“How long will it take to analyze?” Mendez asked.
“A few hours to a few days. There’s a lot here. Some of it’s familiar—code replicated from Stuxnet—but we need time to analyze the nuances.”
“And patching it once we know what it is?”
“A patch could take hours to write but days to deploy.”
“Then we need to get to work on a patch just as soon as we’ve found out what this thing is capable of and what vulnerabilities it exploits. You broke the encryption for Martin’s files in less than twenty-four hours. His laptop has been missing for longer than that.”
They all knew how dire the situation was if that laptop was in the wrong hands. Considering how Martin had been found, it was safe to assume his files weren’t in a good place. Someone with far more information than they had could be deploying the correct worm even now.
“Yes, sir. On it, sir.”
“Bill Martin was killed with a ricin derivative,” Ghost added. “He was most likely given the poison on the day Miss Bennett stole his information. It seems to have been a small dose, meant to be lethal over time and not immediately. He died in the ambulance, so it was too late to reverse the effects. There will be no help from the camera footage, by the way. They were down for several hours before Martin’s body was discovered.”
“Isn’t that odd, sir?” Saint asked.
Mendez’s dark eyes gleamed. “Very. I’ve pressed for more information, but it’s not forthcoming.”
“What about Bliss’s contact at the CIA, sir?” Sky asked. “Is he working with us on this?”
Mendez quirked an eyebrow. “Not at the moment. I’ve tried to find out who Jones is, but nobody’s answered me yet. They’re a bit tight-lipped over there right now. Which means we’re tight-lipped too. No communicating with anyone at the CIA without express permission. Understood?”
Everyone acknowledged they did, including Bliss. Sky would have doubted her, but since her phone had been confiscated before she could enter HOT, he wasn’t exactly worried.
Mendez stood and they followed suit, standing at attention. Except Bliss, who merely stood.
“We don’t have a lot of time,” Mendez said. “If the worm is what Martin claimed it is, we could be facing an imminent attack on this nation’s power systems. I don’t have to tell you how dire that would be. Any enemy who can gain control of our power grids can presumably also control the nuclear reactors running some of those grids. We can’t let that happen. Figure out how this worm works, if it’s really what Martin said it is, and how quickly it will spread once deployed. I need it done yesterday, gentlemen—and lady. Billy Blake from Alpha Squad will join you on this one. You’ve got the entire IT department at your disposal. And you’ll sleep on-site until we have answers.”
Bliss swallowed. Sky waited for her to say something in protest, but she didn’t. Mendez must have sensed she wanted to because his gaze softened. “It’s safer this way, Miss Bennett. You can’t go home yet, and you can’t stay with Sergeant Kelley at his place. Any spy worth their salt will know you were married and they’ll look for you there. We have a wing of guest rooms on-site. They’re meant for situations like this. You’ll be comfortable there, and you’ll have Sergeant Kelley to familiarize you with our methods and procedures.”
“I… Thank you, Colonel.”
“We’re counting on you to help get the job done and keep this nation safe… I know all this is like drinking from a fire hose, but you’ll do just fine. I have no doubt.”
“I appreciate your confidence in me,” she said. “And I intend to prove I’m worth it.”
Mendez grinned. “Welcome aboard, Briar Rose. Now get to work.”
Chapter Ten
Holy hell, what had just happened to her? Bliss tugged on her ponytail and strolled around the room they’d given her. There was a bed and a dresser, a television, and an en suite bathroom. There was even a small kitchenette and a seating area connected to it. It was a little apartment within a military compound. There were several of these apartments, and Sky was staying in the one next door. After the meeting with Colonel Mendez and the others, they’d been brought here to drop their stuff. She was waiting on Sky to knock on her door so he could take her back to the secure area where they would work on decoding Martin’s programs.
It hadn’t even been ten minutes since they’d arrived when the knock came. Bliss dragged in a breath and tugged open the door. Sky towered in the entrance, frowning down at her with his hands shoved in his pockets and a pensive expression on his face.
Her heart twisted just a little at that look. Once, he’d looked at her with such admiration and desire. Now he only looked at her like she was a fungus he had to be careful of so she didn’t spread over his body and rot his dick off or something.
“You ready?”
“Yes.”
“Your credentials will be waiting for us at the entrance.” He paused, and she knew something was coming. Something she probably wouldn’t like. “You sure you want to work for HOT? Or is this about irritating me?”
Hurt pinched her. “Really, Sky? Do you really think you’re that all-fire important in my life that I’d do anything to irritate you? That I thought it’d be fun to make a decision that will probably mean a pay cut just so I could, you know, get back at you or something?”
He looked a little sheepish. Well, good. It was ridiculous. And yet, if she was honest with herself, part of the reason she’d made the decision was the idea she’d get to work with him. That her time with him wasn’t over after all.
Though why she wanted to spend any time with him at all was a mystery. Yes, he still made her heart pound and her body sizzle and her lady parts light up like a pinball machine, but those things were painful reminders of a time in her life that was over. There was too much hurt between them to ever get past it, so why torture herself by being near him?
I don’t know, but I don’t want to go…
“Honestly, I don’t know what you’d do, Bliss. I never knew, which I think is the point I’m trying to make.”
She blew out a breath. “You want to see the worst in me. Fine. You go right on ahead. But without me, you wouldn’t have this worm at all. The first you’d have heard of it was when the entire Eastern Seaboard was suddenly without power and you’re sitting there in your undies, in your tidy little house, wondering when you’ll get to finish streaming Captain America for the fiftieth time. You wouldn’t even know the problem was critical until it was too late to do anything about it. You can thank me that it won’t happen that way.”
His eyes had taken on an intense look as if he wasn’t quite listening to her. He took a step toward her—and then he shook his head and stepped back again. “We don’t have time for this,” he growled. “There’s work to do.”
She waved a hand to get him to step out of her way, then she walked through the door and shut it behind her. She had her room key and nothing else because they’d told her she couldn’t take her computer into the secure area.
“Then let’s get to work. Honestly, Sky, you’re the one who keeps on making this into a problem. If you’d just shut your trap and go with the flow, everything would be just fine.”
“Do you really think so?” he growled. “Really?”
She swallowed. “Of course I do. You’re dwelling on the past.”
“Some of that past was memorable, don’t you think?”
Her heart skipped. “I… What parts do you mean?” Because as much as she wanted him to mean the parts where they’d been naked together, she feared it was the other stuff he meant. The bad stuff.
“You really have to ask?”
“Um, yes?”
He blinked. And then he muttered, “Fuck it” under his breath before sweeping her backward like a wave, pressing her into the door she’d just shut, and gripping her jaw in both his hands. He tipped her head back and brought his mouth down on hers, his tongue spearing between her lips to slide against her own.
Shock jolted her system. Of all the things she’d expected, this had not been it. Not by a long, long shot.
Bliss moaned. And then she clutched her fists into his shirt and melted against him. Four long years and nobody had ever kissed her like Sky did. Nobody had made her feel like she was burning up from the inside out or like she wanted to crawl up his body and wrap herself around him.
He kissed her hard, with heat and longing, and she kissed him back with all the fire she possessed. All the need. There was already no space between them, but he moved closer still, pressed the long lines of his hard body into the soft lines of hers. Some parts of him were harder than others. She arched her body into his, and he groaned as she increased the pressure in just the right spot. She tried to shift, tried to get herself to where she could ride that hardness and make sparks fly behind her eyes, but he groaned again—and then he stepped away.
His eyes were wild, his chest rising and falling faster than it had been before they’d kissed. She gazed at him, thunderstruck, unable to form a single word. What had that been about?
“Fucking hell,” he muttered. “That should not have happened.”
She struggled to form words. “Then why…?” She swallowed. “Why did you do it?”
He raked a hand through his dark hair. It wasn’t as short as it had been when he’d been regular Army and they’d still been married. It was even now within regs, though maybe a little wild on the top. She wished she was the one dragging her fingers across his scalp. Tugging his hair while he slammed into her and made her crazy.
Stop. Not helpful.
“Because I’m an idiot, that’s why. Because I fucking had to know.”
She tilted her head and frowned. Her lips tingled. “Know what?”
The admission, when it came, seemed as if it had been extracted under pressure. “That you’re still the most exhilarating woman I’ve ever known.”
Bliss blinked up at him, her blue eyes wide. Her lips were red, slick with moisture, and her pulse throbbed in her throat.
He wanted to bite that pulse. And then he wanted to tear her clothes from her body, suck her pretty tits, and bury his face in her hot little pussy. After he made her scream his name, he’d spread her wide and fuck her until they both forgot their names.
He hated himself for the urge. For the weakness. He hadn’t intended to kiss her, but she’d been so damned sassy, so combative, that all he could think about was tasting her mouth. He’d wanted to see—needed to see—if all the things he’d been thinking about were real or if kissing her would leave him cold. He’d hoped it would leave him cold.
It had done anything but leave him cold.
And now he’d as much as confessed that she revved his engine like nobody else. Bliss Bennett, the woman who’d nearly cost him everything—who had cost him his belief in love.
Love wasn’t a freely given commodity. Hell, it might not even exist. Love, or what passed for love, was nothing more than a strong biological urge attached to a single person. He could fuck anyone. But he wanted to fuck her. More than anything, he wanted her.
And he hated it so much. Hated her.
No, you don’t hate her. That’s the problem…
“What does that mean?” she asked, her voice soft. Uncertain. Confused?
Dammit. Why had he said those words at all?
“It doesn’t mean anything,” he said gruffly, getting ahold of himself. “We’ve got work to do.”
He turned and started walking down the hallway toward the elevators and the more secure areas of HOT. He could hear her following him. They stepped into an elevator, and he pressed the button for the third floor. She didn’t look at him during the ride. He slanted a gaze toward her but pretended not to look at her.
Her cheeks were flushed, her lips slightly swollen after his kiss, and her nipples jutted out, pressing into the softness of her T-shirt. He didn’t think she was conscious of it, but he was painfully aware. Painfully aroused. He could press the Stop button, push her into the corner, and kiss the living daylights out of her again. If she responded the way she had just now, he could have her naked in under two minutes. Riding his cock in three.
Elevators have cameras, dude.
The doors opened and they strode toward the checkpoint where she would sign for her credentials. After that was done, they’d go to a different area of HOT and sign into the ops center. That was where they would work.
Sky shook himself. He had to get with the program here. Analyzing Martin’s programs was the most important task he faced today. Bliss didn’t matter, other than she had the training to provide top-notch support. HOT had plenty of IT people, all of them excellent because HOT required the best of the best, but Bliss brought something to the table none of them did. She wasn’t in the military and she didn’t think like a soldier. She thought like a con artist—and for once he didn’t mean that negatively.
After Bliss got her badge and ID, Sky led her into the ops center. They quickly found their computers, then sat down and logged in. Bliss kept looking up and glancing around the room. They’d passed through the top secret command center with the screens lining the room, the dots on the screens representing HOT teams around the world, and he knew she was impressed with that.
Now they sat in a smaller room but with other computer professionals tapping away on their devices as well. Sky called up Martin’s files and broadcast the code onto the screen overhead. Billy “the Kid” Blake walked in and whistled as he dropped his bag on a desk. Sky reached over and they shook hands.
Kid was a legend in HOT, and he’d been nothing but awesome to Sky since the beginning. “Heard you got into a mess,” Kid said. “Something about power grids and the end of the world as we know it.”
Sky snorted. It hadn’t been quite that bad, but they were trained to expect the worst. “It isn’t pretty, that’s for sure. But we aren’t letting it become the end of the world.”
Kid pulled out a chair and sat. “Nope, definitely not.” He leaned forward and smiled at Bliss. “So this is Briar Rose. Nice to meet you.”
Bliss smiled. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“Billy the Kid. You’ve seen me around online.”
Bliss’s eyebrows lifted. “Yep, sure have.” She reached out and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, Kid. Wow, I had no idea you two knew each other.”
“Nope, and you wouldn’t if not for this. We don’t interact online. Part of the cover. Welcome to HOT, by the way.”
“Thanks. I’m a little overwhelmed but happy to be here.”
“Bliss—Briar—is my ex-wife,” Sky said in case that news hadn’t filtered out yet. He wanted to get it out of the way and move on.
Kid’s eyebrows lifted. “Seriously? Wow. Had no idea.”
“I’m beginning to realize that not many people did,” Bliss said. “You’d think he was ashamed of me or something.”
Kid laughed. “Surely he’s not that dense.”
Bliss snorted. “Oh, you’d be surprised.”
Sky rolled his eyes. “Do you two mind? I’m right here. Let’s quit the chitchat and get down to business. We need to analyze these files and find out which one is the correct one. And then we need to figure out how to stop it.”
“I’m ready,” Kid said.
“Ready,” Bliss added.
“Then let’s rock ’n’ roll.”
Bliss threw herself into the work, but her lips still sizzled and her body trembled when she thought of the power of that kiss. She hadn’t wanted to feel that kind of desire for Sky Kelley ever again, and yet one kiss had destroyed her. Reminded her forcefully of what it had been like between them.
Not that she hadn’t remembered. She had. But she’d forgotten the true power of it until he’d backed her into that door and kissed her.
Now it was everything she could do to concentrate on the lines of code in front of her. Her mind kept straying to that kiss—the utter sensuality of it, the raw power of his body pressing hers so forcefully into the
door.
They’d been explosive in bed together. Apparently they still would be. They’d fucked hard and often, loud and long, but never had Sky dominated her as forcefully as he had during that kiss. It made her wonder what he might do in bed these days. Had her hot, gentle, thorough lover turned into something more?
She shivered as she considered it. Yes, the thought excited her more than it should. Sky ordering her around in bed. Sky taking charge and making her come however he wanted her to come.
Bliss’s heart hammered, her pussy ached, and she found herself sweating a bit more than the coolness of the room should allow. She glanced at Sky, at his dark head bent over his work, and she bit her lip. Then she opened a chat window.
How’s it going?
His head snapped up. He glanced at her. Then he turned away and typed, How do you think?
Oh man. Bliss swallowed. Then she typed out an answer. Hard. So, so hard.
He didn’t move as he read her answer. Then he typed swiftly, his fingers pounding the keyboard. You realize this might not be private?
Private? Why do I need it to be private? I’m answering a question.
Technically it’s not private. Practically speaking, it is. Nobody’s checking up on a text conversation between two computers. Yet.
Her heart slammed her ribs. She needed a frigging fan. So I can tell you how, um, tingly you made me earlier?
Bliss. Don’t say shit like that.
Why not? It’s true. You shouldn’t have kissed me. I’m dying for more. Your fault.
His eyes were hot as he lifted his head and his gaze speared into her. Where?
Oh no he didn’t. Where? Here. Now. Everywhere.
No. Specifically, where? Body parts, Bliss. I want parts.
Are you fucking with me, Sky? Because it’s cruel if you are.
His nostrils flared. Fucking with you? Hell, I want to FUCK you. I’d say anything right now to make that happen.
Bliss snorted. No, you really wouldn’t.
Try me.
Okay. Say you forgive me. Say you were wrong and I’m not a con artist and I wasn’t scamming you.
HOT SECRETS: A Hostile Operations Team - Book 13 Page 9