by Ravenna Tate
“But then what?”
“Dave will write another suggestion.”
She held her breath, letting him enjoy his dramatic pause. He and the others had certainly earned the right to do that.
“This time, he’ll tell the program to give him back manual control.”
“This sounds more far-fetched than reversing the electromagnetic fields.”
“That was a solid plan. If we could have figured out a way to do it slowly, it would have worked.”
“Do you think if we had more time they could still figure out a way to accomplish that?”
“I wish I knew.”
While they waited for Dave to get into The Madeline Project through the back door, Addison leaned over and told Viggo if this worked, he was going to tell Nadine to come to Central.
“They should all be here,” said Viggo. “If this works, you all should have your wives and fiancées come here.”
“I’m in!” Dave shouted. They all crowded around him. “Holy fuck, I’m in.” He sat in front of a large computer monitor that currently showed a black screen with white code on it. He typed furiously. “I’m telling the program to read the line of code I’m typing.”
Madison held her breath as Dave sat back and waited.
Everyone around her let out a sound of relief when the next string of code appeared on the screen. The program had agreed to read the code.
Viggo leaned close to her. “Now we wait until Merrill finds storm activity that we can monitor.”
She nodded, waiting. At another table, Ace was talking softly to Merrill, letting him know what was going on at their end. “This seems too easy,” she said.
“It’s actually not,” said Emmett, from behind her. “It’s very complicated programming.”
She turned to face him. “If you had known about it, would you have been able to do what Dave is doing now?”
He shook his head. “No. We wouldn’t have known how to get in through this back door. We also wouldn’t have known the code to ask the program to read our suggestions. Only Dave knew about this.”
“Then you needed him after all.”
Emmett exchanged a glance with Viggo. “Yeah. We sure did.”
“Okay,” said Dave, pushing his chair back. “You tell me when to type the command to execute the suggestion.”
“Let us know when there are storms,” said Ace, addressing Merrill.
“You know,” Merrill said, “even if they pop up, they might not last fifteen minutes.”
“I know. We’ll take our chances. There’s nothing else left to try.”
“That field reversal might work if you could space it out over a few months.”
“Maybe. But this is quicker.”
Madison took Viggo’s hand again and wasn’t surprised to find it damp. Everything they’d worked for all these years was riding on this. All they could now was wait. More food was brought in, and although Madison wasn’t very hungry, Viggo talked her into eating some fruit and cheese.
Most of the other Weathermen were calling their wives or fiancées, letting them know what was going on. Several said the women were getting on the first train to join them here. Madison no longer felt like an outsider. The words Viggo had finally spoken to her changed everything. She hadn’t realized how much she’d needed verbal confirmation from him until he’d given it to her.
Angela and Julianne came over to talk to her, and Viggo excused himself from the group to join Blaine and Dominic near the computer where Ace was talking to Merrill. When Julianne held up a piece of melon and asked the two if they’d tried it yet, Madison asked Angela if she was feeling all right because she took a couple of steps away and her face grew pale.
“Lost my appetite for a lot of things lately, including most fruit.”
Madison and Julianne exchanged a glance. “Are you pregnant?” asked Julianne.
Angela glanced around, and Madison clamped a hand over her mouth. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “Does Dominic know?”
“Yes, of course he knows, but we aren’t saying anything yet. Not until this is settled.”
Julianne looked ready to burst with happiness. “But you moved your wedding out to February. Will you change that now?”
“I don’t know what he wants to do. I’m fine with going down to the courthouse in CentralWest and having a quick ceremony, but he says I’d be cheated out of a big shindig like Harper and Liane both had.”
“If you weren’t pregnant, is that what you’d want?” asked Madison.
Angela smiled and touched her abdomen. “It still wouldn’t matter to me. I have everything I want. I don’t need a huge wedding to define my relationship with Dominic.”
Guilt washed over Madison. Here she’d been fussing over Viggo saying three little words, and Angela was so in love with Dominic that she didn’t care whether they had a large wedding. She only wanted to be with him.
That was the measure of love, right there. Not what the person said, but what they did. She’d always believed that. She was ashamed that she had placed so much emphasis during the past week on hearing Viggo say “I love you”.
Viggo came over to stand beside her, and she took his hand, smiling up into his face. Never again would she doubt this man’s love for her. He had shown it in countless ways. She couldn’t wait to be alone with him once more. It had only been a couple of days, but she missed making love to him.
He leaned over to whisper in her ear, “We could be waiting a while. Would you like to see the rest of the building?”
Shivers ran down her spine at the tone of his voice. What an ingenious idea. “I’d love to.”
As they walked out into the hallway, if Angela or Julianne guessed what Viggo had really meant, Madison was glad they’d kept it to themselves. He led her to the dreaded elevator, then shook his head. “Let’s take the stairs. We’re only going down one floor.”
“Thank you. Where exactly are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
“What if they find the storms they need while we’re gone?”
“Blaine will call me.”
“Oh, so you were certain I’d come with you, then?”
Viggo stopped and stood on the riser below her so they were eye level. “I would have found another way to get you alone for a while.” He kissed her, and she didn’t care that they were in a stairwell. She’d fuck him right there if he wanted.
He released her mouth, groaning as he did so, then took her hand again. “Come on. I can’t wait much longer.”
The third floor looked entirely different. It was a series of decorated rooms, all bright and cheery. “What is this place?”
“Living quarters, just in case.” He led her through a maze of interconnecting rooms until they came to a bedroom. “This will do. No one has used it in a long time so it smells a bit dusty, but we’ll have privacy.”
“How did you know all this was here?”
“We’re the ones who set up the building once we were told we could have it.”
He pushed her down on the bed and undid his jeans. “I’m fucking dying here.”
She laughed in delight. “It’s only been a couple of days.”
“That’s too long to wait.”
How could any woman resist this man? They were a tangle of arms and legs as they shed their clothes and fell into each other’s arms on the bed. Madison had never been this turned-on, and wasn’t sure if it was the excitement of knowing Dave’s experiment might work, knowing Viggo loved her, or both.
But it hardly mattered. She was here, with the man she loved, and nothing was more important than that. He fished a condom out of his jeans pocket and donned it, then sank his dick into her pussy.
Madison cried out in pleasure and clung to him as he thrust deep and hard. This was going to be a quick one, but she didn’t care. Her orgasm was swift and powerful, and his cries joined hers as he climaxed before her contractions had entirely finished.
“Oh, baby. I’m sorry. I couldn�
��t hold back.”
“I don’t mind. All that matters is we’re here, together.”
He finished thrusting, then kissed her again, holding her face in his hands. Both of them were damp with sweat, and Madison couldn’t remember if the sex had ever been hotter than this.
He released her mouth and gazed at her with nothing short of love in his eyes. “No matter what happens today with the experiment, I meant what I said. I love you and I want you in my life, even if that life is only a couple years long from this point on.”
“I want that, too. But it will work. I know it will.”
He caressed her face and stared at her for long moments. Then he kissed her again, slowly this time, until her arousal built once more and she felt his cock harden. He sat up suddenly. “Fuck. I only have one condom.”
“I can do you another way.”
He moaned softly. “Oh, sweetheart. As tempting as that is, I want to be inside you.” He tore off the used condom, wincing as he did so. “Fuck it. I’m willing to take the chance if you are.”
“Excuse me?”
“You don’t want kids one day?” He actually sounded disappointed.
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out at first. “Um … I don’t know. I haven’t really given it much thought. But…” She had no idea how to put her questions into words. She was stunned.
He smiled. “You didn’t really understand what I meant when I said I wanted you with me for the rest of my life. I meant as my wife.”
Holy shit. “Are you asking me to marry you?”
He chuckled. “Well, this isn’t exactly a romantic proposal, is it? But yes, I am. I’ll do it right when we get the chance. I promise.”
“Viggo…”
“I love you, Madison. I’ve never felt this way about anyone. Nothing is going to change my feelings. Nothing.”
“Yes. Oh my God. Of course I’ll marry you.”
He held her so tightly she could hardly breathe. When he slipped his dick into her pussy again, this time he fucked her slowly, tenderly, kissing her mouth, her neck, and her breasts the entire time.
Madison’s moans turned into one long soft whimper as another climax overtook her, spreading slowly through her body until every inch of skin contracted in pleasure. And still he thrust in and out with unbelievable control. The absence of the condom heightened every sensation, and she was lost in his arms, his touch, his scent, and the exquisite feeling of being skin-to-skin with the man she loved.
When he finally came, he drew that out, too, to the point Madison wasn’t sure she could handle one more second. They were both covered in sweat now, and she never wanted to leave this room. She only wanted to stay here, wrapped in Viggo’s embrace.
He wanted to marry her. And she had said “yes!” She was engaged to Viggo Ingram. It was too much to take in. She needed time to get used to that. To roll it around inside her mind and savor it.
Would they tell the others? Would he want to wait? No matter what happened upstairs, this was the happiest day of her life.
Chapter Twenty
Viggo groaned when his phone rang, then nearly jumped off the bed when he remembered why anyone would call him right now. It was Blaine. Merrill had found storm activity that looked like it might last a while. “We’ll be right there.” He glanced at Madison who was already pulling on her clothes. “No time to clean up. Sorry.”
“I don’t care if you don’t.”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “I love you.”
She tried to squirm out of his embrace. “I love you, too. Now let me get dressed. Let’s get upstairs. I don’t want to miss this.”
“If this works, I’m buying you a ring. The biggest engagement ring you’ve ever seen. And then I’ll ask you properly.”
She giggled. “Viggo, let’s go! You’ll never forgive yourself if you miss this.”
“You did mean it, right? You will marry me?”
“Yes, but not if you don’t let me go so I can get dressed!”
They finished dressing and raced upstairs. Viggo was sure as soon as anyone got close to them they’d smell sex, but he didn’t care. Madison had agreed to marry him. If anyone had told him a month ago he would fall in love and propose, he’d have told the person they were crazy.
He crowded in among the others, still holding Madison’s hand, and watched while Merrill pointed his camera at the radar screens. “Two big ones, side-by-side,” he said.
They were indeed big ones. Two supercell thunderstorms marched across the screen toward what used to be south Texas.
Dave typed. “I’m telling the program to execute the command.”
His voice shook, and Viggo understood why. If this failed, they were out of options. The only thing left to try was to reverse the fields slowly enough that it didn’t trigger the massive earthquakes that Harold and Corbin believed would collapse the underground cities. And if that failed, it was game over.
He glanced down at Madison, whose face glowed with excitement. Or was that from the hot sex they’d just had? Either way, could hardly take in what had happened downstairs. She had agreed to marry him! The words had tumbled out, and they’d felt so right. He’d never been one to imagine asking a girl to marry him.
He hadn’t made a plan for doing so, but he did want to do this the right way once things were settled, one way or the other. He didn’t want her telling their children that their father had asked her to marry him while they were having sex in a warehouse.
Viggo glanced around. He’d ask Dominic for advice. He was the only Weatherman who wouldn’t chide him for falling in love like the rest had done. Dominic had recognized that he was in love with Madison even before Viggo had been able to admit it to himself.
Madison had changed him, but in a good way. In a way that had been a long time coming. He’d always loved his life, but as the years had gone by, it felt increasingly empty. For the first time since he could remember, he felt complete.
Now he understood why Dominic looked at Angela the way he did. He understood why Addison had asked Nadine to marry him in a cave as they hid from a storm on the surface, while searching for her father. And he understood the giddy way Ace acted whenever he talked about the twins Harper was carrying, and how they both couldn’t wait to hold them in their arms.
Viggo had never wrapped his head around it. Not around any of it. Not until now. Not until Madison had strolled into his office, thinking she was blowing the lid off a great story. If he was being honest, he’d been smitten from the first second he laid eyes on her. His fate had been sealed with one look at her face.
“Fuck me sideways!” yelled Dave. “It read the command.”
“What does that mean?” asked Madison.
“It means the program has acknowledged it.”
“But will it execute it?”
He didn’t answer. He couldn’t. He was too mesmerized by the sudden cessation of storm activity on the radar in Merrill’s bunker. All of them were talking at once, until Dominic whistled loudly and they quieted down.
“Repeat that, Merrill,” said Ace.
“I said the fucking storms disappeared. Both of them.”
“How do we know this isn’t simply the unpredictability of the storms?” asked Blaine. “They do this all the time.”
Dave stood and faced the group. “We know because of the line of code the program just typed to me.”
Viggo held his breath as several of them asked Dave to tell them what it said. He honestly thought Dave was about to cry. If this had worked, they’d likely all shed a tear or two.
“It says, ‘Command acknowledged and executed. Activity ceasing for fifteen minutes, then will resume.’”
Pandemonium filled the room. He barely heard Madison ask him if it had really worked. He shouted it had, then picked her up and twirled her around until she begged him to stop, laughing the entire time. He placed her back on her feet and kissed her, oblivious to everything around him.
Was this rea
l? Had they really stopped the program from its mass destruction cycle?
Another loud whistle from Dominic had them focused once more on Dave and Merrill. “Hold on!” said Dominic. “Let’s wait it out and see what happens. There should be no storm activity at all. That’s the only way we’ll know whether it’s a fluke or the real thing.”
Talk about deflating the balloon, but Dominic was right. They watched the radar screens Merrill had set up in front of the camera. They only showed the radar images he was able to pick up in the USA, and some of them blinked on and off, but that was because the satellite feeds were no longer consistent. So many of them were non-operational now.
As the minutes ticked by, Viggo thought about all the things they’d need to do on the surface. Trees would have to be planted. Homes and businesses would have to be rebuilt. Governments would need to establish bases of operation on the surface once more, and keep them going underground, too, until everyone could move topside.
It could take years to restore order on the surface. Who knew how long it would take to rebuild everything. Decades, more than likely. When they’d all moved underground, everything had to be set up in a hurry out of necessity. This time, they’d have the luxury of doing it right and spending as much time as they needed.
He wondered whether some people would choose to stay underground out of fear it could happen again. He also wondered whether The Madeline Project would be shut down permanently. It would be a shame to lose it because it could work. There had been a successful real time test. The program could be tweaked to work the way it was designed to. But he could easily envision groups springing up, demanding it be disabled forever.
And what would happen to Dave and the others? Who really had jurisdiction over this? HCS was the likely agency, but would the public demand a different kind of justice? Was it really fair now to send Dave to prison for the rest of his life? He hadn’t done the hacking. Not technically. And in the end, he’d be the one who would save them all.