Page 8 of Nico

Then I noticed who was standing behind him. If I hadn't been carrying a laptop, my phone, and several other things I really didn't want to break, I might have dropped everything right there.

Because standing behind him was Logan Lawrence. The Logan Lawrence. I couldn’t breathe. I heard Tony cough, reminding me that I was still standing in the middle of the room.

“Sorry,” I blurted. “I was just... there was a firewall issue, and I needed to back up the system, and the security configuration was...”

Tony suddenly looked concerned. I gave him the tiniest shake of my head.

I was lying through my teeth, and hopefully he understood that. It wasn't the first time I'd resorted to technobabble when I needed someone to stop asking questions.

Judging by Tony's long, suffering sigh, he knew exactly what I was doing. I turned my attention back to Logan. He was smiling.

“I like your lanyard! I don't think I've seen that before.”

Then we started talking about Shadowfall lore, and suddenly, we were interrupted.

“Please tell me he's not assigned to us.”

Logan's expression immediately soured. “Isaac!”

Isaac. So that was his name. I tried not to let his comment get to me. I turned toward him anyway, already putting together a list of my qualifications in my head.

I was a fully qualified IT specialist, one of only two in the pack, actually. I handled network security, system maintenance, troubleshooting, infrastructure, and⁠—

Before I could get a single word out, Tony appeared beside me and caught me by the arm. “Come on.”

“What?”

He steered me toward the door. “Now.”

I looked helplessly at Logan, but Tony was already marching me out.

“Could you give us a moment?” Cooper asked.

Logan nodded, and Isaac did too, though they immediately turned back to each other and resumed glaring at each other.

I glanced over my shoulder at Isaac as the door began to close. Serious. Grumpy. And apparently incapable of appreciating the privilege of having someone like me handling his security.

I decided he had to be one of the lesser marsh elves. Maybe a peasant extra.

Tony dragged me into another meeting room across the hall, with Cooper following close behind, and shut the door once we were all inside. He looked over at Cooper, who gave him a small nod.

Tony turned his attention back to me. “First of all, how did you find out about this meeting?”

I hesitated. I wasn't about to mention Michael. There was no way I was throwing him under the bus.

“I, uh, read online that Pecan Pines was one of the locations fans were theorising about for the movie,” I said. That part was true. “And then I noticed on your calendar that you had a meeting with Cooper today.”

Tony's eyes narrowed slightly. I did have access to his calendar. That part was also true.

“So I thought I'd try my luck.”

The lie had barely left my mouth before Tony pulled out his phone. I watched as he checked his schedule, then immediately stared at the floor, hoping it would open up and swallow me.

Tony exhaled loudly. Again. He'd been doing that more often lately, especially around me.

He looked at Cooper. “I'm sorry.”

I blinked. That was it?