Chapter 14
He didn’t let go of me, not across the lobby, not in the elevator, when the passion was rising and we kissed again, a roaring chorus of excitement building in my head and body. We didn’t part when it opened to my floor, nor when we hit the wall of the hallway. I fumbled for my room key as we staggered, blindly, one of us walking backward nearly all the time, to my door. I threw it open and we were in, the lights already on dim, as though they were set in anticipation of our arrival.
My jacket was shed instantly, so seamless I hardly noticed it come off and wondered if it had been he or I that had done it. I tossed my gun and holster onto my open bag, followed by my shoes as I ran a hand over his smooth chest, reveling in the fact that I could touch him without fear. We broke apart, breathing heavy, and he smiled at me as I fumbled to undo the buttons on his shirt. He reciprocated, much more smoothly than I, and we hit the bed, lips once more intertwined.
I felt the weight of him on top of me, his chest pressed against mine, his fingers working on the snap and zipper of my pants. No sooner had he gotten them undone than my jacket began to ring. Loud, musical, the tones a perfect distraction to the symphony of touch and sensation that was going on a few feet away. He caressed me, running a hand along my side, making me shudder while I wished he would finish what he had started and get my pants off. I let the tips of my fingers slide over the smooth skin on his back, holding him in place, pulling him closer to me.
His lips pulled from mine for a second. “Is that your phone ringing?”
I craned my neck to kiss him again. “I don’t know, and I don’t care.” My hands reached up to the back of his neck and pulled him closer. I felt his tongue in my mouth, tasted the beer flavor, and then he pulled away, running gentle kisses onto my chin and then down my neck. I felt his hands as they ran over me, the touches a delight, all different kinds of pleasure running through my skin. The phone had stopped ringing, wherever it was, and I couldn’t be happier as I lay there, breathing heavy while he touched me.
The first heavy knock on my door jarred me, causing me to jerk in surprise. I looked at him, locked eyes, and I shook my head. “Just ignore it,” I said, running a hand through his hair. A second knock came, louder and more insistent than the first. I leaned back, letting my head fall against the pillow as some of the heat left me. “Oh God, why now?”
He chuckled and lay his head on my belly. “Because it’s the worst possible time.”
The knocking came again, sustained, persistent and louder. “Sienna?” I heard Kat’s voice, then knocking again. “I know you’re in there; your phone’s GPS is still transmitting.”
“Go away!” I cried. “Come back in an hour!”
“I can’t!” she shouted back. “Ariadne just called, and we’ve got things to deal with!”
I felt a kind of surly whine come from my lips as James laughed softly against my stomach. He kissed me on the belly and rolled off me, allowing me to get to my feet and stagger to the door. It took all my restraint, once I had opened it just a crack to see Kat, not to reach out, grab her by the head, and slam it in the door for interrupting my efforts to lose my virginity. “What?” I felt the acid drip from my tongue, looking daggers at the pretty cheerleader who didn’t have any problems at all sleeping with her boyfriend.
She looked paler than usual, but then again, she had looked like that a lot on this trip. “Ariadne called.”
“Yes, I heard you the first time.”
She looked to either side down the hallway, then back at me. “Can I come in so we can talk?”
“No,” I said. “You can leave so I can get back to doing what I was doing!”
Her brow crinkled and she looked mildly offended. “What were you doing?”
I let out a heavy exhalation and felt my hand go to my forehead as I bowed my head. “Ugh, never mind. What did Ariadne want?”
“She got your message and was calling you back.” Kat looked at me with wide eyes. “Also, leaving us with that Reed guy while you went to the bar? Not cool. You’re lucky I woke up first.”
I felt a wash of chagrin. “What did Scott say when he woke up?”
“He’s still kind of out of it, but he didn’t seem too happy.” She shook her head and glanced past me, suddenly stiffening. “Is there someone in there with you?”
I opened the door wide enough to show her that I was in my bra with my pants unzipped, then shut it back to only a crack. “Yes,” I said with some urgency.
Her eyes widened in alarm. “Won’t that...you know,” she lowered her voice to a bare whisper, “kill...whoever you’re with?”
“Apparently not,” I said. “But the mood? The mood is officially dead, thanks to you.”
“I’m sorry, but Ariadne wants us on the phone right now.” She stared at me, and I knew the firmness in her voice didn’t come from her.
“Just give me half an hour,” I said, pleading. I started to shut the door.
“Now.” She reached out and grasped my wrist, giving it a squeeze, then letting go immediately. “She’s in Kansas, and things have gone very, very wrong. She only has a short window to talk to us. She’s waiting for you.”
I buried my face in my hands and took a deep breath. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
I closed the door and felt James’s hands slide across my hips, teasing and promising more touches, more caresses. He kissed the side of my neck and I squirmed; it hit the right spot. “I have to go,” I said, my eyes closed, my words heavy with the regret I felt over every inch of my body – some inches more than others. I slid free of his grasp and turned to kiss him again on the mouth. I broke away after a moment. “I promise I will be right back after this call is over.”
I saw his eyes go cool in the half-light. “All right. I can wait.” He cracked a smile as his fingers stroked my bare arms and grasped my hands in his. “I think you’re probably worth it.”
I pulled away, giving him a coy smile before I stooped to pick my blouse off the floor. “Probably?”
He gave me a noncommittal shrug and went back to the bed as I threw my arms through the sleeves of my blouse. “I guess we’ll see.”
I sat on the edge of the bed and he leaned over my shoulder, kissing the back of my neck as I buttoned my shirt. “You never did tell me who you work for.”
“I doubt you’d have heard of us,” he said, nuzzling, his tongue on the side of my neck. “But if you’re interested, I can give you the whole pitch of why you should join us...after.”
I felt a little amusement as I slipped on my shoes. “So recruiting me isn’t your first priority anymore?”
“Nuh-uh,” he grunted. I gasped as his fingers tweaked me.
I stood and brushed his hands off. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I picked my holster up off my suitcase and put it on, followed by my jacket. I took a last look at him once I was at the door, gave him a weak smile, and closed it behind me.
I leaned against the wall in the hallway, trying to catch my breath. After taking time to compose myself, I walked two doors down and knocked. The door cracked open to admit me and Reed stood there, looking much less beaten up than he had a few hours ago.
“Is that Sienna?” I heard Ariadne’s voice crackle from the speaker of the phone sitting on the bed.
“It is,” I said. “Sorry for the delay; I was just—”
“It doesn’t matter,” Ariadne cut me off. “I only have a few minutes. Our operation in western Kansas has gotten complicated; M-Squad has been ambushed by some heavy-hitting metas, and we’ve lost half the team from our Texas facility. The Director and I need to manage the fallout from this, but I wanted to get back to all of you first.”
“Things have gotten a bit complicated here as well,” I said, feeling a little catch in my voice.
“Yes,” Ariadne said, “Kat and Scott have explained. We’ll have a conversation later about how you’ve been keeping quiet about your aunt, but for now let’s talk about your friend Reed.”
I locked eyes with Reed, who looked unconcerned. “You know he’s standing right here, don’t you?”
“He’s offered to help us,” she said, “with some additional resources from his organization. He’s also shed a little light on what we’re dealing with down here in Kansas.” I heard the tension in Ariadne’s voice. “Omega seems to have chosen this moment to launch a surprise attack against the Directorate. We think they drew M-Squad down here for the express purpose of putting them out of commission.” Ariadne’s tone was flat. “I’m afraid this little chase we have you on, trying to track down this meta that’s robbing convenience stores, is going to have to wait. Reed told me you’ve captured a laptop from Omega?”
“Yes, I have it right here.” I pointed to Kat’s overnight bag, prompting a quizzical look from her. I pointed again, and she went over to it, opening it and digging around until she came out with the laptop. “It’s password protected, though, and I didn’t want to chance digging around in it because...well, because I’m terrible with computers. Figured I’d leave it to the pros.”
“I want that computer in the hands of our techies right now,” Ariadne said. “How fast can you get it back to the campus?”
I looked to Scott, who cleared his throat. “If we drive fast, with the sirens on, we’re a little less than two hours away.”
“If there’s any hint of what Omega is up to or what their next move might be, we need to know now,” Ariadne said. “Get that computer in the hands of our tech support immediately. Do whatever you have to do.” She paused. “Reed, is there anything else you can tell us?”
Reed looked like he’d been disturbed from slumber, moving after being still for several minutes. “I can’t tell you much about what Omega’s up to down there because it’s out of my territory, but I can tell you that there’s at least one more facility they have here in Wisconsin, something that’s a lot more secret than the Eau Claire safehouse. One of our sources called it Site Epsilon, and it was where they were working on something called ‘Project Andromeda’. Our agent was tasked to find it and get inside, but they, uh...” He shrugged. “...disappeared.”
“Where is this?” Scott asked, his arms folded in front of him.
“Eastern Wisconsin, not far from Eagle River.” He shrugged. “I took a preliminary look around after our agent didn’t report in, but there was no sign – no trace of his cell phone, nothing. Of course, I’m the only meta my organization has in the upper midwest, and I’ve got about a million things to do, so it hasn’t been something I’ve been able to get to; Wisconsin’s just been too quiet in terms of Omega activity to make it a priority.”
“If Omega has a secret facility here in the state that far off the beaten path,” Kat was thinking out loud, “that means it’s probably something important, right? Something secret?”
“How sure are you about the location, Reed?” Ariadne’s voice came off a little tinny, and I heard something in the background over the speaker, some kind of commotion.
“The search radius is about 100 miles,” Reed said. “But I have to be honest, we don’t know what’s waiting, which is another reason I haven’t checked it out. I mean, it could just have an Omega sweep team or two, or it could have one of the guys that used to be called a god hanging around, working security.”
I heard silence from Ariadne, as though she were pondering her response. “Omega’s made a very bold move in their attack on us in Kansas. It’s already bad enough that we’re not going to be able to keep it quiet from anyone – not the government, not the press and not the public. I doubt they would have made this move if they weren’t prepared to follow up with additional attacks, and frankly, we still don’t know a damned thing about them.
“We need something, anything. I want one of you three, Kat, Scott or Sienna, to rent a car and get the computer back to Headquarters for analysis. The other two, go with Reed and Sienna’s aunt, if she’s willing to help, and find that Omega facility, infiltrate it if it looks lightly guarded. If not, put it under surveillance and we’ll hit it as soon as we get M-Squad out of this fight in Kansas. We’re completely blind here, fighting an enemy we know nothing about.”
There was a stark silence broken only by a little static from the phone’s speaker. “And if we can’t? Can’t find anything, I mean?” Kat asked.
“Then we’ll need you back at Headquarters as quickly as possible,” Ariadne said, voice taut. “Because I think we can safely say that Omega has declared war on the Directorate – and we have no idea where and when they’ll strike next.”