Share the Darkness

“Just wait. Your time will come.”

“Ahh, but you forget. I’m the man women love to leave. Besides, I can’t think of a worse thing than being trapped behind a desk at the Bureau with you.”

“They leave because you make them want to leave. By the way, the guys asked me to give you these.” Brett dumped a package of condoms on Ward’s desk.

With the tip of his pen, Ward flicked them at his friend. “What are you crazy? Put those away, someone’s going to see you.”

“There’s no one here. Put ’em in your wallet. It’s time you joined the land of the living.” Brett puffed up his shirt. “At least I’m not stuck in this oven. Why didn’t you tell me the place was so hot?”

“I did mention James had relegated me to hell. Besides they’re about to close the whole place down—” he glanced down at his watch “—in about another hour.” Where was Hannah?

“Is that why the area is deserted? As I drove in, I felt like I’d stepped into one of those sci-fi movies where all the inhabitants of a city had disappeared.”

Ward nodded. “Since it’s the weekend and so hot, the city officials are going to divert as much of the electricity as they can out of the city and to the suburbs.”

“And since only an idiot would waste a Saturday in the office, the powers-that-be thought ‘who’d care?’”

“They think that might prevent an overall power outage,” Ward said.

“How?”

“Something about power grids and diversions. I don’t know, I’m an agent, not an engineer.”

“I think that line works better when you’re a doctor. If the place is going to shut down, what are we still doing here? This weekend was all about beer and baseball.”

The outer office door opened and closed.

Hannah.

Ward stood and went around the desk to his door. “Right on time.”

“On time for what?”

“My number-one suspect. Hannah?” he called out in his most surprised voice.

Hannah turned and faced him, not bothering to hide her disappointment. With a quick glance, he sized her up. Even though she knew no one would be in the office, she still wore that long skirt.

But glorious red hair lay in waves down her back. He stifled a groan. He’d have an image of Hannah’s hair strewn on his pillow burned in his brain for the rest of the day. Week. Forever.

Wait a minute, something was missing. Something in her eyes. She didn’t leave him much time to ponder the absence because she strolled right toward him. Another thing she’d never done.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

Okay, some of the same old suspicious Hannah remained. This was a reaction he could appreciate. A prickle of relief eased his shoulders. He hadn’t even realized he tensed them.

“Oh, I have an old buddy visiting me. Hannah, this is Brett.”

She cut Brett a glance. “Nice to meet you. Too bad you got here just in time for all the heat.”

“And it just keeps getting hotter,” Brett added.

Ward shot him a warning glance, then cleared his throat. “I was showing Brett my new office.”

Hannah returned her attention to Ward and smiled at him. And Ward dropped his pen.

“Bye, guys. Off to back up the hard drives.” She gave them a little finger wave, and they watched as she walked into her office and closed the door.

After retrieving his pen from the floor, he saw Brett was shaking his head. “What?”

“You’re going to have a heck of a time proving this one innocent.”

“What are you talking about? I’m here to find the bad guy and put him or her in jail.”

“Yeah. Sure. Just keep telling yourself that. It may actually help for a while. But I recognize the signs. It’s benched many a great agent.”

THAT FELT GOOD. Hannah had never turned the tables on someone before, and seeing Ward Coleman drop his pen at her feet…it was almost worth the intrusion on her Saturday.

She opened her desk drawer, pulled the rewritable CD from its sleeve and stuck it into the computer. With a few clicks of her mouse, the backup process began. With the expected lulls in power, this particular backup was crucial. She snapped open the top of her diet cola, retrieved the book from her purse and began to read.

Hard work indeed.

Her thoughts kept drifting back to Ward. She closed the book on her thumb and stared at the cover picture. The hero of the book was a pirate. He possessed Ward’s green eyes and blond hair, and strong jaw. Was that why she’d bought the romantic pirate story? Did she see Ward in the brave man pictured on the cover?

Of course not. She simply found herself sexually attracted to him. It was natural. She was a grown woman who’d denied herself for a long time. An unsteady desire settled in her as she remembered Ward looking into her eyes. For a brief moment, she’d been tempted. The pull of his attraction had her melting faster than an ice cream in the Gallem sun.

Ward no. Pirate yes. And she opened her book.

The pager at her waist vibrated as the pirate in her book hoisted the heroine into his arms. Her fingers shook as she replaced the bookmark and set the book on her desk.

No one except her boss at P&L or the server had her pager number. No one except her contacts.

She ripped the black standard-issue pager from her skirt. She didn’t recognize the number, but an asterisk blinked as the last character on the miniscreen.

The symbol for danger.

Using the private phone in her office could prove too risky. Anyone at the switchboard would be able to see the flashing light of her line and know it was in use. Then there was the possibility of someone listening in….

With trembling legs, she grabbed her purse and walked toward the fire stairwell. Once the door slammed behind her, she sprinted down three flights. From her previous scouting, she knew no one milled about on a Saturday on this floor housing law offices. The attorneys had installed a pay phone near the public restroom to prevent clients from asking to make personal calls.

Hannah found her change, inserted it into the phone and punched in the number. She’d gone through this drill before, but her nerves never got any better.

The person on the other end answered the line on the first ring. “Code?”

“726418,” she recited. Hannah knew that code number the way others knew the digits of their social security number.

“Kyle Barton escaped from prison this morning.”

Gasping, Hannah nearly dropped the receiver. Her stomach quaked, and she gulped several breaths to keep from losing her breakfast.