Page 35 of Fallout

Over on the breakfast bar, her phone buzzed to life, vibrating and ringing on the countertop.

“I’ll grab it.” Jasper hopped up and fetched it for her.

Don’t get used to it.That would only make it twice as hard when he took all that goodness and pulled away from her. The right thing, but it would be a loss.

“This saysSystem Breach,” he said. “What does that mean?”

She held out her hand, and he put the phone in it. “Nothing good.” She dialed Simon’s number and put the call on speaker.

“I know, I know,” Simon answered. “I see it.”

“What’s going on?”

“Someone hacked the Vanguard network, and they’re rooting through our system.”

“How is that possible?” Destiny asked. “I thought we were air-gapped and secure and all that tech stuff.”

“There’s only one explanation.” Simon paused long enough she nearly prompted him. “They’re inside the building.”

She glanced at Jasper, who said, “Not me.” As if she’d been thinking that.

Destiny said, “I’ll call Clare.”

FIFTEEN

“Igo first. Remember?” Jasper touched her shoulder before she could go through the doorway. They’d come down a different elevator, much smaller than the regular one.

“It’s just Clare’s office.” She stepped aside, though.

“The person with the gun goes first.” Protecting the person who is pregnant.

He still could hardly believe it. He’d told her about Caleb, and for the first time in years, he could share his memories of his brother with someone. The whole deal with his mom? Different mountain to climb.

“This is about me being pregnant, isn’t it?”

“Honestly? Yeah.” He opened the door to Clare’s office and saw the lights had been dimmed and the door was shut. No one lurked around. But then, this attack was over the network. Not a physical breach. There were no bad guys to fight here.

Even so, he wasn’t going to take any chances with her safety.

And the fact she could discuss it like this showed how far she’d come in the past couple of months. He had a million questions but didn’t know much about pregnancy. Jasper realized Gage probably knew.

Blake was going to hit the roof when he found out two of his friends had known. Men he considered brothers—family. Exactly the family Jasper had needed to find within SWAT. Blake would consider withholding the truth a betrayal.

“I’ll stay here and…” She trailed off.

“Do Vanguard things?” Ones she had to sign a nondisclosure agreement for? Maybe Gage had signed one that kept him from telling Blake about the baby. Could they get one retroactively dated so Jasper could argue he hadn’t been able to tell his friend that his sister was pregnant?

“Are you okay?”

She must’ve picked up on his frustration or worry. He said, “I need to go find Simon. You’re staying here?”

She was already at Clare’s desk, switching on the computer. Her phone on the surface of the desk flashed. Beeps sounded in rapid succession. “I can lock the doors after you leave. And there’s a panic room. I’m good.”

“I’ll leave you to it.” He waited until he’d turned away before he grinned. He guessed she might not think she had the qualifications to be in the job she’d landed, but she looked natural behind the desk. Almost like she belonged there.

She’d come a long way in the weeks since arriving home. Since he’d shown up at the hospital, and she screamed at him to get out.

Now he knew what that had been about.