“I really don’t have an answer to that Wyatt,” Peyton replied. “Only Tory can respond to that question. I have a secure link, maybe we should get them all together and ask.”
“I think you’re right,” Wyatt said. “After that, we need to talk more about this piggyback plan you have. If everything’s on the up and up, we could do a four-pronged approach with you, Bas, Tory, and me. I don’t think any system has enough security for that assault.”
“Sounds good, Teddy,” Peyton laughed.
“Yeah... no on the Teddy. I’m sure that brilliant mind of yours can come up with something better. Let’s get this set up, Sugar, up you go. I’ll call Jacks and establish the secure link from our base camp, you do the same with Tory.”
“Okay, Rumpkins, let’s get to it.”
“Let it go, Peyton.” Wyatt tried to give her his most stern look, and when she only laughed in response, he couldn’t help joining her. This woman made him laugh, got his jokes, and by the smell that permeated the room, found him attractive. Good thing because he was pretty sure Peyton Carlton was his mate, human or not. And if she wasn’t, then he would deal with that, but he didn’t think he could let her go now that he’d found her. Jacks told them if they found someone they couldn’t resist, they needed to explore it. Wyatt had every intention of doing just that.
Chapter 12
Wyatt and Peyton set up the feed, linking Alpha, Tory, and themselves. They didn’t let all parties see her and Wyatt until the link was a three-way feed with all views showing.
Bastian was front and center, and Peyton wanted to hide behind Wyatt because of the scowl Bas was sporting. He wasn’t happy, and Peyton knew she was the cause. It only took him a couple of seconds to speak, and her anxiety didn’t lessen.
“You hung up on me, Peyton,” Bas chastised her.
Wyatt grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. Whether he knew it or not, it was exactly what she needed.
“Hey Bastian, sorry. If you give me a minute, I’ll explain everything, but several things need to be clarified first,” Peyton said.
He didn’t look happy, but nodded his head in acknowledgment of her request.
“Tory, would you care to explain why the founder of The Holly Group has no idea I’ve been working for her, or more precisely for you, for several years now?” Peyton questioned.
“Not really, but since I really don’t have a choice now, I guess I will,” Tory said. “Thanks, by the way, so not cool. Rye, meet Peyton Carlton, otherwise known as Paydirt. I never told you her identity because you never asked. Peyton has a proven track record and so do I. During the vetting process, I found out she had a close relationship with Sebastian Frost, and she often worked with NAC. I was okay with that and didn’t feel it necessary to inform you. You’ve always let me choose the people I work with. Why would I think this was any different?”
Peyton was going to giggle. Tory was a force to be reckoned with. She was always snarky and sarcastic. What honestly came as a surprise was her appearance; she looked like a Disney Princess with her dark hair, bright blue eyes, and creamy pale complexion. Peyton had a mental picture of her in Disney form, complete with flowing dress and heels. The real Tory was anything but. Once she started talking, princess was the last thing a person would associate with her. Personally, Peyton loved the woman and all her sass.
“Well, shit,” Ryleigh pouted, “you could have told me. Do you know the hoops I had to go through to get a pre-approval for one of her dogs? If she was already working with us, it might not have taken two years. I want one of those dogs, and you know it, Tory.”
Peyton found Ryleigh’s pout cute. This woman was the head of one of the leading security agencies in the nation, and she was pouting like a child because she hadn’t gotten her way, getting one of Peyton’s fur babies. The brilliant smile at the end of her statement proved although she was disappointed, she didn’t hold anything against Peyton or Tory. Peyton had waiting lists years long for one of her dogs, and now that she was considering turning over the operation to Cathy, Peyton was sure she would have a similar wait as well. Neither of them would cut corners for anyone.
“Whatever, Ryleigh,” Tory chimed in, raising her eyebrow in defiance. “You can’t get everything you want.” Peyton watched as Tory looked to Jacks in deference, then added, “Well, maybe you can. Damn, Chica, between that big lug on your left and your very own Daddy Warbucks, maybe you can.”
Peyton was shocked by what Tory had said, and she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Her handler had basically insulted their boss, and she didn’t know how Ryleigh, or for that matter Jacks, was going to take the woman’s comments. The loud laughter that erupted wasn’t at all what she expected.
“Oh, like you ever cave to my wills and wants, Tory. I have to get your toys from Wyatt or Bas. What’s up with that shit? We are women, hear us roar and all that jive. I could go on a waiting list for one of your tech devices, and it would be decades before you thought I was ready to play.”
“Damn, Skippy, Wyatt and Bas know how to use what I make. You? No way. You just like to play, and Jacks or even Declan would have my head if you blew up that base or worse. I’m not stupid,” Tory replied sarcastically
“Whatever, you suck,” Ryleigh chided.
“Sorry, Ryleigh,” Peyton chimed in before their little battle could continue, “it doesn’t matter who you are, the wait time is still the same. I like what the Holly group stands for and all the people you help, but my dogs are my babies. If I’m going to give one up, everyone has to jump through the same hoops, even Bastian, and he’s my brother. But just so you know, you may have to start jumping again. I’m seriously considering turning the business over to my new assistant, Cathy.”
“Yeah,” Bas laughed, “she won’t even let me feed the mangy things. Said I wouldn’t do it right. So, Peyton, want to tell me why, after all these years, you decided to up and leave your babies?”
Damn his big brother intuition.
“Yeah, I’m sticking with Tory, not really.”
Peyton liked seeing all these people. Putting Bastian’s stories with the faces of the people on the feed made her feel even more a part of their group. Before they had gone live, Wyatt pointed out each of them and made introductions.
The one who scared her the most was Jacks. The man seemed to have a permanent scowl of unleashed menace. When his loud voice boomed over the connection, Peyton jumped. The man was potent in a scary way. Wyatt exuded dominance and power, but his presence intrigued and enticed her. Her brother was just as demanding and somewhat larger than life, a take charge, do as I say type man, but never once, even as a child, did she fear him. Jackson Thorp was a different animal altogether. Wyatt had called him Alpha, and Peyton never really put the word with a man. Now she understood, he was more and kind of frightening.
“Okay, since we’re going to do another episode of ‘where the shifter turns’, does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on? First, we find out Bas has a sister who happens to be not only a hacker, but also a dog trainer. Then she’s gone, and Wyatt has to go find her. Bas has been walking around here like a fucking grizzly with a sore tooth because Wyatt hasn’t called in two fucking days, and then, when said sister decided to grace him with her presence, she hangs up on his ass.
“Peyton, the sister, apparently works for both our companies and is, of course, okay. What’s the big fucking deal? Who cares who she works with? She’s been vetted probably better than any of us,” Jacks commented, looking around the room first and then focused on the monitor. “Rye, you wanted her here to help a while back. I’m not getting why I’ve been pulled away from my work to witness this little show.”
“Alpha, you need to hear what Peyton has to say,” Wyatt interjected, “there’s more. Bas man, you need to understand it as well. She was trying to protect you and the rest of Alpha Team.”
That really peaked the room’s interest. For the next hour, Peyton told the group about her mother, the suits, hack
ing the CIA, finding out the suits were ex-military and now worked for Davis Defense. She even explained her cringe-worthy experience with Bas’ dad.
Ryleigh asked what she knew about her birth. Peyton told what she had heard herself and what Bastian had overheard all those years ago. She knew this was going to be a sore spot with her brother, and in time, she would explain herself. Now was not that time.
She stooped to watching Judy for years and even paying her, which only made Bas scowl further. Peyton felt ashamed. She did warn them her mother was a consummate liar, anything she said should be questioned. But Peyton did acknowledge that there was a possibility that the story Bastian overheard was true.
“I remember her telling me I was the biggest mark gone wrong in her life. I assumed she meant my birth. And no, before you ask, I haven’t delved into Judy’s or my past too much.”
“Why the hell not?” Jacks all but screamed.
Shoot, at least Peyton felt like he screamed the words. However, Peyton was starting to wonder if it was how he talked.
“Listen, maybe I’ve been hiding my head in the sand, but I wasn’t ready,” Peyton said on the defensive.
“Jacks, leave her alone,” Bas warned, “we all have our crosses to bear. Neither you nor anyone else can force that.”
Peyton appreciated the sharp look Ryleigh had given both Jacks and Bastian before she continued.
“Give her a break,” Ryleigh added. “She doesn’t really know you, and by the size of her eyes, you're freaking her out. Sorry, Peyton, my husband doesn’t have much of a filter. He likes to blurt out exactly what he’s thinking, and unfortunately, he doesn’t reflect on how someone might take those words.” Ryleigh flashed an angry look at her husband. It was comical, but did the trick. Jacks shrugged his shoulders, not offering any apology.
“Peyton, your birth and conception could be at the heart of the problems NAC and The Holly Group are experiencing right now,” Ryleigh continued. “We recently stumbled across information which suggests a doctor was impregnating women with genetically altered eggs. I’m not going to go into all of that, just yet, but by what you’ve said and what Bas suggested, there’s a good possibility you’re one of the children created from the experiment.”
Peyton hugged herself closer and couldn’t help the sharp intake of breath. Genetically altered? What the hell was Judy involved with? Peyton’s mind was reeling.
“Sorry, Peyton, I know those words come as a shock, and I promise, I’ll explain further,” Ryleigh offered. “But, for right now, all we can do is compare the data and perform some tests. We have a list of conception dates. What’s your birth date?”
“December fifteenth, nineteen-eighty-nine,” Peyton answered. “I don’t know how that would help. No baby is born exactly forty weeks after conception. You also have to take into consideration the lengths Judy would have gone to hide my birth if she actually was hitting up this company for a bigger payday. She changes her name like the wind. Who’s to say my birthdate isn’t something she made up as well?
“I don’t know what you’re expecting by sharing this information. I mean, genetic manipulation? If I was one of those children, wouldn’t that so-called company have tried harder to track me down? It doesn’t jive that they would let Judy take off with me if I was a part of some bigger conspiracy or experiment.”
“Those are valid points, but a simple blood test will tell us all we need to know. Do you happen to know your blood type?” Ryleigh asked, attempting to ease Peyton’s mind a little.
“Yeah, it's AB negative.”
“Well, would it surprise you to know that everyone on this call is also AB negative?”
“Ah, yeah, that’s statistically impossible for eight random people to have that blood type. It’s the rarest blood type around. I think one percent of Caucasian people in the population of the United States have our blood type.”
It was Ryleigh’s turn to explain everything to Peyton, including shifters, human women with shifter DNA, The Pandora Group, and the Davis Defense connection. To say Peyton wasn’t blown away would be like saying sugar wasn’t sweet.
“Damn, well, it looks like I need a blood test,” Peyton responded. “But that’s going to have to wait a bit. Wyatt and I have an idea about how we can get more information and possibly take Davis Defense down. Anybody interested?”
“Hell yeah!” was heard from every direction. The one person who stayed quiet was Bastian. Peyton had a lot of making up to do as far as her brother was concerned. She had hurt him when all she really wanted to do was protect him. Then again, he’d been keeping a pretty large secret from her as well. Peyton knew two wrongs didn’t make a right, she just wasn’t really sure where they were supposed to go from here.
“Listen, people,” Wyatt interrupted his teammates’ enthusiasm, “there are some huge risks involved if we get caught. Because of the government contracts this place holds, it could mean jail time or worse. This hack could be considered an act of treason. I have all the confidence in the world, that with the right approach, the possibilities of being caught are slim, but that doesn’t negate the risk. We can’t implicate NAC or The Holly Group in any of this. It’s more than just our lives on the line here.”
“Agreed,” Jacks spoke up. “Senior will be here soon, and I’ll brief him. If he says it’s a no-go, then the plan needs to be squashed, and you and Peyton need to get here sooner rather than later. For now, all you brainiacs can discuss all the gory details, and the rest of us will leave you to the planning. If you need us, we’ll be down the hall.”
“What are you going to be doing down the hall, Jacks?” Ryleigh asked.
Peyton had respected Ryleigh before this call. Seeing her now, with her own eyes, shocked Peyton. Like Tory, she was a contradiction. Ryleigh was a small woman in a room filled with overly large men, and she didn’t even seem the tiniest bit intimidated. She looked a bit like a fairy, too. Maybe it was the flaming red hair and her petite size. Although she didn’t have the same snarky or cocky behavior as Tory, she seemed very capable of holding her own.
“Man stuff, of course,” Jacks responded, “no need to worry yourself. The tough guys will be nearby if you need us.”
Peyton wanted to laugh at Jacks posturing—flexing his muscles, doing a few little poses—all for his wife’s amusement. He seemed to only let his playful side out for his wife. It was cute, and she really wanted to see more of the two of them together. Peyton was a consummate people watcher and these people really spiked her interest.
“Jacks, isn’t Emma down the hall with McKenna right now?” Ryleigh questioned. “She said she needed tummy time or something. Is that where you tough guys are going? Perhaps to protect Kenna from her tummy time?”
“Nope, just going down the hall to move some furniture and stuff Emma wanted,” Jacks said.
“Yeah,” Ethan said hurriedly, “we promised to help. We’d better get to it.” The three brutes left the room looking a little sheepish, and Ryleigh and Bas burst out laughing.
“Don’t mind them,” Ryleigh couldn’t hold back her smile, “they are so going to protect McKenna from tummy time. Can you imagine that poor little girl’s first day of school or how about her first date?”
“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Wyatt said. “That little girl has you all wrapped up tight, doesn’t she? I can’t wait to meet her and Emma; this is going to be fun to watch.”
“Whatever, dude, your turn is coming. Kenna is just that sweet,” Ryleigh assured.
Peyton didn’t want all the family fun to end. That’s what these people were to each other family. They might work together, but watching and listening to them, Peyton could tell how close they all were. She felt like an outsider. These people were close. Bas had kept her on the outside for so long, Peyton was afraid he thought she lacked in some way. Why would he have kept her hidden for so long? The scene she watched brought out several of her insecurities. Why wasn’t she ever good enough?
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“Hey,” Peyton said, speaking a little more sharply than she intended, “it was nice to meet you all. I look forward to meeting Emma and McKenna, but we really need to get to work now.” Better to stick with the things she knew than deal with her hurt feelings. Peyton didn’t need to look at Wyatt to know he was watching her, she could feel it all the way to her bones. She also knew if she looked up into the screen and put her eyes on her brother, his scowl would be back, firmly in place. Damn it.
“Okay, sorry guys, you’ll have to excuse me. I’m a little on edge right now,” Peyton apologized.
“Hey, no problem, Peyton,” Ryleigh said. “I get it. You’ve had a lot of information to absorb in a short amount of time. I like a woman who gets down to brass tacks like my Dad likes to say. Let’s hear this plan of yours,” Ryleigh said.
“Okay, like I said, we’re going to do a four-pronged piggyback. I’ll go in first, then Wyatt, Tory will follow, then Bastian. So far, my attempts have been fruitless; their IT guys are good, really good, and have managed to shut me down within twenty seconds. What I’m proposing is three of us will act as a diversion with only one actually gathering information. We’ll need that information to be sent to a secure location for upload at another time. Trojans won’t work with this system; I put one of my best out there in email form, and it was dismantled before it even hit their server.
“Please, keep in mind this is going to be an extremely hard hack; getting in isn’t the problem, staying long enough to gather the information is. If any of you have a proven payloader, we need to test it. Best case scenario would be a power outage, but unfortunately, I’m not mother nature, and shutting down a city block to test the theory and then again for the hack would raise red flags, we can’t afford that to happen.”
“How about a severe weather event?” Wyatt spoke up,
“Yeah, that would work, but unfortunately those are unreliable.”
“Well, it just so happens, according to the weather channels, Michigan is going to experience one of those events by the end of the week, several smaller cells are set to hit within the next few days. The area we’re targeting is known for power outages. We remotely access one of the substations and shut down the area to coincide with the storm. The real problem will be the backup generators the company will more than likely have. Some can switch over in a matter of seconds. From everything you’ve said, Davis Defense would have one of the best.”
NAC & The Holly Group - Box set: Alpha Team Page 73