Chapter 5
ALEX
Alex’s heart stopped for an instant as Ava cut their kiss shorter than he’d hoped. His brow furrowed as he opened his eyes, his gaze fixing on Ava. She didn’t look right.
Her features pinched as she licked her lips, squeezing her eyes closed. She grabbed hold of his arm. “Alex?”
“Avs?” he asked, his pulse quickening as concern welled within him.
“Call Doc. Something’s wrong.” She barely got the last word out, her voice breathy, before she slumped over.
He caught her before she hit the floor, panic rocketing through him as he held her limp form. His chest constricted, making breathing difficult. “Ava,” he cried, his voice weak before he shifted to pull his phone from his pocket.
He cradled her against his chest as he dialed Kyle’s number and pressed the phone to his ear.
“Mav? Are you seriously calling me from upstairs?”
“Doc, it’s Ava, she passed out.”
“I’m on my way,” the man answered, his voice turning serious in an instant.
Alex dumped his phone on the desk, wrapping both arms around Ava. What would he do if she woke up and wasn’t herself? Could he get through to her? Could he stop her from running on pure emotion?
Footsteps pounded toward him, and a second later, Kyle burst into the office. “What happened?”
“She just passed out. We were talking, and she suddenly went stiff, said to call you because something was wrong, and she went down.” Alex’s voice quivered as he recounted the tale.
“Lay her on the floor.”
“Okay,” he answered breathlessly as he shifted to slide Ava onto the hardwood. He pulled off his hoodie and stuck it under her head before he grabbed her hand. “Do you think it’s another blackout?”
“It could be,” Kyle answered as he checked her pulse. “Did she mention any of the symptoms or did you notice any?”
“No. We were talking, she kissed me, and then she pulled away and just went down.”
“Okay, so, you didn’t notice her getting clammy or uncomfortable, like her heart was racing?”
“No. And she didn’t say anything either, but then again, that could be because she was afraid to upset me. We were having a conversation about me being upset, so maybe she didn’t mention it.”
Alex shook his head, chewing his lower lip as he kicked himself.
If he hadn’t been so needy, she probably wouldn’t have passed out again.
It was his constant doubting of their relationship that was piling more stress onto her plate.
She would probably have been fine if she hadn’t had to pander to him.
How could he stop himself from being this much of a pain to her?
“Did she seem frustrated or upset by the conversation?” Kyle asked. “Were you arguing or…”
“No, no we weren’t arguing. And she was being really supportive. She didn’t seem upset, but maybe inside she was. You know? Maybe she’s getting sick of having to cater to me because I’m such a loser, that I can’t trust our relationship.”
“I don’t think so, but I do know that she wanted you two to be on the same page. She wasn’t that upset before she came up though.”
Alex hand a shaky hand through his hair. “I just keep thinking I did this to her by adding more stress to her plate.”
“I’m going to check her pupils…the last time I did this–”
“She woke up and ran away,” Alex said.
“Yeah. Maybe…close the door and block it or something?”
Alex scrambled to his feet, swinging the door closed and pressing the lock button before he stood in front of it as he waited for Kyle to proceed.
He gently lifted her eyelid, shining his cell phone’s flashlight at her eye before he dropped her lid. “Equal and reactive. And no panicked wake up.”
“What do we do now?” Alex asked.
“We wait for her to wake up. And hope she’s Ava, not Neuroprisol-X Ava.”
Alex’s heart pounded hard against his ribs as each agonizing second passed. He eyed her chest, making certain it still rose every few seconds to suck in air as they waited.
After what felt like an eternity, Ava groaned, her head rolling to the side before her eyelashes fluttered open.
“Ava?” Kyle asked.
“Yeah,” she said, her features pinching. “What happened? Did I do something crazy? Where’s Alex?”
Panic sounded in her voice as she tried to sit up.
“Easy,” Kyle said, pushing her back to the floor. “He’s right here. You didn’t do anything crazy, you passed out, but you woke up as you.”
She settled back to the floor as Alex hurried over to her and grabbed her hand. “Avs, I’m right here.”
“Good. I was afraid I stabbed you with a pin and ran off.”
“Nope,” he said with a chuckle as he squeezed her hand. “I’m all good. And so are you.”
“You mind telling me what happened leading up to this? Different symptoms from the blackouts? The same?”
“Uhh, similar, but not the same,” she answered. “Nausea, which is new, but just a little. Then the heat, blood rushing in my ears, and blackness at the edges of my vision, then I passed out.”
“Okay,” Kyle said with a nod. “And was your stress level higher than usual?”
“No,” she answered, “Alex and I were just talking.”
“About…the thing?”
Alex scrunched his features as he stared at the man. What thing? What was Kyle discreetly asking about?
“We didn’t get to that part before I passed out. Maybe it was stress related.” She frowned as she said the words.
Kyle puffed out his cheeks. “Well, the good news is you’re still you. So, either the drugs are helping to counteract you waking up as emotionless Ava or this was just a regular old fainting spell.”
“A case of the vapors?” she asked, a coy grin playing on her lips.
Despite the levity of the comment, Alex couldn’t get passed the secret conversation between Kyle and his wife.
Kyle nodded, his voice changing into a thick southern drawl. “Yes, Miss Ava, you ought to be in bed with a hot toddy.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Nice try. Hot toddies are an English thing, not a southern thing, Doc. Now, can I please sit up.”
“Sure, let’s test it out and see how you do. Tell me if you have any dizziness, okay?”
She nodded as she pushed up to sit. “So far so good.”
“Okay, let’s just hang out here for a second before we get you on your feet, okay?” Kyle said.
“While we’re shooting the breeze on the floor, mind telling me what thing you and Doc are talking about?”
“I can go,” Kyle offered, starting to stand when Ava grabbed him.
“No, you can stay. This isn’t that earth-shattering. It’s nothing, really. That’s why I don’t actually think this fainting spell was stress related.”
“What is it?” Alex asked, his stomach churning.
Ava heaved a sigh, settling back onto her elbows. “Chris has been…deluding himself again with the idea that I’m going to come back to him. I’m not, just to be clear. There is no part of me that is even remotely interested in Chris at all. But I thought I should tell you–”
Kyle cleared his throat, his eyebrows raising.
“Right,” Ava said. “Doc thought I should tell you so that everything is out in the open. I didn’t want to tell you because I know you’re already twisted into knots over our relationship, and I didn’t want to make things worse.
But…Doc…being the genius that he is, felt otherwise, and I agreed because I don’t want any secrets between us. ”
Alex heaved a sigh, both relieved and annoyed at the same time. It hadn’t been anything too upsetting. Chris had already made it clear he thought Ava would break for him the moment she got her head clear.
Although, he still worried that may be true. When Ava emerged from the chemically induced haze The Board had put her under, she may see things differently.
“Yeah,” Alex said with a sigh. “Chris has already more than hinted at this to me. He insists that your feelings are all part of the behavior modification courtesy of PharmaTech.”
“They’re not,” Ava insisted with a vehement shake of her head. “Alex, I promise. I haven’t been under the influence of these drugs my entire life. I liked you in college, we’ve been together for a long time. I don’t love you because of the drugs.”
Alex stared at the floorboards underneath him for a moment before he shoved his uncertainty aside. Ava needed him to believe in her and their relationship. He had to support her.
He flicked his gaze to her, his head bobbing. “I know. Chris is…super annoying, but we’ll get through it, Avs.”
The corners of her lips turned up as she grabbed his hand. “Good. Now, everything is in the open, so let’s try to move on and kick some Board butt. And Doc can relax because he was worried he’d be a child of divorce.”
“Huh?” Alex asked as Ava sat up again.
“Doc was worried we’d get a divorce, and then he’d have two divorced friends.”
“Aww, Doc, it’s okay. We’re sticking together,” Alex said, climbing to his feet and gently tugging Ava to stand.
“Good. I really don’t want my only two friends to break up.”
Alex sucked in a sharp breath. “Well, with that crisis passed, maybe you should go back to your tea while I try to make some headway on PharmaTech. We need answers.”
“Speaking of answers, I convinced Doc to go with me and Shadow on the big raid. That way if there are medical terms, he can figure them out instead of me.” She grinned at Alex as she wrapped her arm around Kyle.
“And you can make sure Shadow doesn’t hit on Ava,” Alex said as he plopped into his chair. “Doc is the only man in this house that I trust.”
“I feel like my dad wouldn’t steal Ava,” Kyle answered.
“Grant has had five wives. I don’t put anything past him.
But sure, he’s the second man I trust, but way second.
Like a pretty far second from you, Doc.” Alex opened the lid of his laptop, his screen blooming to life with the PharmaTech logo.
“I was almost into their security protocols when Ava decided to interrupt.”
“Sorry, Ace,” she answered as a knock sounded at the door. “Yeah?”
The door handle shimmied. “Seriously? What are you doing in there?” Sebastian called.
“Meeting of the minds,” Alex retorted, his fingers flying across the keyboard as he worked to gain access to the private system.
“Well, let this mind in,” Sebastian answered.
Kyle rolled his eyes before he backed to the door and opened it. “What?”
“We’ve got a good window for the PharmaTech site visit. We should plan to move soon.”
“When is it?” Ava asked.
“There’s a conference going on over the next three days. Their executives will be there along with most of their senior staff. We’ll have a clear window at night provided Alex can give us a little cover.”
“I should be able to do that,” Alex said, his eyes fixed on his screen. “I’m almost into their system now. I can do a digital scan for anything that you’re looking for.”
“I’m not sure they’re going to put this onto their servers. But in one of the decrypted emails, they discuss a big project soon going live. It’s heavily redacted, so I’d like to look at the onsite versions of this where we’ll gather all of the details.”
“What’s the name of the project?” Alex asked. “Surely they have digital files on it with a security protocol I can break.”
“Could you break the decryption The Board uses?” Sebastian countered.
Alex’s nose wrinkled as the insult hit him. “Given enough time–”
“We don’t have time. Can you possibly find the files and get through the security to read them? Yes, given enough time, I have no doubt you could. But we don’t have that kind of time. We need to move now.”
“All right,” Ava said with a bob of her head. “Then we move now. We do the site visit tomorrow night. And find out what they’re up to with…” She flicked her gaze to Sebastian.
“Project Reaper.”
The words sent a chill running down Alex’s spine. What was PharmaTech planning to unleash with a name like that?