Tough Love

Chapter Nine

“Yes sir.”

I put them phone down and walked slowly to the door. I looked out of the peephole and saw my groceries on the floor. I'd totally forgotten that it was Saturday. I breathed a sigh of relief, opened the door and grabbed my groceries quickly before picking the phone up again.

“It was just my groceries, sir.”

“Ok, good. Thank you for calling me back Dani.”

“You're welcome. I'm sorry I worried you.”

“It's ok. I have to get to training, but I'll check in with you later on, ok?”

“Ok. Bye.”

I hung up, feeling somewhat better that I'd called him back. I didn't want him to be mad at me or anything.

Eli must have got caught up in training, because I didn't hear from him that evening. I decided not to go to bed, just so I didn't dream. I grabbed a book and curled up on the couch to read for the night. I nodded off a couple times, but not long enough to dream thankfully.

Sunday was boring and slow. I just cooked meals for the week so I only had to reheat meals. That worked best, especially seeing as work was keeping me later and later. I managed to grab a couple fitful hours of sleep before work started on Monday morning, but I felt absolutely awful when I got into work. I know all the lack of sleep is catching up with me and I don't know what is going to happen when it actually hits me.

I quickly get to my desk and start working. I need a distraction from everything that is in my head. I grab a file that's on the top of my stack and start reading the contents. I was so caught up with my work, that I didn't realise someone was standing in front of my desk until they cleared their throat. I squeaked and looked up before apologising profusely. “I'm so sorry sir. I didn't see you there...”

The Captain smiled and said, “It's ok, Danica. I see you were working hard.”

“Yes sir. Did you realise there's a terror threat in my stack, sir?”

“No. Which one?”

“The one in Arabic.”

“Arabic?”

“Yes, sir. It's here.”

I pulled the file out and placed it onto the side of the desk where he was standing. He looked over it before saying, “It's all in Arabic. I can't read that.”

“Oh.”

“You speak Arabic?”

“Er, yes sir?”

“Is there anything else I should know, Danica? How many other languages do you speak?”

I dropped my head to cover my burning cheeks before whispering, “Just a couple, sir.”

“Which ones?”

“Russian, Spanish, Italian, French and Arabic.”

“Wow. Is that because of your photographic memory?”

“Yes sir. It's easier for me to learn other languages.”

“That's amazing. What does this file say?”

“Basically, it's a list of Afghan nationals that have moved here and are on the terror watch list. They've been linked with a rebel army out in Afghanistan. Are we supposed to have that file, sir?”

“Probably not. Can you translate it and type it out for me please? I'll take it to the director and see what he says.”

“Yes sir. Captain? Can you leave my name out of it please? I don't want anyone else to know I can read it.”