Countermeasures. Janie Crouch

almost swear she could feel his thumb caressing the back of her hand. That totally had to be her imagination. She pulled her hand back quickly.

      “Yeah, there’s not actually a receptionist for R & D, despite this desk. We just pretty much keep the desk as a catchall for office supplies and stuff.” Megan held up the stain-remover stick. “I got a stain on my lab coat, so I was coming to see if I could use this to get it out.”

      Agent Branson nodded and gave her a half smile. “Well, a lab coat might have clued me in that you weren’t a receptionist, but I definitely didn’t know you were who I was here to see. My apologies.”

      Wow, if that was only a half smile, Megan didn’t want to be around if he decided to turn his full charm on her. “I can still direct you to the coffee if you want it.”

      Agent Branson gave a bark of soft laughter. “Believe it or not, that was to make you feel more comfortable. You seemed to have lost the ability to speak for a while there.”

      Megan could feel a flush spilling over her. “Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t have made a good receptionist. I’m more of a computer-person than a people-person.”

      Megan heard a throat clear from the other side of the desk. Jonathan. She had almost totally forgotten her assistant was there. Good Lord, she needed to focus. On the situation, not on Agent Branson.

      “Jonathan, yes, okay. Um, Agent Branson, it sounds like you didn’t know very much about me and we know even less about you. All we were told was that you would be ‘a presence’ here at Cyberdyne for a while. I don’t really know why.”

      Agent Branson looked around. “Is there somewhere we could go to talk that isn’t so open to everything?”

      “Yes, of course. As you can see, we have an open workspace in general, but everyone also has offices. Mine is in the back.” Megan began walking that way. “Should Jonathan join us?”

      Agent Branson shook his head. “Right now, I’d just like it to be the two of us if that’s okay. I’ll need to talk with all of the R & D employees while I’m here, but I’d like to start with just you.”

      Megan could tell Jonathan didn’t like that. But her assistant tended to be a little high-maintenance in that way. He always wanted to be involved with whatever was going on and tended to get a little churlish when he was left out. The behavior had been getting worse more recently. Megan tried to smile at Jonathan, but he had already turned away with a huff. Megan just shook her head and led Agent Branson back to her office, closing the door behind them.

      Megan stood behind a chair at the table and gestured to another seat for Agent Branson. She couldn’t help but admire the casual fluidness in how he filled the chair. As if he was a model.

      If it wasn’t for the scar on his chin and slightly crooked nose—it looked as though it had been broken at some point in his life—Agent Branson definitely could’ve made a living in front of the camera. Black hair, cut short and stylish, a perpetual five-o’clock shadow, gorgeous green eyes. Megan put a hand up to her chin just to make sure she wasn’t accidentally drooling.

      It was time to rein in all of this nonsense. Okay, yes, Agent Branson was attractive. Megan didn’t know the specifics of exactly why he was here, but she did know that it wasn’t for her ogling enjoyment. Megan took a deep breath in through her nose to focus herself, then released it gently through her mouth.

      One of the advantages of being so intellectually advanced for her age when she was growing up—and always surrounded by older people—was that Megan had learned early how to act professionally even when she didn’t feel that way. She wasn’t going to let Agent Handsome discombobulate her any more than he already had today. She hoped they both would just totally forget the incident at the reception desk. That wasn’t how she ran the R & D department—all flighty and unable to speak. She was a professional and she could handle this.

      She could handle him.

      Even though her lab coat had a small coffee stain on it, Megan grabbed it from where it hung on a hook on the back of her door and put it on. She immediately felt more secure with its familiar weight on her shoulders. She sat down and looked across the table.

      “So, Agent Branson, how can we help you here at Cyberdyne?”

      Evidently she had succeeded in adding the desired professionalism to her tone as she watched Agent Branson sit up a little straighter in his chair, his eyes narrowing slightly for just a moment. Obviously he was also expecting the nervous woman he had met earlier at the desk.

      Well, she wasn’t around anymore.

       Chapter Three

      Sawyer watched pretty Megan transform into stuffy, prickly Dr. Zane Megan Fuller—just like her name tag said—as she pulled on that drab lab coat and buttoned it. The skirt underneath, and evidently the shy woman from the desk, disappeared. Sawyer could almost feel the temperature drop around him.

      Okay, the asking her for coffee had been a bit of a misstep. Sawyer totally read that situation wrong—not something he was used to doing. He tried to think back to his conversation with Burgamy. Sawyer definitely would’ve remembered if his boss had said Dr. Fuller was an attractive young woman. Or if he had said woman at all.

      What had Sawyer been expecting in Dr. Fuller again? Someone balding, with thick glasses and a bow tie? Sawyer could admit he’d let a stereotype get the better of him. It was his own fault and he knew better. But when he’d seen pretty little Megan fumbling around at the desk, blinking up at him with those big brown eyes and blushing for goodness’ sake?

      It had never even crossed Sawyer’s mind that she would be the head computer scientist of a multimillion-dollar company. But the woman sitting across from him so coldly, lab coat around her like a suit of armor? He had no problem picturing her as Dr. Fuller, brilliant scientist.

      “Yes, Dr. Fuller. I’m sorry for the confusion before.” Reflexively Sawyer tried to smile at her, but he was met only with cold professionalism. “I’ve been sent here from the Bureau to discuss Ghost Shell.”

      Sawyer knew Megan would associate the word bureau with the FBI, but now wasn’t the time to explain about Omega Sector. Omega was a task force made up of representatives from all different sorts of government agencies—FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, hell, even Interpol—who answered to bosses inside Omega. The task force was generally kept on a need-to-know basis. All Megan needed to know right now was that Sawyer was from federal law enforcement.

      Megan nodded curtly. “I gave Ghost Shell to the FBI three months ago. Then I receive a follow-up call a few days ago with all sorts of questions you guys should already know the answer to.”

      Sawyer didn’t respond to that directly. “I understand you’ve been working on a countermeasure to Ghost Shell.”

      That obviously wasn’t the statement she was expecting. “Well, we were. But once I turned Ghost Shell over to the FBI, we put that on the back burner. Didn’t seem important to work on the antidote for a poison we’d already gotten rid of.”

      “Unfortunately, it looks like the poison is back.”

      “What?” Her big brown eyes blinked at him again, but this time with confusion rather than shyness.

      “Ghost Shell fell into the wrong hands not long ago.”

      “What?” Megan parroted herself. “I gave Ghost Shell to the FBI to keep that exact thing from happening.”

      Sawyer grimaced. “I understand your frustration.”

      Sawyer watched Megan’s small fists ball on the table. He slid back a little in his chair, since it looked as if she might start swinging any moment. Not that he could blame her.

      “My research team here at Cyberdyne put in hundreds of man-hours on Ghost Shell! The work we did was brilliant and could’ve potentially made Cyberdyne millions of dollars. But I chose—my