“If that was all she said, I might have been able to shrug it off, but she made a nasty comment about Jack and me. She basically said he’d get tired of me, and I don’t know why that bothered me so much, but before I could stop myself, I hit her and I’m ashamed of what I did.”
“Sounds like she deserved it. To be honest, I’ve noticed how she’s been a little cool toward you. Do you want to tell me about it?” Sydney turned her back to Bella. How could she explain her feelings when she was having trouble understanding them herself?
Bella tapped her shoulder. “Turn around, Sydney. You know I can’t understand you otherwise. Please don’t shut me out.”
Reluctantly, she faced her friend once again. “Anna and Jack used to be lovers. I don’t know how long their relationship lasted or how it ended, but it’s obvious to me she still has feelings for him. Whatever happened between them has made her bitter, and I find that scary.”
“Why? Her feelings for Jack should have no bearing on yours, especially when it’s obvious Jack only has eyes for you.”
“But don’t you see? If Jack could discard her, who’s to say he won’t do the same to me? Anna’s a beautiful woman, and a lot of the men seem attracted to her.”
“So what? Maybe things didn’t work out for them because he didn’t feel strongly about her. It could simply have been a sexual thing. Why don’t you ask Jack?”
“Because I don’t want him to think I’m jealous. It’s not like I have the right to question him about his past. Things between Jack and I are complicated. They’re not as straightforward as your relationship with Dar.”
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A rush of red colored Bella’s cheeks at the mention of her lover. In a way, Sydney envied Bella’s and Holly’s relationships with their men, and the ease with which they were able to trust their men. “Dar is wonderful. I’m so lucky to have someone so understanding and caring in my life. That he was willing to give up the only life he knew to save me is humbling. I tell you to basically explain how powerful love is. It’s awesome, and when you open yourself up to it, the possibilities are endless. I’ve seen the way Jack looks at you and I don’t see why you can’t have what we do.”
“What you said is all well and good, but don’t you understand? Jack’s reputation with women isn’t very stellar. I overheard him and Chase talking once, and Chase was teasing Jack about all his previous conquests. I don’t want to be another notch on Jack’s belt.”
“Has he given you any indication he wants you only for sex?” Despite how much time the two of them spent in the bedroom, after sex, Jack would always hold her in his arms and tell her how beautiful he thought she was. She’d never admitted it, not even to herself, but she enjoyed those moments and how they made her feel. Sydney liked the times when she and Jack fell into those comfortable silences, simply content to be in each other’s presence.
“No,” she finally answered. “But this falling in love business is a scary thing, isn’t it?”
“It can be, but you won’t know until you try. As for his past, you need to leave it there and stay focused on the present. Give Jack a chance. If it makes you feel better, ask him about Anna so you’ll be able to put that episode behind you.”
“He probably won’t want anything to do with me after what happened back there. I still can’t believe I did that.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it. We all lose our tempers sometimes, even you, Sydney.” Bella gave Sydney’s arm a little squeeze.
“Thanks, Bella. You’re a good friend.”
Bella smiled. “Thank you.”
“Are you scared? About the planned attack against the Cyrellians?”
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“A little bit, but some things are worth fighting for. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah,” Sydney agreed, realizing that statement applied to way more than just their plans for the Cyrellians.
Jack surveyed the mass of people in the room. “If there aren’t any other questions, we can adjourn for the night. Each group will meet up at midnight to head to the city. It’s an in and out mission, and if it’s successful we’ll be back to camp at 0800.” No one raised their hand and he was relieved. The meeting had been long and drawn out because of all the details they’d had to go over. The first mission to upload pictures into the city’s main computer servers and transmit them to every person’s system had been a success. Unfortunately, the three-person team had come back to camp as two, one of them being captured.
Now, they’d not only have to destroy their targeted areas, they’d need to rescue their comrade if it was possible. The Cyrellians would be expecting something to happen and the city would probably be more heavily guarded, making the task ahead of them more difficult. Jack hoped people in the city who saw those pictures might offer some assistance to their resistance.
“Meeting adjourned.”
Bennett approached as soon as the crowd began to break up in little groups.
“Great meeting. However, there are some concerns I wished to bring up.” Jack frowned, wondering why Bennett waited until now to say something instead of during the meeting. “I thought we agreed on what has to be done.”
“We have, but not on who’s going to take the lead on this project.”
“Hasn’t that been decided? We’re both in charge.”
Bennett pursed his lips and shook his bald head. “You and I both know that won’t work out. Someone has to call the commands and I nominate myself to be that person.”
Jack raised a brow. “Oh?”
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“Yes. Just as many people from my group are in on this mission as there are in yours, so I don’t see why not.”
“Considering this is the plan I’ve devised, and the fact I have more knowledge of the area in question, it would make sense I be in charge of this team. Out of deference to you and the other leaders, however, I made sure the teams had two experienced go-to people, so everyone felt comfortable in their groups. You agreed to this system earlier.
So what seems to be the issue now?” Jack had known Bennett would be a problem when they met. It wasn’t that Bennett wasn’t as dedicated as any of the others, but Jack could tell he wasn’t used to being second in anything.
“I wouldn’t mind going along with the plan if you hadn’t been so distracted these past couple days. You seem more wrapped up in your personal problems than in perpetrating a successful attack against the Cyrellians.” Jack wanted to protest and call the guy a liar, but he couldn’t. He had been distracted. This situation with Sydney was getting out of hand. Ever since the day she’d hit Anna, she’d been avoiding him. The only time he saw her was at meetings. When he tried to come to her bedroom at night to talk, the door was locked. Not wanting to force the issue, he hadn’t insisted she open the door as he wanted to.
He raked his fingers through his hair. “Look, I’ll take care of my issues before we go out, but in the meantime, you’re going to have to learn to work as a team if we’re to get this mission accomplished properly. I don’t have time to stand around here and argue about something this petty when I’m more interested in getting the entire team in and out of the city alive.” Jack walked away from Bennett before he could respond. He knew he probably shouldn’t have reacted so strongly to the other man’s assertion, but it bothered him that other people seemed to realize his distraction as well.
This wasn’t going to work until he could clear the air with Sydney. He saw her standing in the corner talking to Holly and Chase. Striding over to them, he nodded in Chase and Holly’s direction and took Sydney by the arm, guiding her out of the room.
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Though she didn’t protest, he could tell she was annoyed at him for dragging her away in the middle of a conversation with her friend. He didn’t stop until they were in the library with the door closed behind them.
Sydney wrenched her arm out of his grasp and rubbed it. “Do you mind telling me what that was about? If you didn’t notice, I was in the middle of a sentence.”
“If it’s important, I’m sure you’ll make time to discuss whatever issue you had later. Right now, I think it’s time for you and me to have a little talk.”
“If it’s about what I did to Anna, I’ve already tried to apologize but she wasn’t interested, not that I blame her. What I did was inexcusable and nothing you can say can make me feel worse than I already do.”
“No. Actually I wanted to talk to you because you’ve been avoiding me. If it’s because of the Anna incident, I’m not mad at you.”
“Then why did you bring me in here? We should probably be getting some rest before the mission.”
“I don’t think a few more minutes will hurt anything, unless you’re not willing to give me that.”
Sydney sighed. “Look, Jack, I’m exhausted. It’s been a long day and frankly I’m not in the mood to talk.”
She wouldn’t look him in the eye, but her chin jutted forward in a stubborn show of defiance. He recognized it as a defense mechanism for her and it saddened him a bit to know she was still building walls between them. Just when Jack believed he was making progress with her, she’d set things back to square one.
Something inside of him snapped. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt he was in love with Sydney, but if she wasn’t willing to give an inch, there was no hope for them. Jack couldn’t take any more of her passive aggressiveness. He’d had enough.
“I’m tired of this shit, Sydney. I really am. You tell me you’re going to make a conscious effort to give us a try, but you avoid me when I seek you out. You don’t want to open up, yet you make demands of me which I’ve complied with. Do you know how painful it’s been for me at night? My cock is so damn hard I ache. Yet, I haven’t pressed
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you for sex. You punched Anna out in a roomful of people. She was hysterical, by the way, and said either you went or she did. Believe me when I tell you I spent a considerable amount of time trying to calm her down. Obviously you had your reason for doing it, but you won’t share it with me. I can’t do this anymore.”
“I see.” Her head was still bowed. Was that all she could say?
It hurt, but now that the words were out he couldn’t take them back. “Don’t you have anything other than that to say?”
“What else would you like me to say? You’ve pretty much said everything that needed to be spoken.”
“So you’re willing to end things right here and now.” She shrugged. “If that’s your wish, I can’t stop you.”
“Fine. From here on out you and I are simply teammates and nothing more.”
“You’re the boss.”
Jack wanted to take her in his arms and shake her indifference away and scream this wasn’t what he wanted, but words spoken in the heat of the moment were often foolish ones. Still, Sydney made no attempt at all to salvage what they had been building. If that didn’t tell him where her heart was, he supposed nothing else would.
“Well, if that’s it, you should probably get some rest before our team assembles, that is if you still plan on joining us.”
She raised her head then, her eyes challenging him to deny her. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world. I’ll be there.”
Jack stared at her for several moments, willing her to say something, anything.
He wanted her to throw her arms around him and say she loved him too, that it had all been a terrible misunderstanding. But Sydney was too stubborn for that. He turned to leave and stopped. The need to hurt her as much as he was hurting took over. “And when we’re in the city, I hope you exert a little restraint on your temper. It wouldn’t be a good idea to get into any more fights with your teammates.” He turned to leave, this time for real, but not before he saw Sydney’s eyes widen and jaw drop. Perhaps it was a low blow on his part, but at least he was able to elicit a
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reaction from her other than indifference. Now that things were finished between them, he wondered how he’d get over her.
* * *
The journey toward the city was a silent trek for the most part. There were twelve people in their party in all, Jack, Bennett, Anna, Sydney, and eight other members from the other groups whom she wasn’t quite familiar with. The plan was for four of them to actually plant the explosives and the others to ensure there were no humans around to get hurt, and to guard the perimeter and take out any threat if necessary.
Getting into the city had been the tricky part because there had been guards stationed around it. Jake and Bennett left the rest of the team behind momentarily to scout out an area where they could pass through undetected. The two men had finally returned and led the rest of them through another part of the city. The detour put them behind schedule more than an hour.
By the time they’d found hiding places for the four lookouts, dawn was approaching. Bennett stood behind a shrub with her, a little closer than she believed he needed to be. At first she thought he might not be aware of it, but every time she moved, he did too. She glanced at him, annoyed he’d try something like this when their situation was far too serious. “Do you mind, Bennett?”
“Mind what?” He said the words innocently enough, but for some reason, Sydney just wasn’t buying it. She’d noticed how he’d practically undressed her with his eyes when they’d first met. There was something in those bright green eyes of his she couldn’t quite feel comfortable with. Bennett was a good looking man, of medium height and solid build. His shaved head gave him a slightly menacing look, but she wasn’t attracted to him.
No, she preferred a tall, muscular man with long, black hair who wore an eye patch. Damn. She had to stop thinking about Jack. He’d ended things, just as she’d expected him to, so it should have been easy for her to get over it. The problem was, it
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was harder than she thought. Sydney had thought to protect her heart by not getting in so deep, but she’d learned it was too late.
Dealing with the consequences would be difficult. At least she had the distraction of this mission to keep her mind off of them.
She glared at Bennett. “Would you please move over? I’m not comfortable with you being so close.” Sydney tried to be as diplomatic as she possibly could without offending him, but by the way his green eyes narrowed, she had.
“What’s the matter? Don’t like to be touched?”
“No, I just don’t like my personal space invaded. I’m finding it hard to concentrate when you’re pushing up against me.”
“Fine, I’ll give you all the space you need.” With exaggerated movements, he sidestepped to the right, putting a couple feet between the two of them. Sydney didn’t care what Bennett thought of her. The man obviously had a high opinion of himself and probably wasn’t used to women not appreciating his attention. Well, that was just too damn bad. What was taking Jack so long? He’d gone in there with Anna and a couple others to plant the bombs.
“Come on, come on,” she muttered under her breath.
“If I were in full charge of this mission, it would have been completed already.” Sydney rolled her eyes. This had to be the fifth time she’d heard Bennett mutter that under his breath. If he said it again, she would strangle him. “Well, you’re not,” she shot back at him.
“They’ve been gone longer than they should have. If they’re not back in five minutes, I’m going in after them,” Bennett declared.
“Don’t you think you’re being a little premature?” Bennett glanced at his watch. “No. We’ve given them enough time.” As much as she didn’t want to agree with him, he had a point. They were taking a long time, and she hoped everything was okay. Sydney shivered when she saw the building she used to work in. Cryo Cor. She wondered how many of her former co-workers were still alive. When she’d left, a lot of them were on the verge of some type
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of health malfunction, due mainly to the chemicals in the food they were eating. Maybe it was too late to save them all, but when this building was destroyed, production of the chemical GXT would cease. This was where it was manufactured.
Suddenly, a loud siren went off, piercing her ears. What was going on? Her heart pounded rapidly in her fear. Her hand automatically went to the pistol strapped to her side. She turned to Bennett. “Someone must have sounded an alarm. We’ll have to go get them.”
He glared at her. “I’m in charge here and I’ll call the shots.” Sydney didn’t have time to deal with his bruised ego. Pulling the gun out of its holster she dashed from behind the bushes. Just as she ran toward the building, Jack and the others appeared.
“Let’s get out of here,” he shouted over the siren. “They must have anticipated us trying this. We tripped a silent alarm of some sort but the bombs have been planted and we have to get out of here.”
They ran away from the building, only to be confronted by a group of law enforcement officers. Some were human while others were Cyrellian. They’d already decided no humans were to be harmed during this mission unless absolutely necessary.
“This way,” Jack said. “I know a shortcut.” The team followed him although Bennett did not look happy. The agents fired their weapons, but the team managed to round a corner unscathed, or at least Sydney thought so, until she heard a scream.
It was Anna. At first Sydney thought she’d been hurt, but when she saw Jack, she realized her worst fear had come true. He had been wounded.