The Power of Love by Serena Akeroyd Page B

Graves gave up at the third drawer and finally studied the wall of bookcases.
    “He knows about the wall safe.”
    “Not necessarily, Josh. Those old books scream safe-hider.”
    “Is that a word?” he asked, deadpan, as Graves started to tug down books like they were going to open a secret passageway.
    “No, but it’s the truth.”
    “Maybe.”
    “Either way, it doesn’t look like he got away with much.”
    “No. Good.” Satisfaction laced his tone as Graves’s faintly shadowed face grew darker as he prowled around the room, eventually leaving with a small backward glance. “You checked the footage in here, didn’t you? Did he try to get into your computer?”
    “I checked. He wasn’t interested in my desk. At all.”
    “Foolish man,” Josh teased. “Burn the footage onto a disk drive, then lock this baby up.” He patted the laptop’s keyboard fondly. Not even Jarvis knew what was on here. He’d only seen some of what Dana had found and uploaded onto this computer, which only a handful of people were aware existed. That was thanks to the source of the information found on here.
    Drones would, in time, make foot soldiers obsolete. That would save countless lives as well as take away a lot of pay from good men, but what Dana had found in the drone’s system when she’d gone hunting for information made him grateful the army was slowly introducing them overseas.
    “Okay. You want me to do anything else?”
    “No. Leave it to me.” He nodded at her, took a final look at Graves as the other man left his office in the footage, and got to his feet. “Oh, where’s the information on this guy?”
    She reached for some printouts on the desk and handed them to him.
    “Thanks. Get on with whatever you’re doing. I’ll call you if I need anything else.”
    “Okay, Josh.”
    “What happened to sir?” he teased, pausing to grin at her before he retreated to his office.
    She waved a dismissive hand and grinned back. “I’ve had enough practice for today.”
    Josh chuckled and headed to his desk. After taking a seat, he studied the printouts, reading down the intruder’s file.
    Honorable discharge. Valued soldier, decorated, several times.
    When he glanced over the man’s education at West Point, he realized there was a year’s gap. The four-year course had taken five, close to eighteen months longer than it ought to have done.
    “Dana,” he hollered.
    Her chair squeaked, and a few seconds later, she asked, “You rang?”
    “What’s this here?” he demanded.
    “What’s what?”
    “At West Point. It takes four years to graduate. Not five and a half. Find out what happened in those eighteen months.”
    “Someone in his family might have died—they might have extended him compassionate leave.”
    Josh grunted at that. “Yeah, right. That place is as competitive as hell. They’re training leaders, not grief counselors. If they were so kind, it wouldn’t be for such a long time. Find out what happened. It might be nothing. See if Harrison has the same blip on his record.”
    She immediately disappeared, only to call out a few seconds later, “Yeah, he does.”
    Josh’s eyes narrowed into slits, but his grin was wider than the Cheshire cat’s.
    “Gotcha.”

Chapter Six
    The sun beating down on his head was about ten degrees above average for this time of year.
    Out on the fields, it should have been windy and a little damp. Instead, it felt as hot as the sandbox he’d left nearly two months ago.
    Reaching for the bottle of water his ma had passed him a while back, he slugged down a mouthful before bending over and getting on with the sowing.
    Thanks to the area’s ambient temperatures, his parents took advantage of the mild weather to grow a few of the more hardy specimens on their books.
    They farmed a variety of crops, mostly because his father had always had a desire to play the gentleman farmer—not a one of his kids knew why, and if their mother did, she’d never let on—but also,