Burned: Black Cipher Files #3 (Black Cipher Files series) (7 page)

“Susan Chen knows we wouldn’t hurt her daughter,” Zeke rebutted, thinking through the series of events that lead to this point. He didn’t bring up Jamie’s sister, Bella. But by her silence, he thought she was probably thinking the same thing.

“Likely,” Jamie said. “But it was the only lead we had.”

“Anything else?” Zeke rubbed a hand through his hair, his gaze unfocused as he processed the information. “Did her in-laws have any ideas about where she might be?”

“No, they were only concerned with protecting the kid. She…doesn’t go outside.”

Zeke went quiet. They both knew that Susan Chen’s daughter had been injected with the same experimental DNA-altering drug that had been used on the espionage agents and the results had been debilitating.

All was quiet as Jamie thought through possibilities. Zeke waited her out. “I’ve been investigating her background,” she finally said. “Her ex-husband worked on the project too.”

“Oliver Krychef. Russian national. Here on an H1B visa.” Zeke recited the husband’s credentials.

“Oliver Krychef is actually the one who’d injected the daughter.”

Zeke asked, “Where is he?”

“Deported back to Russia after the government determined he was trying to steal biotechnology and nanotechnology for Putin.”

“So she wouldn’t be trying to hook up with him somehow?” Zeke asked. “Maybe find a way out of the country?”

“Doubtful. She divorced his ass after he left.” Jamie took a deep breath. “But that’s not what gave me an idea.”

Jamie Hunt was a brilliant field agent.
Brilliant.
So if she came up with something, it likely held merit. But the way she hesitated caused his stomach to cramp.

“And?” Zeke braced. Somehow he knew he wasn’t going to like what came next.

“Chen went to Caltech. Both undergrad and grad.”

California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. One of the most challenging math, engineering, and technology schools in the country. Everyone had heard of MIT but Caltech as a research institute was actually more difficult to get into and the programs there were cutting edge.

“She was a grad assistant. She worked on modeling genetic and biomechanical networks.”

Which also made sense based on the high level genetic research she’d been doing by producing and administering the drug that had messed with all their lives.

“And?” Zeke asked impatiently. Jamie wasn’t one to beat around the bush, so he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why she was drawing out whatever she needed to tell him.

“You remember in that hotel room? Her main concern was making sure the antidote worked.”

Jesus, Jamie was being evasive. And he was sick of it. “Are you ever going to come out and tell me what you’re getting at?”

Chen had been frantic for the antidote to work so she could administer it to her daughter. He could tell her a few things about the drug and the resulting reaction to the antidote. Because he’d had both. And while he wasn’t about to tell anyone else, especially his superiors at the NSA, that he had residual effects from the drugs, he might be willing to share with Susan Chen, if they could find her.

He considered that offering to share his reactions might be a way to get her to talk. An exchange of information. If she was as desperate as she seemed to get the antidote right, she might be willing to finally tell the NSA what happened when he’d been kidnapped. But they still had to catch her first.

“There’s a possibility she may head to Cal Poly.”

In San Luis Obispo, just a few miles from Cambria. “Why Cal Poly?”

“Her mentor, a Professor Zignar, is doing genetic modeling research with a combined grant between Cal Poly and Caltech. They’re using Cal Poly facilities in the joint project.”

“So I’ll see you soon?”

“We’re going to stay here one more day. We got the warrant to monitor the in-laws cell phones and there has been some unusual activity here even if Chen hasn’t shown up yet. Plus there’s been some CommInt chatter regarding Krychef.”

“You think he’s coming here?”

“No,” Jamie replied. “He’s on the DHS Watch List as high priority No Fly designation. But he may try to contact either Chen or her relatives. I have a hunch we’re going to get a break.”

So who was going to San Luis? Before he could ask, she said, “You’re the closest.”

Oh, shit, no.

“I can’t. You know the rules.” He was forbidden because of the abduction. Which Jamie knew. However she didn’t always play by the rules.

What Jamie didn’t know was that if Zeke broke the rules again, he was done. Gone. Finished. Freedom over. That was the deal he’d made years ago, at the age of sixteen, after he’d hacked into government computers one too many times.

“She could already be there,” Jamie said firmly. “I just need you to keep an eye out for her. Don’t approach if you find her. Call me and Carson.”

And he was stuck.

Susan Chen was the reason for his suspension. She was the only one who could clear him unequivocally. But because of her status as a national fugitive and known perpetrator of crimes against U.S. espionage agents, he shouldn’t get anywhere near her. If it was discovered he had contact with her outside official channels, he would be screwed.

“You don’t understand what happens if I have contact with her.”

Sunshine Smith was one thing. Contact with Sunshine was inadvisable but not career threatening. A stupid move but not one that could destroy his life.

Susan Chen was another situation completely. She was directly linked to an ongoing investigation. One that he was freaking right in the middle of and under suspicion for participating in. He couldn’t have contact with her. It was career suicide. It was
life
suicide.

“You don’t have to have contact with her. Just watch out for her. We need to know who is behind this entire operation,” Jamie said firmly, quietly. “There’s no way Chen and her dead partner had the authority to engineer everything on their own. They had to have help at the highest level.”

Zeke knew that. Knew Jamie was right. He had a vested interest in discovering the traitor who had let Chen and her partner experiment on espionage agents, but he had to tread with extreme caution.

Because if David Armbruster, the Assistant Director of the NSA, found out he’d been anywhere near Susan Chen he was fucked.

“I realize that, but—”

“What’s going on at your end?” Jamie asked suspiciously.

Besides the fact that he was an idiot and unbelievably attracted to his surveillance subject? Besides the fact that he’d broken a cardinal rule of surveillance and actually had extended contact with his subject? Besides the fact that he’d kissed his surveillance subject and, frankly if he had the chance, he’d probably kiss her again?

“Nothing.” The only threat that he could see to Sunshine Smith was himself. “It’s quiet.”

“What if sending you there wasn’t just a hunch?” Jamie asked. “San Luis is extremely close to Cambria. She’d have access to a lab, and maybe to a test subject. After all the first round of subjects who’d been given the drug were part of Department 5491.”

Zeke’s heart froze. Chen’s original experiments had not been a success. For all they knew she
could
be looking for new subjects. And for some reason they didn’t understand, her test subjects were all from the same genetic pool.

“She could be after Sunshine.” Jamie’s words speared worry through his heart. Logically it didn’t make sense that Susan Chen would go after Sunshine, assuming she could even find her. Sunshine had been off the grid in a major way. However Chen had access to all sorts of information and resources that she shouldn’t have had. So what if Jamie were right?

“Shit, do you think so?” But as he examined the idea, he thought it was possible. They only knew about the agents that had been injected. What if she was looking for a new batch of test subjects?

Patterns. Patterns everywhere. The pattern was there, even if he couldn’t see it right now. Zeke said fiercely, “She can’t hurt Sunshine.”

“Why does that upset you so much?” Jamie’s voice was soft in his ear.

Jamie couldn’t possibly have figured out he was a little obsessed with his surveillance subject, could she?

He stayed silent and Jamie continued, “The only people given the original drug and antidote are in the 5491 file. Chen could be going after the others who hadn’t been given the drug. Sunshine, Bella, and ADA, whoever that is.”

“But the original experiment subjects were...agents,” he argued. “People with secrets. People with security clearance.”

But if Zeke thought about it, Sunshine clearly had secrets too or she wouldn’t have stayed hidden for the last thirteen years.

“Who’s to say Chen hasn’t gotten ready to start up again with new subjects? She is frantic to make an effective antidote. And to test the antidote you have to have the drug first.”

Exposing herself to capture did not seem like a smart or even viable plan to lay low, which surely should be Susan Chen’s course of action. Especially if she wasn’t going after her daughter. Zeke couldn’t see it. Sunshine didn’t fit the pattern.

But what if Jamie was right and Chen was planning on using Sunshine and others as new test subjects?

Over his dead body. Susan Chen was not getting her hands on Sunshine. She was not continuing her experiments and fucking up that woman’s life. No effing way.

Suddenly everything clicked, as if his whole life he’d been fractured, a little off. The reason for his inability to connect with people, the reason he saw patterns in random facts and numbers. He refused to let anyone become a threat to Sunshine.

So if that meant finding Susan Chen and making sure she didn’t get anywhere near Sunshine, he would do it. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

“Yeah. I knew you would. Just find her, call us, then follow her until we can get someone there to apprehend her.” He could practically see Jamie’s smirk through the cellular frequencies. “But dude, remember to go incognito. Remember the lessons.”

Yeah, whatever. “Got to go.”

Zeke nearly sprinted through Cambria’s quaint downtown. The sound of the surf shushed in the distance, and crisp, piney eucalyptus and the weighty smell of fog scented the air.

He’d head over to Cal Poly, he’d stake out Susan Chen’s former professor, and he’d make sure nothing happened to mess up Sunshine Smith’s already complicated life. He’d seen the shadows in her gray eyes, and he was determined not to add to her burdens.

Ten

I sat at the little bistro table and watched the morning fog swirl around the old wine barrels potted with flowers, the briny breeze off the ocean ruffled the lacy edges of an asparagus fern and drew out the sweet scent of alyssum.

I considered the empty wrought iron chair across from me then glanced down the sidewalk towards the other end of town. Zeke Thorn was striding away, gesturing restrainedly while he talked into his cell. With an odd sense of melancholy, I watched the most interesting guy I’d met in a long time, possibly ever, rush away.

Which was certainly ironic because I was usually the one running away. I’d been running since I was seven years old. Both physically and metaphorically.

He sure flowed hot and cold.

Of course, so did I. I didn’t need a guy in my life. Couldn’t
have
a guy in my life. That was my reality. But the overwhelming emotion tightening my throat and causing the tremble in my fingers as I picked up my teacup was regret. My throat convulsed and that last sip of tea stuck in the hollow as I watched him go. I wished I could call him back. I could pretend for a short hour we were friends, lovers even, sharing a cozy little date with scones and tea.

A small, private birthday celebration.

I was going to be twenty years old tomorrow. I’d never had a real boyfriend, never been intimate, never had a true friend, always too worried about being discovered to let anyone get close. Always worried about having to move again.

Wistfully I watched as his silhouette got smaller and smaller, shrinking like the little kernel of hope that had swelled in me after that amazing, haunting kiss.

Ruthlessly I shoved the hope aside, and crushed the futile emotion like I pulverized the dried herbs in my mortar and pestle. I sighed, took a final sip of my tea. Time to get back to the shop. Back to reality. Back to my life.

Of course, now I had to come up with a plausible explanation for how I knew Zeke, because sure as sugar, Mama was going to ask more questions.

I didn’t date. Ever. I certainly didn’t kiss men in front of my mother. My introduction to the dysfunctional side of relationships came too early and with too high a price tag.

Men were pleasant enough in small doses, in public and never to be trusted to get too close. I had to protect myself and I had to protect my mother. That’s the way it had always been. We took care of each other.

Except now Mama had Blue.

My cell rang. Mama wouldn’t be interrupting me and that’s about the only person who ever called me on the damn thing anyway.

I glanced at the display, noted it was the French pastry shop on the other end of town.

“Hello?”

“
Bonjour
, Sunny,” Madame Broussard greeted me.

“
Bonjour, Madame
,” I replied automatically, wondering why she was calling. For my birthday? Then I realized tomorrow wasn’t the official day of Sunshine Smith’s birth. Sunshine Smith’s birthday was in April.

“Just wanted to let you know zere was
un homme
asking about you and
vȏtre mére
.”

Zeke. I glanced down the street, where he was all but invisible.

“He found me.”

“Already?” Madame sputtered. “
Mais
...he was just here a second ago.”

Madame’s speech always degenerated into a mix of English with a smattering of French when she was upset or had had a little too much wine.

Alarm skittered across my neck. What if it hadn’t been Zeke? “What did he look like?”

“Older, in his fifties, under six feet tall, almost bald, a broken nose, and
les yeux
a pale, ice blue.” Madame always noticed the eyes, I thought with amusement.

Except her words kicked in. My heart started thumping in my chest. The eyes were the clincher. Appearances could change but the monster had extremely light blue eyes. She hadn’t described Zeke. Zeke was close to my age with curly blond hair. And his eyes were the color of the ocean. Murky and deep. I should not be thinking about Zeke Thorn’s eyes right now.
Focus, Sunny
.