[6] Surface Survey

Teri slept little, tossing and turning and ruminating the long night’s hours about the biker on the ridge and wishing she had a glass of wine to slow her thoughts.

Jim is in Moab, she forced her mind to acknowledge, staring into the nebulous shadows of her bedroom. What are the odds he just happened to be biking about and spotted me from the ridge on the only evening I’ve been at the pool?

That’s ridiculous. I’m being paranoid. What reason could he possibly have for seeking me out? He didn’t want me, or Zoe, years ago. Besides, that real estate agent was right. He probably has plenty of women chasing him, he doesn’t need me.

Still, the old ache of Jim’s loss throbbed at the thought.

It was early morning, as the sounds of crickets faded and birdsong began, when she’d finally decided she was making a mountain out of a molehill and succumbed to sleep.

**

Teri prepared for work in an exhausted haze, dropping Zoe at camp and arriving at the hospital with only minutes to spare. She wove her way around people in the corridors until she reached the IT security office. From the door, Teri could see a young man she hadn’t met before, feet up on the desk, playing air drums with two pens as drumsticks to the music playing over his ear buds.

Realizing she was standing there, he startled, dropping the pens in his scramble to get his feet off the desk and pull the ear buds. “Sorry!” he sputtered, trying to catch the scattering pages as a stack of papers he’d accidentally nudged fluttered to the floor.

Giving up with a dismissing wave towards the toppled mess with random papers still cascading towards their compatriots, he looked up at her, eyes going wide. “Whoa, pretty,” he whispered before startling again and cursing. “I said that out loud. I’m so sorry. How can I help you?”

Unable to help herself, Teri smiled at his discomfiture. Exhausted as she was, she doubted she looked pretty, but it was sweet that he said she did. She extended her hand over the desk to him in introduction. “I’m Teri Munro. I’m updating the IT security. I need to get access to the system and get set up with a VPN, please.” With her other hand, she held up the badge she’d gotten in human resources the day before.

Across the desk, the young man was shaking her hand but still staring at her face, awestruck. He was slim, blue-eyed with a riot of meticulously groomed, spiky blonde hair, in his late twenties, and by the sounds coming from the earbuds discarded on the desk, a fan of Black-Eyed Peas.

“Oh! Yeah! They told me you were coming.” Releasing her hand, he shuffled the papers that remained on the desk before realizing the one he wanted was probably on the floor. Again, he waved at the litter in frustration. “When they said “Terry” I thought you’d be a—”

“Man?” Though it was a mistake often made, Teri inhaled deeply, expecting some additional paltry dismissal to ensue.

Rather than appearing condescending though, the younger man behind the desk continued to sputter uncomfortably. “You’re way smarter than a man though. I mean—I saw the specs for the work you’re doing. It’s amazing stuff. Here!” He gestured towards an open office behind his desk, unoccupied as near as she could tell.

“You can work here.” He pointed toward several cords and cables draping a desk inside. “There’s power. And internet. I’ll get a PC in here if you need it.” He eased his way around her, returning to the keyboard at his desk. It appeared he rambled when he was nervous.

“I’m sorry,” Teri interrupted gently. “I didn’t catch your name.”

The awestruck look returned to his face when he met her eyes. “I’m—Mark. Mark Radkovik. I’m in charge of systems and hardware. Uh—,” he seemed to lose his train of thought. “What—what do you need from me?”

Unzipping an outer pocket on her laptop bag, Teri pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to Mark, a list of the systems she’d need to access. “I believe these are all the systems my work affects. I’ll need the access I’ve noted beside each one.”

Mark flopped into his chair, spinning with his feet lifted until he faced the monitor again. He stared a moment at her notes, then looked up at Teri, brows pulled together. “Do you really need me to grant you this access?”

A smile tugged the corners of her lips, one arching brow flicking in amusement. She was going to like working with the clever Mark. “I can do it myself. If you’re having trouble.”

At that, Mark’s face split into a handsome grin. He dropped the sheet on the keyboard upside-down and stood again. “I don’t have a key for the office. We’ll have to go to security to get you one. There is a locking drawer though. Lock your stuff up. We can both use some coffee before we get started.”

**

Though he appeared disorganized and inefficient, Mark Radkovik was everything but. In less than two hours, he’d gotten Teri an excellent cup of coffee from the bistro nearby, given her a comprehensive tour of the hospital, secured a key for her office and all the systems access she had requested. In addition, he was charming and enthusiastic, thrilled at the opportunity to work with her.

After lunch, Bob Silas arrived in the office with an amended contract for Teri, removing the obligation of Dr. Johansen’s requirements. He wrung his hands impatiently as she read through it carefully.

“You may not be aware, Ms. Munro, but the hospital here is part of a larger, statewide network. As such, we don’t always determine the issues that are brought before us.” He paused, now clasping and unclasping his hands before him.

“Mr. Silas,” Teri peered at him, “Do you want me to know that Dr. Johansen is in some kind of trouble?” Across from her, a sigh of relief was followed by a smile and nod, entirely at odds with the topic of conversation.

As with most people Teri worked for, the Board members were unaware how much information was moving about in their system and how easy it was to collect.  They were unaware they were receiving information, even from people who weren’t actively working or surfing, that email programs and apps often contacted their servers—a necessary step for a device to retrieve up-to-date information—many times a day. Dr. Johansen’s electronic devices were no different. The internet search he’d made for her from the SLPRN-HOME network before she’d arrived in April leapt to mind.

When she reached the end of the document, Teri sat back against her chair. This contract removed many of the obligations of the NDA she’d signed for Dr. Johansen and spelled out new ones, but as a current representative of the hospital at the time she signed either contract, Dr. Johansen’s signature on her business agreement was still valid, its protections to her still in effect.

“You’re asking me to spy on Dr. Johansen. Why?”

“Not spy on him,” Mr. Silas corrected, shaking his head and glancing over his shoulder into the office at Mark to make certain he wasn’t overheard. “You’ll be working in most, if not all of the hospital’s information systems, and potentially encounter information on devices connected to those systems. Am I correct?”

“Yes.” Teri drawled, inclining her head in a nod.

“Very good.” Like Teri, Bob Silas seemed to relax. “This contract allows us to compensate you for bringing to our attention anything you happen to notice violates the hospital’s Code of Ethics. We have reason—we suspect if you encounter something of that nature, it may involve Dr. Johansen.”

Great, she thought cynically. Day two is already a debacle and I haven’t been here more than a few hours. “How much may involve him?”

“That we don’t know, and it’s why we are offering you this as part of the contract.”

Teri exhaled her breath through pursed lips. Though Nick Johansen could be intense, nothing in his demeanor or internet data seemed malicious or harmful. “And if I refuse?”

Bob Silas replied, “We still need the work you originally contracted to do done. And you are still bound by the Code of Ethics, should you encounter something of concern during your work. Without a contract, we can’t compensate you in that circumstance.”

Massaging her temple, Teri signed the amended contract, handing it back to Mr. Silas.

“I’ll scan it and email you a copy this afternoon.” With that, he departed.

Focusing on the tasks before her, Teri was deciding a course of action when Mark popped his head into her office. “May I sit in while you work?”

When she nodded, he pulled his chair into the cramped office beside hers to look over her shoulder as she initiated her projects, asking questions and smiling brightly at her explanations. As they talked, she realized several items that were on her list were ones he had the skills to complete if provided guidance.

She stared at the list, recalculating in her head. If she delegated them to him, she might be able to complete the contract early, or potentially discuss an additional contract for the tasks the Board had removed during their discussion the day before. “I’m confident there are several things on my list that you could do, provided some basic guidance. Would you like to work on some of these?”

Beside her, Mark beamed and accepted quickly. “I’d love the practice and the change of routine!”

**

Though technically part of the doctor’s ‘department’, Mark seemed to share Teri’s distrust of Dr. Johansen, even though she’d said nothing about it.

While she couldn’t say this was the reason for certain, by the end of the week, when Dr. Johansen inquired about Teri’s whereabouts, Mark lied for her smoothly from the other side of her closed office door, or texted updates that allowed her to avoid Johansen when she was other places in the hospital.

Mark took his lunch with her each day, expressing an interest in her, but Teri kept what she revealed about herself to a minimum. By deflecting and asking her own questions, she came to know a lot about him quickly.

As she’d guessed, he was in his late twenties, loved coffee and Black-Eyed Peas, and was dating and mad for a girl, Carla, he’d gone to college with, who worked locally as an administrator writing funding grants for a non-profit. They’d met at a local hair salon.

The more Teri knew of Mark, the more she liked. He was a genuinely nice person, used coffee breaks and lunch to show her around town, pointing out the places he thought Teri and Zoe might enjoy or need. He offered help before she asked, with anything she needed, and asked for nothing in return.

The next few weeks passed in much the same way, with Zoe attending mostly day camps while Teri worked and with no further encounters with Jim Erikson. Maybe he was visiting Moab, she thought, but she struggled to convince herself of it.

In addition to the single overnight camps, some weekends with Zoe were quietly stolen, granted as sleepovers or playdates with new friends made during the weekly camps. The RV resort was constantly full of summer travelers, with each vacated RV pad filled the same day. Similarly, Moab’s population had swelled, the streets and businesses flooded with tourists and outdoor enthusiasts as the summer marched on.

Zoe’s first multi-day overnight arrived at the end of June, and she went in late to work so she and Evie could see Zoe off. Shunting work into lighter and heavier days allowed her to flex her time when Zoe opted for day camps, so Teri doubled down knowing Zoe was gone.

Tonight, she was still working through encryption settings for the hospital’s physician order entry system long after everyone else had gone home. Her stomach had been growling for a couple hours and her head and eyes ached.

At a rap at her office door, Teri froze, uncertain she’d closed the outer office door when Mark left for the day. Her text alert sounded scant seconds later, a bright, unmistakable chime, and Teri cringed, cursing herself for forgetting to mute it. Careful to make no other noise, she lifted the phone and checked the message, sighing in relief seeing Mark’s name.

Boss-lady, I know you’re in there. I saw your car outside. Open the door.

Smiling, but still cautious, Teri switched apps on her computer, watching the flow of red, blue and green lines of the hospital’s internet traffic she monitored for changes as part of her work. Mark’s number was on the screen, his phone updating application data since he was connected again to one of his safe networks. She minimized the application, rose, and opened the door.

Outside it, Mark smiled smugly to a cute blonde next to him. “Told you she was here.” He wrapped his arm around the young woman’s shoulders. “Hey Boss-lady! This is my girlfriend, Carla.” If it was possible, Mark’s proud smile met at the back of his head.

Teri smiled politely, studying the young woman as she extended her hand in introduction.

Carla was about Mark’s age, and slight like him, with wheat brown hair colored with expensive blonde highlights, and dove grey eyes set in a round face. She stared back at Teri as though she’d sprouted a second head. “It’s so nice to meet you. Mark absolutely adores you. He talks about nothing else.”

As if in a daze, Carla shook Teri’s hand slowly. “I—I didn’t realize you—.” She stumbled over her words, still staring at Teri’s face. The woman was remarkably beautiful, blessed with enviable grace, serenity and poise. No wonder Jim was pining for her.

Expecting the young woman had thought the same thing as Mark did upon hearing her name, Teri finished the sentence for her. “Was a woman? It’s short for ‘Theresa’. The problem these days with androgynous nicknames.” As Carla began to shake her head, Teri continued. “Don’t worry about it. Happens all the time.”

“Uh. Yes, that too, but—"

“Listen, we were on our way to dinner and saw your car,” Mark interrupted, raising a hand in stop as Teri started to shake her head. “Don’t say ‘no’. I know you haven’t eaten. I could hear your stomach growling through the door.”

“You could hear that?”

Pushing around Teri into the room, Mark left the two women standing together at the door. Closing Teri’s laptop, he tucked it into its padded carrying case. He turned the black antennaed device she used to intercept internet signals over in his hand, frowning and confused about its purpose, then shrugged. Teri watched as he powered it off, tossing it into the bag with her laptop. Finally, he grabbed her phone and the clutch she carried and marched out the door past both women. “Lock the door, Boss-lady. You’re coming with us.”

Sighing, Teri stood her ground. “Mark, did you ask if that was okay with Carla?”

Mark looked at the young woman, her mouth gaping open and closed like a fish out of water, her head moving in a confused circular pattern. He nodded towards her. “Of course it is. See?” Turning, he offered an elbow to Carla. “Besides, she invited her boss too. Come on.”

Rolling her eyes, Teri locked the door and followed them into the quiet hallway. She relieved Mark of her bag, purse and phone, silencing the device before tucking it into the clutch. “Why don’t you two go? I don’t want to intrude on your plans.”

“You don’t want to meet someone new.” Mark chuckled. “Don’t worry. We get stood up most of the time.”

They stopped at her car so Teri could lock the laptop in the tiny trunk, then crossed the street to walk the few blocks to the restaurant. Inside, a few small benches tucked against the walls were lined with people waiting for a table. Inhaling deeply, Teri’s stomach growled, and Mark laughed. “I knew it!”

“It smells delightful,” Teri admitted, glancing around at the filled benches. “It might be easier to get a table if it’s only you two though.”

Beside him, Carla shook her head. “We have a reservation. It’s no problem.” She glanced at her watch. “They have the best au gratin potatoes here. That’s what you smell. And for dessert, you have to try the bread pudding.”

Teri’s head dropped back, her eyes closed in pleasure at the thought of a sweet indulgence she seldom allowed herself. “That’s one of my absolute—”

“Favorites.” A voice behind her finished her sentence.

Teri exhaled a barely audible panicked whine, recognizing the voice immediately. Her head snapped into place, wild eyes focused on Mark’s face.

“Sheesh! You scared her, you clod!” Mark chastised. Putting a steadying hand on Teri’s arm, he turned her toward the voice. “It’s just Jim. This is Carla’s boss. Jim Erikson, this is my favorite boss-lady ever, Teri Mun—”

“Munro.” Jim’s voice caressed her name in the same way his eyes caressed her features. “We’ve met.”

“Oh, um, well—.” Mark focused on Carla rather than the intensity flaring between Teri and Jim. “Looks like they hit it off,” he mumbled to his girlfriend, nodding with a smug smile.

Lifting her eyes to Jim’s, Teri drew a shaky breath. This close to him, every ache of loneliness she’d suppressed through the years leapt to roaring life, frenzied butterflies in her stomach screaming at her to fall into his arms when she knew she should run out the door.

He stood a head taller than her and, though he’d filled out since university, was still lithe and wiry beneath the neat khakis and pale blue button-down he wore. Vivid eyes looked back at her from his darkly tanned face, the same vibrant hue of arctic blue icebergs. His lips, just parted at the seam in studious wonder, twitched with the hint of a smile that Teri fully believed could reawaken the sexual desires of a nun, starting this instant with her. His hair was cropped shorter than he’d worn it in college, but the cut enhanced his handsomeness, left her body trembling in pure longing.

Despite his best efforts and knowing where she was staying, Jim had been unable to arrange his own suitably innocuous encounter with Teri, so his spur of the moment decision to come to dinner tonight had paid off in spades, and he was ridiculously pleased with the outcome already. Reaching up, he brushed a stray lock of chestnut hair from her face, tucking it with the rest, gently stroking the silken tress. “It is you,” he breathed, the sound nearly lost in the clamor around them. “Where have you been?”

Though she licked her lips uncomfortably, Teri said nothing. She continued to stare at his handsome face, the shape, rise of cheekbone and brow. An adult version of a face she knew all too well. Long seconds ticked by before she finally forced an uncomfortable smile. “You look well, Jim.” Her voice stumbled over his name.

At that moment, the hostess called their party, and Teri broke eye contact with Jim gratefully. Side-stepping around him, she tried to put Mark and Carla between them, but as the other couple followed their hostess, she stumbled, nearly colliding with Jim instead.

He reached out to catch her, using the opportunity to tuck her hand in the crook of his elbow and electric thrills shot through Jim at the touch of her hand. There was no way he was letting her escape. “Shall we?”

**

They were seated at a booth in a relatively quiet corner of the otherwise crowded restaurant, and the dark wooden paneling and emerald colored upholstery would have given it a cozy ambiance if she hadn’t felt like a rat in a trap. Since Mark wanted to sit next to Carla, that forced Teri to sit on the side with Jim.

Teri tucked her arms and legs close against her body as she slid into the booth, an unnecessary precaution against touching Jim again. Physically at least, Jim still behaved like the perfect gentlemen he had always been.

“Mark mentioned you’re his boss now. When did you get to Moab, Teri?” Jim aimed the table’s conversation as soon as the waitress took their drink order.

Without looking up from her menu, and without seeing anything on it, Teri replied, “I’m actually not his boss. Speaking of Mark though,” she glanced across the table at the young man, “how long have you two been dating?”

Mark grinned, squeezing Carla’s hand under the table. “Two years.”

Beside her, Teri heard Jim draw breath with another question for her.

“Didn’t you tell me you two went to college together? If you’ve been dating two years, that didn’t happen in college. How did you start dating?”

Thank heaven for Mark, Teri thought as the young man launched into the story. With only minimal effort, she’d gained control of the conversation, effectively shutting down Jim’s inquiries. Now, if only she could keep control of it. She could feel Jim’s eyes on her constantly and felt like she was being pulled toward him in tiny pieces. Like iron filings drawn to a magnet.

Fortunately, both Mark and Carla were easily distracted, and each time Jim turned the topic to her, Teri parried like an Olympic fencer.

As the evening advanced, it seemed Teri spoke a great deal during dinner, but to Jim, stymied in his questions, she was a master of smoke and mirrors. She deflected his inquiries expertly, first only using Mark, then Carla too, redirecting the topic away from herself so smoothly even he got distracted.

His frustration mounted initially, but quickly, it became comical, watching her return volley after volley through Mark and Carla, extracting a concise history of their lives over the last decade and revealing little more of hers than he’d known before.

While her evasiveness irked him, it hadn’t escaped Jim’s notice that Teri was keenly aware of his presence. Enjoying both her discomfiture and the view, he studied her at every opportunity. Her hair’s longer than in college. And I didn’t remember that hint of a wave. Still the deep chestnut brown that makes her complexion seem so fair, her full lips so pink, her eyes glitter hazelly-gold. She’s still athletic but softer somehow.

“I feel like I’ve monopolized the conversation this whole time,” Mark said, as their empty plates were cleared, and they paid the tab Teri insisted they split. “You said you two had met. How come you didn’t’ tell me that, Teri? When?” His blue eyes shifted from Jim to Teri and back.

Smiling politely, Teri looked away. “A long time ago—”

“A few weeks ago—” Jim answered at the same time, anticipating Teri’s approach.

He’d already decided on an alternate course of action to talk to her but took the conversation reins when they were handed to him.

Teri and Carla’s eyes went wide, each woman’s head swiveling slowly to look at Jim. His eyes were riveted to Teri’s, daring her to dispute him.

 “Well? Which is it?” Mark laughed. Moments passed with no response, as Teri and Jim stared at one another as though communicating telepathically.

Jim couldn’t take his eyes off her lips as they suffused with high color in embarrassment. He ached to kiss her, bury his fingers in her hair, caress her skin. The intensity of the need poured out at her through his eyes.

“Whoa. Get a room.”

Unable to bear it, Teri closed hers, turning away. Though the comment was made jokingly, her face flushed again, her full lips parting in a weak gasp.

“Both,” Jim answered the question finally, still watching Teri. “We dated in college. I saw her a few weeks ago, out running with her dog.”

Composing herself, Teri denied the encounter. “I must have missed that.”

The conversation shifted to goodnights, as both couples rose to leave the table, but once in the restaurant’s lobby, Jim positioned himself between Teri and the door before she could follow Mark and Carla.

“Maybe give them some time alone.”

Teri craned to look over Jim’s shoulder towards the door, bent on escape. “It was nice to see you.” She side-stepped around him, then froze as his hand snaked out, catching hers tightly, insistently.

“I’ve been looking for you for years, Teri. I’m not letting you disappear again.” Jim took another step toward her, closing the space she’d opened as she’d tried to leave.

A line of people pushed past them following a hostess to their table and jostling Teri against Jim’s body. The incidental touch made him want to kiss her more. Instinctively, he leaned his face close to hers. “Where are you staying?” His breath tickled along her cheek and neck.

Heat rushed over her, billowing in waves as if she’d opened an oven door. “I’m not staying. I’m just passing through.” She managed another step towards the door, this time landing a hand on it.

“That isn’t true, and we both know it.” Jim caught the handle and held it firmly, trapping her between his body and the door. Releasing her hand, he waggled a hang ten with an arched brow. “You’re not disappearing,” he reiterated. “I need to talk to you, Teri.”

Nodding, she fished in her purse with her free hand, bringing out her cellphone. She brushed her finger over the sensor on the back and the device unlocked. Releasing the door, Teri accessed her contacts to create a new one. “Why don’t you give me your number?”

Jim watched as she entered his name. Her fingers were trembling as he gave her the number for his work phone. He couldn’t tell if she’d made the entry error accidentally or purposefully. “You reversed the last two digits,” he said softly, and she edited it without comment or contest.

When she was done, Teri met his eyes again, pushing tentatively against the door. “I’ll give you a call.”

Without releasing the door, Jim pulled his work phone from the pocket of his slacks. “Dial it.”

Teri stared, blank. “What?”

“Dial my number. Or text. Either one is fine.”

She exhaled a trembling breath realizing what he was doing. Her hand was shaking harder now as she selected his name from her contacts and pushed dial. Within seconds, the phone in Jim’s hand lit up and began to vibrate.

He held it up where she could see. “This your number?” When Teri nodded resignedly, he disconnected the call, watching her phone as the call stopped. “Dial it again.”

Hazel eyes narrowed, flashing with annoyance as the Teri he’d known, fierce but kind, stood up inside the shell-shocked woman before him. This time when she pushed dial, her hands were steady.

When his phone lit up again with the same number, he quickly disconnected the call, flashing her a devastating smile.

Jim leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Call me tonight. If you’d rather wait until after your daughter’s gone to bed, fine. It doesn’t matter what time.” He kissed her cheek—she smelled of lilac and he inhaled deeply—then released the door. “Promise me.”

Her eyes flashed again as she nodded reluctantly, irritated he used remembered knowledge against her.

Biting his lip to suppress his smile, Jim stepped away from the door to allow her to leave. To the victor the spoils, he thought.