Chapter 32

They parked at the front steps of the large house. Ryan stepped out, waiting at the base of the stone steps while the others emerged from the car. Becca paid close attention to the reactions of her brother and partner.

Kyle was visibly holding himself back, his eagerness to get inside and see this computer Ryan promised outweighed any hesitation he had about entering a house at Admiral Black's direction. As was to be expected, Danny had locked himself down, refusing to make eye contact with her.

Becca was losing her battle with the crushing fear that she had lost Michael. His curt treatment of her could be explained away, something he would get over as he adjusted to the idea. But nothing except blatant distrust would cause him to tell her to "stay out" of his head. The rejection tore its way through her, leaving holes all through her insides worse than any her vision left in her sight. It took all she had to keep her outward

appearance calm and cool for her brother and Danny, like Michael. The searing pain in her heart surged back.

Barely containing himself, Kyle held himself to a walk with his fingers already keying the air in anticipation. Danny took a quick step to stay ahead of her leaving Becca to bring up the rear and wallow. Becca held her back straight, her head high.

The great wooden doors swung open under Ryan's hand and in they walked. "Wow, this place is great," Kyle murmured, his head swiveling to take it all in.

Danny's spine was ramrod straight, what she saw of his jaw had her waiting to hear his teeth crack.

Together they made their way straight for the bank of advanced technology in the basement. Descending the spiral stairs single file, Kyle was the first to see the room open up before him and gasped in pleasure.

"Oh whoa. This is amazing."

Ryan brightened, delighted to be showing off their toys. Holding out his hands to the walls, he continued, "That's right, we have it all. You'll be working on that station over there." He pointed to the console in the center of the room.

Kyle twisted his head, gaping wide-eyed at his sister. "You've been holding back, Bec. This is almost as good as we have back at the lab." His dark eyes twinkled in the dim light.

"How can you see anything down here?" Danny mumbled sullenly.

Blinking, Becca realized with a shock the room was no longer dim to her. Not nearly as much so as that first night. Consuming Michael's blood had enhanced her senses significantly. She turned slowly in an arc, studying the room now so much more visible to her human eyes. Becca wondered if this was how Michael saw and heard all the time or if his senses were even stronger. The concept of having drunk blood only gave her a moment's pause before she whisked past it in her mind as just another thing she'd done, like going through training.

"Your eyes adjust."

Ryan eyed her strangely, saying nothing. He must have understood what drinking blood did for a human's senses.

"May I?" Kyle's fingers trailed the console's outer edge.

"By all means." With a few keystrokes to disable the password protection, Ryan stepped out of the way to allow Kyle access.

Eagerly he rolled the streamlined black chair up to the computer and his fingers began to fly. Ryan watched over his shoulder, a curious look on his face. Danny looked huffy. The instinctive way Kyle maneuvered his way through the foreign defense software was uncanny. Within less than a minute, he was where he needed to be, trying to find the path of the message that was sent out by his hijacked software.

"You've got it too," Ryan said clearly over Kyle's shoulder.

The typing faltered only for a heartbeat then recovered quickly. "I don't know what you're talking about. Quit distracting me."

"Seriously, this is your thing. Like, really your thing. It took me weeks to get used to this system and what's it been for you, like thirty-five seconds?"

"Kyle? Are you different? Like me? Have you been like this the whole time?" She was incredulous. All those years of her family pretending they didn't hear her at night, the exchanges over her head when she accidentally let something slip. And he had stood idly by leaving her all alone when he was the same. She had always considered him her protector, her buffer from her parents. He'd done the same for their little brother. "Is Jared?"

Her brother spun his chair around, painfully slow. His shoulders slumped with a weight he'd carried for a lifetime. "Yeah, sort of. But mine's different. It's more of a sense. It's not like I have dreams or anything. I just get this sense when I get around any piece of tech. I've never had it happen with anything else. And besides, what could I have done to make them treat you any different? You had your thing, Jared was a total flake and high half the time; I had to be the normal one." He shook his head. "I honestly don't know if Jared has it or not. He dealt with it in his own way. By not dealing with it."

Their kid brother Jared's recreational drug use was a constant concern to all of them. He graduated high school, only just barely sliding through the system; a fact Becca credited more to a few teachers' fudging than her brother's efforts. As soon as he was done, he was gone. Fast food in Aspen while he played as a mountain bum, busboy in Taos when he tried painting, currently construction in Arizona where he did who knew what. Becca lost track. Jared was the lost one.

"I suppose they needed that," She conceded. Three out of three nutty kids would probably have driven her mother over the edge.

"If you two could be done with the family reunion, we need him to use his mojo to track this routing so we can stop this list getting out. It's kind of important." Ryan crossed his arms.

Tight lipped, Kyle spun back around and got to work. With the more powerful system used in conjunction with the unknown boost of his ability, Kyle worked for only a few minutes before exclaiming excitedly. "Got it!"

They all gathered, even Danny.

"They bounced it across three different continents but I followed the IP address and it's right here in California. If I use the satellite link on this system I can give you an exact address." Lifting an eyebrow, he asked permission of the keeper of the computer.

Ryan harrumphed. "Did you figure out the satellites with that gift of yours?" Kyle colored and nodded.

Ryan harrumphed again.

He kept working. Ryan turned to Becca.

"Talents like these aren't that common anymore and you've naturally surrounded yourself with nothing but preternaturals." He put an arm around her. "That makes a weird sort of sense. I'm glad I didn't eat you." He snapped his teeth playfully.

She caught Danny staring open mouthed at her. "It's okay. It was the full moon, that's all."

Her tidbit didn't appear to comfort her partner.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't bite her now unless she wanted me to." Ryan grinned wolfishly.

That did it for Danny. "What's wrong with you? Cavorting with monsters like it's a joke. It isn't funny. You're going to get killed. It's only a matter of time. Think of the risks they take on missions, risks they can survive but you can't." Pointing accusatorily at Ryan his voice rose. "You heard him, he almost did it already. What if he can't stop himself next time? There's a full moon every month, Bec."

"You have no clue about these guys. Your hatred is based on a story and one kill. What if the guy you saw get killed was a bad guy and the one you saw was a good guy, huh?" Becca's back was up. This jaded side of her usually congenial partner was an unflattering aspect of his personality. She couldn't stand seeing him like this. They were more dangerous and did have the capacity to kill if they chose to but how many humans were like that? She tried to explain. "They're just like us. Some of them are good, some bad. Some kill for fun and some try to keep things safe for mortals like us." She motioned to Ryan. "That's what these guys do. They go all over the world stopping bad guys. Like I told you before, they're the good guys. I've done more good in the short

time with them than I've done in the last three years. How about you Danny? Do you think you've changed the world arresting weekend drunks and trespassers?"

He watched her nostrils flaring, hazel eyes narrowed in anger and Danny hated to admit it but he knew she had a point. He'd wanted to do something more with his ability but he'd been urged to hide it. "Normal people don't understand," his mother had told him. "Find something you can do with it but nothing obvious," his father had urged.

Using it was one thing. Working side by side with these guys was a whole different deal. His mother had never steered him wrong and she was sure of their evil natures. Yet Becca's certainty was causing him to waver. Ryan didn't seem that bad, the woman was bitchy, and that admiral was freaky scary. Michael, the one Becca seemed to have taken up with, bothered him the most. It was like Becca was blind to him. He was trying to control her and now she was using her ability to get in his head? If he didn't get her out he was never going to get her clear of them. He would have to bide his time. Even then, he hoped with time he could convince her to go.

"Our patrols may not be earth shattering but it's an honest living. One I can go home at the end of the night and tell Michelle about without lying. My family is proud of what I do." He stared evenly at Becca. "How about you? Would your father be proud to know you work with monsters?" That you're fucking the undead, he left out.

Her answer surprised her. "I know that more than anything my dad believes in protecting our country and working here with these guys is doing more to protect our way of life than patrolling the base on any given Friday night." Crossing her arms, she finished determinedly.

Unable to argue against that, Danny let it die. Pissed, he growled at no one in particular, "Are we supposed to stay down here forever? I've been working all night and I want to get some sleep."

"Sure, we've got space for you," Ryan replied unperturbed. Happily leading the way, he marched past and waved for him to follow. Danny tagged along grumpily.

The day's toll had been exhausting and Becca felt it catching up to her. She collapsed into a chair at the console beside Kyle.

Sitting there alone with her brother, Becca was able to relax and close her eyes. She felt the stress starting to ebb into the background. She faded into a dead sleep for a few minutes.

"Bec."

She tried ignoring the sound of her brother's voice.

"Bec." Kyle's hand touched her arm, the physical reminder of her body ripping her from her peaceful state.

"You'd better have something freakin' amazing." Her eyes opened reluctantly.

"Huh." Unphased, he used his eyes to point at the screen. "Well, maybe this will help wake you up. I have an address for you." He pointed.

Her frustration was forgotten. "Really?"

"Yep. It's up in the Chocolate Mountains not far from the eastern edge of the Salton Sea. Looks like it's in the middle of BFE. Nothing's out that way." He pointed at the screen, using a nail tip to tap it. "But this says it's right. They have internet way out there. You have to love the advances of modern technology."

"Show me the aerial." Becca rolled her chair closer.

They were studying the area, looking for signs of civilization with little success when Ryan's voice boomed behind them.

"What do you two have your little heads together for over there? Planning a global takeover or next Fourth of July's perfect family picnic spot?"

"No, just trying to figure out the best way to grab our bad guy," Becca shot back without turning.

Ryan's tone switched to excited. "Really? You found him?" He came up behind them, leaning in to see.

Kyle's finger showed him the specific area where they were looking.

"Boy, there's nothing around there, just that one little cabin. Looks like a ranger outpost or something."

"That's what I'm thinking." Becca was pleased to have been thinking along the same lines.

Pounding his big hand on Kyle's lean shoulder, Ryan chuckled. "You two are handy for humans. I wouldn't mind keeping you around too."

Kyle cocked his head in thought. "Well, I would love the chance to play with this system but family duty calls." He turned his head to speak over his shoulder. "I would consider consulting here and there."

Ryan guffawed. For all her talk, Becca didn't like the idea of her brother being in Black's sights. She listened to the quiet of the room for a tic before slapping a hand down on the table.

"We know where Vanessa was sending the list and here we sit." She pushed herself up out of the chair. "I for one vote we have something to show the admiral when they get back."

"What are we going to show the admiral?" Gabrielle's voice purred from the stairs.

All heads turned toward the newcomer striding toward them. She closed the distance gracefully; Kyle was trying so hard not to stare but Becca couldn't blame him for watching the way she moved. Hell, she couldn't deny it was a little bit of a turn on to see her strut.

"How was the desert?" Ryan teased.

Amber eyes rolled. "I had to poke a few extra holes to speed things along." The discomfort of Becca and Kyle amused her. "The older they are, the longer they take to cook even in the California sunshine. Get them weak enough and it's like a microwave versus a slow cooker."

Gulping, Becca changed the subject. "Kyle found where Vanessa was sending the list. We were thinking of checking it out."

"I like it." Gabrielle shrugged without any hesitation. "No point sitting around."

"Are you sure the admiral would approve?" Ryan wasn't so sure. "He's tracking it already."

Becca thought she saw Ryan and Gabrielle exchange a look. Gabrielle's eyes narrowed and Becca felt her willingness fading.

"Look, we don't know how Black and Michael are doing. We've got the Intel, we should move on it. What if they can't get there and this guy starts making calls, handing out names and arrest warrants? I think we go and check it out. If it looks like it's too much to handle, we turn back and wait for the others. If nothing else, we call it recon and send Black and Michael in better prepared."

Ryan shrugged. "I'm game."

Gabrielle and Ryan disappeared into the weapons room to pack bags when Becca felt her heart sink. Danny. She had forgotten about him completely. How would he react? Part of her thought this might be the best way to show him the benefit of their unit. They were going out, working together to rid the world of another bad guy. Maybe, though

with their firepower she couldn't imagine anything being too much for them that might force them back empty-handed.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Becca went to the door of the room Ryan said he had put Danny in. She knocked gently on the ancient wood.

The bed creaked, footsteps sounded on the hard floor. Danny's voice was at the door when he spoke. "What."

Great, he was still pissed.

"Hey Danny. Can I come in?" She made her voice gentle.

The door opened. He didn't step aside, sticking his head out instead. Danny raised his eyebrows expectantly at her.

Not a warm fuzzy exactly.

"We've found the physical location where the message was sent. We're going to check it out."

He kept staring at her.

The tension she was carrying, worrying for him, fearing she'd driven her love away, concerns her brother was Black's new computer expert, it all exploded on Danny. "Quit being such a twat and man up. Like it or not, this is your mission today. Deal. Ryan's getting a pack for you. Be at the front doors in an hour." Wheeling on her heel, Becca stalked to her room and slammed the door.