Free In the Dark by Marliss Melton Page B

often than any other commander's, we've at least got supporting evidence. I'll search through records the old-fashioned way."
    Luther sat at the nearest computer and powered it up.
    Hannah turned toward the filing cabinets and pulled out the first drawer. "So that was Veronica," she said, without inflection.
    "Yes," he said shortly.
    "She's pretty," Hannah observed.
    He stared at the hourglass on the monitor. "You think?" He was tempted to reply that Hannah was a lot prettier, only what was the point of that? "Here we go," he said instead as the desktop popped up. He went into search mode while Hannah riffled through the files, scouring earnestly for information linking Lovitt's name to the weapons stolen from warehouses, frigates, and air terminals all over the world.
    Veronica tossed down the document she was editing, unable to get the verbiage straight. Thoughts of Luther in the archive room with that dowdy-looking woman had her thoughts churning. What were they doing in there? Was it work-related or was Luther actually seeing someone so soon after throwing her out? If so, his taste in women had obviously veered off course.
    Whoever the woman was, she had access to information that Veronica didn't, and that rankled. After working as a government servant at Spec Ops for six years, she ought to be allowed in the archives room. It wasn't like anything going on around her was really kept secret. She had ways of getting a man to talk.
    For that matter, James, the security officer, had shown her how to validate the users of the thumb scan. Why sit here wondering who the woman was when all she had to do was to punch in a code to find out?
    She'd jotted down the procedure on a sticky note and stuck it in her desk. Ah, yes, here it was.
    Crossing to the scanning device, Veronica entered the code James had used and waited. The machine bleeped and beeped before listing names in the order of its most recent user. Luther's name was right at the top. Below that was the name Hannah Geary, along with her date of clearance and place of employment.
    Veronica stared at the strangely familiar name, wondering where she'd heard it before. Geary, Geary, DIA. She cleared the screen and returned to her desk where she gnawed on the end of her pen.
    Wasn't Geary that analyst who'd found incriminating information about Commander Lovitt? Hadn't the woman gone missing when she was supposed to surrender her evidence to the Quantico police?
    Well, well. . .
    Apparently she wasn't missing, after all. Either that or she'd been found. What would old Eddie do if he learned the woman was a threat, still, to his reputation?
    Poor man, he'd been removed from Spec Ops and given an administrative job over at Oceana. His marriage was on the rocks, as he'd confided the last time they'd been together. He certainly deserved to know that Luther and this Hannah woman were conspiring against him. And wouldn't he be grateful to Veronica for tipping him off?
    The last time he'd been grateful, he'd bought her a tennis bracelet!
    With a smirk of self-satisfaction, Veronica leaped up to find a more secluded office. Whatever happened to Luther as a result of her meddling was his concern. He deserved a chunk of misery for breaking their engagement.
    Edward Lovitt's hands shook as he placed the phone back in its cradle. He crossed to the kitchen sink to splash water on his face, keeping his movements quiet so that he wouldn't awaken his wife.
    Oh, Jesus, was this never going to end? The Individual had assured him in their last correspondence that Ernest Forrester's findings would go no further. His office had been wiped clean, and his office mate had been dealt with. Eddie didn't need to get involved.
    If that was the case, then why was Hannah Geary snooping through files in the archives room at Spec Ops? Not that she would find anything. He'd gone through every inch of paperwork and computer data, making certain his name couldn't be linked to any of the weapons he'd