Page 40 of Warrior Unraveled

14

They’d eaten the food Virginia had appropriated from the store across the road and then gone to sleep. Wesley had tucked her against his big body, wrapped his arm around her, and held her like that all night. She hadn’t protested, though she knew what she was doing was wrong. Technically Wesley was still her prisoner, and the council hadn’t made a determination yet on what to do with him. But right now, even she had to admit that in order for them to survive she had to bend the rules and trust the witch. He’d saved her life more than once. For that she owed him.

The next morning, after taking a shower and eating breakfast—coffee she’d heated in the microwave and donuts from the supermarket—she sat down at the small table in the motel room and emptied a second bag. She was wearing the clothes she’d stolen last night: black jeans and a black knit sweater over a matching bra and panties set, with black boots that laced up her calves.

Wesley, freshly showered and dressed in the black cargo pants and gray long-sleeved T-shirt she’d gotten for him, joined her at the table. He reached for a donut and bit into it, then pointed to the items she’d spread out on the table: a local map, a calculator, a notepad and pen, and a brand-new pre-paid cell phone and sim card.

“What’s all that for?”

“We need to figure out where the closest portal is so we can get back,” she explained without looking up. She was already sliding the sim card into the phone and powering it up.

“Good idea. Let’s go back to the compound in Baltimore.”

She raised her head and looked at him. “I have to make contact with the council.”

“But that place blew up.”

“There’s an emergency safe house for situations like this.”

Wesley grimaced, clearly not happy about going back to the council. “Does that mean you’re planning to have me locked up again?”

She hesitated. If she brought Wesley back to the council, they would want to take every precaution against a second attack. Not even her testimony of how he’d helped her escape the demons’ Underworld would sway her fellow council members, particularly since it wasn’t clear why they’d landed in the Underworld in the first place. They would insist on Wesley being locked up until they could determine whether he was a risk or not.

“Don’t bother answering,” Wesley said.

“Wes, I’m s—”

“Don’t say you’re sorry when you’re not.”

She sought his eyes, but he looked away. “I have to follow the rules. If I don’t I’m putting my people at risk. I can’t—”

“Were you following the rules last night? Or is sleeping with a prisoner not against the rules?”

“That’s not fair.”

“Isn’t it?”

She tore her gaze from him and busied herself with the phone so he wouldn’t notice that his words had hurt her, when they shouldn’t have even dented her armor.

Wes rose and walked to the microwave, opened it, and popped another mug of instant coffee into it.

Blocking out Wesley’s presence, Virginia connected to the motel’s Wi-Fi network, then opened the phone’s browser. She couldn’t risk making a phone call to central command to get information on the closest portal, but there was another, safer way to get the same information.

She navigated to a site and typed in her access code, a string of sixteen random letters, numbers, and symbols. A window popped up, asking whether the site was allowed to access her phone’s GPS system. She tapped allow and waited. Within a few seconds, several strings of numbers appeared. She noted them down on her pad, then disconnected from the website, shut down the Wi-Fi access, and shut off the phone. The entire process had taken less than twenty seconds. Not enough time for anybody to trace her movements, even if anybody had been monitoring the motel’s Wi-Fi system. Which was unlikely in itself.

But even if somebody had been able to note down the same strings of numbers she’d scribbled down, they would need a degree from MIT to figure out what they were looking at.

She started her calculations, using the calculator she’d taken from the big box store. The formula was complicated and the variables she had to use in order to get the correct outcome known only to the Stealth Guardians. They’d developed this method of finding the coordinates of the closest portal only a short while ago, after it had become clear that not all portals were located in a guardian compound.

The lost portals, as they were called, could be anywhere. A special task force had been established to locate all lost portals and catalogue them. She could only hope that this part of the country was already in the catalogue.

“What’s all this?” Wesley asked over her shoulder.

“Trying to find the coordinates of the closest portal.” She continued scribbling figures on her pad.

“Looks like math to me.”

She glanced up. “Scared of smart women?”