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21
NINE
At first, I thought the pounding in my head had woken me.
Where was I?The basement.I’d slept in the basement again.I took a split second to orient myself, then rolled to the side.And nearly stood on Alex.In sleep, he looked peaceful, stretched out on the floor with one arm crossed over his stomach and the other flung out across the floor.But why the hell was he still here?
And why was my smartwatch vibrating?
I glanced at the screen and saw the words I’d always dreaded.
Signal interrupted.
When I glanced over at my monitors, my extra eyes, all was well at the Craft Cabin and my rural hideaway, but the screens for my home were blank.They’d taken out part of my network.The feeds from the hardwired router were still running, but the local wireless cameras were dead.
And Alex was in my space.A virtual stranger.A virtual stranger I’d put on a pedestal in my mind, but still a man I barely knew.
Where was my gun?He’d taken it from me last night, and I’d thought he was being sweet, but now it was gone, and— It was still on the side table.I grabbed it, checked there was a live round in the chamber as there should be, and aimed at his head.
“Wake up.”
Just for good measure, I gave him a kick, and his eyes flew open.
“What the—”
“Who are they?”
The console opposite the stairs began beeping.Another alarm tripped.
“Who are who?”
“Who did you lead to my home?Seven?That English bitch?Stay where you are!”
Alex had rolled to his knees, but at my command, he held up his hands.“Dasha, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you call me that.To you, I’m Nine.”
“You’re not Nine, not anymore.”
“So I thought, but it seems I have no choice.Lie on your front.”
“I didn’t bring anyone here.”
“Then who jammed my cameras?You’re in town, and Seven’s in town.The bitch was right—there are no coincidences.”
“You think Emmy is doing this?Give me my phone, and I’ll call her.”
“Nice try.There’s no signal down here anyway.”
“Then let me go upstairs.”
“So it becomes four against one?”
Although I’d only count Hallie as a half.She was no operator.
“If Emmy’s here, then she’s probably looking for me.I didn’t call in last night, and I should have.”
“So why didn’t she just knock on the damn door?”