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Mark nodded. “Jenna is pulling herself together in the bedroom. She’ll be out…whenever she’s ready.”
Ian nodded. “Getting shot at is pretty fucking nerve-wracking.”
“Yes, it is.” If that’s what Ian thought was the sole cause of Jenna’s current recovery, so be it. Mark wasn’t going to give up her secrets.
“Her agoraphobia probably made it a million times worse.”
Mark kept his face neutral. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
Ian sat down at the small table. “It’s my business to know my employees—their strengths, weaknesses, and pressure points. I don’t know the exacts about Jenna’s fear of going outside, but I know it’s a shit-ton more than her I-don’t-like-to-be-around-people spiel.”
Mark sat down in the booth across from him. “That information is Jenna’s to share or not share.”
“Fair enough,” Ian said.
“How did you know we were in trouble? You arrived literally in the nick of time.”
“Callum. He realized Joaquin was sending an entire slew of robots and figured out Jenna was the target. He couldn’t get a call out without getting himself killed, but he sent an encoded message to our office.”
“Jesus. How’d you guys get here so fast?”
“We were already on our way. Callum wanted you to have backup since it looked like things were starting to get messy. Sarge and I both are invested in taking down Joaquin before he can do his mind-control shit on anyone else, so we decided to come ourselves.”
Both men had nearly lost the women they loved because of similar circumstances, so Mark wasn’t surprised.
“Joaquin has got to be stopped. The people after Jenna and me tonight…”
“Robots, I know. Now, dead robots. At least six of them.”
Mark knew they would’ve killed him without a thought to get to Jenna, but still…these weren’t trained killers who had chosen to be on Joaquin’s side. These were innocent people who’d had their choices stripped away from them. And now they were dead.
He heard the door to the bedroom click open, and a few seconds later, Jenna slid into the booth beside him. She still looked pale and gaunt, and her eyes were darting around everywhere. Her hands exhibited a fine tremor.
Her body was still barely out of panic mode. It would take a while for her subconscious to accept she was safe. There wasn’t much Mark could do to help with that except be there for her. He slipped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close, grateful when she cuddled in next to him.
“Hey, Jenna.” Ian’s voice was gentle. “You okay?”
She gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Better than I would’ve been if you hadn’t shown up.”
Jenna listened, tucked into Mark’s side, as Ian explained again what had happened—the message from Callum all the way through to the dead robots. He was just finishing when he got a call from Callum. Ian put it on speakerphone.
“We got them in time, Callum,” Ian said as he answered, bypassing any pleasantries. “I’m here with Jenna and Mark now.”
“Sounds like we owe you one, Callum. Ian and the team showed up like the damned cavalry,” Mark said. “We would’ve been in real trouble otherwise.”
“We got lucky that I got word of the attack. Sorry I wasn’t able to contact you directly. I was too busy saving my own ass. I’m out. They’re going to know it was me who tipped you off.”
“Shit.” Mark rubbed his eyes. “Sorry, man.”
“Don’t be. It was worth it. I probably got as much as I could anyway. From what we’ve been able to piece together, Joaquin is siphoning data. Thanks to you figuring out he’s using RATs, Jenna, we’ve been able to map at least some of the data he’s accessed.”
“Any results?” Jenna asked. Her voice sounded strained, probably from the vomiting.
“Yeah, and it’s not good. Looks like he’s orchestrating a major terrorist attack.”
Jenna sucked in a breath. “Let me guess. He’s aiming for something transportation-related, and maybe wants to cripple FEMA to make it worse?”
“It’s looking that way. We don’t have enough information to piece together the where or the how, but we’ll keep digging.”
