by Tasha Black
Veronica’s purple laptop case sat on the desk by the window.
Sure enough, she found a list of passwords on a yellow sticky note, visible the moment you opened the thing.
All the passwords were cute variations on the names of the K-9 officers Veronica trained.
Trinity rolled her eyes. Clearly she was going to have her work cut out for her to get Veronica secure.
Nonetheless, she got right down to business.
In about three seconds she could see that someone had been trying to access the computer.
She would have to set up good security for all of them.
But there was something about it that was tickling at her brain…
A moment later she was jogging down the stairs, out the back door and across the field to the chapel.
She logged onto a computer on the academy server, and took a closer look at that virus she’d fought into submission.
When she found what she was looking for, she was so horrified that she flung herself out of her chair, pacing the black and white tiles in an attempt to kill her nervous energy.
This was bad.
Someone was trying to set up spyware that would have monitored all communication.
“Trinity, are you okay?”
Hawkeye’s big frame appeared in the doorway, and for a moment she felt a sweet sense of relief. She wasn’t alone. He was here.
Then the truth landed on her, crushing the air out of her lungs.
She was pretty sure the entire academy was being hacked just because Veronica was an old high school friend of one of the brides.
Trinity didn’t think she could face what she’d be up against if she married an alien herself.
The last thing in the world she wanted was to be some kind of celebrity.
15
Hawkeye
Hawkeye saw two distinct expressions cross Trinity’s face - first relief and then sadness.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her.
By the time he reached her side she was smiling at him like nothing was wrong. Perhaps it had only been a trick of the light that streamed through the windows of the room.
“Someone was trying to hack into the systems to follow Veronica’s communications,” Trinity explained.
“Why would they do this?” Hawkeye asked.
“They are interested in her because of her relationship to Georgia, and… your brother,” she said, looking pointedly down at her hands.
“Krybalt’s moons,” he exclaimed. “What honor is there in your people that they would steal information from a government entity out of celebrity curiosity?”
Trinity shook her head. “I have no idea.”
“Trinity,” he said. “I’m sorry that my people are causing trouble for you.”
“That’s not your fault,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s deliberate or indirect harm,” he said softly. “I can see how this upsets you.”
“I wish we could live off the grid,” Trinity said.
“What does that mean?” he asked, intrigued, especially because she had said we.
“Well, it means that we could be far away from anyplace that someone could bother us,” she explained. “It means you don’t rely on anyone else for anything - not food or shelter or utilities or information. You’re untraceable. Wouldn’t that be easier?”
“That sounds like running away,” he said. “I don’t want to hide, Trinity. I want to help my brothers - be an ambassador for relations between our people. My only sadness is this need to sneak around. Everything will be better when all of us can be out in the open.”
He hoped that his assertion would make her feel better. He couldn’t imagine asking someone as intelligent as Trinity to run from her friends and her life just to hole up with him, though the idea was intriguing to him. Perhaps this idea of forced isolation was what had her feeling so low in the first place.
“Do you mean that?” she asked softly, still studying her hands.
He reached out his hand to cup her cheek. The feel of her soft skin against his palm was exhilarating. Even after their kissing session last night, he still couldn’t believe he was truly allowed to touch her.
He tilted her chin up, so that she had to look in his eyes.
“Of course I mean it, Trinity,” he told her. “If you have patience with me and my brothers I promise I will do everything I can to make things right with Aerie and the government so we can come out of hiding. Then you can be a celebrity, just like Posey and Georgia and Rima.”
Trinity squeezed her eyes shut and turned her face to press his palm with her lips.
For an instant he thought her expression meant she was in pain, and his heart constricted. But when he felt her kiss his hand he realized she must be feeling grateful.
He leaned down and kissed her forehead.
Earth women could be hard to read sometimes. He was thankful that he understood this one thoroughly.
16
Trinity
Trinity awoke with ice in her veins.
She’d been dreaming about being chased by paparazzi in a room where the walls were closing in.
And she’d been woken by a loud noise that seemed more like a crash from somewhere downstairs than a rumble of thunder from the storm outside.
She slipped out of bed, her bare feet hitting the wood floor soundlessly. The building was still now, haunting in the moonlight that filtered through the curtains and the occasional flash of lightning.
She grabbed her phone and crept down the stairs to the center hall, skipping the squeaky step at the last minute.
Though there were no more auditory clues, she instinctively headed for the admin room.
A glow appearing suddenly just past the kitchen told her she was right. She lifted her phone to call 9-1-1.
A light moan in a familiar deep pitch issued from the admin room.
Hawkeye.
She jogged back to the room to find Hawkeye, his hand on the switch, the other pressed to his head.
Blood was matted in his hair and he was breathing quickly.
“Wh-what happened? Are you okay?” she asked.
“I was out for a walk,” he explained. “I thought I saw a light in here, flashing around.”
“Why were you going for a walk in the middle of the night?” she asked. “In the rain?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” he said, with a funny look on his face. “And I like the rain. Anyway, when I saw the light, I thought someone might have broken in again, so I came to check it out. And someone was in here.”
“Who was it?” she asked, pulling his hand away to look at the wound.
He allowed it, even bending slightly to give her better access.
It was really bloody, but she knew from so many rambunctious little brothers that scalp wounds bled a lot and tended to look worse than they were.
“I don’t know who it was,” he told her sadly. “It was dark in here and he had a big flashlight, that was what I saw from outside. He hit me with it as soon as I came in the door and then he took off. I should have been more quiet. I guess he was waiting for me.”
“If you thought someone was breaking in, why would you go charging in?” Trinity asked, feeling suddenly furious. “Why wouldn’t you call for help?”
“I was worried that you might be in here,” he said.
“Why would I be working in the middle of the night?” she demanded. But even as she said it, she knew he had a point. She was pretty likely to be up at all hours.
There were footsteps on the stairs. The others must have woken up, just like the last time.
“This is getting ridiculous,” Trinity muttered. “Come on. Let’s go get the first aid kit from the kitchen.”
“I’m fine,” he said.
“Just come with me,” she said.
“What’s going on?” Lobo asked as he bounded in from the corridor.
“Another break in,” Trinity said. “Your brother tried to be a hero.”
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“Hawkeye, what happened?” Conan asked from the doorway, behind Lobo.
“I’m fine, brothers,” Hawkeye said. “Trinity will care for me. Can you please figure out how the intruder accessed this room? I didn’t find any broken glass this time.”
“Sure, of course,” Lobo said.
Conan nodded and the two of them came into the room and began searching.
“Where are Veronica and Brooke?” Trinity asked.
“Brooke is sleeping,” Conan explained.
“I asked Veronica to stay upstairs,” Lobo said. “In case there had been another break in.”
“I’ll go talk to her as soon as Hawkeye’s patched up,” she replied.
Lobo nodded.
Trinity led Hawkeye down the hall.
“Thank you for helping me,” he said. “Will this require stitches?”
“No,” Trinity said. “Head wounds bleed a lot, but this one’s not bad.”
“You know much about medicine,” Hawkeye observed.
“No, but I had six little brothers, so I know much about injuries,” Trinity said.
“Six little brothers is a lot,” Hawkeye said. “But I’m sure you took good care of them, so they will always protect you.”
Trinity chuckled. That was probably true of at least four of them. The other two… not so much.
“Here’s hoping,” she joked weakly.
They had reached the kitchen.
“Go ahead and sit down,” she told him, indicating one of the stools.
She went on tiptoe to retrieve the first aid kit from one of the top shelves. Thankfully, they didn’t need it often.
Hawkeye observed her solemnly as she got a clean towel from the drawer and wet it.
“This is going to hurt,” she warned him.
But he didn’t flinch when she pressed the towel to his head.
She held it firmly in place for a full minute and when she removed it again, the bleeding had stopped.
“Great, you’re not bleeding anymore,” she said, hoping to distract him with mindless chatter as she cleaned the cut.
He waited, calm as a sleepy kitten, while she cleaned it thoroughly and dabbed it with peroxide.
She smeared a bit of antibiotic ointment over the area and leaned back slightly to admire her handiwork.
“That’s better,” she said. “You’re going to have a nasty lump on the back of your head though. I’ll grab you some ice.”
“Wait,” he said.
Suddenly his big hands were spanning her hips as he leaned his forehead against her chest.
It felt so good when he touched her. The frank lust was there as always, but there was more than that now, maybe there had been from the beginning.
A wave of emotion swept through her heart, frightening her.
This man is telling me I’m his everything.
She wasn’t ready. She wasn’t ready for this.
Trinity broke free of his hold.
“Grab yourself some ice from the freezer,” she practically yelped as she skidded out the door. “I-I have to go tell Veronica what’s going on.”
17
Trinity
Trinity exploded up the stairs and away from Hawkeye as fast as she could.
Though her first thought had been mere escape from a tsunami of conflicting emotions, by the time she reached Veronica’s door she was looking forward to seeing her friend.
Veronica and Brooke always made Trinity feel anchored.
She tapped lightly and Veronica opened the door right away.
“Is everything okay?” Veronica whispered, pulling her in.
The room was practically a shrine to Veronica’s K-9 officers. Their framed pictures lined the walls. The built-ins were laden with scores of dog training books.
Trinity hadn’t been up here since Veronica and Lobo quietly moved their stuff upstairs so they could live together as mates. Their happiness seemed to have infused the rooms with a peacefulness, in spite of the excitement happening downstairs.
“There was another break-in,” Trinity said, settling down on the sofa.
“Your files room again?” Veronica asked.
“Yeah,” Trinity nodded, tears prickling her eyes unexpectedly.
“I’ll bring Anka over again,” Veronica said, hopping up. “She didn’t find a scent trail outside the broken window. But maybe we’ll have better luck this time.”
“Wait,” Trinity said.
“Oh honey,” Veronica crooned, seeing her friend’s tears.
She sat again and put an arm around Trinity.
“I know you’re scared,” Veronica said.
“It’s not that,” Trinity said with a sniff.
“What’s wrong then?”
“It’s… Hawkeye,” Trinity said.
It was hard to put into words exactly what the problem was, but Veronica just waited patiently, her arm still around Trinity’s shoulder in a comforting way.
“Well, do you like him too much?” Veronica asked at length. “Or not enough?”
“Too much,” Trinity said, feeling a rueful smile tug up the corners of her mouth.
“Are you sure that’s not exactly the right amount?” Veronica suggested.
“He’s going to have a very public life,” Trinity said. “It’s the opposite of what I want. What I need.”
“There might be some attention at the beginning,” Veronica agreed. “But I tend to think this will blow over after a while. There are a lot of them, more than people know about right now. And they’re really pretty normal, when you think about it.”
“Now who likes her alien too much?” Trinity teased.
“Is that all that’s holding you back?” Veronica asked. “Just the publicity thing?”
“No,” Trinity admitted. “He’s… he’s like a big kid. I mean even tonight, he thought there was a prowler in the office and he just rushed in there, not even thinking about what the consequences might be. I mean, he seriously thought he was confronting a burglar. He could have been killed.”
“We are surrounded by police officers,” Veronica admitted. “He probably should have called for help.”
“But he never will,” Trinity said. “I can tell already - it doesn’t occur to him to stop and think. It’s just like my little brothers all over again - all adrenaline and no thought. If I decide to be with him, I’ll spend all my time keeping him out of trouble. My days of babysitting are behind me.”
There was a tap at the door.
“What’s going on?” Brooke’s whisper carried to them from the hallway.
“Go let her in,” Veronica said. “I’ll put on some tea and then I’ll go get Anka and see what we can figure out.”
Trinity headed to the door, feeling more secure in her decision about Hawkeye now that she had talked it out with a friend.
It was going to hurt, but now that she’d really worked through all the reasons why she didn’t want to be with him, it would be easier to resist.
At least she hoped it would.
18
Hawkeye
Hawkeye watched with delight as Veronica came in with Officer Anka at her heels.
Anka’s claws clicked on the floor with each step, her beautiful inky tail waving swiftly back and forth. Her slender muzzle was upturned at an angle, and she gazed at her handler’s face with sparkling eyes, as if she were desperately longing for even the slightest instruction.
“Hello, Anka,” Lobo said happily.
Anka turned to him, sat down, and looked up at him. Her expression conveyed pleased expectation.
“Ask her to find the stranger’s scent in this room,” Veronica advised Lobo.
Lobo pressed his forehead to Anka’s, resting one hand on the silken fur of her back.
They stayed like that for a moment, then Anka’s tail began to wag furiously again.
Lobo stood and backed up a few steps.
Veronica unclasped Anka’s leash and the dog took off like a rocket.
They
all watched as she thundered down the first row of files, snout low to the ground, tail swishing loudly.
She must have found nothing amiss there. She continued up and down each aisle.
“How will you know when she finds it?” Hawkeye asked.
“She’ll sit and bark,” Veronica said, her eyes still fixed on the dog. She looked concerned.
Anka made her rounds a second time, her tail wagging less briskly than before.
“It’s storming out there,” Veronica said. “That always makes it harder to track outdoors, though there ought to be clues in here. We know someone hit you.”
Anka finished up and returned to Veronica. Looking up into her mistress’s eyes she sat down in a manner Lobo could only interpret as dejected.
“Sorry, girl,” Veronica said. “Maybe I shouldn’t have woken you up in the middle of the night to do this. We’ll try again in the morning.”
Lobo knelt beside Anka again.
“Good work, Anka,” he told her. “You did your best.”
Lobo proceeded to scratch behind her large ears until her eyes twinkled again and her mouth opened in a big grin, her pink tongue lolling out the side, over her enormous teeth.
“Are we going to call the police?” Hawkeye asked, hoping that this time the answer would be yes.
But the others turned to Brooke.
“I think we need to get law enforcement involved,” she said. “One break-in where nothing was taken and no one was hurt could be a fluke. Two break-ins and an assault is serious stuff. We can’t risk our safety just because I want to buy the building.”
“Agreed,” Veronica said.
“Do you want me to call?” Brooke asked.
Veronica winced. “If we do that we’ll be up all night waiting for them. Tell you what - Anka can sleep in my room tonight. She’ll alert us if there’s any foul play. We’ll call first thing in the morning.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Lobo said.
Hawkeye personally thought it was a terrible plan to wait until morning. But he suspected that Veronica was eager to give Anka another try at tracking the intruder before surrendering the crime scene to the police, and he hated to deny her that.