Page 104 of Agent's Integrity

“You have no idea how glad I am to see you.” Jordan ran a hand through his blond hair, ruffling it a little. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” Julia seemed more relaxed than I had ever seen her. “I’m glad to be back. How are you feeling? How’s your head?”

Jordan shrugged. “Fine. Minor headache now. That’s it. The doctor took good care of it. Speaking of doctor, have you been checked yet?”

“No.” She made a face. “I was hoping to avoid it.”

“It’s IPF procedure when an agent has been kidnapped. You have to get checked out.” Jordan shrugged. “It’s protocol.”

“Fine.” She turned and motioned to me. “This is Ethan West. It’s a long story, but he saved my life. Ethan, this is my sister, Alexi Carter, and my partner, Jordan Blaze.”

I shook hands with both in turn, trying to ignore their curious looks. I knew the questions would come eventually, but that didn’t mean I wanted to start the interrogation right away. “Nice to meet you both.”

“Same.” Jordan looked back at Julia. “What happened out there?”

Julia and I had spent most of the trip to Viridis coming up with an edited and less illegal version of events to share with IPF. I could tell it pained her to have to lie about the things that happened, but we both knew that we needed to. There was no way she could bring up Emerson without admitting that he was a mercenary, and there’s no way we could admit to helping Lyle Archuleta retrieve stolen merchandise. Adjustments had to be made.

“We’ll get there.” Julia turned and gave my forearm a quick squeeze. “I’m going to run down to medical and get checked out. Shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes. Jordan and Alexi will find you a place to wait.”

I nodded. I didn’t want to be separated from her in an environment like this, but I would manage. I wasn’t there because I was a criminal, and therefore I had nothing to worry about. At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.

Julia gave Alexi one more hug before turning and heading back towards the lift. “Go easy on him, you two.”

Once she was out of sight Jordan motioned down the hallway. “Let’s wait in the office.”

He led the way down the hall and into a moderately large office. A couch ran along the right wall in front of the door, and two chairs sat in the middle of the room facing a desk which took up the left side of the room. A lone filing cabinet sat in the back corner, though it looked incredibly dusty.

Alexi went and immediately plopped down on the couch. Jordan turned one of the chairs to face her, so I took the other chair and did the same. I could feel Jordan’s eyes on me the entire time, as though he was studying me.

“So, who are you?” Alexi’s question was blunt, but it didn’t bother me.

“Ethan West. I work for Centric Enterprises, a data collection company. I’m a climatologist. I monitor major meteorological events and study the changes those events make to the topography and climate of the designated areas. My company then sells that data to cartographic companies.”

Alexi blinked. “Meteorological events?”

I realized instantly that my terminology was foreign to her. “Storms,” I supplied. “I chase storms. Study the weather. Note the impact the weather has on the surroundings.”

“Oh.” I couldn’t tell if she was impressed or bored. Most people got bored when I started talking about what I did for work. Though I couldn’t say I spent much time talking to people in general.

“So how did you and Julia meet?” Jordan interjected.

“I was working on Cadium, studying a category eight storm, when I spotted these men dragging Julia out from a ship.” My eyes went to Alexi. I didn’t want to scare her too much with the details. “I helped her get free from them. They then proceeded to hunt us down, and they tried to kill us both.”

Alexi gasped quietly, and I flinched.So much for not scaring her.

Jordan frowned, obviously concerned about his partner. “You were her means off Cadium.”

“Yes.” It wasn’t a question, but I treated it like one anyway.

“How did you get off Esmuna?”

It was a question that had probably been bugging him since Julia had contacted him. Both of us had agreed she should tell him what happened privately. Jordan would get the truth eventually, but it shouldn’t come from me.

“Julia wants to tell you when she comes back.”

Jordan opened his mouth to say something when there was a sharp rap at the door. “Agent Blaze?”

“Come in, Abbott.”

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