Page 52 of Amethyst Flame
“Jacob is a computer wizard. Hacking, that sort of thing. Part of the team supporting me while I do this small Banta mission toliterallysave the world.”
“I assume Agent Dane is back?” Her voice was hard. Forced.
“He’s in charge.”
Her face contorted slightly, and as I knew all her expressions, I could identify this one as suppressed pain. “How could you have kept this from me? After what we went through?”
“I didn’t mean to. It just happened. Things have been so crazy around here with Brianna and the mission. Believe me, I don’twantto have anything to do with it. But—”
“But nothing,” she snapped. “I almost lost you.”
I looked at the floor. “I know.”
“Peopledied,Imogen!”
She meant she’d had to kill someone. Maybe. She’d done the stabby part. The fire probably cooked the rest. But she was a nurse. Her life was supposed to be about making people better.
And, yeah, I’d killed one or two as well.
Jacob half turned to make a stealthy getaway.
My mom pinned him with a glare. “You are no longer welcome here.”
“Understood,” he said. “I’ll just pack up my things.”
She turned back to me. “And you arenevergoing anywhere near BantaMatrix again.”
I looked at my mom for a long moment. Her eyes were tired. Our fight for our lives five months ago had given her nightmares too. And now the whole mess withhim,Brianna’s father, was twisting her up.
But I couldn’t do what she wanted just because she had reached the end of her rope. Yeah, I spent a lot of time bitching and moaning and fucking around, but in the end… “There’s no one else who can do what I can do,” I told her.
“Too bad for Agent Dane.”
She didn’t get it. “Mom, I have a responsi—”
“Whatever that man has told you, this isn’t your responsibility. You didn’t sign up for it. You’re not trained for it. Last time, you were kidnapped and forced to defend yourself. This, Imogen, is a choice.”
Impatience and frustration twisted in my stomach like a pretzel of negativity. “So you want me to—what?—pretend none of this ever happened? But I can’t let them just keep advancing the tech. Bad people can’t have that much power, doing whatever they want, hurting whoever gets in their way, and getting away with it.”
“We were lucky to survive. By the grace of god we survived! I won’t have you put in danger again.”
Then I had to agree with her. “You’re right, Mom. It’s my choice.”
We stared at each other, deadlocked.
Until she made the ultimate power move. “I can’t stop you, but I don’t have to be a part of it. If you’re going to insist on endangering yourself, you’d better go with Jacob.”
“Mom.” She couldn’t mean that. “You’re kicking me out?”
“No,” she said. “You’re choosing your own path, and it takes you out the front door.”
I gaped at her until Jacob came into the room shouldering his duffle, his laptop, and other gear in a computer bag under his arm, startling me out of my shock.
“Hold up,” I told him. My heart was breaking. “I’m coming with you. We gotta fry this Alex person.”
“Just give his name to me,” my mom interjected, “and theproper authoritieswill go find Brianna and apprehend this man. Not my vigilante daughter.”
Which meant she would pass the name along to Bri’s father. So, hell no, I’d figure this out for myself. Maybe dear old dad was lying. No way in hell I was going to trust that man at his word. And, okay, maybe Bri was lying too. Maybe she didn’t have a Swann to smuggle Hot Pockets into her bedroom’s walk-in closet.
