58
Synchronize
South
I glance at the text Amanda sent out early this morning.
She’s sensing something and warning us all in a useless bid to keep us safe. When is she going to realize the power is focused on her alone? It has nothing to do with anyone else.
An hour later, Tera messages me, and I put her on standby.
I’m not surprised when hours pass and Amanda texts again, confirming my knowledge.
My lips purse as I tilt my head to take in Shade, happily tapping away on his laptop next to me. He hasn’t paid attention to his phone for most of the morning. He rolled his eyes at Amanda’s first text and set it to silent.
“Are you ready for something more entertaining, statue?” I ask him with a raised brow.
His attention jerks to me in surprise, his pale gray eyes taking in my leisurely sprawl on the couch.
“Depends, baby. What are you thinking?”
I stand and move into the kitchen. I hear him set aside his laptop to follow me. When I reach for the cabinet under the sink and pull out my straight razor, I hear a thick swallow behind me.
“I think you should let Tera take over the pesky dot connections, and we can go for a drive.”
His eyes narrow as I tuck the razor into the front of my pants.
“Are we talking about visiting Amanda? She sent that weird text for us to stay home.”
I make a thoughtful sigh of sound that makes him shudder. I step into his chest with a feral smile and stroke a hand over his cheek.
“Drive for me.”
“Fuck,” he mutters softly, staring into my eyes.
It takes him a few minutes to call Tera and strap himself down with weapons. I watch avidly. The precision of his movements as he holsters his weapons is more erotic to me than a strip tease. All those big knives hidden away or blatantly displayed on his thighs. This is a side of him that I’ve been craving to see.
He’s always perfect, but he continually surprises me with it.
He catches me watching and pauses, a slow, monstrous smile growing wide.
“Are you sure you want to go out today?”
I nod, eyeing him as if he’s my next meal.
“I’d like to show you something I’ve learned about being unseen.”
He looks uneasy for a moment, his brain struggling to convince him the things he’s found out aren’t real.
“And I want to see my monster play.”
He’s all in after that.
Tera
I tiptoe past a sleeping Trevor and Max to reach the nightstand. I’m suddenly grateful for their late night at the office. I know it had more to do with sex than work, but it counts. I encourage them to have their own time as much as I can so they can focus on their love for each other with nothing else blurring the lines.
My computer baby is already booted up and ready to go. I turned it on as soon as I saw Amanda’s text and then South told me to be ready.
South warned me before that Amanda has a power that tells her when danger is coming. Totally a hero power. But that has to be horrible . To constantly know when something bad is going to happen.
I’ve been ready to play whatever part I need to in my hero’s story, and it’s time.
I promised everyone I would stay as far away from this trouble as I could get. I’ve managed it with one secret meeting with Gabe, covered up by Shade’s sneering attitude as he dropped me off at home with the milkshake I was craving on the way back. No one was home when we left, so they all assumed Shade caved to a craving phone call. I’m still feeling horrible about it, and Asher seems really suspicious.
But I’m at home and safe. Asher is at work. They’re asleep. And I need to do a little bit of work on the computer. It’s no big deal. I hope.
Just to be safe, I take my baby outside and sit in the comfy chair Trevor found for me at a garage sale. The awning over the back porch is perfect for keeping the light drizzle away. I pull up the hood of my footie pajamas, rest my laptop on a pillow covering my bulging stomach, and get ready to work.
My heart is racing as I log in and start an algorithm to search identities and bank accounts.
I love doing this. As soon as I touch a computer, a brand new world opens up in front of me—one that I can sail through, changing whatever I want without effort. I tried explaining it to Shade once, and he told me I needed to up my meds. Jerk.
I break through whatever lame firewall Mr. Matthias has over his communication system, plugging in my headphones so I can get plays as they come.
Gabe is in some meeting that’s suspicious at Le Chique. Mr. Matthias already has eyes on that with his own team of people. There’s a little chatter about an unknown lurking around that they haven’t been able to find. My stomach has a fit when they say a team of traitors is in town. It gets worse when they talk about Amanda being the best bait to draw them out.
I hack into the surveillance around Gabe’s place with a whispered apology.
Several cameras take up half the screen, most of them blacked out.
Two things make my heart freeze in my chest.
Watching a woman’s limp body being dragged out the front door under the cover of heavy rain. It’s hitting a lot harder on Gabe’s side of town. The house looks like it’s completely blacked out by the storm. I don’t think it’s that innocent, though. Why are the cameras outside still functioning?
Did these guys cut power to the house only? That’s a little dumb.
What am I thinking? I’m disappointed in them, but I'm super happy I have a visual of their van.
The second thing is the coding on the screen, which shows me three other people are watching this feed. Mr. Matthias, according to one code and two unknowns.
I don’t want to waste time bumping them out, so I type a message to South from a private social media account.
Me: Four guys dragged Amanda out. They even took her baton! : (
South: Vehicle?
Me: White van. Such a cliche.
Southie doesn’t answer, a silent agreement that these guys are kind of dumb.
I tap into street cams and list out firm directions for South to follow. It will take her time to get there but I know she can do this. Villains can break all the rules.
The hero will spring awake and make a daring escape, and the villain will make a clean sweep with her henchman. I don’t need to be stressed about this. With Southie, Shade, and Amanda on this, the bad guys should wave a white flag now and spare themselves.
Algorithms flash off to the side, linking up identities with fishy account activity while I hum and note them down on a sticky tab.
The street cams end, but I know where they’re headed. I memorized all the property purchases before Shade could take them away from me.
Me: Mansion of doom.
South: Bans?
Awww, Shade has softened her up! She used to never ask.
This is a hero arc. Amanda has suffered and is reaching the end game. That means it’s wartime. No holds barred. Good versus evil. There will be one victor at the end.
I debate for a second and cringe when I force myself to answer.
Me:None.
I feel a little nauseous as I imagine how happy South is right now. I never give her free reign.
Me: Just for now! No hurting Amanda!
South: I wouldn’t. I’m not done with our game.
I sigh in a mixture of relief and frustration.
My attention comes back with a snap when an alert pops up.
That’s weird. That date has to be wrong. Isn’t she-
A different alert turns the screen red for a split second.
What kind of jerk thinks he can hack my baby?
According to the code, it’s one of the people who was watching the surveillance footage.
I need to give Southie the updated information I’ve found. Mystery solved with a sparkly multi-colored bow. But first…
“Bring it on, pond scum,” I mutter and pull up my viruses. By the time I’m done with this twerp, they’ll be lucky to have a shell of a computer left.
Man, this pregnancy has made me cranky.