Chapter Twelve
Twelve
He had a little bit of time before operations got under way.
Of course his thoughts revolved around Elena Rostova.
When he had flipped through the dictionary this morning, the word that jumped out at him was revelation.
He didn’t like surprises. Now was not the time for them, and he had experienced several today.
She was on her own. He had to let her do her job.
Nonetheless, he…worried because the serum was inside her and it was something he couldn’t control.
He almost laughed aloud. Worry wasn’t an emotion that he experienced a lot, especially when it came to an operative and his or her job.
He cared about the men and women who worked with him, but the risks and the sacrifices were not his problem; they were theirs.
Surprise number one. He was worried about her.
It was eye-opening to him that he wanted to make sure she was all right, that she was drinking and eating even if she didn’t feel normal hunger or thirst, that she understood that she was not only what she felt. But he was her monitor and part of his job was to not interfere with the experiment.
As usual, he was going to break the rules.
That wasn’t the surprise. The revelation playing on his mind was the knowledge that he hadn’t wanted her to take the risk at all in that last moment.
The urge to yank that needle out of her arm lasted only a quick second and dissipated as he watched her behaving normally, but that second was enough to give him pause.
He had several rules that were important to him.
Do not mix sexual chemistry with personal emotion in a seduction.
It would be unhealthy. Creating a sexual bond outside the parameters of a relationship—imprinting need and feeding it—was only possible if the operative remained somewhat detached.
To be crude, don’t mix business with pleasure.
Yet, when he saw Elena naked, he never denied the pleasure she gave him.
Oh, at first it was pure male curiosity, but voyeurism was never much of a turn-on for him, since he’d spied on targets in all kinds of situations through the years.
He’d liked what he’d seen. Since revelation was the keynote today, he might as well admit now that it’d grown into something else.
Watching her had become a possessive habit.
He smiled at the term. He was sure Kirkland had thought so a couple of times even though the man hadn’t voiced any disapproval. Kirkland would probably have said the same thing: don’t mix business with pleasure.
Admittedly, sexual imprintment had everything to do with pleasure. And therein lay the danger for any operative. One emotional misstep, and the bond could turn around and make one the victim.
He didn’t need all that sexual heat building from being in virtual reality with Elena Rostova to prove that he was very attracted to not just the operative, but also the woman.
Her determination to succeed was very intriguing to a man like him.
Her fearlessness and willingness to take on everything he threw at her, as well as her sexual response to him, were incredibly seductive.
He’d kept pushing her, making sure he was in charge, and the more he took, the more he found himself wanting because her capitulation was exciting to him.
Not much of a revelation there. Seducing a dangerous woman was a lot like hunting a wild beast; the danger lay in being turned from hunter to hunted.
Usually, being a man, he could compartmentalize his emotions and the sexual act.
And being who he was, he liked to break down each feeling until it was just a chemical explanation, like the stimulated release of vasopressin and oxytocin in the brain, the two hormones that were important in producing orgasm.
Sexual bonding was all about control, and giving in to emotions would only lead to loss of it. In the early days, he’d pushed himself to the point where he could recite prime numbers during orgasm.
His lips twisted at the memory. It’d been a while.
The irony of the situation didn’t escape him. She’d just taken the serum that repressed pain and need, and he was contemplating taking off her clothes and making her need him. It was probably the last emotion she would be having right now.
But whether she felt it or not didn’t matter because she did need him. He had accepted the responsibility to be her anchor, and that meant, even if she disagreed, making sure she stayed safe. He would need to monitor her even more closely now, even though he wouldn’t interfere.
She would be overdoing it on her first time.
Water. Lots of it. He frowned. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten to make sure she knew that before taking the serum.
The brain wave oscillator wasn’t helping, what with its unintended effect of giving him a dose of her emotional state when they were in sync.
Feeling everything the seduced was going through was, in fact, seducing him.
And how was it going to be when he had her in his arms in real life, undressing her for himself, giving himself the pleasure of touching her real-life body instead of watching her on a screen or playing with the virtual Helen?
She would be the naked one for him to peruse and manipulate, just as she enjoyed doing that to his avatar right now.
And how far would he dare to push the bond he’d already established?
It could go deeper. She hadn’t been told about getting a personal trigger from him precisely because he knew she would prepare herself for it and fight him. It was only natural for the fiercely independent woman in her to resist, even if the operative part might be willing.
The brain wave synchronization enabled the deep immersion process and that was a success.
He was now able to experience remote viewing in virtual reality.
The months of training with her in CAVE had meant to stimulate her awareness of him as a man, and her freedom to create the likeness of his avatar was the beginning of the bonding process, allowing her to respond to him mentally and physically.
Sexual chemistry, the release of vasopressin and oxytocin—it was in her medical charts.
However, he didn’t need the monitoring devices to tell him that that was a success.
“Minus thirty, over,” T.’s voice came through his earpiece.
Thirty minutes to zero hour. T. had been one busy lady.
“Everything’s set here,” he said. “Unless there are any last-minute complications, we’ll commence while you’re in meeting, over.”
“Just keep me informed. If I don’t answer, it means I’m in the middle of conversation.”
He smiled. “You’re just trying to avoid coming out to meet me,” he mocked. “What’s the matter, darling, you afraid?”
There was a pause. “I’m doing my job keeping a few dozen lobbyists and the head honchos of Deutsche International interested in important political issues,” T. said lightly, “while your group of shady characters interrupts our meeting. Does that sound like I’m afraid?”
“Testy.” He couldn’t help baiting her. “And what if the head honcho decides to meet with Alexander Barinsky? What are you going to do, T.?”
“I would be in deep shock,” T. shot back dryly. “The top lobbyist for world weapons control being photographed talking to the notorious arms dealer Alexander Barinsky in a public forum? No, I don’t think so. You’ll all be escorted to his private office upstairs to wait for him.”
“You have the timing all figured out, haven’t you?” he said, lowering his voice. “One day, T., your time will run out.”
“Melodrama doesn’t suit you…Hades. Why don’t you worry about some other female operative? The one who’s depending on your success in getting the schematics from the system, for instance. Isn’t timing more your problem than mine? I’ll check in again minus ten minutes.”
She cut off before he could reply and he couldn’t help smiling. Very few people saw the nervous side of Tess Montgomery, and she was nervous indeed. She didn’t want the chance of bumping into his group at all and he knew why. That woman was on the run.
She was right, though. Timing was going to be crucial where Helen was concerned. He pressed the key on the pad connecting him back to Command.
“How long will it take once the schematics are transferred, De Clerq? Over.”
“It shouldn’t take long to shuffle the images in the memory so they’ll think they’re seeing different angles with different people. It’s uploading the virus that will take time. How long can you stay in their control room without being caught? Over.”
“Small time window,” he replied. “Once the feed is through, have the computer run a quick search for one or both of the Cummings, over.”
“Will do, over.”
Technology was a handy asset for high-tech covert work.
With the virus in place, the building security would see random sequences of past images from their computer memory while the real feed was forwarded to his laptop and sent back to COMCEN via satellite.
That way, COMCEN would be controlling the feed and blocking images of their operatives prowling around the place.
The distraction created by his group entering the building would help him locate one or both the Cummings.
Everyone’s attention would be focused on the commotion, with Deutsche security busily trying to figure out what to do with Alexander Barinsky et al.
, without causing a publicity furor. Also, the security would be stretched thin, with the VIPs walking in and out.
The Cummings would be in the building somewhere, probably restricted areas.
He could ask Elena to remote view, locate them that way, but she had a more important task.
It was bad to depend on only one resource for any mission, anyway.
He would track his target down the simple human way—by hacking into their security system and looking at their venue cameras.