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While on the outside I was smiling and laughing with the other women, inside I couldn’t shake the hurt of Magnet deciding not to deploy to St. Moritz and, worse, not discussing it with me. I wouldn’t have minded if he had. Well, maybe I would’ve, but far less than now, hearing it from someone else.
A few minutes later, when he walked in and I was in the midst of a conversation with Flick and O, I pretended I didn’t see him. I had, though. I watched him turn and leave the room with Zeppelin, wishing he’d walked over to me instead.
When people started filing in, I checked the time and saw the briefing was due to begin in five minutes.
“All set?” I heard his familiar voice say from behind me.
I squared my shoulders, took a deep breath, and plastered a smile on my face before turning around to face the man whose opinion mattered more to me than anyone’s. “Good morning, and yes, I’m ready.”
“Schön, when this is over, we should talk.”
My eyes opened wide. Did he not realize he’d just cut me off at the knees? I’d set aside what I saw as his betrayal, at least for a few seconds. Now, I was rankled all over again. “Magnet…”
“I’ll just take a seat.”
“Wait. You aren’t staying.”
“Of course I am.” He cocked his head while I shook mine.
“No.”
His eyes scrunched.
“Sorry, but I would prefer it if you didn’t.”
“If that’s what you want.”
I watched him walk out, glad he was leaving, but wishing I hadn’t just put him in the direct path of Magnolia as she descended the stairs.
I’d gottenNem’s approval to upload my outline and master list before the beginning of the briefing, which, now that I was finished with my presentation, people appeared to already be accessing.
“This is great, Schön,” said Zeppelin from several paces away. “My fellow task force commanders and I should be responsible for keeping this up to date.”
“What’s that?” asked Magnet, coming to stand beside Zep and meeting my eyes before I could look away.
“Didn’t she show you this?” Zep held out his tablet, and Magnet took it from his hands.
He glanced at it, then back at me.
“There’s more. She created synopses for briefs but in a way that makes things easy to find without divulging classified information.”
While he nodded his head as though he was listening to Zep, Magnet’s eyes remained riveted to mine. “Excuse me,” I heard him mutter as he stalked in my direction after returning the tablet to Zeppelin.
Why hadn’t I left when I had the chance? I could’ve walked out of the situation room and kept going until I reached the cottage. Once there, I could’ve hidden in my room until it was time for me to leave.
“Schön, may I have a word with you, please?” he said, using his commander voice.
“Of course, sir.”
He was walking ahead of me but glanced over his shoulder and raised a brow.
I, however, didn’t flinch. I had no reason to. Well, actually, it probably wasn’t wise that I, an agent new to my assignment, had told my commander I didn’t want him to sit in on my briefing. He had me there.
Once in the solarium, he closed the door and motioned for me to take a seat, something I really would’ve preferred not to do.
I sighed and sat in the same place on the sofa I always did when we worked in here. Magnet sat beside me, although closer than was typical for him.
“I’m sorry you heard from Nemesis that I was thinking of not deploying on the St. Moritz op. I intended to discuss it with you this morning, but when I got up, you were already gone.”