The Place Where

by Rodion Pretis

  “Guys, I need help,” two hours later, the player wearily sat down on the sofa in the living room. - I'll not hack this base alone. The protection system is multi-level self-learning ... With Alexei we would have definitely broken it ... and so ... we need another hacker.

  - What should be done? - asked the Wolf, but, after hearing the explanations of the Player, he only shook his head. - No, I can't do it.

  “Hacking is not my hobby,” the Destroyer answered a silent question.

  - Heck! - another vase sent into the flight this time by the Player's hand crashed into the wall, but did not crash, but simply rolled back to the door.

  “You guys didn't say that the legend dei Nikofim-Xander lives next to you,” entering the room, Anastas clung to the little vase and, almost falling, threw it with his foot against the other wall.

  “Guys, they hacked us,” the Player handed out with interest, pointing to the videophone, which had automatically turned on the reception, and a second later the door opened letting in Xander focused on his laptop computer.

  - Cool, - the Player grunted and flashed a smile. “Since you're here, can you help?”

  “What the hell are you doing here!?” And where did you divide Alexei? - Xander violently slammed the door and stared expectantly at those present.

  “It's a long story,” Wolf replied gloomily.

  - And in a nutshell? - the ex-breaking dei quipped inquiringly.

  - Trap. We're looking, ”the Destroyer answered even more sarcastically, crossing his arms over his chest.

  - What ?!

  - She did not return from the assignment. Now we are looking for her, ”explained the Wolf.

  “There is very little left, there is only one snag,” continued Nick.

  “We need a hacker,” the Player finished, “a good hacker.”

  - What to do? - Xander resolutely stepped towards the Player, unmistakably recognizing him as a computer specialist, he silently went to another room and the man followed him, leaving him on the move. “But don't think that they got off so easily.” I want to hear the full version when it's over ...

  Chapter 23

  Kayden carefully examined the girl sleeping peacefully in his bed. Almost two days passed before she finally fell asleep calmly. He had to admit to himself, it was the worst two days in his life. Never had he been so frightened and furious at the same time. Even now, the man felt a burning fury at the mere thought that Simeon and his sister were stuffing HER ande.

  Surprisingly, she was able to survive with so much of this muck in the blood, not to mention that she was quite sane, as much as possible when taking anda. The man recalled with horror that after her wounds quickly healed, and he decided that the danger had passed, a crisis had come ... He had previously seen withdrawal after the Anda, but he could not even imagine. He could only give her small doses of an antidote, which helps the body break down and excrete andes, try to bring down an incredibly high temperature and pray that the medicine would not harm her more than poison. The antidote was not safe, it caused nightmares and hallucinations, from which you could just go crazy.

  The girl darted, screamed, tried to escape and run away somewhere, resisted when he carefully, but firmly held her in bed, trembled at the touch of cold, damp cloth. Then she was briefly forgotten by a restless sleep, and ... everything repeated again ... In despair that she could not help her, Kayden simply pressed her to her - her skin was so hot that it literally burned - and she reached for it, grabbed onto it, like a drowning man clutching a straw ... He couldn't say exactly how long he sat there, hugging her and whispering some gentle soothing words, until he felt that the temperature had dropped, and the girl, clinging to him confidentially, fell asleep. Searches desire not to let go of hugs, the man carefully arranged her on the bed, and he sank down next to the chair.He could not leave her alone. Fear that everything could happen again did not let go. But hour after hour passed, and she still slept calmly. He just admired her. Now she seemed fragile, gentle, helpless and such a beautiful angel. Kayden extended his hand and threw the rebellious curl from her face, his hand, barely touching, slipped across her cheek - the girl smiled in a dream, making his heart freeze for a moment. Sighing, the man leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, remembering her slight smile. He did not want to think about how she would look at him when she came to, what she would say.He felt both relief and joy, anxiety and pain, excitement and a little fear, admiration, despair and hope ... So many feelings in such a short period of time, so many opposite emotions. Everything is so complicated and confusing. “Whoever you are,” the man thought, unable to take his eyes off her, “it's obviously not easy with you.”

  * * *

  The defense of the base of the superelite yellow taxi resisted for almost six hours, but nevertheless, under the joint efforts of the Player and Xander, it finally fell, or rather, after a small change in the main program, artificial intelligence began to consider them their own with a maximum level of tolerance.

  - Well! We are in! - The player was ready to dance.

  - What are we looking for? - Xander was much more restrained in the manifestation of feelings. He was still ready to vomit and throw after he heard the full version of events told by Wolf while he was breaking.

  “Here's the taxi number 25779,” the earthling showed the history of the hybrid's trips over the past three days. - Yeah, and here is the direction we are interested in from the club ... I am sending the address of the final destination to our communicators.

  - Daden! - Xander jumped up and continued to curse through his teeth.

  - What is it with him? - looked at the noise Destroyer.

  “We found the address where Alex was taken,” the player shrugged and frowned, “and he knows swears ...”

  “I know who she has,” Dei collapsed into a chair and sighed heavily.

  - Is that good or ..? - the Destroyer warned.

  “Relatively,” Xander rummaged through the communicator. “She is with Kayden, and you can never tell with him, neons are all like that.” But he seems to be more adequate, so ... Daden! Not responding, and the answering machine is off. Have to go uninvited.

  “Well, no, man, you won't go anywhere alone,” the Destroyer growled.

  - Do you want to be smeared on the rug? - ironically smiled dei. “So I don't mind.”

  “It's not so easy to smudge me - it's too big,” the Destroyer grunted, “especially for someone of average height.”

  - Who gave the description? Turanian?

  “Yes,” Anastas added, “so what?”

  “Oh guys,” Xander shook his head. - Our two meters with a small tail for them is medium height. In addition, there are simply no neons below two meters.

  “Tim said that the one who took Alex is not neon,” Anastas leaned against the other side of the door frame, practically copying the Destroyer.

  “If he said that Kaiden feels weird, then that's true.” It is not felt like the rest of the neons. There is something else in it. He is either neon, or the paxirate himself. Daden will take it apart! And do not tell me that paxirates do not exist, I know myself. - Xander got up from his chair. - By the way, Kayden does not like questions about who he is and does not answer them.

  - How do you know that? - the Destroyer was surprised.

  “They drank together somehow,” the dei headed toward the exit. - So are you coming? - At the door, he turned and pictured raised his eyebrows. “Or have you changed your mind?”

  “Let's go,” the Destroyer answered for himself and Anastas.

  “I hope we won't bother him,” Xander said in the elevator, “and he is not depressed.”

  - Why are you so worried about him? - surprised Anastas.

  “Actually, I'm taking care of us,” dei grinned wryly. “If he's in a lousy mood, they'll definitely roll us on the rug ...”

  * * *

  Kayden closed his eyes for a moment, trying to cope with the storm of feelings that the girl lying in bed aroused in hi
m, and even the shadow of which he seemed to have long forgotten. Realizing the futility of this attempt, he opened his eyes and met her open, studying gaze. The man froze: a chill of fear ran down his back - he remembered too well how their first meeting ended. A minute passed after a minute, and the girl still looked at him silently ...

  “No ... Oh, Trainin, no! May her identity not be destroyed! ”, Horror shackled Kayden. A soft, slightly dreamy, smile slid across the girl's lips, and she held out her hand. He gently took her in his, could not resist and pressed his lips to the tips of her fingers. “Trainin, please, let it be just a loss of memory,” the man prayed, obeying the movement of the girl's hand and sitting on the edge of her bed. Holding one sheet of Alexei's sheet gracefully sat on the bed and moved closer to Kayden. The man held his breath when she, still holding the sheet with one hand, slipped her fingers with his other hand through his hair, barely audible passed from temple to chin, touched his lips.

  “I don't remember you,” she frowned slightly, and then shook her head, scattering hair over her shoulders. “But I like you,” the girl smiled dazzlingly and lightly touched his lips with his lips, “I like to touch you.”

  “Lagoon,” Kayden could hardly breathe: he never thought that some hint of a kiss was able to knock his soil out from under his feet, “you don't understand what you are doing,” he didn't recognize himself: the need to protect her even from himself was much stronger than his attraction to her, although he no longer remembered the last time he was so attracted to the girl. “You were poisoned and lost your memory.” In a couple of days, the memory will return and then ...

  “She is already returning,” the girl impatiently put her fingers to his lips, prompting to shut up. - It seems to me that my name is Alyosha. My home is somewhere far, far away. Sooner or later I will return there, but for now I'm here with you. I don't remember your name, but I remember your kisses, your arms, I felt so good ...

  “The lagoon,” Kayden groaned, “you are killing me.”

  - Remind me your name.

  - Kayden ...

  “Kiss me, Kai,” she asked, barely audibly, inseparably looking into his incredibly blue and such attractive eyes.

  “Alyosha,” the man breathed and, unable to resist the temptation anymore, bowed to her lips, promising himself that it would be only one small kiss. But as soon as their lips met, he forgot about everything, for him nothing more existed: no time, no place, no space. Only she remained: the taste of her lips, the silkiness of her hair, the tenderness of her skin, the sensation of her touch ... and the thought "she will not forgive when she remembers everything." With incredible effort, Kayden broke the kiss and pressed the girl to him, desperately trying to regain control.

  - Kayden! Kayden! Discover! I know you're at home! - yelled a familiar voice.

  “The first time you are Xander,” the man mentally thanked his friend.

  “My friend made a booth and I urgently need to let him in until the neighbors shoot him,” Kayden gently pushed the girl away and looked into her still blurred eyes. - I'll be back soon.

  * * *

  Kayden jerked open the old-fashioned side door of his mansion, located in the center of the most elite quarter of the city:

  “Xander, Daden, take what you do!” Come in faster.

  “I'm not alone,” the figure of the former day drew in the doorway, “there are three of us.”

  “Come in faster, my neighbors are nervous, now their security system will start to shoot,” the man hastened to the uninvited guests and grinned. - Clean it up later.

  “Very funny,” Xander snorted.

  “I didn't call you, I don't like it - get out, just don't forget to close the door behind you,” Kayden locked the door, which shook significantly, the other, and slowly went into the living room , without a second doubting that the “guests” would follow him.

  - Will the door stand? - Anastas could not resist the question.

  “What will happen to her, she's self-healing.” Moreover, the defense systems turned on to the full after the first shot, ”Kayden shrugged, carefully looking at the questioner. “You just have to stay here until my paranoid neighbors decide that it's safe again outside, so make yourself comfortable,” he smiled and continued with the look of a welcoming host. “The bar over there, I think, you can figure out how it works, you can do it yourself.” I have self-care, ”the man sank into a chair, and his smile turned into a devil. - Oh yes, I forgot to say that you can leave this room only with my escort.

  - Daden! - the uninvited guests swore at the same time, realizing that they had stumbled into another trap, and as one fell into chairs, opposite the owner of the house.

  “I consider it a compliment.” Kayden fell apart in an easy chair and stared at Xander. “So what brings you to me, my friend?”

  “There is a conversation,” he answered, trying in vain to sort out the neon mood and predict what it might threaten them with.

  “I could have called.”

  - You did not answer and the answering machine does not work for you.

  - Do you really have such an urgent matter that you could not wait a couple of days?

  “Yes,” Xander tensed, preparing for any surprise ...

  - Yah ?! - the irony in the words of neon seemed to be cut.

  The Destroyer carefully watched Kayden from the first second of their meeting and gloomy more and more: he had not yet met with a fighter of this class. A zemlyanin noted that the enemy, at about the same height and width as his shoulders, was more ... elegant or something, it could not be called somehow differently. But at the same time, the aura of power, danger and authority surrounding him literally suppressed. He moved easily and naturally, but his every every movement, every glance literally shouted not just "I am dangerous", but "I AM MORTALLY DANGEROUS." The Destroyer remembered a light, understanding mockery that flickered in the eyes of the neon closing the front door, and the understanding that he knew what weapons they brought with them pierced him with lightning.Now it has become crystal clear that Kayden does not trust them at all and is ready for everything, but not for cooperation. The Destroyer sighed and decided to play all-in: he got up from his chair and began methodically removing his weapons and folding them. On the coffee table in front of neon, a couple of pistols first lay down, then knives, followed by a grenade, and poisoned needles fell on top of the pile formed.

  - How about a frank conversation? - the earthling caught Kayden's interested look and calmly sank back into the chair.

  Chapter 24

  - How about a frank conversation? - The Destroyer sank into a chair, with all his might, maintaining external calmness and praying inward that his plan would turn out.

  “You attracted my attention,” Kayden thoughtfully examined the other person. - What do you want?

  “Some time ago, we performed one task in a closed fencing club,” the earthling began from afar, carefully watching the reaction of neon to his words. - We completed the task, but not everything went smoothly ...

  “Go on,” Kayden began to realize that something from the category of science fiction had happened: his team had come to him asking for help.

  “We lost the commander,” the pain flickered in the eyes of the Destroyer. “According to the plan, they were supposed to teleport, but there were necklaces.” Alex covered the retreat, helped others to leave, but she couldn't, she was seized. And recently we received information that now it is here ...

  - Daden! - the irony of the situation began to gradually reach neon: he would have to let her go, and the sooner he did it, the better it would be for her. And for him ... for him it was already too late for a long time. He laughed bitterly and jumped up sharply. “How could you?!” How could you leave her alone?! With Simeon! - Kayden literally spat out every word, unsuccessfully trying to cope with the indomitable fury that seized him from the mere thought that she had to go through. He lifted a heavy forged coffee table like a feather, scattering earthman's weapons on the floor, an
d threw it into the opposite wall.

  The table folded up like a cardboard and collapsed heavily to the floor, trying in vain to take on its original appearance, but even self-healing technology was useless against such damage. Neon turned to the guests, his eyes flashing furiously. Anastas could not stand his nerves, and he, grabbing from the floor an advanced gun of the Destroyer, tried to direct him at Kayden. But then everything went awry: the man felt someone's presence behind him and turned abruptly, inadvertently pulling the trigger - the gun fired a burst ... Anastas froze in horror, realizing WHO was in the way of bullets ...

  Neither Xander nor the Destroyer managed to react - for them it was a revived nightmare: to find Alexei only to see how she would die before their eyes ...