HARD CHOICES

Ronnie Hartman stared blankly at the computer screen before him. The name of the file read: Confidential: Emily Peterson.

Just seeing that name on the screen made his blood run cold. He was sitting inside his bedroom in his moderate apartment. There was a guestroom and a sitting room just one hallway away.

It was matchday but he'd exited the sitting room just a few minutes ago to have some time to himself to think, but more than that, he wanted to work.

He reminisced on what had happened a few days ago at work when his boss had called him into his office and sent him on an errand that had taken him by utter surprise, not merely because of the type of work he wanted him to do, but because of who it involved.

Emily Peterson, the one name that had haunted his dreams for the past two nights was the person he was asked to keep an eye on, although he would have preferred the word 'investigate.' That was what this was. An illegal investigation to look for something that did not exist.

Perha