Page 21 of Jonas (Silver Team #4)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The walk to the big house was short and silent.

Derrika looked like she was stewing on something, and since I’d dropped the shit that was my brother’s death on her right after she’d shared her concern that maybe we were too far down the pike to stop the Chinese from a terrorist attack, I didn’t know what she was thinking.

And I didn’t ask, mostly because now that I was thinking about Adam my thoughts had turned dark.

The ugly way he died on the kitchen floor after Ed kicked him in the head.

The aftermath of that—Ed going into his bedroom and retrieving his revolver, the same one I’d seen countless times, the same one he’d hit my mother in the face with, the same one he’d pointed at me, threatening to kill me.

Too young, too clueless to know that revolver was never loaded.

The police had found no bullets in the house.

A rookie cop shot and killed a manic brandishing a gun—an unloaded gun—and that cop had to live with that.

All because Ed was mean as fuck on a good day, totally unhinged when he was drunk, and my mother was too weak to grab her boys and run.

In fairness, there was nothing to say Ed wouldn’t have found her and dragged her back to the house, but she hadn’t tried.

Not once had she stepped in front of a fist to protect us.

Not once did she lock us in our rooms when he was on a tear and shield us from his beatings.

When she could escape, she’d run and cower and leave us to take his wrath.

Not that I wanted my mother harmed. Not that I wouldn’t’ve taken those beatings for her.

Not that Adam wouldn’t’ve done everything he could to keep her safe.

But for the love of God, the woman didn’t even try to help us.

It's an uncomfortable realization when it hits, when the fullness of the revulsion sinks in, when the finality of death digs its claws in and suffocates you, but with every breath you manage to suck in, you hate the woman who gave birth to you more than the man she brought into your life who was your tormentor.

I would’ve forgiven her, stood by her, helped her, loved her if she’d been on her knees holding her dead son instead of crying over the monster who killed him.

My left foot had just hit the wooden plank of the first step when my progress was halted by Derrika’s hand wrapping around my forearm. I glanced to the right and down and caught her eyes.

“I know that look,” she started. “I understand the silence. So before we go in, do you need a minute?”

I took her in more thoroughly, the way her eyes were gentle with comprehension, but more—they held a twinge of anger. It wasn’t hard to read that her anger wasn’t pointed at me but on my behalf. Of course she’d get it, see it, and recognize the demons.

“I’m good.”

Her fingers tightened, digging in deeper, and she added a shake.

“You can’t bullshit a bullshitter, pal. I know you’re not good. What I’m asking is if you need a minute to lock down the memories. We can take a walk or I can go in and leave you to it.”

Good Christ, I didn’t know what to do with that.

I wanted my moment of stunned indecision to be about her offer, but it wasn’t.

It had to do with the way her hand felt on my forearm, the way her fingertips dug in, the way I wanted to twist out of her grasp but only so I could grab her hand and hold it.

I wanted to unload my burden on her and see if she could stand strong or if she’d crumble under its weight.

I wanted to know if all that I was seeing in her was true or if I was being fooled by a beautiful face and a gorgeous body.

I wanted all of this with an unhealthy desire.

At first glance, I’d wanted to take her to bed for a few hours of fun. Now, I wanted her for a completely different reason—an alarming one that scared the fuck out of me.

She might’ve thought I couldn’t pull off bullshitting her but she had no idea the heights I could take a con. But instead of doing just that, I opted for the truth.

“I need to go in and let work distract me. It’s the only thing that stops the memories.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do.” Unfortunately, she dropped her hand. “Lead the way.”

I wanted to lead her back to the cabin, straight to the bedroom and try a new way to bury my past.

Sadly, we didn’t have time for that. Further from that, the thought of using her to get rid of the bile swirling in my gut was an unacceptable course of action.

Fucking morals—they ruin everything.

I climbed the steps, opened the storm door, and felt the vibe wafting from inside before I stepped foot over the threshold.

“Oh boy,” Derrika muttered from behind me, catching the feel immediately.

I didn’t want to think that was interesting but I did.

Neither did I want to acknowledge how she came about reading a room from the barest trace of animosity but I knew like me she’d learned through abuse.

When you never knew when your next beating was coming you learned quickly to gauge every room you entered.

I hated that for her more than I hated it for myself.

“You cannot be fucking serious,” Zane boomed.

I quickened my pace to get to the stairs to the basement.

“Oh boy,” she repeated, dogging my heels.

I hit the stairs in time to hear Lore return, “Sorry, big hoss, but I’m right.”

“He can’t be a big hoss,” Kira explained.

“Unless you’re going for the tautology. Otherwise try Viper King, Dipple King, or his latest favorite Big Boss Daddy.

Or if you prefer, Large And In Charge though that one makes me want to vomit in my mouth a little, because I think he thinks the large part of that statement is referencing his man member and not his height. ”

I stopped at the foot of the stairs to take in the occupants of the room.

Kira was sitting at the long table with her laptop open but looking at Lore who sat across from her.

Layla was sitting next to her, pale-faced and unhappy, Kevin next to her eying his wife with concern.

Zane was at the far end with a smirk. Easton and Nebraska were standing, both holding coffee mugs.

Theo, Smith, Cash, and Cooper all filled in around the table.

“What’d we miss?” I asked as I walked to the table, moving to a spot with two empty chairs side by side. I pulled one out for Derrika. When she didn’t immediately move to sit, I glanced back at her. “What’s wrong?”

She was squinting at Lore.

“I know you,” Derrika affirmed.

“Yup.”

“You worked at Delcon when I started.”

“Yup again.”

“Angie…” Derrika snapped. “Angie Lewandowski. I processed your exit interview after you quit. But your hair was fire engine red.”

Currently Lore’s hair was dark brown, almost black.

“I prefer to call that shade chili pepper. You know, because it makes me feel spicy,” Lore quipped.

“Stella.” Nebraska sighed using Lore’s real name as a rebuke.

“What? A girl can’t have a little fun while she’s undercover? Men go crazy for a redhead. They can’t help themselves.”

“It’s the whole, do the curtains match the drapes thing,” Cash explained.

“Why are men so stupid?” Kira asked.

“No clue, but thank God they are. Makes the honey pot routine work even though they know they’re being honey potted,” Lore went on.

“I prefer the old Soviet term,” Cash remarked.

Lore’s gaze shot to Cash, a smirk firmly on her lips.

“I’d expect nothing less from the legendary Cash Phillips.”

Derrika moved closer to my side, leaned in, and quietly asked, “What’s the Soviet term?”

“They called their female agents who were sent in to seduce a man, Swallows.”

“Fitting,” she muttered, and went for the seat I had pulled out for her.

As soon as she was settled, I sat next to her.

“If we’re done talking about swallowing and honey pots, maybe we can get back to work,” Theo suggested.

Cash’s gaze traveled across the table and latched onto mine. I knew that look; he was gearing up to say something wildly inappropriate that would go beyond his normal tactless comments. I shook my head, hoping he’d keep his tongue.

To help him curb his natural inclination to cause mayhem, I asked, “What’s Lore right about?”

“You mean what does she think she’s right about?” Zane put in. “The woman’s a world-class liar. I’m not convinced we should believe anything she says.”

A quick glance at Lore stated plain she gave zero fucks what Zane said about her, and more, she was proud of the ‘world-class liar’ moniker.

Lore’s hand came off the table and swept in Derrika’s direction.

“I worked at Delcon for three months. Amy Hart conducted my exit interview. Tell them, Derrika Layne, why did I leave?”

I felt Derrika shift in the chair.

“You know my name?”

“I knew it five minutes after you hit your desk the day you started.”

More shifting from beside me.

“How did?—”

“Don’t worry, your cover was tight. Proof of that is it took me five minutes to uncover it.”

Derrika didn’t look convinced her cover was safe.

Nebraska must’ve sensed how uncomfortable she was when she prompted Lore, “Just tell her how you found her.”

“I had to use my contact at the Agency. If you weren’t safe, I’d tell you.”

I wasn’t sure she would. I didn’t know Lore, thus I didn’t trust a word that came out of her mouth when it came to Derrika’s safety. I shifted my stare to Kira and only relaxed when she nodded.

“Angie left Delcon when she got a six-figure offer from a tech company in Silicon Valley that Delcon couldn’t match after two rounds of negotiations.”

“Okay, back to what she thinks she’s right about,” I pushed.

“The Pentagon is hardwired to Delcon.”

Holy fuck.

“That’s why they were targeted,” Derrika voiced my opinion before I could.

“We were right.” I put in, remembering our conversation from yesterday. “The CIA is using Treasury as a proxy.”

“If the Chinese control Delcon, they get the information coming out of the Pentagon,” Derrika continued.

“Wouldn’t hacking Delcon be easier?” Smith asked.

“Hell no,” Kira said. “Delcon’s cybersecurity is better than the Agencies.

I was actually looking forward to working there.

Some of their protocols are insane. They have three different layers of protection.

The everyday user that backups up their pictures, documents, videos, shit like that.

Businesses that require a more secure environment to safeguard their client information.

Then the big dogs who need extra security.

That third tier would take someone better than me and Garrett combined to get in.

Correction—me, Garrett, and Shepherd Drexel combined into one super-genius. ”

Shepherd Drexel was a red hat hacker we used from time to time. He was also a wild card, no one that I knew of had ever met him in person. He was expensive, elusive, and worth every bit of hassle he made you go through to hire him.

“AI—”

Kira cut off Smith before he could finish.

“Fuck AI,” she spat. “A computer is only as intelligent as the data source that trained it. It cannot finesse a code the way a human can. It cannot pivot when it feels a door is a trap. There are nuances to hacking and a computer can only get you so far into a system before a human has to take over.”

“Tell us how you really feel,” Easton muttered.

“I just did,” she retorted. “Have none of you seen The Terminator ? Or The Matrix ? Spoiler alert, the machines take over. No thanks. I’ll do the hard work myself and not train the very thing that puts me in a pod while the machine sucks my brain for information.”

“And you all call me dramatic,” Zane snickered.

“Don’t come crying to me, Boss Daddy, when you’re living in a simulated reality.

As cool as it would be, being a part of the resistance, I like Big Macs and iced coffee too much and I don’t think they’re available in the sim game that would be life.

But just to say, I’d look shit hot in black leather pants. ”

“I heard Sarah Connor’s really Neo’s mother,” Derrika added. “Or I should say, John Connor is really Neo.”

“Anyone else more concerned with the Chinese than the possibility of AI taking over the world?” Theo inquired.

“What if I told you there’s a connection between AI and the Chinese?” Lore smoothly queried.

“I’d say, I’m interested as long as you’re not about to tell me the Chinese have cyborgs ready to invade our streets.”

“No, there’s no T-1000s at the ready.” Lore smirked.

For no other reason other than intuition, I glanced over at Cash.

His gaze was firmly planted on Lore, which wasn’t surprising—the woman was pretty but—it was the way he was staring at her that had my attention.

The shocking part was, he was studying her not like he wanted to eat her, but like he was assessing.

It was the what he was evaluating I couldn’t read.

I didn’t have a good feeling about this.

Cash was a self-proclaimed feral animal.

Lore was a wild card.

The two of them together…we wouldn’t have to worry about the Chinese. I had a feeling they’d go thermonuclear and destroy the planet.

“Have you heard of Three Mile Island?” Lore asked.

Jesus fuck.

There it was.