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"The hospital will be irls so quickly, so effortlessly, and without drawing a single bit of notice, teleportation had to be in play "Any Arcadians working there?"
"A few, and I’ve already got "
They thought alike "Good"
A lot of Arcadians could teleport, yes, but there ays to prevent the so Like certain metals that were mined from other planets Expensive as hell to acquire, and hard as hell to drag through one wormhole after another--the standard way to planet hop--but AIR HQ and all AIR vehicles were comprised of the necessary materials
If you weren’t near AIR or your vehicle, lasercuffs worked just as well They weren’t ht they produced bonded to skin, any kind of skin When an Arcadian was restrained that way, and he teleported, the bands would heat, just like Hector’s arms, and his hands would literally melt off Brutal, but necessary AIR had to take precautions to protect the innocent
"So here’s a question," Hector said "How did the abductor know the girls were in the hospital?"
"We aren’t sure," she said "Too many options A chatty or even corrupt hospital employee A chatty or corrupt friend of a hospital e people An isotope tracker Maybe one of the girls called so the lines, but the other theories require ate"
His free hand fisted "The MO for this abduction, as well as the other one, is similar Therefore, it’s safe to say that whoever took our first batch of girls took our second"
"I agree And since the first one was yours, this one is all yours, as well," she said "Wrap it up quick"
I’ll do my best He always did "No anonymous tip to help us out this tiirls are being taken and locked away?" Made no sense, really Why take the to use them in soirl was pretty, very pretty, and his first thought had been sex slaves He’d busted a fehorehouses throughout the years Otherworlder fes on Earth, a job, whatever So they ca to start a new life
They started a new life, all right In souy’s bed And that’s if they were lucky The unlucky ones were placed in those whorehouses, forced to service countless ain, why take these girls and not put theotten any other answers out of them Not any we understood, anyway"
Very well "After I finish at the hospital, I’ll go over transcripts of as said Maybe I’ll pick up on soood"
"And, uh, Mia" Self-preservation rose "I don’t want to go back to camp"
"Why?"
"For personal reasons And I swear to you, they’re good reasons Iive you some time off, no prob You rarely ask And okay, sure, , as always Because yes, he will co a break without hiht Dallas would be happy to have Noelle to hi plastic and realized his hand had heated to the point of deep-frying in mere seconds Despite his sexual release What the hell? He was so jealous, so possessive, he iht of anyone else with Noelle?
He’d never had a wo that way Breathing in and out, Hector forced a surge of cal "I owe--"
"But you’re going back to camp for the final month," she cut in, heartless as only she could be "I value your opinion, and I need to kno the reressed"
He didn’t point out that Dallas could tell her Or Jaxon Or Ghost Phoenix was the youngest and newest ht "Okay I’ll go back" Maybe
Hopefully, he wouldn’t be thinking about Noelle every spareabout her at all But even if he was, he now had a , he reet to work, Dean Oh, and say hello to Noelle Treuys are tight" Her laughter echoed over the line
"Fucking Dallas," he muttered
"Uh, no Don’t blame him for your infamy There’s a video of your KO, and it’s all over the web At least thirty people have eratulations, you’re a star" Click
Wonderful Worldwide humiliation Exactly what he’d needed
Hector tossed his phone on his nightstand and padded to his bathroo from the overhead and side spouts caused the plastic he’d ht Then he and Noelle would once again cross paths
He had a feeling only one of them would survive He wondered just who that would be
Ten
AIR Training Caht
HE WAS BACK
Noelle hadn’t seen Hector since she’d laid hione easier on hih Love taps, really, and he’d dropped as if he were the slowest gazelle in the pack and she the hungry lion who’d won rights to first bite Then he’d collected hi a word
In her defense, he’d kind of deserved it Not just for the way he’d eyed her with such disgust the day they’dabout, she reminded herself--but because he’d knocked Johnny Deschanel on his ass and looked at Noelle, all this is what’s going to happen to you if you stay here
Well, she had stayed--but he hadn’t
She sat at thecubby in the bunkhouse Night had long since fallen, but the la the instructors’ quarters provided the perfect spotlight Hector had just driven up in a sleek black Porsche, e up the steps, finally disappearing froht against his perfect, ht of hione Not ht about the way he’d re cord after cord of hard-won strength, tanned skin glistening with sweat, and a sasped when she had first spied hi to put her hands on hiht ared on his gloves, those tattoos had shiht in the alley
She hadn’t thought about why he glowed--optical illusion on her part? exposure to a toxic cheic reaction to alien cuisine? weird fluke of nature?--or how hot-off-the-streets sexy he was