by Alexa Davis
We pulled up in front of my building and after I'd paid the driver, I hauled my things into Nemo's. They'd just opened up for the early lunch crowd, and I grabbed a table in the back and set my stuff down. Mando came out from the back with a questioning look on his face.
"I got fired," I said gesturing at the box and bags.
"What the hell?" he said. "What happened?"
"My boss died and the guy in charge is convinced that I'm hiding something," I said. Mando looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language.
"Your boss died and his boss thinks you're doing something illegal?" he asked.
"Well, I might be," I grinned. "Now."
"Do I even want to know any of this?" he laughed.
"Not unless you want to be called as a material witness in a trial," I said.
"Then don't tell me anything except why you are camping out here instead of going up to your apartment," he said.
"I gave my keys to the guy who is staying with me because I thought he'd be back before me," I said.
"You've got a boyfriend now?" he asked as a wounded look crossed his face. We'd been down this road a couple of times and while I'd been perfectly clear about the fact that we were not going to wind up as anything more than just friends, Cece told me that Mando harbored fantasy thoughts of sweeping me off my feet and riding off into the sunset.
"No, not a boyfriend, just a friend staying with me," I said. I didn't want to encourage him, but he was my friend and I wasn't going to lie to him.
"How did you meet this friend?" he asked.
"What is this, twenty questions with Mando?" I laughed as I lightly slugged his shoulder.
"I'm just looking out for you, Echo," he said looking at me very seriously. "New York is a dangerous city and I don't like the idea of a stranger staying in your apartment."
"It's okay, Mando," I said as I soothed his bruised feelings. "He's my boss's son, and he's a Navy SEAL. He's honorable. I promise."
"A Navy SEAL, no shit?" Mando said shaking his head. "Wait, if his dad was your boss, why doesn't he have a place of his own to stay?"
"Long story," I said. "Can I get something to eat while I wait for him to get back and then I'll introduce you guys?"
"I'm not sure I want to meet the Navy SEAL sleeping in your apartment," he grumbled as he walked back to the kitchen to fix me a plate. I knew he was half acting the hurt feelings and that he understood why I would take a complete stranger into my home. He and Cece had done the same thing a million times, and I was one of the beneficiaries of their largesse.
I moved my box to the floor and took a seat at the table facing the door. If Ryan came in, I wanted him to be able to see me right away. I picked up my phone and texted him to meet me at Nemo's when he got back. Then I pulled out my laptop and began working on the project I'd begun before I left TriCorp.
It wasn't that I wanted to hack into their system and do any damage; I just wanted to retain my ability to get email from their server. So, I checked the bug I'd left and found that it had maintained the open space in the server just the way I'd intended; however, there was a good chance that it would be recognized by the IT department when they did a sweep, so I set to work coding a hiding place that they'd be unlikely to find.
With that taken care of, I went back to the original message from Dr. Powell. I re-read it several times and I understood his instructions as asking me to hold the files until he could safely retrieve them, but now I wondered whether I should open up the attached file since we already knew he was dead. I wavered until Mando brought my food, and then I set the computer aside to eat. Mando sat with me as I declared my lunch the best lunch he'd ever made and then smiling, he returned to the kitchen to prep for the lunch rush.
I pulled out the computer and flipped through the email one more time, and this time I saw something I'd previously missed. There was a small link underneath Dr. Powell's signature on the note he'd written to me. I hadn't seen it before because it was white lettering on a white background. I clicked the link and watched as my computer quickly opened a browser tab. When I saw what was on the page, I picked up my phone and began urgently texting Ryan every ten minutes saying: Come home now. Urgent.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Ryan
The cab ride back to Echo's felt like it took hours even though the driver was kind of a maniac. I spent the ride texting Echo trying to find out what was so urgent.
Ryan_SEAL: what's going on?
Echo_Frost: can't tell you. hurry back.
Ryan_SEAL: just tell me
Echo_Frost: listen SEAL, no intel, got it?
Ryan_SEAL: sarcasm not appreciated
Echo_Frost: duly noted. hurry. @Nemo's
Ryan_SEAL: gotcha be there soon
When I walked through the door and saw her, I felt my jeans get a little tighter. She sat in the corner furiously typing on her laptop with a serious expression on her face while her long blond hair fell in waves around her face. She looked like a tech version of a DaVinci painting, and I couldn't help but stop and admire her.
"Ryan, what are you doing?" she called as she waved me over to the table. "Get over here!"
I walked over and sat down on the opposite side of the table and watched as she pounded on the keyboard for a few seconds then looked up.
"What's up?" I asked.
"I got fired, and then I got an email from your father," she said.
"Come again?" I said as I looked at her then looked around at the restaurant trying to decide if I was having another nightmare.
"Baines fired me this morning," she said. "He told me my services were no longer needed and that I was being relieved of my duties. He then told me to clean out my office and warned me not to take anything before he had me escorted off the premises."
"Baines fired you this morning? As soon as you went into work?" I asked. Suddenly the meeting with Jack Waller became even more suspicious than it had been an hour before.
"Yeah, but here's the weird part," she continued as she tapped a few keys and then turned the laptop around to face me. "I went to check my email one more time and I found a message from your father."
I took a minute to read the message and then looked up at Echo before saying, "He knew."
"Knew what?" she asked as she turned the computer back around and then tapping at the keys again.
"He knew that Julian was up to something," I said. "He knew he might not be able to prevent it from happening, but he knew that he could trust you with the information in case his worst fears came true."
"I think they did, Ryan," she said as she turned the computer back around and showed me a web page that looked like a bunch of military training videos. There was no sound but the men who were men running around were obviously exerting a lot of energy as they completed tasks and trained. The video cut off after twenty-seconds, and Echo pulled the screen back.
"Ryan, these are live training videos of the Russian troops near the border," she said.
"How do you know they're live?" I asked as she turned the computer back around and showed me a whole new batch of footage.
"Because there is a camera there recording everything they do and it refreshes ever thirty- seconds," she said. "Your father knew that they were prepping for something big."
"That's just training footage of one area," I said as I waved her off. "If you took footage of any military base in the States you'd find the same thing, don't read too much into it."
"Ryan, there are thousands of links to training areas all over the country and they are all doing the same thing," she said as she pointed to the list running down the right hand side of the screen. "They are preparing for war."
"How did you find this?" I asked as I watched another group of soldiers complete twenty-seconds of training exercises.
"Your father left a link to the cameras embedded in his message, see here?" she said as she pointed to the tiny white link that would have gone unnoticed had it not been for Echo's eagle eye. "He left me
the link and the files for the project he'd been working on. He asked me not to open them, but don't you think we should given that he's dead?"
"Echo, I'm having a hard time processing this," I said running my hand over my three-day old beard. "I just had a meeting with my father's attorney and found out that Julian is the executor of my father's estate, and that I've been disinherited from the will."
"Wait, what?" she said as her mouth hung open in surprise. There was something so sensual about the look on her face, and at that moment all I wanted to do was pull her against me and run my tongue across her soft red lips. "Ryan, what did you just say?"
"You heard me, Julian is in control," I said as I shook my head to try and clear the image of me kissing Echo from my brain.
"Then we definitely need to take a look at your father's research files," she said as she closed the computer and began packing up.
"You don't want to look at them?" I asked.
"No, silly SEAL, not here I don't," she laughed. "Let's take this upstairs and figure out what's going on."
At that moment, a man emerged from the kitchen wiping his hands on a towel and smiling at Echo as he said, "Chiquita bonita, where are you going?"
"Up to my apartment," she said and then stopped as if remembering something she'd forgotten. "Mando, this is Ryan. Ryan, this is Mando."
"Nice to meet you, Ryan," Mando said as he reached out and shook my hand. He had an exceptionally strong grip and I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was telling me more than what he was saying.
"Nice to meet you, too, Mando," I replied as I matched his grip. We stood there staring at each other until it dawned on me that this man was asserting ownership. It hadn't occurred to me to ask Echo if she had a boyfriend, but now I wondered.
"See Mando, Navy SEAL, he's safe," she said as she picked up her box and then kissed his cheek before looking at me. "He's worried because I'm letting a stranger like you stay in my apartment, but I told him not to worry, you are totally safe."
And there it was, the kiss of death. I'd just been relegated to the friend zone and Mando knew it, she was his girl and I was going to have to be very careful how I tread.
"Yep, totally safe," I nodded as I reached out and offered to take the box from her.
"No, you get the door, you've got the keys, remember?" she said as she turned and headed toward the front door. "Thanks, Mando! Tell Cece to come up and see me later, okay?"
"Will do, baby," he called after her. I waved at him as I followed her and he added, "Take good care of our girl, SEAL."
Echo Frost was now officially off limits.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Echo
Between the time we left Nemo's and made it up the stairs to my apartment, something had shifted and Ryan became quiet. I wanted to ask, but I didn't want to pry knowing what he'd gone through in the past week and how much he was having to shoulder on his own. What I really wanted to do was curl up on the couch and feel his strong hard body pressing against mine, but I didn't see any real interest coming from him. And I definitely didn't want to have to share such a small living space with a man who'd rejected my advances.
"You hungry?" I asked as I set the box down on the coffee table and went back to the kitchen. "I can make something, if you are."
"Nah, I'm good," he said as he pulled my keys out of his pocket and handed them over. "Here, I got the keys made. I've got a set now."
"Great, thanks for doing that," I said as I watched him moved toward the balcony and slide open the door. "How much do I owe you?"
"It's on me," he said staring out at the buildings across the street.
"Ryan, are you okay?" I asked. "I know it's a lot to have to deal with on your own, so if I can help..."
"I'm good," he said before turning around and gesturing toward my bag. "Want to check out the files my father sent you?"
"Yeah, sure," I said giving him a confused look before digging into my bag and pulling out the laptop. I opened it up and clicked on the attachment. It opened into a file of numbers that stretched out over fifteen hundred pages. I stared at it for a long time knowing that there was something familiar about it, but not quite knowing what that was.
"It's all Greek to me," Ryan said with a half-hearted laugh. "You have any idea what it is?"
"I feel like I should know what it is," I said as I furrowed my brow trying to pull the information out of my brain. "But I have no idea what it all means."
"Well, maybe we have to wait for the next file to be sent before we can start to piece it together," he shrugged sinking down on the couch. "How much longer until that happens?"
"He said every twenty-four hours," I replied as I scrolled through page after page of numbers trying to understand them. "So the next file should come in around nine or ten tomorrow morning."
"Great, we've got a while to wait," he said as he leaned back and closed his eyes.
"Ryan, are you sure you're okay?" I asked I set the computer down and sat next to him. I reached out to take his hand, and he bolted up off the couch.
"Dammit, woman, I told you I'm fine!" he yelled. I shrank back for a moment and then anger quickly took the place of fear.
"You don't get to yell at me like that for wanting to help!" I shouted. "This is my apartment and you're a guest here!"
"Well, don't badger me about whether I'm okay or not when I told you I am!" he spat back. "Just leave me alone and let me think! I've got a lot on my mind and a lot of things I need to do, you know."
"Oh, right, because you're a special snowflake," I muttered. "I'm sorry I forgot that you're the only one with problems."
"I didn't mean it like that..." he began.
"No, no, please don't let me interfere with your precious thinking time!" I shot back. "You know what? If you want to be a jerk to me, then maybe you should look for somewhere else to crash because this apartment is way too small for you to act like an ass in it."
I turned and ran up the stairs, threw myself on my bed and buried my face in my pillow to keep from making any noise as I cried. I cried because my wonderful boss was dead, because I'd lost my job, and because the man downstairs who'd I'd promised to help and who I was quickly falling for, was rejecting me. It was too much for one day.
"Echo?" he called softly from the bottom of the stairs. I held my breath and hoped he'd just go away and leave me alone. "Echo? I'm sorry."
"It's okay," I called back in a choked voice. "I get it."
"No, I'm sorry," he said. "That was rude of me and you didn't deserve that. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I sniffled.
"You don't sound fine," he said quietly. "Are you sure you're fine?"
"It's been a long week already, I lost my boss and my job," I said. "It's kind of a lot to take in."
"Yeah, and you've got a grumpy stranger who almost killed you during a nightmare sleeping on your couch," he said. "It's a lot for one person."
I didn't say anything. He was right, and the tears starting flowing hot and fast again as I thought about how I was going to cope with the massive changes. My severance pay package had been incredibly generous, but something about it made me feel dirty taking it. It felt like blood money.
"Echo, can you come downstairs so we can talk?" he asked.
"I'd rather not, if you don't mind," I said as I sniffled.
"Okay," he said in a deflated voice. "I need to ask a favor, though. And I know I have no right to ask, but I'm going to anyway. I need to go to visit the parents of a friend of mine who was killed in action. Would you mind going with me?"
"Tomorrow?" I asked.
"Yeah, in the morning," he said.
"Sure, I'll go with you," I said. "I mean it's not like I have a job or anything."
I heard him chuckle as he walked out on to the balcony. Soon after, I fell into a deep sleep and didn't wake up until Ryan called up for dinner.
I descended the stairs still sleepy and feeling a little confused, but I smiled when I saw that Ryan ha
d set up dinner on the balcony. He'd gone out to the Moroccan place down the block and picked up schwarma, hummus, and a fresh salad, and had made us both heaping plates of food topped with still-warm pita bread. I stepped on to the balcony and he followed with a crisp cold beer for each of us.
"I hope you're hungry," he said as he pulled out the folding chair and held it for me while I sat down.
"I'm not sure I've ever been this hungry," I laughed as I looked at my plate and back up at him. "But I love leftovers, so it's not a problem in the least."
He sat down across from me and studied me with a serious expression. His eyes were dark, unlike earlier when the amber color of them lit up and almost glowed. I wasn't sure what he was thinking, so I looked down at my plate and grabbed a pita.
"I'm sorry, Echo," he said so quietly I wasn't sure I heard him correctly. "I'm sorry about earlier. I was so wrapped up in my own problems that I didn't think about what you were going through."
"It's okay," I shrugged. "I was feeling sorry for myself and I forgot that you've lost not one, but two people. I was tired."
"And that was my fault, too," he said looking out across 14th Street.
"Look, let's just accept each other's apologies and let it go, okay?" I suggested. "Otherwise, we're going to spend a lot of time agonizing over things that we don't need to and forget about what's really important."
"Sure," he shrugged.
"Ryan, what's going on?" I asked. He looked like a man who had a lot more than just an apology on his mind.
"I'm trying to figure out what the hell is going on with my father's estate," he began. "I don't understand any of it. And then there's tomorrow..."
He trailed off as he grabbed his beer and drank deeply before setting it down and loading this pita with hummus and meat. He shoved it in his mouth and chewed silently.