Countermeasures. Janie Crouch
this small break room. Blessed quiet reigned here.
Halfway through her sandwich and the printouts Megan heard the door open. She didn’t look up from her work, hoping whoever entered either wasn’t looking for her or would see she was busy and not disturb her. A few moments of silence reassured her.
“You’re cute when you concentrate really hard like that.”
Sawyer. Almost instantly the words Megan had been concentrating on became gibberish on the printout in front of her. She just couldn’t think when he was around.
“I’m working.” Megan knew she was being borderline rude, again, but couldn’t help it. Acting cold around him was the only way not to become a babbling idiot like she had been on the first day.
“I see that. Mind if I hang out in here for a while? I’ll be quiet, I promise.”
Yes, Megan minded. His very presence in the room bothered her. Everything about him bothered her. “Fine.”
True to his word Sawyer didn’t say anything else, not even to point out how rude Megan was being, but it didn’t seem to matter. Try as she might, Megan couldn’t get any work done with Sawyer around. When she found herself reading the same page for the third time, she decided she’d had enough. She was going home.
Megan stood up and began cramming stuff into bags. She realized she had put the remaining part of her sandwich in her briefcase and the Ghost Shell drive in her lunch bag, but she didn’t care.
Sawyer watched calmly from his table near the door. “Finished with lunch?”
“I can’t work in here anymore. There’s too much noise.”
Sawyer looked around as if to discover what noise she referred to. Megan couldn’t blame him. Except for the sound of Megan frantically stuffing papers into whatever bag happened to be closest, it was completely silent in the break room.
“I’m going home to work for the rest of the afternoon.” Megan couldn’t afford to lose another whole day, no matter what the reason. Especially because of her own ridiculousness. There was too much at stake.
Megan took her bags and marched out of the break room, without looking at or speaking to Sawyer, and headed toward her office. Jonathan and the rest of the team were sitting around one of the conference tables in the middle of the main R & D room looking much more relieved than when she had left them this morning. Jonathan stood when he saw Megan, a report in hand.
“Megan, it looks like we figured out the coding problem. Well, it was mostly Trish.” Jonathan gestured to the woman next to him. “Now we just have to finish it.”
“Great, you guys. I’m going to be working off-site this afternoon, so I need you all to get this done so we can start fresh tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll have some of our other Ghost Shell problems worked out by then.”
Megan encouraged everyone a bit more, then headed back to her office. Jonathan followed her, along with Trish, one of the newer Cyberdyne team members, who always seemed to be trying to get more face time with Megan.
“Where are you going to be this afternoon?” Jonathan asked Megan.
“Just off-site somewhere, probably at home. I need to get away from Cyberdyne for a little while so I can think clearly. Everything here is holding me back.”
Megan noticed Jonathan’s pinched features. Great, now she had hurt her assistant’s pride. “Jon, you know how I am. Sometimes I just need to be away from everything to break through a problem.” Megan turned to include Trish in the conversation. “If you two can get the coding finished, then tomorrow we can meet back here and really make some progress.”
Jonathan finally nodded. “Okay, I guess you’re right. Is Agent Branson going with you?”
Megan looked up and saw Sawyer walking toward them from the break room. “No, Agent Branson will definitely be staying here. Otherwise it will defeat the entire purpose.”
Trish nodded as if she totally understood what Megan was saying. Megan just grimaced. Another woman under Sawyer’s spell did not make Megan feel any better.
Jonathan gestured down to Megan’s briefcase. “Do you have everything you need? Do you want anything we were working on this morning? I can get it for you.”
“No, I think I’m okay. I’ve got the printouts and hard drive. That should be all I need. We’re close, you guys, I can feel it.”
Trish nodded. “I know. It feels good, doesn’t it? To actually make forward progress? It seemed like the fates have conspired against us the last few days.”
“Well, let’s hope that’s all behind us now.”
Sawyer stopped outside her office and tapped on the door. “Can I speak to you for a minute, Megan?”
“Yes.” Megan turned to Jonathan. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Trish, Jon. Okay? Thanks for your help.”
Both computer scientists nodded and left, already discussing the coding problem. Megan was thankful to have team members who were so dedicated to what they did.
“You’re really going to work somewhere else today?”
Megan began unbuttoning her lab coat. “Yes. Believe it or not, it happens. Sometimes I need to be in a different element in order to break through a problem. It’s just how my brain works.” She turned her back to him to slip off the coat.
“I’ll come with you.”
“No!” Megan took a deep breath and then spun back slowly to face Sawyer. “I mean, that’s not necessary. Thanks.” Megan could tell Sawyer was about to argue, so she continued, “Sawyer, thank you for the offer, but I really just need to be alone. Otherwise I won’t be able to get the work done.”
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to be off on your own.”
“I’m just going to my house, Sawyer. It’s a chance for me to get in multiple uninterrupted hours of work. If I’m here, there’s always someone who needs me for something or other distractions.” Megan couldn’t look at Sawyer’s face as she finished the sentence, so she turned to her desk and began grabbing her bags.
“Fine.” Megan was a little surprised to hear Sawyer say it. She thought she was going to have to present further arguments for why he couldn’t come with her. And to be honest she wasn’t sure what those arguments would be.
Sorry, Sawyer, you can’t come with me because whenever you’re around I can’t seem to focus on anything but how...yummy you look.
Sawyer had been nothing but polite and friendly to Megan over the past few days—just like he had been to everyone. This craziness was all in Megan’s head, not in his actions.
“Give me your phone,” Sawyer told her. “So I can put my number in it.”
Megan gave it to him and he continued, “If you have any issues, call me. Or if you decide to go anywhere but your house, let me know.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to stay here because there are a couple of concerns I want to look into.”
“About Ghost Shell?”
“Yes. But I’m not certain about anything yet, so don’t worry about it now. We’ll talk tomorrow when you get back. Right now the most important thing is that you get some real progress made with the countermeasure.”
Megan agreed. “I know. I work best alone.”
“That’s the main reason I’m letting you go alone. I know you don’t really like me around when you’re working, Megan. I annoy you. That’s fine.” Sawyer smiled and winked. “My manly ego can take it, I think.”
He thought she didn’t want him around because she didn’t like him? Obviously he couldn’t see how her pulse started racing