Wildcard (Warcross #2)(14)

I’m smoothing down my new shirt when I hear a soft knock on my door, followed by silence. I hesitate.

“Come in,” I say, feeling strange giving someone permission while I’m the one here against her will.

The door of my suite opens and closes, followed by the soft sound of footsteps against the carpet. He’s here. I take one more deep breath. My heart won’t stop racing, but at least I don’t see it spelled out on my face.

Then I step out to see someone already seated in a chair by the window, waiting for me.





5



There are three of them, actually.

Jax stands beside a chair, her hand resting casually on the handle of her gun. She looks relaxed, but her gray eyes follow me without blinking, and I know that if she wanted to, she could whip out that gun and kill me before I could even open my mouth.

Sitting in the chair next to her is an older woman with glasses, her silver-streaked hair tied back into a neat bun that matches her neat clothes. A faint, pleasant perfume hangs in the air around her. She has the sort of face that belongs to a scholar—careful eyes, a controlled mouth, a stare that analyzes me for the unspoken things. Her hands are folded neatly in her lap. She gives me a sympathetic smile when she sees me looking her way.

But it’s the third person, the one whose presence owns the room, who stops me in my tracks.

He leans back against the wall, his arms crossed casually over his chest, one of his legs propped against the other. His face is no longer hidden behind a black helmet, and instead of his armor, he’s wearing a simple black sweater and dark pants, his shoes polished to a shine. But his mannerisms are unmistakable to me.

One side of his mouth tilts up in a smile. “Well, Emika,” says Zero. “Welcome.”

The first time I ever crossed paths with Zero, he was nothing more than a snippet of code, a glitch in Hideo’s matrix that runs all of Warcross. And the first time I ever saw a virtual version of him, he was standing in the middle of the Dark World’s Pirate Den, surrounded by people all hiding behind fake names and exaggerated avatar monsters.

Even then, he’d stood out. Against a backdrop of monsters, he was a lean, dark, armored shadow, as silent and unapologetic as the night. I can still remember the chill he’d sent through me at the mere sight of his virtual figure—the way my hands clenched and my nails cut into my palms.

Now I gape at his exposed face.

It’s like looking at Hideo through a dream.

He’s younger by a couple of years, his features harsher and fiercer. Still, I can immediately see the resemblance between the two—the liquid dark eyes and hair—and I can easily recognize in him the small boy from Hideo’s reconstructed Memory.

In a more normal setting, after a more normal day, he’d probably seem like a handsome stranger anyone might meet on the street, the kind of boy who’s never had trouble getting a date or making a friend, the sort who doesn’t talk much but grips everyone’s attention when he does. But here, there’s something unsettling about him that I can’t quite put my finger on. While Hideo has a piercing stare, there’s a wildness in Sasuke’s eyes, something deep and unfeeling. Something less human. I don’t know how to describe its unusual light. It draws me in at the same time it repels me.

The older woman speaks. Her eyes are soft, sweeping over me from head to toe. “This is the girl, then?” she says to Zero in an accent I can’t quite place.

“Emika Chen,” Zero replies.

“Emika Chen.” The woman rests her chin against her hand and frowns. “She looks exhausted. We should have given her an extra day to rest.”

“We don’t have that kind of luxury,” Zero says. “She was the only one of Hideo’s bounty hunters who managed to stay on my trail. She can handle a long day.”

At that, the woman gives me a helpless look. “I’m sorry,” she addresses me directly. “Everything will make more sense once we explain.”

Zero tips his head subtly in her direction. “This is Dr. Dana Taylor,” he says. “And you already know who I am.” He studies my face. “Jax tells me you gave her a little trouble.”

I finally find my voice. “Well, it’s not like she killed anyone in front of me or anything.”

“Come on,” Jax mutters to Zero. “She’s completely inexperienced. Did you know she’s never even fired a gun before?”

“I’ve fired stun guns,” I say.

Jax holds a hand out in my direction. “See?”

“With you around, she doesn’t need a gun,” Zero replies.

Jax makes an annoyed sound, but doesn’t counter that.

Zero observes me in the same way he’d done in the Dark World. My heart beats a rapid rhythm at his gaze. For all I know, he’s doing a scan of all my data, checking to make sure I’m not signaling anyone to follow me here.

Does he remember his brother? How could he possibly forget—or, worse, not care?

“I sent her to save your life, you know,” he says.

I turn my head up to meet his gaze as my anger flares again. “You forced me here under threat of death.”

Zero’s eyes swivel to the black door I’d entered through before settling back on me. “You accepted my invitation.”

“And how do I know you didn’t send those other assassins after me, too, just to set this entire thing up?”