Page 11 of Perfect Order

“No…maybe? Just something happened. It’s left me feeling a bit odd.”

Every hair on my body raises. But just as I’m about to probe for more information, my computer sounds with an alert of an attack on the company network. I whirl back to see a stream of encoded data bouncing off the external firewall protecting my DMZ.Damn, this is the last thing I need right now.Even as my fingers are flying to drag anyone with the skills to combat this out of their beds, regardless of their nocturnal activities, I order my twin, “Spill it.”

She opens and closes her mouth. “Not right now. You’re working on something important…”

“Nothing is more important than you, my Lee,” I reassure her, even as my fingers clatter at an alarming pace against my main keyboard.

She opens her mouth just as a second alarm sounds. I yell at the offending device. “Christ! It’s Friday at eleven. Don’t people have a life?”

“Obviously not, or you wouldn’t have a company that just beat out half the known universe for an enormous government contract,” she says drolly. “This can wait. The fate of the world as we know it can’t.”

I roll my eyes. “It’s not that bad.”

“Would you tell me if it was?”

I hedge just a little too long, and my sister laughs. “Ah, so are we talking about the compromise of all my electronic devices or potentially a missile heading to blow up StellaNova’s headquarters? If it’s the second, do you think—just this once—you could let it go? For me? Please?”

I can’t help it. I burst out laughing, but that sound withers away when my sister plainly states, “I miss you. I know I just said I have everything I ever wanted, but somehow I always imagined you by my side when it happened.”

“I know. Me too.” The secrets I hide are different now. Even as exciting as they are, they’re nothing like the ones you giggle over in the middle of the night with the person your heart beats for and with.

“It’s been too long since we’ve seen each other.”

I chew on my lip, mentally solving the attack as well as rearranging my schedule for the next two weeks. “Listen, I’m heads down planning for the face-to-face meeting with the representatives from government. They have to come in and inspect the facility within fourteen days of the award. Do you have plans next weekend?”

Kylie shakes her head. “Nothing concrete. Why?”

“Let’s do a sisters’ weekend together starting next Friday. You, me, and the Plaza. I’ll drive down to the city. We can have a massive sleepover.”

“And catch up in person,” she muses. “I approve of this mightily.”

My smile is crooked. “Good, because I wasn’t going to let you back out.”

“You know, for someone who is four minutes older, you’re awfully autocratic.”

“It comes from running my own business. And I’m only older because they grabbed me out first,” I remind her.

“True. Besides, being younger does have its perks. I got more time to cook. It made me better-looking.”

I scoff. We’re completely identical unless she gets a bone up her ass and decides to do something funky with her hair.

“…and more talented. Guess that’s why I may have a shot at singing a duet with Brendan Blake on his next album.”

My jaw drops. My fingers stop moving. My office could be infiltrated by the enemy and I’d never know it. I shriek, “And you waited this long to share this with me?”

Suddenly, my office door flies open. I knew I should have engaged the security locks. Someone blearily manages, “You got ’em already?”

I yell, “Get out! Out, out, out!” The door quickly snaps shut.

Kylie sighs. “Honestly, babe. This isn’t a good time.”

I mutter, “It’s our time. It’s always supposed to be.”

“I know. But life happens. Things…happen.” An odd note in her voice has me yanking the handline out of the cradle.

“What is it?”

She shakes her head. “Nothing too serious, I hope.”