Lie to Me (41 page)

“Well, aren’t you an equal-opportunity criminal?” James drawled.

Reaper pointed a finger at him, and his eyebrows turned into a uni-brow. “I dislike your judgmental bullshit.”

Kella put her hand on her buddy’s shoulder. “It’s okay. I grew up with Satan’s asshole attitude. Ignore him. It’s what I do. Hang on.” She walked out of the room with her mug in hand.

“You got a vagina, Reaper?” James stared at the other man. Before Reaper could respond, James went on. “You’re as sensitive as a chick where she’s concerned. I’ve always given her hell like that. I don’t mean shit by it. In all honesty, the way her skillset has evolved amuses me.”

Stone added. “Don’t let him fool you, he cares about her.”

James snorted as Kella strolled back into the room. Rolled up paper under one arm and the mug in her other hand. She set the mug and paper down on the end of the table and unrolled a few before selecting one. Using the butter and milk pourer to hold down two corners, she grabbed a roll of silverware and moved her mug to the forth corner.

“That’s the underground blueprint of the maze the elders built. This one,” she unrolled it and placed it beside the other one, grabbing various items off the table to hold it down, “is the blueprints to the Regency. Here’s the tunnel I was talking about.” She traced her finger along a line and Stone rose to stand beside her for a better view. She glanced at him, as James leaned forward to get a better peek. “Note the coordinates. Now, look at this map.” She indicated the Regency blueprints. “Compare the coordinates.”

“Shit.” Stone scratched his jaw as he looked between the blueprints. “Are these the same maps you were looking at the other day?”

“No.” She shook her head. “Those were near your Quad, and I was marking some possible dig sites.”

He liked that she made plans near his home, but he couldn’t be distracted by hope at the moment.

“We don’t know that there’s an entryway between the tunnel and his bedroom.” On the surface the plan might seem beneficial, but without a way to access the chamber from the tunnels, those passageways were just conveniently located.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “We’d need to send in a scout.”

“Should talk to our hacker first.” Reaper munched on his eggs, but his comment jerked Kella’s gaze in his direction. “If there’s a way in, she can have the scout put a surveillance camera in his chamber. Having eyes on Jones ahead of time will help.”

“If we can make this plan work, Stone, I like it.” James stared at him. “Teleporting is a little disorienting for some, and you can’t go in alone. Can’t risk it with just you and I. This way, we send others in and keep you from danger, while sending a clear message that no Regent is safe in his home. Better yet, there won’t be a teleport log, so they won’t have a clue how you got in.”

“A good hacker could get rid of the log,” Reaper said.

“I’m going in, not someone else.” Stone wanted to experience the satisfaction when Jones realized how much he’d dismissed him.

“I can’t back that.”

“Not asking, James.” He met his buddy’s gaze over the table. “You want to join me and play bodyguard, you’re welcome to tag along. But I
will
have the satisfaction of seeing his face when he realizes his tyranny has come to an end because he ignored my warning and threatened Kella.”

“All right.” James grimaced. “For the record, I don’t like it—”

“Noted.”

“—but I can tell when you’ve dug your heels in and you’re being a stupid fucker.”

“I think it’d be better if no one ever knew Stone took the palace or Jones.” Everyone peered at Reaper. “That way Stone can maintain his power of position while working with us on the down low.”

“He shouldn’t be working with us openly or on the down low, period,” Kella said, her voice growly, but it just came across as sexy to Stone.

“You’re going to lose that argument, holy terror.” James sent her mock sympathy.

“Wouldn’t matter if they all knew I did it, I’m untouchable. And I don’t need acknowledgement anyway.” Stone just needed the satisfaction of bringing him down. “Like I told you last night, sunshine, I don’t need your permission to aid your cause.”

Shaking her head, she sighed.

“What about his children?” James sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers. “They’re next in line for Regent heir-apparent.”

“We’re not harming innocent children.” That was a hard limit for Stone.

“James is right.” Reaper agreeing with James on this surprised him. He hadn’t expected the man to be as coldhearted as James could be. “They have to be neutralized or they’re always a threat.”

“Our hacker has been working on a chip that acts as a bomb if a person goes into a certain area.” Kella created circles on the table with her fingertip. “Not saying I’m inviting you into the X-Ds, but it’s an option. Chip them, and warn them to never return or go boom.”

“Jesus Christ, you’re twisted, holy terror.” James pointed a finger at her and smiled at Stone. “I like the way she thinks. And the solution is less bloody than mine or Reaper’s way.”

“The X-Ds are about preserving life, Satan. Those kids are as innocent as any Xeno.”

The idea of killing kids sickened Stone. Delighted by Kella’s alternative solution, Stone thrust his hand to the back of her neck and pulled her in for a hard and fast kiss. “You think your hacker will do it?”

“I think we should put his involvement to a vote.” Reaper pushed his plate away.

“No.” Kella scowled at her friend.

Her friend devoured a slice of bacon. “Not your call to make, Mack. If our friends are to help, they should be involved in all of the decision-making process. That means there has to be a vote.”

“Call them,” Stone said, noting the way Kella closed her eyes as if the worst outcome unraveled against her will.

“There’s one other thing.” Kella leaned her hip against the table. It was a casual stance, but he could feel her tension. “We have to go through the silos to enter the tunnel system.”

“Sure, whatever’s necessary, sunshine.” To Reaper, Stone said, “I want Kella safe before we do this.”

She grinned at Stone and flicked a glance at Reaper. It was her friend that spoke. “The silos are the safest place for her.”

“The silos are located in the badlands, Stone.”

That caught him off guard, and he stared at her with no idea how to respond.

James didn’t have a problem expressing himself though. “Great. Just fucking great. Things just keep getting better. Now we need a global-sized military to execute this mission to survive the goddamn Feeders.”

“Now who’s got the vagina and is whining like a diva?” Reaper smirked at James.

“Reaper and I are known there,” Kella said quickly. “Feeders aren’t in the silos, just your everyday average Joes known as Raiders.”

“You’re known in the godforsaken badlands?” James narrowed his gaze on her. “Aren’t you just a box full of mysteries? How, Kella?” His tone grew harsher, more forbidding. “Before I’ll allow Stone to walk into enemy territory, I need to know
how
you’re known there.”

“Dregs in the badlands are like us. Nothing horrific.” Reaper supplied that unhelpful report.

“They’re our friends, and we spend more time there than here. The Feeders are outcasts even to us and only come out at night. They’re two totally different set of people. Our people are harmless if you’re not a spooner.”

“You’re fucked,” James glanced at Stone. “You couldn’t pass for a dreg after an intense six-year acting lesson.”

Offended, Stone knew he could pull off a convincing imitation of a dreg. “How hard could it be?”

“He’s right, you’d never succeed. The way you carry yourself and bark orders is something you can’t hide.” Reaper scratched the back of his neck. “Don’t worry, they let you believe they eat spooners to keep their fearsome reputation, and to keep others like you from venturing into their domain.”

“It’s all about marketing,” Kella said in a singsong voice.

“Comforting.” James made a queasy face.

“I want you to understand I’m only agreeing to take you to the badlands so you can have your revenge on Jones. No other reason. I won’t support you joining the X-Ds.” Stone nodded, letting her think what she wanted. He understood her stance, and soon she’d understand his. “For that, we need you to be you, Stone, no acting necessary and no games. It’s the only way all this works. Honesty. We walk in there with a lie and everything will go to hell. You try to go behind my back and get in good with the rest of the X-Ds counsel and I’ll send your fine ass packing back to the Quad without me. Got it?”

He held Kella’s gaze, adoring her fierce protective instincts, but he also abhorred her attempt to push him out of her life. They’d made love, he’d vowed to fight for her, and in this moment he understood she still had every intention of walking away from him.

“I understand exactly what you’re saying, sunshine.” No question, he very much understood her intentions. Espionage was her journey, riddled with danger, and it came with an immediate execution if captured, and she’d oust him from any association with the X-Diplomats if she had the final say. Didn’t matter what he wanted or that an alliance with him offered them a blanket of security. All Kella saw was her need to protect those she cared about, and he’d made the short list. But she didn’t think much of his abilities if she’d put him in witness protection, but not Reaper or her other friends. If he allowed her oppressiveness, his woman would turn him into a spineless man, without asking for his input or factoring in his wants. She’d be no better than the Regents who currently governed with an iron fist. All for the sake of securing his well-being, without a single thought to his consideration or happiness.

His woman had a lot to learn.

“Good.” She snuggled into Stone’s side, obviously content with his response. “You’ll be safe with us. We have a house there.”

Stone kissed her forehead, vowing soon she’d learn how persistent he could be. She’d fight him, but he welcomed the challenge.

He thought back to the night in the airplane. She hadn’t been frightened of the Feeders and had claimed she knew more about the world than he did. But he knew more about Regents and the way the high-class society worked. United with him, the X-Ds would be unstoppable.

“Reaper, contact whoever you gotta contact to put this mission to a vote. Help me, and I’ll owe you.”

––––––––

D
espite Kella and Reaper’s assurances the badlands weren’t dangerous, Stone saw to it Kella was heavily armed. Reaper had rolled his eyes at Stone’s insistence, but taking a chance with his wife’s life wasn’t an option. In every sense of the word, losing her wasn’t an option either.

Seeming amused by his armament, Kella had kissed him. Stone wasn’t sure what to make of her affection, but he wasn’t objecting, and he helped her strap on blades, guns, and lasers all the same.

He’d had a heart to heart with Reaper about being an ally, if not a member, of the X-Ds, and detailed all the benefits he brought to the revolt. Reaper had volleyed with the disadvantages, Kella ripping his balls off for going behind her back at the top of that list. They eventually came to an agreement. Reaper contacted his people, Dutch and Creed, put them on speakerphone, and they’d debated Stone’s involvement all over again. They’d agreed to put his association to a vote and left it at that. Kella would be pissed off when she discovered what he conspired with her friend, but he was prepared to deal with her temper.

Before they left, Kella showed him a small tube-looking device that had X-Diplomats engraved on it. “One of the EMP canisters we use to knock out the X-gene camps. It’s strong enough to fry the brain.”

Ingenious tech. Turning it about, he studied the innocuous-looking weapon. These devices stumped the best Regency tech. Then again, they apparently self-destructed without a trace left behind. “Who came up with it?”

“A combination of Dutch and Creed. Don’t push that button. It arms it.”

Stone slid his thumb off the switch. He remembered Dutch from the day Kella had been publicly punished. After he and James had been granted verbal permission to enter the silos, Kella explained Dutch was their hacker. Most attractive hacker he’d ever seen, but all the ones he knew were male. “I haven’t met Creed.” He’d talked to him, but couldn’t put a face with the name.

“Reaper said he was at my house the day Jones electrically beat me.”

Ah...the other guy he hadn’t been able to identify. The one with the air about him that made Stone think he had privileged connections, maybe even elitist upbringing, and seemed familiar in a way he couldn’t isolate. “How well do you know him?”

“How well do we know anyone?”

Fair point. Even so, she trusted the other man with her life, so that counted for something.

She nodded at the EMP blast in his grasp. “Use it if something goes wrong.”

“I’d rather you have it.”

She’d curled her fingers in the short hairs at the back of his neck and gave a sharp little tug. At his hiss, she growled and gave his chin a sharp nip. Of course his dick reacted. “I have one in my pack. You’re adorable when you’re protecting me, pretty boy.”

He’d say ‘likewise’, but her protection violated his manhood. He did love her playful banter. Felt like old times. “I was going for sexy, wife.”

“Oh, you got that in spades.”

After that, they’d departed with Kella navigating her buggy across the deserted landscape, with Retro tucked inside her backpack. Stone took up the space beside his wife, with Reaper and James scrunched into the back seat. Given the size of both men and the way their knees bumped the backseat and folded to their chests, Stone decided ‘back seat’ an ambitious definition.

They’d left Stone’s soldiers behind to feed intel back to them and because both Kella and Reaper were adamant if they showed up at the silos with a sizeable force it’d be considered an act of war, and they’d be shot on sight. Didn’t matter that Creed knew they approached, arriving in large numbers remained off-limits. Their mothers had been teleported back to the safety of his Quadrant, with the shields erected and his people put on high alert.