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[12] Interlopers
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Engrossed in unraveling a particularly complicated exception occurring in the security protections for medical records, Teri startled when the text alert chimed on her phone, her fingers accidentally adding keystrokes in her code. Glancing at the time as she reached for the device, she sighed, exhausted. It was nearly noon.
Hey Gorgeous. Can I escort you to your car?
Teri smiled, breathing a sigh of relief. You’re back? Did you find her?
Let me take you home. I’ll meet you at the front entrance.
Sure. Be just a few.
Teri gathered her things gratefully. Jim had left her place just after one that morning so she’d been at the hospital nearly twelve hours on only a couple hours of sleep and a bit of sweetened coffee. At least she’d been indoors, in a comfortable office. She couldn&rsquo
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Antiquarian's Precious Find [13] Anthropological Observations
The water was cooler than Teri preferred, and the heat gradient between it and Jim’s hands raised tingling gooseflesh all over her and pebbled her nipples, both of which he noticed immediately. His eyes followed where his hands roamed, the continuous migration of contrasting temperature and slippery caresses soothing and rousing at the same time. Except, she thought, there’s nothing soothing about being at most inches away from Jim’s chiseled body when he’s wearing that ravenous expression.Heart racing already, she closed her eyes, her fingers extended like antennae, taking in only what she could of his intention by touch. The smell of soap—a clean, almost masculine blend of hot metal and rum—drifted around her, suffusing the shower’s mist, as Jim smeared the cleansing suds over himself and her, lingering where it fascinated him to. He lathered her arms and hands, lacing his fingers through hers an
Antiquarian's Precious Find [14] Context for Cut and Fill
Waking much later to a noisy preview on the TV, the unique fish movie long since over, Jim startled, his body locking and his head jerking up. Glancing about the darkened room, he saw Zoe in the tent, curled around the dog on her sleeping bag, murmuring in her sleep. Locating the remote, he turned the TV off, plunging the room into darkness until his eyes had time to adjust.“Are you alright?” Teri’s disembodied voice whispered breathily across his neck. Resting calmly on his chest, her head on his shoulder, she lay still, but had awakened before him by the TV’s noise. Reassured, Teri settled against his chest, sighing drowsily.As his eyes adjusted, Jim nuzzled her hair. The exhaustion headache he’d had earlier abated with food and sleep and would be gone completely when he woke again. But he didn’t want to sleep. “I’m okay.” He longed to scoop Teri up and carry her to the bedroom, cover her slowly with kisses and
Antiquarian's Precious Find [15] Matching Pieces
Off-roading was an adventure Teri hadn’t experienced before. At least not of this caliber.The Jeep bucked and skidded, gripping the maintained but primitive road and kicking up a dusty crimson cockscomb behind them where the loose soil congregated. Jim knew the winding trails well and selected the one that had Zoe squealing with thrilled delight bouncing in the backseat and Teri panting to catch her breath when he stopped them to admire the views along the rim.From the mesa top, Moab nestled in an amphitheater of rubicund rock, but the city was nothing compared to the spectacular vistas. Like the indescribable spectacle from the plane, here the sky stretched out towards the horizon as far as the eye could see, hung on the lofty spires of deep purple mountains in the distance. Puffy sunlight-kissed clouds cast shadows along the canyon bottom and were reflected perfectly in the blue ribbon of the river snaking its w
Antiquarian's Precious Find [16] Analytical Errors
With Independence Day in the rearview mirror and the tenuous relationship between she and Jim growing more comfortable with each passing day, Teri’s internal conflict was reaching critical mass. No matter how much she reminded herself this was a temporary assignment like any other temporary assignment, she knew her thinking was getting turned around and Jim was inserting himself like a cactus barb, deeper and deeper into their lives.Through subtle hints and even subtler actions, Jim kept open the doors Teri tried to close. It was already his habit to go mountain biking in the morning, and without her asking, he tailored that to fit her morning runs with Evie, making certain first that Zoe was either safely at camp or at the Allreds playing with Beth.To Mark’s amusement and her further consternation, Jim appeared almost daily at the hospital to collect her for lunch, and if he left early from the museum
Antiquarian's Precious Find [17] Rosetta Stone
“We’re home, Evie.” Teri sighed with relief, parking beside her RV, but in the passenger seat, the dog looked less than excited. Getting out, she came around to the Meep’s opposite side and let her pet out of the car. “Turncoat. We have squirrels at home.”While Evie wandered the landscaping on their spot, Teri plugged the Meep in to charge. Unlocking the RV door, she shoved her work bag and laptop on the kitchen counter, then placed her phone in airplane mode, leaving it beside her sleeping computer. At least there’d be no more anxiety about it, she thought, no more drama. Zoe would be home tomorrow afternoon and by mid-week, we’ll be leaving this ridiculous mess I’ve gotten us into behind us.She felt a pang of guilt for not saying good-bye to Mark or Carla, but she’d deal with that later—Mark at least she could email and apologize to—and it w
Antiquarian's Precious Find [18] Historic Recurrence
A broad grin spread over Jim’s face at her trembling words. Mine. The bright beautiful little girl, the sweet spirited Zoe, the only daughter of the one woman he loved, she was his daughter too. With a hushed sigh, he wrapped Teri in a tender hug, kissing the top of her head.For a moment, only the hiccupping sounds of Teri’s relieved sobs surrounded them. Then, outside, Evie began to bark frantically, an instant later yipping in pain.In a fluffy tan blur, the riled dog dashed up the stairs into the RV and under the table at Teri and Jim’s feet, rounding to continue to growl towards the open door.“Evie?” Teri glanced at her under the table. “What on earth? Zoe?” But there was no answer to her mother’s call. The fine hairs at the back of her neck rose. “Something’s wrong! Jim—.”Before he could
Antiquarian's Precious Find [19] Dicipherment
It was late evening when Jim was released, his story corroborated by Teri’s, the laptop, and other evidence. Exhausted but free and without any charges filed against him, he wrapped his arms around Teri as soon as he saw her awaiting him in the sheriff’s station lobby. “How did you do that?” he breathed into her hair, drawing peace and comfort from the familiar floral scent there.“The first rule of overseeing deployments that people actually use is don’t do anything that will impinge on the service’s availability. Ever.” Her hazel eyes scanned his face for comprehension.“I use a test environment to check all my coding before I deploy to a production or live environment. I create a copy that mimics the live system and tracks my changes.” Teri shrugged. “The test environment was already launched on my laptop. That was the last thing I’d
Antiquarian's Precious Find [20] New Layers of the Tel
“So this is it?” Jim glanced from the road to Teri in the passenger seat, then back. The trip to Coeur D’Alene would take about fifteen hours driving. Though they’d left that morning, Teri had driven until they’d stopped for lunch, and after he’d taken over for about an hour, he found himself marginally disappointed. “This is RVing?”Teri’s eyes squeezed shut with her laughter. “It’s just driving, even if it is a big bus-like thing. I can put the radio on if you need a little excitement. What’d you think it was going to be?”Across from her, Jim grinned at her snarky reply. “I don’t know. I didn’t have a basis for comparison.” He glanced in the rearview mirror through the length of the vehicle. “I guess it’s nice not to have to sleep in a bag on the ground. Or put the tent up in lousy weather.”
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Antiquarian's Precious Find [1] Trojan Horse
Soon to come from a new story, In Our Midst:Marcus opened the door to the River Oaks apartment he shared with his girlfriend to discover her pacing slowly before the floor to ceiling living room windows, her cellphone pressed to her ear. Beside him, the apartment’s security system beeped a warning, announcing his return, and she glanced over at him, flashing a heart-stopping smile.Closing the door, he silenced the alert, and tossed his keys onto the granite top kitchen island beside an old cardboard storage box with a lopsided pile of papers tipping towards the floor on the other. Miria had brought work home again.Straightening the stack of manilla folders and legal pads next to the box, tucking in misaligned pages and unfolding creases, Marcus waited as she finished her conversation.“No. I’m not getting in the middle of this.”
Antiquarian's Precious Find [30] Providence
“We need shelter.” Crouching next to Jim with Teri clutched against his chest, Marcus glanced around, then contacted Frank Shepard. “This is Agent Leigh,” he shouted over the whining wind. “I’ve recovered Teri Munro.”Above the noise, Shepard replied, “Where’s Johansen, Marcus?”“Dead. He fell over a cliff at my current coordinates. I’ll give you the details later. How far are we from an extraction point?”Hearing that question, Jim lifted his head, alert for the answer.“Mile and a half. As the crow flies,” Shepard’s garbling voice grated over the radio. “It’s the closest we can get a vehicle.”“Not in this.” Jim shook his head. “None of us are dressed for it. Tell h
Antiquarian's Precious Find [29] Hunted
Nick had considered himself fit and healthy, but this was a supreme physical effort for which he was unprepared. Besides that he’d been up nearly twenty-four hours straight in preparation for snatching her, lugging even Teri’s petite body over his shoulders for miles and juggling two backpacks and the shotgun was making it difficult to manage passage on the rough terrain. Especially without leaving much of a discernable trail.Plus, he still had another miserable mile to go just to reach the canyon’s end. Though the climb out was traversable, it was still over steeply sloping topography, slippery with loose rock, pebbles and sand. Over such treacherous ground, he’d be unable to carry the unconscious woman. Since there was absolutely no way he was leaving his prize behind, the sooner Teri woke the better.He’d seen Erikson attempt to land the small aircraft and have to take off again, bu
Antiquarian's Precious Find [28] Crosshairs
Jim had hoped to be home before Teri left for work, but the location of one of the undocumented sites had been mapped for them incorrectly by the reporting individual. Unwilling to chance when there’d next be a break in the weather, he’d spent several frustrating minutes searching from the air, circling at decreasing elevations around the given landmark before he’d spotted it.Making a wide circle, he angled the plane northeast towards Moab and the airport, his thoughts wandering. It needled him, what Teri’d done, setting up her own defenses above and beyond what the FBI had. Okay, so it wasn’t that she’d felt she’d needed to, even if that did mean neither of them had much faith in the FBI and other local authorities, he acknowledged mentally. It wasn’t even that she hadn’t told him.It wasn’t any of that.She’d designed her a
Antiquarian's Precious Find [27] Fox and Hounds
Oh, sweet submissive Teri! Nick almost groaned aloud.Timid as a hare, she shambled towards him with hesitant steps, much to his delight, her slim hand still clutching her phone, holding it like a magical weapon between them, her face drawn in a frightened grimace. When she was close enough to grab, he snatched the device, tossing it towards the lifeless contractors.With another trembling whimper, she tried to bolt away, and thrilled with how perfectly Teri fed him his every desire, he gave chase. Through he tripped over the dog doing it, Nick caught her by the slim ankle, bringing her crashing to the ground with a hard whump and pained cry.Releasing the shotgun to catch at her with both hands, he half-dragged half-crawled up her petite body, pressing his crushing weight down on her and pinning her scrambling hands behind her neck.“Attempt to do that again and I’ll kill the next person I see. Do you understand?” he snarled at her ear and beneath him her delicate body trembled fierce
Antiquarian's Precious Find [26] Concoctions
Good morning, Gorgeous.”Jim leaned over Teri and kissed her temple sweetly, dropping a handful of Estelle’s magic morning sickness candy cures on the bedside table where she could reach them and she sighed gratefully. “Good morning. And thank you.”Reaching for one, she unwrapped and popped it into her mouth, eager to have done with the nausea.“I’m walking Zoe over to Patrick and Abby’s. Abby’s going to take her to school with Beth.”Rolling to her back, Teri stared up at him. “What did our oh-so pleasant escort have to say about that?”Shoving his hands in his jean pockets, Jim shrugged, wearing a lopsided grin. “Not much. They were less pleased to find out I’m going out to the airfield.”Teri’s brows lifted inquiringly, promp
Antiquarian's Precious Find [25] Machinations
They think they’re so smart.Nick’s steely gaze followed the bulky figure of an undercover agent from behind a newspaper as the man left the window bar of the coffee house where he’d been idly staring at his phone and picked up his order at the counter.Three cups in the drink carrier for the second day in a row. That answers that question, he thought, shifting in his seat so he could confirm the license tag on the agent’s vehicle as the man entered it. It was the same as the one he’d seen follow Teri’s white SUV from the hospital to Erickson’s house the afternoon he’d returned to Moab and happened upon her there.His gaze flicked to the coffee house employees behind the counter, recognizing one immediately. The assistant manager, a twenty-something stoner he’d treated more than once in the ER for mountain biking and skiing injuries, the
Antiquarian's Precious Find [24] Prey
It took maybe quarter of an hour and two of the tart hard candies, but Teri did feel better. Significantly better than she had in the previous few days and with any of the other morning sickness remedies she’d tried.That Estelle. She’s a wonder, she mused. Still, Teri eased herself first to a sitting position, then to her feet in slow increments.Overnight the mercury had plummeted into the forties, and she shivered padding across the rug-strewn floor to the closet for her terrycloth robe, insulating her body heat against escape, then, chaffing at her arms to increase the warmth and circulation, slid her feet into slippers. The house seemed unnaturally quiet with everyone gone but her, though that would be short lived. Jim would be home long before and by ten, the two-man construction crew would arrive to continue work on the basement and things would get noisy again.Fortunatel
Antiquarian's Precious Find [23] Predator (**trigger warning--rape mentality**)
Lay on your left side. Lay on your right side. Ginger. Lemon. Watermelon. Dry biscuits. Peppermint. Magnesium supplements. Gah! None of it works. Why does none of it work? Teri moaned to herself, trying to lie still, breathe, and not vomit. Morning sickness had been nowhere near as ferocious with Zoe as it was now.Or maybe it had. Maybe she’d been so relieved escaping everything else happening in her life with Zoe she hadn’t noticed how bad the morning sickness was. She couldn’t imagine how she’d missed it, but obviously her life had been filled with stranger things at the time.“Mama?” Zoe whispered from the door. “Are you awake?”“Yes, kiddo. Come over here, please.”“Gently,” Jim cautioned as both he and Zoe came around the bed into view. Taking a seat on the edge of the bed beside T
