EsmeandErik.
“Hey, what’sgoingon?”
“We’re holding down the fort.So far, so good.”This camefromErik.
“That’s good.No sign of the zero?”I asked.Erik had taken to calling Carlos “the zero” because he was on a World War II kickrightnow.
“Nope.Nothing.We’ve upped security protocol, and the critical team has been alerted that all precautions should be taken.The building isn’t admitting anyone who isn’t on the employee roster without heavy advancedscreening.”
I didn’t like the idea of my company running like a prison, but in this case, I was happy to take thebetter safe than sorryroute.After all, it wasn’t every day I got on the wrong side of a Mexican drugcartel.
“Anythingelsenew?”
“Not much.We were more calling to get an update on how it’s going in lockdown land with the sexy Rhett Hennessy.Did ya get some?”Esme wasshameless.
“As your boss, I’m going to pretend you didn’t ask thatquestion.”
“Ohhh, you know that means she did!Score,girl!”
Erik’s enthusiasm had my cheeks turning pink and doubly glad this line was untappable and untraceable.“We are notdiscussingthis.”
“Sure, boss.Whatever you say.Not discussing the fact that you finally banged the guy you’ve been lusting after yourwholelife.”
They didn’t realize what was happening between Rhett and me was so much more, but I wasn’t about to lay it out for themrightnow.
“And moving on ...Is there anything else we need todiscuss?”
Both Erik and Esme morphed into the super-capable employees I knew they were and gave me a rundown on everything I’d missed.Basically, despite the increased security measures, things were runningsmoothly.
“There’s only one thing that was a little weird,” Esme said.“I wasn’t going to mention it, but given thesituation...”
“What?”
“Jan Hofer called in sick three days in a row after having nearly perfect attendance since her appendix was removed a fewyearsago.”
Jan Hofer was an R&D scientist who was part of the facial-recognitionproject.
“Have you called her?Checked on her?Found out if she’s really sick or if she’smissing?”
“We’re on it.We’re going to have security check out her place to make sure everything’s okay.HR called her twice, but got her voice mail bothtimes.”
A creepy sense of uneasiness swept over me.“Tell them to be careful.Let me know what theysayASAP.”
“No problem.We’ll report back,” Esmepromised.
When we hung up, I logged into my company’s intranet and dug up Jan’s notes from her research the last few weeks.Nothing was out of the ordinary, but still ...I didn’t like thecoincidence.
I didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but I wouldn’t feel settled about it until Esme and Erik called back with more information.She can just be sick,I toldmyself.
In the meantime, I needed adistraction.
Rhett opened the door to the bedroom.“Hey, Red.You in a good place to take a break for a couplehours?”
Exactly the distraction Ineeded.
My stomach growled, and I realized it had been almost six hours since we’d eaten last.“I could be talkedintothat.”
He nodded.“Good.Then meet me down in the pool room when you’re finished.We’ve gotadate.”