Gaming for Keeps (Entangled Ever After) by Seleste deLaney Page A

MacGyver skills aren’t up to snuff anymore.”
    Marron sighed heavily and slammed something, probably paperwork, on his desk. The poor guy was always buried in paper these days. “In English, Cal.”
    “Remember when I said I thought I could rig something to do the hologram on the tickets? I was wrong. I’ve got the rest of the pieces, but the holograms need to be done in-house on the machine that better be in working order again.”
    Silence hung on the line, and Cal knew Josh was probably calculating the time between now and the screening. “There’s no way to do it there?”
    “Not that I can think of off-hand.” There wasn’t even another agency’s office in the immediate vicinity Josh could weasel them into, not to mention one that would have the right equipment. TRAIT was thirty minutes away without traffic, and heading into a Saturday night downtown? He couldn’t even pretend things would move that fast. But the field office was his last hope.
    “I think the TCL’s close to fixed. Send the specs of what you need right now and I’ll get…someone to work on it.”
    Cal was already encrypting the files. “Greta. She’s not the best with computers, but she has an intuitive feel for the artistic stuff. Have Jodi…” What was the chick’s last name? “…Israel help her on the tech end. Between the two of them, it’ll turn out better than if I did it.” But not quicker. There were only a couple hours left until the screening started. Sure, TRAIT had people here, ready to move in, but everything hinged on putting a body inside the screening room.
    “Okay. We’ll get it done and put together. Send everything else with Marissa.”
    Cal startled, sitting up straighter. “You don’t want me to bring it?”
    “No. Marissa and Trevor already tapped out their access to alternatives. You know people there. See what you can manage in the meantime.” Josh went quiet for a second, likely opening the e-mail. “Besides, Marissa drives faster than you do.”
    He ignored the old-lady-driver comment, instead dwelling on ideas of how to dig up a spare ticket here. No matter what way he attacked the issue, the answer kept coming back to the same thing.
    “Cal, I’m really sorry you’re stuck in the middle of this. I promise. A real vacation soon, okay?”
    “Sure. Whatever you say.” He clicked off his phone and laid it on the desk. He didn’t give a shit about the vacation time anymore. He wasn’t even worried about the possibility of being on hand when things went to hell. Or the hundreds of nameless, faceless people at ConDamned. The only thing he cared about at the moment was the one person Marron’s order had brought to mind.
    Pen.
    …
    The jackass hadn’t even had the decency to look contrite when she saw him with his way-too-hot-to-be-natural girlfriend. He just sat there and let the blonde eat off his damn plate right after he looked at Pen. For the next three hours, she stalked throughthe main floor. The one panel she tried to sit in on was a bust.
    After spending the morning dwelling on how awesome last night had been, she didn’t know what the hell to think of this. He wasn’t at work like he’d said. And then he paraded some chick with the kind of body he’d sworn he wasn’t into all over the con. God, she felt like an idiot. And now she couldn’t even pretend last night had been all positive energy and good times. She felt dirty and used and sick to her stomach.
    Then Cal had the nerve to text and ask what her plans were for the night. She still couldn’t remember when she’d given him her number. Seriously, though? He showed up with that at lunch and wanted to hook up with Pen again tonight? God, did he think she was that pathetic? She wanted to scream or hit something or…
    She pulled up short. Perfect. There was a group demoing sword fighting. Wooden swords, but at least she’d get to attack something.
    Someone must have just been used as an example because the instructor was