Bytes of Passion

Chapter 33

She was a fool. Skylar knew it the second she let Dennison walk her through the DSPS corridor and onto a ship. It didn't matter that he had a plasma gun discreetly aimed at her side. She'd broken the cardinal rule... never let an abductor take you to a second location. Clearly she hadn't been thinking straight when she went to him to demand information on where the Goldsmiths had fled. Handing the Goldsmiths location to Council would go a long way towards backing up her claim that she wasn't part of their psychopathic group. She'd only wanted to clear her name, but she wasn't cut out for this spy stuff. That was Teegan's bailiwick, not hers. She should have listened with him and continued working with Simms on her appeal.

Now Dennison had her – thanks to her overconfidence that she could clear her name by herself. She was in way over her head with only an empty threat to keep Dennison in line. The only evidence she had remained in a safe on Picos and would remain there until the last day of her room rental. All items not picked up before end of a customer's stay were automatically flushed into space, literally. She really hoped Teegan would returned to Picos and found her trail before then.

Dennison piloted the ship to a small planet, less than a day from Picos. A half dozen or so small cities dotted the landscape of what appeared to be a farming planet. No signs of industrialization could be seen from the air, at least not on this side of the planet. When they landed on a large farm in the middle of nowhere, one guard met them at the ship. Five buildings formed the compound, surrounded by miles of fencing and only three animals grazing in the distance. Oh, and of course there were the fanatics using the fields to train. High-powered laser rifles, acid-bomb launchers and... you name it, they were using it.

She really was a fool.

"This way," Dennison said, no longer bothering to point his gun at her. With the guard and countless fanatics around, he didn't need to.

She followed him to the white domed building. From the outside, the building looked like it would fall apart with a strong wind. Inside was as modern a facility as any she'd ever seen. The place was basically one giant lab, with men and women in lab coats. The sight was all too familiar and made her shrank back towards the door. A rock had body behind her stopped her. A soldier only a tad shorter than Dennison – and Dennison was a tall guy ­– didn't hesitate to grip her by her chin... hard.

"You're too soft to be a new recruit," he said as his eyes raked over her from head to toe. "But not too soft for my bed."

"Leave her alone, Lenz. She's trouble."

For once, Skylar didn't mind Dennison's presence. She shook loose of Lenz' hold, shivered again from the memory of his hand on her, and caught up to Dennison who ushered her down the central steps to a subterranean basement. Why on Earth had she thought baiting Dennison and leaving Picos was a good idea? Yeah, her freedom. She'd jumped from one death sentence to another apparently. At least the other one had Teegan in it to hold her. Maybe. He'd left and there was nothing saying he planned on returning. Even if he did, he could miss her trail and think she left him behind. Wouldn't that be ironic, like some twisted version of Romeo and Juliet. And she could up as dead as Juliet if she didn't stop romanticizing about Teegan and get her head in the game.

"I thought you were joking when you said you were bringing her here, Dennison."

She knew that high-pitched voice, all too well. Skylar turned. "Hello, Margaret."

Margaret smiled, one of those eerie looking smiles. Eerie because with her black hair pulled back into a tight bun and her all too-pale skin, she already looked like some stiff in a coffin, except stiffs don't smile.

"Dennison tells me you've been keeping up your hacking skills. That's good."

"Good for me. Not so good for him."

"Yes, the doomsday clock. You end the program and then we can talk about your future with us."

Hell, what did they have planned for her now? Unfortunately, cooperating with whatever they wanted was the only play that would keep her alive, that, and leverage – her non-existent leverage. She'd last reset the doomsday clock from aboard Dennison's ship roughly two hours ago, so she had another ten hours before needing to do so again to continue the ruse. As long as they didn't have any hackers onsite to hack her program, she could continue the bluff.

She spotted a nerdy looking guy typing away on a computer at the far end of the room. Hell... his countenance and frame had 'hacker' written all over it. He'd recognize her bluff if he got access to her program.

"Try your best to control me, Margaret and I guarantee Dennison will go down. And I'm only guessing here, but I bet the weasel will take you with him."

Dennison raised a hand to strike her, when Margaret held up a hand stopping him. "Go outside, Dennison. Find something to shoot or blow up while the adults chat."

Dennison left without arguing with her, though clearly he was angry with them both.

Margaret sighed, heavily. "What am I to do with you, Skylar? You refuse to cooperate and yet I'm loathed to kill you outright." The woman tucked a loose tendril of hair behind Skylar's ear. Ironically, it was the most 'motherly' contact she'd ever given Skylar.

"Let me be frank, dear. You have a unique talent that we can use, one that cannot be accessed when you're drugged. I've already tried."

"You tried to get me to hack on command?"

"Yes, but it failed miserably. Fortunately, we found other uses for you."

Teegan had been the one to realize they'd been drugging her to move illegal information through DSPS security points. Only later did Garrox try to force her to hack. Garrox used the drugs to control her, until he realized using Teegan gave him the control over her he truly sought. Except they didn't have Teegan to hold over her now.

"Give me one reason I should do any hacking for you, especially when you already have a hacker," Skylar said, pointing towards the nerdy guy in back.

Margaret waved a limp wrist at him. "He's only keeping the seat warm for you, Skylar. His skills are nothing compared to yours."

"That doesn't explain why I should do anything for you."

Margaret smiled that eerie smile of hers again, as if she'd just been given something she wanted. Maybe she had.

"Isn't it obvious, my dear? I can give you back your memories."