Virtually Hers (15 page)

Helen squinted, pretending to consider the idea of refusing him. “I’m still starving,” she announced. “If you bring me something from the cafeteria, I’ll work for food.”

“Done,” Jed said. He looked around. “Get started. Armando, you’ll stay in the next room and get thoroughly checked out. Thoroughly. Brainwaves, Kirkland, and a drug test. You’ll stay till it’s all completed, do you hear me, Chang?”

Armando hooked his thumb on his belt. “Time out, I suppose.”

“More like a spanking,” Helen said. What did he mean when he said that he injected the serum to stop the pain? Was his “reckoning” this pain that he kept having?

“Chang? I didn’t hear your answer.”

“Yes, I’ll be in the next room.” Armando exchanged a glance with Helen as he pulled open the door by the examination bed. “This is my reward for saving damsels in distress.”

She grinned. She couldn’t help it. He was probably in serious trouble but he didn’t seem at all remorseful. Dr. Kirkland ordered Derek to move the tables with the monitors out of the way, as he headed to the medical cabinets.

It was a familiar procedure. Helen returned her attention to Jed.

“If he’s going to draw blood from me, I’m going to need food. Send up some,” she hinted again. “Then I’ll see your fake ass in virtual reality, Hades.”

Jed walked to the examining table and paused to look down at her. Something indefinable flickered in his light eyes. He said nothing, simply locked his fist in her hair and pulled her head back. His mouth came down on hers hard. He angled her chin just so. His tongue tangled with hers for a brief moment.

It happened so quickly, she didn’t think Dr. Kirkland, intent on measuring meds, even noticed. Derek had his back to them.

“That,” he said softly, “wasn’t Hades kissing you.”

A smile touched his lips before he turned and strode out. Stunned, Helen stared after him. She touched her lips. The freaking man had a sense of humor after all.

Kevin Kirkland shut the cabinet door. There was a mirror on the inside of the door that Derek had recently hung there.

In all his years monitoring Jed McNeil in the Virus Program, Kirkland had never seen the man kiss any woman in public, not even Nikki Taylor, an injured GEM operative Jed had rescued and with whom he’d had a relationship a long time ago.

Such a long time ago, Kirkland reminded himself, that his head of hair wasn’t salt and pepper then. Before Jed brought her to GEM. Before she got her memory back. She was Nikki Harden now.

He considered Jed a friend. He’d started out as he was doing now with Helen, just charting vitals and making scientific observations on the subjects for the Virus Project, but over the years, the doctor-subject relationship had morphed into something closer. It had to, since Jed McNeil had to trust him when it came to things he had no control over, such as drugs and medical needs.

It wasn’t exactly a communicative kind of friendship. Jed wasn’t much of a talker when it came to his personal thoughts. An excellent communicator when it came to being a leader; a great conversationalist when it came to philosophy, music and sports; a remarkable chess player; even an excellent cook; but not exactly very sharing about his past or his beliefs.

Even after all these years, Kirkland had trouble getting him to talk about his past whenever the chance came up. He had learned to listen for clues and had pieced together some background information.

Other than a childhood in Dublin, Ireland, it seemed that Jed McNeil had pretty much been a CIA protégée for most of his life. He’d been sent into the Special Forces and Rangers school for training and warfare experience, had been through one covert program and another, all at the behest of the CIA.

Kirkland still wasn’t sure exactly how Jed had parted ways with the CIA and become a COS Commando. COMCEN and CIA weren’t exactly great friends these days, yet he still had ties in the latter agency, giving him a lot more access to covert information than most operatives.

One thing was clear, though. Jed McNeil was a very powerful person and many people listened to him when he did communicate. Kirkland had personally seen how his wishes overrode a few powerful names, some of them generals and department heads, and other than voiced outrage and threats, there didn’t seem to be any repercussions. It was a simple rule: what Jed McNeil wanted, Jed McNeil got.

And from that kiss he’d just witnessed, Jed McNeil wanted Helen Roston. The act itself—a kiss—was telling. During times when he was in his element, when he was figuring out all the different variations of a spy scheme, Jed had always been unemotional, almost robotic, as his mind worked out the next best step.

It was part of the Virus Project training, the compartmentalization of emotions. In his personal file given to Kirkland in the beginning, there had been a small notation that had caught his attention. There were little things the attending doctor and a scientist must take into consideration when it came to his test subject. In Jed McNeil’s case, it was noted that his primary mentor had mentioned that the young subject had shown an inordinate capacity to sacrifice himself when it came to protecting someone close to him. Case in point, the notation went on, was Kitty. That was all Kirkland had, nothing else that would tell him what or who “Kitty” was. He did get to ask Jed about it a few years later, showing him the file.

The silence that had followed was telling. He’d learned that Jed liked to think over whether his replies would take him to places he didn’t want to go.

“She was my wife.”

It’d shocked him because Jed was the last person he’d thought would be married. “What does it mean by ‘inordinate capacity to sacrifice’ in the file?” he asked. “It’s important I know, Jed.”

Jed had just shaken his head. “No, it isn’t,” he’d told him. “Kitty’s dead. It was a long time ago, when I was barely a man. Not everything in the file about me is true, Doc, and not everything psychologically explained about my personality is correct either. I’ve been in this game twenty-odd years. Do you think a woman who’s been dead for that long could affect me now?”

As a scientist with just the facts, no. But as an observer doctor and friend, he’d watched Jed McNeil in and out of COMCEN, in and out of relationships, moving through countless women as assignments and moving on with nary an emotional exchange. He seemed to like to end things before they truly started.

Nikki Taylor came to mind again.

Kirkland turned to study Helen Roston, still lying on the examining table. She was yawning.

“Boy, this place is no five-star hotel, for sure, Derek,” she complained. “Lousy food service and horrible bed. Jed had better show up with food soon or he won’t get a tip.”

“The cafeteria food isn’t bad.”

Helen wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, but you hadn’t been planning on dining with an admiral,” she said.

Kirkland smiled. So there had been plans.

Yes, all signs pointed to Jed McNeil wanting Helen Roston. He’d always suspected it, of course, what with Jed’s obsession with watching the woman on camera, studying her even while she slept in her quarters.

He’d keep an eye on this to see where it was going. Usually, once an assignment was over, Jed would disengage himself without a problem.

A knock at the door. Someone appeared with a tray of food.

“I was told to bring this up for Agent Roston,” the young man said, looking at Helen. “That would be you, right?”

“Duh. You just won the lottery.” Helen sniffed the air. “I have a suspicion that Jed sent you because he’s too cowardly to bring it to me himself. Is it that bad?”

The man set the tray at the foot of the bed. “Edible.”

“Personal opinion, of course.”

“Thanks, anyway.” She reached for the food. After he left, she turned to Kirkland and growled, “I still think he’s a coward. I wish I had time to play with the VR avatar program. I’d make him dickless. It’s what he deserves.”

Kirkland couldn’t help smiling at the thought. “I’m going to get everything ready. Be right back,” he said. “Derek, prepare the Portal program.”

Outside the room, in spite of himself, Kirkland’s smile widened into a grin. He had a feeling that it wouldn’t be easy for Jed to disengage himself from Helen Roston.

Chapter Ten

Jed didn’t like it that he had to put Elena through virtual reality so soon after Frankfurt. This was supposed to be her downtime and she hadn’t actually been resting, dammit. He had plans—

He tamped down his sudden burst of irritation. Everyone had plans. His job was to make sure he was in control, no matter how the plans changed. He should have thought of the CIA’s hand in this matter; after all, he’d practically grown up within its many programs. They didn’t let go of their children easily. Not even him, who’d been one of their own before the transfer.

Helen must have impressed them during her training in their remote-viewing program, so much so that they were sending in their own remote viewers to check up on her. Probably because of what happened in Frankfurt too. She was the only remote viewer who had ever successfully RVed, pinpointed a location,
and
completed an operation without canvassing an avalanche of red tape, reviews, generals, interdepartmental consent, and body count.

Jed wasn’t surprised about the covert meddling. The CIA had been known to ignore interagency agreements before. The SSS program was supposedly koshered by all the department heads and everyone had agreed to leave the chosen candidate and her winning agency alone for at least a year. They had agreed to come to COMCEN if they needed to use the supersoldier-spy for their individual cloaked activities. That was why the candidate was so damn important and why everyone worked so hard to win. The winning agency had dibs to special allocated funds and certain power over the other agencies’ agendas.

This definitely had the smelly smell of the CIA.

Jed nodded cursorily at a passing operative’s greeting as he reached the set of elevators that would take him to the secured levels. Several conclusions came to mind. A, the CIA was either trying to understand what they did with Elena that was different. Or B, the rogue CIA rats needed information, which meant that COMCEN was doing its job, slowly cutting off the many heads of the serpent, and with Jack Cummings and his wife their latest casualties, they must be desperate. Or C, they were experimenting with their own version of the supersoldier-spy and coming to COMCEN for information.

His gut pointed to conclusion B. The events in Frankfurt suggested it. If they had wanted Elena, they could have had a better chance with a surprise attack at the beginning of the operation, before they’d entered Deutsche International. But they appeared to know about Cummings already and knew that Elena was after the device, and deliberately waited till after she’d located and retrieved it.

Jed needed answers and he needed them quickly. He had no choice but to get Elena into TIVRRV again. She would be out of it afterwards for sure. He was going to have to get hold of T. ASAP. She needed to know what was happening. There was no way he was going to allow any of their enemies to slip away. Not when COMCEN and GEM were this close to achieving their goal.

He slid his security card in the slot and keyed in his code. As the scanner took his thumb print, he activated the screen so he could check up on Elena at Medic. One of the perks of high security clearance in this place, he thought dispassionately, then smiled at what he saw. She was licking her fingers like a kid while Kirkland was taking blood from one arm. She didn’t seem tired. Yes, she was chomping at the bit to meet him in VR again.

Out of habit, he changed the view to see what was taking the elevator so damn long to reach him. His eyebrows shot up.

“Speak of the devil,” he murmured. It was T. Cornered by Alex. Usually his friend was smart enough to use his own secured code to deactivate access, but he was obviously too distracted at the moment.

Jed executed a few more access codes and inserted his earpiece. A slow smile formed on his lips as he listened in. “And how are you going to escape him this time, dearest T.?”

“I heard Nikki Harden’s pregnant,” Alex’s voice came through.

Jed frowned. Somehow he hadn’t gotten that news.

“Yes, she is,” T. said, her eyes trained on the lights above the elevator door.

“Will she be taking time off soon?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t talked to her.”

“If I were Rick Harden, she’d be.”

Jed watched Alex reach out toward the elevator control panel. Probably remembering now about overriding the microeyes.
Sorry, pal, I got to you first.
A man had to be entertained sometimes. Besides, he wanted to hear more
about Nikki’s pregnancy. Jed keyed a command to Eight Ball to zoom in.

“What are you doing?” T.’s voice sounded husky and unsure.

“I was thinking of you pregnant with my baby.”

Jed blinked in surprise. From T.’s frozen expression, she must be as astonished as he was. This must be the first time the operating chief of GEM was rendered speechless.

“It isn’t going to happen,” she finally said. Alex took a step toward her. “Don’t come any closer.”

“That’s going to stop a Virus, T.,” Jed murmured, amused. As if he heard him, Alex took another step.

“You agreed if I transferred back you’d keep your distance,” T. reminded him tensely.

“I changed my mind.”

They were whispering, but COMCEN micro-mics were state of the art and Jed was also an excellent lip-reader.

He watched T. move her hand, jamming one finger on the red button. The alarm started. COMCEN elevators were also self-programmed to restart when they detected no problem.

“That’s going to stop a Virus,” Jed repeated, smiling now.

Oblivious to the shrill alarm, Alex crowded her against the corner of the elevator, obscuring Jed’s view. His hands braced against both sides of the walls, trapping T., as he leaned into her. Jed couldn’t see their expressions now but he would bet that T. wasn’t a happy camper at the moment. Perhaps he should save her. He needed her in a good mood.

“Unchange it.” Her demand was muffled.

Was that the best she could do? Jed shook his head. He fingered the pad next to the elevator.

“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. “Triple-C, 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 at the 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 that 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.”

“So, you want to compare dicks?” Flyboy asked with a straight face. “We can compare dicks. You whip yours out and I’ll do the same.”

She tried to stop it but found herself grinning back at that infectious dimple. “I’m very good at enlarging dicks,” she reminded him, airily.

“Oh, I know. I saw you giving your Hades a particularly ridiculous embellishment.”

It was just too darn easy to banter with this man. In spite of his incredibly good looks, he had a boyishness about him that was very appealing. Helen narrowed her eyes. “That’s your job within the ranks, isn’t it? You’re the one who gets to play the guy next door. That’s why you’re the one friendly with me.”

His eyes rounded innocently, but there was a tiny twinkle in one of them. “Heath’s friendly too. And from what I can tell, Jed and Armando are friendly with you.”

“Ha. No, let me rephrase that. Ha, ha, ha,” Helen mocked disbelievingly. “Can you see Jed playing the boy next door in an assignment? People volunteering information to him without him either threatening or seducing them? No, he’s Number Nine because he’s scary and can kill someone in a hundred ways. Armando’s idea of friendliness is behaving like the cryptic Yoda. All that gothy gloom and doom. Then there’s Heath, the one who interrogates and retrieves, remember? That’s little Jed McNeil there.”

She had to stop there because Flyboy was laughing so hard, he was making her join in.

“Oh my God, Hell. Yoda,” he chuckled. “Little Jed McNeil.”

He broke out laughing again, a sexy male sound that hit her gut, reminding her she wasn’t exactly immune to charming men at the moment. And this particular commando had charm dripping like chocolate syrup on ice cream. She sighed. She wished she had that for dinner instead.

Flyboy wiped his tears from his eyes. “I don’t think I’ve had such a good laugh for a while,” he told her, still smiling. “Look, yeah, you have your teammates pinned down with your description of our…skills, shall we call it…but it’s all part of the outfit. We are Viruses.”

“And you’re trained to be insidious, like one. But not to one of your teammates, right?” she pressed on.

“You’re wrong there. We challenge ourselves constantly, but that’s beside the point. Back when it became obvious that we were going to gain a new member, someone who has a different kind of
insidious
talent, it became our immediate problem to protect you while you were still learning the program. I admit it, I’m attracted to you.” His blue eyes turned bluer. “I’m a man and you’re one hell of a challenge and a beautiful woman to boot. I flirted with you not because I had to, but because I like you. Was it that bad, going out with me, and having a nice chat or two? I answered the questions that worried you as best as I could and if you had asked the right question, who knows, I might even have told you. But you didn’t. You wanted to test all of us back. Admit it, Hell. You’re all ‘I’m woman, hear me roar’ sometimes.”

Helen stared back at him. His male logic was amazingly crazy, yet he somehow managed to hit a few home truths her way. She had dug around on her own. Had kept her suspicions to herself.

“I didn’t trust most of you,” she finally admitted grudgingly, but quickly added, “and rightly so! You knew what Hades was meant to be to me.”