Seek and Destroy (40 page)

    
"In here," she told him in that smooth voice that drove him wild. He followed her into Surreal's shack-where it had come from he had no idea since it wasn't in the middle of that field a second ago-and over to a set of computer monitors. "This is where he is."

    
She pointed to the computer's hard drive.

    
He frowned. How could he be inside the hard drive? Leaning over, she placed her hands over the keyboard.

    
The hairs on David's neck stood on end. He reached for her, knowing if she pressed so much as a single key on the board, she'd detonate the device. Before he reached her, she pressed a key. The explosion rocked them both. Instantly the flames engulfed them.

    
"I'm sorry," she told him as her skin melted from her body. She closed her eyes and never opened them again.

    "
Noooooo
!
" David jerked awake and blinked to clear his eyes, his mind. Holy shit. That was intense. Drawing in several breaths to slow his pulse, he traced the room with his gaze to make sure they were still in her house, and still among the land of the living.

    Romance novels lined the walls, and a gigantic desk took up most of the room. Holy Christ. They were in her office. Thank God.

    "Did you have a nice nap?" Charis asked him as she sipped at the contents of her mug.

    He rubbed his eyes and blinked again. "How long have I been out?"

    "Maybe fifteen minutes. You looked tired. I didn't want to wake you. Besides, for what I'm doing, you don't even need to be in here. Why don't you go lay down in the bed for a while." She looked at the clock above her desk. "It's after midnight."

    "I'll sleep after we find Surreal," he replied gruffly. "Is there coffee?"

    She nodded. "I made a pot about ten minutes ago."

    He grabbed her mug and took a drink. The bitterness clenched his glands. "Ah, Jesus. What the hell is this?"

    "I don't want caffeine this late, so I'm opting for some herbal tea." She grabbed her mug back.

    To hell with that. He needed the caffeine. He rose from the chair and headed out of the room to the kitchen. After filling a mug with the steaming liquid, he sighed and sank onto one of the chairs at the kitchen counter, almost falling back to sleep when he rested his chin on his hand, his elbow on the counter. He rolled his neck, his mind back on his dream. He tried to clear the image of her blowing up right before his very eyes.

    He gave a shudder.

    "David?" Her voice rang out from her office.

    "What is it?" He hurried in after her, the thought of his dream still holding him on edge. As he noticed the way two of her six monitors blinked from green to red, he slowed. "Why are they blinking like that?"

    Sinking back down in her chair, she scanned the data and analyzed it aloud. "I found something. My mining program picked him up hacking into a phone system two days before the attack."

    David took a seat next to her. "Riverside's?"

    She nodded, her eyes scanning the information scrolling across her monitor.

    "Why would he want their phone system? Is that how he's detonating the bombs?"

    She shook her head. "He never tapped into it. No, wait. He did. Right here." She pointed to her screen. "He intercepted a call made from their server room."

    "Can you get us that conversation?"

    "Of course." A few keystrokes and the sound of ringing came from her speakers.

    "
Mainframe Supply. How may I help you?
"

    She spoke up immediately. "It's him. It's Surreal."

    He nodded, listened.

    
"Our server had a hard drive failure. A total meltdown. How fast can you get a guy out here?" The voice of the Riverside employee did not sound happy.

    
Surreal chuckled. "We're really backlogged, my friend. You'd be better off having us send you a new server."

    
"Well, how long before I can get a guy?"

    
"Two, maybe three weeks."

    
The man on the other end cussed under his breath. "We can't be down that long."

    
"Tell you what I'm going to do," Surreal spoke to the man like he was his best friend. "Because you are in an awful predicament, I'll make you an incredible offer on a new server."

    
The man cussed again. "How much?"

    Surreal quoted a price that made Charis cough. "That is about one-third the price of a commercial server. They'd spend more on a technician." The man apparently knew that as well and jumped at the offer.

    
"I'll have it overnighted to you. The sooner you install it, the sooner I can have everything back," he paused, drew in a raspy breath, "to where it's supposed to be."

    David and Charis exchanged looks. Surreal gathered the necessary information, whose attention to send it to, special overnight instructions, yada yada yada. As the call ended, Surreal's voice sounded strained. His breathing, erratic.

    It almost sounded like he was... Nah. Was he? He moaned just as he hung up.

    "The son-of-a-bitch is getting off," David muttered, shaking his head. "Unbelievable."

    "Maybe he's got a thing for service calls," Charis offered. The way he looked at her conveyed how crazy her comment sounded.

    "How's that algorithm coming?"

    She turned to the monitor and scanned the results. "We've got two-thousand and seven hits."

    "
How
many?"

    "And counting."

    He let out a muttered curse.

    "Oh ye of little faith. That's only the possible targets. Once I apply my reverse algorithm to the list, the least probable targets sink to the bottom."

    "And the most probable targets will be at the top," he finished.

    "Exactly."

    "Angel, you are brilliant."

    Instead of her being ecstatic, her eyes narrowed in on him. "Okay. I've let it go on long enough. How did you find out my codename? And why, David, would you hold it over me?"

    Codename? "What?"

    "Don't play dumb. From the day we met back in that hospital you've been throwing my codename in my face. What I want to know is how you got it? Who told you?"

    "
Angel
is your codename?"

    She let out an exasperated sigh.

    Holy hell, he had no idea. He pinched the skin above his eyes, debating whether to tell her the real reason why he continued to call her
Angel
. As he opened his eyes and swung his gaze to her face, he knew he had no choice. A cross between fury and betrayal flashed in those blazing blue eyes. He brought a fist to his chest. Jesus, that hurt.

    "Listen, love. I didn't know it was your codename."

    "Hah!" She spun in her chair and started tapping on her keyboard. The way she sat with her back ramrod straight, he knew she didn't believe him.

    He'd have to tell her about the dreams.

    "I call you Angel," he explained softly, "because of a dream. A few dreams, actually."

    "Go on." She stopped typing, but kept her back to him.

    Ah hell. She was going to make him give her all the details. The way the sound of her voice soothed his pain. How her touch sent jolts of electricity throughout his body. He loved the way her dark spirally curls danced around her captivating blue eyes. Loved the way she spiked her brow in challenge.

    Loved
her
.

    A warmth enveloped him, centering in his chest. It didn't seem like such a bad idea to tell her everything. Not a bad idea at all.

    "After that bullet took me down, I didn't think I'd make it. I remember the look in Weber's eyes. He didn't think so, either."

    The memory washed a shudder through him. "I couldn't breathe. I was in intense and constant pain. I just wanted it to end. When I was ready to just give up, just so the pain would stop, an angel came to me in my dreams. I felt her touch, heard her voice. She was so real to me. I found the strength, endured the pain and told myself to hold on, just to see her face again, to feel her soothing touch."

    Her posture relaxed. "I sat with you. Day and night I stayed by your side, holding your hand and talking to you. I was so scared for you. Scared the treatments I tried weren't going to work. I refused to leave you, knowing when you woke up you'd want someone there."

    She said
when
, not
if
. His heart felt ready to explode. "You never doubted whether I'd make it, did you?"

    "Not for a minute," she answered without hesitation. "The thought of you dying scared the hell out of me. Deep down I knew you were going to pull through. You had to."

    "Why's that?"

    She turned to him then and he sucked in a sharp breath. The tears flowed down her cheeks, yet her eyes danced. Locking her gaze with his, she answered. "Because it would kill me if you didn't. I'd be in love with a dead man. And I do love you, David
whatever
Snyder. I fell in love with you in that hospital."

    "Charis," he rasped and pulled her out of her chair. She wiped her tears away and smiled at him. "Why are you crying?"

    "I'm not," she lied with a laugh.

    "Don't tell me you're pissed at me?"

    She laughed again. Shaking her head, she lowered her eyes and looked at the way their hands fit together. "No. I'm happy." Her tears started to fall again. This time a sob snuck up on her and escaped. "I real-ly a-am. You d-don't know how much I've w-wanted to tell y-you."

    Pulling her into his arms, he cradled her head into his neck and brushed her hair with his hand. "Shh. It's okay, baby. It's okay."

    "No," she snapped and pushed him back. Her eyes no longer shined, they no longer danced. They seemed distant. Sad. Her sudden change confused the hell out of them. "It's not okay."

    "It isn't?"

    "Don't you get it? Surreal is blowing buildings up. He is killing innocent people as some sort of twisted declaration. He thinks he loves me. If he had even a hint of how I feel about you," her lower lip started to quiver, "he'd go after you, too. I can't let that happen."

    "How do you plan to stop it?" He clenched his teeth as his midsection pinched.

    "I love you, David. And because I love you-"

    "No. Don't say it. Don't you dare say it, Charis." He labored his breathing to control his emotions.

    "We can't be together. As long as he's out there, you're life is in danger if you're even around me."

    Hell no. He would not let her push him away. He loved her, damn it. And she loved him. "Surreal doesn't scare me." Very little scared him. He'd been around death and destruction for over ten years now, seen shitloads of it. But losing Charis.
That
scared the shit out of him.

    "But he should."

    "But he
doesn't
," he insisted. He leaned down to look in her eyes and cupped her face in his hands. "Listen to me. Pushing me away is the last thing you should be doing. It won't save my life, and it sure as hell won't help us find this bastard. We need to work together on this, baby. It's the only way."

    She blinked up at him. Her tears streamed down. "I don't need you to watch over me. I can do this alone."

    Anger gripped the edges of his control. He pulled it back with a quick count to ten. Okay, twenty. He had to make her understand.
Had
to. Not only was the idea of her tracking Surreal down alone inconceivable, it was in-
fucking
-sane.

    "I won't let you do this alone. I have as much at stake on this op as you do. Surreal can ID me." He finally came out with it.

    A gasp flew past her lips. "He what?"

    He nodded, knowing the time had come for him to come clean with her. He'd already told her about the angel from his dreams. Might as well go all out. What did he have to lose?

    Besides her.

    He tried to mentally structure his words, but even a simple sentence evaded him. Why couldn't he think when it came to this woman? She had his usually precise brain all over the place. It was so unlike him. But what a nice change. Frankly he grew weary of remembering every detail. In his thirty-five years, nothing felt like a challenge anymore. Well, except Charis.

    Knowing he'd never find an easy way, he decided to just come out with it. "Surreal knows my identity, my
true
identity. Chances are he's already seen me if he tapped into the video feed from the airport."

    She visibly swallowed, looked at him. "So he already knows you and I are working together on this?"

    "He already knows. You aren't doing me any favors by pushing me out, Angel. If anything, sending me away only puts me in more danger."

    "But what if he comes after you?"

    "I'm counting on it."

    "But-"

    "Shh." He brought his finger up to silence her.

    A loud bang outside caught both their attention. He knew the sound of a gunshot, and that had to be a goddamn cannon. He stood back and pulled his weapon. If anyone other than the team Weber sent decided to pay them a visit, he'd shoot first and ask questions later. "Stay here."

    "David?"

    He looked at her, making sure she understood it wasn't up for negotiation. "Stay. Here."

    Staying low, he moved to the back door in the kitchen. After a quick glance out the window-not that he'd be able to see a damn thing at midnight-he opened the door slowly, with as little noise as possible. He ignored the blast of cold air as it invaded the warmth of the house, nipped at his skin. He couldn't ignore the way his body immediately started to shiver.