The Devil You Know

by Kit Rocha

  The scanner beeped softly, and Maya removed the book and checked the listing on her computer. After a second, she pursed her lips. “I admit, it is slightly less exciting now that I have it working reliably.”

  “I’m already about to fall asleep.” He plucked the scanned book from her hands and set it aside. “You should be training.”

  Maya groaned. “I know how to shoot—”

  “We’re gonna do something different,” he corrected. “Question: how does ear protection work for you?”

  Maya shrugged. “I use it sometimes, but I’m not sure I really need it. Loud noises don’t bother me on their own.”

  Whatever the TechCorps had done to her, they’d been smart about it. A data courier who could be disabled with one good sonic boom would be useless to them. “No ringing in the ears, muffled hearing, nothing like that?”

  “Nah.” Her teeth sank into her lower lip, and she gave him another quick, sidelong look. “Sometimes I get overwhelmed, but that’s not really about volume but duration. And you saw me at those underground fights. I have a couple of triggers.”

  “I remember.” Her reaction that night had been as familiar to him as his own name. He’d seen it often enough while serving in the Protectorate, though brass always denied post-traumatic stress was an issue for their soldiers.

  Like hell it wasn’t.

  Gray dusted off his hands on his jeans. “Tomorrow. You’re gonna show me what kinds of tricks you can do with that brain and those ears of yours.”

  Maya groaned and spun around on the stool. “Not this again. Conall has been giving me shit all month. I mean, I’m good at math, sure. I can calculate trajectory or hustle you at pool. But it’s not like I have superpowers.”

  “Sure you do. You remember everything you hear.”

  She stared back at him in exasperation. “And?”

  “And what?”

  “Exactly.” She threw up her hands. “So what? I tried listening to that guard the other night, and I couldn’t figure out how far away he was. If remembering everything helped, maybe I wouldn’t have a shiner today.”

  “Maya, it’s not magic. Perfect auditory recall won’t help you judge how far away a sound is on its own.” He took her hands in his, stilling their fluttering movements. “You still have to learn. But once you know what it sounds like when a ninety-kilogram man in tactical boots walks on gravel one meter away, or three, or ten? Your brain won’t forget it like everyone else’s does. And you’ll be able to use it.”

  She stared at him, her brow adorably furrowed. Her hands trembled slightly in his. A moment later, one of her boots began to thud softly against the rung of the stool in a steady rhythm, as if the nervous energy had passed to her feet. “Huh,” she said finally. “So … like a key.”

  “Yeah, sure. A legend on a map.”

  “I guess that makes sense.” She tilted her head. “It’s weird. The TechCorps had a million selfish reasons to convince me I was only good for one thing. I know that. But sometimes it’s still hard to think outside that little box they put me in.”

  Remorse struck him like a blow to the sternum. “Sorry, I didn’t—”

  “No. No. I don’t want to live in the box.” Her full lips curved in a tentative, almost shy smile. “Just let me get my head around it, okay? It’s kind of always been the thing, you know? Dani and Nina have superpowers, and I win trivia night.”

  Here it was, right in front of him. A way he could help, something he could do that would make a real difference for Maya. “I need the rest of the day to put something together, but we can start tomorrow morning.”

  She hesitated a moment, then nodded. “I can do that. Tai can cover walk-ins for a while.”

  “It won’t be quick or easy,” he added as a belated warning. “Training like this will take a lot of time and effort, even for someone like you.”

  “You know you’re not really selling this, right?” She shook her head and spun back around on her stool. “Don’t worry. I let Dani toss me around the training room and Rafe growl at me about Tasers. I think I can handle you.”

  “Famous last words, darling. Famous last words.”

  She snorted. “Now you’re just asking to get forked.”

  “Maybe.” He started pulling books from the box and stacking them on the table in a careful pile. “I thought you were avoiding me.”

  “Avoiding you?” She glanced at him, her expression contrite. “No. I’m sorry if I was—”

  “No, I was—”

  They both stopped abruptly, and a heartbeat later Maya smiled nervously. “I swear I wasn’t avoiding you. Sometimes when I’m focused on something, I just get so in my head that the building could be on fire and I wouldn’t notice. I’ve had entire conversations with Nina without realizing it.”

  He couldn’t tell if it was the truth or if she was trying to make him feel better. “I’m not like Rafe,” he told her haltingly. “Hell, I’m not even like Knox. I make people uncomfortable.”

  She seemed to absorb the words as she set the next book in place and hit the button to start the scanner. Then she turned on her stool to face him fully. “You don’t make me uncomfortable,” she said seriously. “You never have. You’re…” She hesitated. Licked her lips. “Conall is fun, but he can be exhausting. The energy around him. Rafe can be just as bad, and sometimes Knox is so intense he gives me a headache. But you’re … careful. Peaceful. You’re safe.”

  He didn’t feel very peaceful, but careful and safe? He’d take it. “Is that why we had that … moment today?”

  Her nervous energy returned abruptly as her gaze skittered from his. “I don’t know,” she said with forced lightness, twisting to pick up another book. “I mean I was having a moment because you and your sexy T-shirt and your muscles you swear you don’t weaponize were leaning over me.”

  He took the book from her hand and set it aside. “I don’t know how to flirt. I only know how I feel.”

  Her throat worked as she swallowed. “How do you feel?”

  He’d pressed her against that wall and covered her body with his out of instinct, a drive to shield and protect. But once he was there … “I liked being close to you. I want to do it again.” He couldn’t help smiling a little. “Maybe with fewer bullets involved.”

  Her gaze snapped back to his. Her breathing seemed a little unsteady, but her nerves seemed less like anxiety and more like anticipation. “Fewer bullets is good,” she agreed.

  “Good.” He passed her another book and watched as she placed it on the scanner.

  It was slow, steady work, the mindless kind where you could let your mind wander. At first, Gray thought Maya would need to talk to fill the silence, but she seemed content to just enjoy his company.

  A tension lingered in the air between them, but it wasn’t a bad sort of feeling. It was more like an awareness, one that prickled over Gray’s skin and spiked when his fingers touched Maya’s to pass books back and forth.

  She blushed, and Gray stifled a sigh. It felt good just being near her. Even better when he saw how her eyes lit up and her mouth tilted up at the corners in a persistent smile.

  In that moment, he resolved to make that happen more. As much as possible.

  TECHCORPS PROPRIETARY DATA, L1 SECURITY CLEARANCE

  66–221: Heard you finally got slapped down for riding my ass.

  Skovgaard: I’m simply concerned about your well-being, Sergeant Walker.

  66–221: And I think you’re a nagging bitch who gets to live a soft life because I’m out there bleeding for you.

  Skovgaard: Do you resent the work you do?

  66–221: Fuck off, lady.

  Recruit Analysis Session Log, July 2064

  SEVEN

  Even after his quasi-confession in the warehouse, Maya had been confident she could deal with Gray.

  Her confidence took a drastic nosedive when she saw the blindfold. “I don’t know what sort of kinky shit you’re into, but if you wanna put that on me, you’re g
onna have to buy me dinner first.”

  His head fell back on a groan she could hear all the way across the mostly empty expanse of the Devils’ warehouse. “Will you please be serious?”

  Irritating him was good. Irritating him would hopefully distract him from the fact that he’d said he liked touching her and she was forgetting all the reasons she definitely couldn’t let him. Bravado was her only escape, and she embraced it. “Uh, have you met me? I mock evil clones to their faces and stab bad guys with forks. I don’t do serious.”

  “How could I forget?” He motioned to the low stool near her. “Have a seat.”

  Maya scanned the room again as she moved to obey. It didn’t look like a training course. It was mostly just taped marks on the floor, evenly spaced in concentric circles surrounding the stool, and a bunch of freestanding targets off to one side.

  Confused and still a little unnerved, she sank onto the stool. “So what exactly is this serious training going to involve?”

  “Like I said yesterday—listening.” Gray approached only to kneel in front of her. “That’s it. Maybe, if you feel up to it, some target shooting later. But first, I want to talk about the blindfold.”

  “Okay,” she told him, holding herself very still. He was close enough that her leg might brush him if she swung it. “Tell me about the blindfold.”

  “This kind of training can be a real trip,” he rasped. “If the blindfold starts to fuck with your head, you tap out. There’s no shame in it, you hear me?”

  His voice was fucking with her head. That was how all of this bullshit had started. Maya had always had a comfortable understanding with her subdued libido. She appreciated pretty people, but she appreciated them from a distance, without the messy complications of trust and touch or having strangers invade her personal space and the inevitable sensory meltdown that followed.

  Gray wasn’t even the prettiest of the Devils. Rafe was gorgeous, unmistakably one of the most objectively attractive people who existed in Atlanta or potentially the world. Having a crush on him would have made sense.

  But no. Gray had opened his mouth, and his voice had stroked its way under her skin. Her libido had roared to uncontrollable life. And now she was sitting in an empty warehouse with him, about to let him blindfold her and whisper things in her ear that would echo there tonight like a taunting fantasy.

  And he liked touching her.

  This was a fucking fabulous idea.

  “I’ll be okay,” she told him, forcing a grin. At least this was likely to be a useless exercise. Gray would grow bored and go torture someone else with his sin-inducing voice. “Let’s do this.”

  He rose with a nod, then slid the blindfold into his jacket pocket.

  Maya opened her mouth to protest, but he was already moving to one of the taped marks on the floor. He had a tiny device in one hand, and when he pressed a button on the top, it emitted a melodious beep.

  Without a word, he moved to the next mark and repeated the process.

  “Uhm…” Maya twisted to watch him. “Is this the training part?”

  “Let me guess.” The corner of his mouth quirked up. “You expected something from an action movie.”

  “I mean, at least some lasers or something.” She watched him traverse two more of the taped markers, the beep at each one short and cheerful. “Should I be doing something besides watching you?”

  “Yeah. Listening.” He shook his head with a laugh. “Don’t worry, the lasers come later.”

  “Oh boy.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Maya thought the lasers couldn’t come fast enough. She’d heard beeps in front of her. To each side. Behind her. Backward and forward and everything but upside down. Upside down might at least be interesting. The blood rushing to her head would have livened things up.

  And Gray wasn’t talking. Even her libido was getting bored. Thank God.

  “Ready?” His hand brushed her shoulder, his fingers blazing hot against the skin bared by her tank top, and when she turned …

  He was holding the blindfold, one eyebrow arched.

  Oh, shit.

  She swallowed hard. Managed to sound almost casual. “Go for it.”

  He stepped behind her, and the fabric slid over her eyes, blotting out everything but the steady sound of his breathing and the prickling feel of him so close to her back, he might as well be touching her all over. Gray smoothed the back of the blindfold into place over her braids, then dropped his hands to her arms. “Steady?”

  Depended on his definition of steady. His hands blazed on her arms. Skin on skin. She had fucking tingles. “I think so.”

  “Good. When you hear the sound, turn toward it and tell me how far away it is.”

  Soft, almost noiseless footsteps whispered across the bare concrete, and the first beep came from off to her left. It seemed like a ridiculous request until her body started to move, and an image formed in her head that matched the sound—Gray, standing on the fifth ring of the circles.

  Fifth ring. Evenly spaced. She pointed at where she knew he’d be. “Ten meters.”

  “Nice.” He sounded pleased. “Most people can judge immediately if something is maybe one or two meters away, but the longer distances trip them up.”

  “I have practiced hearing subtle differences in tone.” She wiggled her fingers at him. “That’s how I opened that vault in Dalton. I only have to hear the keypad sequence once to duplicate it. I got to a hundred and twenty-seven digits once before Dani got tired of quizzing me.”

  “Then you’re going to be really damn good at this. Now focus.”

  The first few times, it was fun. Her brain had always been quick to pick up on new skills, and she loved the challenge of it. But the more she turned to point to the sounds, the quicker the answers came, until she didn’t need to stop to match a tone to a particular image in her head.

  Beep. “Two meters.”

  Her brain just knew.

  Beep. “Twelve meters.”

  And when her brain knew things …

  Beep. “Two.” Beep. “Four and a half.” Beep. “Two, again.”

  … her brain got so damn bored.

  She started to fidget on the stool. She struggled to hide her irritation. Surely they should have progressed to something challenging by now. Unless this was just more bullshit with the supersoldiers underestimating her.

  Beep. Beep. Beep.

  If she looked like a badass like Nina or a literal femme fatale like Dani, Gray wouldn’t have her sitting here doing baby training exercises.

  Beep.

  She wanted guns. She wanted lasers.

  Beep. Beep.

  Hell, if she was going to make irrational choices, she wanted sexy sparring, goddammit.

  “Maya.” Gray was so close she started. Not only did his voice tickle over her skin, but she could feel his presence as he leaned over her. “It’s time.”

  Oh God, could he read her thoughts? “Time for what?” she choked out.

  “For this.” He pressed a pistol into her hand.

  Maya sat up straighter, her fingers curling tight. “You’re not going to let me shoot you, right? That would be super awkward to explain to Knox when he gets back.”

  Gray laughed. “Don’t worry. It’s simulated fire. Sounds real, but there are no bullets, so you won’t have to explain my untimely demise to the captain.” He pulled her to her feet, and the stool scraped over the floor. “Each of the targets is equipped with one of the devices I was using. When you hear the beep, you’ll have three seconds to tag it with the pistol’s laser sight and fire. It starts off slow, but it gets faster. You ready?”

  She had tingles again, but these were different. It always felt like this when she found an engaging challenge, as if the noise inside her head settled for a blissful moment, every neuron poised to fire in glorious harmony.

  Maya found her balance as Nina had taught her and lifted the gun. “Bring it on.”

  Silence. And then …

  Beep.


  Behind her. Six o’clock. Fifteen meters.

  Maya whirled in the direction of the sound and remembered the shape of the targets. They’d been constructed so that a bull’s-eye would hit a person just under two meters center mass. She knew the way that felt, the angle of her arms, the exact posture required.

  The rest was just … math. Math was easy. The TechCorps hadn’t planned to teach her more than the basics, but when they’d denied her access to the higher-level classes, Birgitte had overruled them. She’d made it clear that she wanted Maya to be capable of contextualizing complicated scientific data for her, and a vice president’s requests about the education of their personal data courier were final.

  So Maya had filled her head with math until she ran out of classes to take.

  It was all still there. She used it to model algorithms and balance the books, to calculate the potential blast radius of explosives, and to pull off pool shots so impossible, Dani had more than once rescued her from impending fistfights over her alleged pool hustling.

  Maya was good at math, so she used it to lift her arms in the third second after the beep filled the warehouse and fire on the spot she knew the target would be.

  Not thought. Knew.

  Gray had been right. This was easy. She’d just needed someone to give her the reference points.

  The next beep sounded, and she spun again. Three meters. Much closer. She adjusted the angle of her arms slightly and fired faster this time.

  Next time was faster again. Heady exhilaration filled her as her brain sparked, the challenge only increasing as the chimes accelerated. Soon, they were coming one right after the other, almost overlapping. Conscious thought turned into effortless confidence, and she smiled as she squeezed the trigger again and again and again.

  This was more like it.

  Finally, a burst of three sounds came from her left, so close together that it took her a moment to figure them out. But she took her shots without overthinking them, then poised on her toes, waiting for the next beep. When that didn’t come, she waited for Gray to say something.

  He didn’t.

  Seconds ticked by in agonizing quiet. Some of her confidence fizzled, and she reached for the blindfold. “What, did I miss them all or something?”