Tangled Redemption (13 page)

Miguel met her gaze for a moment. Jayden’s jumped between
the two of them and narrowed. His smile dimmed and disappeared.

“This is Baikal. It is a small moon with a five major towns
on it. Nasir plans to attack Kajaani.” He zoomed into the planet and showed a
mid-sized town surrounded by mountains. “The day after tomorrow.”

Sydney’s heart nearly stopped. Why would Miguel share this
information with her? The comps in the room had aura locks, meaning they were
tuned to Vampires, but there were ways to circumvent them as long as they
weren’t type three. He had to know she’d do everything in her power to get
those details out. What the Jade was he up to?

Something else suddenly occurred to her. “It’s her moon,
isn’t it? The one you ended up on after you lost your friend?”

Miguel did not respond, but she could have sworn deep inside
he flinched.

Jayden slowly straightened and studied the image hovering
midair. “That is ambitious. We haven’t gone after anything this close to the
core before.” He looked at Miguel. “Are we coming out?”

Miguel nodded. “That is his plan.”

Jayden rolled back and forth on his feet, his expression
thoughtful. “Do we have a company hidden away somewhere? I don’t see how we can
take Kajaani with our current troop number.” He turned to Miguel. “Do we have a
secret weapon up our sleeves?”

Sydney forced herself to continue eating. She watched her
two men, aware of strong undercurrents but unsure what they meant.

“Computer, show delivery system and breakdown of Cattle
Dope.”

She leaned forward as the image of a missile joined the holo
image of the moon. Numbers and formulas filled the wall, drawing her in. She
pulled back when Miguel shared more details.

“Cattle Dope is a drug Nasir has killed a human scientist
and his family for. The human was working on research to do with the Rantago
Flu. This formula was supposed to bring down the fever in infected patients,
but it has the unfortunate side effect of making a human completely malleable.”

Sydney pushed back the plate. Her stomach curdled. “So he
plans to gas the humans and then take them as slaves.”

“The ones young enough to be of value.”

She swallowed. The look in his eyes told her she wouldn’t
like what he had to say next, but Jayden took the words out of his mouth.

“The rest will be sport for the troops.”

Miguel nodded.

Jayden pursed his lips. “What kind of numbers are we looking
at?”

Sydney stopped listening. Helplessness and rage roared
through her.

Here she was listening to the two men—no, Feral Vampires she
had sex with—calmly discuss the destruction of a whole town. How could she have
ever thought that they had true emotions, compassion or a conscience? She
wanted to scream long and hard. Instead she clenched her fists and dug her
nails into her palms deep enough to draw blood.

Instantaneously both men turned to her.

Fuck,
she was an idiot.
Great plan! Bleed while in
the company of monsters.

She rose as Miguel strode up to her and grabbed her fists.
He gently but irrevocably forced her to open them and studied the damage.

Sydney expected him to lean down and lick away the smears.
Instead he nodded to a narrow metal shelf in the corner. “Jayden, get me the
heal-all.”

The other man immediately complied and brought over a small
tube. Miguel tilted her flattened palm and Jayden smeared the ointment across
the impressions. They watched with great attention as the damage disappeared
and her palms were healed again.

Why in Jade’s name would two monsters heal her instead of
using the opportunity to take her blood? Every time she thought she knew where
she stood, one of them changed the picture completely.

Unable to cope with the situation and not caring about their
response, she dove into the numbers. The formula was complex, but once she’d
identified the key, easy enough to disassemble. Her knowledge of human
physiology was limited, but she believed she’d identified the two chemicals
that would attach themselves to the RNA in their bodies.

It was actually quite ingenious. There was something about
the composition…the percentages meant that…

“Sydney!” A loud bark that was her name pulled her back.

She yanked her wrists out of Miguel’s grip and took a step
back. “Damn it, why did you do that? I was so close.”

The two men frowned at her.

“To what?” Jayden asked.

“I don’t know. You pulled me out too soon.”

“What have you found?” Miguel studied the formula with an
eagle eye.

Jayden’s gaze jumped between the two of them. “What the fuck
are you talking about?”

“Sydney has found something in the formula, something we may
be able to use.”

She whirled to him. “Use for what?”

“For a hypothetical exercise.” His expression was completely
impassive, but deep down inside him it was as if a dam cracked and light shone
into his darkness for the first time in years.

As quickly as the insight came he shut her out again.

Jayden crossed his arms over his chest. “What kind of
exercise?”

Miguel turned his back on them and strode up to the holo
image of Baikal. “As second-in-command and therefore in charge of strategy it
is up to me to imagine every single thing that could go wrong with our plan. I
need to think of every single way we could fail and lose hundreds of men.” He
waved at Sydney. “I believe you were just about to come up with an issue that
could cost us the campaign.”

She tried to use their link, but he had shut down
completely. Nothing came from their bond. He only looked at her, his brows
slightly raised.

Jade, she hated bloody subtext. She much preferred to say
the things swirling through her mind, but right now that didn’t seem to be an
option. She shook her head and grumbled under her breath before she once again
sank into the numbers.

Of the two chemicals that would attach themselves to the
human messenger RNA one had to be in a very specific percentage to fight the
fever. The scientist’s notes were detailed and gave her a good picture of how
the chemical worked. She remembered something about this chemical. Something to
do with Vampires. “Do Vampires have a reaction to babote?”

The two men stilled.

“Hypothetically speaking, of course.” Damn them. It was
obvious no one in this stupid room was who he pretended to be. If they all had
the same plan they needed to share some trust. And she needed this info to
establish a plan that could save the humans.

“Hypothetically speaking, babote can be poisonous to us,”
Jayden said.

She raised her brows. “In what concentration? Why?”

Jayden snorted and shrugged. “I have no bloody clue how much
is enough to kill me. All I know it attaches itself to something in our cells
and this somehow results in a toxin that shuts down all bodily function. It
isn’t something that is on the regular curriculum and I don’t build bombs or
assemble poisonous gas.”

She turned to Miguel. He shook his head.

She growled and sank into her gift.
In humans it attaches
to the mRNA
…Vampires are a different species, but have humanoid
characters. Could it have a similar
…creation of protein that is toxic to
the Vampire organs…but what if
…would that affect innocents
…

Sydney didn’t know how much time had passed when she
resurfaced. Both men were talking and going over details she couldn’t quite
identify; she was too tired. She looked at the screen projection and froze.
Numbers, abbreviations, comments and notes were spread across the wall. She
realized she held an old-fashioned black pen in her hand, smears of ink
covering her fingers. “What—”

She coughed, her throat dry. Miguel handed her a glass of
water.

“What time is it?”

“You’ve been working for the last four hours.”

No wonder every muscle in her body ached. She slumped into
her chair. Using her gift was like working out three times as hard as she was
used to. She studied her results.

Would increasing the concentration of babote change the
composition of the gas? She was no chemist. Sydney scrolled through the
scientist’s notes. He had experimented with higher and lower concentrations and
had landed on the one in the current formula because that had worked best to
attack the fever.

But a higher concentration had not destabilized the gas nor
changed anything else.

She sat up straight and rubbed her eyes before raising her
gaze to Jayden and Miguel.

There was no way for her to reach Duncan or any of his
friends in time to get them to Kajaani to prevent or alleviate the attack. Her
two options were to try in a suicidal attempt to get a warning out…somehow, in
a manner she could not imagine right now.

Her other option was to trust the two men before her. The
two men who’d kept secrets, who’d turned her heart into one giant tangle, who’d
continued to keep her world topsy turvy with no firm leg to stand on. The same
men who’d taken care of her, who had protected her since her arrival, who did
not appear to be who they pretended to be.

But that could just be her imagination. Her deepest wish
that she hadn’t fallen for monsters.

This is it.
Sydney took a deep breath. “To answer
your theoretical question from earlier, if one was to change the gas
composition and increase babote to 458ppm the negative effects on human nerve
receptors would be minimal, but the gas would have deadly effects on Vampires.”

Jayden’s hazel eyes flashed. Miguel pressed his lips
together.

They exchanged a look.

Sydney could only hope that they would use the information
the way it needed to be used. If they didn’t she would have to find a way to
stop the attack. Somehow.

Miguel studied the man before him. If he progressed the way
he planned it could blow up in his face. It could be the end of everything.

He hadn’t trusted another person in more years than he cared
to count. The other Vampire did not give anything away.

For a second he hoped he wouldn’t have to kill Jayden. He
cared for the other man in a way he had not expected. Not releasing Jayden from
his gaze he tapped his comp and began to give instructions.

Jayden rolled from heel to toe and back as he was prone to
do when he was deep in thought, his hazel eyes filled with darkness. But not
hate, surprise or anger.

He couldn’t believe he was about to risk five years in hell
on a chance, but he saw no other way. Miguel nodded to Jayden, turned around to
sit at his comp and began hacking into the gas manufacturer.

Jayden stepped up and looked over his shoulder. Usually he
hated having someone behind him, but Jayden didn’t raise the hairs on the back
of his neck. On the contrary, he exuded support and strength.

Sydney tugged on the shimmering link between them. Every
time she did that he wanted to scream in rage and agony. He wanted nothing more
than to accept their connection, to open himself completely, including the
good, the bad and the ugly, to her.

Miguel didn’t know if she’d be able to accept all of him,
but deep in the darkest part of him he prayed she could. He dreamed of someone
forgiving him the atrocities he had to allow.

Believe him worthy of redemption.

He didn’t know why he had to find his other half now and
here, but keeping her safe was more important than anything. Even if it meant
giving up his one chance of redemption.

“Cross out this section and give it the disguise control
app. That way you will avoid leaving a trail, even one as infinitesimal as the
one you’re working on.” Jayden’s breath teased his ear. His words low and
nearly subvocal. He thought over the suggestion and made the necessary changes.

Sydney stepped beside Jayden, her hand on his shoulder. Her
position completed the triad they were with Miguel at the front, the leader and
protector.

He continued his work of changing the manufacturing
instructions for the gas. At one point Sydney pointed out how his encryption
could be turned around and used to track him down. Other than that no one
spoke. Everyone understood the significance of the moment. They worked
together, as a team, to stop Nasir. They sabotaged Nasir’s biggest attack yet,
the one that would catapult them into the galactic limelight. The one that
could very well ignite another war.

For the first time in more years than he cared to count, Miguel
was not alone.

Now he just had to find a way to keep all of them safe.

Sydney stared at her two men, hardly believing what she saw.
No one had come right out and said it, but all three of them were working to
sabotage Nasir and stop his attack on Baikal.

She watched Miguel and Jayden.

Maybe her instincts were not as bad as she thought. Maybe feeling
what she did for both Miguel and Jayden was all right. She couldn’t stop her
smile nor the lightness invading her body. Relief spread through her and the
permission to allow her feelings free rein.

She studied Jayden’s hard body as he leaned down and pointed
something out to Miguel. Miguel turned his head and showed her his profile. He
was just so damn gorgeous. The strong chin, now covered in a slight shadow, the
high cheekbones and his flashing eyes. She could stare at the two of them for
hours.

It would be even better if they were naked.
The
thought took her only a little by surprise. Imagining their sleek and hard
bodies rubbing against each other made her hot.

Immediately both men turned to her.

She really should remember they could scent her, but right
now she didn’t care. Miguel’s black eyes blazed with hunger. Jayden’s whole
body was tense and the bulge between his legs grew.

Sydney smiled. Confidence and fire spread through her body.
She loved that they had such an instant response to her hunger. Her heartbeat
increased and her nipples hardened. She unzipped her jacket and stroked one
finger across her collarbone and the top of her chest.