“There are things I wish I could share with you,” he said, searching her eyes, hoping to see the old Cristal, the one who used to be willing to listen.
That wasn’t going to happen.
“Let’s keep things professional, Harry,” she said, refusing to let him get an inch closer to her. “We’re here to do a job, so let me do my work.”
He grabbed her elbow, pulling her to him.“You know I care about you,” he whispered into her hair.
Her mind was telling her to push him away, but her body froze.
“I always have,” he said, releasing his grip. He turned away and left her feeling confused and empty.
If that weren’t enough, Dr. Saeed was beginning to give her the creeps. He would sneak questions into their conversations, like: “Have you been sleeping well? Have you had any other fainting spells? Do you want to talk about the visions you’ve had?”
How she wanted to tell him—Leave me alone! I’m not your lab rat. But she bit her tongue, trying to keep things polite.
She wished she could be with Kerim and Gabriel instead of being stuck at the GN office. Harry had sent them on missions in Haifa and Gaza to meet with other Truth Seekers.
“I want to go with them to meet the others,” she told Harry.
“No, we need you here at GN. We can’t let the New York office suspect what we are doing,” he said. His tone was sharp and authoritative.
“You’re the boss,” she mumbled under her breath.
In the evenings, Harry asked all of them to meet to discuss the missions. Cristal made sure to sit beside Kerim. He could speak to her inside her head while she had one ear bud in her ear, listening to her music.
“I’ll take you back to your hotel after work,” Kerim’s voice told her.
“You promise to tell me everything you uncovered today in Gaza?” she responded.
“After I teach you a few more phrases in Hebrew and Arabic.” He turned to her and winked. “Like, I love you, my sweetheart.”
Her cheeks turned several shades of red. Did he say that out loud? She calmed down when she saw that everyone was focused on Harry at the front of the room. Harry’s eyes seemed to bore into hers. He was talking to everyone, but he seemed to only be looking at her.
“I wish we could sneak out of here,” she said in her thoughts.
“Patience, my dear Cristal. Let’s save the world first and then we can go play.”
She glanced over at Kerim who reached over and squeezed her knee.
Silent conversations—it was weird, but romantic. Most importantly, it was their little secret.
***
The hotel phone rang, startling her from her thoughts. She glanced at her watch as she picked up the phone. Kerim must be in the lobby now.
“Kerim, I’m on my way down.”
A deep voice responded, but it wasn’t Kerim’s. “Ms. Hernandez, this is the hotel concierge. There is an I.S. agent here who wants to speak with you.”
Why would a security agent want to speak with me?
“Madame, are you still there?”
She shook her head to clear her thoughts.“Yes, I am coming down.”
Chapter 17
Joanna Makes Plans
Zero: The data you sent this morning should have been encrypted.
Onyx: It’s been crazy here. Elf man is riding my back and now I have to do the reports for our whole team. Thanks a lot for leaving me behind.
Zero: We need you over there. You’re one of the best programmers on our team. We’re counting on you to get the data we need.
Joanna was about to type something sarcastic, but paused.
Zero: I am personally counting on you.
Before responding, she thought to herself, Oh, really? You think I’m that stupid to believe that crap?
Zero: I’ll contact you again in 10 hours. SYL
OMG. Seriously? She wasn’t going to let Harry get away with this. She finished typing an email and sent it to her friend, Jenna Adams, a journalist for the New York Times. You wait and see who should have gone to Tel Aviv with you, Harry, she thought to herself.
“Joanna, are you on planet Earth?”
Beaver, the Elf man, was standing at her cubicle. Just the sight of him made her want to barf. Everyone on the IT team knew he was a useless dweeb. He wore his senior manager title as if it were his shield that would protect him from the truth.
She rolled her eyes.
“What do you want, Beaver?” She turned back to her screen.
“Shelley wants to see you,” he said with a sly smile.
Freak! What does the boss want to see me about? Why did Harry leave me here to hold down the fort all by myself?
“Did you hear me? She’s waiting for you.” He turned away, waving his hand as if he was summoning his pet Schnauzer. Her hand tightened around her mouse as she imagined hurling it right between Beaver’s beady brown eyes.