Broken Protocols (6 page)

Home sounded good. She felt the urgency in his movements as he moved faster. Then the air changed, calmed. Levi slowed down.

In the background, she heard him call out, “Stealth on.”

She was taken into a darker room. She could hardly open her eyes, but it was slightly easier here. Her body was shifted and laid down on a hard surface. She cried out as pain radiated into the corners of her body. “Oh, it’s hard. It hurts.”

The surface softened, cradled her, eased her pain. She sighed in relief.

“It’s okay now,” he said. “You’re back in bed. Just rest.”

She tried to shift, her arms struggling with the blanket, until something big and furry was placed in her arms. She whispered happily, “Charmin.”

There was no answer, but she knew it was him and his soft gentle breathing reassured her that he was well. Now if only her body would stop screaming at her. She rolled over, felt something tugged up and placed over her shoulders, and soft, gentle music filled the room.

“Sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning.”

That made sense. She let herself drift away.

Until a few hours later, when she woke up. Pain radiated throughout her body. She’d never done much jogging but her body felt like she’d done a full marathon. And it complained bitterly. She stumbled to a doorway that led to the bathroom, tears running down her cheeks. By the time she was back in bed, she could barely move. With every step, her muscles had seized up a little more. Charmin lay in the bed motionless, his huge eyes wells of pain.

“I know how you feel, buddy.” She stopped and considered what she was doing. “I had to use the bathroom, what about you?”

He had to go sometime. If he hadn’t already. She didn’t want to check the corners of the room too closely. “What could I do about a litter box for you, Charmin?”

She looked around but there was nothing resembling a decent container that would work. She thought about the bathroom. “Charmin, can you use the toilet?”

He shuddered and gave her a horrified look. “There’s water in the toilets.”

She winced. Actually she wasn’t sure there was water in the bowl. She’d noticed a blue jelly substance she’d refused to check out any closer. “I know. But there is no sand or litter here. I don’t know what to do for you.”

Charmin stood up and jumped off the bed. He landed then fell to his knees. She cried out and reached over to pick him up. “Our muscles don’t work right here.”

“Yeah, I got that,” he grumbled. “How about that litter box thing?”

“How about a water one?” she asked hopefully.

The horrified look in his eyes made her laugh.

“I have to go,” he growled. “Let’s take a look at it.”

She carried him into the bathroom. It had taken her a bit of time to figure out the system. She had no idea how to help him understand. There was a seat that seemed to adapt to the size of the butt sitting down. Kind of like the couch and the bed. She opened the seat so he could see, then perched him on the top.

“This is what there is. You go pee in the hole.”

He stared at her.

She gave him a winning smile, and said with bright encouragement, “You can do this.”

“So not.”

“I’ll just leave you so you can have some privacy.”

And she escaped.

Oh Lord. What was she doing here? They both wanted to go home. They didn’t belong here. They couldn’t even move properly. How the heck were they supposed to survive? They had no papers, no identification numbers, no family or friends. No job and worse yet – no money. If such a thing still existed. And then there were the two idiots who’d brought her here. They weren’t to be trusted.

On the heels of that thought, she remembered the strength of those arms, the soothing tone in Levi’s voice as he told her to rest. He’d been gentle. Caring. That was very sexy. A man who looked after you when you were hurt and hurting was something special.

If only he hadn’t been part of the plot to bring her here.

He said he’d had nothing to do with it, but…

And speaking of which, she planned to nail Milo tomorrow and find out how and why she’d been chosen.

She had no great skills. She was no beauty. She had left no legacy – at least at the time of her kidnapping. And that was on top of the dismal list Milo had read off earlier. How had they even known who she was to swoop down and scoop her up?

A weird scratching sound came from the direction of the bathroom, followed by a heavy thud, which hinted that Charmin was done with his business. As he strolled out, heavy limbed, his head dipped lower with every step. She winced. “See, it wasn’t so bad.”

“It so was,” he said darkly. “What kind of place is this that they don’t have a decent dry litter box?” He walked over to her and twined around her legs. “Do you realize how long it’s been since we ate?” He plunked his furry butt down on the weird tiled floor and stared up at her. “Do you think they know what food is? If they haven’t heard about litter boxes…”

How typical. His stomach was always a priority. “I’m sure they know what food is. Chances are good we might even recognize some of it.”

He shot her a horrified look, jumped up on the bed, and proceeded to turn around in circles before collapsing. “I’m going back to sleep. Maybe when I wake up the next time, this nightmare will be over.”

“That’s actually a good idea.”

All she could hear was his heavy breathing. She scrambled up beside him and curled herself around his pudgy body. She really wanted her life back. To be back in her tiny apartment getting ready for her date.

How could they take that away from her?

And she fell asleep.

*

Levi groaned and
rolled over yet again. His mind wouldn’t shut off. He had no idea how to stop the mess from changing life as he knew it. His brother had done the unthinkable. At the same time, it was a major scientific achievement – and no one could ever know.

And what was he supposed to do with Dani? This charming young woman hadn’t asked for her life to be destroyed on Milo’s whim. He didn’t even know how she’d been chosen. She wasn’t Milo’s usual choice when it came to women. There were no visible piercings and her hair was all the same color.

Then again, Milo had mentioned he’d picked Dani for Levi. That brought the old photo to mind again. Was he so pathetic that his kid brother felt he needed to get Levi a girlfriend? Sure, Levi was going through a dry spell, but that was by choice. He didn’t like Johan’s party scene. It had been fun once or twice, but he preferred to be with a woman because he liked her, not because she had the requisite body parts. And – he twisted his lips in a dour smile – he was a romantic. Old fashioned. He wanted to love and be loved. Was that so impossible?

He rolled over again. How could he stop the world from finding out about Milo’s accomplishment? He also had to stop Milo from repeating his actions. And he needed to find a way to send Dani home. Although he wouldn’t mind if she stayed for a bit – if she wanted to.

Was it wrong of him to want her to stay? Instantly he crushed that thought. She wasn’t meant to stay here. He didn’t dare get attached to her. She wasn’t a pet. He couldn’t just keep her.

But a part of him was considering it.

Just as morning light drifted into his room and he thought he might finally be able to go to sleep, there was a pounding on his front door. Groaning, he pulled on a shirt and pants. When the noise came a second time, he stumbled to the door, calling out, “Hang on. I’m coming.”

He pulled open the door, his hand hiding a yawn. And froze.

Two suits were standing there with Johan sandwiched between them. He glanced over at Johan, a question in his eyes, but asked in a genial voice, “What’s up, gentlemen?”

One man said, “You’re wanted for questioning at the Council.” The tone was stiff, uncompromising. Just like the look on the first man’s face. Levi glanced at the second man’s stone face. Council henchmen. Great. He was in trouble again. He cast his mind back to see where he messed up. And how to recover…

Levi frowned at his friend. “Johan, what’s going on?”

Johan shrugged but wore his customary careless grin. “Damned if I know. I’m being hauled in, too.”

Not good. Levi straightened, looked at the first man, and said, “Do I need my lawyers, gentlemen?”

“If you feel you need one, you may certainly call in representation as is your right. However, at this moment, while we are requesting your presence at the Council, it is not an order.”

The unspoken “yet” hung in the air.

“Right. Give me a moment. I’ll get dressed and meet you there.”

The first suit, who’d yet to speak, said, “No. We will wait and escort you there.”

So this was serious. Levi nodded and returned to his bedroom. He swallowed a booster, hoping to make up for his lousy night. He walked to his wardrobe where he pulled out a suit and dressed carefully. Milo did creative. Levi did power and intimidation.

After a quick glance around, he pocketed his comp and walked out.

Johan at his side, the four men travelled to the Council building and were escorted into the inner office immediately.

No waiting. No coffee offered. Immediate reception.

This was very serious.

They were led forward to face four Councilmen all seated on a raised podium, watching as Levi’s group approached.

Levi recognized all four of them. His stomach sank. He didn’t exactly have a good relationship with the Council after Milo broke protocol over a year ago. Except for one member, Stephen Cavendish, a junior member who was also an old friend. As a junior member, his presence on the Council was sporadic.

There wasn’t a sound for a long moment as the Councilmen assessed him and Johan. One of the two Councilmen in the middle finally spoke up. “Johan and Levi, thank you both for coming. We understand that there was a disturbance on the health pod registered to you, Johan.”

Ah shit.

So much for his orders to that damn computer. It hadn’t wiped the data and had instead submitted it as per protocol, and that had raised flags. He’d expected the power outage to have done that. Although there’d been several of those lately, unrelated to Milo’s work. He frowned. Or were they? Had Milo tested his program out earlier?

Johan raised his hands, palms outward. “Anything is possible. It experienced heavy use last night as several of my guests took advantage of my personal unit. In fact, there were likely a dozen or so that could have used my pod. I had a big party and many people, not having their own pod, come specifically for that purpose. I don’t mind. I never have.”

“You will have no problem supplying us a list of your guests then?” The speaker asked, who Levi thought was called Carlson, peering over his glasses at him.

Levi wondered at the glasses. No one used them for vision anymore. Chances were good the speaker was running all kinds of scans on Johan right now. From financials to health statistics. The speaker settled back with a frown, removing the glasses.

That was interesting. Levi turned slightly to study the man at his side. Did Johan have a way to block the scan?

“As many as I can, but I have an open door policy with regards to guests.” Johan gave them a fat grin. “The more the merrier.” He held his hands up in appeal. “What is this about?”

“Data from the pod proposed a few questions last night. We are obligated to check it out further.”

Johan’s eyebrows shot up. “Interesting.” He glanced over at Levi and shrugged.

“And I’m here why?” Levi asked coolly.

“We have information that you asked to use the pod last night.”

Not good. Levi tilted his head slightly. “That is correct. And what regulation did you violate to find that information?”

Johan snorted. “That’s a damn good question. Are you recording my calls?” he asked in outrage. He pulled out his comp and jotted down notes. “That is something I will be looking into.”

“In the case of issues of national security, we are within our rights to record calls.”

“National security?” Levi spluttered. Inside, his nerves jangled. “What are you talking about?” He pulled out his comp and sent a nudge to his own lawyer, John Driscoll. With any luck, he could keep this tied up long enough to solve the problem. He also checked to make sure his comp was recording the session.

“We don’t have enough information to complete a full analysis of the problem. The data stream from the pod was corrupted. There was also a massive power outage that we must investigate.”

“Ha, corrupt data is the norm half the time. And lately there have been more power outages than not. You know that.” Johan laughed. “Any one of my many guests could have broken it.” He shook his head. “You will also be able to check that I have it repaired on a regular basis.”

“We will follow up on the list you supply. If you have no further information to offer, you are dismissed.”

And that tone of voice had Levi’s back going up. He glared at the four men staring down at him, identical looks on their faces. But this was not the time or place to start an all out war. He’d warred with these men before. Milo often got into trouble.

And Levi always worked to get him out of it.