Calculated deception, p.10
Calculated Deception, page 10
Ree flipped the lock after closing the door behind Jo. She leaned against the door and closed her eyes. Parker was back on the couch, typing on his phone to whoever had sent the warning. He looked up as she sank into the cushion next to him and laid her head on his shoulder. He sat stunned for a moment before threading his arm around her back. He patted her shoulder awkwardly.
“We’re doing what we can, but it’s probably going to take some time to clear those two. With you clear, they look even guiltier than you did, and clearing you took some work,” he explained.
“I assumed. Doesn’t mean I like it.”
“For what it’s worth, the information you’ve been giving us is helping. You’ve been a real asset so far. I’d love to have you on my team.”
“Parker, no offense, but we haven’t caught the bad guy yet. And I’m not even sure I like you,” Ree said, still tucked under Parker’s arm.
“Liar.” Parker hugged her a little closer.
“Alright, I like you enough to let you sleep on my couch so I don’t get killed, and I haven’t broken your ankle for getting grabby in front of my friends. But don’t push it.”
“I’m confiscating your gun.”
“Don’t even think about it.” As she stood, Ree gave Parker a little shove and a grin. “Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” She tossed a blanket to him and walked up the stairs to her room.
15
“We need a cover.” Ree turned from stirring eggs a little too vigorously in a pan on the stove to point the spatula at Parker. He wasn’t a morning person, but clearly, the professor was, and she’d been waiting for his arrival to pounce. She pointed the spatula at a cheerful yellow daisy mug, filled with fresh coffee, on her kitchen table.
Parker raised his eyebrows and took a small sip of the coffee. “Thank you. We have a cover. One in which you pretend to date me and I don’t do anything that makes you want to kick me.”
“I don’t do needy.”
“Excuse me?” Parker stared into his coffee cup for answers.
“I don’t do needy. I need a reason for you to be around the lab other than you hanging around me. I can’t handle clingy men – they annoy me.”
“Well, I seem to annoy you, so that works.” Parker rubbed one hand down the stubble on his face and blinked hard. “For the record, you’re right. I can’t show up all the time if I’m your boyfriend, and I’m supposed to have a day job. You have Alexis for twenty hours a week, but I need a job that will explain my odd hours and maybe even give me some reason to be in the lab. I already told Ivan I’m not your student, and he’s seen me in the building.”
“What if you’re my biographer?”
“No offense intended, professor, but why would you have a biographer?”
Ree feigned insult. “Why wouldn’t I have a biographer? Science careers and women in science are a pretty hot topic right now. What if you were writing a book or research paper? You could interview everyone in Ivan’s lab, and I could act like I am doing my boyfriend a big favor by asking the students if they’d be willing to talk to you.” Ree pitched her idea with genuine enthusiasm. She probably wanted to have as much company in the lab as possible, given the elusiveness of their suspect and the very real probability that he or she was one of her new coworkers.
“Not a bad idea, Professor. Let me call it in and see if I can get some cover information going in case anyone asks. If we’re cleared, I’ll need you to help me prepare some good questions. My sister, the science teacher I told you about, has talked with me about this, so I can fake it a little, but I’d still appreciate the help. After I finish my coffee and I’m among the living again.” Parker took a large gulp of the coffee. “Are you always this awake in the mornings?”
* * *
True to his word, Parker sent information to his colleagues within the hour. Before getting down to the business of helping Parker flesh out his cover, Ree led Parker to the trendy part of the city to get lunch at a small cafe. It was an odd combination, to feel so alone, afraid, and reassured at the same time.
“Lost in thought, Professor?” Parker waved his hand in front of her eyes and she refocused her attention on the present moment. They sat on the outside patio in the cool fall air at “The Whole Enchilada,” a local Mexican café swarming with college students, many still in their pajama bottoms. She ran her finger along the cheerful summer scenes painted on the round table and took a moment to appreciate the vibrant energy around her before digging into her plate of freshly made tacos.
“Just coming to terms with the fact I actually like you guys. Well, Mike and Alexis, anyway,” Ree teased.
Parker placed his fork on the table. “A compliment? You better start eating your lunch before you go soft on me. And this may get worse before it gets better, so you might want to withhold judgment until you’re sure. We’ll have to get back to work after this.”
“Any better ideas than work?” Ree asked, half in jest.
“I’d teach you self-defense, but I’ve read your file, and I’d rather not go toe to toe with you, if it’s all the same to you. What made you get the first black belt? And how did you become such a good shot? Were you preparing to be a spy your entire life, or were your parents just really protective?” Parker’s tone was teasing, but he was probably curious after their conversation the previous evening got cut short.
Ree smiled a genuine smile. “Protective parents are what started it all, but I fell in love with both sports on my own. I learned coordination from karate and confidence from target practice. My dad would love to hear that you approve, although he would have loved it more if I’d chosen to work for the CIA. I considered it pretty seriously, but I didn’t think I had the stomach for it. I was worried that I wouldn’t do a good enough job and someone might get hurt. I’ve always wondered what would have happened if I’d joined up. Isn’t that ironic?”
* * *
“Very. Ready to go back home and get to work?” Parker ended the conversation before it could go any further. Ree was getting close to the investigation details in public and the tables around them were beginning to fill up. He wiped the crumbs from their lunch off the table and casually scanned the area to see if anyone had been watching or listening. He saw no one.
“Of course. But I’m dragging you out on a run later. Since you won’t spar with me, I’ll have to see what you’re made of in a footrace. And I saw that, by the way. Anyone?” Parker shook his head no and took her hand for the walk home.
Later, at Ree’s house, Parker stood with his hands on his hips in front of his notes on Ree’s whiteboard while she worked on a grant application. Parker asked, “You at a stopping point?”
Ree lifted her chin up from her hand. “Sure, what’s up?”
“How well do you know the students in Ivan’s lab?”
Ree looked up at the whiteboard and took a few moments to answer. “Not really at all, yet. Some by face, one or two by name. He’s incredibly popular and always has a herd of grad and undergrad students rotating through. Are sociopaths charismatic?”
“Off-topic, Ree.”
“Is it off-topic?”
“They can be, it just depends on what they want.”
“Do you really think Ivan is behind all of this?”
“He could be. Our profiler thinks the person behind this is relentless, driven, and calculated. Someone like you, except they don’t care who gets in their way in the process.”
“Oh, that’s just super. You really know how to compliment a girl.”
“Did you hear the last part? Last time I checked, you put your life on hold because a couple of agents from the FBI told you it was important. Couldn’t be more different. The point I was trying to make is that the smart, driven, calculated ones are the most dangerous. They’re cautious and aren’t likely to act on impulse or emotion. And if you haven’t noticed, just about everyone in the lab could fit that description. So we can’t just watch for action – we have to figure out intent from someone actively trying to hide it. Everyone in that lab is a suspect, and I can’t be your shadow every minute of every day, as much as I’d like to.”
Parker dug for details for a few more minutes until Ree’s shoulders hitched up to her ears and Parker had to mock her taste in coffee mugs to get them to relax. Out of questions and unwilling to push her any harder, Parker drafted a quick report for Sandy. Work complete, Parker flipped on a soccer game while Ree pretended to read a novel. There wasn’t much he could say by way of reassurance, but he didn’t hear her pacing in her room after she went to bed, so that was at least a positive.
16
Ree arrived on campus just before her first class on Monday morning. While they’d canceled her position in the lab, her coursework would continue as planned. Per Parker’s advice, she’d skipped going to the lab early in the morning and was going to gradually change her habits so that she wasn’t the first to arrive in the lab on any given day. A small adjustment to her schedule for safety was a compromise she could live with. Ree skimmed her small class and saw only familiar faces, some of them still groggy from sleep. She took a deep breath, took a fortifying sip of her coffee, and began her lesson.
At the end of class, Ree always left some time for questions, and today her students seemed especially eager. The minute her lesson was complete, a hand shot up in the back of the room, and she went through her normal process of engaging the entire class in solving the problem. She watched for fear on student’s faces as she scanned the crowd and chose the people who seemed most confident. It wasn’t so long ago she was the student silently willing the professor not to call on her if she wasn’t certain she knew the answer. Upon exiting her classroom, she saw Matt Brown at the end of the hallway.
Matt also worked for Ivan, and she knew a fair amount about his background and family from their casual conversations. He’d been collaborative and friendly in their prior interactions, but that was before she stepped onto his turf. Under the circumstances, it was worth taking a few minutes to make sure he didn’t mind sharing his office and work with another professor. He flashed a dazzling white smile her direction and raised his hand in a wave. While he was a good-looking man, with dark skin and hair inherited from his Puerto Rican mother, it was his approachable disposition that made him stick out in a crowd.
Matt paused in the hallway to wait for her to approach. “I heard you’re coming to work with us, Ree. We’re honored to have you in the lab.”
Ree’s responding smile was genuine. “Thanks, Matt! I’d love to hear more about what you guys have been up to.”
“Of course. It’s always nice to have new professors to shake things up. I’d be happy to get coffee or a meal with you to welcome you to the team if your schedule allows.”
Ree was pleasantly surprised at Matt’s warm welcome. She had learned the hard way to watch out for unhealthy competition or backbiting amongst non-tenured professors, but Matt Brown seemed genuinely happy she was joining the lab. Still, jumping into a dinner invitation when she was watching out for an enemy with a vested interest in cornering her was a red flag.
Cursing her situation, she forced her smile to stay in place and deflected, “What a brilliant idea. What if we got everyone together for a meeting on campus, and I could get to know you all? I’m treading on your turf here, so I’d like to figure out where I could be most useful. Meeting everyone would really help with that.”
Matt frowned slightly, but then recovered his smile. “I’ll talk to Ivan about it today. It’d be great to get to know you better.”
Ree allowed a bounce to return to her step when her phone beeped. Alex is running a background check right now on all lab employees – no meetings with Dr. Suspicious until we clear him. – P. She fought her inner urge to smack him through the phone. Really? He couldn’t let her have two seconds of excitement over her new job? Maybe someone was happy to see her for reasons other than her utility as a weapons mule. She rolled her eyes and glared down the hallway, both directions for good measure, since she had no idea where they had planted the cameras.
* * *
“Was the reminder necessary, P?” Mike raised his eyebrows in Parker’s direction, judgment thick in his tone. “Or were you just pulling Dr. Ryland’s pigtails?”
“Probably not, but I don’t want her getting hurt. Plus, have you noticed when she’s glaring at me, she’s not worrying as much about someone trying to kill her?” Parker twirled a pen in his hand.
Mike grudgingly agreed. This was why Parker led this team. He wasn’t careless or controlling, but he was willing to put his foot down or play class clown when it helped his teammates’ mental health. However, in this case, Mike suspected Parker was having a little fun at the same time. Not a lot of women kept up with Parker’s dry humor, and his friend was starting to fall in like with the professor. At least Parker was professional enough to keep it to himself. Actually, Parker probably hadn’t even figured it out yet. Mike decided not to inform his buddy that he was on to him, at least for a little longer.
* * *
Ree’s heels clicked against the hard linoleum floor on the way to her new office, and the cheerful sound stood in contrast to her pounding heart. She didn’t mind wearing short, practical heels – they made her legs look good, and she was allowed to appreciate that. Ree was less comfortable with the double standard that required the rest of her uncomfortable outfit. Studies had shown that women had to dress up to be taken seriously, so she’d taken care to wear a button-down shirt with a pencil skirt on her first day in her new job, even though it annoyed her, just a little bit. Having a data-oriented brain could be a real pain in the butt sometimes. She could switch to her preferred uniform of jeans and sneakers when she inevitably needed to fix some test equipment, once she knew her new coworkers a little better. Ree adjusted the strap of her laptop bag higher on her crisp gray shirt and approached her new desk. She gave a quick wave to the students who stared at her curiously when she entered.
Ivan swiveled in his chair to greet her. “Irina! Welcome! Now that you are settled in, I know you will want to know your assignment right away...however, I seem to have misplaced my list.”
Ree bit her lip to keep from smiling. She’d tried to set a wager with Parker that Ivan wouldn’t be ready for her, but he wouldn’t take her bet. She let Ivan off the hook and instead of asking detailed questions about her new job, said, “Thank you for putting that together! I was thinking this morning that it would be nice just to walk around and meet everyone. Do you have any idea which students I will be working with?”
Ivan gestured towards Matt Brown’s empty chair. “You’ll be helping offload Dr. Matt Brown – you two know each other, yes? Truthfully, Irina, he seems a bit overwhelmed these days. He does so much. He’s incredibly bright, but I asked him to take on too many students. I’m going to switch a few over to you. I am still deciding on which ones, but I particularly want your help with a student working on a large-scale fatigue test machine. Between us, I don’t think it is going to work, even though he spends a great deal of time on it and tells me it’s going well. I need you to look over his shoulder and help him troubleshoot. I know you will know how to push him while making him think it’s his idea.”
“Of course, Ivan.”
“Thank you for being willing to jump right in. On that subject, how are you doing, my friend?”
Ree looked towards her mentor and answered honestly, “Professionally and financially? I am incredibly grateful I have a job and I’m thrilled to hear that I’m needed, but the switch has been difficult. I’ve spent so much time dedicating myself to automotive safety. I don’t feel like I can just drop into another lab and be useful.”
Innocent until proven guilty, she thought, on repeat. She really needed her friend and mentor to give her some reasonable advice to help her move forward. FBI investigation aside, her career had just taken a hit, and she’d like to make sure it was a detour and not a nosedive. Eventually, Parker and his team would leave, and she was going to need to have her professional life in order.
Ivan’s face softened and he gestured to his guest chair. “Irina. Ree. Sit here. You are an excellent scientist and a good friend. I was ready to speak up at the board meeting where they discussed eliminating your position, but I didn’t need to. Everyone who had worked with you before wanted to keep you on the faculty, even if it wasn’t in your lab. I trust you can take whatever experience you gain here and apply it to your true passion. I have ensured your projects are focused on materials and testing so you can use the knowledge you’ve gained no matter where you end up. When you have the opportunity, you can move back to your lab and hopefully be even better at what you do. In the meantime, I know you will make a great contribution to my lab, so it’s not as if I’m doing you a favor.”
Ivan waved his hand at the last part, and his words began to rebuild her now-battered professional confidence. Tears came to Ree’s eyes. Unable to speak for a moment, she nodded and kept the tears at bay. At last, she squeaked out a thank you and shook Ivan’s hand. It was a formal gesture, but at work, Ivan was her boss and not her friend, and it seemed like the right thing to do.
Ree set up her desk while she waited for the grad students to arrive. She unpacked a box of personal items and strategized on the best way to help a student who didn’t know they needed help.
Ree breathed a sigh of relief when the first student who entered was someone she knew well. Ree walked around her new desk to greet her. They’d met during a freshman seminar she helped teach on careers in engineering. Shayla Carson was fun, smart, and confident in a way Ree wished she’d been at that age. They had talked frequently several years prior but had since lost touch. She was tall with curly hair pulled into a tight ponytail with dark skin and black-framed glasses. She wore a brightly colored scarf with trendy jeans and boots. Shayla made having style look effortless. She gave Ree a huge smile and a hug. She was going to be great to work with.
