Cipher (9 page)

Be smart, Cipher. You didn’t come this far by thinking with your ass.

“The looks he gave you…they sizzled.”

I glanced at her. “How would you know? You were off with Oliver.”

“I was standing right there with him. We were both watching you.”

Wow. I’d been so wrapped up in Knight that I hadn’t noticed them dissecting every word we said.

“Neither of us could believe how the two of you were acting. We shared several meaningful looks about it,” she said with an eyebrow waggle.

As much as I wanted to blow off this news, I knew I’d been acting like an idiot. But Knight? That could be his normal. It probably was his normal. With his looks, I was sure he had plenty of experience flirting. “It’s because I wasn’t what he was expecting.” I’d talked to him on and off for years, but we’d never met in real life. For good reason. This was exactly why I went to the trouble of disguising my voice and identity.

Mona shook her head. “You can lie to yourself all you want, but that guy likes you. He
likes you
likes you. You should at least try to give him a shot. See how it goes.”

Get a root canal. Clean out the Griz’s sewage line. Have my eyes poked out. All these seemed like better, safer options. “I’m getting my processor and heading home. No gaming. No flirting. No nothing.”

“If you say so.” She tapped her fingers along the steering wheel. “But I think that’s a mistake.”

“I say so.” I wanted to mean that, but I wasn’t sure how it’d actually play out.

No matter what I wanted—or my hormones wanted—I couldn’t afford any complications. Down the line, maybe we could meet up again. But for now, simple was best. No entanglements.

If I couldn’t stick to that plan, I was going to be in a huge heap of shit.

Chapter Six

KNIGHT

I watched Cipher walk away. The sway of her hips hypnotized me. It killed me a little to watch her go, but I’d see her at the club. Or else I’d go hunt her down.

“You think that was the real Cipher?” Oliver asked as we stepped into a secluded corner of the staff tent.

I shot Oliver a look as I tapped on the anti-bug software. Cipher wasn’t on any hot lists, but better safe than sorry—if anyone heard this conversation, it would only raise questions I couldn’t afford to answer.

“That definitely was her. Blows my mind that she’s the one who’s been kicking my ass in just about everything.” I paused to consider the question. “Is Cipher the girl I’m looking for? I don’t know.” I didn’t want to use names here. There were too many ears, bug-blockers or not, but I couldn’t help thinking about it. I rubbed my eyes as I thought. If that were Emma, I’d be in way over my head. Cipher was a super hot, über-hacker who I’d been a fan of since forever. I’d been trying to hang out with Cipher for years… Emma was the girl who’d saved me. I owed her. I’d rearranged my whole life for her. If these two obsessions were actually one person, she’d own me. “Maybe? I thought I’d know just by looking at her, but I don’t. Turns out, twelve years is a long time when you’re still growing up.” I paused. “But I know one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Whoever that is, I want her. Bad.”

“That’s dangerous.” Oliver crossed his arms. “You’ll be tied to the one you’re looking for. You know you can’t start a relationship with some other girl. You’ll just end up hurting them both. If you start something with Cipher, it’s gotta be your usual one and done.”

He was starting to piss me off. “It doesn’t have to be a romantic pairing. That’s not why I did it.” I thought for a second. Damn it. “She had freckles. Her eyes were hazel-green. But I don’t remember her lips being so bitable.”

Oliver chuckled. “Did you feel a charge off her?”

I knew he didn’t mean the romantic kind. “She wouldn’t let me touch her.” That was something else to add into the might be Emma column. If it were her, she’d shy away from touch. Or maybe she just didn’t want some strange dude pawing at her.

I needed proof that Cipher wasn’t Emma. I’d run searches on Cipher before, but I’d assumed a lot of things about her that weren’t true. Mostly that she was a he.

I needed to get a grip before this obsession really took hold of me.

A guy in black motioned me toward the door.

I sighed. I’d forgotten he’d come to get me while I was talking to Cipher. “I better go find out what the boss needs.” I hated that I had to go do this, but keeping my cover meant jumping when Colonel Santiago said jump.

“Catch you back in the barracks?”

I tapped off the bug jammer and tucked away my phone. “Nah. I’m going to head out. I’ve got a processor to build. Meet me there?”

“Sure thing.”

We bumped fists, and I went around the back of the tents to the temp buildings. I knocked twice on Santiago’s door.

“Come in.” The command came through the door.

I opened it, and a blast of cold air hit me. The movable building held only one office with stark metal walls. The desk bolted to the floor took up most of the space and the only decorations were two folding chairs and the comp screen on the back wall. Everything was highly portable. When the Trials moved, they’d hook a rig to the unit and drive it to the next Void on the tour.

Santiago sat behind his desk. His beady eyes tracked me as I stepped into his office. I was reasonably certain the asshole had given up his soul a long time ago, and I hated what I’d had to do on my last op under his command. It was something I had to live with, but participating had cemented myself into the ranks of the obedient, giving me the access I needed to help the Ravens. But I’d die with a black mark, and hope the afterlife forgave me of my sins.

“Have a seat, Marquez.”

“Yes, sir.” The chair screeched, metal feet against the metal floor, as I sat. I kept my gaze firmly on his as I waited for him to explain why I was here. Santiago always liked a bit of a power play to start off a meeting.

“It’s unusual to see you taking a break from ops to work the Trials,” he said, finally.

“I go where I’m needed, sir.” I maintained my cool. No need to give anything away. He could be fishing for something or he could be buttering me up for a request. I was betting on the latter.

“You might have noticed that Parson is running the show this go-round.”

“I did, sir.” My mouth was a little dry, but he’d notice if I swallowed. I kept my breathing even.

His small grin worried me. Nothing good could come of this. “Well, we’ve had a bit of a problem and since you’re here with two of your team members, it crossed my mind that you could help.”

“Anything I can do, I’d be honored, sir.” Lie. I didn’t have time to add bullshit Seligo missions to my itinerary.

“You might have seen the reports that some Red Helix girls have been neutralized recently.”

I nodded, not trusting myself to say anything until he fully explained what he wanted.

“It’s a problem that they survived. Given, I’m not about to start a witch hunt to find who’s been taking out the trash—probably some of those vigilante Ravens people—but it doesn’t look good for us that these Reds are turning up dead in public. Orders came down to use the Trials as a cover while we hunt down the few girls last sighted in the Arizona Void.” He pushed a tablet across his desk. “I know this was meant to be a temporary assignment, but I’m requesting that you stay on. You’ve done good work for me before, and I feel that you can take care of this little problem without it becoming public knowledge.”

Over a hundred ways to kill him ran through my head. I could slam his head on the desk and twist his neck before the guy even attempted to react. Channeling my training, I kept my face blank, but I wanted to jump the desk with every fiber of my being. My hands didn’t shake with anger as I took the tablet.

The screen showed a list of nine names. Two in this area of the Void. One was Emma. I forced myself to loosen my grip on the tablet before I snapped it in half.

I met Santiago’s gaze. “There’ve been four dead so far. Now you’re telling me nine more girls are out there for sure? How did so many get away?”

He shrugged. “It’s not a perfect system. Most people don’t have the stomach to euthanize a baby when it comes down to it. Even with the known danger. But it’s necessary.”

Emma did kill my father, so it wasn’t hard to imagine why the Red Helixes were so misunderstood. Yeah, she was dangerous, but so was I. Even before I was paired with her. “I understand. Do we have any intel on the abilities these Reds have developed?” I needed to know how much he knew if I was going to stop him.

“Some. You’ll find the essential details in each girl’s file. Some are more exhaustive than others. Our main target here is Emma Jean Boyd. She’s one of the oldest of the bunch, and extremely dangerous. It’s been confirmed that she can manipulate electrical current.” Santiago leaned over the desk. “This is a dicey mission. Because it involves neutralizing Reds, it’ll involve hazard pay as well as a bonus for each Red captured or killed.”

As much as the idea of this mission made my stomach clench, nobody else could have it. At least not until Emma was caught. After that, I’d try to pass the orders on to another Raven on the inside. “Count me in, sir.”

Santiago grinned, flashing his perfectly white teeth. “I’m glad I was right about you.” He stood and reached across the table.

I took his hand, making my grip a little too firm. “Thank you, sir.”

“This overrides any of your previous assignments. You’ve full license to use your time as you see fit and requisition whatever resources you require. Just keep me in the loop with regular reports.”

“Excellent. I’ll get started immediately and keep you updated.”

“Good. See that you do.”

“Yes, sir.” I tucked the tablet under my arm, and excused myself.

I kept my body relaxed as I moved through the grounds to my bike. Telling myself that this couldn’t have worked out better didn’t dull my anger. My time was my own now and I was in charge of finding Emma for both the Ravens and the Seligo. Only now the Seligo would be watching me more closely than usual.

I revved my bike and took off toward my safe house apartment. Time was of the essence. Too many people had Emma in their sights: whoever was murdering the Reds, the Seligo, and the Ravens. I’d bet my ass she had no idea how many people were after her.

***

The apartment that Lady Eva had set up for us as our local safe house was in a towering sky rise. The building took up a full square block, with over two-hundred floors. The unit-size options were tiny, seriously tiny, and microscopic. She’d most likely gone the tiny route, but the lock on the door was legit. Full hand scan, retinal scan, plus an alphanumeric code.

When I opened the door, I found a futon next to a desk. It was currently in sofa mode, but a pile of white sheets and blankets were precisely folded with a pillow on top. An L-shaped couch was hidden in an alcove in the back corner of the room. Dex and Oliver were already logged into a game, their feet propped on the low coffee table as they faced the massive vid screen.

“What’s up?” I said.

They grunted as gunfire filled the apartment. I ignored them and checked out the rest of the space. Past the kitchenette, the bedroom had been converted to a workroom for me. All the supplies and tools I could want were piled in clear plastic boxes labeled by part.

It was as if Lady Eva were psychic. She anticipated the needs of her people better than anyone I’d ever met. Damned if I knew how she did it.

The bathroom was stocked with essentials. Spare clothes in the closet. Four different stacks. One for me, one for Dex, and one for Oliver’s huge ass. The last stack was miscellaneous girl clothes. Lady Eva always did plan for success.

“I’m going to get to work on the processor for Cipher. Give me an hour.”

I didn’t wait for their response. Working would clear my head of Santiago and his orders.

As I stepped into the small workroom, I couldn’t help but think of Emma. She was the one who got me hooked on computers. She’d brought me my first one. Just a little piece of shit thing that was mostly garbage—I was pretty sure she’d gotten it from a scrap sale. She’d marched over to my backyard and told me that if I learned a skill, it would be worth something when I grew up. Apparently, the girl thought I needed direction. She’d broken her parents’ no electronics rule by giving me the unit and showing me how it worked, but her stubbornness had paid off. I never would’ve showed aptitude as a Green if not for her.

I rolled up my sleeves, revealing my helix tat, as I started to work. The green half showed anyone who cared that I had a brain for science. Both engineering and programming, in my case. Anything tech, I could use, rework, retool. I’d been good before all the modifications, but with all my enhancements, the stuff was second nature.

Maybe Emma really was Cipher?

No
, I reminded myself.
She couldn’t be. Cipher was way too short to be Emma.

I finished with one processor, and was still pissed at Santiago. So, I built four more.

By the time I was done working, some of the tension I’d built up was gone. I stepped into the main room. My stomach was on empty. “Any chance there’s food in the fridge?”

“We ordered pizza,” Dex said without looking away from the game. “And there’s beer.”

That would work. I opened the fridge and pulled a bottle out, taking a long pull before setting it down and opening the pizza box. I ate the first slice at room temp before nuking another three slices. It wasn’t good—typical cheap-ass Void food with soy cheese and additives to the bread that make me feel more full than I actually was—but I ate it anyways.

Dex came to stand in the kitchen with me. “What’d Santiago want?”

I killed the first beer, and grabbed a second, popping the cap off on the countertop. “I’m supposed to hunt down and kill Reds.” I pulled the tablet from my pocket and handed it over.

“At least this means we can take over finding them. Fake their deaths and get them to safety.”

I leaned against the counter, rolling the chilled bottle between my hands. “How many can we get before they realize what we’re doing?”