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better wages if we 'did things' for him, stuff like that. Never enough for us to be able to get him fired, because the owners loved him. But enough that it made working there hell for three years."
    "Why did you stay there for so long then?" Bryce asked, not understanding.
    "It was a good restaurant. Several years of experience there, and I would have a much easier time getting into other exclusive places."
    "Ah," he said, nodding in understanding.
    "I was resigned to that, until Thomas hired me away. Better pay, an easygoing workplace. I jumped so fast I'm still coming back down to Earth, trying to believe this is happening. And that's that," she said, clapping her hands together softly.
    Bryce was going to reply, but the door opened, letting in another member of security. She shook her head, recognizing the man, but not remembering his name. It was insane to have this much security! She and Joanna were going to have a serious talk about it. It was a restaurant for goodness' sake!
    "Sorry Natasha, but looks like we have to do security stuff, if the look on his face is anything to go by," Bryce said apologetically, clearly unhappy to have to leave her side.
    "It's okay Chief," she said, looking up at him through her eyelashes. "I'm not going anywhere."
    "I sure hope not," he said with one more of his knee-weakening smiles. She reached out for the hostess-podium to steady herself. As Ethan approached, her nose twitched. Then she sniffed the air.
    "Does anyone smell wet dog?" she asked bluntly to the two men, who turned to look at her. They glanced at each other for a moment, then looked back at her.
    "What? What was that look for?" she pressed.
    "I don't smell it," Bryce said, testing the air with his nose.
    "Me neither," the other man said in agreement. Ethan, she thought, suddenly remembering his name. He was Joanna's husband! She had seen a picture of him on her boss's desk; that's why he looked familiar.
    "What's going on?" she said instead.
    "Sorry, I can't tell you," Ethan replied before Bryce could say anything.
    "What does that mean? I'm the GM, I should know about any 'security' concerns," she said, making her view that the ridiculous amounts of security was unnecessary plainly obvious in her tone.
    "Take that up with Thomas," Ethan said, firmly but not rudely, as he moved past her, heading for the stairs.
    Natasha looked after them, her brow furrowing as she tried to understand what was going on.
     

Chapter Four
    Bryce
    "Sounds bad," he commented, following Ethan up to the offices.
    His friend was taking the stairs two at a time. Bryce's long legs easily kept pace, but it was unlike Ethan to be that urgent. Something bad was going on, he could tell.
    "More," came the response.
    "More what?" he asked as they reached the third-floor landing, heading straight for Thomas's office.
    "More marks. Lots of them, in the trees out back."
    "All together?" Bryce wanted to know.
    "No, spread throughout the forest. I went out on a long range scout this morning, and just got back. Tree's all over have them."
    "I wonder what the holy hell they are for," Bryce cursed. He hated not knowing things. Mysteries like this one bothered him, especially because it meant there were other players out there. Thomas had hired them for a reason that for week after week had seemed pointless. All of a sudden, it seemed as if they were going to earn their keep.
    An image of Natasha screaming in terror suddenly flashed in front of his eyes. The impact of it hit him hard, and he reached out for Ethan's shoulder to steady himself, his other hand pressing thumb and forefinger to his eyes, trying to rub the picture out.
    "What's wrong?" Ethan said, turning the handle to open the door. There had been no response from Thomas.
    "Nothing, nothing. Just a vivid imagination I'm sure," he said, straightening up, trying to focus on the task at hand. Now, he told himself, is not the time to be going all crazy. It's time to be on point.
    Still, he regretted that