Page 20 of Beyond the Rules
After another quick, silent consultation between the guys, Aiden brought my cell out of his pocket and set it on the counter. “You build reallyniceapps.”
“You should market some of them,” Tanneradded.
“Yeah, well, thanks,” I said. “But nobody in their right mind is going to finance a convicted felon. Can wegonow?”
“No,” Zar said. “Wecan’tgo.”
I clenched so hard my teeth hurt. “I’ve answered all your questions. Take me where I needtogo.”
“It’s not necessary,”Zarsaid.
“Let me be the judgeofthat.”
“Okay.” Zar pushed the cell in my direction and parked it between my uselesshands.
I squinted into the screen, missing my computer glasses. I spotted the little red balloon that indicated my destination as well as the blue balloon that showed the cell’s current position. I blinked several times. I zoomed in but their distance apart remained the same. Was I seeingright?
I gasped for air, but my lungs remained empty. My mind spun as the clues that had been staring at me in the face came together. Suddenly, everything made perfect sense. The red and the blue balloon were bunched up together, one on top of the other, at the same exactlocation.
Chapter6
Aiden
Nina’s head snapped up, flicking straight strands of blond hair away from her face. Her eyes lit us up like a pair of laser beams, Zar, Tanner, me. Disbelief. Anger. Betrayal. And then her own warning salvo, the golden glower, the one that said she was gonna get even and promised there was gonna be hell to pay at all levels of our existential layers, spiritually, psychologically, physically, maybe even sexually… That last one scored a direct hit in my groin, where my balls tugged like a heavy lead ball on the chain of myhardcock.
Easy soldier. Just ’cause a guy hadn’t gotten laid in a while didn’t mean one had to react like a hormonal teenager. Good thing I was sitting. But then again, I liked being horny. It made me feel alive, as if I were back in the middle of the fighting, dodging bullets and picking my way between IEDs. The existential drive to reproduce was good formymood.
I didn’t bother to look at anyone else’s lap. I knew Zar went to his club often and made his rounds. He got grumpy as hell when he didn’t get any and he wasn’t one to skimp on sex. Tanner was a chick magnet with a pot of charm who got laid whenever hewantedto.
Me? I was finicky. I didn’t like public places much these days, and even when I made an effort, the local bars weren’t exactly filled to the rim with high IQs and stimulating conversation. I liked smart ladies who had a strong point of view and something to say for themselves. The feisty hacker chick sitting next to me, with her crazy skills, her clever tongue, and a body that said she was friends with some sort of exercise, checked all of the above. Since she’d arrived, I’d been so fascinated with her that I’d only had one or two flashbacks. It was a good sign. Right? Problem was, right now, she looked madashell.
“You guys played me.” Nina purred like a tigress—well—if tigresses purred, which they didn’t. “Why didn’t you tell me I’d arrived at the rightlocation?”
“Security first,” Zar said. “You breached our perimeter. We needed to authenticate youridentity.”
“Authenticate my ass.” Nina glared. “Which one of you isUlysses?”
None of us answered. I felt bad for Nina, but it wasn’t gonnahappen.
“Come on, give it up,” she insisted. “I need to make contact withUlysses.”
I traded looks with the guys, trying to figure out what todonext.
“Oh, my God.” Her mouth opened and then snapped shut as she pressed those pretty lips together in frustration. “You’re not going to tell me,areyou?”
Her features crumbled, breaking her face’s perfect harmony and curving her lips in a way that made me instantly unhappy. She looked totally stricken and I swear, my determination, which had never wavered before, wavered a tad. A stern glance from Zar and I was back on track. This woman’s misery did weird things to my fucked-up brain, which was frantically trying to find ways to make thisright.
“Sorry,” Tanner said. “We can’t talk about Ulysses. You, of all people, know the risks betterthanmost.”
She dropped her head to her chest and yet I managed to spot the pain of the loner in her eyes, the emotional isolation that Tanner had talked to us about, the loneliness that came from having no one who trusts you and no one you can trust. So much lonesomeness in the modern world. More so in the techy ecosphere. So much isolation vis-à-vis brain power. Social media and virtual connections didn’t live up to the hype of having realfriends.
I could’ve been like her, but I’d been lucky. Since I’d joined the Navy, I’d always been surrounded by fellow warriors who were fighting my same wars. I was a member in good standing of a fraternity of elite warriors that took care of their own. Beyond that, I had my team, the one we’d built, a brotherhood for life. I had Zar and Tanner, and our pact, so even on my worst day, I knew I’d never belonely.
But she’d never had any of that. On the contrary. So far, our research suggested she’d been alone for the ride. My gut churned. She was like a she-wolf withoutapack.
“You’ve been lying to me,” she said, eyes bright withaccusations.
“Now, Nina, that’s not true.” Tanner settled his hand on her shoulder. “Think about it. Maybe you made some assumptions, but we never liedtoyou.”