“I want to invite you in,” she whispered as she leaned up and kissed him goodbye, “but my first day back at ALPHA can’t include sex with my new partner.”
He kissed her cheek and murmured, “As you wish,” then kissed her other. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at three-thirty.”
“I can meet you?—”
“Let’s do this my way. Yes?”
She offered him a little smile. “Yes.”
“Sognami, bella Simone. Dream of me, beautiful Simone.”
One small step at a time.
This wasn’t a sprint. This was his life. And hers.
Maybe even… ours.
16
ALPHA 2.0
SIMONE
At six in the morning, Simone woke with a start. Her heart was racing, her thoughts hazy. Someone was trying to kill Luciano, but she couldn’t help him. He was being held by his ankles from a building rooftop. Burning up, she threw back the covers and stared at the ceiling.
That was terrifying.
Pushing out of bed, she dragged herself into the bathroom to get ready. Forty minutes later, she was sitting in her home office sipping coffee. After logging into ALPHA, she picked the first name on her list of possible suspects.
Time to do a deep dive.
Nowadays, most people posted their lives on social media. While an ALPHA Op wouldn’t post how much they hated their top-secret job or their coworkers, they might post something about their views on the government, politics, or even law enforcement that could offer up a clue. It was like trudging through sludge without the luxury of time.
As she worked, she drained her coffee mug, refilled it, then drained it again. Her stomach growled and she glanced at the clock.
It was eleven-thirty.
That felt like ten minutes.
She made herself oatmeal with blueberries and walnuts, then returned to her office where a text from Cooper waited.
Check email. Call if you want to discuss
She opened her email, skimmed, then clicked on the one from forensics. As she read the report, anger burned its way to her guts. The bomb-making materials that killed Frederica and her team were the same ones that took out Simone’s team. This confirmed The Bomb Maker was back.
Her phone buzzed with an incoming call. “Good morning, Cooper.”
“I see you’re in ALPHAnet.”
She ran her fingertip over the tracker in her neck. “How?”
“The system is much more sophisticated than it used to be,” he explained. “I can see who’s logged in and what they’re working on.”
Seemed like Big Brother was watching a little too closely for her liking, but she was not about to push back on day two. On day one, she’d barely avoided sleeping with her partner. She wasn’t going to get into it with her new boss.
“I know it’s intrusive,” Cooper said. “It’s designed to create a teaming environment. You can see others in the system too.”
After he explained how to do it, she went looking for Luciano, but there was nothing.