Good morning/afternoon/evening fellow romantics 😀

It’s hump day! Find those reading glasses and grab some coffee/tea/wine…

Hope you enjoy this excerpt of Part 3 ‘Questions’!

Sigrid

“This meeting, I’m not going to put up with any bullshit,” Louise told herself. She had spent the last hours beating herself up for letting her ex-girlfriend, Michelle, get under her skin. She wasn’t going to let it happen again.

Louise had arrived back at the office an hour ago after a quick trip home to pack. The briefing files had stated she had to bring civilian clothes. For now, Louise was still in uniform, though. Eleanor Lucas would be here in a few hours.

Which made Louise wonder: “Where the hell is everyone?” She looked around the empty conference room. This briefing should have started 10 minutes ago, but no one had joined her yet. She guessed she could use the time to study the files about the mission again.

Louise placed her elbows on the table. There were still a few things she didn’t understand after reading the intelligence report and mission briefing. She had made a list of questions and opened it on her terminal.

The most important question was about the source of this unexpected intelligence. Louise was a seasoned expert and experience had taught her a formal intelligence process was needed at all times.

The information in this report seemed to have the least reliable source: a human being. Witness statements could be useful, sure. But Louise always liked to see them backed up with data. And there wasn’t much of that in this file.

The only part of the report that seemed solid was the information on Eleanor Lucas. Louise had read those parts eyes wide. There was a lot there that no other Global Coalition team had ever been able to uncover. It made Louise suspect they had an informant in rebel territory.

The pictures of Lucas, especially, made Louise wonder how close the informant was to the rebel leader. Louise opened the images again and shook her head in disbelief. They had been taken surprisingly up close. Eleanor Lucas was talking and smiling in most of them.

The woman had charisma. That much was clear from every single shot. No wonder Lucas had won the election by a landslide, Louise thought. She zoomed in on Eleanor Lucas’s face. What was it that made her appearance so appealing?

“She doesn’t look like a terrorist,” Louise realized. The rebel leader had light brown hair with a curly twist here and there, and a friendly face with stunning grey eyes.

“Good morning.” The nasal voice made Louise look up from her screen with a frown.

A small muscular man was standing in the doorway of the briefing room. Everything about him was in perfect proportion. His short height left him just shy of being imposing, though.

“Come in,” Louise said. She would have preferred to address him by his name, but for some reason, no one had told her what it was. She squinted at his name tag in an attempt to find out.

“Second Lieutenant Hobbs,” he said much too casually and pulled back a chair. “I’m your partner on this mission. Let’s get started. We have a lot to discuss before Lucas gets here,” he said and put his terminal on the table.

Louise crossed her arms in surprise. Hobbs sure had a lot of attitude. “I have some questions first,” she said sternly.

See you back here on Saturday 😉