Lover Uncloaked (Stealth Guardians #1) - By Unknown Page 0,3

recovery of brain function. Even though she realized that her parents might never fully recover, she clung to the hope that at least some of their brain function could be restored to their former states.

At thirty-six, she should have children and a family of her own, but there had never been anything else but her work. After finishing medical school, she’d wanted to go into plastic surgery, lured by the high income the specialty offered. However, when first her father and then her mother had shown early signs of the disease, she’d quickly switched tracks.

Leila had suddenly realized that all her parents’ money didn’t mean anything when they were losing what they loved most: each other. After her fellowship, Inter Pharma had shown interest in her research and offered her a job. Now she headed her own lab, supervising three lab assistants and two young researchers.

She loved running her own lab; the order of her work appealed to her senses. Everything had its time and place. It was how she managed to deal with crisis: by keeping things in order and always knowing what came next, always having a plan. It gave her security, something she’d craved ever since her parents had fallen ill. And that need for security permeated throughout her work.

While her lab team would execute many different parts of her research, Leila was the only one who had access to the full set of data and the complete formula of the drug as it existed right now. Keeping her data secure was paramount to her.

It was one of the reasons she didn’t use the networked computer Inter Pharma provided her with, but used her own encrypted laptop, backing up her data to a memory stick that hung, disguised in a diamond studded pendant, on a necklace around her neck wherever she went.

There’d been earlier incidents where another researcher’s data had been stolen by an employee and later resurfaced at another pharmaceutical company, which then beat them to the discovery. A new drug meant vast amounts of money to Inter Pharma, but to Leila it meant getting her parents back and seeing recognition light up their eyes again before it was too late and they were gone forever.

“Dr. Cruickshank?”

Leila shot up from her chair and went to the door, unlocking it. She’d gotten used to locking the door whenever she was alone in the lab. As she opened it, she looked at the flushed face of the CEO’s personal assistant, Jane.

“Oh, good, you’re still here. I wasn’t sure,” she babbled.

Leila nodded, preoccupied. Her staff had already left for the night, but even though it was past eight o’clock, she wasn’t ready to leave. There was always more data to be analyzed.

“Jane, is there anything you need?” she asked, hoping all the ditsy secretary wanted was an extra packet of sweetener or a teabag because she’d once again forgotten to order supplies for the executive offices.

“Mr. Patten sent me. He asked if you could spare a minute to talk to him.”

“Now? I thought he would have gone home long ago.” It was rare that anybody but she and the security guy worked this late.

“I wish. But he had a late meeting, and it only just ended. Of course, he made me stay.” Jane blew out an annoyed breath. “So can you? I mean see him in his office?”

Leila nodded absentmindedly even though she hated the interruption.

“Oh, and would you have any sweetener left? I ran out.”

Well, that explained why Jane hadn’t used the phone to summon her to the office.

Leila turned quickly to snatch a handful of packets from the bowl on top of the fridge and pressed them into Jane’s outstretched hands. Making sure the door locked behind her, she walked down the long hallway, flanked by Patten’s assistant.

The key around her neck jingled against her pendant, making an eerie sound in the empty corridor.

“I’ve always admired your necklace,” Jane chatted. “Do you remember where you bought it?”

“It’s custom made,” Leila said, ignoring the sudden prickling on her nape. She quickly cast an eye over her shoulder, yet saw nothing but the gleaming linoleum floor and the sterile white walls.

“Custom made?”

She nodded back at Jane. “Yes, I had a jeweler make it for me.” To conceal her sixty-four gig memory stick and keep her research close to her heart, literally. But nobody knew that. Maybe it was paranoia or perhaps it was simply common sense, but she wanted to ensure that none of her data would ever be