Page 102 of Rescuing Rebecca
“And what does the virus do?” Adam asked.
“Essentially, it’s designed to corrupt data and expose Volkov and the Imperium Council by locking down his servers and uploading terabytes of potentially incriminating information to a digital vault designed by Jay. The only way to access it is by using the cipher he engineered.”
“Holy shit!” Cody said. “So right now, Volkov’s locked out of his own computers?”
“All but one,” she confirmed, the tiniest hit of pride making her sit a little taller in her seat. “Dominion is housed on a high-security, air-gapped server with no physical or wireless connections to the internet or other external networks. Disrupting Volkov’s operations buys us time, but it doesn’t eliminate the threat. We need the kill switch, and the best way to get it is to give Maya what she wants, and that’s me.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Panic rising in his chest, it took everything in Jay’s power to keep his shit together.
Yeah, if Becca thought he’d let her risk her life for him one more time, she was mistaken on so many fucking levels she needed a reminder of who the fuck he was and what the fuck he stood for.
“Forget it,” he said, locking his gaze onto the screen behind Adam’s head. “We’re not using you to lure Maya into a trap.”
“Jay—”
“No.” He cut Becca off but refused to look at her. He couldn’t look at her. If he did, he’d be ripping her out of her chair, tossing her over his shoulder, and whisking her away to their bedroom to talk some sense into her beautiful but delusional head.
“Jay—”
“I said no, Becca.” He crossed his functional arm over his sling. “We’re not using you to get to Maya. We’ll find another way. End of discussion.”
She poked his bicep with a pointy finger. “News flash, you don’t get to decide what I will or won’t do.”
“Wrong.” He cranked his head to the left so hard he damn near pulled a muscle. “From now on, when it comes to your safety, I’m the only person who gets to decide. Besides, Maya doesn’t want you. She wants me.”
Face draining of color, Rebecca stood so fast, her chair damn near careened into the wall. “Are you out of your fucking mind? The only reason we’re having this discussion is because nobody on the Imperium has found you yet. If they had, we’d all be fighting an unbeatable regime or already dead.”
He stood and faced her. “Wrong again. We’re here because our government betrayed us. All of us. Every single person in this room has sacrificed someone or something to fight this fight, and I’m fucking done pulling my punches and hiding behind a computer screen. Maya wants me, Johnson wants me, the Imperium Council wants me.” He jabbed his thumb against his own chest. “Me. Not you. Not Jamie. Not the JTT. I’m the reason we’re in this mess, and I’m the reason Colonel Grayson is dead, and Tak is chipped. No one…” To make his meaning clear, Jay swept his gaze around the table, his eyes connecting with every member of the team until they landed on Grant. “Is taking another fucking bullet meant for me.”
“Fuck you.” Grant shoved his body away from the table and was halfway to the doors before Jay realized his words had done more damage than good.
“Grant!” Gray yelled, making a move to get up to follow him.
Chase stopped her with a hand on the wrist as Grant disappeared, slamming the door behind him. “Let him go, baby. He needs to figure his shit out, and we can’t do it for him.”
Green eyes spitting fire, she pulled her wrist free. “He almost died, Chase. Twice.” As angry as Jay had ever seen her, she held up two fingers, making an overly aggressive gesture to emphasize her point. “I know you all think he’s doing it for me, and maybe he does too, but you’re all fucking wrong, including him. He’s a God damn married to the military asshole, same as the rest of you. So get over yourselves, and figure this shit out together—until then—leave us the fuck alone.”
She took off in the same direction Grant had.
“Gracie, please,” Adam called out, making a futile attempt to reach his sister and salvage the situation.
She stopped midway to look over her shoulder. “I’m not kidding, Adam. Fix it,” she ordered before waving her hand toward the door. “Let’s go, Becca. You too, Davis. These dickheads have some come-to-Jesus work to do.”
The two of them followed her out the door without question, and the silence left in their wake landed heavy and uncomfortable on the shoulders of those who were left.
“Way to go, Jay.”
“Fuck you, Cody.”
“He was joking,” Zander said.
“Well, it wasn’t funny,” Jay replied, his fist clenched so tight his forearm had started to cramp.
“Jesus Christ.” Jamie rubbed a hand over his face and sighed in exasperation. “Sit the fuck down, dickhead.”
“Don’t tell me what to do, asshole.” Torn between going after Rebecca and settling shit with his team, Jay’s muscles held him in suspension.
