for one thing, I’m bringing Ghost Shell back to you, not the other way around. But also, there’s a whole department involved this time. Not just one person. A lot more accountability that way.”
Megan stared at him for a long moment. “I guess so. Fred McNeil always seemed to want to keep things so quiet and just between us. Now I know why.” Megan shuddered. “He was so smarmy. I should’ve known better.”
“We’re working around-the-clock to find McNeil and Ghost Shell before it can be developed more fully.”
“What exactly do you want from us here at Cyberdyne?”
“We need you to finish the countermeasure decryption system you were working on before.”
Megan shook her head and sat back down at the table. “I explained to whoever I talked to a couple of days ago that I can’t do it without Ghost Shell. That’s why I stopped working on it months ago.”
“I have the first version of Ghost Shell with me. I know you will need this version to create the countermeasure so we can stop McNeil once he gets his version of Ghost Shell up and running.”
“You have Ghost Shell here, unguarded?” Megan stood back up. “Then we need to get that drive into the vault right away. It’s too valuable, too dangerous for you to just be casually carrying it around.”
Sawyer tried not to be offended. “I think I’m capable of guarding a software system for a few hours, Dr. Fuller.”
It looked as if Megan would argue the point further, but then decided to let it go. “Fine. But you’ll have to excuse me for not having too much faith in FBI agents at the current moment. And, honestly, why shouldn’t I just wash my hands of this entire thing? My team and I did our job right. It’s you guys who messed things up.”
Sawyer took a breath. He needed to convince Megan to help them. Because if she decided she’d already done her part, and that law enforcement were on their own, Omega’s job was about to become a lot harder.
Sawyer looked at Megan, who was standing beside her desk, lips pressed into a white slash, posture rigid. He couldn’t blame her for how she was feeling.
But they needed her help, and right now it didn’t look as though she was very interested in giving it.
Sawyer knew his colleagues considered him to be the charming Branson brother; they teased him about it all the time back at Omega. People—and okay, he could admit it, women especially—responded to him. It was a gift, and Sawyer had used it to his advantage multiple times in different operations. It made undercover work a natural fit—who didn’t want to like the guy with the easy smile and quick joke? But his easy smile didn’t seem to be getting him anywhere in this conversation, not since the ice doctor had appeared.
It was amazing how different this controlled woman was from the pretty librarian-type he’d talked to at the desk. The woman at the desk Sawyer would’ve known how to reach, even with her shyness. Yet this woman didn’t seem to see him as a man—hell, even as a person—at all. But he had to try to get her cooperation.
“You’re right, the FBI has messed things up.” Sawyer smiled and held a hand out to her in a gesture for her to sit back down. Standing up and towering over her wasn’t the way to make her feel more comfortable. “And Fred McNeil fooled a lot of people, not just you.”
Sawyer noticed Megan’s posture slump slightly. Evidently McNeil’s ability to fool her weighed more heavily on Megan than she wanted to admit.
Sawyer continued, “I don’t have to tell you how important it is that Ghost Shell not fall into the hands of terrorists. You’re the one who came to us with the problem because you could see the catastrophic damage Ghost Shell was capable of. Without you, law enforcement would have no idea of the potential threat they were up against.”
He reached out and touched her hand that rested on the table. “Thank you for coming forward. I’m pretty sure nobody has said that to you, but somebody should have.”
For a moment, looking into her big brown eyes, Sawyer saw Megan, not the cold Dr. Fuller. Sawyer realized maybe it had been him not seeing her as a person, not vice versa. Dr. Fuller and Megan were one and the same; he needed to remember that. Sawyer squeezed her hand in a friendly manner, then let her go.
“You’re good at what you do,” Megan said after a moment.
“And what’s that?”
“Manipulating people.”
Sawyer shook his head. “I know it seems that way, but I’m not trying to manipulate you, I promise. Everything I’ve said so far has been the absolute truth.”
She looked at him with one eyebrow raised, but seemed to have lost a little of her coldness, so Sawyer continued, “But don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely asking you for something. We need your help. We’ve got to have a way to stop Ghost Shell when DS-13 goes to sell their version on the black market. You are our best hope for that.”
Megan sighed, resignation clear in her eyes. “All right, Agent Branson. Whether you’re trying to deliberately manipulate me or not, I guess you’re going to get what you want. I’ll get the Ghost Shell countermeasure finished as soon as possible.” Megan stood up again and wiped an imaginary piece of lint off her lab coat. “But I’m not doing it for you. I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do. I just hope you guys don’t screw it up again.”
* * *
“I’LL MAKE YOU a deal. You get the Ghost Shell countermeasure completed and I will personally make sure nobody on my end of things screws it up.” Agent Branson had such utter confidence in his voice that Megan couldn’t help but believe him.
Megan couldn’t sit there and say she wasn’t affected by Agent Branson. But it wasn’t as if he was trying to talk her into going out with him; he was trying to get Megan to do something she was already willing to do.
Not that she wasn’t willing to go out with him.
But not that he was asking.
Megan had to get herself under control. Him asking or not asking her out was not the issue here. Ghost Shell and saving the world was. Focus. Be professional.
“So should I announce the change in projects to everyone?”
Agent Branson shook his head. “No, we want to keep this to as few people as possible.”
Megan nodded. That was probably best. Although she trusted everyone who worked in the R & D department, the fewer people who knew about all this, the better. “Okay, just my inner team then. That’s seven people including me and Jonathan Bushman, my assistant, whom you met.”
“That sounds good.”
“Great. So I guess I’ll call you in a couple of weeks when we have the countermeasure completed.” Megan stuck out her hand to shake his. The sooner she got him out of her office, the sooner she could focus on other things. Any other thing besides his presence here.
“Actually, I’ll be staying here for a while if that’s okay.”
“For the meeting with the team? That’s probably a good idea.” Her inner team rarely needed to be
