Sam stood just inside the door to Dimitri’s office, leaving
it ajar so she could see though the gap. She peered down the hallway so she
could warn Alex if their unauthorised presence were pending discovery. Unable
to relax, she repeatedly lamented her decision to accompany him. All that
stopped her from abandoning her post and returning to the party was her fear
she’d be caught on the way, thus making it more likely Alex would also be
busted.
She’d uselessly checked the clock
on her phone twice already. It made no difference, as Alex hadn’t specified a
time limit. He wasn’t going to suddenly give up just because their breaking and
entering had totalled ten whole minutes. But it gave her something to do, and
she sorely needed a distraction to take the edge off her panic.
She periodically turned to watch
Alex, hoping he would either find something soon or give up. He was going
through Dimitri’s desk, skimming papers, and meticulously putting them back in
the same order. So far, nothing out of the ordinary had shown up.
She’d already voiced her opinion
it was unlikely anything so important would be written down on paper, and Alex
had admitted she was probably right. Short of hacking his desktop, this was
almost certainly a futile exercise. He’d confided that he was holding out hope
because Dimitri was somewhat ‘old school’. There was potentially an interesting
hardcopy stashed somewhere.
Finishing with the drawers, Alex
started on the single tray of documents on top of the desk. Dimitri’s workspace
was unencumbered by the clutter littering Alex’s. Being well past retirement
age, Sam suspected he didn’t have as much to do with the day to day running of
his company as Alex did.
I wonder how much work it
would take to make Alex’s desk look like that, she thought. Probably more
than she’d care to contemplate. Even if she managed it, the lack of visible
tasks would only serve to make him anxious anyway. He was too used to having
three people’s work to do.
Her head whipped back to the door
when she heard a bell ring in the distance. ‘Someone’s getting out of the
lift,’ she whispered urgently.
Alex looked up, startled. He was
only about halfway through the tray, and she saw his eyes dart back to the
pile, eager to keep looking. He spoke distractedly, more engrossed in his task
than their conversation. ‘I’ll just finish looking at this and we’ll …’ A sick
pallor washed over his face as he looked up at Sam again, who was frozen in
shock.
They had both realised their
predicament at the same time. Her self-appointed position as ‘lookout’ was
completely useless. The only way out was the lift or the stairs beside the
lift. If someone was coming this way, they were going to be caught red-handed.
Sam couldn’t believe they had
both been that stupid. Alex’s eagerness combined with her discomfort had
blinded them to the obvious. They’d trapped themselves. Their only hope was
that whoever it was didn’t plan on coming in this direction.
Watching the hall nervously, she
saw shadows coming from around the distant corner, and her heart sank as she
realised the voices were getting closer. There was no doubt about it, they were
coming this way.
Swiftly closing the door, she
confirmed this fact to Alex. He uselessly put the papers back into the tray. No
one would ever know he’d been through them if they could just somehow not be
caught.
Their mere presence made his
intentions obvious though. Even without the physical evidence of disorder, what
other reason could they have for being here?
Sam answered her own question as
she watched Alex stride around the desk looking grim. He appeared to be
mentally preparing himself to face the music, but maybe they didn’t have to.
It’s crazy, she thought. Too
crazy, but I can’t think of anything else.
It was a risk on a lot of levels.
They’d still be ‘busted’ in a way, and she was sure Alex wasn’t going to like
it, but it was all she could come up with on short notice. ‘Take off your
jacket and undo your tie,’ she whispered.
Alex’s look of bleak
determination turned to confusion. The request certainly didn’t fit the
situation, but she didn’t have time to ease him into it gently.
‘If we can’t get out before they come in, we need a different reason to be here. Take off your jacket, and undo your tie and some buttons,’ she whispered again, more urgently this time, beginning to untie her skirt.
I'm in love with the cover!
ReplyDeleteI like the eye catching cover.
ReplyDeleteThe cover is so peaceful!
ReplyDelete