The Last Mission of the Living (The Last Bastion #2)(43)

With a slight nod, Torran rested his hands on the edge of her bed and stretched. It was very provocative and she was distracted by the muscles shifting beneath his skin. She wanted to be distracted. Fear was a tight knot in her gut.

“And you don’t want to talk about it.”

“Nope.”

“Is this where we draw lines?” Torran asked, tilting his head.

“Yep.” Lindsey slid to her feet and ran her hands down his chest. “We’re getting to know each other. We’re getting to be friends. But not only did I lose the stupid ex, but my best friend. I need a new friend.”

“A friend with benefits.” Torran stared into her eyes somberly. “I’m there with you.”

“Are you?” Lindsey really hoped he was, because she liked him.

“This life is too uncertain,” he said at last. “Better to keep things simple. Uncomplicated.”

“Let’s enjoy the rest of the night before we have to go back to the real world.” Lindsey rubbed her lips against his chin softly.

Torran cupped her face and kissed her lightly. “I better go.”

“Torran...”

“No, Lindsey. I should. You see, if I stay any longer I won’t want to go back to the real world.”

Frowning, she feared she’d made a misstep with him.

“The thing is this... you’re a great girl. And I think we’re going to be great friends. But we need boundaries. Sleeping here tonight... a little too much over the line.”

“So don’t sleep.” Lindsey gave him the beguiling look that seemed to affect him so much.

“Oh, that’s playing so dirty.” Torran laughed.

“One more time, then you can go home.” Lindsey turned up her flirty look, her fingers lightly touching his hip.

“Fine. But... boundaries.”

“Right.”

His kiss rendered her breathless.



*



Hours later, Lindsey woke to an empty bed and flat. Her bed was still damp from the tequila she’d spilled, but she didn’t mind so much. Torran had helped her past the heartbreak of Vaja and given her something she’d been missing for a long time.

Friendship and understanding.

Now she just needed to find a way to distract herself during the long wait to find out what Maria and Dwayne needed from her and Commandant Pierce.

With a sigh, Lindsey wished Torran had stayed.





Chapter 12


Commandant Pierce paced her office with her hands tucked behind her back as Lindsey finished securing the room in preparation for Dwayne and Maria’s transmission. The small implants under her fingertips vibrated as she performed her final scan. It was the one thing Vaja had done that she could still appreciate. He had put her in contact with a black market surgeon who had made small modifications to her body. If Lindsey didn’t have to deal with regular health checkups, she’d be tempted to make more modifications. There was only so much she could hide from the medical sensors.

Lindsey’s search revealed that someone had imbedded more spying devices in the commandant’s office. These were clever little bugs that constantly changed frequency channels to evade detection. Lindsey had deactivated all of them and removed one for further study. Every time she extracted one, Commandant Pierce’s frown deepened.

Tucking the extracted bug into her small tool kit, Lindsey pulled out one of her modified pads and checked the suppression system she’d installed. It would take someone a few weeks to bypass it, but by then she’d have something new to confound them with. Excitement burned inside her as she worked. She loved outwitting other techs.

Commandant Pierce stopped, turned, and tilted her head, eyebrows rising in a question.

Lindsey held up three fingers and continued working on her pad. She’d been avoiding hacking into The Bastion system out of fear of detection, but now she regretted that decision. There were a lot more security locks in place, and it took her longer than usual to slip through them without leaving a trace. She had to make sure that no one could hack the wristlet signal when the secret program activated.

It was difficult to describe what she actually saw while foiling the security nets. Though her eyes were concentrated on her pad, her mind translated all the incoming information into a surrealistic panoramic view that enabled her to spot exactly what she needed to accomplish any of her set goals. Vaja had once tried to get her to describe what she envisioned in detail, but she hadn’t been able to. Vaja had labeled her an artist, not a hacker. She suspected he was right. Tapping at the screen, in her mind she saw a dark mass of information separate into malleable parts that she reconstructed to her needs.

With two last keystrokes, she saw the new configuration start to perform the task she assigned it.

“Done.” Lindsey climbed to her feet and hurried over to the commandant’s desk.

“Just in time. They transmit in two minutes.”

“I’ve been staying out of the grid,” Lindsey replied. “So it was messier than usual.” Hooking her pad up to the commandant’s vid screen that was used for conference calls, she made sure all the connections were working properly.

“We’re all being cautious,” Commandant Pierce replied wearily.

The strong lines of her beautiful face were tight with worry. There was obviously much going on that Lindsey didn’t know about. It was time to start sleuthing again.