Page 3 of Dan

“No,” said Dan, shaking his head. “I’m like the rest of my family. I just never thought it was fair to leave someone at home waiting for me. I don’t think any of us did that. Maybe one or two, but most were out when they found the one.”

“Do you believe there’s only one?” asked Sutton. Dan laughed, nodding his head.

“Brother, if you met my family, you’d believe it. Almost every man on our team met their wives and married within a month or less. My parents met when they were kids, growing up together. But they’re unusual. Both sets of grandparents married quickly.”

“That’s weird as fuck, brother, but if it works for them, that’s great. Me? I plan to fuck whoever lets me as long as she’s hot and willing.”

By the time the ship was back in port, Dan was ready to sign the papers and leave his teammates. It had been long enough, and getting home was fresh on his mind.

He didn’t expect to walk into a case immediately, but he was happy to help his family and ensure that Mike’s girl was safe. Mike Redhawk had been one of his many playmates growing up. He was smart, fast, and an amazing Delta operative.

With the first few workouts with his new team under his belt, having kicked his ass more than he cared to say, he was ready for a new chapter. Staring in the mirror before he headed to the offices, he shook his head at the lines and wrinkles already appearing on his face.

“Let’s go, old man. Time for something new.”

CHAPTER TWO

Finley Xavier ate the last scrap of food given to her by her captors. It wasn’t much. Just enough to keep her from starving to death but not enough to give her the strength to run.

“Get some rest. You’ll be back at it tomorrow,” said the guard.

“Please. Please don’t make me do this,” she pleaded. “Please.”

“Sorry, kid. Boss’s orders. Maybe you should have chosen a different occupation.”

“I didn’t choose this one,” she said, staring at him. “He’ll kill everyone, you know that, right?”

“No, he won’t. He’ll only kill you.”

“What he’s trying to do will kill millions of people. Millions! Please, don’t make me do this. Help me.” He just shook his head, chuckling at the young woman.

Finley shoved the plate at him, only serving to make him laugh at her. She wondered if her parents were worried about her, if they wondered where she was, or if they were off on another trip around the world trying to find a new species of butterfly or caterpillar. Neither were experts in butterflies or caterpillars, but it was a way for them to spend their money and never be at home.

YZX Micro Sciencehad been a family business for more years than Finley was alive. Her grandfather started the business after taking over for his half-brother, whom he didn’t care much for. He’d changed the way they did business, winning hundreds of clients in the crowded Silicon Valley environment.

Her grandfather had been the only person who appreciated the way her mind worked. He’d begged her parents to leave her alone, but they saw her as broken, strange, and needing ‘fixing.’ Psychiatric hospitals, psychiatrists, therapists, and torturers had tried to remold her mind.

It didn’t need to be remolded. Her grandfather knew that, and so did Finley. She was different. That’s all. Considered on the spectrum of Autism, she had an insanely high IQ and ability to understand anything related to mathematics or engineering. What she didn’t understand were emotions, humor, and sarcasm.

As an adult, she’d taken multiple classes and attended more therapy sessions than she could remember, all to gain just an ounce of the emotional intelligence that the average person around her possessed. None of that was serving her well right now.

No, her parents had never understood her, much like everyone else in her life. No one understood her or her mind. That is until she met Dr. Marcus Hood. A brilliant mathematician and engineer, she thought that he would be able to help her control the noise in her head and allow her brilliance to shine through.

It wasn’t that she was crazy, in fact it was quite the opposite. She was the sanest person she knew, although that might not be a good selling point for a boyfriend. It was her mind that she needed help with. It never stopped. Her brain was on overdrive, top speed all the time. Even worse, she had an eidetic memory. She recalled everything, especially numbers, exactly as they appeared before her.

Sometimes, she could see numbers in the strangest of places. In the end, it led her to multiple degrees in mathematics, engineering, and finally, in coding, which also led her to this hellhole. An ancient stronghold for a lost Mexican culture, it had been abandoned, then made into a prison in the early 1900s, only to be abandoned again. Its final role in this lifetime was to be her personal prison.

Now, she was stuck inside with nowhere to run to, even if she could escape.

Each day it was the same. Each day they would bring her sets of numbers, problems, and codes asking her to decode them all and find their solution. Some were random, perhaps numbers to a password or locker. Others were far more complex. Without knowledge of why she was forced to work through them, she had no way of knowing what she was actually doing, and in the end, that only made her mind race more as to what damage she might be doing to the world.

Until three days ago. That’s when they’d let her outside for just a short while. She was allowed to walk the inner yard. Barely able to move from weakness, lack of food, and atrophy from sitting, she slowly got her rhythm and was happy to at least stretch her legs.

But what her captors didn’t know was that in this old citadel, sound carried. No matter where you were on the surrounding battlements, you could hear the discussion in the yard below. It was clear that it had been designed to drive the inmates crazy. Imagine all those guards, gods, or pagans whispering their curses above you as you waited for death to befall you below.

But for Finley, what she heard made her blood curdle.

“Give her the problems today,” said the strange voice.

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