Page 52 of Forged in Flames (Made of Steel 2)

"Welcome to my headquarters," V said.

She walked past us, completely ignoring V, and stepped up onto the raised platform where all his computers were. She immediately touched one of the buttons on the first monitor she approached.

"Access denied," said Athena.

Liza jumped and then turned around with a goofy smile on her face. It looked like she had just walked into her favorite dream. "You have a virtual assistant? That's freaking awesome. What's its name?"

"Her name is Athena," V said.

"What else does she do?"

"Everything I need her to. Athena, light up the base."

The floor Liza was standing on suddenly lit up blue.

Liza glanced down and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "What processor does she use? Can I take a look at her back end?"

Eli laughed.

Liza glared at him. "Eli Serrano from Grand Junction, Colorado. You graduated top of your class at the police academy and decided to work as a detective instead of a beat cop like your father." She hopped off the elevated platform and the lights on the floor automatically turned off. "You clearly have stalker tendencies and a penchant for danger. I'm Liza." She held out her hand for him. "And I wasn't referring to Athena's ass."

I was glad he had laughed at the back end comment and not me. Even though I was pretty sure I already knew what she thought of me, I didn't want everyone else to hear it.

Eli reluctantly shook her hand. "I don't have stalker tendencies."

She turned away from him instead of responding. "As the only one here without a death wish, I want to make myself perfectly clear. I work in the shadows. If even one word of me being part of...whatever this is...gets out, I'm done. And if I'm going to work efficiently, I'll need access to all of that." She pointed to the computers behind her.

"Done," V said.

She smiled. "And you need to stop hacking into my surveillance system. If you want, I'll set you up with your own. But I don't like being spied on. Especially when you don't know how to cover your trail. You're going to get us all killed."

V nodded.

"Okay then." She sat down in one of the chairs at the glass table. "If we're all going to be working together, I think we need complete transparency. So we should probably address the main question on everyone's mind before we begin, don't you think? V," she said without waiting for anyone to agree with her. "Who are you really and why are you doing this?"

Chapter 22

Monday

V clenched his left hand into a fist. I wasn't sure if anyone else noticed, but it was all I could seem to focus on. I could almost feel the hostility in the air. It made it hard to breathe.

"That wasn't part of the deal," V said.

"How are we supposed to uncover the truth if all the details aren't laid out?" Liza asked.

"This has nothing to do with me."

"If that we're true, we wouldn't all be here right now. In your apartment."

"She has a point," Eli said.

V shook his head. "Liza, we already negotiated. I'll add access to my computers and Athena. And I'll stop hacking you. Nothing else."

"But what if..."

"He doesn't have to tell us," I said, cutting her off. "I really appreciate that you're all here to help me. But if this is just going to be us fighting, I don't want any part of it." I wouldn't willingly walk into a situation that made me feel like I was burning. I couldn't think straight like this. It would be better to work on my own.

"Obviously she doesn't care who you are," Liza said. "She was living with the leader of the Helspet Mafia and didn't even realize it. She's clearly mentally unstable."

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