Page 28 of Duty Compromised

The honesty of the statement hung between us. She seemed to realize what she’d said and focused intently on her sandwich.

“People are complicated,” I agreed. “But sometimes they’re worth the effort.”

“Sometimes.”

We ate in companionable silence for a few minutes. She’d stopped typing, actually focusing on her lunch. I noticed the tension in her shoulders had eased slightly.

“Have you been in security work your whole life?”

“I was in the military first. Army Rangers.” No need to include the part that the Army had seemed like the best bet since college was going to be an absolute no-go for me. “Then private security. Felt like a natural progression.”

I studied her face. “What about you? Always wanted to work with computers?”

“I always wanted to solve puzzles. Computer engineering and programming just happened to be the best way to do that.” She arranged her apple slices in a perfect fan on the table. “I was good at it. Being good at something is easier than…other things.”

“Like making friends?”

She shrugged. “Friends require maintenance. Code just requires logic.”

“But code can’t eat lunch with you.”

“No,” she admitted. “It can’t.”

I wanted to reach across the table, to offer some kind of comfort, but I knew that would send her running. Instead, I kept my voice casual. “I need to tell you something. About the project.”

Her expression immediately shuttered. “Alex sent you.”

“In a way. The FBI let us know that the Cascade Protocol is going up on the black market in ten days.”

She went very still. “Ten days. So we’ve got to have the countermeasure completely functional by that time.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s… That’s not enough time. The recursive loop alone will take three days to resolve, and then we have to integrate the stabilization matrix with the existing infrastructure?—”

“Charlotte.” I kept my voice gentle. “I know it seems impossible.”

“Alex wanted you to threaten me, didn’t he?” Her voice was flat, resigned. “Fire me if I don’t deliver, something like that.”

I wasn’t surprised she’d already figured it out. She might not be good with interacting with people, but that didn’t mean she didn’t understand them. “He suggested it.”

“But?”

“But I asked if I could talk to you instead.”

She tilted her head, studying me with those sharp green eyes. “Why?”

“Because I’ve been watching you for three days. You’re already doing everything humanly possible. Threats won’t make you work harder—they’ll just make you break.”

“So, this is what, the soft approach? Good cop to Alex’s bad cop?”

“This is me, having lunch with a colleague, telling her the truth about a bad situation.” I leaned forward slightly. “I know you’re exhausted. I know you’re pushing yourself past any reasonable limit. And I know that asking you to push harder isn’t fair.”

“But you’re asking anyway.”

“I’m telling you what’s at stake. What you do with that information is up to you.”

She was quiet for a long moment, absently arranging and rearranging her apple slices. I could practically see her mind working, calculating timelines, running through possibilities.