Page 25 of Rescued By the Convicts
“You’re right,” Jayce said. “I need to start working with Reece to get his writing skill up to par. He probably has details we need.”
“Not just you. We’ll all take turns,” Ivan said, the decision made. “In the meantime, I need you to hack into Thorne’s computer and lock out Liden and whoever else now has access to the bunker. And make sure they can’t get back in. Ever. Reece and I will take turns staying with Melina until the bunker’s secure.”
“I’ll double-check, but no one other than the four of us has access,” Jayce said, quite adamantly.
“You meant the four of you,” Melina corrected.
“You have access now, Lina. That’s why I was in Thorne’s computer yesterday before this mess started. And it’s why I know no one else has access, Ivan. I rewrote the code, adding extra security. Thorne, or Liden, or whoever, would need the encryption key to change the access rights to this bunker.”
Ivan frowned and Reece signed. Ivan signed back to him. The longer Melina watched the silent exchange, the more aggravated she became with Ivan. The bastard knew more signs than he’d let on, and he was communicating in private right in front of her and Jayce.
“Enough,” she said, standing. “You just said no secrets and you have the nerve to hide whatever it is you’re thinking from me?”
“You’re right,” he said as he ran his hand down her arm until she relaxed and sat back down. “I’m sorry. Sit.”
She didn’t want to sit. She was too on edge to sit.
Jayce pulled her into his lap and caressed her thigh. Had it been anyone else, she would have jumped up again, but this was the first Jayce had touched her since he woke this morning. She suspected he needed the contact more than she did. Worry crossed Ivan’s face as he looked from her to Jayce. What the hell was going on with them?
“I’m sitting,” she announced the obvious, hoping to spur Ivan to explain his side-conversation with Reece.
“I see,” he said, his tone dry. “We were discussing the possibility of a backdoor into the bunker. It’s the only explanation that makes sense. Either that, or Zev was behind the kidnapping.”
“Zev would never betray us,” she said, nearly jumping off of Jayce. He locked his arm around her middle, trapping her to him.
“We don’t know what he’s doing, Melina,” Ivan said.
“We’ve had this discussion before. And you believed in him. Why are you suddenly turning on him?”
“I still believe in him, but it’s also possible he had no choice.”
Jayce ran his hand under her blouse, caressing her lower back and distracting the hell out of her. She wiggled away from him. She didn’t want to be comforted or treated as if she couldn’t handle whatever Ivan was thinking. “Zev wouldn’t have given them access. I know him, even if you don’t want to trust him.”
“Lina. . .” Jayce began and then sighed. “Ivan means they could have taken Zev’s arm. Used it to gain access.”
She was going to throw up.
“Breathe, Lina, breathe,” Jayce repeated over and over as he pulled her hair back from her face and Reece handed her a glass of water.
She pushed the glass away as she sprang off of Jayce’s lap and turned on him. “Why would you say such a thing?” She didn’t want to think about the reality here, not now, not if it meant someone would kill Zev to get to her.
“Hawke was ready to cut my arm off, but I talked him out of it. I told him my access had been removed from the med-center. Hopefully, Zev will tell them the same. Either way, no one used Zev to enter. I removed his access when I added yours.”
“Then he can’t get in if he needs to!”
Jayce turned to Ivan, deferring to him. Despite Ivan’s words earlier, it seemed the men had been discussing a lot behind her back.
“Melina, you know Zev’s working for Hawke,” Ivan said. “Jayce had to remove his access, to give him the same protection Zev had given him.”
Jayce eased her back onto his lap as her knees gave way. “He has no backup. No protection. No—”
“He’s smart. Have faith, Mel,” Jayce said, calling her Mel as Zev used to, which she found strangely comforting, though it wasn’t enough. It felt like everything she had started to rely on was slipping away. Zev was out there alone, Jayce had turned to drugs, and Ivan was keeping secrets again. Reece. . . Well, at least he seemed more himself.
She took a deep breath. “One step at a time, right? First, Jayce gets hold of the RJIZ—”
“You want me to do what with our jizz?” Jayce asked, both eyebrows lifting as his voice squeaked.
“R-J-I-Z, Jayce. Your initials. Reece, Jayce, Ivan, and Zev. It’s what I call the Anti-Serilium.”
