Scrutinized Novels & Stories

She noticed that two men at the far end never once looked at the screen at all, their eyes instead moving, slow and methodical, across every other face at the table, the particular watchfulness of men whose job was not finance but observation. She noticed, too, that every time the word *Sterling* appeared in a slide, three separate people glanced, almost involuntarily, in her direction — quick, assessing looks, gone before she could be certain she'd seen them at all, except that she had seen them, all three, because assessing looks were the one thing in this world Josie Rourke had never once failed to catch. *—the resemblance is remarkable, honestly—* *—wonder if she knows yet—*

Screens were updated, data moved. Every hospital, every healthcare center, every connection. Everything was checked. Adrian worked quickly. “Security systems are active.” Marcus added, “No weak points.” Yvonne watched closely. “Check access control.” Adrian nodded. “Already done.” Marcus looked across the screens. “Everything is tight.” Adrian confirmed, “Yes.” Everything looked secure, everything looked safe but Yvonne didn’t move. Her eyes were fixed on the screen, she was tinking. Marcus noticed. “What is it?”

A complicated, brilliant, infuriatingly compassionate person who was systematically dismantling my carefully constructed understanding of myself. "You're staring," Eli said without looking up from his laptop during our Monday morning production review. "I'm not," I said, which was a lie. I was definitely staring. I'd been staring for approximately forty-five seconds while watching him make notes in a way that was completely focused and somehow magnetic. "You are," Eli said, finally looking at me. "Every time you think I'm not paying attention, you look at me like you're trying to figure out how I work." "I'm not," I said again, because I didn't know how to admit that I was actually trying to

] [Progress: 1/5 medical examinations. She frowned. “One?” Clara glanced at the screen. “Does the scan of the infected boy count?” “Apparently.” “That makes sense.” Liana checked the next objective. They needed four more examinations. Fortunately, three people from the convoy had already agreed to undergo screening after reporting fevers. They were placed in separate observation rooms while Clara examined them. Two had ordinary fevers. The third had a minor wound and no abnormal cellular activity. They recorded their results and kept them under observation.

Two to go. "Ms. Smith." She turned back to Serena. "Is that your only concern?” Serena's eyes darted around the table, looking for support. "Yes. That's my primary concern.” “On the contrary,” Arabella said evenly, meeting Serena’s gaze. “A properly structured internal audit does the exact opposite of what you’re describing.” She turned slightly to the board. "This won't be a witch hunt. The audit will be phased, confidential, and independently supervised." She ticked off points on her fingers.

a male Kea says with a magnified voice from the front of the massive room, and my eyes scan the room in search of a good seating area. When I spot an unoccupied table I head for it with my chin high. I try not to lock eyes with anyone as I pass them. So I don't loose concentration on my steps. As soon as my bottom meets the chair at the table I have chosen, I sigh. Thank goodness I didn't trip.

I look up at her to see her staring at me with a wild smile, indicating that she is extremely happy about this, but I'm finding it hard to understand and believe. "Have you gone through the entire screening security process to ensure that this is not false and it is not something to trick us?" "Yes, the security and technology department has screened this shit ten fucking times to ensure that it is foolproof." I relax back against my seat and begin to glance at my table, thinking deeply. Okay, I really need to be smart about this and not allow myself to just fall quickly and relax when everything might actually be in crumbles and shackles because this is just insane.

I huffed in annoyance. "What, can't you see I'm eating, you standing at my back watching me eat is pissing me off, are you even suppose to be this creepy with customer". He scowled at me before heading back to his counter. Did he just scowl at me, I can't wait to see how he will behave with me tomorrow, his goofy self or this confident side, I doubt the latter.

Chapter 71 Scarlett’s POV “Daniel, I need the original approval forms for these four payments, not the scanned summaries from the system, and I need them on my desk before lunch,” I said, turning the monitor toward the junior analyst standing in front of my desk so that he could see the lines I had highlighted in yellow.

I forced a smile when I encountered the dark haired man officer behind the glass counter. His eyes scrutinized me as he spoke. “ID and inmate number.” After the call, my mother had sent me a text which contained her ID and inmate number. Retrieving my phone, I called out the required information to the man. “This way please.” I was ushered into a small room where a female officer was conducting a search. I rolled my eyes disappointedly as I stepped into the queue of visitors that were being searched. As the officer gave me a quick pat down, I smiled as I imagined how amazing my content in the prison was going to be.