A Shadow's Embrace (4 page)

“You may not respect what my crew does, but we do what needs to be done. Without us, all those low-levels you think should worship your asses would’ve been rounded up or buried a hell of a long time ago. So, while I personally respect the shit out of you Shadows and what you do, and I sure as hell appreciate the bullet you took to the gut for me today, back the fuck off with the attitude. They don’t deserve that shit, and neither do I.”
 

He looked away and nodded.
 

“Good. I’ll leave you to call your guys back. I’m sure they’re worried.” She stood, determined to put some much-needed distance between herself and the man she wanted to throttle almost more than she wanted to climb him like a tree.
 

She needed to get out of here, but leaving him alone wasn’t an option, and everyone else was too pissed at his presence to be trusted right now. Cadence and Mia would be too quick to defend her if he started mouthing off about her and the Order again. Dare and Rider had left shortly after the campfire from hell.
 

Pissing off her team hadn’t been her intention. Seeing the disappointment, hearing it in their voices when they realized she hadn’t read them in on her work had hurt.
 

I get your trust issues, Dev. I just didn’t realize I was one of those issues.
 

Fuck. Rider’s words had twisted the knife and shredded her insides. What the hell had she done?
 

Turning away from the cause of the discord, she telepathically accessed the surveillance system. So far it had been quiet.
 

Almost too quiet. Paranoia was her middle name where Conver was concerned. The fact that her team was out there gathering intel to cover her ass made her stomach pitch.
 

“I’m thinking we need to get a couple of things straight.” The husky whisper, its proximity, startled her. Warm tingles spread beneath her skin where he touched her upper arm.
 

“I’m thinking I’ve heard enough of what you have to say.” She should pull away, demand he respect her personal space, but she inhaled his warm, musky scent. Woodsy vanilla. His breath tickled her cheek.
 

“If you think I don’t respect what you and your crew do, you’re crazy. It takes balls, brass ones, to put yourself on radar to help others. Y’all do that without the tactical training we’ve got behind us.” He squeezed her arm slightly. “Not a single Shadow I know isn’t terrified at the thought of Conver getting his hands on you or someone in your group. We’ve seen what he’s capable of. It’s worse than you could imagine.”
 

“I don’t have to imagine it.” She turned and held his gaze, even though the fiery obsidian depths made her thoughts falter. “You weren’t the only group held. You might’ve endured more, had to do more black ops than we could imagine, but I assure you the cages were the same, the restrictions the same. The punishments the same.”
 

His gaze darkened, narrowed. “You were in a facility? You weren’t in the halfway houses or camps? Which facility? Where?”
 

She took a deep breath. “I’m not doing this, not now. I’ve said too much as it is. We are well aware of what we risk and why. We aren’t backing down just because we lack the firepower you have. We don’t need guns to pass out food, and we aren’t stupid. That’s why I lob all the serious things to the SEO. You’re equipped to handle what I can’t.”
 

“I know a few people who’d love to know how you get your hands on that shit.” He crossed his arms. “It looks like there might’ve been something you forgot to lob our way. What went south? Why were you running from Conver today?”
 

“I don’t know.” The admission made heat rise in her face. “I mean, I must’ve stumbled across the wrong thing. Obviously.”
 

“Obviously.” He edged backward, offering her more room to maneuver out of the corner she’d somehow gotten backed into. “Maybe we should rewind a bit. What exactly is involved in this stumbling you do?”
 

“I’m a technopath.”
 

He stilled. “Come again.”
 

“Technopath. I can root around in anything with a cord or electronic components.”
 

He eased into a perch on the cot. “So that’s why you suggested someone tracing you like that. You can do that?”
 

“Yes.” She swallowed through the nerves rattling her resolve for full disclosure. “But I’m not sure how they found me. At least, I’m not certain whoever may be involved is like me. I’ve run across lower levels who can do what I do before. They leave trails I feel like a scrape along my skin. I’d know they were there.”
 

“Unless they were a higher level. Conver wouldn’t mess around with a grade below five. Most of his crew is a high grade six, the max possible. Maybe they don’t leave a trace.”
 

She studied him for a moment. Full disclosure didn’t mean acting stupid. Information was power, and she’d hoarded anything that would compromise her team’s safety. Today’s meltdown with the team proved she had trust issues to begin with. Should she trust the SEO with the truth where she was concerned?
 

“What I say you’ll share with all SEO operatives.”
 

“We don’t keep secrets.” He studied her a moment and cursed. “You’re a level six, high gradient. You a Shadow?”
 

“No.” She shook her head vehemently. “I was never a Shadow. Technopathy wasn’t an ability they tested for, and I wasn’t stupid enough to share.”
 

“I’ve never heard of the ability before.”
 

“I’m sure there are many skillsets out there.”
 

“So, what went down to cause today?”
 

“I’ve been on a personal mission, one I hadn’t shared with my team or you all. I know there are other research facilities like the one I was held in. Doctor Lang always boasted about how widespread her reach was, how she traveled far and wide to study her
subjects
herself.”
 

“You’ve been looking for them.”
 

“Wouldn’t you? If you could?”
 

“You should’ve read us in on this. We have the bandwidth and skillset to help.”
 

“Whatever I discovered would’ve gotten turned over to you, as soon as I knew for sure. I wanted to gather security protocols and monitor daily activities long enough to have the patterns. Sending you into a trap wasn’t an option.” She powered the computer on behind her. “I’ve located the storage location for all Conver’s intel.”
 

“Wait. You found locations? When?” Anger punctuated his questions. “If you’re on his radar, any psychics there are dead. You get that, right?”
 

“I’m well aware of the risk. I may not be a Shadow, but I’m damn good at what I do. I never leave a trace.”
 

“Fair enough.”
 

The implicit trust in her judgment knocked the indignation straight out of her. “You run hot and cold. One minute you’re crawling down my throat with accusations. The next you trust what I say and act all respectful. I don’t like that.”
 

“That’s what we do. Censuring our thoughts only pisses the empaths among us off. We speak from our gut and sort shit in our heads after. That means back-pedaling at times, but we keep all cards on the table. Everyone knows everything.”
 

“Fair enough.” Devyn had run Indigo Order much the same way, thus the reason for the daily campfires. It was why Dare and Rider had taken her covert work so hard.
 

Mia and Cadence hadn’t said much, aside from lodging their frustration and disappointment. Mia would get it, though. She’d make sure Cadence did, too. As an empath, the woman was terrifyingly accurate, a veritable emotional compass who kept the team glued together.
 

“If the dust has settled from what went down today, I want to call a meeting with my crew and yours. Read everyone in, access what all I did right before things went south. Between us all, maybe we can figure out what happened.”
 

“You saw something Conver wanted under wraps. It must be big to bring this sort of firepower and attention with the populace. The powers that be don’t take too kindly to media storms since it threatens to expose our existence to the public.”
 

 Devyn was sick of being a dirty little secret.
 

Before she could respond, the door to the down room thudded open, slamming against the metal wall behind it. Dare tossed a weapon in her direction and paused as though in thought for a moment before flinging one in Dagan’s direction. Mia walked in behind Dare, her expression grim. Something was wrong.
 

Devyn processed surveillance footage again. “The perimeter’s been breached. I’m counting seven, no ten, targets in the northwestern tunnels. Why is Rider off-grid?”
 

Dare flexed his fists. “He had shit to sort, not sure where he is.”
 

“But we never remove electronic tracking. We agreed.” She pinged them daily, some days hourly, to reassure herself they were okay. They were free, away from Lang. Rider generally
wouldn’t deny her that comfort, but the carefully guarded stare Dare directed at her stated otherwise. She’d always been able to read Dare. He made it so. What had she done?
 

“I cut him that deep.”
 

Devyn forced a tight leash on the emotions warring for control. Guilt would win eventually. It always did. For now she had to get everyone secure, handle the imminent threat. “You secure Cadence. Mia can help set the charges if we have to detonate The Hive. I wish Rider was here to handle Cade.”
 

“Me too.” Dare unsheathed a KABAR. “You two get the hell out of here. We’ll meet up when the dust settles.”
 

“We’ll hold them back to give you time to clear out.” No way in hell was she leaving Dare and the others to handle evacuations without her.
 

Rider, I get that you’re pissed, but we could use you back at headquarters. Conver’s here.
 

Devyn cursed into the responding silence. Not good. Something stunk. Pissed or not, Rider never walked away from his duties. He breathed and bled Indigo.
 

“Devyn.” Dare grasped her shoulder until she focused on him. Thoughts ceased when she saw the determination in his face. “You’re leaving. They get you, this all goes away. You are Indigo. You’re protected, no matter what. It’s the vow we took when we started this shit.”
 

“No. We didn’t.”
 

“Yeah, we did.” Mia pulled her weapon and sneered at Dagan. “Keep her safe, like we always do. She’s all that matters, after all.”
 

Sarcasm dripped from her statement. What the hell?
 

Dagan nodded.
 

Devyn shook off Dare’s touch. “We don’t have time to argue. We’ll cover you.” She couldn’t get caught. They couldn’t go back. Lang would….
 

Her pulse quickened; her skin crawled. They’d been found. Indigo had been breached. Her team couldn’t be harmed because of what she’d done, what she’d discovered. Coming back here had been a terrible mistake. She couldn’t let them pay the penalty.
 

“I’m covering you,” she stated firmly.
 

“You got this?” Dare asked as he looked over her head. Dagan. Men. They always thought they could handle her.
 

Warmth flowed through her blood, spreading with a swift, methodic stroke that settled in her mind. She wanted to leave this place, wrap up in the fiery heat and sleep for an eternity. No. Not now. She had to…. What was she arguing with Dare about? She recognized his “I’m not discussing this further” stance, yet she couldn’t remember why she’d been arguing with him.
 

Wait. She’d intended to stay here, have his back. That’s what a team did. Right? The warmth curled closer, edging out the doubt. No. Arguing wasted valuable time.
 

Something snapped her determination like a rubber band. One minute, it was there, and the next she didn’t care. She blinked, staring at Dare and Mia as she tried to figure out why staying mattered. Why not do as Dare said? He was more trained than her, knew more about situations like these. And if Dagan wasn’t arguing, why should she?
 

Huh.
 

Wait. She’d been really determined, yet she’d just changed her mind easily. But why? The last time she’d experienced such a sudden shift in thoughts, someone had tweaked her mind with their powers. Hell, no. Dagan was messing with her. She turned and punched his arm. “Damn you. Don’t fuck with my head, you son of a bitch.”
 

He met her gaze, and she tumbled into the warm, dark depths. Jesus, he was gorgeous. Molten sin. The psychic battle lasted a few more moments before mental exhaustion plagued her. Fine. She’d cede to his will. This time. Staying here would be stupid anyway. She wasn’t stupid enough to think she could win a war with Dare
and
Dagan.
 

“Go, Dare. I’ve got this.” Dagan’s voice settled within her mind, a warm, soothing presence that somehow pressed the numbing fear aside. “Wrap your arm around me, little one. I’ve got you.”
 

She embraced the comforting strength around her and trudged alongside him. They moved silently for what seemed like forever. Weariness plagued her mind. Thinking proved impossible. Dagan suddenly moved faster, as though in a hurry. She fought the fatigue to step up her pace. The walls shook around them, and fire erupted to their right.
 

The aftershock imploded the control Dagan had taken of her mind. The warmth in her mind vanished, the thick blanket of apathy dissipated. What the hell? Anger kept her silent as they sprinted through the narrow tunnel that served as the emergency exit.