Cipher, p.14
Cipher, page 14
Mona and I moved outside to wait by the car. She hugged me, and it took me a second too long to hug her back. She squeezed so tight, I could barely breathe.
“Stay safe,” I said when she finally pulled away.
“We’re in this car,” Knight said as he motioned to the garage. Inside was a beat-up SUV that looked like a million others on the road. I jumped in the passenger seat.
“You sure they’ll be okay?”
“Yeah. Dex and Oliver are used to this kind of thing. They’ll take care of Mona. Just focus on staying calm, and if you feel like you’re losing control, reach out for me. I’ll steady you, okay?”
I stared out the window, unable to meet his gaze as he drove away from the safe house. He thought he wanted to help me, but eventually he’d realize I was more trouble than I was worth. Or he’d die trying to save me.
I wasn’t sure I could live through either of those options.
“Okay?” he said again.
I didn’t know how to answer that. “Sure.”
We didn’t talk much on the way to the transpo. I had questions, but opening up right now…I already felt exposed. I tugged on my lip ring as I thought.
“You’re going to break your teeth if you keep doing that.”
I let go of it, and turned to him. “It’s fine. Promise.”
“I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
How had I somehow gained an overprotective guy in my life? “I get that you and I knew each other, and that you feel like there’s some kind of debt that you need to repay, but consider us even. Seriously. I don’t need protecting. So, let’s push that instinct where the sun don’t shine. Okay?” I gave him my most angelic smile.
He frowned at me. “What are you doing with your face?”
I was horrible at fake smiling. Why did I keep trying? “I believe it’s called a reassuring smile.”
“No. That’s not a smile. When you smile, your dimples show, your freckles stand out, and the green shines in your eyes. It’s a thing of beauty. When all of those things are absent, it’s unsettling. You have dead eyes when you fake smile.”
“Dead eyes?”
“Yeah, your mouth is smiling, but your eyes are saying ‘I’m going to murder you.’ It’s creepy.” He shuddered.
“What a drama queen.” I needed to learn to pretend to be happy better. I could pretend to be pissed off and cry on cue. I had to know how to lie pretty well to survive, but faking a smile had never come easy to me. “So, tell me, oh Wise One, how do I do it correctly?”
“If I have to tell you how, you can’t do it. Start with a lot of practice in the mirror.”
“Is that how you learned to lie so well?” I winced. That had sounded more bitchy than I meant it to be.
“No. I learned to lie when I was a kid because if I didn’t, I’d be dead. Death is usually a pretty great motivator.”
He didn’t seem upset, so I pressed for more. “Your dad?”
He shrugged. “Took me a while to figure out that it didn’t matter what I said or did. If he wanted to kick my ass, he was going to. It didn’t really have anything to do with me, but I tried my damnedest to lie and fast talk my way out of fights with him.”
Slightly impressive. “You’re really well adjusted.”
“Yeah, well the school I went to had really fantastic head shrinkers.”
I snorted, and then covered my nose.
“Did you just snort?”
This was so embarrassing. “No.”
“You totally did, didn’t you?”
“Shut up.” I laughed again, and snorted in the process.
“There it is again!”
We both started laughing. It was easy to be around him. It always had been, regardless of the version of him I thought back to.
After that, we made small talk about programming and hacking. I asked him about how he built his processors, but he wouldn’t share the secret recipe. Before long, we were pulling up to the transpo station. He swiped his ID to get through the gates, and an alias popped up on the vid screen.
“That was fast.”
“We’ve got some good hackers on our team. You might even like some of them,” he said with a wink.
The car went through the usual security scan. A bead of sweat rolled down my face as we went through the gates. I was expecting the Black Helixes to come rushing out at us at any second, but no one did. We parked, and everything was fine.
He messed around with something in the trunk, before pulling a backpack over his shoulders. I watched the parking lot, to make sure no one was looking at us, but everyone was going about the day as usuasl.
Knight walked over with a black ball cap in his hand. “Come here.”
I stood still as he approached. He tilted my head up and brushed my hair away from my face, before easing the cap over my head. “The cap will limit front-on facial scans to fifty-percent. Ditto for the sides. Sometimes fifty-percent is enough to raise a flag, but not usually. I altered my specs in the system last night and they don’t have any on you yet. This is purely precautionary.” Knight leaned over me to adjust the cap size before stepping back. “Looking good,” he said with a grin. He pulled another hat out of his back pocket, and straightened the folded brim before shoving it over his head.
“Let’s go.”
The station used to be all white and chrome, but a layer of grime coated everything, turning it shades of gray. I wondered what it would’ve been like when it was new. Something about the clean lines of the structure made me think it had been beautiful once. The air conditioning in the station hit me as soon as we stepped through the doors, raising goose bumps along my skin. Outside was hot, but inside was freezing.
“You need a jacket?”
The guy noticed everything. “I’m okay.”
“This way.” He motioned off to the right, and I followed him.
The station was impressive. Different colored lines on the floors marked directions for bus, train, and pod travel. We walked through the security station. Automated kiosks scanned us as we walked into the ticketing area, and I reached for Knight.
My nerves were going crazy, and I didn’t want to set off any alarms. This time when he started draining my electricity, the feeling was comforting instead of freaky.
“You sure you’re okay?”
I swallowed. “Let’s just get where we’re going.”
“You’re doing fine.”
I nodded. I didn’t want to need the praise, but it helped me calm down as he led me toward the pod docks.
I’d never been in pod station before. I stayed away from transpo stations in general because they had too many cameras. This mega-station had one hanging from every ceiling tile, and I was sure there were more that I couldn’t see. Each camera had a flashing red light, meant to draw the eye. I knew this, and yet I still started to look.
Boards hung along the walls, showing destinations, departures, and arrivals. Other vid screens ran ads, alerts, and PSAs. Servers called out from food stalls, trying to catch commuters as they rushed through the station. It was instant sensory overload.
I started to look back up at the cameras and Knight tapped on my brim before the camera could get a full shot of my face. “How about you not look straight at them.”
“Accident. I’ve never actually been in a station like this.”
“No? Never taken a pod before?”
I shook my head. “Nope.” To be honest, the hyperspeed pods kind of freaked me out. I mean, I knew they almost never failed, but when they did, it was insta-death. And they were expensive. Like thousands of credits. To ride in a deathtrap? Only a helix would be so dumb.
“Well, today’s your lucky day.”
Right. My nerves started to take hold as we walked through the crowd. People moved in all directions, some hauling giant bags. My feet nearly got creamed by some jerk’s rolling trunk. It was too much. Too many people. Too many cameras recording me.
I started to pull away from Knight but he gripped my hand.
He leaned close to me. “I don’t want you losing control here. We can’t afford for you to cause even the tiniest fluctuation in the electrical grid. The Blacks aren’t actively looking for us here, but I guarantee you that every power station on this planet is monitoring local electrical levels. Best way to avoid that attention is to stick close, skin-to-skin. I’ll absorb any surges.”
I knew that. I wasn’t sure why I tried to pull away, other than instinct.
“Plus, I get to hold your hand.” He winked.
“Ugh. Dork,” I said.
“You say dork, but I think you like it.”
“No, I don’t.” But damned if I wasn’t grinning like a fool.
His gaze scanned my face. “Dimples. Green eyes nearly glowing. Yup. Your words might be saying one thing but your face is singing a different song. That smile is gen-u-ine.”
I rolled my eyes. Knight walked straight past the ticket kiosks to the gates. “Hey. Forgetting something.” I pointed to the long lines.
“Nope. We’re already pre-checked in. All we have to do is board.”
“Right.”
He stopped walking, shoving a hand in his front pocket. “Wait.” He laughed. “I actually did almost forget something.” He slipped a plain gold band over his left ring finger, and then placed a matching ring on me before I could pull away. “Thanks for doing me the honors, Mrs. Vasquez.”
Vasquez? Who? What was he doing?
It took me a second to realize what he was talking about. This was our cover. The sight of him putting a ring on my finger must’ve short-circuited my brain.
When I tried to pull our hands apart to look at the band, Knight’s grip firmed. “I know it’s not the proposal that you wanted, princess, but I’ll make it up to you later.”
My heart skipped a beat. “It’s just our cover.”
“For now.”
That wasn’t the most reassuring answer. Was it going to be something more than our cover later? Was he actually implying that he wanted to marry me?
The guy was insane. I didn’t want to ask that question, no matter how curious I was. Instead, I asked a different one. “Why’d you call me princess?”
“Best to call you what you really are.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You don’t remember?” He sighed. “Of course you don’t. Don’t you wonder why I picked Knight?”
“Cause you have a thing for medieval RPGs?” A totally wild guess.
He chuckled. “Nice try, but no. Because you were always going on about these princess stories as a kid. You were convinced some knight in shining armor was going to come save you.”
My jaw dropped open. “So, you think you’re my knight in shining armor here to save me?”
“But of course, fair maiden.” He dipped in a gallant bow, still clutching my hand.
I rolled my eyes dramatically. “I was a lame kid.” I started walking again.
“No, you weren’t. You saved me. You were my angel. It’s only fair that you let me be your knight. At least every once in a while.”
What did I even say to that? I was used to taking care of myself. Of doing everything and being the only one I could count on. Maybe sharing the weight—both the burdens of my Red Helix and abilities—would make my life easier for a while, but it was wrong. I had to save myself, or else I wouldn’t be worthy of being saved.
“Come on. This way.” Knight started toward gateway fifty-two.
A gate agent stood in the pod doorway. The guy was shorter than Knight by a foot, but not as short as me. He was overweight and sweating. In this air conditioning, that took talent. He breathed so loudly that I was worried for his health.
“Automation down?” Knight said as he pressed his finger to the sensor.
“Just doing some routine checks. Got a few fugitives at large. Gotta be extra-secure this morning or the boss’ll have my ass.”
This was majorly not cool. I glanced up at Knight, but he only grinned at me, like this was totally fine and normal. Meanwhile, I was a complete mess. We could get caught. Right here. Right now.
My heartbeat pounded in my ears.
The gate agent ran through Knight’s file for his alias, Juan Vasquez. “Newlyweds, huh?”
“Yes, sir,” Knight said, with a shit-eating grin. He pulled me into his side, throwing his arm over my shoulder. “Isn’t she just the cutest thing you ever did see?”
He was laying it on way too thick. I poked Knight in the side but he didn’t react.
The agent leered at me, giving me a thorough once-over. I wasn’t the only one who didn’t like the look. Knight was suddenly standing a little too stiff.
“If I had a girl like her, I wouldn’t let her see daylight. She’d never leave my bed.”
I threw up a little bit in my mouth.
“You and I are on the same page, sir,” Knight said. Only the fear of getting caught stopped me from hitting him.
The agent handed us our passes back. “Have a good honeymoon.”
“We plan to,” Knight said. “Right, sugar?”
Before I could say anything, his lips landed on mine. When I tried to push him away, he held on tighter.
It took me a bit to remember this was our cover. I shouldn’t push him away. I should be hamming it up.
I gripped his T-shirt and opened my mouth to him.
Bad call.
The second his tongue brushed against mine I melted. I heard myself moan right before he started to pull my dazed self into the pod.
What the hell just happened?
I stumbled over my feet as Knight found our spot. The pod had twenty gray vinyl seats. Four seats to a row, with a small aisle between them. Five rows in total. I’d always pictured pods to be round, but they were actually more like really tiny train cars. This one looked clean enough, but still had marks of heavy wear. More than half the pod was already full.
Knight pushed me down into a seat in an empty row, fastening my seatbelt across my waist and tightening it. He pushed the shoulder harness and looped the seatbelt through, snapping it into place.
“That was one hell of a kiss,” Knight whispered as he sat next to me and buckled in.
I whimpered. “What was that?” I was beyond turned on. Every nerve ending was sensitive. And the heat…
Knight’s fingers twined with mine again. “That’s us. Only us.”
“Is kissing everyone like that?”
“What?”
Oh crap. I hadn’t meant to say that aloud.
“That was your first kiss?”
Now I was a different kind of hot. “I uh…didn’t have a lot of time for boyfriends. What with the running and the starving and the trying to stay alive. Didn’t have a lot of friends period.” This was more than a little embarrassing.
“Great time to tell me, princess. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure the next kiss is even better.”
A chill ran along my skin at his promise. “Better?” That was a high bar he was setting.
“Yes.”
I didn’t think it could get much better, but I was suddenly game to try. “Guess it would be better if it was a real kiss instead of a show for some sleazeball douche?”
“That was a real kiss.”
I shook my head. “You know what I mean. Real. Like you mean it. Like you want to kiss me, not because you have to because of the cover or whatever.”
He rubbed his thumb up and down the back of my hand. “That was a real kiss. I wanted to kiss you the second I saw you.”
I turned as much as I could. I needed to see his face. “You don’t have to pretend.”
“I told you not five minutes ago that I’m going to propose to you one day and you still don’t believe me about the kiss?”
I opened and closed my mouth a few times as I tried to figure out what to say. Trying to find something that wasn’t totally dumb. “You were joking.”
“No. No, I wasn’t.”
I sat back in my chair. The ring on my finger suddenly weighed ten times as much as it had a second ago.
An automated voice announced the countdown to departure through the pod speakers, but I barely heard as Knight’s words echoed in my head. It scared me how much I wanted him to be serious. I wanted it so badly my heart ached for it.
It seemed nuts. I hadn’t known Knight for long. But I’d also kind of known him forever. Putting all those pieces together in my head, I knew him. And he knew me better than anyone.
I still had a lot to learn about him, but I knew that I hadn’t made a bad choice. Sticking around after blowing those transformers was maybe the best decision I’d ever made.
I held on to Knight’s hand as the pod took off and hoped I never had to let go.
Chapter Twelve
KNIGHT
Pod travel only took minutes. I let myself relax into my seat, enjoying these few moments in transit. We’d start being in danger as soon as we arrived in San Diego, but until then, we were safe in the pod. Just being next to Emma meant everything to me.
“How’re you doing, Em?”
“I wish you wouldn’t call me that,” she mumbled.
That was all I wanted to call her. “Why?”
“Because it makes me uncomfortable. Like someone could recognize me.” She blew out a harsh breath. “It’s not an unusual name, but it’s mine. Private. Anything that’s mine I’ve hidden. So hearing it out loud is disarming. Makes me feel…bare.” She paused. “I’d rather you not use it. Especially here.”
It was a valid fear. “You’re on record as Emera Mason-Vasquez. So Em isn’t far off.”
“Good to know.”
Her fingers felt thin and fragile. I rubbed by thumb along the top of her hand so that I remembered not to squeeze it. Not to hurt her. “Okay. So in public, you’re Cipher. What about in private? Can I call you by your real name then?”
Her cheeks reddened. I bet she hated that her skin was so fair. “You think we’re going to be in private together a lot?”
I leaned as close to her ear as the restraints would allow. “I sure hope so.”
If possible, her face got even redder and she looked away. “How am I supposed to respond to that?”
