AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“This is what happens when you send a woman in to do a man’s job,” Cal said through the speaker. “Heard your lady is putting you through your paces, Warlock.”
“You’re lucky she’s not here right now. She’d slit your throat with the knife she carries in her boot and dance on your corpse. You do not want to go there.”
“You always were attracted to the psychos,” Cal said. “Let me guess, she’s about six feet tall and can pee while standing up. I bet she has a chest hairier than yours. Atticus sure knows how to pick ’em.”
“Because I always hire agents based on what they look like instead of skill,” Atticus said dryly.
“Hey, I’m just calling it like I see it,” Cal said. “All these tough chicks. They’d rather look and act like men instead of using their feminine wiles like God intended.”
Nate winced. “Ahh, a true misogynist at heart.”
“There’s a woman out there somewhere who’s going to bring you down a peg one day,” Atticus told him. “I hope I get to shake her hand.”
Nate laughed. “Are you kidding me? Are you talking about him having an actual long-term relationship with a flesh-and-blood woman? Not One Night Cal,” he said, referring to the nickname an old fling had given him. “Besides, his computer might get jealous.”
Cal’s pride and joy was a computer he’d built and designed for Dynamis. Their relationship just wasn’t natural.
“My computer has a name, and she’s going to save your sorry tail,” Cal said, offended. “You’d better be nice to her.”
“You realize she’s not a real person, right?” Nate asked.
“Sure she is,” Cal said. “Esmerelda is the perfect woman. She does everything I tell her to do and never argues.”
Nate heard the click of a keyboard over the line. Cal was never still or quiet while he worked his magic. The thing about working with the same people for a lot of years and in high-pressure situations was that you got to know them better than your own family. You learned their strengths and weaknesses, the things that set them off or the triggers that could paralyze them at the worst of times.
Just like he knew Cal’s attitude toward women was a complete façade to protect himself. He’d lost his wife and both parents in an attack shortly after he’d joined the CIA, and he still blamed himself for not thinking to bury their identities better than just on a cursory level. Cypher had been born not long after that.
Eden came back inside their makeshift campground and he watched her as she dug through her pack for a couple of power bars. She tossed him one and he caught it easily, as well as the bottle of water that followed.
Her face was scrubbed clean and he figured she’d given herself a face full of snow just like he had to wake herself up. The extreme cold was dangerous because it could make a person lethargic, and after the adrenaline rush they’d had when she’d stepped on that land mine, they were both running on fumes.
“That’s interesting,” Cal said.
“Interesting good or interesting bad?” Nate asked.
“Probably bad. It’s going to take some time before I can get you the satellite imaging and heat signals. Someone’s trying to reverse the hack and get into bed with my best girl.”
“Again,” Nate said. “You know she’s not real, right?”
“I’ve tried to pay for therapy,” Atticus said.
“Things are about to get nasty,” Cal said. “No one messes with what’s mine. I know how to treat a lady, and this guy is manhandling my woman. Whatever is at the End of the World, someone doesn’t want us to find out about it. We’ll just reverse the reverse and I’ll give him a little virus. Physical relationships are dangerous these days.”
“I’m just going to assume he’s talking to the computer,” Nate said, rolling his eyes.
“While he’s spreading computer-generated STDs,” Atticus said, “how are you doing on provisions?”
“We’ve got about a week’s worth.”
“That should do it,” Atticus said. “Keep the phone close by and give us some time to work it from this end. Stay put for now. I don’t want you two walking into a trap.”
Nate heard the click in his ear and tossed the phone back on the makeshift table. “Looks like this is our new home for a little while. At least until Cal can get us a satellite image so we can keep going. He’s developed this program that can show anything with a pulse in a 3D image as if it were standing right in front of you. It’s pretty cool. She’ll also be able to do a search and scan for any more land mines or other devices he might have set.”
“She?”
“Esmerelda,” Nate said. “Cal’s computer. He’s a bit eccentric.”
“Uh-huh,” she said.
