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“How much juice does it have left?” He rubbed his eye with his fist.
“About an hour, and I just might be able to figure out that password.”
“How are you going to do that?” He dropped into the one chair in the room, stationed by the sliding door that led to a small patio.
A rosy pink blush rushed across her cheeks. “I went through Dr. Arnoff’s desk once at the lab.”
“Really?” He cocked one eyebrow at her. Definitely not as sweet as she appeared.
She spread out her hands. “It was because of the lab. He was so secretive, I decided to do a little digging of my own.”
“You obviously didn’t dig very far if you didn’t find out the real purpose behind T-101.”
“No, I never did get that far, but I did discover a bunch of his passwords. There’s a good reason why cyber security people advise against writing down your passwords.”
He pointed at the computer. “Have you tried any of them yet? Do you even remember them?”
“I remember some of them. I’d just tried a few when you knocked on the door, but I was afraid of draining the battery.”
Another knock sounded on the door, and Max held up one finger. “Hang on.”
He squinted through the peephole while grabbing the door handle. “It’s pizza time.”
Still, he felt for his weapon tucked into his holster before opening the door. Anyone could impersonate a pizza delivery guy, just like anyone could impersonate a cable repairman.
The pizza guy held the box in front of him. “Pizza?”
“That’s us. How much do I owe you?”
“That’s fifteen ninety-five.”
Max traded a twenty for the pizza. “Keep it. Thanks.”
“Thank you.”
Max locked up again and put the pizza on the credenza next to the laptop. “Do you want to try again?”
“My mind is in a fog right now, and I don’t want to waste the battery trying out twenty different passwords. I’d rather wait for that power cord.”
He tapped the box. “Sit down and have a slice or two before you faint from hunger.” Or was he the only one ravenous?
Ava looked around the room. “Our seating options are limited, aren’t they?”
“You can have the chair. I’ll take the bed.”
“Just don’t leave any crumbs in there.”
He could’ve said something about crumbs in the bed and whether or not he’d kick her out for the offense, but he refrained. She obviously hadn’t considered the sleeping arrangements yet.
He dropped two pieces of pizza on one of the paper plates provided by the pizzeria and handed it to Ava. “Looks good.”
Then he filled up his own plate and reclined on the bed against a couple of pillows. The cool pillow felt soothing against the back of his head, which had started throbbing, along with his temple, in the past ten minutes.
Had to be hunger. He tore into a slice of pizza with his teeth. The flavor of the spicy pepperoni filled his mouth, and he wiped his chin with a napkin.
Ava took a small bite from the tip of the triangle and dabbed her lips. “Mmm, that hit the spot.”
He waved his pizza at her. “You are going to eat more, right?”
“Of course.” Her gaze slid to the computer on the credenza. “I’m dying to find out what’s on there.”
“It’s almost eleven o’clock, Ava. We’re not going to find a power cord at this time of night. We can pick up a cord first thing tomorrow.”
“You have a point.” She leaned forward and closed the lid of the laptop. Then she collapsed back in the chair and took a big bite of her pizza.
“Are you going to tell me how Tempest recruited you?”
He dropped his crust on the plate and brushed his fingers together, trying to buy time.
“The short answer?”
“Do you have any other kind?”
“I was a Green Beret, and I disobeyed orders. Tempest saved me from a court-martial.”
“D-did you do something wrong? Something illegal?”
“I saved four men in my unit.” His mouth twisted. “But I still disobeyed orders. They were bad orders.”
“Tempest must’ve been on the lookout for guys like you.”
