"I need to get out of here. My butt is hurting right along with my head. I expect you to keep my confidence until I decide what to do. That means you can't tell Ezekiel, Bellisia."
"He'll know I'm holding something back and this is big, Zara," Bellisia said, reluctance in her voice and eyes. "I told you, I don't hold things back from my husband."
Panic welled up. "I would never have trusted you if I thought you'd betray me." Zara caught at the edges of the tub as if she could haul herself out of the water. "We made a vow to one another. You. Me. Shylah."
"I know, but if you trust me, you have to trust him. I can't go to him and say I don't trust him enough with this information. It's too valuable and he knows me too well. He has a responsibility to his entire team and everyone who lives here, and so do I now."
"What are you saying? You want me to leave because I bring a threat with me?" Her chest hurt and her lungs felt raw. She hadn't thought anything could come between them. A man had. Would Gino come between Shylah and her if Shylah were to find her way to the Fontenot home? If that was the case, she didn't want anything to do with men.
"No, of course not. I don't know what I'm saying, only that I don't like to keep things from my husband and this is huge."
Zara caught at the plug in the tub, avoiding Bellisia's eyes. All of a sudden, she felt very alone and lost. She thought when she got here, she would have Bellisia, but she didn't. Bellisia's loyalties had shifted to her husband and her husband's team of GhostWalkers. She had to bide her time, get the virus capsules out of her and get gone fast.
"Zara," Bellisia tried again.
Zara flashed her the fake smile she'd perfected over the years. The one she used when the girls gathered around her at night when she came back from one of her "freedom" trips. They always bought the smile because they wanted to believe. It made them happy to think that one of their own was out in the world, free and happy, when they were held prisoner back at the compound. At least one of them was free.
Bellisia took the wet towel and stood up to wring it out. Her gaze jumped to the lacerations all over her body. "Zara." She breathed her name and went to her knees beside the tub. "Zeke told me, but I didn't realize what they'd done to you."
Zara took the clean towel and wrapped it around her body as best she could because she felt very exposed and vulnerable. She didn't want Bellisia staring at her. Lifting her voice, she called out, hoping Gino was a man of his word and that he was in hearing distance. "Gino. I'm ready." She had to end this with her friend before she started crying.
"I didn't mean to upset you," Bellisia said. "I swear, Zara, I'm only looking out for you."
"I know. It's my great mind everyone is always so concerned with, preserving it for the good of all mankind and all." She went for humor, but it fell flat. She was very thankful the door to the bathroom opened and Gino stuck his head in.
"You called, princess?"
"I need to get out of here. My bum hurts." She wished she could be more elegant and not mention her throbbing buttocks, but she really did hurt and it was all she could think of to get him to take her out of the situation.
Gino's gaze jumped from her face to Bellisia's, and then he shut down. His features were once again an expressionless mask. He was across the floor to her in two strides, crouching down to slide one arm under her knees and the other locking behind her back.
"Hold on, baby," he whispered gently.
His voice turned her heart over. So caring. Not about her brain. Not about the storage unit in her brain either. Just her. She wrapped her hands around his neck, buried her face in his shoulder and let him lift her.
"Zara," Bellisia said, her voice tight.
"She's done," Gino said before Zara could summon the will to answer, so she didn't, grateful that he could see her, see that she couldn't take one more moment of her best friend telling her what was good and right for her. Or telling her that her first priority was really her husband now. There was nothing wrong with those things, but they just weren't helping when Zara felt so alone and in need of guidance. Not guidance about whether or not Gino Mazza was the man for her, but about the storage unit filled with data.
Gino carried her out of the bathroom and down the hall, Bellisia trailing after them. "Where are you taking her?" she asked.
"My room," Gino said.
"That isn't necessary, Gino. We're no longer using Zeke's room. Take her there." There was a challenge to Bellisia's voice and an authority Zara hadn't given her permission to have.
That left Zara in a dilemma. Should she back her friend? If she didn't, would Bellisia turn on her and tell Ezekiel even though she'd asked her not to? Her fingers dug into Gino's shoulder and her teeth bit down on his neck. He didn't slow down or break stride. He took her right into his bedroom and kicked the door closed behind him. There was a finality to the sound as the door slammed hard.
Zara lifted her head as he put her down in the center of his bed. Her eyes searched his. "She's going to be very, very angry with you. She'll tell Zeke you all but kidnapped me."
"If that's what it takes to stop the bullshit, I'm all for kidnapping. What in the hell was she saying that was upsetting you?"
She needed to get weight off her buttocks. She turned onto her side gingerly, still not taking her eyes from his face. "We were always so close. It was Shylah, Bellisia and me. We trusted one another implicitly, which believe me, where we were raised, that was huge to have. I guess I thought it would be the same here. I didn't consider that it would be natural for her to include her husband."
He didn't blink. Those dark, intense eyes never left hers. "You mean you told her something in confidence and she indicated she would tell Zeke?"
Her heart did a strange stuttering that told her she was either afraid of him or very attracted--maybe both. His voice was strictly neutral, but she had the feeling he wasn't happy.
"I'm just not as sure of her as I was."
"Did you talk to her about Zhu?"
"A little." She propped her head up on her hand. "Not about the things he did to me. She didn't ask, and I didn't want to talk about him. She wanted to know if I really thought Cheng and Zhu were brothers, and I do."
"You need to talk about what he did, Zara."
Now his voice was gentle and that got to her. She shook her head. "I want him to go away. Out of my mind. Just for a little while."
"You going to tell me what you're hiding from me?"
"I'm thinking about it. I'm afraid to. I don't know the right thing to do."
He sank down onto the mattress beside her. "You're going to have to sit up for a few more minutes. I need to tame your hair. It's going wild on us."
She rolled over and sat up without thinking why it was so easy to do whatever he asked. Bellisia was so wrong about him. She couldn't understand why Bellisia saw one thing and she saw something completely different in him.
He unpinned her hair, shifted around behind her and took the brush from the nightstand where he'd obviously put it waiting for her to get out of the bathtub. Bellisia didn't see him--how thoughtful he was anticipating her needs. Zara scooted between his thighs, uncaring that she was only wearing a towel and her back was bare. His fingers skimmed over the stripes of bruises down her back.
"You're healing fast," he told her. "Nonny assures me that her concoction is going to facilitate healing even faster."
"I hope so. I hate that you have to take care of me all the time, Gino. I'll bet you weren't aware of what you'd signed up for."
"I knew exactly what I signed up for, Zara," he contradicted. "Maybe I didn't know the exact extent of what Zhu did, but I knew you were mine."
The brush never stopped moving through her hair, and over her scalp. If he encountered a tangle, he patiently used a comb to smooth the knot before once again using the brush. She'd never had that kind of care before and it was almost too much. Almost. She kept quiet so he wouldn't stop.
"Whatever it is you're worried about, princess, I'm on your
side. If you need me to take that off you, give it to me and let me figure it out."
It was an offer, not an order. Gino might have been hurt earlier thinking she didn't trust him, but once she'd said she did, he'd gotten over it fast. She wanted to let him decide what to do with the information she had. She couldn't protect the world from Whitney. If he ended up with the information after what she was doing to try to keep it from him, that wouldn't be on her.
"It would be so easy to hand the responsibility off to you, but I'm not certain it's right. I haven't lived outside the compound ever. I was allowed out to go to school, but I always knew I was watched. There was no real freedom. I didn't make decisions for myself and certainly not moral ones. I followed Whitney's dictates. If he said I had to steal information, I did it."
She tried to tell him without stating it. She was a thief. She stole data and took it back to Whitney so he could leap out in front of everyone and be the best at everything.
"Zara, I asked for the responsibility. There's a difference. You're not handing me something I didn't want. I'm just saying, if you don't know who you can trust, take a look at the man standing with you. I promised you I wasn't going anywhere and I haven't. I'm with you for as long as you want me."
He braided her hair and secured it with a small tie and then pulled her back until she was resting against his chest. His arms slid around her and held her to him. She rested her head on him, feeling secure. That was something no one else had ever given her.
"If I tell you something important, do you have to share it with the other GhostWalkers? Or take it up the chain of command?"
He nuzzled the top of her head. "I'm supposed to, but I don't always do everything I'm supposed to do."
"Could you give me your word of honor you just wouldn't tell everyone without my permission?"
"I'd like to tell you yes, but honestly, princess? I tend to make up my own mind. I would tell you first what I'm going to do. I'd talk it over with you. I wouldn't do anything until you understood I had your best interests in mind, but I can't promise to get your permission."
She sighed and rubbed her chin on her drawn-up knees. "That doesn't help."
"Would it help if I swore to you that I'd only do something if it was in your best interests? Any decision I make is to make your life easier. I can definitely promise you that. It won't be to further my career or blindly follow the chain of command. I'm not that man, and just so you know, neither is Zeke."
Zara looked over her shoulder at him. "I don't know what to do."
"What does your gut say? You have good instincts."
She was terrified that Bellisia would tell Ezekiel before she told Gino. Gino was her choice. In her heart, she knew she'd already made up her mind about him. She might lie to herself and say she didn't want a man, but she wanted him. For herself. She never felt alone when she was with him and she hated letting him down.
"It's in my head." She blurted it out. Her secret. "Whitney planted a carbon nanotube SSD in my brain. The storage unit is made of PEEK-carbon so it can't be seen with X-ray, MRI or CT scans."
"You downloaded all of Cheng's files into that storage unit?"
She glanced at him over her shoulder. Her eyes met his. He gave nothing away, his face a mask of indifference. She nodded.
"You'd need a battery. Power."
She turned back so she could rest her head again, thankful he wasn't jumping around the room at the disclosure, excited to know what she had in her head. "Movements of the body power it. Like some pacemakers."
"What about a generator? You'd need something to send the power to the storage unit."
She nodded. "From what I understand, it's made of the PEEK-carbon as well and sits on a flat piece of PEEK-carbon right next to the storage unit so it's undetectable as well."
"Of course. Whitney is a master at coming up with technology that he needs."
"He is," she agreed. "Because he piggybacks on others' technology. That's why he always sent me out to those businesses involving research. He wanted what they had. Cheng collects information on people, really nasty information that allows him to blackmail them. If Whitney gets that material, he would use it for his own gain. If I could get it out of my head, I'd like to just destroy it all, but there's also information on various terrorist cells, things that could save lives. If I give it to the government, all of the data would most likely will fall back into Whitney's hands anyway and I haven't saved anyone."
"You can upload it, can you download it yourself?"
"I should be able to, I can always talk to machines, but he's done something to block me once the information is in the unit. That prevents me from turning it over to someone else."
"How does he get the information out?"
"I don't know. I'm always asleep when he takes it out."
"Under anesthesia?"
She shook her head. "He gives me an injection, I go to sleep fast and wake up to him telling me we're done."
"That's why the soldier kept his gun pointed to a specific part of your brain. He was going to destroy the unit if they had to kill you, rather than letting the intelligence you'd gather fall into someone else's hands."
"He might still kill me."
"I'm not okay with that, so between the two of us, we'll figure it out. I'm not turning you over to anyone. I'll see what I can come up with. I have to remove the capsules, maybe I can remove the storage unit at the same time."
She shook her head. "He said that was permanent and even he couldn't remove it without damaging my brain. I believed him. I can usually tell his lies from the truth. Most of us can because we're heard them so often."
"So, if that's true, then we know he has a way to download the material without removing the SSD. If he can do it, so can we."
"What are we going to do with the information if we extract it?"
"Not if. We have to extract it. As long as you have that information in your head, Whitney will keep coming after you. If anyone else finds out, and if Whitney can't reacquire you, he'll tell someone higher up to get the information from you, then we'll have another huge problem on our hands. We can run, but eventually, they'll catch up with us. We have to remove it, sooner rather than later."
That made sense. The idea that Zhu might find out sent a tremor running through her body. "He's going to come after me no matter what," she whispered.
Gino was silent but his arms tightened around her. His chin nuzzled her head. "You're thinking about Zhu not Whitney."
She nodded. "He won't let me go."
"Maybe not, maybe he's stupid or arrogant enough to think he can come to our home turf and steal you away from me, but he can't. It isn't going to happen, princess. I'm not leaving your side."
"You'll have to eventually. They'll send you out on another rescue and then he'll come. I know he will." Her voice had begun to swing out of control, just like the rapid beating of her heart. She shoved her fist in her mouth and bit down hard.
"Zara, you're getting worked up for nothing," he objected, his voice a soothing sound that seemed to penetrate her worst nightmare and make her believe he could stop Zhu when no one else could. "We'll take this one step at a time. Zhu is far down the list. I've got eyes on him. He leaves Shanghai, we'll know it. In the meantime, let's worry about removing the virus capsules. We'll do that tomorrow."
He sounded so utterly calm, so completely in control, that Zara was able to breathe deep and feel safe again. He would take care of things. More, he could be counted on. Step one sounded good to her.
"Are you certain there are two virus capsules? No more?"
"I don't believe he put more than two in you, but we plan to study the virus and come up with an antidote. Bellisia said each virus is specific to the person Whitney implants it in, but we'll compare the one he put in you to the one he put in her and see if they're the same or close. That way, if another woman comes this way, we can inject her immediately with an antidote."
She liked that. She liked to thin
k that they were already thinking ahead to saving more of the women Whitney held prisoner. She nodded her head. "Thank you, Gino."
"For what, beautiful? I haven't done much."
"You make me feel safe." It was so much more than that. She took a breath and tried to tell him. He deserved that much from her. "You seem to see when no one else can get past my brain. Sometimes I hate the fact that I'm supposed to be so intelligent. Whitney made certain to point out how worthless to him I was, that my brain wasn't all that ..."
"Everyone knows Whitney is a self-centered ass, Zara," Gino said.
She couldn't help smiling. He was a self-centered ass. "An egotistical maniac, maybe, as well, but that's not the point. While he was telling me how stupid and worthless I was, everyone else was telling me that I owed it to the world to get my brain out there and do something enormous." She turned her head so she could look at him over her shoulder. "I'm not just a brain to you. I'm a person. So, thank you for seeing me."