Guardian Knight

Chapter 6

As she had told Michael, Melissa was a morning person. And so, bright and early the next morning, she was in Michael's office. He wasn't at FLAG, so she wouldn't be in his way.

After their meeting yesterday, Michael had made some discreet inquiries to find out when the executives of Faro Services and its subsidiaries would be meeting to select a successor. As he had predicted, the meeting would indeed be held soon. That very morning, in fact. Michael had gone to see if he could get into that meeting. In the meantime, Devon and Melissa were to keep Lisa in the dark about where Michael was, claiming he was still at FLAG.

Melissa drafted the case report. Or at least what she could. Without knowing Lisa's game plan – which frustrated Melissa – she couldn't fill in all the blanks. She'd have to leave the report for Michael to finish. Assuming he could figure out why Lisa was at FLAG.

"Well, that's new."

Melissa picked up a pocket-sized notebook from the desk and quickly flipped through what turned out to be Michael's notes from his most recent case. Melissa had plenty of time before her morning PT. So, she started drafting that case report. It was slow going, as she puzzled out Michael's handwriting and abbreviations in notes that were clearly intended to jog his memory but dind't really make sense to her.

"Oh, dear God."

She headed for Kitt's garage. She might not have a commlink to open the garage door. But she was the daughter of Wilton Knight, which meant she had access to all areas of FLAG. Include the side door to the building.

The garage wasn't empty, even though Kitt wasn't there. As Melissa went towards the console Michael had pointed out to her the other day, a woman at another console spotted her.

"Hey, kid. You shouldn't be in here."

"Then I wouldn't have gotten past the locked door."

Her calm answer flummoxed the woman long enough for Melissa to reach the console and turn on the microphone.

"Hello, Kitt. It's Melissa."

"Miss Knight," was his stern reply, "you were told this channel was only to be used in an emergency."

Melissa was the daughter of a self-made billionaire. With a quiet dignity wrapped around a core of steel, she said, "Kitt, you will do me the courtesy of one minute of your time."

"Go ahead, Miss Knight," replied Kitt, in the same stern tone as before.

"I found Michael's notebook from your previous case, which involved a company called Munro Tech and corporate espionage. That's the company Shane Kendall heads up. Which means he will likely recognize Michael."

Kitt was contrite. "Thank you for the warning. I shall let Michael know immediately."

Melissa put her head on the table. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She sat up and saw the woman from the other console.

"Hello, I'm April Curtis," she said, holding out her other hand. "I work with Kitt and Michael."

Melissa shook her hand. "Melissa Knight."

"As in –"

"Daughter of Wilton Knight. And just to get it all out: goddaughter to Devon Miles and the legal ward of Michael Knight."

"What!? Since when?"

"Dad's death. Though since Uncle Devon never read Dad's will and Michael never read the letter from the lawyers, neither of them knew until two days ago."

"Please tell me you took advantage of that."

"Honestly, I never even thought to give that a try," she said ruefully.

"Oh, sweetie, that was a huge missed opportunity."

Before Melissa could reply, Kitt said," Miss Knight, are you still there?"

"Yes, Kitt, I am."

"I have passed your warning along to Michael."

"Oh, good," she said, and then added thoughtfully, "I think Kendall is planning to take over as the head of Faro Services and that Lisa is working with him."

"Because . . ." prompted Kitt.

"The timing. Lisa showed up here before you two got back from your case. And she asked for Michael by name."

"And he has been too busy dealing with her to have followed up on the loose ends from our prior case." Kitt followed her logic, which did seem likely.

"Anyway, Kitt, thanks for passing along the message. I'm off to PT now. I will see you and Michael later. Be safe. And Ms. Curtis, it was nice meeting you. I'm sure I'll see you around."

April watched as Melissa left the garage, a bemused smile on her face. She was looking forward to seeing how Michael handled being a responsible adult. Though from what little she had seen of

Melissa Knight, she might be the responsible one.