“Shit.” Spiral pointed his gun at the computers and started firing. “I think the Brigade is here.”
Sami screamed and shoved herself out of the way, running for the stairs.
Instantly her way was blocked by soldiers wearing combat gear, even their faces covered by masks. One grabbed her and took her down, zip-tying her wrists before she thought to fight back.
Spiral fired at them, and two soldiers fired back, killing the computer expert.
One guy yanked Sami to her feet while ripping off his mask. He had dark brown skin and even darker eyes. “Sami Steel?”
She gulped and nodded.
He gestured at the equipment. “Get everything you can.” After issuing the order, he dragged her up the stairs and outside into the empty, rainy street.
She struggled, seeing a transport van. “Where are we going?”
The soldier paused. “You’re going to the Bunker to fix this mess. Our orders were to take Spiral and kill you, but since he fired, you’re on.” He all but shoved her into the back of the van.
She struggled against the restraints. “Where is the Bunker?”
“California.” He slammed the doors shut.
Vinnie touched Sami’s shoulder and pulled her out of the past. “Let’s go sit down.”
Sami nodded and followed her into the war room, where everyone quickly entered and sat. She needed to throw up. Her legs wobbled, even while sitting.
She tried to keep from panicking and running from the conference room as she sat at the sprawling table with Lynne, Jax, Vinnie, Raze, and Tace. The entire elite force of Vanguard looked at her, all waiting for some sort of explanation.
Many times during her formative years, she’d been called to the principal’s office, so this was a feeling she remembered well. That was before she’d been arrested, of course. It was too late to turn back since she’d dropped the bomb about the Bunker, but what if they didn’t believe her? Even if they did, she already knew the outcome of this meeting.
Jax sat at the head of the table, directly across from her. The Vanguard leader’s expression had gone to watchful, which was never a good sign.
Yet the man at her right held her attention. Tace was still pale, but a hardness had entered his blue eyes the second he’d realized what she’d said.
“Explain.” It was Tace who’d given the order.
She nodded. “All right. First, you all need to know that the Bunker isn’t this great place where we’ll all be saved.”
“No. Start at the beginning.” Jax’s voice was clipped.
She sighed. “Fine. I’m not LAPD.”
“No shit,” Tace muttered. “Who the fuck are you?”
The Texan rarely swore at women, and never at her. This was so not good. “I’d say out of everyone here, you know exactly who I am,” she snapped back at him.
“I don’t think so,” he returned, his rugged face a hard mask of stone. “Get to it.”
“Fine. I, ah, am a hacker.” She kept her voice level when all she wanted to do was beg them to still like her. “A computer hacker. One of the best, actually.”
“The fighting skills?” Jax asked.
“Truth. Dad owned a karate studio, my uncle a street-fighting gym, and they started us young. I had fun, learned a lot, and bonded with my dad over grappling. Then I learned a few more tricks from the US military when I worked for the government.”
“As a hacker,” Tace drawled.
“No. I was a hacker in high school, got arrested with my boyfriend Cricket because we hacked into a secured courthouse document center to get his uncle out of jail. We got caught, and it led to a job offer and free education from Uncle Sam if I agreed to keep working for the government after school. Cricket died the next year in a car accident.” Man, she’d missed that lost boy. He’d come from a bad family and had been angry . . . and brilliant. “I, ah, got tired of working for the government and went out on my own.”
“So you were wanted by the law?” Jax asked.
