Chapter 2 - Surprise & Envy

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ALEX TURNER

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I idly fiddle with my phone as I sit in a chair in our conference room alone. The familiar gray walls hold no comfort for me. 

I know why I am paying such close attention to the damned mobile device.

We arrived yesterday late afternoon in Boston, and before our plane landed Jeremy had to go to his own business emergency.

I haven’t seen or spoken to him since.

For the first time in awhile I opted to sleep in my own bed, but immediately regretted it when at one in the morning I laid in my bed wide awake, wondering when Jeremy was climbing into his bed, and wished desperately he was climbing in next to me.

Granted, he offered me to stay at his, but I thought a bit of time a part might be good. Even if it is just for a night. 

I am beginning to worry my mood swings are dependent on his presence, and an independent girl like me cannot be that capricious.

When it comes to work? Yes. When it comes to love? I’d prefer not.

But he hasn’t called, or anything, and it’s nearly eleven in the morning now.

My phone is suddenly knocked out of my hands, shocking me, and I realize that Derek has just now walked into the room.

I grit my teeth watching the overpriced electronic hit the ground.

“Derek, what the hell?”

“I think you and your phone need a break from one another.” He chuckles as he takes the seat at the head of the table.

I pick my phone up off the floor, and look to him quizzically, “Not that it’s cemented, but that is Captain Alvarado’s chair.”

“I’m aware. He’s out sick for a while taking care of some health issues.”

I sit up straight eyeing him wearily for a moment, “Health issues? What health issues? He didn’t tell me.”

“Now’s not the time, Turner. I’m calling all the shots on this one.”

It’s just one blow after another…

I cannot help myself as I slap my phone on the table dramatically, “What are you talking about?”

The tension that had been lingering in my shoulders all morning is now at its peak level.

“I’ve got this. This is a big assignment.” He ruffles through a couple pages through his notepad nonchalantly, and I want to roll my eyes.

I chew the inside of my cheek feeling out of control, “I’m gone for a few days and I am left out of the loop? What is going on?”

“Correction Turner, you’ve been in and out of contact for the past month due to your boy toy, and don’t act like you haven’t. If you remember correctly I had been trying to get a hold of you in Arizona for a bit about this case. If you must know we have the Secretary of State coming in with a member of her team. She flew in last night, and apparently this is all very hush, hush. We get to find out everything when she get’s here.”

It feels like the wind is knocked out of me. That is a lot of information to take in all at once. A big-wig like the Secretary of State? Why?

I decide I don’t have anything else to say, and look over at my best friend, Derek Matthews, who I must admit, I have not seen too often, well, at least not since Brazil. It looks like he decided to keep the mild scruff of a beard. I think it suits his brooding features.

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