Damon swallowed the lump forming in his throat. If Olivia felt half as emotional as he did, she was probably about to faint.
“Daddy? Is it really you?”
“Yes, sweetie. I’m so sorry you’re caught up in this mess. I prayed my entire life that nothing like this would ever happen to you.”
“What’s going on?” Olivia asked, her voice cracking. “How did you find me? Are the men outside really your men keeping tabs on me?”
“Yes. I don’t have much time, but I’m going to tell you everything you need to know right now. Maybe in the near future I’ll be able to tell you more, but for now, I just want to ensure your safety.”
Damon held the phone tight. He wasn’t sure he trusted Olivia’s father, so it concerned him to take his advice. But he would listen closely and not say a word.
William, or Ash, continued. “There are two men watching you at all times, but you figured that out.”
“We assumed they were with the bad guys,” Spencer pointed out.
“Blue Cell,” Ash responded, letting them know he knew exactly who the bad guys were. “I figured that was the case. I feel bad about not reaching out to you when you realized you were being watched and started moving from place to place. It wasn’t time for me to contact you yet, though. You are not being followed by anyone except my men. You’re safe for now. Blue Cell has not found you.”
“How do you know anything about Blue Cell?” Damon asked.
“Let me finish, son. I’ll tell you what I can.”
Damon blew out a breath, reining in the impatience he felt.
Ash continued. “There’s a tracking device in your neck, E. I had it put there when you were a baby. I’ve always known where you were.”
She gasped. “Why?”
“Because my job was never safe. I wanted to have a way of finding you no matter what.”
Damon glanced at Spencer, remembering how he had found something on her person the day he’d arrived.
Spencer winced and rubbed his own neck, undoubtedly furious with himself for not taking the signal he’d gotten seriously. Then again, it didn’t matter. If what Ash was saying was true, the men watching Olivia were on the good side.
“I couldn’t see it for the ten years you were preserved, but I started watching for a signal to return when I heard people were being revived. I prayed for a year that you would eventually be reanimated. When I heard the ping on my phone indicating your location for the first time in a decade, I nearly cried.”
Olivia smiled.
Ash’s next words were gut-wrenching. “I feel a huge weight of responsibility for you being in that position in the first place.”
“Why? It was a job. You didn’t do it.”
“Joseph Boyden is an old friend of mine. I’d heard through the grapevine that he was sick and needing a full-time nurse. I called him and asked him to hire you as a favor to me. Boyden had someone put that ad in front of you. I didn’t want you to think anyone was tampering with your life, especially me. I just hoped you would see it and make that call.”
“Why would you do that?” Olivia rubbed her palms on her jeans over and over, her gaze plastered to the cell phone.
Ash chuckled, but his laughter was sardonic and bitter. “I thought you would be safer working for a friend of mine in a government bunker than in a large hospital ward.”
Spencer leaned closer. “You had no idea Boyden was dirty?”
“Not a clue. Not even after you were preserved. At first, I didn’t know what had happened to you. Your tracker stopped working, and Boyden stopped taking my calls.
“When I dug around and found out two people from New Mexico had been preserved, I knew it was you two. I still assumed Boyden was innocent, however. I figured he’d inadvertently gotten you exposed to some disease, maybe even his own illness, and he hadn’t had the balls to tell me himself, so he stopped speaking to me and preserved you in hopes of saving your life.”
Damon spoke next. “He definitely preserved her, but she wasn’t sick at all. She never was.”
“Did she know something?” Ash asked.
Damon shook his head, even though Ash couldn’t see him. He made the quick decision to trust this man. “No. Well, not exactly. Nothing more than the single word he had a hypnotist embed in her so that she would speak it when she awoke.”
“What word was that?”
“Samara,” Olivia responded. “And don’t say my new name unless you want me to start rambling it over and over again.”
“We’ve worked our asses off for months trying to figure out who Blue Cell is and what they want,” Damon pointed out.
Ash sighed. “Now that you have Spencer, I assume you’ve solved a great deal of the mystery.”
“Yes,” Spencer confirmed without revealing anything specific. He had a small smile on his face, though, and he pulled his shoulders back.
Damon understood what Spencer was feeling. Even if Ash turned out to be a conman, it felt good to have his praise. Damon also hoped Spencer was on the same wavelength. There was no reason to give Olivia’s father more information than necessary.
“The truth is not pretty, sweetie, and I’m not proud of who I’ve become, but the bottom line is that Blue Cell has been blackmailing me for information for decades.”
Olivia gasped. “Blackmailing you? Why? How?”
“I can’t go into that right now, but that’s the reason I let you go. If you never believe a word I say for the rest of your life, trust that I loved you with all my heart from the moment you were born. I hated that you could one day be used as a pawn or leverage against me, so I made the decision to hide you when you became an adult. It was foolish of me to be greedy enough to keep you for eighteen years. I should have let you go long before that.”
“You were afraid someone would kidnap me?”
“Or worse.” Ash’s voice trailed off.
Olivia shuddered. “Daddy…”
“Listen, I can’t talk much longer right now. I’ll have more time another day, but I want you to stay where you are. You’re with good men who will protect you.”
Damon cringed. Those words meant that William Ashton Radford had done his homework on Damon and Spencer. It also meant he found them worthy and trusted them. Small consolation considering the man was involved in very shading dealings.
Olivia cleared her throat. “Daddy, I need your help.”
“With what, sweetie?”
“You know that word I was hypnotized with?”
“Yes. Samara.”
“It caused other people to say a string of numbers. Can you tell us what they mean? We’re at a dead end.”
“What kind of numbers?”
Damon fielded that question. “Six sets of eight numbers.”
Ash sucked in a sharp breath. “Are you serious?”
“Yes,” Damon responded hesitantly. Was it a good idea to give Ash those numbers? Was it even a good idea to admit they had them?
It was a gamble, but one look at Olivia told Damon he needed to trust her father. He was their last hope.
“What’s the first digit? Is it the same for all of them?”
Damon reached across the coffee table to grab the pad of paper that had the strings of numbers scribbled on it. “Yes. The first digit is eight.”
“Damn. Ingenious,” he muttered.
“Sir?” Damon encouraged.
“They correspond to government employee classified identification numbers. I’d bet my life they are all members of Blue Cell. Did you say Boyden orchestrated this hypnotism?”
Damon responded, “Yes. It would seem so. Of course it would also seem that he later infected the entire team, forcing their preservation, maybe out of fear Blue Cell would get to them.”
“Damn,” Ash repeated. “I’ll tell you this, Boyden may have gone off the rails at the end of his life. Clearly he did. He even had my own daughter preserved after I trusted him with your life. After I begged him to keep you safe. If he were alive r
ight now, I would strangle him with my bare hands for what he did to you.
“But, embedding those numbers in people and forcing them to be preserved for a decade was a smart move. I’d bet he was incredibly close to blowing the entire Blue Cell operation and exposing them. It was his last chess play, and he was a brilliant man. He played it well.”
“Daddy, can you tell us who the people are if we give you the numbers?”
“I can. It will take me a few days. I know someone high enough up the classification chain to get into those identification numbers. I will call you as soon as I do.”
Damon held up the paper and slowly read off all the numbers.
“Got it. I can tell you each digit corresponds to states and locations and dates and in the end specific humans. We’ll figure them out.”
“Thank you,” Olivia whispered. “Where are you? Will I ever see you?”
“I’m in Moscow right now. But I won’t be for long. Maybe one day we’ll be able to meet in person. Until then, tell as few people as possible who you are. The longer everyone is ignorant of your existence and who you used to be, the safer you will be.”
“So, you want us to pretend Livvy was an innocent bystander who got preserved by a crazy doctor?” Spencer asked.
“For now. Yes. And please, don’t go anywhere, especially not the Falling Rock bunker or wherever the rest of your team is holed up. Stay where you are. You’re safe in that hotel. You don’t need to keep moving. My men will keep an eye on you and make sure no one else finds you.” A desperation came through Ash’s voice.
He’s afraid someone will recognize her. A chill raced down Damon’s spine, and he kept that thought to himself. Who on their team would recognize her and why?
It was a question that would have to be answered another time because Ash said a quick goodbye, ending with “peace, E” and then the line went dead.
Chapter 15
A week later…
“Why does your dad call you E?” Spencer asked. It was late. The room was dark. The three of them were lying in bed with Olivia tucked tightly between them.
They always slept like this now, none of the three of them wanting to be on the pull-out. Except for light kissing and fierce hugs, they hadn’t repeated last week’s sexual escapades.
Olivia had been reserved and distant since the call from her father. She was nervous all the time, pacing and waiting. Always waiting. Spencer would give anything to wipe the wrinkles from her furrowed brow. But only time and information would help her relax.
She turned toward him, confusion on her face. “I’m sorry. Did you ask me something?”
He smiled and rubbed her cheek with his thumb. “Your name. E. Why does your dad call you E?”
Damon was propped on his elbow on Olivia’s other side, a hand draped casually over her stomach. By easy mutual agreement, the two of them had given her space for seven long days. Spencer knew both he and Damon would give anything to have their light, fun, spunky woman back, but until she had closure with whatever her father was up to, it wouldn’t happen.
She grinned, a rarity. “I hated the name Evelyn almost as much as I hate Livvy. Even when I was little, I hated it. I told him it was a stupid name after the first day of preschool when kids looked at me funny. They scrunched up their faces. ‘Evelyn, what kind of name is that?’ Drove me crazy. He started calling me E.”
Spencer smiled. It was nice getting her to relax and talk, even if it was about her childhood. “You have so many names now. What will you do when this is over?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, but we’re not keeping Livvy. Sounds like a five-year-old in a pink frilly dress.”
Damon chuckled. “Did you never own a frilly dress?”
She rolled her eyes. “Occasionally, for a state dinner or something, I had to dress up, but I hated it.”
“Really?” Damon lifted a brow. “I can picture you in a dress. It didn’t occur to me you were a tomboy.”
“I’m not. I wear dresses sometimes, but I prefer the sophistication of black pencil skirts and spike heels. Pink will never suit me. And bows and ribbons weren’t my thing, even when I was five.”
Spencer laughed. “I can’t wait to see you in this pencil skirt and the heels. I’m going to order them online first thing in the morning.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Where would I wear them?”
Damon squeezed her waist. “Babe, you can wear them right here in the hotel room if you want. It won’t hurt either of our feelings.”
“Gah. You’re being silly. I’ll dress in my finest on the same day the two of you are wearing a suit.”
“When is that planned event?” Spencer asked.
She shrugged. “No idea, but if you figure it out, I’m there.”
“We’d never make it through dinner if you were dressed like that. Those legs…” Damon nearly groaned.
Spencer’s cock stiffened. Damn, but he missed her. She was right here next to him, between him and Damon, touching as much as they could be, all up and down her sides, and still he missed her terribly.
Damon set his head against her pillow and spoke into her ear. “You miss your dad.”
“Yes. He said a few days. I’m worried.”
“I know, baby, but you have to trust him. He’s fine. He’ll call as soon as he can.”
Spencer knew Damon didn’t feel half as confident as he tried to portray. Neither of them did. But his words were all they had for now. Hope.
Spencer sighed. “I’m sorry I can’t crack the code of the numbers. I’ve spent hours working on it. It must be a deep government secret because there’s not even a trace of evidence such a thing exists.”
Olivia reached for his hand and squeezed it. “I know you’ve tried. Honestly, I’m not the one who cares about the numbers. Selfishly, they aren’t my primary concern. I realize you need to know who the operatives of this Blue Cell organization are, but my main worry is for my dad.”
Spencer rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. “I understand that. It’s not selfish.”
“Not at all, baby,” Damon added. “I can’t imagine finding out one of my parents was in any way involved in something that might be illegal. Three decades of blackmail that causes a man to give up his own daughter is unimaginable.”
“He’s a good man,” she murmured, her voice choked up.
Damon rubbed her side with his fingers, skimming Spencer at the same time. “I’m sure he is, baby. He did his best. He loves you fiercely. Blackmail is complicated. I’m sure he couldn’t stop it.”
She sniffled. Her pain pierced Spencer’s heart. Her sadness made him equally distressed every day. It was hard on Damon too. Neither of them wanted to see her hurting like this.
Even though they hadn’t once discussed their future together, Spencer couldn’t imagine a life without her. It had only been three weeks, those weeks seemed like a lifetime to Spencer. He knew so many things about Olivia, things most people wouldn’t know after months of dating, things no one could avoid if they spent twenty-four hours a day sharing the same small room.
Spencer was a realist, however. Chances of their intense relationship surviving when they walked out the door were slim. Part of him had even begun to rue the day when this was over because he stood a good chance of losing the two people who had come to mean the world to him.
Olivia had so many things to work out. She had an identity that might be compromised. What if she had to take another one and leave the state? What if she did so without even suggesting the two men flanking her be involved?
And Damon? He was thirty years old. He had way more life experience than Spencer. To him, Spencer was a kid. He’d even called him that at first. He undoubtedly didn’t take Spencer seriously. Not his emotions at least. Spencer suspected Damon wouldn’t believe for a moment that Spencer was old enough to know what he wanted in life.
What about Olivia? She was the same age. Was there a double standard because she was a woman? Someone who’d had a co
llege education, a career, a life. Someone who’d even worn a pencil skirt and heels.
Spencer had certainly never worn a suit to anything in his life. He’d never owned clothing that nice. He’d fallen into Blue Cell’s hands right out of high school, cocky and too full of himself just because he knew he was smart.
The fact that some supposed government agency recognized his talents and hired him had made him even cockier and more full of himself. It probably kept him from recognizing he was in over his head with something horribly illegal for far longer than it should have.
Maybe Damon was right. Maybe Spencer was just a kid. Compared to Olivia and Damon, he was. Lately, he’d grown up though. Inside, he’d aged. The day he’d nearly been captured by Blue Cell and had taken a risk by escaping to seek refuge with the DEEP team had changed him forever. He’d taken a hit to his ego, but he was slowly recovering his self-esteem. Every day he spent with Damon and Olivia molded him into a better man.
If he lived through this, he vowed to get a college education and a self-respecting job. Just because he was good with numbers, especially binary ones, didn’t mean he was someone special.
Whatever money he had in the bank felt like blood money now. A stash of paychecks from Blue Cell. It made him cringe to think about it. He had no idea what he would do with it or what he might do to make money when this was over, but he would have to seriously consider donating that blood money to charity or something.
He knew better than anyone that he had horrible people skills. He was the stereotypical nerd, minus the glasses. And maybe the pocket protector. That was why he’d sought refuge in fetish clubs. People there didn’t judge him. No one cared what he did by day or how smart he was. No one even asked.
Olivia was the first real person in regular society to look at him as more than a geeky tech guy. Or maybe Damon had been the first to see him that way. In any case, he considered himself lucky to have experienced their kindness and understanding. Even if it was all a fabrication, born out of necessity. Tight quarters where three people who all preferred a certain level of kink had been thrust.
Reviving Olivia (Project DEEP Book 7) Page 15
