historical

"Do you think Maggie can make Jared speak?" Valerie queried as she sat on one of the chairs in the surveillance room while pointing the one beside her for Ian to take, and he did so immediately. Even though it was a restricted area, Valerie trusted the man beside her and she knew she would need his help in this matter. So, she did not hide anything from him, allowing him in on her plan.

Ian gave her a probing look, asking her silently to elaborate as he folded his hands. Even though he was speechless by the amount of trust the woman beside him was having in him, Ian did not take it for granted. Not once did he wander his gaze away from her and take a look at the room he was in.

It was a restricted room, and the general public like him was never allowed to even take a step near it, let alone enter it. He understood the meaning behind her actions even though she had not said a word about it. She was trusting him by allowing him to enter this place and hoped for him to keep the trust.

And Ian in return vowed in his mind to never do anything that broke her trust. To him, trust was more important than anything in life, even more than his life. So, not once did his gaze linger away from Valerie's face, studying her until he had already memorized it.

Ian was surprised by the level of hold Valerie had on him. Even though they had only met a few hours ago, she was already trusting him, forcing him to be considerate of her actions. It was completely out of his character to even care for matters and people that did not concern. But with Valerie, he could not do so and did not intend to do so either. Something in her forced him to follow her words and do as she wished.

"Dr. Davis?" Valerie's voice brought him out of her stupor, and he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Yes?" He gave her a questioning look, completely forgetting the question she had asked him before.

"I am still waiting for your reply." Valerie was now puzzled by his behavior. All of a sudden, Ian had gone silent as he kept staring at her without blinking, and she did not know the reason for it. His intense stare was making her fidget and fluster. But she calmed herself and spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Oh, I apologize. I got lost in my thoughts." Ian snuck out his tongue, embarrassed for getting lost in his thoughts momentarily. "Would you mind repeating your question, Deputy?"

Valerie gave him an incredulous look. Nevertheless, she repeated her question, still wondering why the man was behaving weird all of a sudden.

"Will Maggie be able to get information out of Jared? I am afraid she will fail in her job." Valerie pursed her lips, pushing her thoughts about Ian to the back of her mind for the time being.

"I do not think so. Maggie is smarter than you give her credit for, Deputy, and trust her to do her job well." Ian stated his opinion on this matter, disagreeing with Valerie immediately.

Even though it had only been a few days, Ian had already learned how smart and capable Maggie was. And given her abilities, it was impossible for her to not trick Jared into giving away the information. Ian was certain that Maggie would extract some useful information after her meet with Jared.

His confidence in Maggie surprised Valerie. But she did not comment about it.

"I presume you are still doubtful about your junior's capabilities, Deputy. Don't worry." Ian had not missed the skeptic look Valerie had given him, and his smile only widened on seeing it. "Maggie has a trump card with her that will only aid her to get better results."

"Trump card? What trump card?"

"Jared's feelings for Maggie," Ian revealed, observing how Valerie's expression changed into shock. Her jaw dropped as she stared at him in disbelief. Though Ian wanted to chuckle after seeing her adorable expression, he controlled himself in time, not wanting to embarrass her by laughing at her face.

"Jared has feelings for Maggie?" Her tone made it seem like a question, and this time, Ian let out a chuckle, unable to stop himself anymore.

"Yes, he does."

"How do you know about this?" Valerie was still in disbelief to think that Jared had feelings for Maggie. But soon, a frightening notion took over her shock and fear replaced her entire form, which Ian did not miss.

"Maggie told it herself." Ian's voice turned low as he watched the now fearful woman, wondering what had terrified her. He could still not brush off the sudden shift in her demeanor, and just the thought of her fearing something did not sit well with him.

"This is bad. This is really bad." Valerie stood up at once and walked back and forth, unable to stop herself anymore. All she could do now think about was the consequence of this meet and how bad it would turn out.

"Calm down, Deputy." Ian tried to comfort her but Valerie was having none of it, and she just kept walking back and forth in worry.

"This is wrong. This is so wrong." Valerie stopped walking and stared at Ian. "Jared is a monster, and now that he has feelings for Maggie, he will not sit still and take her betrayal kindly. He will definitely seek his revenge. I am now scared for her."

Ian's expression finally cracked as soon as he heard Valerie and realization settled in his mind. He too stood up in stunned by the thought that had entered his mind, unable to believe that Maggie had put herself into danger again just to get the information out of Jared.

"We need to stop her right now." Ian barked, his temper getting the best of him, and Valerie nodded at him immediately, ready to dash in the direction Maggie had gone, only to stop at her feet when she heard Jared's voice from one of the monitoring computers.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here?" Jared exclaimed. "I was waiting for your arrival, Maggie.. Now that we are here, let's get this game this started."