“But I like the thought of you pregnant,” Alex murmured.
The elevator door opened. Jed walked in.
“Go take another elevator,” Alex said, not turning around.
“Don’t mind me,” Jed said, “I’m just the service man. By the way, don’t you think you two should at least use the places where the microeyes aren’t trained on you? T, I need to talk to you later. Important mission stuff.”
With an indiscernible reply, T gave Alex a push and he stepped back, giving her room to get away. They walked out of the elevator, leaving Jed.
Jed pressed his floor and then turned and looked dead straight at the microeye. He pulled out his ear piece. “Eight Ball, I’m ashamed of you,” he mocked quietly, “letting me listen in on them like that.”
“Dude,” the computer’s voice mimicked his voice to perfection. “Information is everything.”
“Erase that from file.” Jed gave the password for the command.
“Password received. File erased.”
Nikki pregnant. He released a soft sigh. He was happy for her.
HELEN LOOKED UP ATthe sound of the knock. It was Flyboy. He was giving her the kind of smile that made a girl spontaneously smile back, but she was supposed to be angry at him, so she schooled her expression.
“Can I come in?”
“I’ve been ordered to digest my food before my VR session. I suppose I can talk while that’s happening,” she said dryly.
She couldn’t help but lie back and admire appreciatively as he bent over to pick the tray of food out of the chair, moving it to the table by the window. She eyed the back view equally appreciatively.
Flyboy was gorgeous with a capital G. Of all the commandos, he had been the friendliest and most accessible, but now she wasn’t sure whether that was an act or not.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
“Armando called me, said he’s in trouble and needed to talk to me. He gave a quick version of what had happened. I’m just checking to make sure you’re okay before I see him.”
“Huh, good to know I’m more important than Armando,” Helen said, with a smile. “He won’t be happy about that.”
Flyboy sat down by her. His deep blue eyes slid over her body. “He’ll get over it. You haven’t answered my question. How are you?”
“Besides re-injuring my leg, I’m okay. Jed thinks a remote viewer was invading our territory and somehow Armando and I felt his presence.” Helen shrugged. “Too science fictiony to explain.”
“But you’re buying it.”
Her eyes met his. “I’m a remote viewer. I’ve also experienced several very strange happenings lately.” And she didn’t mean just the incident in the stairwell. Her stare hardened. “I hardly have any room to be skeptical at this point.”
He studied her for a second then sighed. “Okay, so I’m guilty of knowing who your trainer was. I was ordered not to reveal his identity till he said so.”
“So our friendship was just a game?” Helen crossed her arms. “I’m just an assignment, right? You were to be my ‘friendly companion’, so you could watch over me.”
He smiled, shaking his head. “No, not a game, Hell. But yes, I was told to keep an eye on you, make sure you have someone to talk to.”He leaned closer. “I wasn’t pretending to like you, if that’s what’s making you mad.”
“No, no, no, what I’m mad at is that you, and the rest of the guys, were doing your best to confuse me enough not to figure out which of you is my trainer,” Hell said, with a sniff. “That’s typical male behavior, covering the ass of one of your own while he does his nefarious deeds.”
“You mean women don’t cover their female friends’ nefarious deeds?” Flyboy countered reasonably.
She chose to ignore that. She had every right to be angry and wasn’t going to let the man get off with reasoned arguments. “You and the others went along with him against me, the newest member of your team. How’s that supposed to make me feel?”
“Every one of us is tested in different ways.”
“Yeah, you guys get into pissing contests, get to see whose dick is bigger, but when a woman comes along, all of you get together to trick her so she’s in the dark.”
