anyone - walk in to diffuse this bind Dumbarton had gotten her into?
“Mr. Blacke likes his coffee hot. I don’t think-”
“I like something else hot,” Dumbarton whispered.
“This is inappropriate,” Gail insisted.
“Come on; nobody’s around. You don’t have to pretend. I know you’re well up for it; I can smell it on ya.” Dumbarton leaned forward, his face only an inch away from hers and inhaled sharply.
Gail’s fight or flight instinct was kicking in. He was bigger and much stronger than her; Dumbarton was another brown bear. If she fought him, he’d win. She’d have to be smarter than that…
So instead of charging forward, she retreated, hitting into the cabinet behind her. She put the mug down - Blacke would not be amused if Gail broke his monogrammed mug - and flung her arm around while diving off to the side as though she’d lost her balance.
She hit her hand into the coffee maker, causing it to crash to the floor beside them.
It made an almighty racket as the glass receptacle smashed into a million pieces. That, plus the flood of hot liquid spilling onto the floor was enough to distract Dumbarton.
“Oh, damn, I’m so clumsy,” Gail said. “I’d better get Gerry to clean that up before someone gets hurt.”
Dumbarton still stood there, dumbfounded at what had just occurred as she marched off. Gail just remembered to snatch Blacke’s still steaming mug from the cabinet before fleeing out the door.
That was a close call.
She looked down at the coffee stains on her suede pumps. Damnit. She really liked these shoes too. Gail rushed into Blacke’s office, placing the mug on his desk and immediately retreated to her own desk, right outside. What a relief.
From now on, she’d have to be more vigilant and not allow herself to get cornered by that man again. This, along with all the other crap she’d had to deal with in this job would have been enough to make her quit, if it wasn’t for her alternate agenda.
If the New Alliance movement was going to succeed, they needed an insider in Blacke’s administration. There was no way she’d give up now that they were getting so close.
“McPherson.”
Gail looked up to find Agent Finch standing in the doorway.
“Agent Finch. How can I help?”
He looked around the hallway once before entering her office.
“This is a bit delicate,” he started.
Gail observed the man. They hadn’t interacted much during her short time working here. The most they’d ever spoken was when she’d made the arrangements for him to travel with Blacke to London. He’d always come across like a quiet man, serious about his work, but without the violent streak some of the others in the office demonstrated.
“Yes?” Gail asked.
Finch gestured at her to come closer and again checked left and right, probably to make sure they weren’t being overheard.
Gail got up and joined him outside, then closed the door. Bears had exceptional hearing, but there was no way Blacke would be able to hear them with this kind of distance and a closed door between them.
“Well handled, the matter with Dumbarton,” Finch said.
Gail took a step backward, hitting into the door from behind. “You saw that?”
“Not the whole thing. I was about to intervene when you-Well, good job.”
“Was that all you wanted to tell me?” Gail frowned. This was an awkward conversation to have. Some things were best left undiscussed.
“Actually, I do have this.” Agent Finch handed her the dossier he’d been holding. “I trust you’ll know what to do with this.”
He looked back and forth again and walked off as if their conversation had never happened.
Weird guy. He seemed awfully paranoid for some reason.
Gail opened the file and read the first sheet. It was a surveillance recommendation that had come in from the Glasgow office.
Her throat went dry when she read the whole thing.
Target Name: Helen Weston.
Requested Mode: Phone tap.
The request had been signed by the most unlikely of people: Henry Weston himself.
Gail closed the file and rushed back inside to her desk. She opened her drawer and found some old reports he’d filed with HQ. The signature was similar enough to convince most people, but not Gail.
There was no way he’d sign anything like that, so who could have done it? The other agents in his office would have access to his signature, so any of them could have faked it. This was bad. Someone within Henry’s team had gone rogue.
She had to notify him as soon as possible. Gail checked her watch. It was almost five o’clock. He usually called around six, so she still had a little time to gather more details. Finch had handed her the file, rather than Blacke himself. Did that mean he doubted its authenticity as well?
Had someone else seen it and actually acted on it before it ended up with her?
Gail powered up her computer and checked the inventory. If someone had tapped the phone at Helen Weston’s home, they would have had to check out a transmitter. Currently, this was not the case.
“Gail?” Blacke’s voice called out from his office.
Gail quickly closed the inventory file and switched off her monitor. “Yes, sir?”
“A word, before you leave.”
Typical. There were always a few things Blacke would remember at the end of the day, delaying her journey home. Gail forced a smile as she entered his office.
“I had a thought regarding old man Campbell, downstairs. Note all this down.”
Gail nodded and started writing.
“He has a daughter.” Blacke folded his hands and sat back with a smug grin on his face. “If we manage to track her down, I wonder if we’ll have more luck interrogating him…”
“Very good, Sir. Shall I notify the Edinburgh office?” Gail asked.
Blacke shook his head. “No, I think I’d prefer to have my own men handle this.”
Chapter Nine
Henry stared at the ceiling. Shit, had Maggie actually just said those words?
“Who’s Gail?” she repeated herself.
This was bad.
“You mean Gail McPherson? Blacke’s personal assistant,” he responded, in as calm a voice as he could manage.
“Aha…” Maggie said.
Was that it? Was that all she wanted to know?
“Why do you ask?” Henry asked though he wasn’t certain he wanted to know exactly. What on earth had he done to spark this question?
“Is there any particular r
eason why she would call you after hours?”
Call him? What was she talking about? Henry instinctively reached for the spot on the bedside table where he always kept his phone, but there was nothing there.
“You’d left it in your coat.” Maggie tossed the mobile onto his side of the bed. It landed in the center of Henry’s chest.
He had a quick look. Three missed calls, the earliest at six in the evening.
“She must have been responding to the message I left, about how to proceed with those couples. Like I told you this morning, remember?” Henry explained, his mind racing. Had Gail sent any messages as well? Had Maggie read them? He generally made sure to delete his conversations with Gail; had he accidentally left something behind for Maggie to find?
Hang on, why was he feeling guilty? He wasn’t doing anything wrong. They were just working together, Gail and him. Why was he making excuses and behaving like he’d cheated somehow?
“I can’t do this anymore,” Maggie whispered.
Wait, what?!
Henry sat up straight and turned to face Maggie.
“You can’t do what anymore? What do you think is going on here exactly?”
Maggie shrugged. “Ever since the other week, when you drove down to Gartcosh by yourself - if that’s where you actually went… I feel like we might as well live on two different planets, you and I. And do try to deny it. You’re not the same person.” Her tone was ambiguous. Henry couldn’t make out if she was angry, sad, or just fishing for a reaction.
Henry wanted to protest but decided to hold out. Perhaps she was just venting her frustrations about his refusal to take her away for the weekend.
“I saw you look at her, when Blacke was at the office. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now things are falling into place.”
“There’s nothing going on between Gail and me.”
“So you call her Gail. That’s how well you know each other!” Maggie taunted.
Damn. He’d walked right into that one.
“We’ve been talking a lot about Project Safeguard lately. Yeah, I know her a little bit.”
Maggie nodded but refused to make eye contact with him or even turn in his direction. She just remained as she was, on her back, staring straight at the ceiling.
Things weren’t so uncertain anymore. She was definitely angry and trying to cover it up.
Henry rested his hand on her arm, only for her to shake it off.
“Just come right out with it. Beating around the bush doesn’t suit you,” Henry said.
That’s when he got a reaction. She turned her head and shot him a deadly glare. Maggie was not amused at all.
“Fine. Have it your way. Have you been fucking Gail McPherson? Huh?” she didn’t speak the words as much as spat them out and folded her arms. Her eyes were once more glued to the ceiling.
“No.” Henry shook his head, then leaned over to get back into Maggie’s line of sight. “No! Look at me. I haven’t touched the woman. Like I said, we’ve just been working together.”
“Working together. That’s just great.” Maggie let out a fake chuckle. “I wasn’t born yesterday. Does Blacke know the two of you are working together? And I don’t know her, but who the hell makes work calls at nine in the fucking evening? Nobody is that dedicated, not even Blacke’s precious little personal assistant.”
“Look, Maggie, darling…” Henry tried to touch her again, but she flinched like the first time.
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“And Tuesday night? When you came home who knows when? You were with her, weren’t you?”
So far, Henry had been skirting around the truth but not actually lied about Gail. Of course, he hadn’t done anything appropriate. Not that he hadn’t wanted to with every cell in his body. It would be easier to deny it, but that wasn’t his style.
“Yes. Although I went to the farm that day, I was near Stirling anyway, so I felt it wise to arrange for a meeting.”
“At night?”
“In the evening. It ran late.”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” Maggie’s voice sounded choked with anger. “I think it would be best if you left now.”
“What? This is my home too!” Henry protested.
“Just believe me. It’s best for both of us. Just leave.” Maggie turned onto her side facing away from Henry.
He was generally a patient guy, at least he liked to think so. And fair, he was fair as well. And despite his attraction for Gail, he hadn’t crossed the line with her. Maggie had no right to kick him out of the house!
At the same time, if he wanted to increase his chances of making things right with her, perhaps it would be better to do as he was told. He’d give her this little victory, with a view to picking up this conflict later, and winning the war, as it were.
He’d explain everything, demonstrate how much Maggie meant to him, and things would work themselves out.
Henry got out of bed, put on the same clothes he’d changed out of only a little while earlier, and threw a few random items into a backpack. He was going to leave, if that’s what Maggie wanted. But not empty-handed.
Once the bag was full, and he’d retrieved his toothbrush and other necessities from the bathroom, he left. He didn’t say goodbye or look back. That would have just made Maggie’s anger flare back up again.
There was nowhere for him to go, except one place. It wouldn’t be comfortable, but at least the holding cells were empty ever since he’d delivered those prisoners to HQ the previous week. Tonight, it would be just him in that building.
Things would look different come morning.
Henry hadn’t had a good night. Throughout, if there wasn’t a strange rustle or creak somewhere in the building disturbing his sleep, there were those incessant dreams he couldn’t get rid of. Gail.
It was infuriating.
This. This right here was the reason Maggie had thrown him out. And as much as he fought Gail’s pull on him, he just couldn’t shut it off completely.
And the worst part was, he still had no idea how to make things right with Maggie. It was all his own fault, wasn’t it? There was no excuse, no justification that would pacify her. The truth.
The truth would piss her off in an entirely new way. They’d made progress, Gail and him, but they were far from ready to go public with their plan. She’d never be convinced right now, would she?
But it was all he had.
Henry got up at five, stretching his aching limbs on his way out of the holding cell he’d repurposed as a bedroom for the night. The hard cots the Alliance had provided were far from comfortable, especially for someone as tall as Henry.
Once at his desk, coffee in hand, he let his mind run through the various potential outcomes for Maggie and him. He had no other choice. Maggie needed to know the truth.
So he waited. And waited some more.
By eight, the first agents started to arrive. Some looked surprised to find Henry already at work, but nobody said anything.
Maggie was nowhere to be seen, though.
Finally, by nine-thirty, Henry had had enough. It was one thing to turn him out of his own home after accusing him of stuff he didn’t actually do. But she had a job to do here. Not showing up for it was unprofessional and very unlike her. So he did what he would have, had any other team member not shown up for work; he called her. No answer.
That was it. If she wasn’t going to come in on her own accord, he’d have to go to her.
“Maggie, open up!” Henry called out through the letterbox of what had been their shared apartment for the past two years. He’d tried unlocking it, but Maggie must have put the latch on from the inside.
There was some movement inside but no response.
He knocked on the door again, harder this time.
No way would he just give up on this. Their relationship meant too much to him.
“I’ll explain everything. Believe me, you will want to hear this,” Henry pleaded.<
br />
He waited around a little longer, listening for Maggie’s footsteps inside. Finally, he heard her approach.
The lock clicked, and the door opened just a crack.
“Not here. I don’t want to discuss Alliance business out in the street,” Henry said.
Maggie pressed her lips together in contempt and averted her gaze to the floor. Then she stepped aside, allowing Henry inside the house.
“Make it quick,” Maggie said and folded her arms. Like the previous night, she didn’t even look at him.
“I left last night to give you space. But I never did anything with that woman. Please believe me,” Henry whispered.
Did she not know him at all? How could she think he’d be unfaithful?
“So why was she calling you at nine in the evening? And don’t give me the same bullshit again. I can tell when you’re lying,” Maggie said.
“Then look at me. You’ll see I’m telling the truth.” Henry reached for her, guiding her chin up toward him.
“It wasn’t Alliance business, not exactly. But we are working together.”
Maggie cocked her head to the side, frowning. Her eyes were cold; he couldn’t read them.
“You remember when we had dinner the other week. I was talking about some doubts I had…”
“What does that have to do with-”
“I’m getting to it. Just let me finish.”
Maggie sighed, then looked away again. Somehow, not having her stare him down actually made it easier to explain the rest.
“For a while now, I’ve felt like we’re heading in a dangerous direction, the Alliance is, I mean. Like our focus has shifted from our actual enemies towards members of our own community who have made certain lifestyle choices…”
“Secrecy is the only way we have to ensure our safety,” Maggie argued.
“I’m not sure of that anymore. If we educate the human population-if we show them that they have nothing to fear from us…” Henry said.
“They’ll hunt us down. We won’t be fighting just a small group of humans, but millions of them!” Maggie took a step back and glared at him.
Scottish Werebear: A Painful Dilemma: A BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Scottish Werebears Book 5) Page 6