stuck playing dumb and vulnerable.
He could tell she hadn’t bought his story about how things had gone down at the military school. He had hoped to have a few days to work himself into her good graces before telling her the whole truth. He hadn’t counted on her being so tough. So suspicious. But he kind of admired her for it, even if it made his job harder.
He was going to have to handle the next few days very carefully. If she knew why he was really here and what he really wanted from her . . . if she knew he was playing her, she’d probably slit his throat in the night. For the first time in his life, his motives were selfless and noble—he was trying to save the world, for cripe’s sake—but since saving the world involved manipulating Lily, he didn’t think it would win him any points with her.
For now, he was just happy he’d found her. After months of searching for her, he’d found her. She and Mel were in the next room. They were both alive and safe. And now that he was here, he could protect them.
Still, lurking outside her door like some sort of pervert probably wasn’t the best way to convince her to trust him. So he left the lab room. Out in the hall, he considered his options. Leaving her alone wasn’t one of them. It had taken him too damn long to find her. He wasn’t going to risk losing her again.
Tonight while they were asleep, he’d find the fuse box and get the elevator shut down so no one could sneak up on them. Then he’d have to rig an alarm on the doors to the stairwells. That should be easy enough.
Later, he might figure out a way to rig her door so he’d hear it if she tried to sneak out, but for now, he’d settle for simple line-of-sight surveillance from the room directly across the hall.
It was a lecture hall, with maybe fifty seats mounted to the floor, set up stadium-style behind rows of narrow desks. With the door to his room open, he sat, back propped against the lectern, arms clenched around his knees, and drew in a series of long breaths, until his heart rate slowed.
Sebastian may have been full of crap about a lot of things, but when it came to taking the edge off an adrenaline rush, the guy knew what he was talking about. Of course, Sebastian would have told him to twist his body into some crazy full-on yoga pose to meditate. Carter, however, wasn’t quite ready to risk taking his eyes off the door to Lily’s room.
He’d try quieting his mind and being receptive to the universe and all those other Jedi mind tricks some other day. Someday when he hadn’t just had his ass handed to him. By a girl.
He’d have thought that the eighteen months of combat training he’d had in military school might have given him an edge, but no, he’d had to resort to playing dead like a frickin’ possum. Ah, Sebastian would be so proud.
Though, in Carter’s defense, she’d been trying to kill him and he’d been doing his damnedest not to actually hurt her, because if he was right and Lily Price really was the key to defeating the Ticks, he sure as hell didn’t want to be the one to accidentally kill the savior of all humanity.
When he felt sure he could talk without Sebastian reading his emotions in his voice, Carter pulled up the right leg of his jeans to where he had a cell phone case strapped to the ankle of his boot. All the cell towers had been knocked out when the Ticks first took over, but his satellite phone still worked. Thank God he hadn’t broken it in the fight. Or worse, lost it. The last thing he needed was for her to know he had it. She was smart enough that his phone would have raised a major flag for her.
He had a tiny mirror in his survival kit strapped to his other leg. He set it up on the ground beside the lectern, angled just slightly. Then he retreated to a corner of the room, sitting on the floor with his back against the far wall. If the door to Lily’s room opened, he’d see it in the mirror.
He scrubbed a hand down his face. Jesus, he was
He could tell she hadn’t bought his story about how things had gone down at the military school. He had hoped to have a few days to work himself into her good graces before telling her the whole truth. He hadn’t counted on her being so tough. So suspicious. But he kind of admired her for it, even if it made his job harder.
He was going to have to handle the next few days very carefully. If she knew why he was really here and what he really wanted from her . . . if she knew he was playing her, she’d probably slit his throat in the night. For the first time in his life, his motives were selfless and noble—he was trying to save the world, for cripe’s sake—but since saving the world involved manipulating Lily, he didn’t think it would win him any points with her.
For now, he was just happy he’d found her. After months of searching for her, he’d found her. She and Mel were in the next room. They were both alive and safe. And now that he was here, he could protect them.
Still, lurking outside her door like some sort of pervert probably wasn’t the best way to convince her to trust him. So he left the lab room. Out in the hall, he considered his options. Leaving her alone wasn’t one of them. It had taken him too damn long to find her. He wasn’t going to risk losing her again.
Tonight while they were asleep, he’d find the fuse box and get the elevator shut down so no one could sneak up on them. Then he’d have to rig an alarm on the doors to the stairwells. That should be easy enough.
Later, he might figure out a way to rig her door so he’d hear it if she tried to sneak out, but for now, he’d settle for simple line-of-sight surveillance from the room directly across the hall.
It was a lecture hall, with maybe fifty seats mounted to the floor, set up stadium-style behind rows of narrow desks. With the door to his room open, he sat, back propped against the lectern, arms clenched around his knees, and drew in a series of long breaths, until his heart rate slowed.
Sebastian may have been full of crap about a lot of things, but when it came to taking the edge off an adrenaline rush, the guy knew what he was talking about. Of course, Sebastian would have told him to twist his body into some crazy full-on yoga pose to meditate. Carter, however, wasn’t quite ready to risk taking his eyes off the door to Lily’s room.
He’d try quieting his mind and being receptive to the universe and all those other Jedi mind tricks some other day. Someday when he hadn’t just had his ass handed to him. By a girl.
He’d have thought that the eighteen months of combat training he’d had in military school might have given him an edge, but no, he’d had to resort to playing dead like a frickin’ possum. Ah, Sebastian would be so proud.
Though, in Carter’s defense, she’d been trying to kill him and he’d been doing his damnedest not to actually hurt her, because if he was right and Lily Price really was the key to defeating the Ticks, he sure as hell didn’t want to be the one to accidentally kill the savior of all humanity.
When he felt sure he could talk without Sebastian reading his emotions in his voice, Carter pulled up the right leg of his jeans to where he had a cell phone case strapped to the ankle of his boot. All the cell towers had been knocked out when the Ticks first took over, but his satellite phone still worked. Thank God he hadn’t broken it in the fight. Or worse, lost it. The last thing he needed was for her to know he had it. She was smart enough that his phone would have raised a major flag for her.
He had a tiny mirror in his survival kit strapped to his other leg. He set it up on the ground beside the lectern, angled just slightly. Then he retreated to a corner of the room, sitting on the floor with his back against the far wall. If the door to Lily’s room opened, he’d see it in the mirror.
He scrubbed a hand down his face. Jesus, he was
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