He sighed and said, “Come on then. I’ll have to get IT to give you computers.”
“We have our own laptops,” Johan said, his tone calm, yet brusque.
James frowned at that. “We do have heavy security here.”
“Obviously,” Galen said, as if James had no clue how much security they had or what and how much these men knew about it.
It was an odd conversation, but James was obviously the loser every time he opened his mouth. She didn’t want to be happy about it, but she kind of was because he hadn’t taken anything she’d said seriously, and that really bothered her. How could he be so dismissive when a case of missing ketamine could be all kinds of major bad news? But now she had to fall in line as they all left James’s office. She studied her boss’s rigid back as he strode down the hallway. Whatever was going on was something he hadn’t expected, and he was obviously not impressed by having something pulled over on him.
As far as Edward went, Joy liked him. He had made things happen, and that was good.
James took them all down the elevator to her floor, and then they walked to her corner of the building, passing many closed doors, basically a series of small rooms, one after the other.
After opening several doors, James nodded and said, “This one’s got a double desk. No windows though,” he said, with an airy wave of his hand, as if to say they didn’t need one anyway.
“That’ll be fine,” Johan said.
James nodded. “Good then.” He stopped, looked at the two men, and said, “You need anything else?”
“I’m sure we can get what we need from Joy,” Johan said with a nod in her direction.
She raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
Her boss snorted. “Good. That’s perfect,” he said. “The least interference in the rest of this department is best.” He stopped, turned, and said, “I don’t have to reiterate how private all this information is, do I?”
“Not at all,” Galen said calmly. “This is what we do.”
Her boss didn’t look very sure about that answer, but he nodded, turned, and walked away.
The three of them stood in the hallway and watched until James turned the corner. Then the men looked at her. This time she saw real smiles.
Johan said, “Kai says hi.”
Immediately she felt relief wash through her. She rushed into the small room, waiting until the men closed the door. As she went to open her mouth, one of them held up a hand, pulled something from his pocket, and proceeded to check the room for something. It took her a few minutes to realize he was looking for listening devices.
“Seriously?” she asked.
When Galen had searched the room and found nothing, he nodded and stowed away the small box in his pocket. “Absolutely.”
She sagged and sat down at one of the desks. “Kai really thought this was serious?”
“Didn’t you?” Johan asked.
“I did,” she said. “I just didn’t know how bad it potentially was.”
“Exactly,” Johan said. “So do you want to fill us in on what’s going on?”
She snorted. “I was about to ask you that same question.”
“Too bad,” Galen said, “we got it in first.”
She glared at him, but he just responded with a grin. She shook her head. “First, before I forget, when I signed in this morning, my computer didn’t go to a log-in screen. As if I didn’t sign out on Friday evening.”
The guys exchanged knowing looks but didn’t say anything.
Frustrated at their silence, she asked, “Do you have laptops? Are you doing anything here?”
“Oh, we’ll do something,” Johan said. “Kai went to Ice, and Ice went to Bruce who then included Edward.”
She knew about Ice because Kai had been full of admiration for her. In fact, she’d raved constantly about Ice. Kai obviously really liked the woman. It took a lot for Kai to respect anybody. “And Ice just picked up the phone and called Bruce?” Joy asked.
“That’s Ice, for you,” Johan said with a big cheerful rumble. “Bruce was horrified and brought Edward in to handle this, and both, by the way, were horrified.”
She sagged in place and closed her eyes briefly. “Well, I’m glad to hear that,” she said. “Is there any regulation coming down the pipeline that we must be in compliance with?”
“No clue,” Galen said cheerfully. “We’re not concerned about what’s coming down the pipeline. We are more concerned about what may have gone out of here through that pipeline.”
She frowned at that, thinking about it, and then realized he meant other medications, drugs, and anything else that may have left the building. “I hadn’t considered that,” she said. “I was just so stunned at my boss—James, whom you just met—considering it to be some clerical error.”
“Is it possible?” Johan asked.
“Well, I guess,” she said, “but I’m not sure. When you think about it, I suppose it’s possible.”
“Not only possible,” he said, “it’s very probable. And is this just the tip of the iceberg? Or else, somebody has just gotten started.”
“Or it’s a clerical error,” she said drily.
He looked at her, and even Galen stared at her steadily.
She raised both hands in frustration, wondering what those shared looks meant. “Or not,” she said. “I presume you guys will find out one way or the other.”
They beamed. “We certainly will,” Johan said. “Now, we’ll need the password to get into the network, or I guess we can just hack our way in.”
She gasped. “Don’t do that,” she said, turning to leave. “I’ll get IT to come and give you a hand.”
When they looked at her, she froze.
“Isn’t it better if you do it legally, at least initially?” she asked, her voice rising. The two looked at each other, shrugged, then nodded. “Good,” she said. “I’ll go to my desk and give him a call. I’ll have him come down as soon as he can.”
“And then we’ll go over your databases,” Johan said.
“Fine. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” And, with that, she turned and left.
*
“Almost looks like she’s running away. What are you thinking?” Johan asked his partner.
Galen laughed. “Definitely running away. Of course she’d have to take her eyes off you first to run very fast.”
Johan snorted. “Seriously? I think she just decided both of us were enough to scare her.”
“Not sure scare is the right word, but she’s definitely afraid she got into something that’s bigger than what she initially thought.”
“Good instincts,” he said. “Particularly after Ice found out through one of her cop friends that they had suspicions of some drugs being moved here. So she added some suspicions of her own. She suspects the cops will tell us to back off on the ketamine investigation.”
“Yeah, but why would they pin it on this place?”
“Because somebody else contacted the cops a few months ago about missing drugs. From this very building.”