skills, you find out the information.”
“And he shows up in the right place at the right time to steal their codes.” I pressed the bottle to my forehead. “Agency toy. Pilfered from a cache and used to locate supers and activate their plugs if they don’t go along with his plan. Fight or die, that’s what he did with Rachael.”
The cool chain around my neck felt thick and heavy. We’d been able to thwart Dykovski’s attempts to activate our plugs with individual jammers, each small trinket a lifesaver. It was a smaller version of the type Jessie originally created to jam the Agency’s transmissions. With the destruction of the Agency base and, so we thought, the destruction of all the codes necessary to trigger the plugs, we figured we’d never need one again.
Now we all carried one after Dykovski’s abortive try to scan our plugs and steal the code, to put us under his control. I resisted the urge to reach up and stroke it like a religious medal.
The words sat on my tongue for a second, the urge to tell the two men we’d figured out a defense against Dykovski’s scanning.
Something told me to swallow the words back, keep the secret a bit longer.
Harris chuckled. “Told you she was a smart one.”
“But, again, why call me?” I looked at Harris. “Not that I mind hearing that you’re all happy doing the domestic bliss and all that, but what did you call me here about?”
He giggled. “Kit here has an idea to catch Dykovski.” His eyes lit up. “We’re going to be heroes again. The Protectors, you, me and Kit.”
I swallowed back the temptation to slap him back into reality.
“Yep. He’s going to walk right in here, and we’ll take him out. Get the lead on the evening news, of course,” Kit added.
“Of course,” I replied, keeping my voice just this side of sarcasm. “And why would Dykovski come here to Kensington Grove?”
Harris shifted a bit on the wooden chair, reminding me of a little boy dying to use the bathroom. “’Cause we set it up. I told him I wanted to be one of his thugs, and he’s coming to town to get me. Personal recruitment.”
I rolled the glass across my forehead, stealing every bit of cold I could. It held back the building rage.
Harris continued babbling, oblivious to my less-than-enthusiastic response. “It’s a great plan, Jo. Dykovski comes here, you and the rest of the team follow him home to his base, you help Kit pop his ass, and we all get handed the key to the city. Winner winner, chicken dinner.” He rocked back in the chair with a ridiculously wide smile.
There wasn’t enough beer in the world to hold my tongue on that.
“And you don’t think he saw you in Toronto hanging out with us and figured out you’re part of the team? Or that no one’s ratted you out online, on purpose or accidentally?” I snapped at the older man. “He’s going to show up with a bunch of his thugs, take your code and kill you just to make an example of you. He did it with Blockhead. He killed her to show Rachael he accessed the codes.”
“Linda’s dead?” Harris whispered. His face went deathly pale. He glanced at Kit, the previous exuberance washed away with a slap of reality.
Kit smacked his lips again. “Nothing to worry about, kid. Whether Dykovski makes you or not, he’s still coming here, and we’ll take them out like the morning trash before he even thinks about popping your plug. We planned this without the Protectors and we can do it with or without them.”
“Jo…” The link crackled to life. Hunter interrupted my thoughts as I watched Kit smile and take another drink. “Jo, I’m not going to say he’d be bad to have on the team. But your pulse is hitting the ceiling. What are you thinking?”
I paused, trying to sort out my feelings. We could get Harris a jammer to protect him from Dykovski, maybe an extra one for Kit to make sure. Kit Masters was a formidable Alpha super to have on our side and would give us a lot of credibility
“And he shows up in the right place at the right time to steal their codes.” I pressed the bottle to my forehead. “Agency toy. Pilfered from a cache and used to locate supers and activate their plugs if they don’t go along with his plan. Fight or die, that’s what he did with Rachael.”
The cool chain around my neck felt thick and heavy. We’d been able to thwart Dykovski’s attempts to activate our plugs with individual jammers, each small trinket a lifesaver. It was a smaller version of the type Jessie originally created to jam the Agency’s transmissions. With the destruction of the Agency base and, so we thought, the destruction of all the codes necessary to trigger the plugs, we figured we’d never need one again.
Now we all carried one after Dykovski’s abortive try to scan our plugs and steal the code, to put us under his control. I resisted the urge to reach up and stroke it like a religious medal.
The words sat on my tongue for a second, the urge to tell the two men we’d figured out a defense against Dykovski’s scanning.
Something told me to swallow the words back, keep the secret a bit longer.
Harris chuckled. “Told you she was a smart one.”
“But, again, why call me?” I looked at Harris. “Not that I mind hearing that you’re all happy doing the domestic bliss and all that, but what did you call me here about?”
He giggled. “Kit here has an idea to catch Dykovski.” His eyes lit up. “We’re going to be heroes again. The Protectors, you, me and Kit.”
I swallowed back the temptation to slap him back into reality.
“Yep. He’s going to walk right in here, and we’ll take him out. Get the lead on the evening news, of course,” Kit added.
“Of course,” I replied, keeping my voice just this side of sarcasm. “And why would Dykovski come here to Kensington Grove?”
Harris shifted a bit on the wooden chair, reminding me of a little boy dying to use the bathroom. “’Cause we set it up. I told him I wanted to be one of his thugs, and he’s coming to town to get me. Personal recruitment.”
I rolled the glass across my forehead, stealing every bit of cold I could. It held back the building rage.
Harris continued babbling, oblivious to my less-than-enthusiastic response. “It’s a great plan, Jo. Dykovski comes here, you and the rest of the team follow him home to his base, you help Kit pop his ass, and we all get handed the key to the city. Winner winner, chicken dinner.” He rocked back in the chair with a ridiculously wide smile.
There wasn’t enough beer in the world to hold my tongue on that.
“And you don’t think he saw you in Toronto hanging out with us and figured out you’re part of the team? Or that no one’s ratted you out online, on purpose or accidentally?” I snapped at the older man. “He’s going to show up with a bunch of his thugs, take your code and kill you just to make an example of you. He did it with Blockhead. He killed her to show Rachael he accessed the codes.”
“Linda’s dead?” Harris whispered. His face went deathly pale. He glanced at Kit, the previous exuberance washed away with a slap of reality.
Kit smacked his lips again. “Nothing to worry about, kid. Whether Dykovski makes you or not, he’s still coming here, and we’ll take them out like the morning trash before he even thinks about popping your plug. We planned this without the Protectors and we can do it with or without them.”
“Jo…” The link crackled to life. Hunter interrupted my thoughts as I watched Kit smile and take another drink. “Jo, I’m not going to say he’d be bad to have on the team. But your pulse is hitting the ceiling. What are you thinking?”
I paused, trying to sort out my feelings. We could get Harris a jammer to protect him from Dykovski, maybe an extra one for Kit to make sure. Kit Masters was a formidable Alpha super to have on our side and would give us a lot of credibility
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