The Exchange Part 1 (6 page)

Bad fucking idea on my end, but it worked to calm her down the first time, didn’t
it?

She doesn’t waste any time moving back over to me and leaning her head on my chest.

I try my hardest not to be affected by any of it. I’ll give you two hints as to how
that works out for me.

Not. Well.

“WHAT IS IT?” I storm past Gage, heading straight for the cockpit.

“The engine is failing. We’re going to have to touch down.”

I falter in my next step. It isn’t every day that words like that make my stomach
drop, but as my mind flashes to the girl sleeping in the bedroom, that’s exactly what
happens.

I don’t bother asking him anything else. If he’s alerting me of this, it means the
engine restart has failed. Adrenaline pumps through me. There’s no rush accompanying
it. For the first time in years, the beginnings of panic blossom.

There’s no caring about my team. I don’t even care about myself. I should, but one
thought is repeating itself over and over as I near the cockpit:
I can’t let anything happen to her.

Isaac, one of the pilots, turns to me as soon as I’m at the cockpit door. “Hong Kong
International can accommodate an emergency landing. We’re starting descent.”

“Any idea what caused the failure?” I ask him.

John, the other pilot, gives me his attention long enough to tell me, “No. We won’t
know until we land. Misty already started a scan to see if the software’s corrupted
at all.”

Gage is behind me when I turn around. Motioning with my head for him to follow me,
I storm back out of the cockpit and toward our seats. The rest of our team is already
buckling up for the descent. “I’m going to go wake her. But you need to be informed:
someone’s after her.”

“Her?” Gage’s eyes flicker toward the closed bedroom door. “Why? Because she’s Lei
Heaton’s daughter? Or for her parts?”

“Both.
And
because she’s not Magdalena and I think whoever is after her knows that.”

His eyes shoot wide. “Excuse me?”

“There’s no time to explain it all right now. I’m sending all the info I have on the
situation to your drive.” I’d already downloaded it onto my own, so a single mental
command initiates the transfer. Gage blinks as the download starts. “Go through all
of it while we land.”

The nod he gives me is tense. Serious. The soldier in him has taken over.

Good.

“We’re not letting anyone take her.” With that, I turn to head to Sapphire.

“There’s no way I’m letting anything happen to her.” Gage’s tone is low and dangerous.
A vow he intends to keep.

And it’s a good thing. It is.

Doesn’t stop my fist from itching to connect with his fucking mouth.

I crack my neck and move onward. There’s no point in addressing the situation, and
definitely
no time to do so right now.

En route to the Peninsula Hotel.

Tsing Sha Highway, Hong Kong, China.

THE INSIDE OF THE CAR IS SILENT.
Only
the noises from outside penetrate the tense quiet around us.

As for the plane? It’d
been sabotaged
. Misty found the virus deep within the plane’s software. I’m also one-hundred percent
sure that a check of the engine will show structural damage as well.

So is Gage. Now that he’s up-to-speed on everything, he’s come to the conclusion that
someone leaked the info on the Sapphire AI. If that’s true, there’s no telling how
many factions are now after Sapphire.

Lei Heaton spoke to Logan back at headquarters. He’s demanding that we let him send
his own private jet to pick us up.

Impatient fool. He’s well-known; a select group of people know about Adelphi. If they
were able to track us down and mess with our plane, there’s no way they wouldn’t recognize
anything even remotely linked to him.

Another stealthier, smaller plane of ours will be here in the morning to pick us up.
Along with more agents. We had to pull Horus and his team off a mission for this.
With him, Gage, and I together, we should be able to handle the situation.

We booked rooms under aliases at the Peninsula Hotel for the night. That’s where we’re
heading.

Clark is driving again. The cars we rented are much bigger this time. A lot flashier,
too, which worries me. People don’t look twice at a regular car. Now, a Rolls-Royce
Phantom? Eye-catching. Damn it, it’s all we could get on such short notice, but I
can’t wait to get Sapphire out of this car and somewhere safer.

Russell and the rest of the team are in an identical car. I ordered them to take an
alternate route to the hotel. One Rolls-Royce is conspicuous enough, thank you very
much.

I’m sitting on the right side of the three-person seat in the back, next to the window.
Sapphire lies beside me, asleep with her head resting on my lap. It’d been impossible
to wake her up during landing. I’d had no choice but to carry her out of the bedroom
and strap her to the seat next to me.

She woke up for three seconds after arrival in China. That’s it. Needless to say,
it worried me. I’d done a scan of her vitals to make sure she was alright.
Physically
, she’s fine. A scan into brain activity had proved something else I’d been suspecting.

Sapphire hasn’t had enough time to become accustomed to being in a human body. Add
to that the fact that her mind is also working at warp-speed, and you have hypervigilance.
It’s a state of constant hyper-feeling, if you will, and it’s hell to get used to.
Everything she perceives is magnified. Her feelings are being pushed to the extreme.

God, she is strong. I’d seen little glimpses of her hypervigilance, but she’d kept
it under control so far.

It’s no wonder she’s exhausted, though.

I’d just finished scanning her and raised my head to notify everyone that her vitals
were fine, for the most part, when Gage opened his mouth and beat me to it.

He’d been scanning her at the same time I had.

I close my eyes, blocking out the view of Hong Kong outside, and breathe slow. In
for three counts, out for six. Over and over, all the while telling myself that there’s
something bigger going on. Sapphire is being hunted and I have to remain in control
to do my job. There’s no time for petty, ridiculous jealousy.

But the motherfucker scanned her. He’d been
inside
her like that.

He's done it to countless people. So have I, and it’s not lost on me that the only
reason it bothers me now is because it’s
her
.

Sapphire shifts and mumbles something in her sleep. I open my eyes and focus on her.
A lock of hair is laying across her cheek. Shifting again, she groans and her pert
little nose twitches.

I allow myself a small smile and reach to move the hair away from her face. The silky
strands slide across my fingers. I let one finger linger on her cheek, caressing her.

She lets out a soft sound and moves her face closer to my hand.

Movement from the front catches my attention. It's Gage, head turned toward the back.
His eyes are on my hand and where it is. He doesn't seem happy about it.

He wants her.

I know.
I want her, too.

Neither of us can have her, but if one of us is going to...

There's no fucking doubt about it—it's going to be me.

Need proof? She woke up for a few seconds again once I'd gotten her in the car. Her
little hand had wrapped around my wrist,
silently
asking me to be the one that sat next to her. Once I had, she'd wasted no time getting
comfortable, laying her head on my lap and going back to sleep.

Was I pleased? Yes. Am I worried about it? You bet your ass I am. Would I have let
Gage sit next to her instead of me? Hell the fuck
no.

The car turns onto Argyle street and merges with the heavy traffic. I’ve been here
many times before. It’s one of Hong Kong’s busiest thoroughfares. We pass Tung Choi
Street and the jam-packed Ladies’ Market. Row upon row of stalls filled with merchandise
can be seen from the entrance alone.

We’re facing off against an unknown enemy, the mission is close to being compromised,
and the thought that goes through my head right then has nothing to do with any of
that.

Man, I wish I had time to take Sapphire shopping there. She’d been at the power plant
ever since waking up. There's so many things she hasn't had a chance to do—

The sound of a massive blast echoes around us.

Gravity fails. My stomach is shoved up into my larynx.

The car flips up into the air. Sapphire flies out of her seat. I scream her name,
trying to reach for her as the car goes through another flip.

There's a crash—the sound of glass breaking. Blood has rushed to my head, the pressure
making it impossible for me to focus.

Another flip; Clark goes right through the windshield. Gage screams out. The car slams
on the ground then bounces back up into the air. This time, Sapphire screams as Gage
flies out the passenger side window.

Impact. My body gets jolted by the force of the crash. Everything around me sounds
like it's breaking. The car seems to come down around me.
Crushed
. I'm upside-down, being held by nothing but my seatbelt, my forehead mere centimeters
from the roof of the car.

There's so much noise. People screaming, running. Horns honking.

A second explosion.

"Sapphire!" I yell as loud as I can.

I'm the
only
one left in the car, trapped by the fucking seatbelt. Where is she?

God, where the fuck
is
she?

I rip off the seatbelt and fall face-first onto the roof. "Sapphire!"

"Deimos!"

My heart stops at the sound of her voice. Then it starts up again, adrenaline and
relief sending it on a rampage.

"Deimos, they're trying to get me!"

Oh. Hell.
No.

Relief is obliterated. Rage takes it's place.

I can't get the fuck out of the car. It's crushed down around me.

Only one solution to the problem.

I curl my fingers into a fist and aim it above me. One hit; a huge chunk of the car
goes flying. The impact is almost as loud as the explosions. My skin is shredded.
Blood sprays out of my hand, hot drops that land on my face.

I pull both fists back, focusing all of my strength into the next hit.

Time seems to slow down. There's more screams outside. What sounds like a fight; the
loud clangs of metal meeting metal. Swords? A male choked sound that ends in a garble.
A feminine grunt that I’m sure came from Sapphire.

I send both fists flying. They go right through the seats. Metal from underneath collides
with my hands, rending through my flesh, all the way down to my titanium bones.

I feel nothing. No pain. No sensation at all. All I care about is getting to Sapphire.

One more hit and a loud, metallic screech rips through the air. A large portion of
the bottom of the car goes flying.

I pull myself out of the car and land in a crouch on the street. The piece of the
car lands a millisecond after I do, cutting across the asphalt and coming to a stop
ten feet away.