“I’m not asking you to get involved. I’m only looking for information. I need to know where the Coalition is holding Carl. Once I find out, OmniLab can send in a team to rescue him. Someone has to know something about these guys and where to find them.”
Leo rubbed his chin thoughtfully but didn’t reply. This was going to be harder than she thought. Leo was notorious for being stubborn. The man had his head so far up his ass he could chew his food twice.
Mack glanced over at Felix. “I’m surprised you’re going along with this. You okay with her trying to save this trader?”
Felix shrugged and leaned against the wall, looking bored. “Fuck the trader. I’m only here for Kayla.”
Mack chuckled and bumped fists with Felix. Kayla scowled at them.
Idiots.
Felix grinned and draped his arm around her shoulders. “Don’t be like that, crazy girl. We’ll find your trader if it’s that important to you. Although why you’d want to bother is beyond me.”
Kayla blew out a breath and elbowed him in the gut. He grunted and dropped his hand, rubbing his abdomen. She looked up at Mack. There was no love lost between him and Carl, especially after she’d last returned to the camp. She just hoped Mack’s affection for her was strong enough to outweigh his dislike for Carl.
“Mack?” Kayla began, taking a step toward him. “Have you guys even heard from Lars or Sergei? Do you have any idea where their camp is located?”
Mack shrugged. “Sergei stopped by a few days ago. He wanted to check out the scanning equipment you modified. He said he’d have more work for us soon.”
Leo swore loudly and pointed at Mack. “I’m not listening to this. If you get involved, you better make damn sure there’s no blowback on our camp. If OmniLab is cutting off our supplies, the Coalition is our only option. Don’t fuck it up.”
With a sharp look at Kayla, Leo stormed off down the hall toward his office. She watched him go and focused again on the burly scavenger. “I can’t promise the new tower’s going to be built, but I can promise I’ll do everything within my power to make sure you guys keep receiving the supplies you need. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let anything happen to anyone in this camp.”
Mack’s mouth curved upward. “No worries, darlin’. We’ll make do, just like we always do. But judging by the company you’re keeping, I’d say you need to start worrying about yourself.”
Kayla glanced again at Brant, who was eyeing Mack and Felix with suspicion. His hand hadn’t left the hilt of his weapon the entire time. She sighed. Yeah. That was probably good advice.
Carl flexed his wrists and pulled against the restraints behind his back. The small cell where he was being kept was nearly identical to the one from a week ago. The only difference was the faint metallic smell of recirculated air and that Kayla hadn’t been captured this time. Although, if he didn’t get out of here soon, that might change. Knowing Kayla, she was already plotting a rescue attempt and running headfirst into trouble.
He studied the design of the small locking panel next to the door. Unfortunately, even if he had Kayla’s knack for electronics, it wouldn’t do much good without the use of his hands. His captors weren’t leaving anything to chance this time.
Almost as though he’d willed it, the panel beeped. The door slid open and Lisia stepped inside, followed by Lars. It had only been a week since he’d seen her, but the once-pretty, young blonde was almost unrecognizable. Her borrowed clothing hung on her frame, giving her an almost waiflike appearance. The shadows under her eyes made the harsh angles of her cheekbones even more pronounced. Even her hair hung limp around her shoulders, as though it had given up, along with its owner.
Carl’s jaw clenched, trying to reconcile his pity for this pathetic creature with the memory of her betrayal. Lisia had been in his camp for a year, working and living with his crew. He’d known she was unhappy and jealous, but that was no excuse for her actions. Her duplicity had nearly killed Kayla, not once, but twice. Even so, it was impossible to look upon his former camp member and not be completely unmoved. How could she have changed so dramatically in such a short period?
He tore his gaze away from Lisia and met the cold, blue eyes of the former Omni. It was easy to see the similarities between Lars and Alec now that he knew about their familial relationship. Even the past several years on the surface couldn’t erase the aristocratic bearing Lars possessed.
“They asked me to come talk to you.”
Lisia’s voice was coarser than he remembered, as though it hadn’t been used in days. Carl glanced over at her again but didn’t reply. He had no interest in playing whatever game Lars had concocted. Judging by Lisia’s hunched shoulders and the trace of fear in her eyes, he suspected life within the Coalition wasn’t all they’d expected. More than likely, her position within the renegade organization was tenuous at best.
“OmniLab has placed a block on Kayla’s commlink. We can’t get any messages through to her. If you provide us with the access codes you used to configure her commlink, they’ve promised not to hurt either one of you.”
Carl let out a harsh laugh. Did she really believe he’d just roll over and sacrifice Kayla? “That’s the difference between us, Lisia. I won’t betray the people I love. I’m not going to put Kayla in harm’s way just to save my own ass.”
Lisia’s shoulders straightened a fraction, causing her ill-fitted shirt to slip and expose a bony shoulder. “Then you’re a fool. You can sit in here and rot for all I care.”
Carl shook his head in bewilderment. “What the hell happened to you? This can’t all be because we didn’t work out. You’re not this person.”
Lisia’s expression turned bitter. “You betrayed me and my brother. I saw the order releasing us from our contract. You were going to kick us out and force us to go back to the life we escaped. I couldn’t do it. Not again.”
Carl sighed and shook his head, inwardly kicking himself for not explaining this to her. Hindsight was a bitch. It wouldn’t have done any good for her hand in selling information on Kayla to Ramiro, but maybe everything else could have been avoided. “You’re wrong, Lisia. Jinx prepared the release order so I could sign off on a transfer. You and your brother were going to be sent to Rand’s camp. In exchange, he was trading Minko and Felix to our camp.”
Lisia hesitated. It was clear she didn’t want to believe him. She glanced back at Lars, who was impassively observing the entire exchange. When she turned back to Carl, there was true fear in her eyes. She knelt beside him, her voice softer this time. “Please do what he says, Carl. Give Lars the codes so he can meet with Kayla. He’s not interested in you. It’s OmniLab he wants.”
Carl ignored Lisia and lifted his head to meet Lars’s gaze. “Forget it. I told you before and I’ll tell you again. I don’t give a damn what you do to me. I’m not helping you get to Kayla.”
Lars regarded Carl for a long moment and jerked his head toward the door. “Leave us.”
Lisia swallowed and nearly scrambled backward to get to the door. Once she’d fled, Lars moved to stand in front of Carl and clasped his hands behind his back. “I’m afraid you don’t fully grasp the situation. You’re in a somewhat precarious position, Carl. Other than your connection to Kayla, I have very little use for you. Unfortunately for you, resources that aren’t useful to us tend to be disposed.”
When Carl didn’t respond, Lars continued, “I have given you ample opportunity to cooperate. Since you’ve chosen not to help us, I’m afraid you’re going to force my hand. You see, I’ve spent the past week learning quite a bit about Kayla. Your former camp members and records also provided me with some interesting insight.”
Carl clenched his jaw and remained silent.
Lars cocked his head, studying him. “Kayla doesn’t strike me as the type to wait around. I believe she’ll come to the surface looking for you. However, with the trading camps disbanded—I’ll need to thank Alec for that, by the way—she has very few allies still on the surface. As it
happens, one of those allies is her former camp, and they’re now feeling the pressure from the lack of supplies. Since they were most recently in my employ, it’s only natural they’ll turn to me again, especially since OmniLab has cut them off.”
Carl forced himself to remain impassive, but his heart was pounding. Dammit. Lars was right. Kayla would go directly to her former camp since they had ties to Lars. He’d like to think they would protect her, but if it came down to survival, they’d likely offer information in exchange for supplies. His only option was to bluff. “If you really believed that, you wouldn’t be asking for her access codes. I think we both know Kayla has far more friends on the surface than either of us realize.”
“Perhaps,” Lars agreed. “However, a little insurance won’t hurt either. I’ll give you an hour to reconsider. If you still haven’t provided us with her access codes, a video of you being tortured will be sent to every single surface camp we’ve worked with over the past few years. Either with your cooperation or without, Kayla will get the message.”
Carl squeezed his eyes shut. There was no doubt in his mind Kayla would respond.
Chapter Ten
Kayla bent down and disconnected the last of the terminals in the workroom. Sweat dripped down her brow, and she absently brushed it away with the back of her hand.
One of the temperature controls must be on the fritz again.
She glanced over at Brant who was stacking supply crates. She had to give him credit. Despite the grueling heat, he hadn’t complained when she insisted they help break down the camp.
True to Leo’s word, the ruin rat camp was packing up and getting the hell out of the area. Kayla needed to do the same and head out with Brant and Felix, but she was stalling for time.
Mack had agreed to reach out to some of his contacts and try to pinpoint the location of the Coalition camp. Unfortunately, after she’d told one particularly stubborn camp leader he was living proof family members shouldn’t procreate, Mack had kicked her out of the room. The last thing she heard was the sound of the camp leader shouting obscenities and threatening to hunt her down.
Felix, meanwhile, was trying to hack into some other systems for clues on the Coalition’s location and agenda. She’d tried to get involved there too, but he’d snapped at her and threatened to tie her up if she didn’t get lost. Felix had always been overly sensitive when he was working. It rankled to admit, but Felix was far more skilled when it came to hacking. Especially right now when her emotions were running high. She couldn’t risk making sloppy mistakes when Carl’s life was on the line.
Since all she was doing was pissing everyone off, she was packing up supply crates with Brant while waiting for some word that Mack or Felix had discovered something. Every moment that crept by increased her anxiety. OmniLab knew they were here, and it was only a matter of time before Alec grew impatient and swept in. She was somewhat surprised he hadn’t sent his minions to try to retrieve her yet. Maybe he was learning.
Sitting down on the edge of a crate, she reached over and grabbed a couple of hydrating packs.
“Heads-up,” she called and tossed one of the packs in his direction. Brant spun, catching the hydrating pack with one hand. Kayla grinned, impressed with his sharp reflexes.
“So,” she began, opening her own hydrating pack and taking a long drink, “I think we need to talk about how OmniLab’s tracking me.”
Brant frowned. He moved to sit on a neighboring crate, his expression guarded. “What do you mean?”
Kayla leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “You’re shit at lying, Brant. I disabled the tracking system on the convoy. The communication devices were also disabled, but those drones were in the air and on our trail within minutes. Alec has another way of finding me, doesn't he?”
“One of you picked up a tracker,” Felix observed casually as he entered the room. Kayla’s head jerked up to meet his gaze. Dammit. It didn’t take much deduction to figure out who was responsible. She was going to kill Brant.
Felix dropped a bag at her feet and swiped the hydrating pack from her hands. “There’s a low-level signal emitting from this room. OmniLab’s signature is attached. They didn’t tag the supplies, so it’s on one of you. Ditch everything. There are clothes in the bag for both of you. We don’t have time to figure out which one of you was tagged.”
Brant didn’t reply, but Kayla didn’t miss the look of irritation on his face. Her eyes narrowed, and she reached down to grab some clothes from the bag. They looked like Kristin’s clothes, which made sense because they were about the same size. Tugging her shirt over her head, she dropped it on the floor and pulled on the new one.
“You’re starting to get on my last nerve, Brant. It’s not a good place to be.”
She kicked off her boots and began unbuttoning her pants, but Brant held up a hand to stop her.
“It was a precaution only,” he admitted, averting his eyes. “I was ordered to install a tracking device in your boots. Alec suspected you might attempt to leave the towers again, and he was concerned Lars would come after you.”
Kayla bent down and picked up one of her boots off the floor. She traced the outline of the sole for signs of tampering, kicking herself for being so stupid. She should have realized Alec would have done something like this. He was getting sneakier by the day. It was definitely a mistake to let him and Carl work together.
Felix leaned against the wall, finished off the hydrating pack, and tossed it in the recycler. “Fucking OmniLab. Kayla, you need to ditch this asshole. I don’t know why you wanted to bring him along in the first place. I’m still running diagnostics on the rest of Leo’s security. Since you left, it’s gone to shit. They’ve got holes on top of holes. It’s going to take hours to finish scanning, and we don’t have that kind of time. Why not just get rid of this fucker and take off?”
“Trust me, it’s tempting,” she admitted, tossing her boots on the floor in disgust. Unfortunately, she needed to keep Brant around temporarily to make sure she didn’t blow anyone up. Felix was right though. They couldn’t stick around here any longer. Bending down, she grabbed some pants out of the bag and finished changing. She wasn’t taking any chances with another tracker. When she finished, she tossed the bag at Brant and snapped her fingers. “Change. Now.”
His jaw clenched, but he slowly pulled his shirt over his head. Kayla raised an eyebrow at the sight of his well-defined muscular body and shook her head to clear it.
Bad, Kayla. Very bad.
She turned back to Felix. “Can you talk to Kristin and see if she’ll trade UV gear with us? If OmniLab is surveilling the camp from the air, we need to be able to lose them.”
Felix nodded, catching her drift. “I’ll work something out with Mack. We can send out a team with the tracker to serve as a distraction. I can intercept their visuals and detection equipment long enough for us to get out of here. I’m assuming you have an idea where we can hole up temporarily?”
Kayla sat on the crate again, considering the options. She wasn’t willing to drag another ruin rat camp into this mess, and the trading camps were off limits. Her thoughts went back to the underground river. The stability scans had come back as normal, so the area was relatively safe provided Brant could keep her energy levels in check. OmniLab wouldn’t be able to trace them if they were deep underground. The only problem was the lack of a quick exit. She didn’t want to risk getting trapped underground.
Frustrated, she stood back up and started to pace. Her eyes fell on her discarded boots, and she froze. That was it.
The conversation with Alec about locating missing objects came rushing back to her. She’d been wrong. There was something Carl would have on him. She’d just found her focusing object. Now all she needed was to get a general idea of the Coalition’s camp from Mack. With that and a little help from Brant, she could try tracing Carl.
A brilliant smile crossed her face. “Oh, yeah. I’ve definitely got an idea.”
Carl leaned back
on the cot, resting his head against the wall. Time was ticking down. If he had to guess, there were only a handful of minutes remaining on his hour deadline. It didn’t matter. No matter what they did or threatened, he wouldn’t agree to their demands. Turning over Kayla’s access codes would only guarantee her capture. As long as she was running free on the surface, there was a chance she could get out of this unscathed.
The sound of the lock beeping heralded the arrival of one of his captors. Lisia entered again, carrying a blanket in her arms. He caught a brief glimpse of an armed man guarding the door before it closed behind her.
“If you’re here to ask for Kayla’s codes again, don’t bother. It’s not going to happen.”
Lisia paused for a moment and then tossed the blanket on the cot. “When I was being held in the towers, the officers told me you arranged to have a blanket and pillow sent to me. I figured I’d try to return the favor.”
Carl arched a brow and nodded toward the gray blanket. “You think this makes us even?”
Lisia shook her head, glancing up in the corner where a small light shone. The camera had been recording since he’d been brought to the cell. “No, but it’s a start.”
Carl ignored the blanket, studying Lisia instead. From the slight tremor of her hands, it was obvious she was up to something. Whether her machinations would benefit him or not was another story. Bringing a blanket to him was hardly helpful, especially since he was only moments away from being tortured. Conversation wasn’t high on his priority list, either, but she didn’t seem inclined to leave.
She hesitated for a moment. “Were you telling the truth earlier? Did you really plan on having us transferred?”
Carl leaned forward, the movement pulling at his restraints. “Yes, but it hardly matters at this point. Why are you here, Lisia?”
Tremors of the Past Page 15
