by Kit Rocha
The man was small, but he was fast. He aimed a punch at Zan along with a knee to the balls. Zan caught the swing, but the knee connected solidly, and the guy howled as Zan squeezed his hand until bone crunched.
“Motherfucker,” Zan gasped.
Jasper growled again. “What did you take?”
“Nothing.” The guy locked under Jas's arm was turning red. “The place had been tossed already.”
Cruz nudged one of the pried-up floorboards with his boot. “Maybe it had, but you were still looking.”
The man in Hawk's grip wasn't struggling anymore. He'd gone the kind of still Hawk recognized all too well—prey, trying not to draw the attention of a predator. Hawk stepped back, keeping the bastard crushed against the wall with one hand, and caught a flash of shiny silver in the man's back pocket.
A second later, Hawk had a brand-fucking-new tablet in one hand. No scratches, no dings, none of the evidence of a piece of tech that had changed hands enough times to end up in a dump like this—or in the hands of thieves desperate enough to rob it. “I think I got something.”
Jasper whistled. “That's nice. I know you boys didn't bring that in here with you.”
Cruz crossed the room and reached out. The thief in Hawk's grip started squirming, no doubt seeing the biggest score of his life slipping through his fingers as Hawk dumped the tablet into Cruz's hand.
He flipped it over and studied the tiny serial numbers etched into the back. “This is two models newer than the run they were on when I left Eden. It might even be the last batch the city got out of Eight before they turned on the wall.”
Jasper's jaw clenched, and Hawk realized that he'd been hoping it was all a bunch of bullshit, that'd they'd come here and find Owen Turner with his thumb up his ass, drinking cheap booze and watching half-scrambled porn. That he wasn't a spy, just a lonely asshole who talked big when it didn't count.
Instead, they had a missing spy and a brand-new piece of Eden tech.
The man Jasper had been holding panted for air as he shoved him away, toward the door. “Get out. If I catch you stealing again—if you so much as look at someone funny—I won't be so cordial.”
The guy nodded, already stumbling past Cruz, clearly ready to make a break for it. But the man who'd been holding the tablet was stupider, or greedier, or just plain desperate. “You can't just take that—”
Hawk dragged him up on his toes again, cutting off his words. After trading a look with Zan, Hawk gave the sorry bastard one good heave. He slammed into the dirty floor hard enough to skid several feet.
He came to a stop just short of Zan, who stepped down on his shoulder with one solid boot. “You heard the man. Now get the fuck out of here before I break your fingers too, you thieving little shit.”
The three of them bolted for the door so fast they got stuck all trying to go through at the same time. One of them jabbed the other with an elbow and tumbled out into the hallway, and Hawk fought back a laugh.
Then his gaze dropped to the tablet in Cruz's hand, and his amusement faded.
As the would-be thieves' stampeding footsteps receded down the stairs, Cruz swiped his thumb over the tablet's face. “It's password protected. Five characters.”
“Five?” Jasper turned to Hawk. “The girl over at Gia's place that Turner's stuck on—what did Jeni say her name was?”
Zan snorted. “No one's that stupid, man. Especially not a fucking spy.”
A guy who ran his mouth about shit the way Turner had was exactly that stupid. “Paige. With an i.”
Jasper tipped his head at the tablet. “Try it, Cruz.”
Cruz tapped it in, and both his eyebrows rose as the screen sprang to life. Hawk had rarely put his hands on a piece of tech this shiny before joining the O'Kanes, so he couldn't follow what Cruz did next. His fingers danced across the screen, pulling up windows and entering text.
After another moment, he smiled. “He has decrypted data on here. Noah can compare it to the encrypted version, maybe get a jump on cracking their code.”
“How long would something like that take?”
“A couple weeks?” Cruz shrugged and tucked the tablet into his pocket. “Maybe less, knowing Noah. I'll have him dump everything on here, too. See if we can get an idea of who Turner's been talking to.”
“All right.” Jasper cracked his neck and stretched his shoulders. “Let's move. I'll report to Dallas. Cruz, you take that thing straight to Noah. Zan, Hawk—hit the streets. Dallas still wants Owen Turner, and he wants him alive. Find him.”
Hawk suspected Owen Turner was halfway to the ocean by now, but it didn't matter. “Yes, sir.”
“Let's get this done. We have a party tomorrow night,” he reminded them. “Mad's been waiting a long time to take marks, so he deserves a good one. So do Dylan, Jyoti, and Scarlet.”
Zan murmured in agreement, and Hawk shoved down the surge of envy.
Marks. Ink. Forever. The collar he'd given Jeni was reckless enough. Even if every day he spent with her made him more and more certain that he'd been right, that they were right…
Jeni couldn't see past the war. She couldn't bring herself to envision a future where the two of them got to spend forever together. And maybe it was cruel to keep trying, to build up her dreams, to bind her to him as tight as he fucking could. If he died, it would hurt her.
But if he stopped trying…
Sometimes, she stared up at him with a wonder she couldn't hide. As if she couldn't quite believe that the fantasies he wove around her extended beyond his bed and all the things she was willing to do there. That she was more than a pleasant interlude, or a diversion.
Whether he lived or died, that was one thing he could do. He could show Jeni how she deserved to be loved.
Completely.
Chapter Fourteen
The O'Kanes loved to party. And since that was part of their image—hard-drinking, hard-fucking hedonists in search of nothing more than a goddamn good time—they usually didn't mind if people showed up to watch. But not when they were celebrating new members or new marks.
Tonight, they had both.
Jeni accepted another beer from Trix and held the cool glass up to her cheek. Even if this hadn't been an occasion for O'Kanes alone, she suspected that no one without cuffs would have been invited. It seemed like everyone was pulling inward, and it was no wonder. They'd been scouring the sector for city spies, for fuck's sake. If there was ever a time to stick close to the other O'Kanes, this was it.
Jyoti pulled one side of her deeply cut gown aside, revealing the fresh ink on the swell of her breast, near her heart. It was shaped like an intricate knot, and Jeni had to lean closer to make out the lines in the dim light.
They weren't just lines. They were words, the names of her lovers wound through the knot in Ace's inimitable style.
She straightened and shook her head. “It's beautiful. Just gorgeous.”
“It is.” Jyoti slid her dress back into place with a gentle smile. “Mad swore he was willing to wait, but I wasn't.”
“Neither was I.” Scarlet's almost identical tattoo peeked above the low neckline of her tank top, and she touched it lightly before arching one eyebrow. “And if we'd tried to make Dylan wait…”
It was a familiar refrain, one that had suffused the sector for weeks and throbbed beneath the music tonight. It was impossible to exist in Four right now and not feel the sharp sting of desperation. “I'm happy for you, all of you.”
Jyoti brushed a finger over Jeni's collar. “I'm happy for you, too. Hawk is a good man. One of the best.”
“He is.” Jeni looked across the room, spotting him instantly where he stood with Jas and Finn, all three clustered close with the intent expressions that usually meant engines were being discussed. He glanced her way, and the corner of his mouth tilted up.
A tiny smile, but it blazed in his eyes, transforming his face. Her blood thrummed a little hotter, and she pressed her beer to her flushed cheek again.
Noell
e slid up behind Jyoti and wrapped her in a fierce hug. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you, Noelle.”
“I'm so glad we have something to celebrate.” She kissed Scarlet's cheek. “Are you going to sing for us tonight?”
“Oh, I don't think so.” Her cheeks turned pink. “I don't have my band, and it's not really that kind of night, you know?”
Jyoti stroked her fingers through Scarlet's hair, a slow caress full of as much promise as her words. “I'll see if I can talk her around.”
Scarlet's blush deepened, and Noelle laughed.
“Only if you want to. It's your party.” Noelle hooked her arm through Jeni's. “But I'm stealing her away. I'm in the mood to dance.”
Jeni set down her bottle and followed Noelle out onto the floor, but there was clearly more than dancing on her mind. “What's up?”
“I think Noah's getting close.” Noelle swayed with her, her voice a low whisper. “I couldn't even convince him to come up for the party.”
“The decryption?”
“Yeah. That tablet the boys found gave him what he needed. He's thinking he'll have it cracked by lunch tomorrow.”
It had been weeks since Eden had gone into lockdown, weeks since they'd started encrypting all their transmissions. If Noah managed to decipher their code, Jeni would have hundreds of thousands of pages of messages to go through. “Oh.”
“Oh,” Noelle agreed in a sympathetic voice. “Hey, Emma and I will be right there with you. Even if it's just to get coffee or look up anything that seems weird.”
“No, it's not the workload.” How could she explain without sounding irrational—or, worse, superstitious? “It's just that it means we'll be that much closer, right? There has to be information in those messages that we can use. That we'll have to use.” She met Noelle's gaze. “It means no more waiting.”
“I know.” For a moment, worry lined Noelle's features, then it twisted into resolve. “But we're ready. We have the supplies, and we have the hospital. We have a life worth fighting for.”
Jeni had to smile. If sheer fucking force of will could pull you through a war unscathed, then they'd all be fine. No one was more stubborn, more relentlessly alive, than an O'Kane.
Before she could respond, someone banged on the makeshift bar. The music cut out, and Lex climbed onto the bar, where Rachel had already set up sixteen shot glasses in a neat row. She filled them two at a time, from the finest whiskey Nessa had ever bottled right on down to the roughest rotgut, as Lex shaded her eyes and scanned the room. “All right, where's he hiding?”
Whoops and cheers rose as Dylan began to make his way to the front of the room, a broad smile on his face. It was so different from the rare ones he'd always worn, sardonic and vague, that it was a little hard to recognize him. Being with Mad and Jyoti and Scarlet had changed him, and tonight was evidence of that.
Lex cleared her throat, then ruined her solemn air by reaching down to ruffle Dylan's hair. “Dr. Jordan. I guess there's only one thing to say.”
“Yeah,” Zan called out from the crowd. “Took you long enough!”
Lex hopped down as laughter rippled through the room. “Close, but not quite.” She patted Dylan's cheek fondly and grinned. “Welcome home.”
Rachel lifted the first shot glass and held it out, but before Dylan could take it, Mad appeared at his side. His brown eyes sparked with irrepressible joy as he plucked the shot from Rachel's fingers and held it up. “Might be a little redundant to stake my claim…but who the fuck cares?”
He tipped back the shot, drove his fingers into Dylan's hair, and dragged him into a liquor-soaked kiss that went on and on, long after the whiskey was gone. Dylan was breathless when it ended, his face alight with desire and satisfaction.
He reached for the next shot, but Dallas picked it up instead. Lex followed suit, and so did Jasper. One by one, the people closest to the bar stepped forward to claim the remaining shots.
It made sense. When Jeni had gone through the O'Kanes' version of an initiation, she'd passed the night in a giddy blur that had ended with her slung over Flash's shoulder and carried away to sleep it off. From a practical standpoint, they couldn't afford to have their only doctor get that trashed, not when Eden's MPs could beat down their door at any moment.
But this went beyond the practical. An almost reverent hush fell over the room as they raised their glasses—Dallas and Lex, Jasper and Bren. Jyoti and Scarlet, of course. Six, Lili, Ace. Their faces blurred together as tears burned Jeni's eyes.
Hawk picked up the last shot, the rotgut at the end of the bar. His gaze locked with hers, he smiled slow and warm, and lifted his glass in the air. He didn't look away, not even when he knocked back the shot without so much as a flinch.
The noise broke the spell, yelling and laughter that rebounded through the room in a chorus of revelry. Dylan began to make the rounds, spinning from one embrace to another.
By the time he reached Jeni, he looked a little dazed. She folded her arms around his neck, hugged him tight, and whispered, “It's okay. I know the feeling.”
Someone else whisked him away, and Jeni stood there, her hands trembling. This was the part no one outside these walls could ever understand. O'Kanes didn't bend, didn't break. They were stronger than steel because they held one another up. If one of them needed help, their brothers and sisters would step in and shoulder some of the load.
It was unspoken, understood. Whether they were at war with other sectors or the city or no one at all, they stood together.
Jeni retreated back to the edge of the room and picked up her beer. It had gone warm already, the amber glass slick with condensation, but she finished it anyway, then leaned against the wall and looked around. If she stared at them all long enough, tried hard enough, she could fix this moment in her memory forever.
“I'll trade you,” Cruz rumbled.
He was holding out a fresh beer, one Jeni accepted gratefully. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” He leaned against the wall next to her and watched the crowd of people jostling to congratulate Dylan. The stern lines of his face softened as Ace's laughter drifted over the din, and he lifted his beer. “I want to do something nice for Hawk.”
It wasn't quite the last thing she expected him to say, but it was close. “Why?” she asked curiously.
His lips quirked. “The ginger tea he showed me how to make for Rachel has almost gotten rid of her morning sickness completely.”
“Oh.” That explained why the petite blonde wasn't in a corner with her head in a bucket—and why Cruz wasn't gnashing his teeth in helpless frustration. “Good. I'm glad she's feeling better.”
“Me too,” he murmured. “So if I can do anything for him—or for you—then you tell me, okay?”
“If Hawk helped, it was because he wanted to, Cruz. Not so you would owe him one.”
“It's not about owing.” Cruz braced one shoulder against the brick and stared down at her. “If we were keeping track of debts, I've already got such a mountain of debt to you, I couldn't repay it in a lifetime.”
She did a double take. “To me? What for?”
“For helping me get here.” His gaze was so, so serious. So solemn. “I've jumped off twenty-story buildings and been less scared than I was the first time I kissed Ace.”
She remembered the moment—the hesitation, the challenge. How the tension had stretched out between him and Ace like a chasm in the earth, only instead of widening with every heartbeat, it had grown smaller and smaller. How Cruz had finally broken with a flash of guilt eclipsed only by his longing.
She hadn't seen it at the time, but here, in retrospect, she recognized his fear. “Of course you were afraid. You weren't falling off a building, but you were still falling.”
“Yeah, I was.” His gaze drifted back out to the dancing, going inevitably to where Ace and Rachel swayed with the music. “Still am. It doesn't stop, you know. It gets less scary sometimes...but it doesn't stop.”
Jeni glance
d over to where Hawk was finally getting a chance to congratulate Dylan. His smile was brilliant, so open that it almost hurt. Then he looked up, directly at her, and the bottle almost slipped from between her fingers.
She was starting to suspect Cruz was right.
If Hawk thought Ace talked a lot when he was sober, then getting him to shut up when he was buzzing was damn near impossible.
“—so we had just rolled out our second real batch of the good stuff. The first one, most of those credits went to buying better supplies. But the second?” Ace grinned widely. “Oh, we were dick-deep in credits for the first time in our lives.”
“And…” Lex stretched forward in her chair to grab another one of the tiny sandwiches Lili liked to make for parties. “What do a bunch of hale, healthy, dumbassed little boys like to do when they have that much money?”
Rachel stifled a giggle. “They get dick-deep in something else?”
Jasper leaned forward with a groan, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Please, please do not tell this story.”
“Sorry, brother. Some tales are just too legendary to let slip into myth.” Ace propped his elbows on his knees, deep into the story now. “So it's me and Jas and Zan's big brother. And that charming motherfucker didn't even have to open his wallet, because he was way better looking than Zan—”
“Fuck you,” Zan enunciated slowly over the rim of his glass. From her perch in his lap, Tatiana mock-glared at Ace, but he only winked at her.
Noelle nudged Ace with her foot. “Come on, I want to hear the rest of it.”
“Fine, so Jas and I bring a couple of pretty ladies back to the compound.” Ace waved one hand around. “Which was basically just this building at that point, nothing else. We had bedrooms up where the storage is now, and we were all making very good use of them—”
“Too good,” Dallas rumbled. “Since I was the only one who noticed when a handful of punk-ass thieves kicked in our damn door.”
Ace raised both hands in a shrug so melodramatic, Hawk choked on his beer. “I can't help that I'm focused,” Ace drawled. “I don't hear Rachel and Cruz complaining.”
