Page 60 of Resistant

“Be my guest. You can work faster since you have smaller hands.”

Riesa opens a drawer and pulls out magnifiers that she slides over her head like goggles.

“Okay, vampire bug. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

“I need an IP too; It was broadcasting when Brynn smashed it.”

“You got it Doc. Have a seat, make yourselves at home.”

I sit on a stool across from Riesa and Brynn slides in next to me. Her hand sneaks over to my thigh, and I smile at her and grunt in surprise when she pinches the skin underneath my knee.Little minx.

For the first time, I purposefully slip into my Dom persona and give her my best “behave’ look.

Brynn snatches her hand away and bristles a little under my gaze. I snatch her hand back and press it to my thigh, keeping my hand over hers.

She turns her head away from me so I can’t see her face, but she doesn’t remove her hand. It’s not a win, but I’ll take progress.

“Okay, this little guy got a sample.”

Riesa maneuvers the tweezers, and a small platform ejects from the bug. She quickly swipes the glass slide over the sample and pushes it towards me. She removes what looks like a wireless charging pad from her desk drawer and plugs a USB into her laptop. Windows pop open on the screen and she scoots her stool over to the laptop. I give Brynn’s hand a squeeze and stand behind Riesa to look at the information.

“Gotcha.” With a few keystrokes, Riesa obtains the IP address. “I’ll look into this later and let you know what I find.”

She clicks through some menus and suddenly we are watching a video feed, the last recording the spy bug made.

I watch as the barren street comes into view from high above. My stomach rolls uncomfortably as the drone zooms higher and flips and Brynn and I appear in the video. The drone dive bombs and lands on Brynn’s shoulder and the feed drops.

Riesa clicks through the menu again and a few more seconds of video plays. A view of one of the outer walls of the camp slides by and the fog encompassing the trees appears in the distance, and the video ends.

“Well, not much information there, only that the pilot was inside the compound when he or she got the sample. Not a surprise there since the internet is spotty and getting a feed over long distances would be a challenge. A pilot could have done this with a hotspot. So, all he or she has is confirmation that Brynn is here, assuming they know who she is.”

Riesa looks at Brynn questioningly. Brynn shrugs and doesn’t speak. I cover the slide and deposit the sample in a box, which I pocket. I’ll look at this in our bungalow, I don’t want to share any more information with Riesa than I have to.

“You got that mini camera yet?”

“Oh sure.” Riesa opens a drawer and hands me a mini go pro and a Velcro sleeve I can attach to my rucksack.

“The charging cord is in the sleeve. Will your laptop read this?”

“It should. Thank you.”

“No worries, Doc.”

“You ready?” I look at Brynn, and she stands.

“Thank you.”

Brynn looks to Riesa and holds out her hand. Riesa grasps her hand and pulls her into an awkward hug.

I hear the rasp of Riesa’s voice, but I don’t hear what she says to Brynn. Brynn steps back and glances at me. But if looks could kill, I’d be a dead man.

We follow Riesa out and I hold the door open for Brynn. She steps out and keeps moving.

“Thanks again, Riesa. Maybe next time you can drop the innuendos and not make something out of nothing.”

She smiles, “Yeah, you are totally fucked.”

“No kidding,” I say. And I’m jogging after Brynn who is all-out sprinting back to the bungalow.

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