Goood morning/ afternoon/ evening,

Can’t believe it’s Wednesday already! You know what that means…

Looking forward to your comments 🙂

Sigrid

“Alright, we have a strong signal,” Hobbs said quietly.

Louise scanned the bushes and trees around them. They were at the transmission site again, about to send in their second report. It was another beautiful evening but she wasn’t going to let herself be distracted. “Good. Let’s get this thing going before we get interrupted.”

Hobbs looked over his shoulder at the building where Eleanor and Woodward were waiting. “Why are you so on edge tonight?”

“I think the guard noticed me sniffing around that room. That means they know too.” She nodded in the direction of the old observatory.

Hobbs pushed himself up and walked around the terminal and satellite dish. “Everything seemed normal on the way over here.”

Louise blew out a frustrated breath. “I’m telling you. That room was newly installed. It also happens to be just like ours at the army base. This can’t be a coincidence.”

Hobbs inspected the cable that connected the dish to their computer. “We put it in the report. We can’t do much more until we can prove there’s a pattern.”

Louise scratched her cheek. “I bet that room yesterday had new flooring too.”

Hobbs looked at her. “But you didn’t notice it at the time. We need to be sure.”

Louise grimaced. “I’m sure we’ll find more of the same tomorrow. They’re showing us exactly what we expect to see. That way, we don’t find out what’s different. There has to be another room somewhere. We need to find it.”

Hobbs pointed at the terminal. “Let’s see if we get any new instructions based on yesterday’s report. There could be information in there that can help us.”

Louise walked over to the computer. “Yeah, okay. Ready when you are.”

“Go ahead,” he said.

Sending their report to the teams back home only took a minute. Hobbs and Louise watched as a new download progress bar popped up on the screen immediately after.

“There we go,” Hobbs mumbled.

Louise’s throat grew tight. Had the teams found evidence of the death of Monique Biden? Or was it a ruse? And what about the destroyed roads back in the desert? Had that been a lie too? Was she about to find out she had been duped by Eleanor Lucas time and time again?

“That was fast,” Hobbs interrupted Louise’s thoughts.

She looked at the screen. The file with the instructions had already been downloaded. Hobbs leaned over and opened it. Louise immediately saw there wasn’t much in it.

“MB unconfirmed. Roads destroyed. Cause unclear. Proceed as planned,” the instructions said.

Louise didn’t know if she should be relieved or frustrated. “Well, that’s useful,” she mumbled sarcastically before she could stop herself.

Hobbs looked at her, his eyebrows raised. Louise ignored him. “Let’s get going,” she said, barely able to contain her temper.

He stared at her for another moment but then turned to start dismantling the satellite for the night.

Louise briefly closed her eyes before she shut down the terminal and put it in its case. “Focus, focus. You can’t afford to show things are getting to you,” she told herself.

Hobbs folded up the satellite. “Let’s go straight to our rooms when we get to the residence.”

Louise pursed her lips, holding the terminal case in her arms. She thought of the hurt look she had seen in Eleanor’s eyes a few hours earlier.

“Lucas likes you, you know,” Hobbs whispered out of the blue.

Louise almost dropped the terminal. “Excuse me?” she replied, barely managing to keep her voice steady.

Hobbs pushed himself up. “She kept looking at you in the rear view mirror on our way over here.”

Louise squeezed her arms around the case tightly. She hoped her cheeks didn’t look as flushed as they felt. Did Hobbs know what had almost happened between her and Eleanor this morning? Had he seen them in the woods?

“You didn’t notice?” he asked.

Louise almost said ‘No,’ but she knew he wouldn’t believe her. Of course, she had noticed. Eleanor had been anything but discreet. Her pleading eyes in the rearview mirror had been hard to resist, actually, despite Louise’s resolve to focus on her duties.

“Yeah, of course, I just didn’t think it was because she…,” Louise didn’t finish her sentence. She couldn’t quite bring herself to say the words ‘like me.’ She feared her expression would reveal how shy the thought made her.

Hobbs took a step closer. He glanced around before he whispered…

Oh oh…. Come back on Saturday for more 😉 Enjoyed this excerpt? Please do send some support! Your contributions make it possible for me to keep writing and producing this podcast. Thank you!