Burned: Black Cipher Files #3 (Black Cipher Files series) (27 page)

“Everyone receives payments.” He wrote that inside the circle even though it went along with 5491, he wanted to get as specific as possible.

“How many people?”

“There were twelve people on the original list,” Zeke said.

“Were?”

“One person is dead.”

Sunshine’s gray eyes rounded. “Do you know all of the people?”

“I know some. Besides you, Bella, and the unknown ADA, everyone else works in the espionage community.” Zeke precisely cut another piece of omelet.

“Bella?”

“She’s a college student and not affiliated with the espionage community in any way.”

Sunshine mulled that over for a few minutes. “Okay. Then what about this ADA?”

“I don’t know anything about that person.”

“And you haven’t figured out who that is?”

“No.” The patterns were beginning to take shape in his mind.

“Could anyone else on the list have given Susan Chen the encryption program?”

“No one except me.” Zeke shook his head, his curls brushed his cheek. They’d have to go soon.

“What about the mysterious ADA?”

He raised an eyebrow. “I can’t discount them.”

Sunshine had been a single name with no identifiers. The only other person on the list who wasn’t identified was ADA. So if the intersection was the 5491 list, the person who was orchestrating this whole fiasco likely had to be someone in power who actually knew who all twelve of the people were.

Obviously, the second intersection was smaller. The abducted all had relatives killed thirteen years ago, they all were receiving payments, and then a smaller subset of that list were intelligence agents who had been injected with a DNA-altering drug.

“So the only true intersection we have is 5491.” Sunshine stated as they both stared at the rough Venn Diagram between them.

“Yeah.” And that surprised him. When he purposely lost his focal point, let his mind go blurry not concentrating on one single detail, and tried to look at the situation like a big indeterminate blob, there were more connections shimmering just out of reach. “I feel like there’s a veil over my face and if I could just…rip it away, the picture would be in front of me, clear as a cloudless sky.”

It didn’t seem right. He couldn’t make a concrete connection to link them together any other way. They had several avenues of investigation. Liam, ADA, John Stanley, Susan Chen.

Maybe the connections lay in the unknowns that haunted him.

Thirty-Two

The urge to immerse in Zeke’s problems was overpowering.

I could feel my brain stretching, uncurling like a small shoot of the herbs I grew to scent the soaps and scrubs Mama and I sold. Like those starter seedlings reaching for the warmth and growing power of the sun, I could feel my cells transforming. The opportunity to use my brain to actually solve a problem other than how to maximize our store profits or dream up new combinations of massage oils and bath salts was like an addiction. While I loved the creativity and chemistry of concocting new scents, I wanted it to be a hobby, not my life’s work.

And here he was with a puzzle that included me. The stakes were high. Which ramped up the appeal about a thousand percent. I almost started rubbing my hands together with glee. But that would probably be inappropriate since his career was on the line.

I subdued the visceral thrill that tunneled through me. If we were going to work together, I needed the entire picture down to the last pixel.

“So right now you have no job, and you are at risk of losing your freedom.”

“I’m at risk of never begin seen again,” Zeke quipped.

I didn’t think he was kidding.

With his knife, he pushed the last of his omelet to the edge of the plate staring at the small yellow triangle as if it held the secrets of the Universe. “My job is all I have.”

“Explain again why you’re burned.”

“Because under the influence of Sodium Pentothal I supposedly gave up my encryption program.”

Under the influence. “I guess that makes sense.” I tapped my index finger against my lips.

“No, it doesn’t.” He shoved his plate away. “I thought I was immune to the drug. It normally doesn’t affect me.”

I quirked a brow at him. “What makes you so sure?”

“Let’s just leave it at training.” Zeke propped his elbow on the table and pressed his forehead into his palm, his posture one of abject misery.

“Okay you can’t answer that question.” I rubbed my finger over the fringe on the cheery placemat, putting his problem through my own filter.

“Arrogance,” he muttered. “I assumed that I hadn’t given away anything, even after I’d been kidnapped.”

“But if you gave away the program under duress how can they hold it against you?”

“They’re the Federal Government. They can do anything they damn well please.”

I thought about his words. Knew they were true. Mama and I had managed to stay off the radar in many ways, sifting everything through our corporation.

“Jesus, my Grandpop is probably rolling over in his grave at the fact that I worked for the government. And I had to give them the figurative middle finger whenever I could. That is going to fucking count against me.”

“Could it have been deciphered by someone?” I interrupted his worries. “Schneier’s Law: Any person can invent a security system so clever that she or he can’t think of how to break it.”

“Yeah. Maybe I’m not as smart as I think I am.” Zeke grimaced. “But I had my fellow hackers test it.”

I said, “Maybe they just aren’t as good as you are.”

“And my…compulsions dictated that I checked and re-checked on a regular basis for weaknesses in the code or structure of the program.”

“Okay.”

Zeke kept explaining. “I worked on the basis of Kerchoff’s Law.”

I knew this one. “A cryptosystem should be secure even if everything about the system, except the key, is public knowledge.” I stated just to make sure I was right. Even though I knew I was.

“Yep.” Zeke’s raised eyebrow told me he was surprised.

I had read about Auguste Kerckhoff as a teen. Because when I wasn’t reading young adult romance, I’d studied science heroes and heroines.

“So I don’t see any other reality.” Zeke was glum all over again.

“Like I said before. Let’s go back to Susan Chen’s partner.”

Zeke was silent. He tilted his head just slightly to the right, a sure sign he was analyzing the idea and searching for flaws, running it through his brain to see if it held merit.

And I knew this was meant to happen. Yesterday I’d been living the same boring existence feeling stagnant, static, and trapped. In the span of thirty-six hours, my entire life had been turned upside down. A strange exhilaration gripped me. I could do this. I could help him.

Happiness bubbled up as I thought about the possibilities, pushing through my body with effervescence almost like the fizz of a fine champagne.

The chance to use my brain.

“Please.” I put my palm on his forearm. The contact sizzled through me. This wasn’t like when I touched his skin this morning when he’d still been wrapped around me and I’d felt so connected that I’d threaded my fingers with his. This was different. Sexually charged and darkly erotic. “I can help you.”

Zeke’s attention dropped to the spot where my fingers touched his bare skin, his blond lashes pale against his tan face, hiding his thoughts.

“I don’t want you to get hurt.” He lifted his gaze to mine and I saw something else lingering in his eyes. Some other worry that I couldn’t place. “I’d rather you were safe.”

“I’ve been trying to be safe my whole life,” I said fiercely. “I’m tired of playing safe.”

“I can definitely use your brain power to collaborate with.”

It was as if he reached inside, found my deepest desire, and acknowledged that I was capable. More than capable, exceptional.

And I thought my heart would burst right out of my chest.

“But Sunshine…it will be dangerous.”

As if I hadn’t already figured that out when the Army had been zooming by us looking for his Range Rover.

Which reminded me. “We need to buzz your hair.”

Zeke grimaced but didn’t argue.

We quickly cleaned up from our meal, rinsing the plates and putting the dishes in the dishwasher. The scent of butter and simmering onions lingered in the air.

“Where do you want me to do this?” I stepped closer to Zeke.

“You don’t have to—”

I ran my hand through his hair, the curls were a silky mass and tangled in my fingers. I gloried in the tactile sensation of his hair sliding against my skin. “I may want to cut the longer strands with scissors, and then shave your head.”

Zeke shuddered. And I realized I was absently massaging his scalp and somehow I was closer than I meant to be.

His heat slammed into me as he circled his arms around my waist and pulled me snug against his hard body.

The rounded lip of the granite countertop dug in to my lower spine. I spread my legs to accommodate him, and he edged between my thighs, his hips pressed against mine, trapping me.

My softer curves yielded to his possessive embrace without thought. He wrapped his arms round me in a tight hold as if he were afraid I would break free. Before I could say a word, he’d slanted his head and possessed my mouth.

This was no easy, tentative seduction. He devoured my mouth with far more passion and messy intensity than the omelet he’d precisely parsed into small bites.

The stubble from his unshaven jaw rasped against my tender skin. He slid his palm up the center of my back, his touch firm against each vertebrae. The contact over my sweater sizzled through me and I ached for him to slide his rougher hand against my smoother softer skin. His other hand cupped my butt and urged me into his erection.

The intimate touch was thrilling. My head went light and my legs went weak. I gripped his waist tightly and held on. Zeke spun me around and lifted me onto the kitchen island. The granite was cool beneath my legs, chilling me even through the barrier of my skirt. His biceps bulged beneath my palms as I clung to his arms.

The urgency in his movements exhilarated me, and my heart thudded as he scraped his palms up my legs pushing my skirt until the material bunched in my lap. His thumbs rubbed at the crease between my thigh and hip along the edge of the bikini bottom and I nearly shot up to the ceiling.

I was already trying to rip his t-shirt over his head. “Don’t want to get hair on this,” I murmured against his lips.

He snickered and lifted his arms so that I could get it off. Zeke leaned against the island, his erection rubbed against my damp panties. I curled into the contact, so hard against my soft.

Zeke was tugging my sweater over my head and took the biking top with it. I pressed open-mouthed kisses over his pectorals, hungry for the taste of his skin.

He rubbed his palms against my ribcage and cupped my breasts in his hands before he pinched the nipples. The zing from the pleasure/pain sizzled through my body like electricity through water, and all my thoughts shorted out.

He dragged his tongue down my neck and I tilted my head back to give him greater access. The wet heat of his mouth sent tingles across my skin.

He nipped his way across my collarbone, then bent his head to suck my nipple into his mouth. I wanted to reciprocate, I wanted so many things but I didn’t know how to tell him. Still unsure of myself.

I wanted him inside me. I wanted the long, slow invasion of his cock and the sensual glide of his skin against mine. But I already knew this wasn’t going to be like last night.

My heart triple-timed at his carnal intent as he pressed me down until my bare back lay on the chilly granite. Then he bent his head and consumed me. His mouth, his hands were everywhere. He trapped my arms against my sides so I couldn’t touch him. In desperation, I shifted my hips rocking my damp sex against his erection, still covered by his board shorts, desperate for him to take me again.

“Please,” I whimpered. So caught up in the sensations rocketing through my body I was nearly insensate.

He lifted my hips, his palms skimmed along my inner thighs, and then he bent his head to taste me. His mouth was hot, wet, wicked. Finally I was able to move my arms, I fisted my fingers into his curls, pulling him closer, as he rubbed his stubble against my swollen sex. He lifted his head to smile at me a flash of white teeth against his lips, red from our frantic kisses, and his chin slick with my juices.

Suddenly I felt overly exposed, my bare breasts pointing toward the ceiling, my skirt bunched around my waist like a wanton, and my legs spread wide open as I sprawled on the kitchen countertop. This wasn’t me. I didn’t do this kind of thing.

But his laser concentration didn’t even see my sudden vulnerability as he stripped his shorts to the floor. He pushed me further back so that the counter’s edge hit at my knees and then he climbed between my legs and lay over me, his pecs flattening my breasts, and his erection hot and thick against my belly. He yanked open the drawer behind my head and pulled out the box of condoms. He did a one armed pushup off my body and ripped the box open with his teeth.

His urgency calmed my insecurities, as he dropped a condom square onto my sternum. I grabbed the package and tore it open as he tossed the box onto the counter next to us.

Once I got it open, Zeke smoothly rolled the condom down his erection.

As if he couldn’t wait any longer, the bulbous head of his cock nudged my opening.

I couldn’t help it, I tensed. Last night the pain had been fleeting but he was definitely big and my body definitely had needed time to adjust to his size. He rubbed against my clit, stimulating me, little sparks sizzled through my body. And then suddenly he was rocking against me, into me, with each foray of his hips he eased a little further inside. I tried to relax, but I was still tight.

A belated concern entered his gaze. His sudden realization of where we were and what we were doing was palpable in the dappled light of the kitchen. Oh no, we were not talking about that now. In desperation, I lifted my head and went straight for the flat disk of his nipple. I licked the tight button and unexpected pleasure flowed through me when he groaned.