Читать книгу Being Emerald - Sylvia Ryan - Страница 12

Rock sat in the solitude of his kitchen, picking up where he left off the night before, putting finishing touches on the pincer mechanism for Jordan’s prosthetic hand.

A muffled noise emanated from the receiver sitting on the counter. Finally, someone was planting the bug. He set his work down and walked toward the tiny speaker. Turning up the volume, he listened intently. The bug was activated, but all he heard for some time were the indistinct sounds of the microphone rubbing against something. Finally, the reception became clear. “I know there’s a good chance I won’t make it back from the mission. The fact became exceedingly clear at the briefing yesterday.”

“Laila.” Rock pounded the granite counter. “No. She is not doing this.” He scrambled to make sense of what he heard. His ordered and rational thoughts exploded, fragmenting into shards of unrelated facts. Was she in the Emerald Zone cell? Or was she simply in the room with someone else in the cell? What else had they asked her to do? This was the errand she had to run? When their training was over for the day, he hadn’t even asked her where she was going. He’d been too focused on the changes he needed to make in order for her to be better prepared. His bad. It wouldn’t happen again.

“There’s really no need for you to worry about your safety,” Morgan said in a placating tone.

The parallels between the night Emily died and that moment terrified him. Laila was alone with that lunatic, and all he could do was listen, desperately hoping he wouldn’t have to listen to Laila die, too.

“The trucks are invincible. My best people will be protecting you and the pieces you recover.”

“Yes, sir. I want to thank you for that.”

“But?”

“No buts. It’s just—I was hoping I’d get permission to talk to my mother one last time before we leave. I want to say goodbye.”

“Your mother is an Amber, isn’t she?” His tone had turned curt.

“Yes, sir.”

“I don’t think there’s much I can do to help you since we’re currently at a stand-off with Amber and communication with that zone is banned.”

“Yes, sir. I understand. I just had to ask in case there was any way I could talk to her one last time.”

“Get out of there,” Rock growled at the speaker. Morgan was a paranoid bastard, and the longer she stayed, the greater the chance she’d do something to trigger his suspicion. Flashes of Jordan, of the risks she took and the price she paid crowded his thoughts, testing the containment of his fury.

Muffled movements sounded before she spoke again. “Thank you for taking the time to see me.”

“You’re welcome, Miss Lewis.”

The door closed behind her, and Rock tapped his earbud. He’d never programmed her number into his system. Exasperated, he pulled his hand-held out of his pocket and searched her name on the intranet directory. When he found it, he entered her info and tried to contact her again.

She didn’t answer the call.

When he heard the beep, he forced calmness into his voice. “Where are you?” He couldn’t say more without beginning a diatribe about her lapse of good judgment. He disconnected and paced a trench into his tile floor, mentally detailing the list of flaws in her actions.

Her reply didn’t come.

After a half hour, he realized he’d not identified himself, and she probably didn’t have his information programmed into her hand-held either.

He commed again, and gave his information so she could reach him. Then he sat on his stool, bouncing his knee. He couldn’t concentrate well enough to finish fine tuning Jordan’s prosthetic. So he paced.

For almost an hour, Morgan’s office remained silent barring the occasional paper shuffling or chair squeaking. “Please contact Sydney, let her know she’s needed in my office ASAP,” came through the speaker.

Rock stopped in his tracks. Already, the bug was producing useful information. Sydney was a Guard, yes, but he hadn’t known Morgan made himself available for one-on-one meetings with her.

Not more than a quarter hour later, Morgan’s interior door buzzed. “Conrad, it’s been almost a week. I’ve missed you.” Sydney’s voice was more feminine than he’d ever heard it. She spoke as if she didn’t have a dick dangling between her legs—almost.

Rock stepped closer, startled and listening hard. He turned the volume up as loud as it would go.

“Quit your whining, Sydney, I’m a busy man.” Morgan’s chair squeaked, a long, earsplitting sound. “Now come around here. Let me get a good look at you.”

Footsteps echoed softly through the speaker.

“Take your shirt off. I want to see those tits.”

“No fucking way.” He almost laughed. Could it be she was a Guard because she was sucking Morgan’s dick? A definite possibility, especially if he’d given up raping his prisoners after Jordan’s attempt on his life.

“Mmm. Very nice,” Morgan said.

Shuffling and the rasp of a zipper sounded. Slurping, sucking and moaning followed.

“Right here, baby,” Morgan murmured, his voice husky. “Yes, that’s right, all the way to the back of your throat.”

Sydney and General Morgan’s relationship was a priceless piece of information that revealed he and Laila were in more danger than he’d originally thought.

The encounter lasted about two minutes. All in all, pretty funny. Almost humorous enough to change his murderous mood. Almost.

Laila still hadn’t contacted him. He strode to his front picture window as he’d been doing every couple of minutes during the past two hours, and tapped his earbud. “Time.” He set his jaw. It was after five.

The stark silence did nothing to calm his simmering anger.

At seven thirty, Laila strolled through his front door and into his kitchen. Eyes sparkling, she smiled at him.

The wild storm brewing inside couldn’t be tempered by her smile. As he walked toward her, she caught his expression and the joy radiating from her faltered. He stopped directly in front of her and crossed his arms. Now that she was there, safe, he wasn’t sure how to start his imminent meltdown. “Where have you been?”

Her eyebrows lifted, and she cocked her head. “I was at my doctor’s office.”

His guts clenched. “Why? What happened?”

“Nothing happened.”

“Then why did you need a doctor?”

“I didn’t need a doctor. I just—” She rolled her eyes. “I’m turning twenty six in a few days. My implant was due to be replaced.” She gestured to her arm, twisted it and showed the stitches. “I wanted to wait until I was an Emerald before I went so I wouldn’t be forced to get a new one.”

“Oh.” Big news, and unexpected. He pinned her to the edge of the counter, caged her with his arms.

She looked up at him. “What?” she asked softly. She pouted as if she hadn’t started their first day of training lying to him and putting herself in mortal danger. Her deceitful innocence enraged him.

“You stupid little girl.” He knew the choice of words he’d just growled at her should have been tempered, but his indulgence wouldn’t keep her alive. “From now on, you will not—” He’d escalated from soft spoken to a yell within the span of a handful of words. Taking in another slow breath, he continued in a more reasonable tone. “You will not go anywhere near Morgan again.”

Her mouth fell open and brows bunched. Cascades of rapid-fire expressions were barely exposed through the mask she put in place. “How do you know where I was?” She attempted to push one of his arms away.

Once he’d made clear he could keep her there as long as he liked, he raised it.

She stepped to the side and began to back away from him. Cautious deliberation reflected in her eyes.

“You have to be fucking crazy, planting a bug in Morgan’s office.”

“I’m sorry.”

With every one of his steps forward, she took one back.

“Please, Rock. Don’t turn me in.”

“Why shouldn’t I?”

She stood there, shaking her head, obviously searching for the right words.

He only became more enraged at her inability to defend herself. “How does it feel to be caught, Laila?”

Her face paled.

“Tell me!” he yelled. “Tell me what it’s like knowing you’re dead already!”

She backed into a corner, panic widening her wild eyes, and froze when she couldn’t go any farther.

She was petrified, and he wanted her to be because scarier people than him were out there. “There’s nowhere to run.” He came to a stop only a foot from her, and saw the moment her bravado collapsed.

She hung her head. “If you have any compassion in you at all, you’ll kill me now,” she whispered, lifting her chin to meet his gaze. Tears ran down her face. “Do it. Just do it.”

Rock grabbed Laila’s arm.

She jumped and cried out, but didn’t struggle as he dragged her into the kitchen. The fact she wasn’t fighting to get away from a man she thought was going to kill her indicated how much work lay before them. She’d given up on her life already. He wanted to throw something, but picked her up roughly and set her on the kitchen counter instead.

“Don’t you ever,” he bellowed, “ever give up on yourself, on your survival so easily again. Don’t admit your crime and definitely don’t ask for death! What the fuck, Laila!”

Her eyebrows scrunched together. Then, she sagged. The crease between her brows smoothed and she released a long breath of relief. “What’s happening?”

Rock nodded toward the speaker on the counter. Her gaze shifted from the speaker, to him, and then back to the speaker before she whispered, “You’re Resistance?”

He nodded.

“Oh.” She wiped her tears with the bottom of her blouse, looking as if she was trying hard not to meet his gaze. “Did you know about me before today?”

“Do you think I’d let you do what you just did if I knew?”

She lifted her chin. “I’m not going to report all my activities to you as if I were a child, and I’ll complete the tasks I’ve agreed to, Rock, without your knowledge or approval. Half of it’s done already.”

“Half? Uh, no. Your part is done now. Who is your Resistance contact?”

“I don’t know who you think you are—”

“I’m the man who’s going to keep you alive.”

“How could you let me think I was caught like that?” She placed both hands on his chest and attempted to push him away. “Asshole!”

He wasn’t letting her go anywhere. “I want you to remember those sixty seconds forever. I want you to remember your terror when you thought you were caught. Maybe that will scare some sense into you. Now, who is your contact?” he asked with thinly veiled fury.

“Stop trying to bully me,” she snapped. Her jaw was set.

“God dammit, Laila. It’s my job to protect you, and that’s what I’m going to do.” He leaned in toward her, caging her even more. They were nose to nose. “Even if what I’m protecting you from is yourself.” He scowled over her as they squared off, his teeth grinding against each other.

She still looked him right in the eye then whispered faintly, “I gave my word to Jordan. I will not renege, and I will not name my contact.”

Then she put both hands on his chest and shoved hard. “Now, get away!”

Rock stepped back, and she immediately hopped off the counter and headed for the door.

“Fuck you!” she screamed over her shoulder as she left. The door slammed so hard, the house’s front windows rattled.

“She did not just…” He took a step toward the door then forced himself to stop. The instinct to follow her and spank her ass was nearly overwhelming. His fists balled as he reined in the impulse and took a deep breath, calming himself.

He needed to process.