Witch of the federation.., p.31
Witch Of The Federation IV (Federal Histories Book 4), page 31
“You have good people,” he told Elizabeth as he withdrew his keys and held them up with one hand.
“Open the truck, Tex.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And stop calling me that. I… It’s not right.”
He walked slowly to the back of the vehicle and she followed, knowing full well that neither of her guards was happy with the arrangement.
It sucks to be them, she thought and decided they’d simply have to deal with it and that she really would have that staff conversation when she returned to the office.
She could imagine the look on Amy’s face and could probably see it if she turned her head, but old habits—and Tex’s training—died hard. Always watch the contractor. Trust your guards to do what you paid them for.
That worked fine as long as your guards hadn’t been bought.
Elizabeth pushed the thought away as the man’s voice demanded her attention.
“What’s not right?”
“This ‘ma’am’ thing you have going. We used to argue over you calling me ‘girl.’”
The slow smile returned as he unlocked the rear of the van. “The respect?” he asked.
“Yeah…that.”
Tex stretched up to unlatch the door. “You’d better get used to it, girl. You did interesting things before but now, you’re part of something great and you’re making great things happen. This respect is merely what you earned by being part of that.”
“Yeah?” Her face burned and her scowl grew deeper. “Well…it’s still not right.”
He snorted and glanced up to note where Amy had worked her way to on the catwalk. “Like it or not, ma’am, you will make the history books.”
Ms E felt as though he’d thrown a bucket of ice water over her.
“I never wanted that,” she answered softly.
Tex cast a second glance at where Elle had taken a position that allowed her to see what was inside the van without losing her angle on him. “Well, it’ll happen whether you want it or not. These things aren’t up to us.”
She sighed. “So, I’ll drag yʼall with me, then?” she asked and mimicked his drawl to perfection.
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
Elizabeth mimicked his snort, too. “Want it or not, right?”
“There’s no need to be like that, ma’am.”
This time, she sighed at the honorific but she didn’t complain about it. Once Tex had set his mind to something, she couldn’t shake it. She glanced into the back of the vehicle and realized she really did need another person.
He could have hidden a half-dozen men in there and they’d never have been able to take them all.
The girls would raise this for sure and she had to admit they were right. If she had to continue dealing with the shady side of things, she needed more guards. Amy wouldn’t let her get away without adding at least one, although two would be better.
Her security lead would definitely have a field day when they returned, and Elizabeth knew she’d have to let her hire more—as well as another four for a second shift. Lars would laugh his ass off.
“Well, shit,” she muttered.
Tex smirked although he didn’t understand the reason for her chagrin. “Well, that’s assuming we win. If we lose, no one will be around to read anything.”
“Great!” she snapped. “If we lose, there’s a silver lining but everyone’s dead. And, if we win, there’s a silver lining, but everyone reads about me.”
“That’s about the size of it.” He chuckled.
She groaned. “I call that a lose-lose situation.”
“So, do you intend to inspect this?” he asked.
He was back to business, and she guessed he had another job. She swung herself into the back of the van and pulled her tablet out, then used the knife she carried to open each box and the built-in camera to show BURT what they contained.
It didn’t take her long to ascertain that everything was as it should be. “Where do you want the payment?”
Tex passed her his tablet and she held the screen where BURT could see. “Confirmed,” he told her and E passed the tablet back to the man.
He stared at the screen in astonishment. “That was fast. Do you have a team on the net?”
Elizabeth smirked. “Who doesn’t?”
“Well, they’re damned good,” he told her. He gestured toward the van. “Where do you want it?”
“Leave it on board,” she told him. “I’ll bring my team in once you’re gone.”
“I’m gonna need my van back.”
“Where do you want it dropped?”
He passed her a second mobile and turned away from the vehicle. “Do you mind calling me a cab?”
“Where do you want it to collect you?”
“There’s an all-night Internet cafe two blocks down. I’ll be there in about ten minutes.”
She gave him a curious scrutiny. “I didn’t know you jogged.”
He laid a hand over his heart. “Now that was downright unfriendly.”
Although he tried to look pained, he failed and Elizabeth grinned. “Fine, ten minutes.”
She glanced at his boots and he frowned. “Don’t say it, ma’am.”
“Fine.” She waved him away. “Confirm that you made it safely.”
“Don’t you want to know when the rest of your gear will arrive?”
She held the mobile up. “I’ll wait for your call.”
He raised his eyebrows. “That’s awfully trusting—”
“If I don’t hear from you inside two weeks, I’ll come hunting.”
His face relaxed into a smile. “I knew I trained you good.”
He turned and headed to the door. He was halfway there when Elizabeth jogged after him. “Hey, Tex. Wait up!”
He stopped, puzzlement on his face as she drew level with him. “Did I forget something?”
“Nah. I only wanted to give you this.” Elizabeth dug in a pocket and pulled a card out. “Take this,” she told him and handed it over. “If you have a problem, this is your get-out-of-jail-free card with me.”
Tex took a moment to inspect it. After a long moment of silence, he looked at her. “You know something, E? This is the respect I never knew I wanted. Thank you.”
This time, when he turned away, she let him go. She was aware that Amy shadowed his progress to the front of the warehouse and was reasonably sure he was aware of it too.
He left without glancing toward either of her guards, and Ms E waited until the door closed behind him. After that, she curbed her impatience until Amy gave the all-clear before she called the truck in.
It arrived shortly after and Avery and Brenden slid out of the cab.
“You know Lars is as curious as hell,” Avery told her, and she rolled her eyes.
“You told him?”
“We had to. He caught us heading to the gate.”
“And?”
“We said we were running an errand for Burt.” Brenden looked happy with the solution and she stifled another groan.
“It’s fine,” BURT said through their private link. “I apologized for not asking him and explained it was for a private project, and we left it at that.”
Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief and gestured toward the van. “Don’t break anything.”
At least Lars wouldn’t be waiting for her when she got back.
The sight of Frog, Marcus, and Johnny climbing out of the back gave her pause.
Frog gave her a sunny smile. “We thought they could do with the help.”
She scowled. “I mean it, Frog. Don’t break anything. This stuff is hard to come by.”
Before he could see what was in the crates and boxes, however, she left. Once he did, he’d have a hundred questions and she didn’t feel like answering a single one. Amy and Elle joined her as she headed to the car.
To her surprise, they weren’t stopped by the team and she made it without any interruptions. She didn’t even argue when Amy maneuvered her into the passenger seat and Elle slid in beside her.
Whatever. Right?
Tex’s behavior puzzled her. All that ‘ma’am’ business and that mumbling about respect. What had she ever done to earn that?
Aaron was seated in the dining hall when Stephanie arrived. He was eating a late breakfast and reading a journal on quantum computing when he had the uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched.
He glanced around and jerked sideways out of his seat at the sight of the big black-and-yellow cat that stood to the left of his chair. It blinked its lavender eyes and tossed its horned head, then looked past him.
“Oh, dear God, no,” he muttered and pivoted slowly to see what stood behind him.
The black-and-white cat was not quite as big as its six-legged counterpart, but its gaze was equally as intense. The engineer backed away a step and almost tripped over his chair.
The black-and-white feline’s ears perked up and its tail twitched. It crouched and warm breath tickled his ear. He froze and somehow forced himself to turn his head.
It was as bad as he expected. The big black-and-yellow beast had its front paws on the table and snuffled his neck.
Aaron tightened his grasp on the back of his chair and closed his eyes. He locked every muscle in place and swallowed—twice—while his mind raced in an effort to think of what he could do next.
Running was out of the question. For one thing, he could never be fast enough and for another, his legs had locked in place and he wasn’t sure he could move them if he tried.
The yellow-and-black cat leaned in for a sniff and Aaron suppressed a moan. Its muzzle moved over his face and small huffs of warm air buffeted his skin. The wet sound of something eating reached his ears and his plate rattled.
Aaron glanced down in shock, the cat beside him momentarily forgotten. “That was my breakfast!”
A giggle interrupted him, and the black-and-white cat licked its lips and looked across the room. Its counterpart followed its gaze and dropped to the floor.
Aaron breathed a sigh of relief but tensed when the black-and-white beast curled a paw up over the edge of the table.
“Oh no,” he told it and tried to snatch his coffee cup out of range. “No, you don’t.”
The feline was quicker and swatted the cup out of his hand and over the edge.
“Zee!” The voice was vaguely familiar but he couldn’t place it.
The black-and-yellow cat darted toward the coffee puddle on the floor. “Bumblebee! Don’t you—”
The admonition stopped and was replaced by an exasperated sigh. “Vishlog, can you grab these two?”
Vishlog? Aaron did a quick mental check to make sure he hadn’t soiled himself and looked up to see who’d come in—apart from the furry monsters, of course.
His legs trembled when he saw her, and he decided it was far too late to run. She’d already seen him and the Dreth and her head guard already moved in his direction.
He lowered himself stiffly into the chair, deciding he might as well sit before he fell. It’d be one less embarrassment he had to deal with.
To his surprise, the Dreth stopped at the cats, caught both of them by the scruff of their furry necks, and lifted them away from the coffee on the floor. “You two,” he told them and gave them both a firm shake, “will have a time-out.”
It would have been funny to watch him carry the two beasts from the room, each of them curled like a kitten being carried by its mother. It should have been funny, but Aaron was shaking too badly to enjoy it.
That, and he wanted the floor to open and swallow him. If he’d thought his legs would carry him, he would have been across the room and out of it rather than propping his elbows on the table and burying his face in his hands.
What would she think of him?
The brief weight of a hand on his shoulder made him jump and the lead guard spoke as he passed. “It’s not that bad.”
Aaron guessed the comment, like the hand, was meant to be comforting, but it failed on both counts. For one thing, the sudden touch had almost made him wet himself, but the words also made him wonder exactly how bad it really was.
The female voice that followed was almost worse than the sound of the chair pulled out opposite him. “I’m very sorry about the cats,” the Federation Witch told him. “I didn’t realize they were that bad-mannered.”
“They need walking.” Her guard returned, accompanied by the smell of fresh coffee.
A cup nudged the back of Aaron’s hands. “Here, you look like you need this.”
He wasn’t sure he could take it without spilling it, but he tried. Fortunately, the man’s reactions were better than his. He wrapped his hands around Aaron’s and held the cup securely as they lowered it to the table.
When it was firmly in place with his palms clutched around it, the guard stepped back. “I’ll replace your breakfast.”
“No…” he croaked, then cleared his throat. “No, it’s okay. I was almost done, anyway.”
“Pfft!” The Witch’s sound of disbelief made him look at her.
She was watching him, concern written all over her face. “You had only started when Bumblebee and Zeekat interrupted you. You can stay right there.”
It was an order, he realized—an order from the Witch of the Federation.
He nodded and the blood drained from his face.
Stephanie glanced over her shoulder. “You’d better make it two, Lars. Those eggs looked good.”
“Three!” Vishlog said as he returned. “But make mine double.”
“I’ll make it four with coffees all round,” Lars told them.
“Did they give you any trouble?” she asked, clearly meaning the cats.
The Dreth shook his head. “No trouble. They had been bad kitties and they knew it.”
Again, the engineer quailed as the Witch looked at him. The concern on her face was no comfort. “I really am sorry. This is not how I’d planned to introduce myself.”
She’d planned to introduce herself? To him?
Some of his surprise must have shown on his face because the Witch smiled.
“No, it was meant to be much more like this…” She rose from her seat and reached across the table. “Hi, I’m Stephanie. You must be the new chief of engineering.”
Aaron stared at her for a moment before he realized what he was meant to do. He scrambled to his feet, knocked his chair over, and swiped his second cup of coffee off the table his haste to shake her hand.
“A… A-Aaron Barrymore,” he managed and his face blazed with embarrassment.
“It’s very nice to meet you,” she said after a moment, “but could I have my hand back please?”
He released her as though he’d been burned and went to sit again. It was an instinctive movement and he’d have ended up on his ass on the floor if the Dreth hadn’t looped an arm around his waist and stopped his downward movement. The large warrior calmly picked the chair up with his other hand and placed it under him.
Aaron hadn’t thought he could go any redder, but his face proved otherwise.
“Thank you,” he managed as Vishlog released him and drew up a seat beside him.
“You are welcome,” the Dreth told him and surveyed the cafeteria.
For a moment, the engineer had the impression they were somewhere other than One R&D headquarters building, and he glanced around. It was a relief to see the same familiar walls he always did.
“Vishlog.” The Witch’s voice drew their attention. “You can stand down now.”
Oh, God, please. Yes. Please stand down. He fumbled to wrap his hands around the now-missing coffee cup.
The Dreth chuckled and rose to his feet. “I will clean up,” he told her, “but I think you need to move to another table.”
Aaron stared at the spreading brown pool and pushed slowly to his feet. “It might be better,” he said, “if I came back later to eat.”
The heavy weight of the Dreth’s arm across his shoulders told him that definitely wouldn’t happen.
“No, you will sit and eat with us,” the warrior told him. “It is only good manners.”
Since when did manners mean anything to a Dreth? He knew better than to voice the thought as Vishlog guided him into another chair.
Stephanie followed and sat opposite him again. For one awkward moment, he thought she would apologize once more, but she didn’t.
“Well, Aaron,” she said when they were both settled, “I hear you’re helping BURT with his little problem.”
He nodded and she continued. “So, we’ll be working together.”
Lars set another cup of coffee in front of him and he wrapped his hands around it like it would save him from drowning. For the life of him, he couldn’t think of a single word to say.
When he remained silent, she spoke again, obviously trying a different approach. He raised his cup to take a sip.
“I also hear,” she began as he drank, “that I have you to thank for getting this far.”
Aaron choked on the mouthful he’d taken and she looked worried.
“It was a good thing,” she hastened to reassure him. “The world would be in worse trouble if you hadn’t. I simply wanted to say thank you.”
She did? He took another sip to wet his suddenly dry mouth. This time, she waited patiently until he was able to speak.
“I… You’re really welcome,” he told her and took a breath. It was his turn to fill the silence that followed. “It was a bad day.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Oh, I don’t know. I had a very good day.”
That made his smile. “Well, I’m glad you did. Getting BURT to do your testing was about the worst thing I could have done according to the rules. If NeuroPrep ever discovered what I did, I’d spend the rest of my life in jail for putting a minor at risk.”
Stephanie stretched across the table and covered his hand with her own. “I’d never let that happen,” she assured him. “You are perfectly safe.”
Aaron snorted before he could stop himself and she looked surprised.
“What?” she asked, and he gestured toward the ceiling.
“I don’t know how safe any of us are with those aliens flying around,” he replied and she smiled.
“Well, we’re much safer because you let BURT loose in a pod with me. If it wasn’t for him, I’d never have discovered my magic or been able to do any of the things I’ve been able to do—and all that is because of you.”
