by Michael Todd
“This is the dumbest conversation I’ve ever had,” Korbin told them all with a blank face.
“Really?” Katie replied, turning around and looking at him. “With this team? I would have thought there would have been much more idiotic conversations.”
He looked up at the ceiling a moment before answering, “You may be right.”
The crew watched all three episodes without a single argument breaking out, which was a record for them.
They laughed and joked through the whole thing, making the base feel like a home for the first time—at least to Katie. When it was over everyone went their separate ways, figuring it was time for bed.
Katie lingered in the main area for a moment, unable to escape that nagging feeling in her stomach.
I have it too, Pandora shared. So it’s not gas.
What is it? Katie asked.
Not sure, but whatever is coming may just be bigger than we think.
Brock signed the last of the autographs for the evening and glanced at the groupies. They giggled and looked away and Brock smiled, handing over the last photo and capping his marker. He turned to his guitarist, who was finishing up his autographs as well.
“We are getting closer,” he whispered.
“Yeah, but we don’t want to come off as too desperate,” the guitarist replied. “We want to keep them thinking we are badass musicians who don’t give two shits.”
“We are badass musicians who don’t give two shits,” Brock responded. “Watch and learn, my friend.”
Brock tugged his leather vest down and swished his hand through his hair, then cleared his throat and sauntered over to the girls.
They smiled and spread out into a line of sorts, and he walked straight past the redhead and blonde to the least attractive of the group, a brunette. He knew that if he favored the one everyone would turn their nose up at, the girls would work even harder to get him. Besides, for being the least attractive of the group, she was still pretty damn hot.
He walked back down the line and chose the redhead, waving his finger at her and watching her as she swayed over on her six-inch platform heels.
Brock knew the blonde wanted him, and he could see her poise begin to waver as he walked past her again. She thought she was hot shit—like no one could touch her—but he wanted her to know who was in control. After the band had lined up to make their selections, he walked back to the blonde and leaned toward her to put his lips next to her ear.
“You can come too,” he whispered.
His three girls surrounded him and he put his arms around two of them and started walking toward the bus.
“They’re all yours, boys,” he called over his shoulder. “Hell, bring ‘em all if you want.”
When they climbed into the bus there was already music blaring and booze set out. The girls giggled as they walked through, running their hands over the leather seats.
Brock poured himself a glass of whiskey and took a sip, trying not to show his distaste for straight liquor. He wanted to come off as a badass and he thought that would do the trick.
“Ladies, let’s get some privacy from the rest of the party,” he suggested, leading them to a door in the back.
It was a bedroom furnished with a huge California king bed and a fully stocked bar. The girls giggled as they entered the room and all three sat down on the edge of the bed.
He closed the door, took off his vest, and sipped his drink.
“Blondie, why don’t you pour you and your ladies some champagne?”
She got up, popped the cork of a bottle of bubbly in an ice bucket on top of the bar, and poured three glasses. When she went back to distribute the champagne she noticed a plain brown box with a game sticking out of the top of it on the side table. She handed out the glasses and wandered over to it, pulling Mirror Mirror out.
“You like games?” she asked, turning around and holding it up. “I’ve heard this one is real; that you can really summon demons with it. That was why they recalled it.”
“Oh yeah?” He smirked as he put his arm around her waist. “And what do I have to do to summon your demon?”
She smiled enthusiastically. “We should play this.”
He groaned and pulled the game from her hands, tossing it to the floor.
“Play later. Let’s fool around now,” he told her, pulling her down on the bed with the other two.
They all rolled around on the bed, teasing and playing. Brock laid his head on the brunette’s lap as the other two began to undress him. The girl ran her hands through his long blonde hair and started massaging his scalp. He closed his eyes as the women took care of his needs, just relaxing from the long trip and the long night.
“Where are you from?” the brunette asked.
“He’s from Wyoming,” the redhead told her.
“Yeah, but where in Wyoming?”
“I am from Archfiend, Wyoming,” Brock answered. “It’s small. You won’t even find it on a typical map. Maybe a thousand people live there.”
“Small-town boy,” the blonde teased. “I like that. Hopefully you’ll forget your manners tonight.”
He turned his head and grinned at her, thinking about his hometown. It had been a long time since he had been there, or at least felt like it. He had come up in the world and made something out of himself; something more than just a farmer or rancher.
He had gotten out, but sometimes he missed it.
“What is it like there?” the brunette asked.
“Quaint.” Brock smiled. “There are two stoplights and five stop signs in the whole place, and really the only reason they were put there was to figure out who was at fault if there was a wreck. I’m pretty sure I was personally responsible for at least two of those stop signs, I didn’t really give a shit about the speed limit.”
He groaned and sat up, then looked at the three beautiful women. He still couldn’t believe that he was the guy with the groupies. His mother had always told him he was too smart for the rock-and-roll lifestyle and that he should be something bigger.
But he had wanted it so badly, and by using his smarts he had finally had gotten here.
He planned on enjoying every little second of it, too.
“Now, enough about me,” he told them, eyes darkening with mischief. “Let’s talk about you…and you…and definitely you.”
As he pointed to each girl he ran his finger down her chest. They giggled and started to undress.
He sat back on the bed and put his arms behind his head, just watching the action. He was going home in a month when they got a break from touring, but until then he was going to enjoy this life.
All of his friends and most of his family, even if they wouldn’t admit it, were jealous as hell of the lifestyle of the rock and roll guys they had become. He had felt the same way about the rockers he had listened to growing up, and now he was one.
Brock had always been hugely into girls and he was a charmer, the guy who could get almost any woman to fall for him.
He knew how to read people, and that helped him maneuver his way through not only women but life as well. He was the lead singer of the band, and his charm and charisma impressed most people he came into contact with.
He paused a moment in his reflection to admire their bottoms. Nice!
Even before the label had signed them and helped them produce better music they’d had a following, mostly due to Brock and his alluring personality, big charming grin, and mischievous eyes.
And while he might have power over women, they also had power over him. He had been known to fall for a gorgeous smile and a pair of perfect breasts in a heartbeat.
His drummer teased him, saying his mission was to fall in love in every city in America.
Brock sighed. It wasn’t love. It was lust.
He loved himself, and his career and he would never trade that for some chick, even though many tried their best to get in there with him.
No, he was more than happy letting his fine groupies fig
ht it out for a night in the back of his bus. Going home was gonna be a much-needed rest for him and his dick for damned sure.
As the girls closed in on him, he turned his head and briefly stared at the box on the floor. He winced slightly as a flash of heat blew through his head, but he figured it was the whiskey and ignored it. It was just a stupid game, right?
He turned his attention back to the women and drowned himself in pleasure for the rest of the night.
Chapter Sixteen
“I don’t get this part of it.” Travis sighed and looked at Joshua.
“That’s not important; not to you, anyway. It is part of my process.” Joshua closed his books. “You can do your jobs without that information.”
“Right,” Travis replied, watching him walk away.
He still wasn’t sure how what he was doing changed the raw material into the special metal that came out the other side.
He had been told what the metal did, but that meant there had to either be a specific metal that demons reacted to…or it was magic.
Seeing as Travis didn’t believe in magic, he had to be missing something. It was either a material not in the recipe or it was the sequence in which the product went together.
Travis, incredibly frustrated, went over to his computer and opened the private server. He put the new information in, then glanced around the room to make sure that no one was watching him and pulled up the last email from his boss. He grimaced; the man was pissed.
He didn’t understand why it was taking Travis so long to figure everything out. He didn’t understand what the weapons actually did, so he didn’t understand that there was a piece Travis couldn’t figure out.
Nonetheless, he had been ordered to send the information he’d gathered so he opened his notes and typed a quick message. He didn’t like this assignment. He had to go behind people’s backs, which wasn’t what he had signed up for.
This was supposed to be an easy operation, but he actually liked Joshua and the women who worked there.
Still, he had worked his ass off to get a high position with that company and he wasn’t going to fuck it up because he had a moral crisis. He finished the email and looked it over really fast, shaking his head. He opened the encryption app but as he started the process the door opened and Korbin walked in. He hit the escape button and sent the email in haste before closing his laptop and notes and walking away from the area.
“Hey, Stephie-poo,” Calvin said, stopping in the door of the IT room. “Haven’t seen this up and running since Derek was alive.”
“Yeah, I figured I would get some of the stuff moving. Don’t want to waste the money we sank into this thing.”
“I don’t understand all this stuff,” Calvin told her, looking at the different screens.
“Well, this is the security system—which should have stayed up, but someone overlooked that.” Stephanie pointed at a bank of screens showing different angles of the base. “The rest of this stuff is surveillance and ops…trying to get information before someone else does.”
“Right.” Calvin walked along the bank of computers, stopping at the last one and tilting his head. “And what does this one do?”
“That one?” Stephanie looked over her shoulder. “Oh, that’s just a monitor of outgoing communications from anyone in the base. It’s a good protective measure in case we ever have a rogue teammate or something.”
“Is it supposed to be flashing red?”
Stephanie stopped and turned slowly, walking over to the screen. She looked at the text line, which told her it was an email sent from Joshua’s building. She pulled up the outgoing message.
“Uh-oh. Looks like one of our government boys is breaking the rules. I should probably go take care of him.”
Calvin grabbed her arm. “Wait, you should probably go to Korbin on this. It’s a sensitive one.”
“You’re right.” She sighed. “Thanks.”
Stephanie jogged through the tunnels to Korbin’s office. He was just coming back and glanced curiously at her as she followed him in.
“You look like you are on a mission,” he offered, one eyebrow raised. “What’s up?”
“This.” Stephanie handed Korbin a printout of the email. “Sent ten minutes ago from Joshua’s building.”
Korbin read it and sighed as he sat down in his chair. “I’d better call Katie in.”
When Katie arrived they told her about the situation. She was fuming mad, but Korbin was able to calm her enough to keep her from heading over there and ripping his head from his shoulders.
Korbin called the general on speakerphone and Katie gave him the details.
“So that,” she finished, “is where we are.”
“Hold tight,” Brushwood requested. “I’ll be there in four hours. Don’t let him know there’s anything going on. We’ll take care of this immediately.”
After they hung up they all looked at each other for a minute, trying to figure out what the next steps should be. Katie raised her hands to her head and began to pace. Korbin shook his head and looked at Stephanie.
“Thanks for catching this,” he told her. “It’s important to keep that IT room up and running even if we don’t know how to use everything.” He tapped a finger on the desk. “I have no idea how to use it.”
“Noted,” Stephanie answered. “Calvin is over there right now keeping an eye on things.
“Thanks.” Korbin turned. “Katie, I need you to calm down and then go over to the building and keep an eye on Travis. We don’t want him to run. That would not be good for him. Act like nothing is wrong, and as soon as the general gets here we will meet you over there.”
“All right,” Katie said through clenched teeth. “But he owes you his thanks for restraining me, because I want to rip his fucking face off.”
Korbin and Stephanie followed Katie through the tunnels to the elevator and Katie headed to Joshua’s building while Stephanie and Korbin went to the helo pad to wait for the general, even though he would be a while yet.
They sat there for hours, just enjoying a little peace and quiet before everything hit the fan.
It was a good thing. Korbin needed to calm down, and Stephanie wanted that time with him. When the helicopter got there it was just Brushwood and Jehovivich. He nodded at Korbin and the two of them headed for the building.
The general pulled out his cell and called Travis’s boss. “There has been a breach of security by your man. I don’t want to hear your excuses at this point. I will be putting you in listen-only mode when we walk into the building. I want you to understand how grave this issue really is.”
The general pushed into the building and marched toward Travis. Jehovivich went behind him and cuffed him, then stepped to the side.
“What the hell?” Travis looked from person to person, his eyes large. Korbin walked over to Travis and gripped his arm tightly.
“You are to stop all research immediately. You sent highly-classified information through the internet to your boss,” the general told him. “We were unable to download the attachment. We can only imagine it contained even more information than you stated in the body of the email.”
Stephanie held the printed copy of the email up in front of Travis’s face and his eyes fell in shame. She grimaced in disgust, sick and tired of everyone trying to hurt them, and walked back to where Katie was standing, arms crossed and eyes flaring red.
“Do you remember what I said about security here?” Brushwood asked. “I told you if you fucked with this you would find yourself in an unmarked grave.”
“General, I—”
The general raised his pistol and pulled the trigger.
The room was silent as he unmuted the video feed. Travis’s boss was freaking out. His hands shaking and he was barely able to say a word. The general straightened his jacket and took a deep breath.
“We will be talking shortly,” he informed the man. “I expect you to return every shred of data he sent you…unless, of course, you w
ant to share his grave.”
“This is completely unacceptable,” the CEO yelled completely beside himself. “You murdered that man. You will not get away with this!”
“We are at war, asshole,” the general shouted. “There are no rules. He was a traitor and a danger to the people on this base. I promise you I will do the same to you if you decide to become a traitor as well.”
“Fine, fine.” The CEO shrugged. “I had him send me the information. I thought if we could replicate the process we could offer the same tools cheaper. There was no harm meant.”
“You’re fucking fired,” the general snarled. “And you will send that data now.”
The general terminated the call, handed the cell to Jehovivich, and looked at Korbin, who was shaking his hand out and wincing. The metallurgist lay unconscious on the ground.
The general had fired the bullet into the wall as Korbin knocked Travis out.
“That kid has a fucking hard jaw.” Korbin kept shaking his hand.
“Wake him up,” the general directed Jehovivich.
She nodded and bent down, opening a capsule of smelling salts and waving it under his nose. Travis’s eyes shot open and he groaned, Korbin and the general grabbed him under the arms and lifted him into a chair.
Brushwood waited for his head to clear. “Welcome to your new life.”
“What?” Travis squeaked, looking around. “What do you mean?”
“You are dead now, or at least everyone thinks you are,” he told the man as he paced around him. “Now you are part of this mercenary team. My advice is to make the best of your new life, since it’s not a crime to shoot a dead man…and don’t think I won’t.”
“And when you can stand properly,” Korbin added, pointing behind the man, “you can fix the fucking bullet hole in my wall.”
He slowly looked over his shoulder at the hole. He thought he had dreamt the general firing at him, but apparently he hadn’t.
Travis had gotten himself into some seriously deep shit, and he wasn’t sure what to say.
The general and Korbin walked toward the door, leaving Stephanie, Katie, and now Calvin to look after Travis. Korbin would have thought the whole thing almost comical if their information weren’t floating out there somewhere for the demons to find.