Page 40 of Darius

“Yes. I’m Mara Eliot. What can I do for you today?”

“Mara, I have a report that you discovered some strange additions and subtractions from a few accounts. I sent you a message an hour ago asking you to come to the network operations center to show me what you’ve found.”

“Really? Let me check. I’m sorry, I don’t have anything here from you. Maybe the system is down,” she suggested as her mind raced. Darius wouldn’t be happy if she left this branch office to go to the main banking building downtown ten miles away. Darius had to realize that she needed to do her job. She couldn’t refuse.

“No problem. Crossed wires happen. Maybe I typed your name in wrong. I’m Andrew Poole. Is there a secure spot where we could look at things privately?”

“Let me see if anyone has a meeting scheduled in the conference room. That space is free for the next fifteen minutes. Shall we step in there?” Mara offered.

Her heart beat a million times a minute as Mara searched her brain for other accounts to use to highlight the weird withdrawals and deposits. She didn’t want to pull out her notebook and reveal her dates of contact with Nightfall. This conversation made her vastly uneasy. Why would someone not call her if she didn’t respond to an email?

“That won’t be long enough, I’m afraid. I need to check the president’s computer. He left his laptop in his office and wants to have the machine fully operational when he returns in an hour.”

Mara relaxed a bit. Andrew was at the president’s beck and call, like the other employees. Whatever she had picked up on as strange must be paranoia from this bizarre situation. Everyone couldn’t suddenly be bad guys.

Andrew pulled up his schedule on his phone. “Would you mind coming to my office on Friday? I have a block free on Friday afternoon where we could dive into the system. That is unless the glitch has resolved itself? Sometimes there’s a hiccup in the system, and in a few days the amounts even out.”

Mara quickly checked her appointments. She was confused that someone had followed up on her report after the vice president had told her to drop it. Perhaps an automatic message had reached this guy? “Yes, I can block that time out as well.” She picked up one of her cards from the holder on her desk and jotted digits on the back. “Let me give you my personal cell phone number. If I don’t respond, you can call me directly.”

“Great. Here’s mine.” He searched his pockets and came up empty. “I must be out. I leave business cards at every job site I visit in case they have follow-up questions.”

“Of course. I could jot the number down if you’ll share it,” Mara suggested.

“Sure.”

After telling her his information, Andrew excused himself and headed immediately for the president’s office. She quickly created a new contact before she lost the note. Staying organized was her hardest struggle and one she addressed by ensuring she logged information immediately.

A teller walked by singing a popular refrain from a cop show. Mara had to work hard not to laugh. Obviously she’d had the same reaction to Andrew’s bad-boy appearance. Forcing her mind back to work, Mara attacked the next to-do item on her list.

I got delayed, Little one. Can you remain inside for a few minutes?

Mara checked the clock. She’d already overstayed her schedule by fifteen minutes. While she was salaried and frequently worked longer hours than normal, suddenly, all she wanted was fresh air and to get away from people. Deliberately, she answered Darius vaguely. She’d stick around in front of the bank, surely that would be safe enough.

No problem, Daddy, I’ll see you when you get here.

I’m almost to the car. I’ll be there as quickly as possible.

Take your time, Daddy.

I enjoy a leisurely pace for some tasks, Zoí mou. But in this case, I’ll speed my way there to collect you soon.

His comment triggered the memory of his slow lovemaking. Mara squeezed her legs together as her body reacted to his deliberate innuendo. She leaned over to grab her purse from her bottom drawer, hoping her cheeks would cool quickly.

After locking her computer in her desk, Mara stood and scanned the lobby. The tellers had started to organize their windows and reconcile their drawers. Her colleague, Angie, closed tonight.

Mara headed for the kind woman’s desk with her purse slung over her shoulder. “Anything I can do before I leave, Angie?”

“Nothing. Go. Hopefully tomorrow you’ll have some time to tell me about Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome that dropped you off this morning.” Angie fanned herself. “I was ready to grill you at lunch today.”

Mara laughed and nodded. “He is pretty hot, isn’t he?”

Thank you, Zoí mou.

Mara worked hard to keep herself from reacting to the caress of Darius’s deep voice in her mind. Angie had no idea how appealing Darius was.

“Tomorrow. I need to live vicariously through you. Somehow, I’m attracting guys like that programmer who stopped to talk to you today. Is everything okay?”

“Of course. I’d reported a strange snag in the system. He’s working on the discrepancy. Nothing big,” Mara assured her. While she was nervous, she didn’t want Angie to think anything was wrong.