Free Runaway by Anne Laughlin Page A

same forces that Jan had shot her way out of. But her job was to find her, not to analyze her.
    Peet joined her out front.
    “I just got a call from Vivian. I guess the deal has closed and we’re supposed to be at the office by four for a company-wide meeting.”
    Jan’s first thought was not annoyance but excitement that she’d see Catherine again.
     
    *
     
    Jan and Peet joined the large group of employees gathered in the first floor security division of TSI. Catherine entered the room with father and son Begala, and the crowd fell silent. She waited a beat before beginning.
    “Good afternoon to all of you. My name is Catherine Engstrom, and I am Vice President of Corporate Development of Chartered Global Security. I know that the rumors are flying, and I’m here to give you the information you need and put your minds at rest. We are a fifty-year-old company based in London, specialists in all forms of services related to security and investigations, with offices in a growing number of US cities. We acquired Titan Security and Investigation today, which gives us a very strong presence in Chicago, and therefore in the heart of the country. The ownership transfer is complete, so as of the present moment, we are your new employer.
    “Now, many people panic when they hear their company has been sold. There will be some changes, of course. We’ll need to conform your computer systems to ours, for instance, and we’ll need to make sure there is some uniformity in procedures, benefits, that sort of thing. All of these details will be carefully explained to you as we move forward. I will be here on-site overseeing these processes, and Mr. Begala Junior will also be on hand to assist in this transfer.
    “I want to make it clear, however, that we do not plan any wholesale layoffs. If there is an obvious redundancy, we will find you another job within the company.”
    Jan leaned over and whispered to Peet. “There you go. That sounds pretty safe.” But Peet stared intently at Catherine, as if trying to divine some hidden meaning behind her words. Jan found it unnerving to have Peet so unsettled. She felt unsettled as well, but less about any change in her job situation than in the simple physical reaction she was having to Catherine. Another part was frustration. Catherine was completely out of Jan’s league. She lived in London, an eight-hour plane ride away. And if that weren’t enough, she was her new boss and a relationship would be very frowned upon. All of these things made Jan want her more, as if the number of obstacles increased the desire, independent of the object of desire herself.

Chapter Four
     
    Jan slipped out of the meeting and into the back lot. Her Jeep was close to the door, her reserved parking a privilege of her long employment and rank as a senior investigator. These were the things she had to show for years of piecing a life together, working diligently on countless cases of workers comp fraud, employee theft, cheating spouses, missing deadbeats, and runaway children. At sixteen, Jan had started a completely new life. She had to think of a new name—Jan Roberts was the first that came to mind—and then build a new identity with the help of some experts in such documentation she’d met through her LA contacts. Always at the back of her mind was the worry that someone from the camp or law enforcement was hunting her down for shooting her father. For twenty years, her work at Titan had enabled her to live essentially like everyone else, which was what she longed to be. Titan was her sturdy link to normalcy. Any talk of changing up that system made her brain shut down.
    She headed to her favorite bar.
    The bars in Boystown weren’t close to the office, but they were where she liked to go for a beer. Her friend James hung out at Sidetrack; that’s where she knew people and where she felt comfortable. The clientele was almost entirely gay men and that suited Jan just fine. She generally got