Page 58 of Robb

After a pause in which the man – Les, apparently – hovered uncertainly, she added, “Dismissed,” and he scuttled out of the room.

So this is where the power lies, Robb thought.

“Well, Mr. Lockwood,” she said, pulling up a chair right in front of him and sitting primly, her sensible pencil skirt resting perfectly on her knees. “We meet at last. I would shake your hand, but I can see that you’re indisposed right now.”

We’re still doing banter? Robb thought with mild despair. Maybe Les can come back and chop my fingers off instead. It would probably be less painful.

Out loud, he said, “It seems a bit unfair that you know my name, but I don’t know yours. The polite thing to do would be to introduce yourself.”

He hadn’t thought that she would actually respond in a helpful way, but she actually seemed to be considering what he said – before, apparently coming to an internal decision, she nodded.

“Fair enough. I’m Anne McIntosh, president of Hargreaves Incorporated.”

Robb stared at her for a long moment, but she appeared to be perfectly serious.

No, you’re not, he barely kept himself from saying. He knew who the head of Hargreaves was, and it definitely wasn’t this bland woman sitting here before him.

There was nothing about her that was remarkable in any way. Her hair, pulled back into an unfussy braid, was a mousy color, and her eyes were a kind of tawny gray that was neither brown nor hazel. Her face was pale and totally unremarkable. He didn’t think anyone would be able to describe her later, after having seen her. Even her accent was neither here nor there – not Australian, not American. It seemed to carry some kind of slight European lilt, though nothing that Robb could pin down to any particular region, and it wasn’t even strong enough to make an impression.

She was as close as someone could get to being unnoticeable while being the only other person in the room.

But then again, Hargreaves as it appeared to the public and Hargreaves the shady mercenary org were two entirely different beasts, and Robb could well believe that the ‘official’ head of Hargreaves was little more than a puppet being operated from behind the scenes.

Efforts by the Agency to infiltrate the upper echelons of Hargreaves management had always proved unsuccessful in the past. Their security, both physical and electronic, was second to none, and there had always been a gap in the Agency’s knowledge around who the biggest players were.

Could this Anne McIntosh really be the force behind all of this death and suffering?

His dingo’s voice was quiet, but deadly serious. This woman is dangerous, it said. Proceed with caution.

“Nice to meet you,” he said blandly.

“I wish this could have occurred under better circumstances,” Anne said, actually sounding somewhat like she meant it.

Before Robb could work out how on earth he should respond to that, she continued, “It would’ve been nice if we’d managed to have our new electroshock device ready in time for your arrival, but alas, it’s still in Phase 3 of trials. I’m not sure if you’ll be alive long enough to experience the final product once it’s gone through the approval process, and it’s too late now to bring you into the trial.”

She spoke with such a flat affect that it took Robb a moment to fully take in everything she’d said.

Okay, he thought, as the tiniest bead of sweat ran down the back of his neck. I absolutely can believe that she’s the head of Hargreaves.

“I’m sorry to hear that I’ve inconvenienced you,” he said.

She waved her hand dismissively. “Never mind. There are plenty of other tools at my disposal.”

Robb decided to take the bait. “Like what?”

“Now, now. Don’t get impatient,” she said. “We have all day. Aren’t you going to ask me why you’re here?”

Robb shrugged as best as he could. “I would assume that the answer is pretty obvious. Though I’m not sure why you’ve specifically decided to target me now.”

Anne sighed – a genuine sigh. “You, Mr. Lockwood, have caused us a great deal of inconvenience over the years. You and yours have obstructed, delayed, and outright ruined more of our plans than the rest of the Agency put together.”

Robb supposed that much was true. He had built up an excellent team over the years, carefully selecting and nurturing each member in order to help them to grow into the best agents they could be. Even with James’s interference, they had a track record that was the envy of the Agency.

“You’ve been a thorn in our side,” she went on. “An annoying, persistent thorn. But then I realized that maybe you didn’t have to be. Say, maybe if instead of working against us, you worked for us.”

Robb barked out a laugh, the sound coming out before he could even think to stop it. “You have to know that I’m not going to do that.”

“Oh, not of your own free will,” Anne said. “Don’t think me so stupid as to believe that I would try to win you over with a promise of riches or power.” She smoothed out an invisible wrinkle in her skirt. “No, I have other ways of bringing you across.”