Justine hadn’t even left the parking garage yet.

  She just sat idly in her jeep, keys in the ignition, trying to come up with an explanation for how fate had brought her to this point. How had transporting a guy from a clinic in the southern Pennsylvania hills to an NSA office in Washington DC caused her life to go so screwy?

  Then it hit her, that French couple. Why couldn’t that fucking French couple have just been grateful and left it alone? Justine never expected a thank you or congratulations for saving their lives because that negated the point. But they could have at least gone about their future endeavors quietly.

  She imagined that bodyguard readying his deposition with excited pen and paper. He had probably already RSVP’d for her upcoming disciplinary hearing.

  “That prick’s smiling his ass off right now.” She whispered angrily to herself.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Her options going forward were few. Fitz Hume had suspended her for two weeks pending an official investigation by the state department. What was she supposed to do in the meantime? Sulk?

  Just then, her phone confirmed the delivery of her special edition Battlestar Blu-ray. That diversion would probably keep her busy for a while, but no amount of special features could mask the fact Fitz Hume had taken her gun away. Where have all the Dirty Harry’s gone, she lamented?

  Justine was just about to turn the engine over when her smartphone went off again. It was a text from Saunders: You’re needed down in the lab. Stop whining and get down here.

  “I’m not whining,” The words reached out to her phone in a very personal way, like she was talking to it instead of through it. Justine abruptly stopped her digital tête-à-tête. “I’m starting to sound like that Foster guy.” Justine checked herself in the jeep’s cracked rear-view mirror and noticed her eyes were a bit misty.

  “Damn it,” she scolded herself. “I am whining.”

  Without another thought of suspension, she threw open the Jeep’s driver door and broke out into a run.