Greyson nodded, his jaw hardening. “Sounds like a plan.”
Jax turned for the door. “Tace, you staying on point?”
“Yeah. I’ve got Sami’s back so she can type away,” Tace said, his Texan drawl back in full force.
It surprised Jax how much he’d missed that sound. Interesting. “All right. The second you have information, any information, get me, okay? Soon, Sami.” He didn’t want to pressure the young woman, but if well-armed forces were about to blow a hole in the side of the facility, he needed to know. Worse yet, what if there was another back door somewhere? They’d be sitting ducks. “Thanks.”
Chapter Thirty
I can be this person. I know I can.
—Sami Steel
The sound of a printer running was almost foreign and instantly comforting. Sami fell right into typing code, Tace at her back, a screen at her front. If it were possible to feel a slight moment of contentment in this crazy world, she was almost there. Except the damn firewall was blocking her. She’d pared through several of the defensive layers and was already printing out personnel files and some communications between different facilities.
Yet there was something hidden . . . a file she couldn’t quite reach.
Her instincts hummed, and the thrill of the chase poured through her.
“You’re stunning in your element,” Tace drawled from her left.
That drawl . . . that sexy twang. The sound slid right down through her, warming her in the cool room. “Stop flirting with me.” She grinned.
“Can’t help it. In fact, truth be told, you’re always stunning.” He probably sounded just like the scores of Texas lawmen in his family who’d come before him.
She’d wondered if he’d like the studious side of her—the real her. Guess she had her answer. She would’ve given anything to have kept digging through the medical records downstairs, but now that she’d unlocked the files, anybody could gather the data. “You’d better be cured of rejecting B, Justice.”
“I’m hoping, darlin’.” His voice was clear, as were his eyes. That had to mean he was cured. It just had to. The idea that the tough soldier, the brilliant medic, could be brought down so unexpectedly scared the hell out of her. Yet the man he’d become, the badass with the twang, kept her interest every day. He had to survive.
She typed faster. “There’s something here.”
“I’m sure.” He turned and scanned down the hallway, his shoulders relaxing as he focused back on her. “Is this place just like you remember?”
“More people were here before,” she said softly. “Then they had to go cover other Bunkers, and fewer people made it back.”
“The air is secure here, right?” he asked. “Wait a minute. That doesn’t matter. Scorpius is a bacteria, so air doesn’t matter. But this place is secure, right?”
She paused. “Well, it was secure until we breached it. We’ve brought the bacteria with us into the facility.”
“Shit. Be right back.” Tace jogged out of the room and was gone at least five minutes before returning. “Jax and Greyson already had figured that out, so they’re not touching anybody they’re questioning. Or to be more accurate, they’re threatening to bite anybody who doesn’t cooperate.”
“I guess people are cooperating,” she muttered.
“Definitely.”
She sighed and kept typing.
“Just take your time and work the problem,” Tace said, standing at attention near the door.
“Are you still feeling obsessive?” she asked.
“I am.”
She let her fingers fly and her brain work the problem, kind of zoning out a little. “Then you should stop fighting it so much. Maybe if you settle into it, you’ll relax.”
“Maybe. Sex helps.”
Humor bubbled through her. “I’m here to help.”
