Lover Uncloaked (Stealth Guardians #1) - By Unknown Page 0,4

lost.

“It’s beautiful. Where’s his shop? I would love to have something similar.”

“He went out of business, I’m afraid,” Leila lied and tried for a regretful smile.

She wouldn’t reveal the jeweler’s name just in case he’d let it slip that the pendant was hollow inside and the perfect size for a memory stick. Nobody was supposed to know she carried her data with her. Already, not saving her data on the networked computer in her lab had raised a red flag and earned her a meeting with the CEO. However, once she’d made her case that she was worried about research being stolen, Patten had conceded to a compromise: each night when she was done with her research, she would back up the data on an external disk drive that she then placed in a safe. Only her own thumb print or that of Patten could open the specially designed piece, thus assuring that nobody unauthorized could access it.

It appeared that her boss was nearly as paranoid as she was. And why shouldn’t he be? Pharmaceutical research was a cutthroat business. The first company to develop a new drug had an enormous head start no other company could compete with. To be first was everything in this business.

Her laptop was armed with a special software that would initiate a sequence to destroy all data on the hard drive should anybody tamper with it. It was failsafe.

“ . . . so I went with the red one instead. What do you think?” Jane pointed to her fingernails, which were painted in a ghastly orange color. Clearly, the young woman was colorblind, even though colorblindness was a male phenomenon.

“Cute,” Leila managed to say, wondering what else Jane had been prattling on about while she’d had her head in the clouds again. It happened so often lately: she would space out thinking about one thing or another and not even notice that other people were around her or even talking to her.

At the next bend of the corridor, they turned left. Leila pressed the button at the elevator bank. Doors instantly parted, and she stepped inside, followed by Jane. Her colleague pressed the button to the executive floor, and the doors started closing. Just as they were halfway shut, something beeped and the doors opened again.

“What the hell?” Jane cursed and pressed the button again. “I can’t believe these stupid elevators. Half the week they’re out of order, supposedly getting fixed, and the other half of the week they’re on the blink again.”

Leila shook her head. “I wouldn’t know. I normally take the stairs.”

“Well that’s easy when you’re on the third floor, but try the eighth, and you’ll be out of breath in no time.”

Leila couldn’t stop herself from glancing at Jane’s three inch heels.

Yeah, or break an ankle.

But she refrained from making a comment. It wasn’t her business that Jane was out of shape. She herself ran at least four times a week, trying to stay healthy and fit. As well as slim. She’d noticed how much weight her mother had gained when she’d broken a leg a few years ago and hadn’t been able to move much. Leila knew she had her mother’s physique—petite and solid, rather than tall and lean—and knew that if she let herself go, she would balloon one day. Hence, she ran and climbed the stairs whenever she got a chance.

When they arrived on the eighth floor, Jane turned toward the kitchen, instructing Leila in leaving, “Go right in to see him. He’s expecting you.”

Leila pulled her lab coat straight and brushed a hair off the white fabric. Clearing her throat, she lifted her hand and rapped her knuckles against the door.

“Come.” The order was instant and spoken with unmistakable authority.

She didn’t lose any time, opened the door and entered Patten’s office. The room was shrouded in semi-darkness. Patten, a man in his late fifties, graying at the temples and balding on top, sat at the wide desk, which was illuminated by a large halogen light. Yet the overhead fluorescent lights were off.

“Come in, come in, Dr. Cruickshank. Excuse the lack of lights, but they burned out just when my visitor was here earlier. Darn embarrassing, too. Better get maintenance on that right away.”

“Evening, Mr. Patten,” she answered simply, knowing he didn’t expect a reply to his rant about the lights. “You wanted to see me?”

“Ah, yeah. That’s right.” He brushed a strand of gray hair back behind his ear, making her aware that just like her, he