“I hope so,” she muttered.
“Rhys will sit down with you and go through our workflow and incident ticket system. You’ll need to know them anyway. Everyone who works with the computer systems has to know them, even if they’re not a tech or a programmer.”
“How hard can that be?” she asked, fearing the answer.
She was willing to let yesterday go. She understood not only how much pressure the men were under, but that they didn’t want her there any more than she wanted to be there. And from what she’d seen so far, it had nothing to do with not wanting someone looking over their shoulders.
They just didn’t have time or inclination to babysit a techno-idiot.
She couldn’t blame them.
Besides, they had got her scanner installed, and fixed the Wi-Fi on her computer. In her book, that cleared the slate.
“It might not make sense at first,” Rhys said, “but once you go through it a couple of times, you’ll start to understand it.”
“Only a couple of times? Are you so sure about that? This is me we’re talking about, remember?”
Traffic wasn’t too bad and they made it to work a few minutes early. As she settled in to work under Rhys’ patient tutelage, she found herself surprised to realize the program wasn’t very complicated. It was fairly repetitive, amounting to little more than inputting data.
Finding the data to input from various server processes was a little trickier, but Rhys created a how-to document for her while he showed her things so she could refer to it.
By the time lunch rolled around, the mechanic had called to say her Jeep was ready and she was feeling a little less stressed than she had at the start of the day. She took her reading glasses off and set them on the desk before rubbing at her eyes. She knew she wasn’t far from full-time glasses, but hoped to stall the inevitable.
“You okay?” Korbin asked.
That was the best improvement of all. Korbin 2.0 was a completely different beast than the Korbin she’d first met yesterday. “Yeah, just…absorbing.”
He offered her a friendly smile. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but I think you’re doing well.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that.” Not just bullshit, either. Anything she could do to keep Korbin 2.0 in residence was, she knew, a good thing.
“Did you want me to run you to get your car?”
She gave him a genuine smile. “That’d be great.”
* * * *
The rest of the day passed quickly now that Korbin’s glacial thaw was complete. She managed a quick good-bye and got off campus before Rhys or Korbin could snag her for after-work plans. Technically, she supposed, spending a lot of time with them after work was part of her job description.
But she couldn’t. Not tonight.
Tonight she headed up toward Safety Harbor, to the small, two-story, nondescript office complex housing her psychiatrist’s office. Specializing in PTSD treatment, tonight there was a scheduled group session with other former military.
She’d thought about canceling until last night’s incident at the bar. Now she realized she needed to go. If not to talk, at least to sit there and listen and remember she wasn’t alone in this. Too many nights she lay awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering how others got through this.
The fact that she’d silently been begging for the guy to take a swing at her so she could pound him into the ground weighed heavily on her.
In one of the few times she’d opened up to her dad about her feelings, he’d told her to seek counseling ASAP, and if he didn’t see medical expenses for it when he did her taxes he would personally come spank her ass before dragging her to the VA.
At least that thought brought a little smile. He rarely talked about his combat action with her. She didn’t know how many of his own demons he battled.
Although now he seemed happy in his semi-retirement. She and her mom had secretly made bets how long it would take him to discover his third career after quitting the CPA field entirely. Manny gave him six months. Her mother thought closer to a year, after he’d been through his first Montana winter.
She was the third person to arrive out of an expected ten or so. Dr. Beverly Greene was in her early sixties and retired Army herself. She kept her long, silver-blonde hair in a braid down her back and greeted Manny with a warm smile and a handshake. “I was expecting you to cancel tonight. Your pattern is to miss every third one.”
Manny felt the heat creep into her face despite her best efforts. “I almost did.”
She cocked her head. “We have a couple of minutes now, if you’d like to talk in private. Or after.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m okay. If I decide to talk, I’ll do it in circle.”
The doctor gave her a smile. “I’m proud of you. In two years, I think you’ve only spoken up about ten times, if that.”
“I’m not much of a talker.”
“Really? Here’s my shocked face.” She playfully widened her eyes as her mouth gaped.
Manny laughed. “I know, I know. I’m the problem child.”
“No, hon. You’re no more or less a ‘problem’ than anyone else. We all deal the way we deal.”
Manny said her greetings, grabbed an iced bottle of water from the small cooler the doctor kept there for them, and took her seat. By the time the meeting started, they had nine clients in the circle, in addition to Dr. Greene.
Since everyone had met before, she dispensed with the more lengthy introduction process and had everyone go around and give their names. Once they did, the doctor clasped her hands together in her lap. “Anyone want to go first?”
Manny didn’t miss how the doctor’s eyes briefly landed on her and paused for a moment before continuing around the circle.
Just as she was about to speak up and volunteer to go first, a man two seats to Manny’s right raised his hand.
“Good. Mike, what would you like to talk about tonight?”
Manny lost her nerve as she sat there and listened to several others go through their trials and tribulations. Two of their members bore artificial limbs as souvenirs of their time in the Middle East. It made her feel a little guilty for whining about wanting to beat the crap out of a drunk in a bar.
And bitching and moaning won’t bring Andy back.
In the last half hour of their scheduled time, she finally found the nerve to raise her hand.
“Yes, Amanda?”
Here was one of the few places she tolerated people calling her by her given name. “I nearly beat up a drunk guy last night.”
She gave Dr. Greene credit for hiding the shock some of her fellow participants didn’t. Although two of the men muttered “attagirl” under their breath.
“Why don’t you tell us what happened,” Dr. Greene said.
Manny abbreviated her assignment down to two sentences before she went through the evening’s events. “I wanted him to take a swing at me. I was practically begging him to do it. I wanted to bash his face in.”
“I would have paid money for that show,” one of the guys joked.
Dr. Greene shot him a stern look. “We don’t condone violence.”
He sat back. “No offense, Doc, but I’d have done the same thing. She gave him a lot more leeway than I would have.” He held up a fist at her. “Hooah!”
Manny smiled and held up a fist in return. “Hooah, dude.”
After a few more minutes of talking, Manny realized Dr. Greene wasn’t fond of what she’d done, but the psychiatrist apparently considered Manny talking it out in group, instead of sitting in a cell awaiting arraignment for assault, a win. When the meeting broke up twenty minutes later, the doctor walked over to Manny and made a point of hugging her.
“How are the dreams?”
Manny shrugged. She hadn’t talked about Andy in circle for a while.
She wasn’t sure she could right now. The few times she’d managed it, she hurt like hell for days after, like taking a kick she wasn’t prepared for right in the gut.
Like her soul had been scoured by 0-grit sandpaper down to the bones.
Like she’d lost him all over again.
“I’ll survive, Doc. Eventually.”
“So you’ll be canceling the next time, I take it?” she teased.
“Hey, as long as I send in my fee, does it matter?”
She smirked. “You are definitely one of a kind, Manny.”
“Hooah, Doc.”
She smiled as she shook her head. “Hooah, soldier. Let me know if you want a private session. You’re overdue for one.”
“I’m overdue for a lot of stuff.” She smiled. “I promise to stay out of jail.”
“I’m sure that will come as no small comfort to untold inmates of Pinellas County.”
* * * *
When Manny got home she opted not to go for a run. Instead, she changed into a T-shirt and curled up on the couch with a cup of chamomile tea, tuned the TV to gO! network, and watched back-to-back episodes of Otherworlds. Tonight, Will Hellenboek and his team of paranormal investigators were going through the old Loews Don CeSar Hotel in St. Pete, followed by an investigation of some hotel over on Miami Beach.
She wasn’t really paying much attention, just wanted the distraction.
Anything not to think.
Anything to keep her mind blankly occupied until she was too tired to hold her eyes open any longer.
Anything to keep her attention from falling on the picture of her and Andy sitting on the bookcase next to the TV, his perpetually smiling face that wouldn’t age.
Anything to keep her mind from dredging up the memories of that day, the sound of the fear in his voice when he realized there was an IED, and the horror as he turned and screamed her name, trying to get her out of harm’s way before it went off and shattered her leg, her life, her heart, and her dreams forever.
Anything.
She’d give anything to have him back.
She wasn’t a religious person, either. Some soldiers reported a stronger belief in their chosen faith after wartime duty.
She fell on the other side of the spectrum, the ones whose faith had totally deserted them. Life was short and dangerous and painful. A lucky few got to experience happiness, but she didn’t count herself among them.
It was after midnight when she finally felt her eyes drooping enough she wanted to risk going to bed.
One more day. Just need to get through one more day. And the next.
And the next.
Chapter Nine
Friday morning, she headed to the campus with a better outlook. She learned more about the systems and about the men. By the end of the day her gut instincts told her the men were not behind what was going on.
Now she just had to prove it.
They were preparing to shut down for the weekend. “Do you have any plans?” Rhys asked.
She didn’t. And if she was supposed to be keeping an eye on them, it would be a good way to get a look at their house without making up an excuse to go there. “No, not really. Just a hot ménage with my washer and dryer.”
“Aces! Then you’ll follow us home. We’ll order pizza and show you a fun Friday evening.”
Korbin didn’t look completely happy about it. “If you want. If not, it’s okay. No big deal.”
Now it was Rhys’ turn to shoot his friend an evil glare.
She wasn’t quite sure what was going on between the two, but it didn’t seem to be a return to obnoxious Korbin, and it wasn’t like she was in fear of her life or safety from either of them. Unless they were secretly evil scientists who went around drugging women, she suspected it would be one of the quieter evenings she’d ever spent in her life.
“No, it sounds like fun. It’ll do me good to get out of the house for a while.”
She followed them to their house in an upper-scale development in Feather Sound. Not a gated community, unfortunately, which would have made her job easier. But it also made her suspect it wasn’t the kind of neighborhood regularly plagued by random break-ins.
Check with sheriff’s office to see what the crime rates are for this area. If the break-in at the men’s house was the first incident in a while, she knew there was a good chance their house had been deliberately targeted.
The question was, by whom? And was it related to Artemis and the hacking attempts, or something totally random and coincidental?
She looked around the living room after following them inside. The house didn’t seem to have a decorating scheme, unless modern IKEA was a style. At least she could rule out them being pretentious assholes. The house was probably worth close to $400k, while the furniture she could see might total up to two grand.
Maybe.
Then she turned around and adjusted that estimate up. The focus of the huge great room seemed to be the TV area at the end closest to the front door. A gigantic sectional sofa unit and matching chairs that would easily seat ten people surrounded a large coffee table.
They had at least four game consoles that she could see on a short glass and metal bookshelf underneath a large, 60-inch wall-mounted flat-screen TV. They had an elaborate home theatre system, too.
“Wow, that’s some TV.”
“It’s great for movies and games,” Rhys said. “I brought that with me when I moved in.”
“I’m surprised his ex didn’t try to keep it,” Korbin said as he headed across the living room toward what she assumed was the dining room area, although the small four-person table looked woefully inadequate compared to the size of the space.
Bookcases lined one whole wall, filled with mostly books, heavy on the sci-fi and fantasy genres, although there were quite a few mysteries represented as well. And lots of figurines, from about an inch tall to ones nearly a foot in height, everything from little warriors all the way up to elaborately painted dragons.
“Aren’t those neat?” Rhys asked.
She wasn’t sure, although he certainly seemed proud of himself. “Yeah. What are they?”
“Battle figures.” He lovingly picked one up and showed it to her. “Painted it myself. We use them for Dungeons and Dragons.”
For the first time in her life, she honestly wasn’t sure how to respond. “That’s—”
Korbin returned with a pizza flier in his hand, sparing her from having to come up with something that wouldn’t sound insulting. “Do you have any preferences on the pizza?”
“Anything but anchovies.”
He nodded and disappeared back into the kitchen.
Rhys returned the figurine to the shelf. “Most of all of this is mine. Korbin has all his in his office. My bedroom didn’t have enough room, so he told me to put mine out here. Let me give you the tour.”
She followed him through the house. Tidy, but lived in, it was clear the bachelors were more concerned about function over form. Framed movie posters from classic sci-fi and horror flicks lined the walls in the hallway.
He showed her the guest bath. It was, to her relief, clean. “Feel free to help yourself,” he said.
Next was a bedroom working as Korbin’s office. Desk, computer, printer, and wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves overflowing with titles. “Korbin’s domain,” he said.
Down the hall. “This is my room.” Neat, but also crowded with stuff, some of it obviously from the move.
“Why don’t you put it in storage, or in the garage?” she asked.
“Oh, I do have a storage unit. It’s filled with books and furniture.”
While she had him alone, she had to ask. “Hey, did I do or say something to make Korbin mad?”
He looked shocked. “No. Why?”
“He just seems to be acting a little stand-offish.”
“No, he’s always like that at the end of the week. A bit of a diva sometimes. Just overtired is all. He’s been like this as long as I’ve known him. No worries.”
Korbin’s bedroom and the kitchen finished off the tour. By the time they made it to the kitchen, Korbin was hanging up the phone.
“I?
??ve got three different ones coming.”
“I’m sure that will be fine.” The men waved off her offer to chip in for the pizzas.
She couldn’t understand why Korbin still seemed a little tense. It felt like more than just work-related tension.
She tried to put it out of her mind throughout dinner. Korbin did seem to loosen up a little, even going as far as bestowing her with a smile, which warmed up his blue eyes and gave his face a handsome look she hadn’t really noticed before.
“And you have to stay and play with us,” Rhys insisted.
“Play?”
He swept his hand toward the TV. “We have Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3—”
“So what do you want to play?” Korbin asked. “We’ve got a ton to choose from. Adventure, sports, shoot-em-up—”
“Not that,” she said, her stomach taking a dangerous roll. “Something not combat-related.”
“Start her on something easy,” Rhys said. “Set her up with Wii Boxing.”
“How’s that sound?” Korbin asked. “A way to burn off some frustration.”
“Sure. I’ll try that.” That didn’t sound at all threatening.
It took her a little while to get the hang of the controls, even though Korbin walked her through the practice sections. The first round, his avatar soundly whomped her.
The second round, she wiped the floor with him and she’d broken a sweat.
“I have to admit, that’s more fun than I thought it’d be,” she said as she sat the controller and nunchuk on their coffee table so she could grab a drink of water.
“Your turn, Rhys,” Korbin said as he handed over his controller.
“You know I bloody well suck at this game.”
“All the more reason I want to see her kick your ass. Come on, be a good sport. You can teach her bowling.”
“Bowling?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Korbin said. “Wii Bowling. It’s fun.”
Rhys stood and picked up the controller and nunchuk assembly and took Korbin’s place next to Manny. Apparently, Rhys wasn’t exaggerating when he said he wasn’t any good at the game. She soundly trounced him and barely broke a sweat in the process. When the game ended, he gave her a half-hearted smile. “Now, if you’d let us load up Halo, I’m sure I could teach you a thing or two.”