Bonus Content #3
Tipping up her chin, she met his gaze. He held out his steel and studied it like he was following along with what she explained.
“My software will communicate between the transmitter and the central processor engineered into your arm. Once I network the two, we’ll begin testing your weaponry.
While we’re testing, my team and I will be reevaluating the cybersecurity protocols to ensure the network that activates your weaponry is protected from hackers. ”
“And you’re sure your code is secure?”
Her defenses rose at the challenge in his voice and the sharpness in his gaze. “It’s virtually unhackable.”
“Virtually?” His eyebrows rose to his hairline.
Her hackles rose too. “When it comes to cyberspace, no system is one-hundred-percent secure, but mine is nearly impenetrable.”
“Bold statement.”
Sweat pooled in her cleavage. She tugged the lapels of her suit jacket. This conversation was too intense. He was too intense. “Yes, it is a bold statement, but it’s the truth.”
He raised his hand to his face and examined it more closely. “I’m told your technology will let me shoot deadly lasers from my arm with just my thoughts. No need for bullets like regular guys.”
Scarlett noted skepticism laced with excitement in his voice.
“Correct.” She rubbed her hands together, displeased to find her palms sweaty despite having confidence in her work. “My technology also enables you to feel sensations with your prosthesis—” She shook her head. “I mean steel.”
He extended his black index finger and lightly touched the back of her hand. “Like the softness of a person’s skin.”
“Yes.” She bit the inside of her cheek as his metal digit glided over her knuckles. “You’ll be able to sense if someone’s flesh is cold or—"
“Hot?”
Energy buzzed through the room, making it seem smaller than it had been moments ago. In her twenty-seven years, no man had ever looked beyond her brain except Commander Daviani. He seemed to be looking everywhere.
It's the technology he’s enthralled with. Not me. Never me.
She reminded herself of that fact as she paced to the other side of the small room and back again.
When she opened her mouth, jittery words tumbled out.
“Yes, you’ll be able to feel hot and cold, among other sensations.
You’ll also be able to envision the exact point you want a laser to hit.
My technology will shoot that laser from one of the two-hundred and eighty-six points in your arm and calculate the proper trajectory so it finds your target with ninety-nine point nine percent accuracy.
You’ll be so leading-edge every comic book hero will be jealous of your powerful, special body. ”
He gripped her arm. “Do you always ramble and pace when you’re nervous?”
She stopped moving and peeked up. Amusement replaced the fascination in his eyes she’d seen moments ago.
Indignation simmered in her veins. During the four intense interviews she’d survived to get this job, not once had she succumbed to her nervous babbling habit or paced the room.
She’d even kept it together when Admiral Edgar, whose imposing stature, cocky swagger, and gray mustache made him look like the leader of an old west outlaw gang, had vetted her.
Why did she allow Commander Daviani to turn her into a nonsensical mess?
“I’m not nervous, and I’m not rambling.”
She couldn’t argue the pacing part.
Leaning closer, he inhaled as if collecting the patience to deal with her quirks.
“Yes, you are. On both counts.” He released her and straightened from his perch on the examination table.
She stiffened and stretched to her full height. At five feet eight, she usually met most men eye to eye or damn near it, but not so much with Commander Daviani.
“I hope it’s first-day jitters, Dr. Kerrigan. When the shit starts to get real and cyber enemies come gunning for us, my team and I need to know you know what you’re doing when it comes to the tech.”
Scarlett sucked in a breath. The technology community hailed her as royalty. Scientific circles called her a female Einstein. She might not be comfortable with the silly titles or comparisons, but nobody questioned her work, especially a cocky SEAL who seemed to take pleasure in making her uneasy.
She stepped toward him. “I can assure you, Commander, I know what I’m doing.”
“Good.” His gaze locked on hers and held tight. “We’re counting on your big brain to get us back in the field where we belong. And to bring us home alive.”
She girded herself against the gravity of his words. “I take my responsibilities very seriously. I promise you’ll be safe with me.”
Every muscle in her body tensed while she waited for him to decide if he could trust her.
She believed her bravado-packed words with all her heart, but he was a man, not a computer simulation or a machine.
When it came to his future, she couldn’t make absolute assurances, yet she wouldn’t rescind her promise.
She would keep him safe, not only to protect her reputation but to protect his life.
He held his arms out to the sides. The VIPER logo on his chest stretched along with his steel. A slow smile spread across his chiseled face as his sharp gaze stayed locked with hers. “Then I look forward to working with you, ma’am.”