by Sable Hunter
“Oh, really?” He let the blade of his sword slide along hers. “I bet I could amuse you in other ways.”
“I doubt it. I’m pretty particular about who I let…tickle my fancy.”
“I am sure I could tickle more than your fancy.” They held their positions a moment longer, and Saxon could feel his body respond to the imagined heat of Alyx’s fine form.
“You do handle your sword rather well…for an amateur.”
Saxon snorted at her remark, making Jak back up and look Alyx up and down. “I can promise you I wield my weapon well. I could pierce your sheath with one sure, heated stroke.”
About five miles away, in the small town of Hutto, Alivia grinned, enjoying herself immensely. She wished the text to speech feature could project more emotions, like sarcasm and disdain. “My sheath is off-limits to your sword, I’m afraid.” Alivia was glad he didn’t know her identity at this point, there would be time for that later. She’d changed her mind about the swan song – this was just too much fun.
Her sassy retort only made Saxon’s blood run hotter. This dainty, yet fierce, foe engaged his interest. A wry smile creased his face as he realized Alyx could be a burly, bearded man wearing a bra somewhere. But…he didn’t think so, she just seemed to exude feminine energy. His every instinct told him this was Olivia. “Given an opportunity, I’m sure I could change your mind. If you’re up to a challenge.”
Alivia almost told Saxon he’d already had his opportunity. “I love a challenge.”
Saxon didn’t do a fist pump, but it was only because he was busy typing. “There is a treasure map hidden in one of Polax’s caves on Black Mountain. The journey is perilous and fraught with danger, but the rewards are great. Do you feel lucky?”
Alivia laughed out loud. “I don’t need luck. I have mad skills,” Alyx said with a haughty tilt of her head.
Jak bent at the waist and took Alyx’s hand, placing a kiss to her palm.
Alivia shivered.
“I’m sure you do, beautiful Paine. Shall we meet here tomorrow night to see who comes out on top?”
A vision of her riding Saxon eclipsed every other thought in her head. “Possibly.” She was making no promises.
Jak nodded. “Good. It’s a date.”
“No. It’s just a maybe,” she corrected him as Alyx disappeared in a plume of green smoke, leaving Jak with his jaw open. She signed off, smirked, then rose to stretch her arms over her head. “Now, it’s time for a little surprise.”
Alivia was about to move from the bike to her office when Savvy came rolling into the room. “Are you finished whipping up on the bad guys?”
“Yes, for now.”
“Violet called while you were dueling and left the details of Mindy Nixon’s funeral arrangements. I took the liberty of sending flowers and a personal note to the family.”
“Thank you, Savvy.” Alivia had no doubt she’d chosen just the right floral tribute, and said just the right things in her note. “I appreciate you doing that.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.” Alivia took the opportunity to redo her ponytail, holding her hair high above her head to gather it tight. “What do you want to know?”
“What is the purpose of a funeral? The person who died doesn’t know it’s going on, do they?”
Alivia was taken aback by the robot’s question. She felt like the people who lived with dogs and cats, who became convinced they were their children, and their intellect far surpassed what science always claimed. Savvy could download most of the accumulated knowledge of the world, but applying that knowledge and interpreting it in the human experience was a bit different. “Most people hope for an afterlife, a heaven for the soul after a person’s body is gone. Some people want to think our deceased loved ones are looking down on us, keeping up with what we’re doing – but I don’t know about that,” Alivia confessed. “I’ve always heard a funeral is for the living, to give them closure, and to say goodbye to the ones they love.”
Savvy was quiet for a moment, her eyes dropping to the floor. “When I become obsolete will you have a funeral for me?”
“Oh, you’re going to be here a long, long time, Savvy. You’ll probably outlast me.”
“I hope not. Will I go to heaven when I’m no longer here?”
Alivia felt her heart jump inside her chest. “Savvy, if there’s a heaven, I’m sure you’d be very welcome.”
“Good.” This seemed to satisfy Savvy. “Back to work. Oh, I’m making a list of ideas about the blood substitute. I’ve found something interesting; a researcher at Rice University has made significant headway. When you want to talk about it, I’ll be ready.”
“Thank you.” Once she was alone, she moved to her office to access her more powerful computer, a Corsair she’d customized to fit her own needs. The conversation with Savvy calmed her, but she still intended to carry out her quest to send Saxon a message he’d understand. “You screwed me and walked off, now I plan on giving you a little taste of your own medicine.”
After settling onto the standing stool, she retraced her steps into the bowels of the game, jotting down the information she needed to know, intending to hack into his personal computers via his IP address. All she needed to do was send him a Trojan horse, and when he opened the message, it would be like she was in the room with him. She didn’t intend to destroy anything or do any damage; she just intended to introduce a little game of hide and seek. Before leaving Saxon’s Conquest, Alivia temporarily deleted her character and deactivating her account, just in case he decided to trace Alyx Paine. He wouldn’t find her again until she was damn good and ready to be found. By the time she got through with Saxon, he wouldn’t know what hit him.
* * *
“Son-of-a-bitch,” Saxon muttered under his breath. There was no Alyx Paine registered in the game. Was he going crazy?
Taking a bag of Skittles, he poured a few into his mouth, then chased it with a Red Bull. His eyes kept moving from one screen to another. “All right, I’ll try something else.” After hacking into the DMV, he keyed on her first name. “Olivia. Olivia. How many Olivia’s can there be in the Austin area?” To his dismay, there was a helluva lot. He narrowed his search to women between the ages of eighteen and thirty, and the number was still big. After spending an hour and a half gazing at driver’s license photo after driver’s license photo, he found no one resembling his Olivia. “Man, do they ever take a good picture?” He frowned, thinking what his next move might be. “What if Olivia isn’t her first name?” He went back in and searched for the middle initial, and the results were more than he could filter through in one sitting. “Hell, there’s got to be an easier way.”
When a soft ding alerted him to an incoming email, he shifted to another screen to access his messages. Earlier, he’d been busy sending out reminders to his contacts about the Angel House fundraiser. He’s also received word concerning Deanna Troy. Thankfully, the young girl was found safe and sound at a friend’s house. Maybe this email would be a lead in Mindy Nixon’s murder investigation. He could do with some more good news. To his surprise, the email’s subject line read: Urgent Message From The Falcon’s Lair. Seeing the familiar words, he felt a thrill shoot through him. Without thinking twice, he clicked on the line, and a GIF appeared on screen of the character Darlena striding across a room while the old Nancy Sinatra tune of These Boots Were Made For Walking played loudly in the background. Saxon frowned. This was obviously from Olivia. No one else was aware of their inside joke. When the song reached the pivotal point of one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you, all three of his screens went blank. “What in the world?” Suddenly, PAC-MAN appeared on each one, the wak-wak-wak noise of the iconic ghost filling the room as it ate up the small dots. “What the hell?” For a couple of heartbeats, he just stared at the unbelievable scene in front of him.
This was impossible.
His firewalls had firewalls.
“How did she do this and where
is my stuff?” Why was she doing this? “No, no. I can’t lose my data, my files…” Without hesitation, he set out to correct the problem. Yes, most of his information was protected in a cloud, but the idea that she could invade his space so easily made him feel incredibly vulnerable.
“Who are you, woman?!” he shouted as he opened the motherboard to make repairs. After a few tense minutes, his screens returned to normal. Saxon stared at them, fully expecting something else to happen. Why was she screwing with him?
After checking everything out, he determined nothing was missing, and nothing was damaged. “Damn! Fuck!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. He’d never understand women if he lived to be a zillion.
“Hey, keep the profanity down! I’m trying to sleep!”
The unexpected voice brought Saxon to his feet.
“Jet?” He stepped out of the media room and walked down the hall to the point near the stairs where he could look down into the living room below. When he leaned over the railing, sure enough, the big pirate was stretched out in the recliner, looking up at him. “What are you doing here? Sami kick you out?”
“I’m giving her space.” He shrugged his big shoulders. “Who knew she needed space?”
Saxon made his way down the stairs, his hand moving over the smooth oak bannister. When he reached the first floor, he moved across the living room to sit on his brown leather couch nearest to Jet. “You didn’t leave her all alone, did you? I know she’s due any day.”
“No, she’s with Marisol and Hannah. They’re doing woman stuff.” He made a face and Saxon could see he was miserable.
“Why didn’t you just do the woman stuff with them?” He flipped on the 84-inch 4G television hanging on the wall in front of them, scanning through the channels to find something to appease the big guy.
“They didn’t want me,” Jet mumbled. “Said they were gonna be trying on dresses and shit.” He reached over and grasped an empty beer can off the small table beside him and crushed it in his hand, making Saxon wince. “I think I’ve been carrying her around too much. Smothering her.”
“Literally carrying her around?” Jet gave him a warning look, and Saxon felt sorry for him. “Aww, I’m sure she appreciates you carrying her around.”
“I was just trying to take care of her and the baby.” He pointed at the television. “Leave it there. I haven’t seen that movie.”
Saxon stopped it on the war picture, Hacksaw Ridge. “Sure. Another beer?”
Jet shook his head. “No, I’m good. Sorry, I just crashed in on you. I guess I should’ve called.”
“Nope. I’m glad you’re here,” he said, laying his head back on the couch. “I needed a break from the computer. I just got hacked by a woman I hooked up with during Comic-Con.”
Jet chuckled. “You got hacked? How does it feel when the shoe is on the other foot?”
“This isn’t funny.” Saxon chuckled also. “I didn’t like it at all. I just can’t figure out why she hates me so much. I thought we had a great time.”
“Did you lose anything important? Did she drain your bank account?”
“No, I found nothing amiss. I guess she was just showing me what she could do out of spite. I don’t understand it.”
“Maybe this is just one computer nerd flirting with another. Geek foreplay or something.”
“I don’t know.”
They both stared up at the vaulted ceiling, past the modern art on the walls. “How tall is this damn ceiling anyway?” Jet asked. “And how will you ever change those fuckin’ light bulbs up there?”
Saxon laughed. “Twenty-eight feet and I just don’t turn the lights on much, hoping they’ll last as long as I do.”
Jet chuckled, then glanced at Saxon. “I’m sorry for the way I acted at the meeting the other day. Lately, Wolfe has just rubbed me the wrong way.”
“He and I went through a rough spot too. If you remember, I was convinced Madison was bad for him, and I did my damndest to break them up.”
“Yea, well you came through for him when it counted. Our problem is a little different.”
Jet went silent, and Saxon didn’t think he would continue…until he did.
“I found out he’s been lying to us.”
Saxon sat straight up. “What are you talking about?”
“He’s gone rogue. I’m afraid he’s thinking about chasing the Jaguar on his own. He contacted Marisol for some information, and she told Sami. When I confronted the fool about it, he gave me some bullshit story about his former connections, and how he wouldn’t have to get his hands dirty. The dumb shit’s gonna get himself killed. I threatened to go to Kyle, but he swore me to silence, said he’d tell my secret if I told his.”
Saxon frowned. “What’s your secret?”
A laugh rumbled from Jet’s big chest. “I’d tell you, but I’d have to kill you.”
“Damn, what’s going on?” Saxon grumbled. “The world must be ending. Secrets. A new leader. Titus Landry. And me, the hacker who got hacked!”
“Hell, I don’t know.” Jet shook his head with consternation. “Look at me. A slip of a girl brings this big tough guy to his knees.”
“I still think I’d be the best leader for the Equalizers,” Saxon remarked as they stared at the movie without really seeing it.
“No, that would be me.” Jet gave him a sly glance.
Saxon sighed. “How are we going to decide?”
Jet shrugged. “I think we should fight for it. Hand to hand on the mat. One elimination round, and then for the gold.”
“Oh, sure.” Saxon snorted. “That sounds like something you’d come up with.” He tapped the side of his head. “A leader has to have more on the ball than brute strength.”
“I’m plenty smart,” Jet mumbled. “And you just got hacked, remember?” He gave Saxon a knowing grin. “By a girl!”
* * *
A few days later at the fundraiser.
“I hate events like this.” Saxon pulled on the collar of his shirt. He felt like his tie was choking him. “I never know what to do with myself.”
“Just mingle and write a big check before you go.” Micah picked up two drinks off a tray being carried by a passing waiter.
“I can handle that.” Saxon let his eyes rove around the ballroom. “Nice hotel. I hope you shook down Connor and Rey McGregor. By the looks of this place, they’re made of money.”
“I’ve already received their check. Plus, they donated all of this. We’re not paying a dime to have the fundraiser here at The Waterloo. They’re furnishing all the food and booze too.” Micah leaned in closer to his friend. “I wanted to have the shindig at Angel House, but the board thought Austin’s movers and shakers would reach deeper in their pockets if we schmoozed them with a fancy party.”
“They’re probably right. Where’s Madison?”
Micah pointed to a nearby table. “She’s working the room. I’m so proud of her. The woman never meets a stranger.” He looked behind them. “Is your date in the powder room or did you come by yourself?”
“I’m stag.” Saxon nodded toward the door. “I see Destry brought his old lady.”
Micah laughed and swallowed wrong, choking a bit. “Don’t let him hear you say that, he’s pretty taken with this woman.” They both watched the power couple enter the room, where they were instantly surrounded by people wanting a word or a photo.
“Oh, I’m just kidding. She’s beautiful, all right. If he’s happy, I’m happy for him.” As Saxon scanned the crowd, his eyes landed on a woman with an incredible waterfall of dark hair and an epic ass. “I’d know that delectable derriere anywhere,” he mumbled, “excuse me a minute. I’ll be right back.”
Making his way across the room, weaving between people, Saxon kept his eye on the woman who’d occupied the majority of his thoughts for the past few days. “Olivia?”
Alivia stiffened. She knew that voice. A thrill shot through her, closely followed by a rush of resentment. Turning slowly, she prepared herself to f
ace the man who she’d allowed to get under her skin. The moment their eyes met, all the air rushed from her lungs. “Saxon.”
Saxon was torn between the longing he’d felt for her and the confusion over why she would try to hurt him. “Could we talk?”
“I don’t think so.” Her heart was beating so fast; Alivia thought she might faint. “I’m not sure we have anything to talk about.”
“I think we do.” He tried to read the emotions flitting across her face. Interest. Hurt. Regret. “Look, just walk with me out on the balcony.”
“Sorry, I see someone I need to talk to.” She turned away. “Have a nice life, Mr. Abbott.”
“Olivia!” Saxon started after her, but his forward progress was thwarted by a herd of females moving en masse to the bathroom. He tried to weave through, but between the jostling and the flirting, by the time he emerged on the other side, Olivia was nowhere to be seen. He looked for her, to no avail. “Hell.”
“What’s wrong?” Micah asked, joining him once more. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“No, just a woman who’s driving me insane. Did you see who I was talking to?”
“Yea, I saw her. What of it?” Micah asked with a hint of suspicion in his eyes. “You haven’t started a feud with A. G, have you? That wouldn’t be smart. Clash of the Titans, maybe.”
Saxon turned around in a circle, his eyes still searching for Olivia. “I don’t have a clue to what you’re talking about. Who’s A. G.?”
Micah grabbed him by the arm. “The woman you were talking to was A. G. Hart. The A. G. Hart. Elusive, reclusive, cyber shark, A. G. Hart.”
“No, you’re mistaken, that was Olivia, a woman I met at Comic-Con.”
“That was Alivia, yes. Alivia Gertrude Hart. Like you, the woman’s a legend in computer forensics. She helped the police crack the decades-old Infinity case, located the serial killer, and was there when they brought him down.”
“I know the name, and I’m familiar with…her work, I just assumed A. G. Hart was a guy.” Saxon rubbed his face. “Dammit, I thought Alivia began with an O. No wonder I couldn’t track down her driver’s license.”