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Having him carry her would be weird—and certainly would appear odd to the flight crew. But it would hopefully allow her to keep her breakfast and not lose hours to the panic.
She nodded. “Okay.”
Without another word, he slipped an arm under her legs and behind her shoulders and lifted her like she was nothing. Jenna had felt his body plenty while they were tangled up on the seats, but feeling his strength in this way was different, and she didn’t mind it. At all.
“I like this,” he said quietly, echoing her thoughts. “Now, close your eyes.”
She did. The sun hit her face first, and she turned instinctually, curving into Mark’s hold. The desert air was dry and hot, and she felt the sun on her skin. Dizziness spun through her even though her feet weren’t on the ground, and the gentle breeze made goose bumps rise on her arms.
There had been wind out there too. It had howled across the ground and made her freeze. The glowing eyes in the dark—
A sound cut off her thoughts, mechanical in nature. “Here we are,” Mark said. “The door is already closed. You made it.”
She waited, swallowing, catching her breath.She’d made it.
Thanks to him.
Jenna opened one eye, about to thank him, but then gasped as she caught sight of the vehicle they were in. This was more than just a bus. Mark slowly set her down.
It was a command center on wheels. A six-monitor setup with a big desk sat along one wall, all idling on the Zodiac Tactical home screen. There was a stove and a refrigerator, and farther down, she saw a bed through a door all the way at the back and what looked like an incredibly comfortable couch. Further exploration showed her the couch was across from a massive television, which could be connected to the monitor setup.
“Ian left some info,” Mark said as she walked around. “This thing has most of the same security specs your personal vehicle does. Bulletproof glass, slash-proof tires, coded locks, the works.”
This was a place she could be away from home and feel entirely safe.
“Ian never does anything by half measures, does he?” she asked, awed.
Mark laughed. “No, he certainly doesn’t. He also cares a lot about you. Don’t forget that. You’ve got more friends than you know.”
She nodded. This wasn’t a thing you could wake up and order to be dropped off the same afternoon. Ian had prepared this for her well in advance. She owed him a big thank-you.
“Ready to hit the road? Callum’s waiting. I’ll drive if you want to go through the most recent intel he sent.”
“Sure.” She sat down at the giant workstation. The chair was on wheels, but it also had buttons that locked it to the floor for when the bus was moving, and a seat belt.
Mark strapped into the driver’s seat, and she fired up the computers. While they drove, she located the file from Callum on the latest robot.
Brett Cochran, twenty-three. He didn’t live in Albuquerque; he was from Los Angeles. According to the files they’d pulled on him, he was an aspiring actor. So why the hell was he in Albuquerque, attempting to rob an art gallery?
Jenna shook her head. It barely made sense. Sure, as much as she hated it, she understood the logic of the bad guys using her creation to do bad things. But so far, the crimes seemed petty. Not only were they not successful, they seemed random.
It seemed like very little payoff for a lot of work.
Callum had already run Brett Cochran. So far, there didn’t seem to be any link between him and the other robots. Jenna would dig into that more later, to make sure nothing had been missed.
For the rest of the drive, she worked on setting up her safety protocols for the workstation and fired off a thank-you email to Ian. By the time the bus was pulling into the hospital, she’d nearly forgotten she was going to have to go outside again.
“I’m going to pull up to the front entrance,” Mark said from the driver’s seat. “It’ll only be a few feet to the front door, and someone will be there to meet you.”
“Okay.”
She was almost tempted to ask if he could carry her again, but there wasn’t time for that. They were here, and the robot’s life hung in the balance. This was her mess, and no matter how emotionally screwed up she was, she had to fix it.
She stood by Mark as he pulled up to the entrance of the hospital. He reached over and squeezed her hand. “You can do this. I’ll be in in a couple of minutes.”
Nodding, she didn’t meet his eyes. She simply turned and punched in the code for the door, locking her eyes on the hospital doors in front of her.
The second her feet hit the ground, she felt the panic swarm her body. The bitter taste of adrenaline coated her tongue. There was too much space, too much space, too much space. Her heart slammed against her ribs as she sprinted to the doors and rushed inside, barely missing running into an elderly couple who was leaving.
