by Dena Christy
“We create new identities for the women who come to us for help, which is why I need someone like Rebecca,” Evie said as she drew Collette away from the terminal. “Rebecca can do anything with a computer, and I wouldn't be able to do what I do without her.”
“How do you create new identities?” Collette asked, fascinated by the possibilities. When Evie had said she could change her life, she hadn’t expected that drastic of a change. The notion teased Collette with the possibilities. If it was possible to become a different person, perhaps she could shed the baggage of her old life as easily as a snake shed its skin.
“Rebecca hacks the system, and changes the target woman’s identity, changing their names if they want, their occupations, and rewriting their histories. She creates new citizenship cards for them, and they are free to live their new lives. The government thinks that having every detail of a person on the network makes them more secure and more in control of their citizenry, but they are wrong. All you need is a hacker like Rebecca, and you circumvent them.”
“There are very few hackers like me,” Rebecca said from her spot at the work station, and Evie laughed.
“Yes, lucky for the government, there are very few hackers like Rebecca.”
Miranda, who’d been standing by Synn’s side, stepped away from him and approached. It was the first time Collette had seen her since she’d arrived at Evie’s and she pulled her friend to her. She was so grateful that Miranda has made it through yesterday unscathed. As they separated, Collette looked Miranda over, but there was no evidence that she’d been hurt during yesterday’s confrontation.
“It’s so good to have you here. Evie says you’ve come to stay awhile. Does it have anything to do with what happened yesterday?” Miranda asked as she looked at Collette and chewed her bottom lip. Worry wrinkled her brow, and knowing Miranda, she was blaming herself for endangering Collette.
“I’m fine, thanks to all of you. The reason I’m here has something to do with what happened, but only in that it showed me the truth of my life. It’s not your fault, what happened.” If anything she should thank Miranda. Yesterday had held a mirror up to Collette and had shown her how meaningless her current life was. She intended to make sure she didn’t squander the opportunity that had been given to her.
“If I hadn’t gone to your apartment with Synn the night I rescued him, he never would have linked the two of us,” Miranda said as she reached out and put her arms around Collette again. Collette squeezed her friend back to show her that she was fine. “It’s my fault that he took you. Can you forgive me for putting you in danger?”
“It’s not your fault. Dr. Avery was crazy and obsessed with you, who knows what may have happened. We can’t go back, and we’re all safe and that’s what matters.” Collette glanced at Synn who was watching Miranda intently and back at her friend. “Are you happy?”
“More than I have ever been.” Miranda smiled and moved back to Synn’s side. He put his arm around her, and Collette felt a small stab of envy when she looked at them. It was obvious by the look in his eyes that he was crazy about her friend, and for a moment a lump rose in her throat. She’d never seen that look in a man’s eye when he looked at her.
She swallowed hard and got rid of the lump. Get over yourself. Her friend deserved all the happiness she was getting. There was no need for her to feel envious. She’d had a good life compared to other people, and once she made changes, she would find what Miranda had found, she was sure of it.
“So what’s going on?” she asked as she looked around.
Ryce was leaning against the wall at the back, but as soon as her eyes met his he straightened up and came over to stand by her side. His hard muscular body loomed beside her, but instead of making her feel nervous or intimidated, it was a comfort to her. She didn’t know if it was a good idea to stand so close to him since her hand itched to reach out and touch his chest to see if it was as hard as it looked. Despite telling herself to keep her distance, she couldn’t make herself turn away.
“We are trying to find Cynric,” he said, his voice a low rumble deep in his chest. “We are trying at the moment to pinpoint his location. Rebecca has hooked up one of our trackers into their system but so far we haven't had any luck.”
Collette looked back up at the large screen and realized why it was a map of the city. “How does the tracker work?"
“Before we left home, we had tracking chips imbedded in our arms so that if we got separated, we could find each other. Sometimes the signal is weak if it has to go through a steel building or concrete, and it works much better if we are outside. We should still see something. So far we’ve seen nothing.”
“Is that why you and Synn look worried?” She kept her voice low and looked up at him. She could read the concern in his eyes and saw the same look in Synn’s face. She clasped her hands in front of her to keep from reaching up to cup his face. She longed to ease his worry, but that would take her into dangerous territory.
“The tracker is only active if the person it’s embedded in is alive.” He scowled as he stared hard at the screen in front of them. His unspoken implication hung in the air. The worry was there that his friend was dead. She gave into the impulse to comfort him. She reached out and took his hand. He looked back at her, startled as his body stiffened. She thought he would pull away, but after a few seconds passed he relaxed and squeezed her hand.
“You’ll find him, you have to believe that,” she said quietly. She looked into his deep blue eyes to communicate that she believed what she was saying was true, and he nodded at her as he offered a soft smile.
“Thank you,” he said in acknowledgement of her words. “I will try to have as much faith as you do. I should remember that Cynric is strong, and should not give up on finding him so soon. Thank you for reminding me of that.”
Collette smiled up at him and turned attention back to the front of the room where Rebecca was busy typing into the computer she was stationed at. The room was silent as everyone stared at the map and almost as if they willed something to happen, a blue dot appeared on the map and pulsed gently.
A collective gasp went up in the room, and Collette blew out a relieved breath. She had no connection to the man they were looking for, but she was as elated as everyone else in the room when proof that Cynric was still alive became apparent to everyone in the room.
“See I told you we would find him,” she said with a bright smile on her face as she grabbed his hand in her elation.
“You did.” He lifted her hand and pressed a brief kiss to the back. Her hand tingled where his lips had brushed her skin, and the butterflies that had danced in her stomach when she’d had her moment with him in the hall came back. “Perhaps I should keep you close to me as a good luck charm.”
Collette didn’t know how she was supposed to respond to that, and fortunately she didn’t have to because he seemed to realize exactly what he’d said. A flush crept up his cheeks, and he turned his attention to the front of the room. Collette did the same, determined to forget the moment that had just passed between them. She noticed that he had neglected to let go of her hand.
“Can you zoom in on that Rebecca,” Evie said and Rebecca typed in a few commands into the computer. The blue dot grew larger until they could see exactly where it was, down to the streets intersecting it. It looked to be on the outskirts of the city, in an area Collette was unfamiliar with.
Ryce dropped her hand, and she looked at him. The softness he’d shown only a few moments ago was gone as if it had never been there at all. His face was hard, and there was a deadly intent there that she hadn’t seen before. He looked over at Synn, who carried the same look.
“What the hell are we waiting for,” Ryce said, and he straightened to his full height. “We need to go get him now.”
Synn raised his hand, and Ryce made a noise of impatience.
“We have to be smart about this. We don’t know what that place is, or how we will get in there.”
&n
bsp; “We’ll fucking figure it out when we get there,” Ryce said. “How long do you think he has while we sit around without heads up our asses?”
“I know you want to save him, and I do too. But we know nothing about where he’s being held, and we only have one chance to get it right. We need more information than we have, and we can’t go off on impulse because the stakes are too high.”
“And what if he’s in the same situation you were in, what if they’ve scheduled to kill him?”
“We have to hope that they have other plans for him. Even if we leave now there is no guarantee that we could get him out with what little we know. One thing I can guarantee is if we do this your way, we will screw up and it could get us both killed. We are of no use to Cynric if we’re dead.”
Chapter Five
Ryce blew out a breath. Synn was right as he usually was. Cynric wouldn’t want them to die in the process of attempting to rescue him. But it wasn’t in his nature to sit and wait. He wasn’t a planner; he was a soldier. Action was what he did best. Standing around in this room, looking at the dot that represented Cynric and not doing anything about it, didn’t sit well with him. He itched to get out there, to charge into the place where Cynric was being held, and damn the consequences. Good thing that it wasn’t up to him because he could see that his way wasn’t the smart way. He bit his tongue to keep the curse sitting on the tip of it at bay.
He hated knowing Cynric was imprisoned somewhere, going through God only knew what, without them being able to get to him. They better come up with a plan soon because he would not be able to wait around much longer. He needed to do something.
Collette’s hand twined its way through his, and he slowly eased out his breath as he looked down at her. Her touch eased the tension locked in his chest, and she gave him what he needed, before he realized he needed it. He focused on the softness of her skin as her scent drifted into his nostrils. His frustration drained away, and while his concern for Cynric lurked in the back of his mind, being close to her cleared away the anger and restlessness enough for him to be able to see clearly.
“It will be all right.” Her words were as soft as her skin as she spoke in a voice that only he could hear. “We’ll find a way.”
He had no reason to believe her. As far as he knew she couldn’t see into the future. Her words and her touch calmed him. She made him believe that they would be successful, despite the odds against them. They were on an unfamiliar planet, and they only had one shot at Cynric’s rescue and they had to make it count. They had to come up with a plan that would ensure their success. He knew that, and having her by his side, holding his hand only assured him that they would find a way.
“I know where that is,” Miranda said, and everyone in the room turned toward her. “It’s a military installation, and it's heavily guarded. You won’t be able to storm the place since you’ll be dead within minutes of stepping on the perimeter. I think they have at least two hundred on active duty there, so the odds of fighting your way through that many soldiers are slim. You’ll be slaughtered.”
Ryce’s shoulders sagged. They did not have the resources to take on two hundred men, and he knew it. If they tried to go in there with just the two of them, it would be like Miranda said, they would be slaughtered. The anger Collette’s touch held at bay rose up inside him again. They had to get Cynric out of there, but how the fuck were they supposed to do it when he was in a guarded military fortress.
“What the hell are we supposed to do? Can we catch one soldier on his way there and impersonate him?” Even as he put the question to the group, he knew he was grasping at straws. Impersonating a random soldier, if they made contact with one without getting killed, did not guarantee their success. There was no reason to believe that a grunt would have access to a prisoner as valuable as Cynric.
“We need to get more information. There has to be a way.” Synn looked over at him. His calm voice belied the worry for Cynric written on his face. Synn would know better than anyone what their enemies on this planet were capable of since he’d spent time at their mercy. If Miranda hadn’t saved him, he would be dead now. “We’ll save him, no matter what it takes. We won’t abandon Cynric to his fate. Do you know anything more about that place Miranda? Is it like the facility they held me at?”
“No, it’s more of a fortress then a research facility. They hold prisoners there.” Miranda stepped away from Synn and walked closer to the map. She stared at it and her face lit up. She turned back to look at Synn. “I remember the name of the man in charge. It’s Colonel Jace Dawson. Rebecca can you pull up any information on him?”
“It will take a few minutes.” Rebecca bent her head as her fingers flew over the touch screen in front of her.
Ryce blew out a breath. The longer it took to find a way in, the more danger Cynric could be in. They needed to know more about their enemy, but that didn’t make the waiting to find answers any easier. He itched to do something, but there was nothing he could do until they knew more. He cursed softly under his breath.
Collette tugged his hand and led him away from the others toward the wall at the back of the room. He turned to face her, and she tilted her face up to look at him. He wanted to pull her from the room and down the short walk along the corridor to his room. He was sure that he could think of things to do with her that would make him forget, at least for the moments she spent in her arms, that his friend was in danger. That wouldn’t be fair to her, even if it was something she wanted. She deserved more than to be taken by a man who wanted to use her as a distraction.
“Are you okay?” she asked, and she seemed genuinely concerned at his answer. He didn’t know how to articulate what was going on inside him, but he wanted to try.
“I hate this. Not doing anything. The military on this planet are the type to shoot first. They almost killed Synn, and would have if Miranda hadn’t rescued him. How much more time does Cynric have? We need to get him out of there.”
The impatience inside him was clear in his voice. Sympathy and understanding crossed her face. Why did they have to be in this crowded room right now? He needed more comfort from her than words and hand holding, but he couldn’t pull her into his arms and bury his face in her neck as he longed to. The kiss they’d almost shared in the hall had only amplified the attraction he felt for her.
It was probably for the best that they weren’t alone since he needed help with his restraint. He tried to tell himself that he would react the same way to any woman who offered the comfort that she was, but he knew he was lying to himself. There was something about her that drew him despite himself, and he should put as much distance between them as he could. Tangling with her wouldn’t save Cynric.
“I know you want to save him, but you have to be patient. We’ll come up with a plan and we will get him out. It won’t do Cynric any good if we mess this up.”
Ryce noticed her use of the word we and looked at her curiously for a moment. He was sure she felt gratitude for his rescue of her, but surely she wasn’t involving herself in this because of that.
“Why are you saying we?” he asked, and he made sure that the question was said in a gentle voice. “This isn’t your problem. You should focus on moving forward with your life, not getting tangled up in a mess for someone you don’t know.”
“I know, but I want to help, just like you helped me. You were under no obligation to help save me, but you did it anyway. Regardless of the risk to yourself. I know exactly what position Cynric is in, and no one should have to go through that.”
She reached up and touched the side of his face. He took her hand in a gentle clasp and moved it down to her side. He couldn’t concentrate if she touched him. Her touch made him want to take her down the short walk to his room where he would take them both to paradise. He needed to think about Cynric. His friend needed him, and he wouldn’t be able to help him unless he had his entire focus on the matter at hand.
“I’m sorry.” She drew away from him. “I overstepp
ed myself, it won’t happen again.”
Her face closed up. Shit. She thought he removed her hand because she’d done something wrong.
“Under any other circumstances I would welcome your touch, but I need to focus. I can’t have any distractions.” He cupped her cheek. He needed to erase the hurt he’d seen when she’d pulled away from him.
“And I distract you?” She looked surprised. She had to know the effect she had on a him. He didn’t think he needed to tell her, but apparently he did.
“If I didn’t have a friend to find, I’d show you exactly how much of a distraction you are.” His voice came out in a low husky growl. Just saying it put ideas in his head that shouldn't be there, and she must have read it in his face, because a flush crept up her cheeks and her eyes widened. She licked her lips and took a step closer.
“Okay guys,” Rebecca said and her voice seemed overly loud and was like a bucket of cold water thrown over him. It was effective in breaking the spell woven between him and Collette. He took a step away from her and turned his attention back to the screen. Think about Cynric. “I have everything I could find on Colonel Jace Dawson.”
Rebecca pressed a few buttons, and a picture of the man in question appeared on the screen. Ryce looked at him, memorizing his face. This was the face of his enemy, and it was something tangible he could focus on. This was the man who stood between Cynric and freedom. Ryce would kill if he needed to free his friend. His life depended on the shape Cynric was in when they found him.
“I think I know how you’re going to get into the compound,” Evie said, and everyone turned to her and the silence in the room was deafening as they waited to hear what she would say. “Either Ryce or Synn could impersonate him and walk right in.”
Ryce sighed and shook his head. It seemed like a good plan but it would never work.
