Page 28 of Rescuing Rebecca
Unable to hurt herself or others.
Unable to hurt Becca or the man she loved.
Yeah, fear had kept her on the move in those early years, drifting from one country to another to avoid discovery. She believed Maya when she’d threatened to come for her if she dared to reach out to Jay. And her sister’s vow to break into his apartment and stab him in his sleep for any violation of the no-contact clause was a promise inked in blood.
If Maya couldn’t have him. No way in hell Becca could.
So, she’d run. Fast and far. Her heartbreak accompanying her around the world while she’d searched for her twin. Five long years and nothing. No signs of her anywhere. Enter Dominion and the Imperium council, and everything had changed.
Becca hadn’t known it at the time, but to save her ass after murdering their parents, Maya had convinced Jonas Johnson she coded part of the lock to control Dominion. In truth, her sister had no clue there was an actual key because neither Jay nor Becca had ever told anyone.
Instead, Maya believed that when it came to the virus, Jay was the only person who mattered. And the best way to find him? Find Becca first. Yeah, her twin would take the bait.
Maya had no choice in the matter. She’d aligned herself with Jonas Johnson, and he was in the winner-takes-all race for the top spot on the Imperium Council. She had to deliver the code to control Dominion. Same as Becca.
Sister versus sister.
Russia versus the United States of America in a no-holds-barred contest for total supremacy. The stakes didn’t get any higher than that. Four days. She had four days left to take down two supervillains, destroy a world-ending computer virus, and get justice for her loved ones. Her parents. Jay. Their baby.
Her insides twisting with a pang of sorrow, she leaned back in her desk chair, closed her eyes, and rested her head. Out of habit, she smoothed her hands down her flat stomach until they cradled her lower abdomen. A protective gesture. Unnecessary, pain-inducing in the heart area, and an invisible scar she bore alone.
At the time, Jay hadn’t known about the accidental pregnancy. Not because she’d been scared to tell him, but because she’d been scared to tell her parents. Unfortunately, Maya had discovered the pregnancy when she’d stolen Becca’s journal, and blind with rage, she’d accused her of trying to trap Jay in a loveless marriage.
A day later, their mom and dad lay dead on the kitchen floor. Becca had been on her way to joining them. And the baby was…gone.
But not forgotten.
Never forgotten.
She swiped at the tears escaping from beneath her closed eyelids. Still, after all this time, she cried for a child who would never be born. She’d never feel the weight of her baby in her arms, and yet, the echoes of what might have been remained a phantom presence in her heart. Her mind. Her body.
Any hopes and dreams she’d had for a future with Jay had been cut away.
Maya’s jealousy the disease that had stolen everyone and everything Becca had loved.
There was no coming back from the losses she’d suffered. No surviving the collision course they were on now. There was only justice, keeping Jay safe, and giving him the codes he needed to end the Imperium Council’s quest for power.
She heard the door to the computer room open, and her muscles tensed. “You look tired, love. You should get some sleep.”
Relieved the intruder was Nik and not Roman, she sighed and bobbled her head back and forth against the rough fabric of her chair. “I can’t. Time’s running out, and I need every second there is to dissect the results of the software tests I ran last night. Then I need to identify and isolate the failure points, refactor those into the codebase, and rerun a comprehensive regression testing suite to validate the efficacy of the new patches. Meanwhile, Dominion continues to look for a way out of the standalone server it’s housed in while learning how to defend against any countermeasures it comes up against during the evaluation phase. It’s a nightmare scenario, Nik.”
She opened her eyes and met his gaze head-on. “And if I fuck this up? If I don’t figure out how to control the virus in the next four days, it’s game over for me. If I fuck this up, and Dominion escapes without the key in place, it’s game over for everyone. It’s do or die. There’s no in-between, and there’s no other option.”
His back to the surveillance camera, Nik frowned and stepped closer. “There is another option, Maya.” He leaned his butt against her desk, crossed his arms over his chest, and looking down at her, he kept his voice low as he continued. “My plan will work.”
She snorted, the effort reminding her she was a ball of hurt. “Your plan has more holes than a slice of gourmet cheese at a mouse convention.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Your plan sucks. Running isn’t an option. Hiding isn’t an option. Giving me more time to crack the code isn’t an option. A laptop loaded with the latest version of Microsoft isn’t going to slice and dice it.” To emphasize her point, she waved her hand toward the glass-walled server room. “I need hardware with a massive amount of computing power and access to Dominion to run the testing algorithms. I can’t get that anywhere but here.”
All true, but for her plan to work, she needed Maya to find her. The best way to accomplish her goal? Stay put. Wait it out. Let her sister come to her on Big Diomede.
“But what if we?—”
“There is no we, Nik. We both know you can’t save me. Whether I give him the key or not, Alexsandr won’t let me go. I know too much. Dead or alive, I’m a prisoner for life. Betray your uncle, and he won’t let you live either. If we run, he’ll send Roman to hunt us down.” She shuddered at the prospect of what the sadistic prick would do. “There won’t be any corner of the map far enough away to keep us safe.”
“Then we eliminate him.”
