Virtually His
Page 8
Humming the ditty, Helen finished her breakfast. Today was the big day. She was the star of the show so she had better look good. She knew from scuttlebutt that some of the agencies were against the choice of a contract agent as the test candidate, and she was determined to prove them wrong. She loved challenges.
By the time she stepped out of the elevator, she had half an hour to spare before her VR session. The Center had twelve levels, as far as she’d been able to count. She was allowed access to only six of them. It had taken a while to find her way around the place because the inside didn’t look anything like the building outside. Its interior was like an octopus, with different tentacles winging out. She had yet to find time to explore them all.
Turning the corner, she bumped into Flyboy. He must have just finished training. Shirtless, with a towel hanging from his shoulders, he looked tan and luscious.
“Hey there, gorgeous!” He whistled as he leaned a brown and muscular shoulder against the wall.
That line should have been hers. The man was one beautiful specimen. He had the body of a gymnast, trim and well-balanced. Six feet of male musculature. Being a pilot, he wasn’t built like a fighter, but nothing about him was soft. Was there any part of him that was imperfect? She eyed the silver chain dangling just above his impressive chest, her gaze trailing down the well-defined washboard abs to the stringed sweatpants riding low on his slim hips. Her eyes slid back up to meet his. His sexy blue ones gleamed back invitingly.
“You look like a walking soap commercial,” Helen drawled. The man knew his effect on women and didn’t try to hide it. She sniffed. “Unfortunately, you stink.”
“I’m on the way to doing that commercial right now. Want to join in?” His voice was sensuous, caressing.
Helen shook her head in amusement. Ah well…proposition in the morning. Good omen for the day. “Another time, sweetheart. I have VR this morning. You didn’t get to see me yesterday. You said you wanted to compare notes. You have…oh, half an hour…if you’re still interested.”
Flyboy straightened and pulled on the ends of the towel. “Can’t. How about lunch?”
Helen grinned. “Is it a business lunch?”
“Absolutely. What we do is our business, baby.”
She laughed. Subtle he was not. “Don’t you have something important to do, like fly your commandos out to some dangerous place to save the world?”
“Nope, bad guys must be taking a day off,” he quipped.
Flyboy was one of the nine commandos of the V-Program, some top covert group with whom T. worked. Helen didn’t know too much about them but the few she’d met the past few months convinced her that they weren’t your normal commandos. For one thing, they were all damnably attractive, as if sex was part of their armor. For another, her operations chief’s name was linked in gossip with one of them.
That in itself was a revelation. T. was…T. Helen had seen firsthand how men were around T., no matter what disguise she happened to be in. Any man who had managed to hold the top GEM operative had Helen’s respect and admiration. For sure, he wouldn’t be a normal kind of guy.
Speaking of the devil, Alex Diamond came around the corner. Like Flyboy, he was stripped to the waist, towel over one shoulder, sweatpants wet from exertion. Helen ran her tongue over her teeth.
Wow. She had to check out one of these morning training sessions one of these days. Alex Diamond was at least half a dozen years older than Flyboy but his physique certainly didn’t show it. Lean and hard, his arms were roped with muscles. He looked extremely fit, like an extreme-sports athlete. Dangerous. Yeah. The man had that aura in waves.
Flyboy leaned and whispered into her ear. “Hey, remember me?”
Helen slanted him a teasing grin. “A girl’s got to enjoy the view God gives her. Good morning,” she called out a greeting. “Crowded corridor.”
Diamond, as always, just nodded. She couldn’t remember speaking more than a few sentences with the man. Strong, silent types always were a challenge to her.
A door opened. Helen’s smile widened. Oh, the fun was about to begin.
“Morning, T.,” she chirped.
Flyboy chuckled, folded his arms and relaxed against the wall again. Alex stopped, his light blue eyes meeting her chief’s. Helen pursed her lips. Operation Covert Combustion.
It was like watching two blond lions about to do some X-rated stuff on Animal Planet. Neither T. nor Alex said anything as they stood there. Their eyes, though, were doing a hell of a lot of communicating.
“Well, I’ve got to go, chief,” Helen said, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
“Meet for lunch?” T. asked, not looking her way.
She shook her head. “I have other plans.” And deliberately stepped on Flyboy’s toes. He didn’t react at all.
“I’ll call you,” T. said.
“Yeah. Come on, Flyboy, we’re late,” Helen said, heading off. She would have liked to stay and watch. Flyboy followed her as she turned the corner.
“Man of few words,” Helen commented. “You’re heading in the wrong direction.”
“I came with you to get an apology.” Flyboy wiggled his foot at her meaningfully. She looked back at him innocently. “Diamond has a way with words, believe me. And, with women, too. I saw how you were looking at him.”
“You think T. and he are going to make a soap commercial of their own?” Helen asked. When he shrugged, she gave him a friendly shove. “Oh, he’s taken, Flyboy. Can’t you see the sparks flying in the air back there?” She patted him on the jaw, privately amused to see a touch of jealousy in his eyes. “You, on the other hand, are still an available hottie.”
Nothing like a compliment to soothe the savage beast. Flyboy grinned. “And don’t you forget it, sweetheart. Shall we meet later then, or was that just a ruse to get out of meeting your O.C.?”
She gave him another innocent look. “Don’t know what you’re talking about. We’ll meet downstairs near those ghastly house plants, okay?”
Flyboy laughed. “The ghastly house plants. Yeah, that’s about the right description for those damn ferns. Okay, but I’ll be ten minutes or so late.”
“Now how would you know I’ll be waiting for ten minutes?”
He winked. “I’m a COS commando. I know everything.”
Yeah, and a half-naked man calling at her hormones to boot. She wished she had time to stay right there and chat, but duty called. She ran an appreciative eye over that gorgeous body once more and gave Flyboy a mocking salute before sauntering off.
Helen didn’t doubt that he had women calling him at every hour. She wondered whether every one of the gorgeous nine from the V-Program was like that. Arrogant and too sure of themselves. She had to ask T. about them one of these days. What the hell was V-Program, anyway?
“Morning, Dr. Kirkland. Are you ready to suck more blood out of me?” Of all the scientists and medics who handled her, she liked Kevin Kirkland the best. For one thing, he had a sense of humor. For another, he didn’t treat her like a lab rat all the time. Sometimes, she even thought he actually worried about her well-being.
“Morning, Miss Roston. How was your sleep?”
Medic Room 3 should have been renamed Special Room for Helen Roston. As far as she knew, she was the only patient who went in and out of the place. Every instrument in the room was part of the Helen Roston S and M toys, as she called them—from the head-scan machine in the corner to the oscillators on the tables that monitored her. And to the left was the VR room. Most women had jewelry and shoes. She had tubes and electrodes.
“Normal,” Helen replied.
“Any interruptions?”
She sat down on the familiar leather sofa. “Nope.” She looked around casually. “You’ll have to take me to the viewing room one of these days.”
“Viewing room?”
“The one where you watch me sleep.”
There was a pause. “We don’t watch you, Miss Roston. All we do is monitor your brain waves and stats.”
Dr. Kirkland smiled as he pulled on plastic gloves. “How do you feel about tonight’s test? Do you feel ready? Anything bothering you?”
Putting an arm over her forehead, Helen stretched out in a classic psychiatric patient pose. “I don’t know, Doc. Sometimes my left foot seems to want to go one way and my right foot, the other. And I get totally confused whether it’s because one of my stepfathers hit me on that foot once. The left one, I mean. And being he’s a male authority figure, Freud would say that I have a problem with—”
“All right, Miss Roston, it’s good to see that you’re mentally alert.” Dr. Kirkland shook his head. “I don’t know why I bother asking questions of either of you. Evasion, evasion, evasion. How’s a doctor supposed to make charts? Let’s begin then.”
Either of them, huh? She was getting some good information this morning. Helen sat back up, offering her arm for the usual procedures. She looked at the door leading into the VR room. She had a few questions for her trainer, too.
She found out that they called the new VR chair the Portal. She watched Derek and some technicians playing around with it, using the goggles, head-scan gear and the special gloves on themselves, as they adjusted and fine-tuned the machine with its straps and electrodes. The experimental gears and switches excited geeks like them. She could tell from their little whoops now and then that they were having the time of their lives.
She shook her head, but was glad that she’d been allowed to watch them at work. She was going to find out as much as she could about the experiment and all the equipment, but being explained to and having it done to her were two entirely different things. Yeah, yeah, synchronized brain waves. A communications link that utilized her “talent.” But the reality—or the experience when it happened—was a jolt to any normal human being.
“We’re activating the Portal, Miss Roston.”
Derek’s voice jerked Helen back from her reverie. She was so used to people doing stuff to her body that she could drift off without even feeling needles. She took a deep breath.
“Give me a sec.” She wanted to be in total control this time. Someone else in her head. Get used to that, Helen. She released her breath, then mockingly drawled, “A girl’s got to get ready when she meets a Greek god, you know.” She flexed her fingers. I want to get him closer. She smiled, and instructed softly, “Okay, proceed, Derek.”
The darkness didn’t last as long this time. There was a quick prickle of awareness as something was turned on, then there he was, larger than life, in front of her.
Helen couldn’t help smiling. Well, what was there not to smile about, when she had created this beautiful creature herself? Her eyes went lower and her smile turned into a wide grin. Who said a girl couldn’t have her cake and eat it, too?
No need for greetings. “How do you like your changes?” she asked impishly.
“I suppose any man would thank you for extra blessings,” he replied dryly.
She waved her arms out experimentally. The sense of space was so real, even though her mind was telling her she was really in VR mode.
“So, are you ever going to tell me what we do during these sessions? Besides me admiring your beauty, of course.” She had read the contract and the stages of experiments but this was the vaguest part. What exactly was this man to her? “How many times do we meet?”
“Look at it as a getting-to-know-you kind of thing,” he replied. Was that a hint of mockery? “And we meet as often as we can.”
Helen sauntered closer, tilting her head to the side a little as she looked up at him. “So this is like questions and answers?”
“Something like it. For now.”
It was unnerving how the avatar just stood there unmoving. “Can you make yourself appear with clothes?” she asked.
“No, you have total control over what I look like, Helen.”
“Oh. Am I embarrassing you?”
“But you wanted to.”
“That’s not so!” Well, a little, but it was just her need to assert control.
“Yes, control is very important to you, and I don’t blame you at all. Your life isn’t your own these days.”
“How do you read my mind? And how come I can’t read yours?” She wrinkled her nose. “Those brain wave sync tests, right? Somehow you can read my thoughts.”
He shook his head. “No,” he assured her quietly. “Those tests aren’t advanced enough to read subjects’ minds, Helen. Let’s just say that I find this situation quite unique myself. The VR is supposed to let me see what your mind is projecting when you’re in session, but my sensory perception is also picking up things I shouldn’t—sometimes your thoughts, sometimes your feelings.”
She didn’t think she liked that at all.
“I don’t blame you.”
“Oh, stop. You’re going to make me nervous about my own thoughts.”
“No, you have to learn to get used to me, Elena.”
She stepped closer. It was strange how he sometimes switched to calling her Elena. It made their conversation even more intimate, somehow. “Why?” she asked. His eyes drew her to him, dark chocolate, and so secretive.
Again he shook his head. “If I tell you, you’ll just anticipate and then fight it. It’s in your nature. I can feel it. You hate being told what to do and how to behave.”
Helen didn’t want him to tell her what she was like. She was the one trying to find out what he was like, dammit. “T. told me to think of Greek myths. Hades kidnapped poor Persephone into the Underworld. She must’ve told you they call me Hell-on-Wheels. Is that why you chose that name?”
“Apt, don’t you think? Although I much prefer Elena.”
The way he said her name made her think of doing things with a man—naughty, private things. She quickly pushed the thoughts away.
Hades reached out and waved his hand. The perception of white light disappeared and Helen found herself in a desertlike place, a blazing sun above her. He waved again, and like magic, the sudden ovenlike heat was gone, and they were standing near the edge of a building, a long way above a snarl of traffic. She could feel the wind beating on her body and she reached out to grab his arm to steady herself. It felt hard and muscular.
“Fine, you have programmed controls at your end to play with the scenery,” she yelled above the wind. “So you’re Hades giving me a tour. What’s that got to do with your being able to read my thoughts and feelings?”
Hades turned suddenly, his eyes sharp and assessing. “Give and take, Helen. That’s the foundation to a good relationship. What’s your remote view trigger code?”
Five
Her RV trigger. That was an essential key to her remote viewing. Any viewer had a code or a series of images to keep his or her hold on reality. Remote viewing was free-form…dangerous; without an experienced human monitor or a trigger code, the viewer could be lost in the ether. Mind…reality…ended up somewhere in the twilight zone.
A gust pushed Helen forward, closer to the edge of the building, and she tightened her hold on his arm. She willed herself to ignore the drop below. “No,” she said. “Nice trick, but my mind can withstand trick questions.”
The wind stopped just like that. They remained standing at the edge of the tall building. “I know. GEM’s NOPAIN’s a wonderful tool,” Hades said, “but that wasn’t a trick question.”
Very few people outside the most covert ops could casually bring up NOPAIN in conversation. Most operatives asked its meaning or its usage. Obviously, Hades already knew, and seemed to be trained in a form of it. The KGB and CIA each had their versions of NOPAIN. So, was her trainer once from the CIA? That was highly possible since COS Command recruited all its operatives from the different b
ranches of covert government. Something else to file away.
“What do you call that wind?” Helen demanded. She didn’t like the fact that he still hadn’t moved an inch. “A finger itch at your end? You’re constantly trying to scare me. I haven’t forgotten our first meeting, you know.”
Or forgiven. But forgiven was an intimate word, pushing a training incident into the realm of the personal. She’d told herself that she wouldn’t make anything during her training personal, even down to the times when she knew they weren’t supposed to be watching her. She was going to be exactly what they were training her to be—a supersoldier-spy. But there were times, what Hades did with her in the CAVE, that almost crossed the line. She had a feeling that the person behind her avatar did that a lot.
A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips. “A test.”
“Of?” It irked her that he didn’t address her comment about how he’d introduced himself.
“Your reflexes. You didn’t show much surprise at the sudden temperature changes. And you also aren’t afraid of heights. That’s good to know.”
Helen stared hard at him, then laughed. “Reacting to temperature changes? Excuse me,” she pointed out in between chuckles, “but I’m not the one naked here. You…ummm…didn’t react much to extreme heat and height, either. That’s good to know.”
She was still holding on to his arm. When the wind was gusting hard, his solidity was very reassuring. An image of an anchor materialized in her mind.
“That’s good to know.”
Helen glared at the man beside her. She was getting terribly tired of his reading her thoughts. What she needed was…pure adrenaline. Without allowing herself to deliberate, she tugged at Hades’ arm and stepped off the building. It was a heart-stopping moment. His eyes met hers for that split second just before the free fall. He twisted his body and held her in his arms. There was no surprise in his gaze. Or fear. Whoooooosh.
Rush of air. Heart pounding. Her eyes closed as her head spun. In the back of her mind, the good Helen was already scolding her stupidity. Helen, you dumb-ass, you can die from this, you know? VR is simulation of reality! A fall can result in fatality. And the wicked Helen, despite knowing how bad her decision was, still grinned back.