He smiled. “Armageddon.”
She looked up at him, appearing confused. “Never heard of it.”
“Of course not. It was designed specifically for Nephilim use.” He nudged her aside and pulled up the program, showing her the ins and outs of what he’d done. It had taken him two years to design, test, and implement the software, and he still had to update it periodically. Every Nephilim cell was equipped with Armageddon on Gabriel’s orders. “What do you think?”
“It would take time, a lot of it, but I could eventually crack it.” Sam winced. “I can see a bunch of alarms I might set off first, though.” She pointed out one of them that even he would have had trouble seeing, and he’d installed it. “This here would be a bitch to bypass.”
“Thanks.” He was proud of Armageddon. It was his baby, and while he would eventually have to come up with something even better, for now it was working. “No one has cracked it completely. There have been breaches here and there, but they were dealt with swiftly and the holes patched within two days.”
“Do you have a decryption program?” She held up the memory stick. “Because if not, this is going to take a few hours.”
He stared at her. “Hours?” If she’d told him the truth, she’d downloaded a hell of a lot of information. It would probably take him days, if not weeks, to go through it all, let alone decrypt it.
She shrugged. “I would have done it at my place but we had to run.”
“Okay,” he drawled. He had one or two decryption programs, but if this was Shem-based it would indeed take time. He plugged in the memory stick and immediately began going through the files.
“Don’t believe me?”
Her aggressive tone startled him. “No, I believe you. You’re smart as well as beautiful.”
Sam’s cheeks flushed deep red. “Sorry.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “I guess part of me still sees you as someone I need to defend myself from. Every time we saw each other at Dante’s we were cold to one another, or worse, we were fighting.” Her eyes were tearing up again, damn it. “I hated it.”
“Sam.” He took hold of her hands, hoping to God she’d see his sincerity. “We’re going to fight.”
She blinked, one of her tears falling down her cheek.
Damien wiped it away. “Do you want me to lie and say that we won’t?”
“Do you understand what it was like to see the person you…” Sam looked away. “Had a crush on,” she muttered, her voice barely audible. “To know he hated you because he thought you’d betrayed him.” She looked back at him. “It was humiliating to constantly be told that I couldn’t get a job because I didn’t get a good reference, or just never receiving a call-back at all. And then to see you, smiling and happy with your friends…” She shook her head. “How do I get past that?”
Damien cursed his ex-partner for the umpteenth time. “I will do whatever you need me to do to get you to forgive me.”
She eyed him for a moment. “Really?”
He nodded, eager to hear what it was she was going to demand. “Really.”
She leaned toward him, her blue eyes rimmed in red from her tears. “Never lie to me.”
His brows rose. “Even if the jeans really do make your butt look big?” Because that was usually an answer that got a man killed, or at least cut off for a week.
Sam rolled her eyes. “I want you to tell me the truth when it comes to who and what you are and what you’ll be doing. And…” She bit her lip and looked away. “And I want you to be proud of me.” She glanced back quickly, her hands rising in the air and shaking as if to ward something off. Her cheeks turned red and her eyes went wide. “I mean, I don’t want you to be embarrassed to be seen with me.”
Damien took one of her wildly waving hands in his and kissed her knuckles. “I promise I’ll always be proud of you, and I promise I’ll try not to lie to you about Nephilim business.” When she went to protest, he squeezed her fingers. “Understand that sometimes I might not be allowed to tell you what’s happening. If that’s the case, I’ll tell you that instead of lying. Deal?”
She nodded slowly, as if thinking about it. “Deal.”
Damien grinned, the wash of relief flowing over him and making him damn near giddy. “Then let’s get back to work, partner.”
She smiled sweetly, shyly. “Sure thing, partner.”
Damien reluctantly turned back to the computer and began going over data. He’d much rather hold Sam in his arms and soothe any other worries or fears she might have, but duty called, and he had to work before he could cuddle with the most intriguing woman he’d ever met.
She was also the smartest woman he’d ever had the pleasure of meeting. She’d gotten an amazing amount of data on Armitage. Personnel files, private emails between the CEO and his managers, both upper and lower, a couple of shady-looking deals, and the encrypted files.
Those he was especially curious about, because as soon as he touched them Armageddon beeped. “What the fuck?” Now it was his turn to have his fingers flying over the keyboard as he tried to counteract whatever was happening. “Armageddon is responding to an attack.”
“The encrypted files must have some sort of sleeper virus on them.” Sam was watching him work with an intent expression.
“Armageddon can handle it.” Of that, Damien was certain. The program was already beginning to work on the virus, isolating it before it could do any real damage. “Once the virus is dealt with, we can decrypt the files and find out why the CEO went to all the trouble to keep us from finding out what’s in there.”
“This is why they came after me. It has to be. Nothing else makes sense.”
“No doubt. They’re probably in your house right now, taking your computer and other things that will tell them about you.” He saw the pained look, but he didn’t have time to soothe her now. “Fuck. We’ve got spawn.”
“What?”
“The original virus was a Trojan. Now we’ve got multiple viruses trying to upload off the memory stick.” He continued to help Armageddon battle the numerous viruses. “Luckily, this is an isolated computer. I removed the network card so even if it has something that can turn it on it won’t find it.”
“Good.” She sighed wearily. “Mine wasn’t. They’ve got my details, credit card numbers, social security, everything. It won’t take them long to figure out where I am, either.”
He nodded grimly. “I know. We’ll deal with the consequences later.” It wouldn’t be the first time they were forced to give someone a new identity.
She watched Armageddon’s progress bar, smiling when Damien and the program completed their task. “Is that it?”
He quickly checked, using Armageddon to search for any remnants of a virus left behind. They could hide deep in the BIOS, making it that much more difficult to find. But Armageddon was thorough, destroying any traces of a virus it found. “We’re good to go.”
“Excellent.” She rubbed her hands together gleefully. “Stand aside. This part’s my job.”
The eagerness with which she spoke had him doing as asked. She took a seat at the keyboard, cracked her knuckles, and began to work on decrypting the file.
It was fascinating watching her. The expressions that flitted across her face told him even more than the display on the monitor. Sam should never play poker; she’d lose her life’s savings.
When things went well, she smiled like a child with an ice cream cone. When hit with a roadblock, she frowned in concentration, her tongue sticking out of her mouth a little bit. And when things went really bad, like when she found a bit of code she couldn’t untangle, she hunched over the keyboard with a scowl. Her fingers, however, never faltered, never pounded on the keys no matter how tough the encryption. She remained in her seat for two hours, never hesitating, never giving up.
He stood and got her a drink and some bite-sized apple pieces he cut in Gabriel’s kitchen. She needed food and water, but he doubted she’d break for them. He’d seen this sort of behavi
or before in others who’d worked for him, and he understood why she was so slender. He doubted she’d pause for food until her dogs demanded their own.
He brought the plate and glass into the security room, placing them next to her. He picked up an apple bite and fed it to her, amused by the way she ate without once looking away from the monitor. She didn’t even acknowledge him as he fed and watered her, too intent on getting into the files that had tried to cause so much damage.
At last, she let out a small victory cry. “Done!” She looked at him finally and grinned. “We’re in.”
Damien stared at what she’d uncovered. “An executable, a file named Genesis.exe.”
“Should we run it?” Sam’s fingers twitched.
“No. That’s the virus. Don’t touch it.” He pulled the backup tapes that had been made that morning. Zeke was in charge of that, and he was meticulous about it, if only because he didn’t want to hear Damien bitch at him. He checked the backups on another computer, verifying that they were the correct ones.
“There are some emails that reference Genesis from the CEO to his CIO. Something about infecting cells, locations, but that Genesis isn’t complete yet. They were testing it in a lab and the program didn’t find everything it was supposed to.”
Shit. “Cells refers to how the Nephilim are broken into groups. Each cell has their own leader, who reports to Gabriel, who runs the first cell.”
“Then finding the cells means finding out where each of the Nephilim are located and…” Sam looked horrified.
“Hunting us down, yeah.” He sat back in his chair, shaking his head in disbelief. “The Shem are rarely organized. They usually hunt individually, because it ups their chances of survival. The last time there was a war between the Neph and the Shem, we almost won. Shemhazai was forced into hiding, and the Shem army broke apart.”
“You think this is the beginning of a new war?”
“I don’t know.” He stood, rubbing the back of his neck. Between the lack of sleep, the fear and adrenaline when he’d rushed to Sam’s rescue, and dealing with the virus, he was developing one doozy of a headache. “I need to talk to Gabriel.”
“There’s more here. Want me to go over it?” Sam blinked up at him. There were deep circles under her eyes, and the whites were bloodshot. She probably needed sleep more than he did.
“Let’s go to bed. We can deal with this tomorrow.” Her eyes widened as her cheeks turned bright red. “I meant separate beds.” For now, anyway.
“Oh.” She stood, her hands clasped in front of her so tightly her knuckles turned white. “I want to be in the room with my dogs.”
“No.” The thought of her spending the night on a hard cot or worse, the chair in there, was not an option. “There’s no real bed in there. I want you to get a good night’s sleep.” He took hold of her clenched hands in both of his. “Think logically. Do you want them to have a wide-awake, well-rested mommy, or a tired, irritable mommy?”
She bit her lip as if this was a real option. He’d cart her off to bed and tie her down if he had to. “Well rested, I guess.”
He had to stop a smile at the recalcitrant tone. “They’re in the best of hands, Sam.” He smiled, hoping it would reassure her. “Who better to look after them than a real angel?”
She chuckled. “Okay. You win.”
“For once,” he muttered. “C’mon, I’ll show you to your room.”
“Damien?”
“Hmm?”
“Thank you.” She blushed again. “For everything.”
“You’re welcome, but you’ve helped us, too, so thank you.” He squeezed her hands. “Although I wish you hadn’t done it, or waited until I was available to guard you.”
She stuck her tongue out at him, and damn if he could hold his words back. “Don’t stick that out unless you intend to use it.”
She couldn’t look at him after that without blushing furiously.
He led her upstairs to a guest room right down the hall from the room he called his own. “This is yours. It has an en suite bathroom so you don’t have to worry about running into any of the guys while you do your girlie stuff.” He pointed toward his own room. “I’m across the hall, three doors down, if you need me.”
She glanced that way and then at him. God, she looked so adorable and so tired his heart ached. “Okay.” She blinked and swayed, yawning. “I think I’m tired.”
Damien shook his head. “You need a keeper.”
She grinned, the expression lopsided and oh so dear. “Andi said the same thing.”
“I think I’ll apply for the job. What do you think?”
She stared at him as if he’d sprouted another head. “Really?”
That was it. That look of disbelief, mingled with a tinge of doubt, was more than enough to make Damien want to pull her in his arms. So he did, holding her tightly and caressing that soft-as-bunny-fur hair. “Yup. Really.”
She sighed and leaned against him, her hands clenched in his T-shirt. “Really really?”
Damien chuckled. “Yup.” He tilted her chin up and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. “Now go to bed. You’re dead on your feet and your fur babies will need you tomorrow.”
She nodded and stepped back slowly. Was it his imagination, or was she as reluctant to leave him as he was to leave her. “Well.” She pushed her hair back behind her ear. “Good night, Damien.” The shy glance she shot him from under her lashes nearly made him swoon. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Damien watched as she opened her door and glided silently inside. It took everything he had not to pull her back out and cart her off to his room where he could keep her safe. With a weary sigh, he turned away from her closed door and headed to his own lonely, Sam-less bed.
Chapter 11
Sam woke when the sunlight hit her eyes. That was strange. Usually she woke to her alarm, which set off the dogs. Donny always barked at it, while Precious would begin licking Sam’s toes. None of that happened.
Where were her dogs?
She sat up, rubbing her eyes when a shaft of particularly bright light blinded her. This wasn’t her room, let alone her house. For a moment she was terrified, until she remembered the events of the night before. She flipped back the covers and stood, wobbling a bit before she got her bearings.
Did she eat last night? She couldn’t remember, which meant she probably hadn’t. She’d eat breakfast, but first she wanted to check on her dogs. They’d saved her life the night before. She owed them at least some bacon. Maybe steak. Oh, bacon wrapped steak!
She scrambled into her clothing, vaguely remembering that Damien had put her in a room with an en-suite bathroom. Sure enough, there was one, and she brushed her teeth with the brand new toothbrush she found unopened on the vanity. Either Damien had thought of everything, or Gabriel was the perfect host. Considering how tired Damien had appeared the night before, she bet she had Gabriel to thank for her non-stinky breath.
She opened the door and ran toward the room where her dogs had been the night before, only to be brought up short by a joyous bark. Precious and Donny were in the living room with Gabriel, Damien, and three men she’d never seen before. Her dogs were in heaven as the men played with them. A huge, muscled guy with dark brown hair and eyes was rolling on the floor with Precious, laughing as she licked him all over. Donny was streaking from guy to guy, dancing and preening under their praise.
“Man, we need some dogs around this place,” one of the men said. He had dark hair and bright blue eyes. He was a match for the size of the one on the floor. He looked like he’d broken his nose at some point, and his arms and hands bore scars from what looked like a fire. The scars had to be old, because there was no new, bright skin. Instead, they were a darker color than his skin, which was bronzed as if he spent a lot of time in the sun. “What do you think, Zeke?”
A man with platinum blond hair and blue-green eyes shrugged. “Who’d walk them?”
“I would!” The guy on the floor held up his hand, l
aughing when Precious lunged over him to lick it. “I love dogs.”
“You love everything,” Damien snorted, smiling.
“Vaffanculo, testa di cazzo.” The big guy sat up, rubbing the top of Precious’s head. Her tongue was hanging out the side of her mouth, a sure sign she was happy as a pig in mud.
“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Damien reached down and scratched Precious’s ears, sending her to doggie heaven. “Mama Zucco doesn’t put up with that kind of talk.”
The guy flipped Damien off, making Zeke laugh. “Tell Dante. Mama Zucco will know in a nanosecond.”
Mr. Dark-hair scowled. “Tell my mama and I’ll tell yours about what an ass you are.”
Ah, the dark-haired, dark-eyed guy must be Dante’s older brother, Giovanni, Gio for short.
Donny came up to Sam, his little whip tail going a mile a minute. Precious soon followed, causing Gio to call out, “Hey, buddy, where you going?”
Gabriel held up his hand. “Children. I think our other guest is awake.”
Sam bent down and loved on her dogs, hard. She picked up Donny and rubbed his ears, hugging him tight before turning to Precious and giving her a big hug. When she was done, she found herself surrounded by men. “Hi.”
Damien smirked. “Told you they’d be okay.”
She rolled her eyes before turning to Gabriel. “Thank you.” She hugged him again, surprised to hear the other men choking or laughing, or both. “What?”
“Nothing.” The man named Zeke mimed zipping his lips shut.
“Not saying a word,” Gio added, staring at the ceiling.
The dark-haired guy with the blue eyes had his back to them, his shoulders shaking.
A deep bellow came from somewhere near the back of the house. “Food!”
The men practically trampled each other to get to breakfast…or maybe lunch. She had no idea what time it was, or what she’d be eating.
“Shall we?” Damien held out his arm, winking at her.
Gabriel cleared his throat. “I’ll, um, walk the dogs.” He whistled, and to her utter shock the dogs followed him, as docile as little lambs.
Speak Thy Name (The Nephilim Book 3) Page 10