Page 17 of Steinbeck (The Minnesota Kingstons #5)

SIX

The game was over. Whatever magic their day at the fair had stirred up, it had died in the cool water of the fish pond, in the horrific aftermath as Stein watched Declan and his college students root around the program of the deactivated service robots.

Stein’s arm throbbed and a bone bruise was probably forming on his shin. At least maybe his artificial knee had kept the joint from being crushed.

Unexpected graces.

He and Emberly, along with Declan and Austen, stood in the security offices inside the grandstand, in a private conference room that somehow Declan had commandeered to investigate the accident.

Declan leaned over the chair of one of his college techs, the deactivated monkey lying on the long table.

Outside, Oaken and his band had taken the stage, Stein’s brother-in-law working his country-music magic on the crowd.

Steinbeck might have enjoyed singing along, maybe catching Emberly in a dance— aw. He’d let this day get to him. Let her words find soil. “I promise, I’m not going anywhere.”

And she’d been right there beside him, taking down the rogue animal, so...

“It’s not a glitch. Someone logged into this code and changed it,” Declan said, pointing to the screen. He stood up, folded his arms. “How’d this happen?”

“I don’t know, sir,” said the tech. Early twenties, maybe, the guy was a reed, wore glasses, and with his curly mop, seemed like a modern-day version of the tech geek Zuckerberg.

The other two students—a female with blue hair and glasses and a short man with Asian-American features—seemed just as computer savvy, the way they burst into a conversation about the code.

But Stein got the gist.

“So you wrote the code, parked it in the cloud, then downloaded an update to the animals last night,” Declan said.

“Yes, sir,” said the man at the computer.

“Thank you, Elliot.” Declan glanced at the other two. “Remove the hard drive from both animals and bring them to me. You can take the robots back to the lab.”

He walked over to Steinbeck as they left, his mouth tight. “Now what?”

“We need access to Axiom,” Emberly said.

She’d stood away, her arms folded, for much of the debrief, but now stepped up to him.

Stein might be reading too much into her accusatory expression.

“Imagine what this glitch could do in the wrong hands. We need a way to shut it down. What if that water hadn’t been there—or hadn’t worked?

Any military application would include a waterproof design?—”

“Okay, calm down, Phoenix,” Declan said. “I agree.”

And that shut her down.

Steinbeck fought a grin.

“I’m not opposed to the idea of a controlled virus, the kind that could ensure that any system could be shut down. In fact, I’ve been working on something.”

“In between hijacking ships and sailing the high seas?”

“Calm down, Emberly,” Steinbeck said.

Declan’s eyebrow rose.

“My name is Phoenix, and I will not be calm.” She rounded on him. “This is exactly why I was trying for the last eight months to get my hands on Axiom.” She turned back. “We can’t wait. The Russians who were chasing us in Cuba might already have a copy of the program.”

She stared at Declan then, her chest rising and falling.

And in case Steinbeck wondered, yes, Emberly had vanished.

Phoenix stood in her place, in her skin.

“Wait—you don’t think I gave it to them?” Declan.

“I think you’ve been doing some kind of dance with them for years, Dark Horse. Who knows what you’ve told them?”

Declan’s expression morphed right then into the operative he’d been so many years ago.

Steinbeck stepped between them. “Everybody take a breath.”

“We need that program, Stone.” Phoenix.

“I don’t carry it in my back pocket, Phoenix.” Declan.

“Okay, listen.” Steinbeck turned to Declan. “Where can we get access?”

He met Steinbeck’s eyes. “In my vault.”

“In Mariposa?”

“Montelena. I reactivated a bio-key and parked it back in the crypto vault.”

“Perfect. All I need is your phrase, your thumbprint, a sample of your DNA, and your eyeball. Happy to retrieve any of those?—”

“Phoenix!” Stein turned, put his hands on her shoulders. “He said yes.” He glanced at Declan. “Right?”

“Yes,” Declan said. “Except I have to be in New York City tomorrow to prepare for a military conference, and?—”

“I think saving the world from the Terminator might be more important,” Phoenix snapped.

“Hokay...” Steinbeck turned, put his back to her. “How do we get it, then?”

“I’ll meet you in Montelena. Give me two days.”

“In Montelena.”

“You want to create a virus that actually works—you’ll need the source code. And probably a roomful of programmers.”

“I’ll take care of that,” Phoenix said. “Don’t stand us up.”

Declan glanced at her, back at Stein. “Not sure whose side you’re on here.”

The words stung. “The world’s side,” Steinbeck said.

Declan nodded, his eyes hard, then he glanced at Austen. “Sorry you’re missing the concert.”

“Seriously? And miss all this?” She walked over to him, slid her hand into his, looked at Steinbeck. Then Phoenix. “You can trust him.”

Declan offered a grim smile. “Two days. See you there.” Then he walked out with Austen.

Steinbeck rounded on Phoenix, but she put up her hands. “Sorry. He’s still a terrorist to me.”

“And you’re still a thief to him. So the fact he’s trusting you?—”

She flinched at that, and shoot, he hadn’t meant to hurt her. “Sorry?—”

“No. You’re right. I am a thief. It’s time you remembered that.”

She pushed past him.

Great. Whatever. He followed her out to the hallway, where she stood near the entrance to the stands, the music carrying into the night.

He stood by her, arms akimbo, watching, listening as Oaken sang, standing at the mic, his band behind him, the people in the stands cheering, singing along.

“You’re the missin’ piece, the melody to my song.

With you, I’ve found where I truly belong.”

Stein glanced at Emberly, and she was listening, bobbing her head to the music. And he nearly turned to her, the last twenty-four hours stirring inside him, but she shook her head and walked away, back down the hallway, pulling out her phone.

“Underneath the stars, hand in hand, side by side,

In your embrace, I’m living a blessed, forgiven life.”

He listened a moment longer, sighed, then joined her.

She’d walked all the way outside, to a small bridge that overlooked the crowds, the night starting to fall, drops of twilight on the horizon. She held the phone to her ear, pacing.

“Yes, we found him. And yes, he’s going to help. Axiom is back in the vault in Montelena.”

Probably a call to her boss.

“Right. Yes, I agree, we need him—oh.”

She glanced at Steinbeck, her mouth tight.

What? She turned away.

“Yes, of course. I’ll be there.”

He stilled. Oh no she wasn’t.

“No, I think—listen. He knows me. It’s enough?—”

Another long pause. Then, “I can handle it!” She drew in a breath. And now walked away from him.

Sorry, honey. Not happening. He caught up.

“Just... Fine. Yes. I’ll be there.” She hung up. Turned and nearly slammed right into him. “What?”

“You’re not going anywhere without me.”

She stared up at him. “Apparently not. Apparently you’re my new teammate.”

“I’ve been your teammate for a while now.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. Sighed. Closed her eyes, and he might have imagined it, but some of the fight seemed to release from her. “I know. That’s the problem, isn’t it?”

Her words clung, seeped in, tangled inside him. “I don’t?—”

“Today was amazing.” She opened her eyes, her beautiful green-eyed gaze on him. “Normal. One perfect day.”

“Yes—”

“But we don’t live in normal. We live on the edges. Trying to save normal for the world. And... maybe it’s dangerous to”—she offered a smile—“to enjoy it too much.”

He had no words, Jack’s, instead, in his head. “You think you have a future with this woman?”

Today, yes, maybe.

Right now?

He too had liked today. Liked normal.

“When I was training to be a SEAL, one of the greatest fears of the Navy was for the guys who didn’t make it through BUD/S.

They had three suicides in the classes ahead of mine—guys who failed out, walked away, and.

.. quit their lives. So the trainers came up with a new policy.

As soon as a recruit rang out, they sent him home for a week.

Made him see his people, eat his mother’s cookies, pet his dog—whatever made him reset, realize that this one thing didn’t have to define his life.

Change him, yes. But tattoo failure on him?

No.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “Normal helps you get a view of your life. Of the things you love, the things that matter.”

He hadn’t meant to go there, not really, but... he let the words reel out. Let them sit there. And held on to her gaze.

She sighed then, nodded. “Yeah. Maybe. But time-out is over.” She pulled away from him. “Apparently Luis was being held in a Russian safe house in Porto. I’m not sure how, but he got away and sent an SOS through the dark web. He’s in hiding, and he won’t come in without... me.”

“And London doesn’t want you going in to get him without me .”

“Apparently.” She sighed. “We’re supposed to meet them there... Okay, maybe it’s not a terrible idea.”

“Scared you might like me sticking around?”

Her eyes widened. “She’s arranged a flight back to Portugal in two hours.”

“Shoot. I would have liked to stay for the fireworks.”

“Keep up the whining and I’ll lock you in the bathroom the entire flight.”

Maybe he wouldn’t miss the fireworks after all. “You could try.”

She rolled her eyes. “Let’s say goodbye to your family and catch an Uber to the airport. We’ll have to pick up some clothes on the way.”

He turned as she headed toward the grandstand. “Why does it feel like we’re going to check on our kid?”

“Seriously?”

“We did fight over him.”

She shook her head. “Am I ever going to be rid of you?”

He didn’t know how to answer. Instead, “What, you still think I’m slow and annoying?”