Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Love (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Saints Protection & Investigations Book 7) Read Online Free

“No, no, I don’t mean to imply you can’t handle it. I just thought if you’d like my presence, I’d be glad to—”
    “Glad to what?” Gary asked, moving past Evelyn into his brother’s office.
    She opened her mouth to explain, but Saul spoke first. “There’s been a claim sent in from the Army Corps of Engineers. They claim part of the shipment was missing. They have requested a meeting this Wednesday with Evelyn.”
    Gary turned around, saying, “You want me to be there too?”
    Throwing her hands up in the air, she chastised her bosses. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys. I think little ol’ me can handle the big, bad, Army Captain.”
    The two brothers grinned, both having the sense to blush as she put them in their place. “Sorry,” Gary and Saul said in unison, then looked at each other and laughed.
    Grinning as well, she stepped the rest of the way into Saul’s office and sat down with them. The two looked like brothers and both younger versions of their father. Almost black hair, cut fairly short and swept to the side. Gary was a bit bulkier while Saul was a couple inches taller. The three sat and chatted amicably for a few minutes before Gary stood to leave.
    “How’s Sandra?” Evelyn asked.
    “She’s great,” Gary answered. “Only a month to go and I’ll hold my son.”
    Smiling, she replied, “Well, tell her I said hello. I’ve got a baby gift for you…I’ll bring it to you next week.”
    Nodding, he started to walk away then stopped and turned at the door. “Evelyn, what do you think about the Army’s claim?”
    “I’ve emailed Ed…” she began, hating the feeling she always got when having to deal with the surly plant manager. “He says the shipment was personally overseen by him and it was fine when it left our plant. I’m going over to talk to him tomorrow.”
    She held Gary’s gaze, steeling herself. I won’t let them see that I’m intimidated by the man. Gary then gave her a satisfied nod and walked out of the office.
    Turning back to Saul, she said, “What do you think?”
    “I don’t know, Evelyn. My office handles the finances and billing…not the shipments themselves.”
    “Oh, I know,” she rushed to say. “I just mean about everything.”
    “Well, Ed’s worked here for a long time and I can’t imagine him suddenly not doing his job correctly. But…on the other hand, I hardly think the Army is trying to scam us.” He leaned back in his seat before adding, “At least I hope they aren’t. You’ll have to let me know what you think about the Army representative they send.”
    As she walked out of his office, he called out, “And you’ll have to let me know if I need to be jealous!” leaving her to wonder if he were teasing or serious.
    *     *     *
    Wednesday morning came and Evelyn found herself unusually nervous. This is ridiculous, she chastised herself. He’s not the first client I’ve met with or had to deal with. But she admitted to herself that she hated this part of the job. Hopefully, only a few more months of this and she would finally be in an engineering position and not in sales.
    She tried to envision what the Army Captain would look like and hoped she was not dealing with a grumpy old man. After having talked to Ed again, she really wanted to avoid that.
    Replaying in her mind the latest conversation she had with the plant manager, she shivered.
    Driving to the main manufacturing area, I had parked then walked into the manufacturing building. Moving through the production area, I came to the bottom of the stairs leading to the offices. Having emailed to let him know I was coming, I ignored his response about being too busy to go back over something they had already discussed. Now, I was determined to corner him, just catching him coming out of his office.
    He took one look at me, scowled and said, “Don’t got time now, Ms. Sinclair.”
    “Well, make time, Mr. Snyder,” I quipped, noting his eyes grew wide at