North Dakota Weddings (8 page)

“A year.”

“And you’re not accustomed to our climate yet?” She cocked her head with a questioning gaze.

“Are
you?”

“I grew up here.” She laughed, then flashed him a hundred-watt smile.

Her smile sent a jolt through Vance. “So, tell me what you know about this missile site. Do you know why my uncle would want this place for his home? It boggled my mind when I saw this instead of the mansion I expected.”

“Well, considering it’s farmland, maybe you should have at least expected a farmhouse.”

“True, but then I didn’t get that either.”

Andi jabbed her hands into her jeans, a thoughtful expression in her eyes as she looked at something beyond him. A gust of wind lifted a few strands of hair from her ponytail.

What would she look like with her mass of tresses hanging down across her shoulders?

“My sister and I lived on a nearby farm when we were kids. We’d ride our bikes a few miles up the road to watch the airmen play football. But this site and I…we go back much further.”

They strolled on for a few more moments until the fence prevented them from going farther. Still, Andi said nothing.

Vance broke the silence. “Do I get to know the rest?”

She glanced at the ground and grinned, tucking her stray hair behind an ear. “I don’t know where to begin. Besides, to a guy like you, this stuff is probably boring.”

“Hey, I asked, didn’t I? I want to know.” He started walking along the fence line.

“It’s the decommissioned missile sites. This all meant something to my parents, to the folks who lived here. It’s like they were a part of something bigger than themselves.”

“I understand.”

“My grandfather was in the air force and worked at this very site.”

Vance stopped. Was it mere coincidence that she was renovating this site? He’d never been a believer in coincidence, not with the Creator of the universe running things. Andi the builder now posed an even bigger puzzle.

She looked at him with warm eyes, drawing him in. “And when Dad was still alive, we explored the base after its decommissioning. Funny, we found a carpeted concrete door in the building that was standing at the time. I always wondered what was hidden behind it.” A soft sigh escaped. “I’ve said too much. I need to get back to Ground Zero now.”

What had he said to shut her down? “The workday is over, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is. I’ve got to find Elisa, then head home.”

Vance couldn’t stand the thought of going underground again. At least not yet. “I’m going to town to get some more groceries.”

She walked backward as she spoke. “Didn’t I show you the food storage room? Your uncle stocked it just in case.”

“In case of what? A nuclear meltdown?”

“Yeah, something like that. He was funny that way.”

“I gather.” Vance thought of the freeze-dried food. “I discovered the survival food. All those meals ready to eat. Not interested, thank you very much.”

Andi snickered. “You’re more interested in muscle drinks and candy bars.” She turned her back to him, then entered the stairwell.

“They’re energy drinks,” he said, but she’d already disappeared into the abyss of his eccentric uncle’s missile site.

He could have enough trouble on his hands at ANND Systems. Why was he borrowing more by attempting to get involved with a woman by the same name?

Vance headed for his car, then to the grocery store to get some more salsa for his chips—another procrastination technique he’d developed called restocking the condiments.

W
ith a couple of hours of daylight remaining, Vance pulled through the gate and drove up the road to the old missile base. Gravel crunched as he neared the building housing the elevator entrance. He shut off the ignition. A garage might be nice, especially in the winter.

Would the lack of one scare away a potential buyer? He hadn’t exactly had time to do research on missile sites converted to homes and how well they sell. On that, he’d given Andi his complete trust, hoping he wasn’t just another poor sap for a pretty face. But wasn’t every guy?

Vance dragged himself from the car and grabbed the two grocery sacks from the back seat, a box of Ding Dongs sticking from the top of one, and headed down under. He entered the living room, his eyes adjusting to the fluorescents. He set the bags on the counter just as his stomach growled, and grabbed a frozen burrito. Microwaves were a product of God’s mercy.

After eating dinner, he opened a bag of chips and plopped onto the sofa, the scent of Andi’s perfume in the air, a reminder of what he was missing. What he’d always missed, and what he would always miss—a girlfriend. A woman’s attention. Companionship. This place was the epitome of his life. Dark. Lonely. Boring.

Was this the plight of all computer geeks? His brother Matt was happily married, his wife expecting a child.

Vance blew out a breath. Hope yet remained.

The laptop sat on the coffee table where he’d left it open, applications running, and looked back expectantly. For once, he was tired of staring at his computer, but he had work to do, and procrastinating wasn’t getting him anywhere. Hard to imagine.

It was just that…he was fried. Having to use his so-called vacation, which should have been for rest and recuperation, to work on this…Well, he counted it as severe loss.

After running test data all day, he’d needed fresh air. Now it was time to get down to real business. What exactly was that second algorithm producing?

Though he wasn’t a data analyst, he could easily compare sample data output from both programs. The second data set produced by his government-contracted algorithm gone rogue appeared to produce a dissimilar data set. The records he’d flagged as the “bad guys” in his original algorithm weren’t being flagged as often in the second.

Serious bogosity was happening here—a sham he might even call mission creep: his proprietary algorithm was being used for an entirely different purpose.

It reminded him of when he’d watched two of his colleagues fired from the Texas-based company. They’d agreed to write the company’s proprietary software for someone else, in essence, selling company secrets.

But what happened when it was government secrets?

The sensation of being boxed into a small place came over him. An adrenaline rush sent sweat to his palms. His pulse raced.

Only one thought coursed through his burned-out circuits—someone wanted to produce output that was a less-than-accurate prediction of terrorists and their activities.

Could Peter be in on this? And if so, who had lined his pockets? The only reason Vance knew about it was due to a lost disk. Nothing was a coincidence.

“Okay, Lord, You wanted me to see this. I get it. Now what?”

What should he do about it?

Both hands on his head, he squeezed. Despite today’s adept computer forensics, Vance could potentially go down with the mission creepers, if they were caught. How could he prove he wasn’t involved? Especially since Peter was a long-time friend—even though he’d changed a lot. And if Peter—assuming he was involved—was willing to go this far, might he actually try to set Vance up?

The last thing Vance should do was touch this—but his fingerprints were already all over it. His impulse was to do something now. But that’s what he’d done when he’d joined ANND Systems. He’d listened to Peter’s persuasion, rather than praying first. No. This time he’d pray for direction.

Construction noise stirred Vance awake the next morning. He’d lain awake most of the night, his thoughts in turmoil, then finally fallen asleep in the early morning hours. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up, sure Andi had a meager opinion of him for sleeping late and forgetting to let her in as per the agreed upon protocol. She’d shown him the intercom, but he never heard her calling. He should tell her to dispense with the protocol since it wasn’t working anyway.

After pulling on jeans, he headed to the kitchen where he poured a cup of coffee, compliments of the auto brew. He squeezed his eyes as the dark liquid slid down his throat. It would give him the kick he needed. After the first cup, he added fillers. Sugar, vanilla syrup, milk. That was more like it.

He hadn’t exactly gotten an earful from God last night, but he’d come up with a plan. He’d write a viral worm or some other slow-to-discover interference for their project until he could gather enough information to make a rational statement to the authorities.

Trading his algorithm out for the imposter was the only difficulty.

Cup of sweet coffee in hand, he propped his back against the kitchen side of the island in an obvious leave-me-alone-I’m-thinking manner.

“You really should take better care of yourself,” Andi suggested, her voice sounding lighthearted.

Couldn’t she read his mind? Didn’t she know he had to concentrate on his own problems?

Conceding the error of his thought, he turned around. “What are you talking about?”

Though his question had sounded much too brusque, Andi didn’t appear to notice. Leaning over the island on her elbows, she indicated the junk food he’d left out last night. “Let’s see, Ding Dongs, Ho Hos, potato chips of every variety. What sort of diet is that?”

Vance watched her, confused by her unusually friendly demeanor. “Well, it gets me through. I need those sudden bursts of energy.” He couldn’t seem to inject any warmth into his tone this morning.

“That’s what you call brain food, yeah?”

Andi playful and teasing? Why couldn’t she act like this when he was in the mood to enjoy it? He frowned, studying the woman who looked similar to the photo on his desk. Andi Nielsen was nothing like he’d imagined the woman in the photo would be. Andi might bait him with her momentary charm, then an instant later her defenses would go back up, secreting her away behind guarded walls.

Was she a Christian? He didn’t see a cross hanging from her neck, or any action to indicate one way or the other. With what he was about to do, he had to wonder if he was a Christian himself. Trusting God had been easy enough while things were going smoothly at his job. While life was good. But when life became volatile, that’s where the true test of faith came in—how much muscle did he really have when it came to his faith?

He had a feeling he was about to find out.

Andi cleared her throat, causing him to realize he hadn’t responded to her question about his brain food.

“Well, I can see you’re one of those people who needs coffee before they become human.”

“I’ve got a lot on my mind today.” Guilt threaded his conscience. What was the matter with him? The woman was actually paying attention. “Like your favorite mantra, I’ve got work to do.”

“Then you’ll need one of these for that brain of yours.” She pulled out a Hostess cupcake, unwrapped it, and stuck it out to him. Her hundred-watt smile burned away his irritation.

A grin broke through his frown, spreading until he laughed. How could he not? “Give me that.”

He grabbed the chocolate gooey-goodness and stuffed part of it into his mouth.

“There, that’s better. I’ve done my job.” She smiled again, then flipped her ponytail as she snapped around and waltzed away.

Enchanted by her spell, Vance was unable to do anything except gape.

Andi the builder had somehow wiped away his tension, using her strange magic. She was unpredictable. He weighed the trait, deciding he liked that about her, and finished off the cupcake and coffee. As he began work on his blindsiding tactic, he hoped he could be unpredictable as well.

He hoped he hadn’t made the discovery too late.

After picking Elisa up from school, Andi headed back to Ground Zero. Best not only to drop her troubled sister off, but to pick her up as well. That way she could stave off concern over Elisa getting into trouble. At least while she was working.

They’d spent the morning pumping out the water in the equipment building. Guy Landers had stopped in to do a quick electrical check afterward. He’d told her he’d discovered the problem right off, when she was leaving to get Elisa. Arriving at Ground Zero, she noticed Guy’s truck was gone now. She and Elisa rode the elevator down.

This morning she’d learned she’d won a bid on a job for Nielsen Remodeling. Things were finally looking up, putting her in a good mood, and for some reason, she found herself wanting to share the news with Vance. Since he’d not been in the greatest of moods, she kept the news to herself. Instead, she’d tried to encourage him, lighten things up, surprising herself. As she exited the elevator, she wondered how he was feeling now. Andi marched straight to the equipment room, the blast door propped open, and peered inside. The lights were on, lifting her spirits even higher.