All Due Respect by Vicki Hinze Read Free Book Online Page B

scene. And her desk even faced the door.
    Seth had remembered. He’d often remarked on her “fetish” for seeing what was coming. He had no idea how on target he had been, of course, and it wasn’t so much what but who. His not knowing had been one of the reasons they had worked together with such comfort and ease.
    Don’t be a coward, Julia. There were a lot of reasons you were at ease with Seth. Admit it.
    There were. She loved his honesty. Knowing that if Seth said something, she could bank on it. Anyone could. He always played straight. And he had courage. When necessary, he would go toe to toe with anyone short of God, and yet he genuinely respected other people’s ideas, views, and opinions. He seldom teased, but often laughed.
    You always loved Seth’s laughter.
    She had. For some strange reason, in it she heard hope. After she had left, when times had gotten really, really tough and the urge to quit trying overwhelmed her, she would hear Seth’s laughter in her mind and find the strength she needed to keep struggling. Without his laughter, she might have given up.
    Special.
    Yes, but only in a general sense. Nothing personal or remotely intimate. She’d have to be crazy to ever let herself get personal or intimate again.
    Julia, Julia, Julia. Wake up, woman. You already have.
    No way. No damn way. Not now, not ever again. She’d nearly died, for God’s sake.
    Whatever you say.
    Oh, shut up.
    Her conscience had to be wrong about this. Had to be.
    Slightly nauseous, she stretched to the stack of files, pulled out one labeled Profiles, and dug in, eager to get her
    mind off Seth and familiarize herself with the team and the project.
    “Okay,” she said, lifting a page with an unsteady hand.
    “First, let’s get a fix on you, Dempsey Morse …”

Chapter Three
    JULIA entered the conference room promptly at ten.
    Seven people were already seated, waiting for her. Seth had taken the chair at the foot of the table, leaving the opposite end free for her. As project head, she would occupy that seat in the future, but not wanting to exert authority before it had officially been given to her, or before introductions, she walked on and sat down in the empty chair at Seth’s right.
    From the gleam in his eyes, Seth understood. He should. This was a management technique she had learned from him.
    “Everyone, this is Dr. Julia Warner,” Seth said. “You have her profile before you.” He nodded to the single sheet of paper on the conference table at each seat.
    “Julia, this is the team.” Seth started on his left. “Dempsey Morse.”
    “Welcome to the zone, Doctor.”
    Morse was shorter than Seth, about fifty, and round bellied. He had nice eyes. Gray-blue with a kind twinkle in them. He looked pleasant natured, and Julia hoped he was, though she had her doubts. Dempsey Morse had been married and divorced four times. But that could be the job. It was demanding, and hell on a family. Morse was profiled to be sharp, devoted, and disciplined. That sounded good
    in her book. “Thank you, Mr. Morse,” she said. “It’s good to be here.”
    “Dempsey.”
    She nodded, then looked to the man at his side.
    “Cracker.” The youngest member of the team, a chilling twenty-three, swiped a hand over his shaved head. “I do computers.”
    An understatement, if ever she’d heard one. Cracker was a computer-guru genius. He didn’t drink or smoke. He wasn’t married, had no permanent relationships going, and he considered computing a recreational activity as well as his life’s work. He could hack into, or block out, any known security system, and had earned his nickname by proving it to the CIA. In a little friendly rivalry competition, the Defense Intelligence Agency bet the CIA that he could crack their security system. He’d won—which came as no surprise to the DIA because he had already cracked their system. “Hi, Cracker,” Julia said, then glanced on around the table.
    “Greta.” A pretty redhead