part0038

J eremiah sighed and shifted as unobtrusively as he could to ease his stiffness. He had been running and gunning during the past two weeks and had risked his life and put himself in the middle of a corporate battle that he really had no place being involved in. He had lived a dangerous life ever since he’d started his so-called new beginning as Jeremiah Savage.

Which made it all the more annoying that he would probably die of boredom in a conference room while a group of lawyers went over all the legal ramifications that resulted when one of the former CEOs resigned their shares from a company due to, quote, “personal issues.”

He’d smirked when they’d said that. Anja had told him that an FBI team had been brought onto the plane to stabilize Carlson for transport, and he’d been moved directly to a high-security medical facility. His condition was reported to be stable, which meant he’d be able to stand trial. He knew that he’d enjoyed his meeting with the executive a little too much, but the results were what mattered, right? He was off their backs for good—hopefully, anyway—and now, they continue to run the operation of…well, of whatever it was that Monroe and Anderson wanted for Pegasus, without anyone to interfere.

He hadn’t shared the specifics of what happened on that jet. All they knew was that he’d threatened and intimidated the man enough that he’d surrendered all his shares in the company for sale. He would be paid for them based on their sale value, which was currently an ongoing process.

The details on that weren’t exactly clear, at least not to him. They talked numbers and percentages that mostly went over his head if he was completely honest. He was only there for the part of the meeting that would follow after the lawyers left the room. While the legal team was bound by all kinds of attorney-client privileges, that didn’t change the fact that the fewer people who knew about his role in all this, the better. For the record, he was merely a security consultant who was there to help restructure the personnel who would join them in the building.

He liked that—security consultant. He could start a business and be a private eye with a drinking problem and an obsession with fedoras. He’d always been a fan of Humphrey Bogart and his hunt for the Maltese Falcon. Of course, what was displayed wasn’t the reality of the private eye business, especially these days, but that didn’t alter the fact that it was an interesting line of work.

Plus, he knew he looked good in a fedora.

He leaned back in his seat as most of the people left, engrossed in conversation. The day was winding down in Philly, and most of those involved would head home to enjoy the weekend with their families. A couple of folks would burn the midnight oil in the building, but for the most part, they had the place to themselves.

Jeremiah, Jessica, Anderson, and Monroe sat around the table and Anja joined them over the speakers.

“Well,” Monroe said as the room fell silent for the first time in what felt like forever. “This has been a long couple of weeks for everyone here. We’re under no illusions that it’s over. What we want to do with this company won’t be accomplished without a lot of obstacles. However, I do think we can safely say that this has been a successful first step on a very long road.”

He could agree with that, although he didn’t know what it was about this woman that made him curious. A PhD suffix at the end of her name explained why everyone called her Doctor Monroe and told him that much of her life had been spent in the sacred halls of academia. Then, she became the specialist who had survived the most hours in the Zoo of all time. There had to be something wrong with her by that standard alone.

Jeremiah shifted uncomfortably in his seat. It had been only three days since he’d walked away from Anderson’s country house. His ribs still bothered him, and the stitches in his arm itched the way they did when the wound was on the way toward healing. He had to resist the urge to scratch, though. It wouldn’t do to open anything and stain the expensive suit Pegasus had shelled out for him so that he wouldn’t stand out in this meeting.

That meant any more than he already did, of course. He didn’t look like any of the law and economy buffs who had been in the room before. Anyone with even a smidgeon of observational skill could tell that he looked a lot more like Anderson than any of them.

“Do you have anything you’d like to add to this conversation, Savage?” Monroe asked and focused on him.

The operative blinked and realized that he’d let his concentration slip. He peered at the other three people in the room with him. “How does Dr. Coleman’s situation look at the moment?” he asked and raised the topic that had been on his mind up to cover the fact that he hadn’t paid attention.

“Well, we’ll have her make her deposition on what Carlson was up to in that facility of his,” she said and adjusted her glasses to look at the papers on the table in front of her. “But it doesn’t seem like the Pentagon will push for an investigation until he has completed his recovery. Until then, all we can do is make sure that all our ducks are in a row and keep an eye on what he’s doing while he’s incarcerated.”

He nodded. “In that case, I have nothing else to add.”

“Excellent.” She smiled and fixed him with a frank and open gaze. “Your work with us has been invaluable in the success we’ve enjoyed thus far, but I don’t think it’s over yet. We would like to keep you on retainer for future work.”

“I don’t have anywhere else to be. Literally.” He shrugged to make that truth seem unimportant.

“Well, your check will be mailed to your apartment.” Monroe packed the papers into a file. “As well as a little extra to secure your retainer. If there’s nothing else?”

He shook his head and eased himself out of his seat with a soft grunt.

“Then this meeting is adjourned,” she said.

“Yeah, yeah, I have places to be on this end,” Anja added before she signed off. Jeremiah couldn’t help a small smile as he moved away from the table and made sure to shake Anderson and Monroe’s hands before he left the conference room.

It still seemed odd that he had broken into this place ten or so days before and now, he walked around like he actually worked here.

He did work there now, right? That was what he understood being on retainer to mean. They wouldn’t give him an office or a cubicle or anything, but he did report to his bosses—or benevolent overlords—in this building, and that meant he worked there.

That apartment of his was a nice little place and certainly better than the motel rooms he’d had to endure since he’d left the hospital. Still, the one-room, one-bathroom unit didn’t really feel like home. It was a place to crash and store his things but not much else.

Jessica joined him as the elevator dinged to announce its arrival. They stepped in without saying a word and spent most of the ride to the ground floor in silence.

“What do you think of Dr. Monroe?” she asked as the numbers on the display wound down to single digits.

“Anderson gave me her file before the meeting today,” he replied honestly, careful with his words. “Apparently, she’s something of a force to be reckoned with whom Carlson has been after for a while. But I don’t know… There’s something about her that’s a little…”

“Familiar?” Jessica asked with a grin as his voice trailed off.

He tilted his head from side to side as the doors opened at the ground floor and the two of them made their way through the lobby. “Yeah, I suppose familiar works. It doesn’t sound quite right, but it’ll do until I think of something better.”

She nodded as they stepped outside into the rapidly cooling evening air of the city of Philadelphia. “Well, I’m glad that you made it out of everything alive and…more or less in one piece.”

His chuckle was a little dark. “I don’t really feel like I’m in one piece, but I’ll take it.”

They stood outside the Pegasus building for a moment, the silence comfortable between them.

“So,” he said and broke it before it became awkward. “Do you feel like having that conversation now?”

“Here?” She looked around at the very public place where they stood. “Definitely not. And certainly not sober. Would you care to join me for a drink?”