Devil’s in the Details (50 page)

Letting go of Alex's hand, I pulled the BMW into the driveway and glared at the redhead. She glared back with a smirk and a shrug of her shoulders. Blowing out a heavy sigh I reached for Alex, gently shaking her awake. "Alex? We're home."

Alex snorted softly and opened her eyes, blinking and pushing the hair out of her face, "Did I pass out?" She looked at me and the small smile on my face, "I passed out." She scrunched up her nose, "Sorry, Mom's meatloaf makes me sleepy." She turned to look out the passenger side window, catching Dani now standing next to the black sedan. "Who is that?"

I sighed, shutting off the car and yanking out the keys, "That is my co-worker who apparently doesn't understand what I’m on vacation means." I pushed my door open, reaching for the bag of leftovers in the backseat, "I'll introduce you two before I tell her to piss off."

Alex chuckled, giving me a look, "Let me guess, is she the shitty secretary that calls and texts you? Turning you into grumpy Victoria?"

I nodded, "She is indeed a shitty secretary." I climbed out of the car and walked around to the back, making eye contact with Dani.

She smirked at me, "Evening Professor."

I glared at her, noticing the grey laptop bag next to her on the trunk with the large manila envelope sitting on top, "Lieutenant."

Dani raised an eyebrow at me, then turned to see Alex exit the passenger side and walk towards us. "I apologize for interrupting, didn't expect you to have company." Dani met my eyes, I could tell in that one look, my vacation was about to be put on hold.

Holding out the bag of food to Alex, I waved her over, "Alex, I would like you to meet Lieutenant Danielle O'Malley, my secretary at the Academy." I smirked at the sight of Dani grimacing when I referred to her as my secretary, "Lieutenant, I would like you to meet Alex Ivers, my girlfriend."

Alex grinned wider when she heard the formal title, extending her hand out to Dani, "Hi, it's nice to finally meet one of Victoria's co-workers." Alex leaned into me, wrapping an arm around my waist, "I hope you're not here to throw some work her way, we’re on vacation."

I could see Dani fighting the urge to roll her eyes at the public display. She folded her arms across her chest, sighing dramatically, "Actually, I’m here to do just that." She frowned playfully at Alex, "School's out but the Navy never stops for the summer." She then made eye contact with me, "Alex, do you mind if the good Professor Bancroft and I have a minute to talk?"

Alex nodded, "Sure." She then grabbed the bag and squeezed my side, "I'll be in the living room, checking to see if your dragon show recorded." She then smiled at Dani, "Nice to meet you Lieutenant O'Malley."

Dani nodded, "Likewise." We both watched Alex walk into the house and close the door. "Your girlfriend is adorable, Professor." There was an edge to girlfriend when she spoke the word. "Can we take this inside?"

I clenched my jaw, pointing towards the garage, "In there."

Dani scooped up the laptop and manila envelope, walking towards the side door entrance to the garage, "You know O'Malley is not my real last name."

I closed the door behind us, "Even though I trust Alex, I would never reveal your true last name to anyone who didn't need to know it, Dani." I leaned against the small workbench Dale had built for me a few months after I moved in, "Get it over with."

Dani chuckled, setting the laptop bag down next to me, "Okay Professor grump." She unclicked the bag latches and removed a brand new, thinner black laptop, "I’ve heard tonight's episode of your dragon show is quite the killer." Dani pushed the laptop closer, "Speaking of killer episodes."

I felt my jaw twitch, "I’m on vacation." I then motioned to the laptop, "Why the new equipment?"

Dani hopped up on to the workbench, letting her khaki clad legs swing freely, "First, old lady has issued new laptops to the plumbers, I was sent to hand deliver yours. Her paranoia is reaching epic levels, so she had the nerd herd build all new ones and then sent them all over to me to install heavy duty firewalls with heavy encryption." Dani winked at me, grinning, "That alone made my day. The old lady literally handed me the keys to the head office and said be free, little one! Be free!"

Frowning I stared at the dust covered Navy flag hanging on the opposite wall, "Dani, don't get too big for your britches."

"Yes pa, I;ll try not to." Dani rolled her eyes, "If they haven't noticed now, they never will. Three years and I’m one of the master hackers out there. I have white hat hackers, black hat hackers and most of the deep web knocking on my door for tips."

She reached for the manila envelope, tossing it towards me, "Back to the real reason I’m here. Aside from dropping off the new laptop, the old man wants you to do a job." She held up her hand as I began to say something, "He knows you're on vacation, but wanted me to tell you that he only trusts you to do this one. Not even the old lady knows about is job. You're the old man's favorite and he requested you do this job clean and quick. No huge mess."

Picking up the envelope I held it in both of my hands, "I can't."

"You can, because you have to." Dani shrugged, "Voltaire doesn't negotiate, even inside their own walls." She pointed at the envelope, "It's a one day job, up in Manhattan. A British trillionaire oil magnate has started to lose his mind and is going rogue, selling off his international oil fields to terrorist groups in the middle east with one hand and using the profits to fund North Korea's burgeoning new nuclear weapon program. He's truly misbehaving and the old man wants him put to bed. Stop the funneling of millions to groups who could shatter the free world with a sneeze."

I closed my eyes, crumpling up the edges of the envelope, "I'm on vacation, and Alex."

Dani slid off the workbench, moving to stand in front of me, her hands settling on my upper arms, "Victoria, I know. Trust me I know. I know what it's like to feel like a normal human enjoying a Sunday funday, then have the boogey man knock on my door and shove the ugly reality in." Dani waited until I looked in her eyes, "I was able to get the old man to give you four times the usual since you are on vacation."

I shook my head, my stomach beginning to turn. "It's not just that Dani." I met her eyes again, "I want to stop doing this shit. I want the life I never got a chance to have." I paused, weighing the words before I spoke them, knowing when I did, it would set things in motion. I sucked in a breath, "I want out."

Dani's eyes flickered a second, she let me go of my arms and stepped back, "Do you really want out?" Her voice was soft, genuine.

"Yes." I dropped the envelope on the workbench, looking over to the door that led into the house, "I can't do this double life, not with Alex. Anyone else yes, I could and did do it, but not her. She deserves a life that isn't partially in the shadows, and a girlfriend who hides in those same shadows killing and disposing of bodies in the name of God and country."

Dani began to chew on her bottom lip, "You know what will happen if they hear of this?"

"I do." I gripped on the edge of the stone edge of the workbench, "But I also remember a conversation we had while I was in Uganda. The night I got caught dismembering that drug chieftain and ended up killing seven Ugandan rebels, the same night I had to get fifteen stitches to close up the split on the back of my head from the butt of a AK-47."

Dani held up her hand to stop me, "I do, Victoria, I remember that night and every goddamn night of every goddamn job you've gone on. The good ones, the bad ones, the bloody ones, all of them." She peered up at me, her green eyes searching mine as silence dropped in the garage.

After a few minutes, she let out a slow breath, "Can you give me a few months? I am so close Victoria, so fucking close." She turned to the garage door, her mind clearly working a thousand miles an hour like it always did when she was hatching a plan, "I will need a few months to get you out. To create the perfect exit strategy that will keep you alive and nurse blue eyes out of the hands of Voltaire." She gave me a sideways look, "You think you can wait a few months?"

I gripped on the edge of the workbench harder, feeling the stone dig into my palms and sting, "I think I have to." I let out a shaky breath, "Please, Dani, I mean it this time. I can't keep living these fucked up lives the Colonel handed us. I hate to sound cliché, but I have found the light at the end of the tunnel and she has brown hair, blue eyes and a heart that I don't dare break." I felt my eyes well up at the simple thought of ever breaking Alex’s heart.

Dani huffed, "You are a walking cliché, Professor, but I’m also a closet romantic." She turned to face me, dropping her arms down, her hands smoothing out her uniform shirt, "I’ll make it happen. But we have to keep this to ourselves, not let them see anything but happy happy Voltaire employees at our early evaluation. The old man is a genius at reading body language, he will notice something is up if we don't drink the Kool-Aid and stick to it."

I nodded, pushing away from the workbench, "I know." I picked up the envelope and shoved it in the bag with the new laptop, zipping it closed. "You can tell him that I’ll take this job. I'll tell Alex I have to fly out to Rhode Island again to assist in the OCS intake process." I lifted the laptop and tucked it under my arm, looking dead at a pair of green eyes, I spoke, "Promise me..."

"Don't. We don't make promises, Victoria. Last time we did." Dani shrugged, "We ended up here." She half saluted me, walking to the side door, pausing as she pulled it open, "For what it's worth, I can tell in the way you two look at each other that she, this love, is worth the risk of bailing on Voltaire." She smiled tightly, "Just try to be patient and I will get you out."

I said nothing in return, leaving Dani to close the garage door behind her.

When she was gone and I could hear her car drive off in the distance, I continued to stand in the middle of the cold, dark garage. Holding onto the laptop with one hand and looking at the door that would take me back to Alex and the new life I wanted, I could feel my being start to split. The small cracks that formed the day Alex stood in my office, shoving my two lives apart, were growing. Splitting into massive cracks that in time, I feared I’d shatter under if I didn't get out of Voltaire.

I took a few more minutes to settle down and regain my composure, I didn't want Alex to notice that I was upset or was about to lie to her. I wanted to walk in to the house, dump the laptop in my desk drawer and forget about it for a few more hours.

Chapter 15

The cold spot on the bed had my eyes peeling open against my will. The bed and the room was very empty. The sparse moonlight was my only companion, and it made me frown. I rubbed away the sleep, staring at the clock blinking three fifteen at me.

I sighed, dropping my head back on to the pillow, it was clear Victoria had been gone for longer than a trip to the bathroom, or to grab a late night snack, the coolness of the bed and her pillow told me such. Rolling to sit up, I grabbed my shorts from the chair and wrapped up in the afghan lying next to it, and went to find Victoria.

She’d acted strange for the rest of the night as we watched television and ate popcorn. Then she was a bit distant when I tried to get her naked and into bed, settling for an intense make out session that led us to nowhere but breathless, snuggling on top of the covers. I was starting to think that taking her to my parents' house had been too much and now Victoria was digesting the day, trying to process the ubiquitous parental questioning she endured.

Tucking my arms under the afghan, I had wanted to ask Victoria what was wrong the moment she curled up in my arms in bed. Murmuring a thank you for the day and telling me how tired she was. I decided when I found her now, I would ask her what was wrong and hope that she would talk to me.

Shuffling down the stairs, I saw the desk light on in the den, casting a soft yellow glow out into the kitchen. Walking into the kitchen, I saw a bottle of bourbon sitting next to the coffee maker with a glass that had a splash of the dark amber liquor lingering in the bottom. I frowned, moving to the edge of the doorway leading into Victoria's den and peeked around the corner.