Page 6 of Charmed Forces

“Fingers, and I meant my target. Where did he... is he proposing?” I snapped away as Callum’s head bobbed above the table, swiftly followed by his extended hands and a velvet ring box. Louise clasped her hands over her mouth and I could imagine her excited squealing. Then she threw her arms around him and a moment later, the hovering waiter popped a champagne cork, and another server pressed glasses into their hands. Louise held up her hand, grinning at the patrons seated nearby. The other diners clapped and some congratulated them. “I think this is conclusive evidence they’re only into each other and not the company documents,” I said.

Lily snorted. “They may not be selling secrets but they’re definitely dipping into the company’s ink.”

“Gross.” I laid my camera across my lap while Lily passed over a card dish of gyoza. She popped open the soy container and I snagged a piece, dipped it, and chewed the savory morsel. “This investigation is over,” I decided.

“Oh, no.” Lily passed over a cucumber roll and I ate it happily. “Still, good outcome? No espionage. Happy couple. Maybe the firm will send them flowers?”

“Perhaps,” I said. “Maybe they’ll feel guilty when I turn in my report. Pass me another cucumber roll please.”

“Here,” said Lily, organizing the containers on her lap. “I kind of like this car picnic but if that guy’d proposed sooner, we could have eaten inside. We could have shared a table with Daniel and Maddox!”

“Just burst in, like we didn’t know they were there?” I asked. “And invite ourselves to sit at their table?”

“If I hadn’t seen them and told you, we wouldn’t have known about their little tete-a-tete. Too late now,” she added with a shrug as she made happy noises about the food.

“And you didn’t hear anything?” I pressed.

“Not a thing. But our order was called and I didn’t want to keep you waiting.”

“I would have been okay with waiting.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t anything interesting. Two straight guys, hanging out, eating sushi, drinking beer.”

“I’m going to find out,” I said, crossly chomping on a piece of dragon roll.

“Should I come? Are we going to say hi?”

“No, I don’t want them to think we’re following them. I’m just going to step inside, get some chopsticks and inconspicuously try and overhear something.”

“You’re so suspicious. Make sure to pay attention and report directly back to me.”

“Save me some sushi,” I said, but I was already halfway out of the car and a truck passed by at that moment so I wasn’t sure if Lily even heard me. I jogged across the road and pulled open the sliding glass door, stepping into a lobby clad in warm wood, with the restaurant partitioned by a folding bamboo screen. No one stood behind the hostess desk so I bypassed it and peered through the screen. I spotted Daniel and Maddox on my second pass of the restaurant, seated three tables over from the hostess desk. A series of potted bamboos lay between us, blocking me from the tables as I stood next to the wall.

With both men being dark-haired, tall, and having good physiques, they attracted attention from a nearby party of four women who kept glancing over, and clearly talking about them. Not that my brother nor my ex seemed to notice.

Daniel was talking and Maddox nodded along. Then Daniel paused to drink his beer before continuing. I narrowed my eyes, wondering what they were so engrossed in discussing. While Maddox and my brothers all served together at the Montgomery Police Department, Maddox left some time ago to start a new career as a Special Agent for the FBI. Although they’d known each other professionally, and liked each other, I never got the impression that they socialized together. Well, not beyond Maddox’s regular invitation to my parents’ family dinners, something that started when we were dating and only increased when we stopped.

I squeezed between the wall and the planters, finding just enough space so long as I kept my back to the wall. Edging past the first bamboo planter, then the second, I paused at the third, which was closest to their table. Their voices were audible but muffled and I could only make out a few words over the restaurant’s piped tranquil sounds. When Maddox pulled out his phone, showing something to Daniel on the screen, I leaned closer, desperate to know what they were talking about. Just one more step to the right and I could probably hear everything. I crab-shuffled to the right, leaned in and...crack!The bamboo gave way!

I stumbled headlong, my knees catching on the edge of the planter, pitching me forwards so that I landed halfway in the plant pot, my forearms on the floor and my feet against the wall.

All the dining chatter stopped.

A server paused mid-stride just feet away.

I looked up, wincing, into my brother’s eyes... and then into Maddox’s.

“Dragon roll?” said Maddox, leaning down and holding out a roll to my lips.

“I only need a pair of chopsticks,” I said, before resting my head on the floor, hoping it would swallow me whole.

Chapter Two

I typed the last few lines of my report then clicked “print” and settled back in my chair, waiting for the machine to spew out the papers. While it printed, I sorted through a few choice photos that I’d already printed and added a small, plastic USB to the file.

Whether my client would be happy or not with the report was something I couldn’t quite decide. While I hadn’t proved corporate espionage, I did offer a compelling explanation for why the two employees were spending so much time together. If my client was sensible, he would wait until the end of the week for the couple to announce their engagement, and, if I were right, the couple would receive a lovely gift from the firm and remain blissfully in the dark about being the prime subjects of the investigation. Part of me thought that was a shame. They might have liked the photos I took of his proposal.

The last of the papers popped into the tray so I walked over to retrieve them. I slid them into the folder just as my phone rang.

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