Page 53 of Bound By Valor

“My name is Leora, remember?” I retorted sharply.

Logan set the pan down and faced me, his expression faltering. “Fuck, I… I’m just…” He struggled to find the right words, a rare sight for Logan.

“I was an ass. I’m so sorry for that. I shouldn’t have taken out my anger on you. I was wrong, Leo.” He admitted, his gaze dropping to his feet.

Watching his sincere discomfort softened my frustration.

“That wasn’t hard, was it?” I said as he quicklyenveloped me in a heartfelt hug.

“I was terrified, Leo. I thought you were fucking dead,” he confessed, his voice shaky. “I thought your last memory of me would be me icing you out. Fuck. I thought I’d lose the two people closest to me.”

He pulled back slightly, smiling weakly. “Zarek wouldn’t be the same without you. So, don’t ever fucking die on us, Leo.”

I smiled, touched by his words, and kissed his cheek. “Okay, then, no training for me for the next 48 hours,” I declared, stepping back to drink my water, a smirk tugging at my lips.

He shook his head, chuckling, and playfully flicked my forehead. “Ow?” I feigned injury, rubbing the spot.

“Shut up, I didn’t even flick you that hard,” he retorted, rolling his eyes.

I laughed, joining the rest of the squad at the table, and sliding into the seat next to Zarek.

Kabir slid one of the Crazon devices across the table. “They used Crazon to hack our systems and block the alarms and cameras. I traced the connection back to Candor Imports Inc. servers. Jerome Tyson was behind this.”

Dylan and Zarek nodded seriously, while Amelia and Kabir looked slightly surprised. Logan walked over to the table and set down six plates, then went back to get the omelets he had made for everyone.

I cleared my throat. “Uh, Kabir? You could’ve asked me too. I knew Jerome was behind the cameras going down. And Casteel had a new partner named Mason with him. He was short, with a crew cut, ginger, built.”

Kabir smiled and turned his tablet towards me. “Could you have found out that Jerome is now in New York and not in Bali?”

The screen showed a blinking red dot over New York City. I pinched the screen to zoom out and saw a bunch of green dots near Woodstock.

“That’s the squad,” I whispered. Kabir nodded. “Are you tracking their phones?”

Kabir looked at Zarek, who nodded in approval.

“We all have a chip called RLM-I98, for remote location monitoring,” Kabir explained, pointing to his chest near his heart. “It works until our heart stops. A private security firm called Blackthorn created it.”

The nameBlackthornsounded familiar.

I frowned. “What if someone hacks into it? Wouldn’t you all be in danger?”

“Good question,” Kabir grinned, turning to the team. “That’s why I propose using one of the Crazon devices to secure our systems. It has the capability to hack us, so why not use it to secure us instead?”

Dylan and Logan immediately nodded. Amelia shrugged, indifferent, and Zarek looked thoughtful. After a pause, he spoke.

“I think we shouldn’t. We’re trying to get rid of these dangerous devices, not use them.”

“We need better security, Ghost,” Kabir insisted. “I can ask Sebastian from Blackthorn to help. But, right now, Crazon is our best shot. I’ve already isolated this unit from the server.”

“I think we should do it,” Dylan supported.

“Yeah, we could ask Alpha One to approve the security protocol,” Logan added.

“Alpha One?” I queried.

“Head of Alpha Program, Chief Robert Callahan,” Zarek explained. “I agree we need to address theseattacks. I’m just not sure Callahan would agree. I’ll try to convince him, but don’t get your hopes up.”

“Should we move again?” Amelia finally spoke up.

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