Honor pulled in a sharp breath. “Is that what you want? You want me out of here. You think you’ve made a mistake bringing me here?”
“I know I have,” said Kade, wincing as the words came out sharper than he’d intended.
Honor’s eyes widened. “So why did you do it?”
Kade had wondered the same thing. He could have dropped her off somewhere else, gotten her safe passage through the city, and let her make her own way. But the State were ruthless, and they wouldn’t rest until they’d captured Honor and made sure she could ask no more questions when it came to dragons.
His gaze shifted to the computer screen. She deserved the truth. “You do know what you’ve discovered?”
Honor shook her head, confusion shadowing her features. “The fragments, you mean? Sure, some kind of lizard.”
“No. Not a lizard, but dragon DNA. What you’re looking at are fragments we’ve collected over the last year.”
Honor’s smile faded, disappointment crossing her features. “We’re back to dragons. You’re telling me these are dragon remains?”
“And that’s exactly why you can’t stay here,” said Kade. “Because you don’t believe in what we’re doing. And I don’t blame you. The State have done something to you, and everybody else.”
Honor wrapped her arms around herself. “Let’s just say, for a second, I do believe. If I did, what would that mean?”
Kade’s brow lowered. “It would mean you know the truth.”
Honor sighed. “I mean, if I told you I believed in dragons, would you let me stay?”
“It’s more than words,” said Kade. “It’s the truth.”
Honor jabbed her finger at the screen, her cheeks glowing bright red. “That’s truth. There is your evidence. None of it proves dragons are real. You telling me so will not change my mind. And you telling me to sell out and return to Intergen to get a payout so they forget about me isn’t how I roll. I thought you knew me better than that.”
“And I thought you knew me,” said Kade, his fingernails digging into his palms. “You know I don’t lie. Why would I tell you these things if they aren’t true?”
“Because you’ve lost your mind? Because the newscast was right, and you’re a dangerous criminal trying to bring down the stability of the State? I have no idea why you believe these things.”
Kade glared at Honor. Everything rational he wanted to say to her vanished from his head, and he was torn between yelling at her and kissing her again. “I should never have brought you here.”
“I wish you hadn’t.”
“Excuse me.” Kade stalked out of the room without another word. The door slid shut behind him and he leaned his head against it, resisting the urge to punch it.
“Something wrong?” Lincoln asked, as he strolled along the corridor.
“It’s Honor.” Kade gestured to the door. “Even though she sees the evidence right in front of her, she still won’t believe in dragons.”
Lincoln slapped a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “It will take time and more than a few words to convince her. If you want her to remember, you know what she has to do.”
“I will not force her to go through The Jolt,” said Kade. It was something they’d all gone through to remove the hypnotic suggestions. Other than Heath and a few others who’d been unconscious when the State activated their planet-wide hypnotic suggestion, they’d all had to have them fried from their brains. And that came with risk.
“If she’s staying here, then it has to happen.” Lincoln guided Kade away from the door, keeping his hand on his shoulder. “And Sophia’s been making progress since Clarissa joined the medical team. The Jolt is less terminal.”
“That’s not reassuring,” said Kade.
Lincoln shrugged. “Less terminal is a good thing.”
“I’ll still pass on offering it to Honor.”
They walked together in silence for a few seconds.
“Never seen you like this around a woman.” Lincoln grinned. “I understand it, she’s hot.”
“Leave it,” growled Kade. “It’s not like that. She’s smart. She gets me.”
“Smart women are the sexiest kind,” said Lincoln.
“We’re professionals who worked together once.” Kade dismissed the thoughts of the kiss he’d just shared with Honor. “But if she did join us, she’d be an asset to the team. You should see the synthetic DNA sequencing program she’s been running. She’s only been using it for a few hours and has already found a new DNA strand. With her here, we could get enough material together to rebuild a dragon from scratch.”
“You’re right, those enormous brown eyes and kissable lips are totally unimportant in all of this.”
“I’m warning you, don’t make her another one of your conquests.” Kade shot a glare at his brother. “She’s not that kind of woman.”
“Maybe she’s not, but I get the impression she’s your kind of woman. Otherwise, why are you complaining so much?”
“I’m not complaining.” Kade slowed and looked back along the corridor. Why was he letting Honor get to him so much? They’d had people in the base before who didn’t believe in dragons, and it had taken them time to come around to the work they did. Why was it so important to him that Honor was on board?
He shook his head. He couldn’t risk getting involved with Honor, not now and not ever. He had to focus on the mission. The long nights and lonely days running code and checking sequencing, coupled with Heath’s demands to break another corporate system, gave him zero free time.
“She deserves better than this,” he said to Lincoln, as he turned and followed his brother.
“My offer is always there if she gets lonely.” Lincoln grinned and avoided a punch Kade half-heartedly threw at him. “But I have a feeling she’ll be looking somewhere else for attention.”
HONOR WOKE WITH A JOLT, feeling as if she’d been falling and was unable to stop. She sat up in a strange feeling bed and had no idea where she was. Then the memories of the previous night flooded back and she let out a sigh. Intergen, Clarice setting her up, coming to this underground base, and then her fight with Kade about dragons. Her dreams had been full of his infuriating face, his stubbornness slipping through into her subconscious and not letting her rest.
If only he didn’t believe in dragons, he’d be damn well perfect. But he’d been sucked into this dangerous delusion, and Honor needed to get out before she was implicated in the same mess as the Ember brothers.
She checked the time. It was almost noon, and she’d managed five hours of sleep. It would have to do. She needed to leave.
Shrugging into her crumpled blouse and pencil skirt, Honor smoothed her hair down to make herself look presentable. She remembered the route to the stairs out of the bunker, and crept from her room and along the corridor, keeping her head down if she passed anybody. Nobody knew her, other than Kade and a couple of his brothers, so it would be easy to get out unnoticed.
Voices echoed quietly from somewhere behind her in the corridor, and she picked up her pace to put some distance between them. Suddenly, she slammed into someone coming the other way. A huge stack of multicolored folders the person had been carrying crashed to the ground, and Honor went with them, landing on top of a petite blonde woman.
Honor jumped to her feet and grabbed the folders from the ground as she took the woman’s hand and helped her up. “I’m so sorry. Wasn’t looking where I was going.”
“Not a problem. Hang on, you’re new here,” said the woman. “I’m Annie. We’ve not met before.”
“Nice to meet you.” Honor risked a glance and saw the woman’s friendly smile. “I’m not stopping. Just needed a place to stay for the night.”
“You must be Honor,” said Annie. “Kade’s friend.”
Honor shrugged. “I wouldn’t say we’re friends. Not after last night.”
“What happened?”
Honor shot Annie a narrow-eyed stare. “How long have you been here?”
“About three months,” said Annie. “Takes a bit of getting used to, doesn’t it?”
Honor’s gaze shot along the corridor. “That’s an understatement. Everyone here is crazy.”
Annie chuckled, as she adjusted the folders into a neat pile. “I was exactly the same when I first arrived.”
“You didn’t believe in the whole dragon nonsense, either?”
“Not for a second.” Annie tilted her head to one side. “Do you have to leave now, or have you got time for a coffee? I was just going to grab one before I started this work.”
Honored twisted a strand of hair around one finger. “I was planning on leaving. Kade won’t want me around, so I’m not much use here. And I certainly don’t believe in this crap about the scaly things that breathe fire and fart sulfur.”
Annie laughed. “Let’s grab a coffee and have a little chat before you go. You can ask me anything you want about this place. Although I’m still sort of the new girl myself, I might be able to help with some of your questions.”
Honor took one last look along the corridor before nodding. “All right. Ten minutes won’t hurt. And I could do with something to keep me awake.” She fell into step with Annie, noticing how friendly she was to anyone they met in the corridors. Everyone knew her name and waved or nodded as they went past.
Annie grinned at her as she caught her looking. “This is a small place and everyone is your neighbor. No secrets here. No matter how hard you try to keep them.” She led Honor into an almost-empty canteen, dumped her folders on a table, and then grabbed two mugs of coffee, before sitting opposite Honor.
“This place is surprisingly well-equipped.” Honor could smell something sweet being cooked. “Are you fully self-contained?”
“Getting there,” said Annie. “We have teams running regular supply trips, raiding State stores when we can, or trading on the underground black market. And we have a sector down here that grows some fresh produce. It works well.”
“How come you’re here?” Honor took a mug and blew on the steaming surface of the black coffee.
“My father went missing,” said Annie. “He’s as obsessed with dragons as everyone here. He disappeared for two weeks when out hunting for them. I contacted Heath and asked for his help in getting him back.”
“You knew Heath before coming here?”
“We used to work together,” said Annie. “Is that how you know Kade?”
Honor nodded. “Our paths crossed when we did freelancing contracts. We’ve worked together several times.”
“And now you’re here.” Annie raised her eyebrows and looked at Honor over the top of her mug.
Honor shrugged. “I had trouble with my old boss and turned to Kade for help. Didn’t quite expect it to be this kind of help.”
“Kade’s a good guy,” said Annie. “He’ll assist if he can.”
“So long as I sign up to Dragon Band Camp.”
Annie laughed. “He loves his dragons. But he gets lost in his computing and code cracking sometimes. I’m sure he hasn’t been outside the bunker for a month. Well, not until he helped you out.”
“You know what he did?”
“There are no secrets here, remember?” Annie smiled at her. “You mentioned something went wrong with Kade?”
Honor sighed and told Annie about the argument she’d had with him. “The worst thing is, he seemed so sure I’d want to accept an offer if Intergen made me one. A payoff wouldn’t turn my head. I worked with them because I saw the potential of what they wanted to do in terms of disease cures. I’d never sell myself out like that.”
“It sounds more like maybe Kade was offering you a way out?” said Annie. “A way to protect you? Heath was just the same, trying to find any excuse to keep me safe. It took a lot to convince him I was up to the job of staying here with him.”
“So, you and Heath?” Honor raised her eyebrows. “You’re together?”
Annie’s cheeks flushed. “We are. It’s going well. I still have to remind him sometimes there’s more to life than dragon bones and missions to remote lairs. He’s similar to Kade in that he never switches off. I had to make a rule when we moved in together; no dragon finds in the bedroom.”
Honor choked on her mouthful of coffee. “Sounds romantic.”
“Actually, he’s stupidly romantic. I’ve never met anyone like him. All the brothers are unique in their own ways.”
“Kade’s infuriating,” said Honor. “I was showing him this program I’d been using to synthesize DNA strands of a new species and he got so excited about it he kissed me.”
Annie’s mouth fell open. “He did?”
“But then he backed off and started mumbling that garbage about me returning to Intergen and leaving.” Honor ran a hand through her hair. “He kissed me! I didn’t lunge and force myself on him.”
Annie’s grin widened. “These Ember brothers are complicated. They’ve spent too long underground and they’re starting to forget the basic social skills of life. Do you like Kade?”
Honor set her mug down and stared into it. “I do when he’s not being a jerk.”
Annie took a sip of her coffee. “I mean, are you into him?”
Honor’s gaze shifted around the canteen. “He’s smart and gorgeous and single.” Her gaze snapped back to Annie. “He is single, isn’t he?”
“He is,” said Annie, her lips twitching. “Some people say he’s married to his computers, but if you can fight them off, you’d stand a good chance. But only if you are interested. He’s not into one-night stands. You’d need to stick around for a while, show Kade what he’s missing out on.”
“This isn’t the place for me, not with all the paranoia and deluded fantasy stuff,” said Honor, uncertainty making her pulse race. “I’m sure you all have a reason for being here, but I like my life the way it is.”
“Even after everything Intergen has done to you?”
“Wow! There really are no secrets here.”
Annie shrugged. “The boys like to gossip. And you’re the latest bit of gossip. Heath’s still angry about Kade bringing you in here without getting clearance, so you might like to avoid him for a day or two. And make sure you keep out of the way of the base’s leader, Danni Hannigan. She’ll want to have a word if she discovers you came in without the proper checks.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” said Honor. “After Kade got shot, and I was classified a criminal, I was out of options.”
“What were you going to do when you left here?”
Honor stared blankly over Annie’s shoulder. She had no idea. “Take a holiday?”
“I’m going to be honest with you, Honor. It’s too late for that,” said Annie. “Even if you could somehow make it past the border checks, you won’t get very far without credit. The State have probably already frozen your assets and seized your home. They’re efficient at making anybody a criminal. I should know. Once I joined with Heath, everything I had was taken away.”
“They can’t do that, can they?” Honor’s throat tightened at the thought of losing everything. “I lose everything because someone has it in for me?”
“Unfortunately, yes. That’s the way of the world right now.” Annie reached over and patted her hand.
“What about my family?” Honor’s eyes widened. “My sister is sick. They won’t hurt her, will they?”
Annie bit her bottom lip. “You’d be wise to get word to her to be careful. The State are ruthless.”
“She’s in a private hospice. I pay her medical bills.” Honor’s grip tightened on her mug. “The doctors know I’m her only relative. They won’t let anyone in to see her without my permission.”
“That’s good. And Kade will help with that,” said Honor. “We can keep an eye on your sister from here and make sure she’s safe.”
Honor slumped in her seat. “This is such a mess.”
“I know, it makes no sense. But it could if you decide to stay. You should ask Kade about getting The Jolt.”
&nb
sp; Honor let out a sigh at the prospect of having to start all over again. “What’s that?”
“Something to help you remember what’s going on.”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
Annie exhaled quietly. “The world isn’t really the organized, idyllic place you think it is. The State have done terrible, awful things. All of us here know the truth.”
“That sounds like a bunch of crap. The world is the same as it’s always been!”
Annie shook her head slowly, and Honor could briefly see the shimmer of tears in the other woman’s eyes before she blinked them away. “You have no idea, Honor. The Jolt is one way to open your eyes.”
“I don’t know,” Honor muttered, suddenly feeling both angry and afraid. “It sounds painful.”
“I had terrifying flashbacks for a month after I went through it,” said Annie. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way. And we’re trialing a couple of other options, so you might get to test those out, instead.”
Honor shrugged. “Maybe. Or maybe I’ll just lie low here for a few weeks, if you can spare the space. The State will lose interest, and then I can sneak away and start somewhere else.” It wasn’t a thrilling prospect, but it sounded better than being stuck underground and forced to undergo this weird-sounding mad-scientist treatment.
Annie shook her head. “The State are everywhere. Not just in the former United Kingdom, they’ve also taken the former colony of Australia. And the former States of America have fallen. Every single former country in the world. You can’t hide from them.”
Honor ran a hand through her tousled hair again. “Why would I even want to? I know Intergen are after me, but what does that have to do with the State?”
“Stick around and you’ll find out. Sounds like you’ve got a brain, and that’s something we desperately need here.” Annie drained her mug. “And Kade needs someone to challenge him. He’s even beating the computer when they play chess together. He needs a woman to keep him on his toes so he doesn’t get bored.”
Honor couldn’t help but smile. “I can manage that. I always beat Kade at chess.”
Kade (sci-fi romance - The Ember Quest Book 2) Page 7