Tough Love

Chapter Ninety-Nine

“I'm here for Eli.”

“Is he expecting you, sir?”

“Probably not.”

“Oh. If you'd like to take a seat, I'll call him. Who should I tell him is waiting, sir?”

“Tell him it's Ryan Palmer.”

“Yes sir.”

I call Eli and when he answers, he's out of breath, like he's been running or something. I get distracted by the sound and my mind sucks me into memories of heavy breathing. Things that I don't want to remember are flashing through in front of my eyes. I quickly snap the band on my wrist, not even thinking this stranger is going to see my odd behavior.

Eli's voice snaps me out of it, as I hear him almost shout, “Svetlyak, what's going on?”

His breathing is more under control and I manage to draw myself back into the conversation just by hearing his voice and the change in his breathing.

I mumble, “Sorry.”

“It's ok. What's wrong?”

“There's a Ryan Palmer waiting for you, sir. He said you're probably not expecting him. What do you want me to do?”

“Tell him I'll be there in about 10 minutes. Is that ok with you?”

I take a deep breath and whisper, “Yes sir.”

“He's a good guy, baby. We were in the army together. He's a good guy... Actually, can I talk to him please?”

“Yes sir.”

I take the phone away from my ear and look at this Ryan guy, “Sir? The Lieutenant would like a word with you.”

I place the handset on the desk and move back a bit more so he can take the call. I try to busy myself with other things, to distract myself, but I can't help but overhear Ryan's end of the conversation.

“Yes sir. No, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to check in.... Yeah, I've been doing some digging and I've got some information that you might find helpful.... I'll wait until you get here though... Don't worry, I won't upset her, LT.”

He places the phone on the desk again and smiles as he says, “He wants you back...”

When I get back on the phone, Eli says, “Hey, you ok?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. I won't be long. He'll behave himself, I promise. I'll see you in a bit.”

“Ok.”

After I hang up, I quickly look at this guy. He's big, like football player big, but he doesn't look mean. Well, that's not strictly true. He looks like he could be mean if he wanted to be, but at the moment he doesn't look mean. He's got bright blue eyes, but they look like they've seen some tragedy as well. I'm guessing that's from the army. Just as I'm about to ask him if he wants coffee, the Captain appears.

“Dani, Simon will be sending the stats through from this last training session. You think you could have a quick look at them please...? Oh, hey Arrow, was I supposed to have a meeting with you?”

Arrow? That's Eli's friend. The one I heard him talking to on his cell the night Artur was at Don and Connie's house. I involuntarily shudder at the memory, but quickly push it aside when I hear Arrow/Ryan talk.

“No sir. I'm waiting for Ramirez. He should be here soon.”

“Ok. I thought I'd missed something. It's not like Dani to let me forget something, so I did wonder.”