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“Which was another non-sanctioned decision.”
This sounded like he was on the verge of pulling rank. Difficult to believe that just a few minutes ago he’d been eating her out. “It was CI. In the middle of the day. I already asked Tuck to make sure my security credentials were in place. Even if they thought they got rid of me from the system, they wouldn’t have. I knew she couldn’t trap me. Also, unlike some members of the Kindred, who we won’t name now, I have a cell phone with GPS that I answer when it rings. You will always know where I am.”
“I will always know where your phone is,” he said, stroking the same two fingers through the hair resting on the back of her shoulder. “If some bastard picks you up and abducts you, chances are that your phone is the first thing he’s gonna toss.”
“Wearing an earpiece all the time won’t prevent me from making decisions like I did today. I have to weigh the risks, and today there was virtually none. I know the business district better than Cuckoo and Kahlil. I know the secrets of the CI building better than most of security, and Purdy’s is where I killed a man, so I know I can defend myself there if I need to. Besides, I took into consideration that you and Tuck were probably still tailing him, so I guessed you would be close and you’ve just confirmed I was right.”
Her broad smile made him shake his head. “Proud of yourself, aren’t you?”
“We have to be clear about something,” she said because now wasn’t the time to crow. “I don’t want to die. I don’t want to be stolen by crazy criminals, and I sure as hell don’t want to hang out and make friends with your ex-girlfriend. I do the things I do because I’m Kindred, and progressing towards our end goal is my job. I don’t take unnecessary risks. I do what needs to be done, and if you coddle me and strap me down here at the manor, I’m useless to you.”
“And we both know how that turns out for all of us.”
“We do,” she said, glad that he was understanding her perspective. Feeling useless contributed to depression and feelings of melancholy. She needed to be doing something, staying busy, or her own thoughts drove her crazy. “I told Kahlil that we would exchange Game Time. That we were going to accept his offer.”
Any affection in his gaze or touch evaporated, and he stepped away. “What the fuck did you do that for?”
“Because it makes sense,” she said, curling her fingers around the edge of the counter to steady herself.
“To give a crazy criminal a dangerous weapon? Explain to me how the fuck that makes sense.”
He was getting angry, and she knew him well enough to recognize his fury was nothing to do with Game Time and everything to do with the story that Kahlil was dangling in front of them. “Beau—”
“No!” he said. The bass of that single declaration shook the foundations of the manor, and of her soul too. Stunned static, her bugged eyes spoke for her in the silence because she was unsure of how else to react to that burst of anger. “You don’t fucking get it! This is my family! My past! My decision!” His anger reddened his skin and clenched his fists so tight that his muscles bulged.
“I’m sorry, I—”
“No! You don’t decide something like that. You don’t decide it alone,” he said with a sneering scowl that belittled her. “You don’t know what you’re doing. You’re a rookie. You don’t hand over dangerous technology to a bastard whose goal is power. You don’t do that! You don’t decide in the name of the Kindred!”
For all the love they’d shared on this day to this distant, angry stranger before her now was quite a turn around. The shock of his metamorphosis put her in a trance, like she was frozen in time, unable to speak up.
Bending an arm, he pointed at her. “You don’t decide. You do what you’re told! Don’t take initiative! You follow my rules! You’ve got some fucking nerve.” Backing to the door in a final stride, he pulled it open and stormed away. When the door clattered into the frame, she jumped but could still only sit there and stare.
EIGHTEEN
“We got it!”
For most of the night, she and Tuck had been sitting together going through the accounts that Julian had sent them. She had to trace almost every transaction because even the smallest ones turned out to be relevant. Grant had worked hard to cover his tracks and to be discreet. Tuck took her information and followed the digital trails.
He and Zave had pulled apart one of the Game Time devices a while ago and knew what it took to put the thing together. Armed with that knowledge, he sought every part and tool needed to build Game Time. After matching cash payments to those parts, they built a picture of where Winter Chill was located.
Having traced the last component, all that was left now was for Tuck to go in through the CI system, or Grant’s private network, and shut down every level. The information would take time to filter down, but they’d done it, they had made sure no one would be able to put together another Game Time device.
“That’s great,” she said, moving her hand over the stack of papers in front of her.
“In a day or so I’ll go into the individual computers of the engineers and erase any schematics or reports,” Tuck said, tapping away on his keyboard.
“You can do that?” she asked because in spite of her mood, she still had to be impressed by his ability.
“It’s not that difficult, I’ll get a program to do it for me.”
It might not sound difficult to him, but not many people would have the skills to do that. Tuck often played down his ability, sometimes he was the Kindred silent partner. His work was integral to their success, but he didn’t boast or demand recognition. For fear she might make him self-conscious, she stroked her palm over the texture of the paper beneath it and didn’t stress any overt praise. “It’s all worth it. The quicker we can wipe Game Time from the face of the earth, the better.”
“It helps that almost everyone who knows what Game Time is, is either dead or so far outside the loop they’ll never find it.”
She nodded. Brodie had been gone for hours. She hadn’t heard a peep. They hadn’t set up a webcam, he was just out there alone. The Kindred had positioned a camera to watch her apartment, she wished she’d done the same thing at Kahlil’s place. She understood the need to be close, to listen in and watch what might happen in real time, and it made sense for them to be close in case he took off again, like he had that morning.
But she couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened in the kitchen earlier. She should never have spoken out like she did. Brodie was right that she shouldn’t make unilateral decisions for the whole group. Even Brodie rarely did that, he usually took the time to listen to all points of view and reached a consensus. But she hadn’t had time to do that.
