Blowback (The Black Cipher Files Book 1) (13 page)

“I’m a grown up. I only camp if I have to.” He grinned, with a wicked light in his eye. “How about a nice motel with real plumbing and a soft bed.”

I didn’t want to waste the time.

“Four hours.” He looked at me steadily over the edge of his breakfast.

Did I want to be trapped in a hotel room with him? No. Absolutely not. On the other hand, maybe I could use his software while he slept.

“Only if you let me use your laptop.”

I grabbed the biscuit from his hand and took a healthy bite, chewing slowly, practically daring him to say no. “Deal?”

He peeled my fingers from the biscuit. “Deal.”

In twenty minutes, we had checked in, parked around back, and Lucas had crashed on the single Queen-sized bed.

It wasn’t easy to ignore the sleeping man. He lay sprawled on his stomach across a hideous bedspread in a faded, circa 1970, avocado and orange motif.

Lucas clutched a puffy pillow under his head, his biceps rippled against the taut t-shirt, his back muscles clearly defined by the pull of the thin cotton. A peep show of skin where the shirt had come free of his jeans at the base of his spine, taunted me.

He didn’t snore exactly. The sound was more of a soft exhale. His back rose and fell in a slow, easy rhythm which I found extremely erotic.

I remembered the last hotel room we’d shared with exquisite clarity and I found the similarity disconcerting.

Memories of his body sliding into mine, the thick, hard length of him, the rub of his chest hair against my breasts, and the solid muscle of his thighs between mine.

I rubbed my hands over my arms and ignored the fact that my body tingled in places better left alone. If he awoke and exerted any kind of coercion right now, resistance would be impossible.

Because he was right. We have a connection. I didn’t want anything to do with it, but my wishes didn’t make the feeling go away.

The best I could do was ignore the intense pull.

The bedside clock flipped and I realized I’d wasted a chunk of time, staring, remembering. I focused on the laptop and signed on to my storage account.

Get your head back in this mission.

From the intel I’d been given, six agents had been kidnapped. I had backgrounds but no names. No obvious links in their service records. They had been stationed all over the world, specialized in different areas. And while there might be overlap between one or two, nothing jumped out at first glance.

Men and women.

No major links between training classes.

No childhood background similarities. There had been a fair amount of public service in the family history of some abductees. But not all.

I couldn’t see any obvious link. But until I got back to Crypto City and went into the files there, I was stalled.

I’d been told my mission was to identify and capture the kidnappers. But perhaps my mission had just been to test the information network of whoever was behind the kidnapping. But then, why lie to me?

I opened the files stolen from the woman, Susan, in the warehouse and studied the encryption again. Something familiar nagged at me. I’d seen this code before. I kept trying to break into the encryption. I was missing a key link, which was especially frustrating as I knew I’d seen this code before.

My heart, my brain iced as I looked at the commands.

The NSA had their own code writers and the pattern was very distinctive. This file code was similar to an encrypted file I’d played around with at the office. That meant, either someone had broken the encryption program or someone in the NSA was actually behind the kidnappings. But what would be the point in that?

My mission was VRK, Very Restricted Knowledge, the highest clearance possible. Which meant only a few key people had access to the information.

The President. The National Security Advisor. The Director of Homeland Security. The Director of the NSA. Carson. And me.

I’d been involved in several highly classified missions in the last year. The information stored in my brain would be top secret for years if Congress had their way. So...what was specific about my current mission?

The man at the warehouse had asked about being compromised, but that wasn’t a danger. As long as no one knew about Bella, nothing would convince me betray my country.

Bella.

The need to check on her again mushroomed.

I was being irrational, but worry spread like a cancer feeding on healthy tissue. Something was out of whack.

I found Bella in her favorite chat room. Donald was there as well. Her sudden connection with him had me worried, since I didn’t know enough about him. He might be a perfectly nice kid.

DonnyBoy: How’d you do on the test?

Bella: Got an A. Advanced Calculus is my best subject.

DonnyBoy: Wow. Maybe you could help me sometime. I have a really hard time with math.

Bella: Sure. What are you up to today?

DonnyBoy: I’m meeting some friends at a coffeehouse. Wanna come?

Bella: Thanks but I’ve got to study for my English exam.

DonnyBoy: You sure do study a lot.

Bella: I need to do good.

I dropped the thread of their conversation and started tracing his email address back to its source. There must be footprints to lead me back to his server and computer which would lead to the right Donald Christian.

Then maybe I would have answers.

Like who the hell he was and what he was doing with my baby sister.

“Who’s Bella?” Lucas’s rumbling voice came from behind me.

Only years of training held me immobile.

My throat constricted, muscles seizing like a boa tightening for the kill. I swallowed several times before I could answer.

“Just some girl Donald Christian is hitting on.”

I couldn’t look at him, terrified he’d see the fear in my eyes. No one knew about Bella. No one except Carson.

Unless I’d been compromised when they’d drugged me.

“Since you’re awake, why don’t you get in the shower.” Deliberately, I leaned back against his arm, bringing my cleavage into the range of his gaze. I went for provocative on purpose, trying to deflect his attention away from Bella.

But he ignored the move.

“In a sec.” He leaned over to scrawl Bella’s email address on the hotel stationary. “We should check her out.”

“Not necessary.” I minimized the screen with a casual stroke of my finger.

“Can’t hurt.”

But it could. Somehow I would have to get rid of that information without making it look obvious.

“Shower?” I had to get him away from the subject of Bella and I would use any means. I toyed with the neckline of my t-shirt, running a finger along the fairly deep V.

His gaze dropped to my breasts. And away from the computer. Just like I’d wanted.

My nipples tightened in response. Which I definitely didn’t want.

Jeez, he affected me.

Lucas shifted, propped against the fake wood desk and raised one brow lazily. “You offering?”

Tempting. Too tempting.

I remembered the feeling of rightness I’d found in his embrace...and the way I’d run from it.

He leaned over bringing his face even with mine. Tension arced between us, hotter than the Indian Summer sun rippling off the hotel parking lot. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the promise of heat and heaven in his gunmetal eyes.

I saw the kiss coming, didn’t stop him.

Nothing was going to happen. I had strict rules. I’d never broken them and I wasn’t about to start now. But I wanted this kiss.

I craved his touch in ways far too needy. For one moment, I allowed him entrance.

For all the heat in his gaze, the touch of his lips against mine was soft and somehow pure. He didn’t plunder. He tasted, sipped at my mouth.

He trailed his fingers along my nape and then cupped my neck. Sensation tingled. His other hand held my chin, as if he knew I would back away.

Our breath mingled. He nibbled my lips with a tenderness somehow more shocking because I could break his hold, but hadn’t.

This was a kiss of intimacy, not passion. Passion simmered below the surface, but this embrace wasn’t the wild coupling we’d indulged in before.

I clenched my hands into fists. The temptation to reach out and touch him a hunger within me. A hunger I needed to deny.

I broke away and cleared my throat.

“I’ll take that as a no.” His voice wasn’t quite steady.

“You take the shower first.”

“Sure.” He walked to the bathroom, unbuttoning his jeans as he went.

I breathed deeply, held the breath in, waiting.

“Jamie.”

I jerked my gaze back to Lucas as he stood silhouetted in the bathroom doorway.

“Yeah?”

“I’m not going away.” He closed the door with a secret smile.

While Lucas took a shower, I placed another cell call to Barb.

“‘Lo.” Her voice was raspy. Unless I was mistaken, she’d been mostly asleep.

It was nine o’clock in the morning California time. “Up and at ‘em.”

“Go to hell.”

“You struck me as an early to bed, early to rise kind of girl.”

Her jaw popped as she yawned in my ear. “Just got to bed.”

“Boyfriend keeping you up?”

“I wish.”

I suddenly realized I might have put my foot in that one. She’d made it clear that she’d be happy to have Lucas but he wasn’t biting.

“Give me a minute.”

I waited impatiently. “Any luck?”

“Yes. And no.”

Again with the yes, no. “Spill.”

“Did you help Lucas?”

I thought back to my conversation with Carson. “I’m using all the resources I have to help him.”

“Let me talk to him.”

Oops. This probably wouldn’t go over well either. “He’s...ah, in the shower.”

There was silence on the other end, then she spoke tightly, “It seems to be some sort of...mood or behavior influencing drug that possibly affects the brain. I’ve never seen anything exactly like it.”

Mood or behavior influencing drug. I tensed. “Like LSD?”

“Lysergic Acid Diethylamide is mood altering, frequently inducing strong mood swings and paranoia. The effects of a single dose usually last around twelve hours. This is different. It has an element that may change at the cellular level.”

“What does that mean?” I listened to the running water and waited.

“It means...I don’t know.” There was frustration in her voice. “It looks similar to some gene therapy drugs I’ve seen.”

“Give me more.”

“Have you ever heard of the Human Genome Project?”

“Pretend like I haven’t.”

“The Project mapped the entire DNA sequence of humans, identifying and classifying which genes influenced or directed all aspects of human function.”

“So....”

“One of the things discovered was that the body has ways to turn on and off cell function. If a cell is methylated it will block certain functions.”

“Go on.”

“With recent gene therapy if compounds are injected into the body using nanotechnology it can actually reverse or change how the body and brain react to stimulus.”

“What cells are being changed?” I rubbed the back of my neck. If cells were being changed, to what purpose? Did the changes wear off like an...aspirin or were they permanent? “Can you be more specific?”

“I need more time,” Barb snapped. “I think I’ve got an idea but I need to do more research.”

I calculated how long we had left on the road. One day. We could make Maryland in the next twenty four hours.

“Okay. I’ll call tomorrow.” I said goodbye and hung up.

Tomorrow I could get to Crypto City and Carson could answer my questions about this increasingly complex series of events.

The shower shut off.

And I could finally be rid of Lucas Goodman.

I ignored the fact that the idea of getting rid of Lucas wasn’t as appealing or comforting as it should be.

FIFTEEN

We were finally back home.

We’d hit the Beltway about an hour ago, right in the early afternoon, and traffic was still heavy.

“So...where should I drop you?” I asked casually.

“Right where you’re going, honey.”

Too much to hope he’d go to a hotel. I hadn’t figured he’d fall for it, but it was worth a try.

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“And I really don’t care.” He rubbed at his face, looking as tired as I felt.

I didn’t have any more time to waste on his guy. “What if I promise to get you the information?”

“Nope.”

I’d known he would push. I’d do the same. “Let me see what I can find out.” I called Carson at the office but there was no answer. Carson updated his voice mail hourly if he was in the office or in a meeting. When he didn’t have contact details it meant he was out of the office.

“My contact seems to be out of pocket right now.” I fiddled with the radio and mentally calculated another way to get rid of him. “Why don’t I drop you at a hotel and call you on your cell when I’ve got the information you want?”

“You are not out of my sight until I get the information about Johnny.”

I gave up for the moment. “Fine. Let’s go.” We’d check out Staci Grant’s house, see if we could find files, anything there. I gave him detailed instructions to her townhouse in Alexandria.

When he pulled off at the exit where we had originally hooked up, I turned my head sharply. What was he doing?

“A little different than last time.” He grinned, then shook his head. “Relax. I just want to see if the car you were driving is still there.”

Good point.

I really must be tired. As we pulled into the liquor store where I’d been kidnapped, I glanced cautiously out the window and then checked the rear view mirror before getting out of the van.

“No signs of the abduction.”

I hadn’t really expected any. But no sign of Staci Grant’s Lexus either.

“Bummer about the car,” he said.

For a moment, I mourned the loss of the truly fine vehicle. “Yeah.”

Without any further words, we got back in the van. I deliberately didn’t look toward the hotel. The memories of our encounter in that room already occupied too much of my thoughts.

When we arrived at Staci’s, Lucas circled the block, looking for parking.