“How is she able to see anything with those lights on?” Tag leaned in, looking at the screen.
“Like MaeBe said, that’s state of the art. There was a professor in Japan years ago who played around with using LED light to fool an AI. This looks like someone’s taken his work to the next level,” Hutch explained. “And maybe using meta materials to bend light around her face. Again, not something that’s on the market.”
“So she’s our Collective friend,” Tag surmised.
“Or something like it.” Hutch was sure they weren’t calling themselves The Collective these days, but it was the same shit. It was corporations at war with each other and willing to burn down the world for fun and profits.
The fact that they couldn’t ID the woman who’d stolen Noelle’s research made anger roll in his gut.
But that was nothing compared to the anxiety of not being with her, of knowing she was going through something horrible and not being able to do anything about it. After Michael had picked him up, he’d worked as fast as he could. He’d immediately called in Tag, who’d gotten Mitch and Lea on the case. He hoped the booking process had taken a while and they’d managed to get her out of there before she’d been taken to a cell.
The door came open and Chris Taylor walked in, Cara moving behind him. “You had to sic the DA on them? Do you know the kind of hell I’m going to catch once this story gets around? No one outside of major crimes knows what I’m working on right now, but they’ll find out eventually, and I’m going to catch hell for sending in the dragon.”
“I have questions about involving her, too. Maia Brighton’s got quite a reputation,” Cara complained.
“A reputation for being a man-eating, ruthless she-demon?” Hutch had known her for years. He’d avoided falling even temporarily into her web, unlike many of his friends.
“Hey, don’t misrepresent a long-time… Well, she’s not really a friend.” Tag took his place at the head of the table. “And she is a true pansexual. She’ll take it from anyone she finds vaguely attractive. Maia is many things. The one thing no one can accuse her of is being corrupt. There’s zero threat of her working with Layne. In fact, she’ll happily help you take her down. But for tonight she’s the only thing keeping my people out of jail. I don’t know what is going on with this third party. Hutch is going to give us an update on what he thinks is going on as soon as our friends get here.” Tag looked down at his phone. “And they’re coming in now. Lea’s got Noelle. Mitch had more trouble getting Kyle out because they’d tossed him in a cell. He’s running a couple of minutes behind.”
She was here. Thank god. “I’m going to meet her.”
“Does she know about me?” Cara asked.
“No. I took the deal seriously.” It had been a mistake on his part. “But she has to know everything now.”
“Agreed.” Cara took a seat next to Chris. “We need to protect her. It’s obvious she’s not involved in this.”
If only they’d figured that out days ago. He pushed through the conference room door and out into the hallway. The first floor of Sanctum was fairly normal looking. It was where the offices and locker rooms were. He could hear the sound of industrial music pulsing from above.
He wished he was up there with Noelle, wished they were a Dom and a sub, enjoying a night for themselves.
Instead he had to tell her that everything she’d worked for was at risk.
The good news was he’d saved her research. All of it. He’d risked his neck and put her first. She was going to understand, and he was going to figure out how to fix this for her.
He strode to the lobby, though there wasn’t much to the lobby of Sanctum. There was a security desk that was manned by one of the Doms on play nights. The rest of the time a state-of-the-art security system protected the building.
He watched as Lea strode up and the guard allowed her in, followed by Noelle. She leaned on her cane as though the day had taken a toll on her body.
His whole soul softened as she walked in, and he rushed to her. “Noelle.”
He wrapped his arms around her, needing to assure himself that she was safe. He breathed her in and brushed his lips against her hair. It took him a moment to realize she wasn’t hugging him back.
“Good luck with that one, Hutch,” Lea said. “She’s already fired me, so I don’t think you’ll be around for long.”
She’d done what? He stepped back. “Baby, you can’t fire Lea. She’s the best defense attorney in Dallas. We managed to get the charges dropped tonight, but I have a feeling Jessica Layne will come back fighting. Lea, you’re not fired.”