Station Alpha: (Soldiering On #1) (9 page)

“Copy,” was all Blake said.

He searched a little more and found the most recent filing cabinet at the back. Once again he used his tools to open it. He found her file listed under ‘Ramirez’. Her heart leapt into her throat as he pulled it out and lay it on top of the other files. It was a thin folder – that much she could see even over the grainy camera. Blake flipped it open, then grunted.

“Nothing much here. Just your employment contract and emergency details.”

Christine groaned in frustration. “So it was all for nothing? We’ve got nothing to go on?” Despair settled over her, suffocating in its tempting blackness.

Paul cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t say that. Blake, check for Vovk, would you? It might not be in this year’s, so check back a few years and see if there is any connection between the two.”

“Copy.”

Blake got to work, going through multiple drawers. Christine turned to Paul. “Thank you,” she told him sincerely.

“It’s all right,” he told her with a brief smile. “I know how easy it is to lose hope.”

He turned back to the screen and Christine did the same, glancing at the security guard as she did so.

She froze, gripping Paul’s arm.

The security guard was standing up, eyes still glued to the game. He stretched, and she had the hope that he would sit back down, that the allure of his sport would prove too strong. Unfortunately, he adjusted his belt and wandered away from his desk, moving in the direction of the stairs.

“Shit, it looks like the guard is making his rounds, Blake.” Paul’s jaw was tight, and she could see the muscle working there.

“Nearly done,” Blake murmured, his more hurried movements the only sign that he was concerned.

“Ha!” he exclaimed as he jerked open a drawer. “There is a massive file here on the Vovks.”

“You don’t have time to read it, so you’ll have to bring it with you. Just get out of there.”

“Copy that.”

They watched as he moved swiftly out of the room, and towards the stairs.

“Nope, you’re too late, the guard is coming down. You’ll have to hide.”

Blake cursed good-naturedly, then slipped back into the filing room. Only a few seconds passed before the guard appeared in the hallway. Blake had disappeared just in time. The guard trotted unhurriedly towards the filing room where Blake was now wedged between two cabinets, checking the other rooms along the way as he went.

The guard stepped into the room, his head swinging back and forth as he scanned the long rows of cabinets in front of him. He walked a few more steps, moving closer to Blake with every second. Christine’s heart stopped as the guard paused right near Blake. For an endless minute, she thought he’d been spotted.

But the guard turned on his heel and walked out of the room and into the corridor. Christine’s heart didn’t start beating again until the guard was safely scanning the next room.

“Get the hell out of there,” Paul hissed.

“No need to tell me twice,” Blake replied, and moved towards the door. He peered out first, making sure the guard was still in the next room before he made a dash for the stairs.

Paul didn’t bother blacking out the cameras, so Blake sped up the stairs, still clutching the file in his hand. Rather than make his way back up to the third floor where he’d entered, he beelined for the front door. He strode past the security desk without a second glance and walked right up to the front door. Christine was about to ask what he was doing, but she realised that with the indoor guard downstairs, there was no one watching the cameras.

Still, it was a relief when he pushed the after-hours opening button, and the door slid open. Blake stepped out into the night and melted back into the shadows.

Christine took her first proper breath in what felt like hours.

Chapter 11

It had been late when Blake made it to the safety of the Soldiering On offices, so despite their almost painful curiosity, Paul and Christine decided to wait until morning to see if there was anything useful in the file on the Vovks.

Paul had spent a restless night, tossing and turning, his thoughts bouncing from one place to the next. First on his mind was the strange moment in the office earlier that day, where he could have sworn for a brief flicker in time that Christine had wanted him to kiss her. And while that memory had nearly been supplanted by the later excitement, it roared back with a vengeance now that he was lying alone in his empty bed.

Perhaps the attraction he’d been feeling—the one that just kept growing exponentially the more he spent time with her—wasn’t one-sided. Perhaps, just perhaps, that given enough time, she might start to feel the same way about him. Hell, maybe she already did, just a little.

There were a lot of maybes. Maybe she didn’t feel the same way after all, and never would. Maybe she would if given time to let it grow. Maybe it was all a product of him saving her. Maybe he was delusional and living a fever dream. He simply couldn’t be sure.

He did know that there was a way to find out, but he was also smart enough to know that in the midst of a dangerous and life-threatening situation probably wasn’t the best time to bring it up.

After pondering those issues, he decided to wait until after they caught the bad guy and she could get her life back to suggest that maybe they could consider going out sometime.

That resolved, his brain moved on to the next problem: that of keeping Christine safe and hurrying the process of resolving these issues along. With the added motivation of knowing that he wouldn’t make his move until then, it became even more imperative that it happened as soon as possible.

That file had to be the key, otherwise they were back at square one. Instinct told him there was something fishy about the Vovks. But he couldn’t make plans to take them down until he figured out what it was.

Paul eventually drifted to sleep with the image of soft hands and a welcoming smile filling his mind’s eye.

Paul woke early—a product of his restless mind—and called Duncan as soon as it hit 8am.

“You in the office yet?”

“Pulling in now. I heard last night went well?”

“A few tense moments, but nothing we couldn’t handle. Blake’s nuts, but he’s cool under fire.”

Duncan grunted in agreement. “So what’s up?”

“Blake left the file at the office last night. The one on the Vovks.”

“I’ll go through it, see if there’s anything of use.”

“Sure.” He hesitated. “However, I know Christine will want to see it, and I think there would be some value in letting her look. She’s good with information, and will know if any connections to her jump out. I’ll give it a pass, too.”

“Saves me the trouble. Should I send someone over with it?”

“Best not to. If I were them and trying to find us, best bet would be to follow the people leaving the office, since chances are good you’d know where we are.”

“True enough. I’ll have someone scan it all and send it through.”

“Thanks.”

They disconnected, and Paul swung his chair around to reveal Christine standing in the doorway. She had her arms wrapped around herself as she leant against the door frame. Still in her pyjamas, she’d clearly woken up not long before. Her hair was messy, and her eyes still had a trace of the fuzziness of sleep.

She yawned loudly. His heart flipped, as if in celebration of the domestic scene that she presented. The only thing that would make it better was if she’d just risen from his bed. No, he realised, it would be if they were both still in the bed. Together.

“We’re getting the file today?” she asked, interrupting his errant thoughts.

Heat crept into his cheeks. He wished it would do so more stealthily.

“Yeah. It might take a while to scan and send it over, though. I wouldn’t expect before an hour is out.”

She smiled, a teasing twinkle entering her eye. “I guess I can wait if I really have to.”

He chuckled in reply and went to move towards the kitchen, craving a hot dose of caffeine to kick some sense into him. He needed to keep his mind focused on the job until Christine was safe. Only then could he start thinking about all the other possibilities.

“I’ll get breakfast, shall I?” she asked, moving ahead of him.

“I could eat.” Again. “But if you get breakfast, I’ll be responsible for coffee.”

She gave him another of those heart-flipping smiles over her shoulder. He was almost glad he couldn’t feel his knees because he was sure they went weak at the sight.

“Sounds like an excellent plan.”

Once they were settled at the dining table with their food and coffee, Christine gave him a speculative look.

“So, how should we pass the time until the file comes through?” She raised a brow, and Paul almost thought…was she flirting with him?

He remembered the interesting tension during their question and answer session the day before, and wondered whether they could replicate it. “Uh, we never got very far on the getting to know you game yesterday. We could continue where we left off?” He took a sip of his coffee, acting casual.

Christine gave him a wry smile. “Whose turn is it?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Me neither.”

Their eyes caught, smiles lingering on their faces, and a frisson travelled up Paul’s spine.

Christine was the first to recover. “What do you do with yourself besides work and read?” She took a bite of her toast, chewing as she watched him, waiting for an answer.

Paul shrugged. “That’s about it, really. Sometimes I sleep. Or eat.”

“No going out with friends? Or… a girlfriend?” There was a slight hitch in her voice at the last word. A slow smile tugged at his face. It hadn’t been so long since he’d had a date that he’d forgotten what that unsubtle question meant.

“No girlfriend,” he confirmed. “I don’t often hang out with the guys from work, though I do occasionally. How about you?”

“I have lunch dates with my friends every now and again, but most are married with kids. Or at the very least in long-term relationships. It sucks to be a third wheel.”

“Sure, I get that.”

She shifted in her chair, apparently contemplating something. “Actually, that’s really just an excuse.” She ran her finger against the wood grain on the table, watching it with seeming fascination.

“Yeah?”

“The only reason I don’t see my friends much—with or without the kids or significant others—is because I’ve been holding back.”

A tug of recognition pulled in his gut. “Yeah.” His voice was rough in his throat. He took another swallow of coffee to soothe it.

“Anyway.” Her smile was tight. “How did you get into your job at Soldiering On? Sounds like a cool place.”

Paul’s shoulders loosened at the mention of his workplace, though he felt a slight twinge of disappointment that she’d changed the subject just as she was opening up. He let it go this once. “Duncan and I met in rehab. Same with Blake and Sam, though I served with Zack. Not sure you’ve met him yet.”

Christine shook her head.

“He was in the VA hospital almost as long as I was.” He swallowed, remembering that time. When for once in his life, he couldn’t just fight harder to get what he wanted. He’d never walk again. And then came the grief that had nearly overwhelmed him; the effects of which still lingered to this day.

“Anyway, somehow Duncan got this mad idea to start a company. We’d had a bit of trouble when looking for work. Too many able-bodied people in the lines to pick from.” He twisted his mouth up into a semblance of a smile. “He only wanted to hire vets. Particularly those with permanent injuries from duty.”

“And he’s managed so far?”

“For sure. Mandy thinks it’s a great publicity move, but Duncan really just wants to give us a fair shot.”

“Mandy?”

“His partner. Of the business kind, since they mostly pretend to hate each other. She fronted up a lot of the capital to get his idea off the ground. It’s because of her that it’s already making money, though Duncan would chew off his own arm rather than admit it. We haven’t even been open a year.”

“It sounds truly wonderful.” Her eyes were shining—with tears or idealism, he couldn’t tell.

“Soldiering On—Duncan—saved me,” he agreed.

A beep sounded from the next room, interrupting their heart-to-heart. Paul cursed Duncan’s timing.

“Looks like we’re up.”

The next few hours were spent sifting through a mountain of information. Since Blake had only had time to grab the current year’s folder, there were references to previous encounters, lawsuits, meetings, and disagreements that made zero sense. It was like reading a history book with eighty percent of the pages torn out. Only snippets of useful information found their way through.

“You said that the Vovks wanted me watched because they thought I was selling information from the Disiks to one of their employees, right?” Christine asked.

“Apparently, they’d been in some trouble before with one of their employees being discovered as a corporate spy. They claimed it was an employee acting of their own volition and they had nothing to do with it, but who knows. Still, the Vovks said that they didn’t want the same thing to happen again.”

“Well, from these files, it looks like both sides had used all kinds of tactics to get information from each other for at least a decade. Corporate spies, assaults on employees, alleged seductions, hacking—”

“That explains why they didn’t keep any of their files on a server, just hard copies.”

She closed the file, leaning towards him with her eyes narrowed in thought. “I suppose so. What’s the real reason they wanted me watched, do you think? Maybe they thought I would be an easy target for information? Not knowing I didn’t really work for Disik and Sons.”

“Might be. Though they were very particular, according to Duncan, that we watch any meetings or drops that you might have had.”

“If that’s not a cover, then perhaps they really did believe I was passing on information. But to who?” When he didn’t have an immediate answer, she crossed her arms and sat back with a huff. “All we really learned was that there has been at least a decade of frivolous lawsuits between these two family-owned companies.”

“I think it is looking more and more likely that the Vovks are the culprits behind all this. At the very least, they weren’t telling us the whole story.”

“So, what do we do?”

“We get them to tell us more.” He smiled at her, baring his teeth in a predatory grin.