Freedom Code

by Elaine Levine

  “So I gathered from your comments.” He looked over his field. “I’ve heard stories about kids”—his gaze swiveled toward her—”and city dwellers getting lost in fields like this for days. Not a good thing.”

  Zaida crossed her arms and held a hand to her throat. “Why? Do they starve to death?”

  “No. The rattlers get them long before that. These fields are full of rodents…and the predators that hunt them.”

  “That’s horrible.” Zaida shivered.

  “Why? They eat the mice that eat my crop. Nature has a beautiful sense of balance that works perfectly—when humans don’t muck it up.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Are you just saying that to scare me into not running?”

  He tried not to smile. “Is it working?”

  “Yes.”

  His grin was enigmatic. She didn’t like it one bit. Didn’t help that it was a very male expression, and it made her more aware than ever of all their physical differences—his height, his broad shoulders, his lean, muscular build. His hand when he’d held hers a second ago was big and warm and a little calloused. She shivered, feeling a pull between them that she hadn’t felt in a very long time with any man.

  “Let’s go in. I’ll get you settled. Tomorrow, I’ll show you around, and we’ll work on figuring out what’s happening.”

  “And I need to call my parents.”

  “Right.” He unlocked his door and pushed it open for her. She stared into the black space behind him, wondering if it was a good idea to go in there, alone, with a stranger. No one would ever find her out here. They wouldn’t even look for her here. She never did nature—unless it was walking to one of her favorite coffee shops outside the atrium where she lived.

  She sent Levi a worried glance. His face was blank. He did nothing to alleviate her fears. “If you harm me, I will fight you. And I fight dirty.”

  Levi smiled. He caught her hand and held it up, showing her her nails. “These nails have never hit anything other than a keyboard.”

  “Because no one has ever dared harm me.”

  “Well, princess, let’s keep that streak running.” He flipped the lights on in the house.

  She stepped inside, sending a fast look around the place, half expecting to see women chained to walls. Instead, she saw a lovely cottage-like farmhouse that could have been decorated by Martha Stewart herself. The walls separating the public rooms were gone, making the tight space seem larger than it was. The kitchen took half the open space. The living room had pale green walls, white linen drapes, a taupe L-shaped sofa with a coffee table and a big TV on one wall. Another wall was covered by a long bookcase. The kitchen had a huge white quartz island, gray Shaker cabinets, white subway tiles on the backsplash, and top-grade steel appliances.

  Whatever she was expecting, it wasn’t this. A black German shepherd sat up from the sofa and stretched, then jumped off and hurried over to them. Zaida stepped behind Levi. That dog was huge.

  Levi looked at her over his shoulder. “Dogs not your thing?”

  “No.”

  “Sorry. Should have warned you about him. That’s Beau. He retired from the K-9 unit in Fort Collins. He’s pretty much a couch potato now.”

  “Yes.” She gripped a fistful of his shirt and pressed closer.

  “Beau’s not going to hurt you, unless you’ve been building bombs or are transporting contraband.”

  “I haven’t and I’m not.”

  “Perfect. Then you’ve got nothing to fear…except now you’ve shown you’re afraid of him, and your fear’s going to make him nervous about you. Nothing’s spookier to a dog than a spooked human. Here’s what you’ve got to do.” He turned so he could see her, which meant that she had to let go of him. “Hey, look at me.” She did. “Pretend he’s not there. Now that you’ve introduced fear between you two, he’s going to mirror it back to you. He will never bite you, but he isn’t certain you won’t bite him. So you two have to take the long way toward getting along. That means ignoring each other and respecting each other. Got it?”

  “Why do you have a dog?” she asked.

  “Who doesn’t have a dog?”

  “I don’t. My parents don’t.”

  Levi bent over and rubbed Beau’s ears. “I knew when I got out of the service that I wanted a dog. Took me a while to find the right one. Beau’s been a good friend. I think he’s happy to have a place he can chill. And he still has an important job to do when I’m not here.”

  “Which is?”

  “Protect the place.”

  “Protect it from what?”

  “Dunno. Things that make me nervous. Like your friend Jamal.”

  Zaida stared at Levi. Jamal had always had that effect on her too.

  “How about I show you around?” Levi offered. “Not much to see. There’s only one bedroom, so I’ll take the couch. There’s a full bath in the bedroom, and another off the porch. I have my exercise equipment out there. The laundry’s in the guest bath, if you need to wash anything.” He looked around the house. “The maid was just here, so the place is still kinda neat.”

  “You get maid service way out here?”

  “A neighbor’s wife does it to make extra cash. Mrs. Nolan comes once a week. She just changed the sheets, so they’re fresh for you. I’ll go bring your stuff in.”

  Thankfully, the dog followed him outside. Zaida walked around the rooms. The little house was tidy.

  When Levi came back in with her satchel and computer bag, he took her things straight to her room. “You got any weapons in here?” he asked.

  “If I did, I doubt I would admit it. And if I did, I could probably have taken care of Jamal myself.”

  Levi grinned. “How? By shooting him? You can’t just go around offing people you don’t like.”

  “You did. At my apartment.”

  “In all fairness, I have no idea if I would have liked them or not. Probably not. But I have a license to kill.”

  She folded her arms. “There is no such thing.”

  “Yeah, princess, sadly, there is. Get yourself settled. I’ll get your phone set up so you can call your folks.”

  Get yourself settled. What did that mean? How long was she going to be here? She put her toiletries in the bathroom, next to his shaving supplies, which she was surprised to see he owned, since he didn’t seem to use them. She looked at herself in the mirror. Touching her cheek, she wondered what his shadow beard would feel like against her skin. No sooner had she thought it than a molten heat slipped through her skin. Most of the men she’d dated were clean-cut, not like Levi. There was an edge about him. Something rough and uncivilized.

  When she came out of her room, he handed her a back-level iPhone and a piece of paper. “I moved your info over. That’s your new phone number. For now. When this is over, we can reset your old phone and restore it. Just have to make sure the baddies are no longer tracking you.”

  She nodded. “Thank you. But when this is over, of course they won’t be tracking me.”

  “We’ll never get them all, Zaida, though I will get this batch. Still the people driving them from outside the country will just run to ground and hole up for a while. When they come crawling out, I don’t want you to be a target again.”

  She opened the contacts and found her mom in her favorites, then hit the number. It rang. And rang. No answer. She gave Levi a worried look, then tried her dad’s number. No answer. She lowered her new phone and stared at it. “One of them always answers.”

  Levi took out his phone and called Lambert. “Go, Levi.”

  “You get her parents?”

  “The team I sent hasn’t checked in.”

  “How about cleaning out her apartment?”

  “Someone got there ahead of us. Bodies were gone. We finished the cleanup. I’ll text you what I find out about your Jamal guy and that van.” Lambert dropped the call.

  Levi sighed as he looked down at his phone. Lambert was a mystery. The guy had retired from the teams four years ago wit
h a stellar record. How many ops did the man have in flight? It was a resource-intensive and logistically difficult undertaking the commander carried. He was well connected in D.C. and obviously could name his price for each mission.

  “No news from my contact, either.” He pocketed his phone. “I’ll get my things out of the bathroom and grab a few blankets, then the room’s yours.” He did that, then paused at her door. “Night, Zaida. If you need me, I’ll just be out here. Me and Beau.” He smiled at her.

  “Night, Levi. Thank you. For everything.”

  “You bet.”

  Zaida closed the door behind him. She was glad he wouldn’t be far away, which was interesting, because had they met on the street, she probably wouldn’t have given him the time of day, and yet…he was so much like a hero she would write. Handsome, charming, funny, brave. Her stories weren’t romantic suspense, though—they were mostly new adult college or small town stories. Maybe she should write a romantic suspense and explore a whole new set of characters and challenges.

  She changed into a silky tee and a pair of knit boxer shorts, then washed her face and brushed her teeth. She got into Levi’s bed. He must not have women out here—his bed was just an extra-long twin. That made her happier than it should have. He’d brought her to this place that was so special to him. Granted, he hadn’t had many other options. He had a dog and a farm to care for. She shouldn’t let any of this go to her head.

  She looked at her phone. A half-hour had passed since she last tried her parents. She dialed them again, but neither picked up. She didn’t want to think that it wasn’t safe for them to answer her call. They might have been forced to leave their phones at home too.

  She could hear water running. Maybe Levi was taking a shower. She sat up and leaned against the wall, replaying the day in her mind. Everything had been normal until she met up with Jamal. He’d scolded her for disrespecting her parents, reminding her that they had selected him to marry her and that it was time they got serious about planning their wedding.

  None of which had rung true. Yes, her parents had approved of him—and even selected him—but they had never forced her to accept their choices. Nor had they ever felt disrespected when she hadn’t liked someone they had, which was every time. She knew they were all about wanting her to settle down and have kids. They told her that quite often. You’d think it was their biological clocks ticking fast not hers. But without a doubt, she knew they wanted her happy, first and foremost.

  The floors creaked in the living room.

  Zaida started to cry. She’d never been this scared in her life. She got up and pulled the quilt from the bed. Wrapping it around her shoulders, she went out into the living room.

  Beau’s head popped up, the tags on his collar jingling. It was cold in Levi’s house. Zaida was shivering.

  “What’s the matter?” Levi was barefoot and bare chested, wearing only a pair of jeans. He pulled on a fresh T-shirt.

  Zaida drew a shaky breath. What she needed no one could provide. But that didn’t stop her from wanting it. “I-I just…I just really wanted someone to tell me everything would be all right. And a hug.”

  Levi walked over to her and looked down at the woman who’d appeared so confident and indomitable when he’d watched her stroll through the atrium at her apartment building. Now her shoulders were slumped, her eyes held no joy, and her face was pale. Those bastards had stolen all her vibrancy and sass.

  For that alone, they deserved what he was bringing to them.

  He touched her cheek, struck by how soft her skin was. He wished he wasn’t such a poor judge of women. He always felt protective of them, and it was no different with Zaida. God help him if she was another Jules, ‘cause he could fall hard for her.

  He pushed those thoughts out of his mind and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him. He would soon enough learn her truth. For now, her head fit nicely against his chest, and it was nice to not be alone.

  Her arms were folded between them, so he couldn’t feel much of her curves, but her shoulders were slim. She really was such a petite thing.

  “I can’t lie to you, Zaida. The guys we’re up against are sneaky and desperate—a bad combo in psychopaths. I can tell you that you aren’t dealing with this on your own. And I’m damned good at what I do. I’ve been doing it for more than two decades…just not on U.S. soil. Put it out of your mind for a few hours. Get some sleep. We’ll hit it hard in the morning.”

  Zaida wrapped her arms around him, returning his hug. He felt her…all of her…pressed up against his body. It was exquisite torture. She probably felt his reaction too. Not much he could do about that, except ignore it.

  He wasn’t in any hurry for her to pull away, so they stood there, in the middle of his living room, with Beau watching them, for long delicious minutes. Why couldn’t he have a girl like her? She was fun to talk to, sexy as hell, and living an exciting life.

  He’d thought the same of Jules and look where that led him.

  No, he damn well better keep his heart separate until he knew whether she was or wasn’t venomous.

  He pulled back. She sent a quick look at his eyes, then stared at his throat, then nodded and went back to her room.

  6

  Zaida had just shut her eyes when the most ungodly commotion started up in the living room. She looked around, startled that her room was so bright. What time was it? She looked at the phone Levi had given her: 9:30 a.m. She flopped back on her bed with a sigh. She hadn’t even been aware she’d gone to sleep, and here it was morning already.

  What was that noise in the living room? Someone was singing. Someone and…a dog. Geez. Levi and Beau were howling their way through Werewolves of London. She giggled when she realized Beau could hold a tune better than Levi.

  And then she smelled coffee. And something sweet and cinnamony. Her stomach growled. She rolled out of bed and plodded over to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, and lathered on some lotion and sunscreen. Levi’s house was still freezing, so she slipped into a loose cotton pullover and put on a pair of socks, then went out to greet him and his one-dog-show.

  She took the coffee mug Levi handed her. It already had cream and sugar and tasted like heaven. “Could you be any louder?” she grumbled.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, princess. It’s not like we have murdering terrorist thugs to track down. Or anything pressing in the real world at all…” He grinned at her.

  “Beau sings better than you do.”

  “I know. He thinks I just need practice.” Levi shook his head just slightly so the dog wouldn’t notice.

  Zaida laughed. Levi froze in place, staring at her. “What?” she asked.

  “Sorry. Forgot what I was doing. You look so pretty. I don’t usually have visitors out.”

  Zaida raised her brows. “I don’t even have my face on. I haven’t brushed my hair. I’m not dressed. And I’m grumpy and hungry and still scared.”

  “Hmm. Three of the seven dwarfs.”

  She laughed. “I don’t think Scared was one of Snow White’s dwarfs. I don’t think Hungry was either.”

  “No? Then there should be a lot more of them. Humanity is far more complex than six adjectives and a doctor.”

  She shook her head. “You talk a lot for first thing in the morning.”

  “First thing? The morning’s almost over.”

  “It smells good out here. I didn’t know you could cook,” she said.

  “Good thing I can. You’ve been under observation long enough for the record to show you don’t cook.”

  She gasped. “For real?”

  He nodded.

  She shook her head. “What did you make?”

  “Monkey bread. Egg soufflé. Fresh fruit. And coffee. I don’t know what you like yet, so I figured I better cover all the bases.”

  “I like eating.”

  Levi grinned. “My kinda girl.”

  While he got some plates out and did a few dishes, Zaida took her coffee outs
ide. It was about a hundred degrees hotter outside than in. Felt wonderful. She looked up and came to a full stop. This was the first time she could actually make sense of where they were. Last night, the huge sunflowers had looked ominous. This morning, they were glorious. As far as she could see, there was an ocean of yellow and green.

  Levi had a small patch of lawn, which was neatly trimmed. Pavers led the way from the driveway to the house, and from the front steps out to a big patio with a huge picnic table. Another path led off of that to a fire pit area with four Adirondack chairs sitting around it. Still another path led from the side of the house to a row of greenhouses. She couldn’t wait to look in them to see what he was growing.

  His place here was a bit of heaven…even for a city girl.

  The screen door behind her banged shut. She looked at Levi as he came to stand next to her. “What do you think? It’s a work in progress.”

  “This is amazing. It’s a forest of flowers.”

  He nodded then went down the steps. “You should see them from the other side of the house. They face the east in the morning and the west in the evening, then during the night, they turn east again.”

  “It’s like they know—things.”

  “They do. They’re sentient, I’m certain of it. Come here.” He walked over to the picnic table, which was on the far side of the lawn. He climbed on the bench then held a hand out to her. “Climb up here and look west.”

  She set her coffee down, then took his hand and followed him to the top of the table. They turned toward the big field of sunflowers that were facing them. “Wow. How can plants move?”

  “It’s heliotropism. Some scientists argue it doesn’t exist in sunflowers, but I have a video of them doing it. And you’ll see tonight that they are facing the west. Want to eat out here?”

  “Yeah. It’s freezing in your house.”

  “Sorry. It’s a swamp cooler. No thermostat. It just runs. Trust me, by this afternoon, you’ll be glad for the break from the heat.” He helped her back down to the ground. “Hey, while I bring out our breakfast, why don’t you give your parents a call?”