Page 64 of Fury
Davis!
Hollyn threw herself toward the door at the end of the hall.
Before she could turn the handle, it snapped open and Davis filled the gap. The random sounds she’d heard were louder now that the door was open. They continued to play in a maddening repeat.
Hollyn jumped. “Davis!” He didn’t look injured. Good, good. But how’d he known she was out here? “W-what’s going on?”
A hard look darkened Davis’s face. “You shouldn’t be over here.” He called to Fury and they both stepped out, forcing her back.
“Turn it off!” Germaine’s irritated growl clashed with the soundtrack.
Just in the two minutes she’d heard the repeated notes, Hollyn was already cringing. She covered her ear with her free hand to help dampen the sound. “What are you guys doing?” For a second, she caught a glimpse of Germaine secured to a chair in the room.
Then the door closed.
“Don’t think you really need me to answer that, do you?” he challenged.
No, of course not. The only thing she wanted was to know why her family had been targeted.
“Come on.” Davis ushered her down the hall and into the open kitchen.
“Is that the best way to get information out of him? How do you even stand being in there with that constantly playing?”
“This is how things are done.” He spoke firmly. Zero regret tinged his eyes no matter how hard she searched. “War isn’t fun, Hollyn.”
“This isn’t war!”
“It is! Maybe not to those with a limited, conditioned view, but—yes, thisisa war,” he continued. “And we’re trying to get information from him. Trying to save people he’s actively going after.”
Hollyn threw a hand out. “You think that’s the best course of action?”
“Yes!”
The reply was so simple. Devoid of even the smallest trace of doubt.
Hollyn searched his eyes. The only thing she saw was a sincerity that shook her to the core. She rubbed her thumb over the corner of the laptop, trying not to freak out.
Why was she even questioning this? Germaine had murdered her friend. The fight leached from her. “Is it working? Did he give you the information you want?” She hugged herself. “Who even is he?” The question had been burning in her head for a while now. All she’d heard so far was the name Germaine.
“His name’s Braum Germaine. Let’s leave the rest of the intel to the team, okay?” Davis roughed a hand over his stubbled jaw, and her mind flashed back to the kiss they’d shared.
Harsh reality was starting to press in on all sides, but Hollyn was determined not to let it sully what their kiss had meant. Hope and a future—God was the orchestrator of their story. That, she could trust fully. Still, the nagging what-ifs continued to whisper in her ear.
What if they were letting their past guide them? What if she wasn’t good enough for Davis? What if he left?
Hollyn dropped her gaze, uncertainty growing as that last question slammed around her mind. Head lowered, she noticed the intense way Fury was staring at her. His giant tongue swept over his jowls, then he went back to staring her down, body rigid like he might strike any second.
She swallowed and took a step back.
“Find what you were looking for on the computer?” Davis asked.
“What?” The sudden change of topic drew her focus up to him again, and he tipped his head toward the laptop she held. “Oh, right. Well, yes and no. Someone definitely tried to get into my files, and the lab system shut them out. But the ending sequence of the algorithm I created is . . . gone.”
Saying it aloud made it even worse. Made it real.
His brow furrowed. “Gone how?”
“As in, I can’t find it. Anywhere.” Hollyn clutched the laptop against her chest. “Not in the lab system. Not on my hard drive. It’s . . . like it never existed.” She wracked her brain, trying to figure out what could’ve happened.