Chapter 32
CIPHER
I paced the length of the lab, the hammer in my forearm pulsing with restless energy that matched my mood.
Three holographic screens hovered in front of me, each displaying fragments of the data Havoc had sent.
Twenty years of intelligence on Halcyon, and still not enough to pinpoint who was using Mercer’s identity.
“Fuck,” I muttered, flicking through another useless file.
The Hammer interfaced directly with my systems, processing information faster than any conventional computer could. But even with its power, I was hitting dead ends. Whoever was using Mercer’s name knew exactly how to cover their tracks.
I expanded a timeline of Halcyon’s known activities before his capture, searching for patterns, connections, anything that might lead to a current associate. Nothing obvious emerged.
“Cross-reference all known associates with current Alliance and League personnel,” I instructed the system. “Flag anyone still active.”
My mind kept drifting back to Annie’s face when she saw Halcyon. That terrible stillness, as if she’d turned to stone. I’d seen her afraid before, but never like that, never with that bone-deep terror that erased everything else.
I wanted to find whoever was using Mercer’s identity and tear them apart with my bare hands.
Something bumped against my leg. Then again, harder.
I looked down to see one of my service drones repeatedly ramming into my shin, a small package clutched in its mechanical grip. Right. I’d ordered it to bring me the prototype power dampener I’d been developing for Annie’s cuff.
“Persistent little bastard,” I muttered, reaching down to take the package.
The lab door slid open with a soft hiss and Annie stood in the doorway, still dressed in her uniform.
I had never been the domesticated sort of fool who kissed someone hello or goodbye.
But between the goodbye kiss she’d given me at the Tower and now, watching her step into my sanctuary, looking exhausted and entirely too appealing in that Keeper uniform, it prompted a permanent update to my behavioral patterns where she was concerned.
I was going to be the man who kissed his partner hello. Every single time. I wanted my mouth to be the first thing she felt when she walked through my door.
I crossed the lab and caught her by the waist. She let out a soft breath of surprise right before I tilted her chin up and captured her lips. I tasted the faint trace of coffee on her tongue and enjoyed the little noise of pleasure she gave before I finally pulled back.
Annie blinked up at me. Her eyes were hazy and a dark flush had crept up her neck. She swayed when I loosened my grip on her waist, taking a second to find her footing.
“Hi,” she breathed.
I smiled, letting my thumb drag across her lower lip. Derailing her was quickly becoming my favorite hobby. “Hello, Sparks.”
She cleared her throat and physically shook her head, visibly forcing herself to focus.
“Any progress?” she asked.
“Not enough,” I admitted, leading her over to the displays. “Havoc’s information is thorough, but whoever’s using Mercer’s identity knows how to stay hidden.”
Annie nodded, her gaze drifting over the data scrolling on the screens. “What can I do to help?”
I studied her for a moment, noting the tension in her jaw, the way her fingers kept smoothing nonexistent wrinkles from her skirt.
“There’s really nothing to do at the moment,” I said, leaning back against the workbench. “I’ve got Number Three and Eleven tracking down leads, and my systems are running every possible connection to Mercer through Alliance and League databases and everything in between. It’s a waiting game now.”
Annie nodded, her gaze drifting away from the screens.
“We’re going to find whoever’s using Mercer’s identity,” I promised. “And when we do, I’m going to tear them apart. Slowly. Painfully. Until they regret ever making you afraid.”
“I’m sorry,” she said suddenly. “For earlier. For panicking. For falling apart.”
I reached out and pulled her to me, stroking her hair, feeling the silky strands slip between my fingers. “No apologies needed. Not for that. Not ever.”
She shook her head. “You exposed yourself to Havoc. You let him see that you’re Wraith. You ruined your cover for me.”
I pressed a finger to her lips to stop the spiral of guilt. “Hush, Sparks.” I waited until her eyes met mine. “I wasn’t going to sit behind a fucking screen and watch you panic. I was coming to you regardless.”
I smoothed my thumb over her puckered brow.
“If Cipher miraculously crashed through Havoc’s window two seconds after his Keeper had a breakdown on a secure feed, it would have been highly fucking suspicious.
Dropping the Wraith modulation was the fastest way to get to you without Havoc trying to kill me on sight. ”
I leaned down and pressed my forehead against hers.
“Every identity I’ve built and every piece of technology I own exists to protect you and give you what you need.
Besides,” I murmured, sliding my hands down to rest on her hips.
“I’ve run the probabilities. Havoc won’t use the Wraith persona against me.
You are his daughter in every way that matters.
I’ve watched the man enough to know his loyalty belongs to you.
The Alliance is a distant second. He won’t risk alienating you just to burn my consulting alias. ”
Her body was warm against mine, soft where I was hard, yielding where I was unyielding.
“What do you need?” I asked. “Tell me what you need right now.”
Annie pulled back slightly, looking up at me with those impossibly blue eyes. The panic had receded, leaving behind something I couldn’t quite identify. “I’m not sure.”
“Anything,” I said, my hands sliding to her waist. “I’ll do anything.”
Annie smiled. “I know how you could distract me,” she said.
Fuck yes. I knew that tone. That was the tone that meant she wanted my hands and mouth on her, my cock inside her. That was the tone that preceded her body tangled around mine.
My own body responded immediately, blood rushing south as my mind filled with possibilities.
I could bend her over right here, push her skirt up and fuck her until she couldn’t remember her fear.
I could carry her to my bedroom and spend hours worshipping every inch of her body.
I could drop to my knees and make her come on my tongue until she was boneless and sated.
“Anything, Annie. Tell me what you want,” I said, already reaching for the hem of her shirt.
“I want...” she leaned in, her lips brushing mine, “You to tell me how the hell you keep me from detecting you’re a Trueborn.”
The question blindsided me, leaving me momentarily speechless as my mind raced to catch up.
“What?” I managed, pulling back slightly to search her face.
“You heard me. I can’t sense you, you just feel like a manufactured Super, except that one time in the Crucible. You also felt different again as Wraith, when we met in the warehouse. How do you do it?”
“That’s not at all what I thought you were going to say. I was expecting my face buried between your legs, your hands in my hair, pulling me closer while you try not to scream.” My body was still one hundred percent primed for something different, making the cognitive shift all the more jarring.
Annie’s eyes softened. “I’m sorry,” she said, pressing her lips against mine. The brief contact was a peace offering that did little to quell my arousal but everything to soothe my bruised ego.
When she pulled back, her eyes were bright with curiosity. “Will you tell me? It’s impressive, whatever you’re doing.”
I studied her for a moment, weighing my options.
“Why not?” I sighed dramatically, giving Annie my best wounded look as I moved toward one of my workstations. “You know, when a beautiful woman says she wants a distraction, most men don’t think she means ‘show me your proprietary technology.’”
Annie followed me, a small smile playing at her lips. “You love it when I want to hear more about your work.”
“True,” I conceded, activating the scanner with a few quick keystrokes. The device switched on, a blue light emanating from its surface.
I disengaged the armor plating on my forearm and with a wave of my hand, the nanobots making up my undersuit rolled up my left arm, leaving it bare.
I placed it under the scanner and the blue light intensified, creating a three-dimensional projection of my arm’s internal structure.
I tapped a spot where a small device was nestled against my radius.
“See that? It’s an implant that generates a specific frequency field. Think of it as white noise for your Super-sensing ability.”
Annie leaned closer, studying the projection. It was barely the size of my thumbnail, with microscopic filaments extending outward like a technological spider web through the surrounding tissue. “It masks your Trueborn signature?”
“Yes. It actively mimics the energy signature of a manufactured Super.” I rotated the projection to give her a better view. “The device samples my biorhythms and creates a counterfeit pattern that matches what you’d expect from someone who’s taken the serum.”
“That’s incredible,” she murmured, reaching out as if to touch the projection before catching herself.
“I have three more implants placed throughout my body,” I continued. “They work in concert to create a complete false signature. If one fails, the others compensate.”
I frowned. “Well, they should work perfectly, unless the fucking Hammer is used to deactivate all technology in the surrounding area.” The memory of that day in the Crucible resurfaced like a shard of glass working its way through my skin.
The moment when everything went sideways, when Dread nearly killed her.
When he fucking killed me.
“So that’s why I felt you,” Annie said, her eyes widening with realization. “Dread had used the Hammer.”
“Precisely. The Hammer’s energy disruption field knocked out my implants along with everything else.” I flexed my fingers, remembering the sensation of exposure.