“And I’m supposed to make it all possible by keeping them safe so that they can go on driving us nuts.”
“No, Hatcher,” she leaned forward and stared into his eyes, “your job is to help direct and lead us. Nobody expects you to keep everybody safe from every contingency. We’d all end up in hamster balls so that nobody could catch a cold or get a cut or…there’s just no way to do what you’re trying to do.”
Hatcher sighed and nodded. “I know.”
“So stop playing the nanny and start living. Find a special somebody…and, you know, settle down.” She grinned at him. “I have.”
“I don’t want to hear about it.” He held a hand up to stop her. “Seriously. Take my booze, just keep the sordid details to yourself.”
Candy laughed as she reached for the door. “You might learn a thing or two if you actually paid attention.” She wagged her brows at him. “Roger has talents, ya know.”
“Lalalalalala” He held his hands over his ears.
Candy laughed and stepped out of the office.
“Nice song there, boss man.” Hatcher looked up to find Cooper standing in the other doorway.
“What do you need?”
“Squirrel is…I mean, Roger is going after some lumber. We’ve got most of the other security details taken care of. There’s a couple of guys working on moving the cameras to the wall, but…”
“But?”
“I thought maybe I’d give Squir…ROGER a hand with the lumber run.”
Hatcher shrugged. “You don’t need to check in with me. If you want to help, go.”
Cooper gave him a confused stare. “You aren’t keeping track of people who come and go?”
Hatcher shrugged again. “Why should I?”
“Well, it just seems to me that if you aren’t keeping tabs on folks, you wouldn’t know if somebody was late getting back. Maybe they run into trouble?” He shook his head slowly. “Maybe somebody we don’t know just walks in off the street…”
“I think we’d recognize a stranger.”
Dave leaned against the doorjamb. “Really?” He pointed across the lobby at a heavy set woman pushing a cart. “Who is she?”
Hatcher glanced at the woman and shook his head. “No idea.”
“My point.” He pushed off the wall and gave him a tight-lipped smile. “Just something to think about.”
Hatcher groaned as the grey headed man pushed out of the front door. “You mean one more thing to worry about…”
Kevin pushed open the lab door and paused. “How early did you two start?” He stared around the lab, already put together and narrowing his eyes at the pair. “You stayed here all night, didn’t you?”
Carol shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep. New place and all.”
“I had ideas that I needed to get put down before I lost them,” Broussard replied his attention on the files in front of him.
“You two are so full of shit.” He slammed the door behind him and fumed. “You just wanted me gone.”
Carol looked up at him, surprised. “Seriously? Why would we want to get rid of you?”
“Because. I’m not one of the ‘cool kids.’” Kevin sounded almost whiney.
She stared at him, open mouthed. “One of the…?”
The door to the lab opened, interrupting her. The ship’s yeoman stepped into the lab, clinging to his precious clipboard. “I was told you wished to speak with me.”
Carol pushed away from the table and gave him an award winning smile. “Yes, I just wanted to thank you for all of the effort it must have taken to make the new lab possible for us.”
He held up a hand. “No need. Captain’s orders.”
“I see.” She nodded to Broussard who casually worked his way behind the small sailor. “Still, it must have been a huge effort on your part to make it all happen. I just wanted to thank you.”
“You are most welcome. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have—”
“Actually,” she began, interrupting him. “I do have some questions that I think you can help me with.”
He stiffened slightly. “If I can.”
“When can we expect our coworkers to arrive and return to work?”
He shook his head slightly, his eyes widening. “I don’t understand.”
“Well, you see, there were four?” She glanced at Broussard who shrugged. “Perhaps five other researchers who worked in our lab on the Kauffman. I’m sorry I can’t be sure because we often worked different shifts, but I’m certain they survived because they were all on lockdown when Dr. LaRue went on her killing spree.” She stepped closer and gave him her best smile. “I’m just curious when we can expect them back?”
“I don’t know anything about your friends.” He swallowed hard and nodded to her. “If that’s all, I must be going.” He turned quickly and practically ran into Dr. Broussard. He looked up at the much taller man and gave him a weak smile. “Duty calls, ya know.”
Broussard shook his head. “Answer the nice lady.”
The yeoman sighed heavily and turned around, facing her. “I’m sorry, but I honestly don’t know where they went. I know that different people were farmed out to different ships.”
“Why separate our team, though? Our work builds off each other.”
“I told you, I don’t know. I don’t make those decisions.”
Carol nodded, her smile fading. “Then perhaps you could find out.”
“I don’t answer to you.”
“Actually, if you and your people want a cure, you do. You need us to do our jobs and we want to know where our people went.” She reached out and straightened the collar on his BDU uniform. “I think that’s a fair trade, don’t you?”
“But that stuff’s so far above my pay grade that there’s no way I could—”
“I’m certain that somebody as bright as you can figure out a way to peek inside a classified file or open a computer document and just find out where they went and why…can’t you?”
The yeoman sighed and gave her a weary look. “No promises,” he glanced behind him to Broussard, “but
