Page 22 of Wired Strong

His spirits sank as he read her message about cutting him off, removing the chip, her pregnancy, and the actions of the task force that were forcing her to withdraw to her father’s.

A line had been added separately at the bottom:P.S. If I communicate here again, it’s because I’ve been forced to. Do not heed it!

Connor felt a deep throb of loss, of abandonment, of grief.

He was losing her.

He would no longer get even the glimpses that he’d had of her life, of his beloved honorary niece Momi, of his dog Anubis. Their time together on Phi Ni, each day perfect, seemed like a fading dream.

How had things come to this?

When he’d chosen to study with the Master, it had been to help Jake while dodging the FBI, and to add skills to his arsenal as the Ghost. With Jake gone, could the passion he and Sophie once had be re-ignited?

Connor shut his eyes to check in with himself.Yes.He still loved Sophie. He always would. He enjoyed his role as playful uncle with Momi; another baby was just more to love.

Perhaps, with time and proximity, they could find their way to each other as a couple again. But that was even more impossible now, because Connor was a liability to her and her growing family.

His eyes stung. His chest heaved.

He was trapped here. Trapped by his choices, by being anointed Number One, the Master’s successor. Sophie would never consent to come live here in the fortress; nor would he want her to.

Connor stood up, needing to move around the upper room. It was a large, stone-walled space, with small, slit-like windows set high near the roof to admit airflow. The roof itself was made of unfinished wooden timbers; the interior lined with woven matting. Tables lined the walls, stacked with computer equipment. His violin, safe in its case, was the only adornment on the wall.

Connor paced, swinging his arms, burning off his angst. Then he reached for the violin case, took it down, and opened it. He removed the instrument, stroking its curves with his fingertips. The Master had obtained his beloved violin and installed it here as a surprise. That was not the gesture of someone who didn’t care about Connor’s happiness. If he were to tell the Master he wanted to be released from his vows, that he wanted to build a life with Sophie somewhere else—would the Master let him go?

“No, he would not,” Connor whispered aloud. “The Master has allowed himself to need me. He is aging. He wants to hand the reins to someone he trusts. If he knew what I was thinking, he would make sure Sophie was eliminated as a threat to my succession.”

A chill ripped down Connor’s spine. He’d spoken aloud to himself, but it was as if another voice had taken his over to speak the truth to him. That insight had come straight from Spirit.

Connor placed the violin beneath his chin and set the bow on the strings. Gently, softly, he drew it, and began to play scales. Warming up the strings. Warming up his fingers, his arms. The massage Nam had given him had loosened the tightness in his shoulders enough to be able to play again.

If what the Master had told him in the garden was true, Connor was a force forgoodthat must be balanced in some universal way by someoneevil—like Pim Wat.

Connor continued to mull over what the Master told him about duality as his body went through the discipline of the scales.

He still wasn’t sure he bought that duality philosophy. In his own estimation, people like Pim Wat were cancers in the body of humanity. If she hadn’t been the Master’s woman, he’d have found a way to make sure she was cut out long before this, no matter that she was Sophie’s mother.

And was he ready to accept a life without Sophie in it? Was he going to let her go so meekly? Or was there some way he could use the Ghost software to counteract this multi-agency task force attack? Not to mention the Master’s inconvenient anointing of him as Number One.

Pim Wat had to go, first. She was a threat to Sophie and her children. Maybe he was the only one who could make sure she was eliminated. But if he betrayed the Master in this way, how long would he survive?

And if Pim Wat was turned over to the task force, how could he prevent her being rescued again? The way the Master had broken her out from Guantánamo amply demonstrated how easily he could’ve taken her back anytime. The man was above the law, above the laws of physics, even. There was nowhere in the world that could hold Pim Wat if the Master wanted her back alive.

Therefore, Pim Wat had to die.

Connor’s gaze darted around the empty room. Sweat broke out on his forehead. Just thinking what he was thinking filled him with fear.

He would have to be very, very careful.

Chapter Eighteen

Raveaux

Day 3, afternoon

Rex Gibson,the head of the Kama`aina Board, was a tall, skeletally thin man with a tonsure of hair garlanding his sun-spotted pate. He bent at the waist as he shook Leede’s hand. “We regret the necessity of your services.”

“I promise I will make the audit as painless as possible. I brought an associate to assist me.” Leede gestured to Raveaux.

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