I walked him back myself, keeping a steady pace, alert for anything in the shadows.The whole time, I felt Richard nearby—not close enough to touch, but always in reach. Once, when the scout veered off course, we both moved to redirect him at the same time. His hand grazed the small of my back as he
Richard and I sat shoulder to shoulder in the dim, dust-scented alcove of the restricted war archive, files spread out like offerings between us. Nathan had given us provisional clearance—one hour, no copies, no digital uploads. Just two pens, two legal pads, and more paper than I’d seen in months.
By midmorning, Emma and Nathan called me into a private debrief in a side conference room. The moment I stepped in, I knew it wasn’t a casual meeting. Nathan’s jaw was tight. Emma was already mid-sentence about procedural integrity.“We’ve had more incidents,” Emma said. “Internal files accessed rem
Her reply came within minutes: Say less. Sending you in under a misplaced transit sheet review. You’ve got one hour. I’ll cover if it runs over.I grinned. “Remind me to name my first-born after her,” I mumbled to no one.Sublevel 3 was quiet—too quiet. The lights buzzed overhead, flickering occasio
I woke up in my own bed, but I wasn’t alone.Richard’s arm was draped around my waist—heavy, warm, completely unconscious. His face was buried in the crook of my neck, his breath soft and even against my skin. For a second, I didn’t move. I couldn’t. My brain short-circuited with the fact that this
Then I sat down and reset every clearance level below my own. I added two-factor authentication to the sensitive files and rewrote the digital access log to flag any unauthorized downloads. Just in case.Later that afternoon, Dario texted me: Got something. Can I stop by?He arrived with a manila fo