Sarah nodded. “That would be mine.”
“Is there another you can use while I root around in it?”
“There is, but first I’ll need to download some files from mine to a backup that’s even older than the one I rely on,” she added, even as she was giving her father a filthy look.
“No, don’t,” Spence proclaimed sharply. When she saw the startled expressions, she explained. “If, and that’s only an if, there is something that is on that computer that shouldn’t be there or it’s running a program that links it to another system outside this office, I don’t want you accidently transferring it to that system. Nor do I want you to use one of your other computers if that is possible.”
This caused Sarah to smile as she turned toward her father. “Well, how about that? Now will you pry open that wallet of yours and finally cop for the laptop I have been urging you to buy?”
“I’ll do no such thing,” Mills grumbled. “Use one of those computers that was in the shipment no one has claimed yet. Just make sure you wipe off everything concerning our affairs here when this young lady is finished with yours.”
Sarah pulled back in genuine horror. “We can’t do that.”
“And why not?” Mills declared imperiously as he drew himself up. “You yourself said there’s a question as to who ordered them, if anyone did. For all we know, some low-wage warehouseman in Singapore who couldn’t read the shipping documents printed in the Queen’s English packed them in our container by mistake. We may never know who they belong to.”
“And what are you going to say when someone does show up here looking for them?”
“You just leave that to me,” Mills countered reassuringly as he ignored the way his daughter was pinning him with a steady, unflinching stare. Instead, he returned to the matter at hand. “Is there any particular reason why it’s so important for my daughter to use another computer?” he asked Spence as it began to dawn on him something within his own company was amiss.
Not wishing to spook the man, not until she needed to, Spence put off sharing her suspicions. Instead, she sought to put Mills’ mind at ease by explaining her concerns in a manner she imagined he’d understand. “My boss is something of a perfectionist when it comes to running a problem like yours to ground. I may need to contact the temp you had in and see if she was experiencing the same problems Sarah has seen once I have a handle on it myself.” When she saw Mills was satisfied with this answer, Spence set aside her teacup and turned to Sarah. “Now, if you could, show me the system you use when dealing with requests, shipping invoices, bills of lading, and anything even remotely involved in the handling of cargo and talk me through them.”
“That’ll be easy.” Sarah snickered. “Like I said, the system and computers we rely on are almost as old as my father,” she added even as she was glancing at Mills out of the corner of her eye.
“They work, don’t they?” he replied in a tone that was just as playful.
“Aye, they do, most of the time thanks in no small part to spit, bailing wire, and an occasional appeal to the Almighty Himself,” Sarah replied. “Which is more than I can say about that no-good, lazy lout my sister married.”
“Kevin is a fine boy,” Mills shot back.
Unbowed, Sarah snorted. “Boy is right. If you come with me, Ms. Spencer, I’ll show you around.”
Unable to help herself, Spence chuckled. This, she thought, will be fun. It was an opinion she was able to hold on to until she began to root about Sarah’s computer and discovered her worst fears had been spot on.
Totally lost in what they were doing, both Andy and Tommy were startled when the office door flew open, banging loudly against the edge of the counter where the kettle and tin of biscuits were kept. Looking up, the two men watched as Spence rushed into the room, pausing only to slam the door shut by using her foot to boot it without bothering to look back.
Without a word, she made straight for her desk, where she dropped her travel bag and swung her laptop’s carrying case around, smoothly slipping it down off her shoulder onto the desk even as she was taking a seat. Hunching over, she turned her desktop computer on before unzipping her laptop case while she waited. Reaching in with one hand, she fished around in a pocket of the case. After pulling out a flash drive, she spun her chair about and tossed the flash drive over at Tommy, who had to move quicker than Andy was accustomed to seeing so he could catch it. “Take a look at what’s on the drive and tell me what you see,” she commanded before spinning back around and turning her full attention to her computer.
Flummoxed, Tommy blinked. “Oy, Tinker Bell! Who died and left you in charge?”
Spence didn’t bother looking up from her monitor as her fingers flew across her computer’s keyboard as she spoke. “If you want to keep me away from your desk armed with a trash bin, you’ll plug that flash drive in and get to work.”
Not at all sure how best to respond, Tommy glanced over at Andy. After watching Spence beaver away as if she were possessed and recognizing her behavior for what it was, since he himself often threw himself headlong into a problem in much the same way, Andy returned Tommy’s stare, cocking an eyebrow as he did so. “In the state she’s in, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll do as she says.”
Seeing he wasn’t going to win this round, Tommy sighed. “Do you mind telling me what I’m looking for?” he asked as he turned his attention back to Spence.
“You’ll know it the second you see it,” she shot back without skipping a beat as she continued to alternate between scrolling through a list of websites she’d pulled up on her monitor’s screen, selecting one and then inputting a query.
Pouting like a boy who’d been told to eat his veggies, Tommy loudly muttered to himself. “If you ask me, I kind of liked the old Spence better than this new high-maintenance version she brought back from Italy.” He saved the file he’d been working on and closed it before plugging the flash drive Spence had tossed over at him.
Andy chuckled as he went from watching Tommy in order to make sure he was doing as Spence had insisted and back over to a self-assured young woman who was becoming, to him, so much more than a valued employee. It was how he now viewed her, and what he should do about it, which worried him, for his background and training had left him woefully unprepared for the kind of workplace relationship he was seriously considering embarking upon.
4
The greeting Tommy got as he entered the Red Cow, even when there was business he needed to see to, always made him smile. On a weeknight like this there wasn’t a face in the pub he couldn’t put a name to. Nor was there anyone present who didn’t stop what they were doing and return his cocky little smirk or greet him as if he were a long-lost cousin home from the wars.
“Hey, Tommy, too bad about last Sunday,” the landlord, who often bet against Arsenal just to get Tommy’s goat, called out.
“That was luck, mate,” Tommy shot back even as he was glancing around the room, looking for the man he was supposed to meet. “That lot of yours won’t be doing that again anytime soon.”
“A fiver says they will next month.”
“You’re on,” Tommy replied after spotting a mate of his he’d served with in the Queen’s Dragoon Guards who was now working with MI5 as an analyst. With a nod, Tommy let Collin Carter know he’d seen him before heading over to the bar, ordering a pint, and then when served, heading over to join his friend.
After taking a moment to lightly touch their glasses in a silent toast to mates they’d served with who were no longer with them, and enjoying a long sip of beer, the two men set their pints aside and got right down to business. “Have ya got it?” Carter asked expectantly.