“I do have one question before I have to grovel.”
“Go ahead.”
“How did you know I was in the bathroom?”
Humor lit his gaze. “I smelled you.”
I blinked. “That’s not funny. I don’t stink.”
He grinned. “No, you don’t.”
“Then how?”
“I already answered you.”
“You’re going to stick with that?” My voice was dry.
“I guess I am.”
I sighed and walked out the glass door.
That man was in a league of his own.
It was time to pray Major Wilcox didn’t boot me.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“I know,” I stated in a soft tone. “I am so sorry. But when Mr. King came in the building, I lost you guys in the crowd. One minute you were there, the next you weren’t.”
Major Wilcox glared down at me, her hands on her hips next to her swords. “And it took you this long to find us?”
“It’s a big building,” I explained.
She hadn’t been on the sixteenth floor when I arrived there. The halls had been dark; only tiny emergency lighting lit the hallways. I had to search the place based on where I believed the instructors would take candidates on a tour. I was lucky to find them on my first shot—the history section where they were learning all about how Godric had first formed the corporations after the final war.
The major still glared.
I shoved my shoulders back. “I found you fast.”
And I had. I was proud of myself.
Her tone turned dry. “You shouldn’t have lost us in the first place, Ms. Carvene.” Her dark eyes peered heavenward, and she sighed with resignation. “Mr. King can have that effect on people. You aren’t the first person to have been star struck when seeing him for the first time. There was this one time two trains ran into one another when a guy crossed the street right between them, all to get Mr. King’s autograph.”
My lips trembled. “Seriously?”
She snorted. “There are more ridiculous stories.”
I held up a quick finger. “For the record, I wasn’t star struck. I just got shoved back really far in the crowd.” I shrugged my right shoulder. “I didn’t think it would be appropriate to start fighting King Corporation employees at that moment. Mr. King was nearby, after all.”
Little lies. Little lies.
Back to the dry tone. “Wise choice.” She tilted her head to where the other nine female candidates were waiting—far enough away not to overhear our conversation. “Get in line with the others, but don’t even think about losing us again, Ms. Carvene. If you do, you’re out.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I bowed my head to her and then hurried to stand next to the last girl in our line. I breathed a sigh of relief and ignored the nasty glances the others shot in my direction. Their tour was put on hold for a whole two minutes. The nerve I had!
I didn’t roll my eyes. Barely.
Major Wilcox marched down the line and just kept walking, expecting us to scurry after her. “Listen up, recruits. We’re heading to the technology center next, where the best scientists in this world work their magic to create a better living for us.” She paused in her speech to peer back at us. And we did, indeed, hurry like ants after her. “I think this bears repeating… Don’t wander off.”
The girls flashed glares back in my direction.
I simply pretended they didn’t exist.
*
A scientist droned on and on.
Mr. King this…
Mr. King that…
Oh! Did you know Mr. King…
This idiot was star struck.
I was embarrassed for him. I wanted to pat his back and tell him it was all right to have a little obsession, but perhaps he should look outside of New City for one. Or even the King Corporation. Many other individuals in the world had helped to reinstate our planet after it went to shit. It wasn’t all Godric the Great.
Godric was only around thirty years old. The way this scientist spoke about him, it was as if Godric had ended the damn war one hundred and fifty years ago. He was just that special to have done all this before he was even born—or his parents were even born. Perhaps star struck didn’t explain this silly scientist appropriately enough, as he continued rambling on with shining eyes of faith. I was thinking a white straightjacket might be needed if he didn’t calm himself, and maybe Godric needed extra security to watch out for this loon.
I was distracted—thank goodness—when a man exited a door at the end of the hallway. There was no sign on the door indicating what the area was, but with the CA soldiers posted outside the door, I was betting it was a confidential post. The man towered in height and had a dark olive skin tone, with broad shoulders and muscles that bulged on his biceps beneath his short-sleeved black t-shirt. He wore dark jeans and had a smooth gait as he walked down the wide hallway in our direction. He wasn’t dressed in a suit like almost all the employees I had seen so far—which wasn’t a whole lot thanks to Godric dragging me off. He even wore black flip-flops on his tan feet.
His head of short, dark honey-colored hair was lowered as he stared down at his silver bracelet, typing on it. I couldn’t guess his exact age, but he appeared no older than twenty or maybe thirty, his facial features plain but striking at the same time. He strolled past us without looking up, still typing on his bracelet.
Except he pivoted when he was three feet past us, still staring at his watch, and ambled to stand directly behind our group. He leaned back with his shoulders against the wall, crossed one foot over the other, and stayed there while he worked on his bracelet.