"Ace could have traced the ISP address if they had. He can speak to computers; makes them tell him what he wants to know."
Wendy gasped. She'd never known Ace had that gift. She didn't even think his Handler knew.
"He can?"
Draco ran a hand through his hair. "Trusting you."
"I won't tell a soul." She stood and moved away to let Draco stand. The second she did, she missed the warmth of his body. She hadn't realized how much heat Draco radiated, as much as a small sun. All the heat in the universe seemed to come from him. Without it, she felt cold. Not that she'd tell him that. He'd told her a secret; he trusted her. She wasn't going to break their bond by being weak and pathetic.
"If Ace doesn't answer his phone, call my home number. He's there."
That bit of information gave her pause. She stayed very still as she digested it. "Ace is at your house."
She repeated his words aloud. It wasn't a question. He'd told her he was. Still, for some reason it was surprising. She'd always thought of all Guardians as being solitary and alone when they left the office. Well, with the exception of Draco, who was forever in the media escorting some blonde supermodel somewhere or other.
"Yes, he's probably sleeping. It is, after all, still before noon.”
“He's asleep, at your house?"
Draco fiddled with his computer, eventually ejecting the disk containing the video of his former Handler's execution. "Seems pretty intent on sleeping these days."
Ace was at Draco's house, asleep. She knew there were many things she should focus on not involving Ace and Draco, but she couldn't stop playing the thought over and over again in her mind.
It made a certain kind of sense. They were both extremely good looking Guardians, who evidently lived together. Somehow, she couldn't see them as roommates. No, there had always been a certain connection between them—long looks where they found each other's eyes in some sort of unspoken language.
Dear heavens, they're gay.
She had been lusting after her boss for four years and he was a homosexual. She almost laughed aloud at how stupid she had been. Of course he was gay; how could he not be? Draco had amazing fashion sense. He always dressed perfectly.
So what if he had a woman on his arm every night, a different woman. He'd developed the perfect cover. No long-term relationships, no commitments.
"Wendy, are you sure you're okay? You look a little funny." He stared at her so intently she couldn't help but smile.
Ridiculously, she was the most disappointed she had ever been in her life. She now knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, there would never be a chance of anything happening between her and Draco.
Not that there had been any chance when she'd thought he was heterosexual either. But at least then, there had been the fantasy. Now she had to let even her delusions go. No straight men
ever had cheekbones like Draco had. And Ace's long blond hair, the way it shone, must take endless amounts of product...
She shook her head at her disgusting behavior. How could she be dwelling on any of this when they'd just seen what happened to Carl? Maybe it was some kind of delayed shock.
"Do you want me to let Ace know you're okay when I speak to him?"
"Just tell him that I said to get his ass out of bed and get down here or he can forget getting the cat."
"You're going to get a cat?”
“He wants to. I don't."
"More of a dog person?" God, this was the most inane conversation.
He shrugged. "I'm just not sure I'm ready for that level of commitment with Ace."
Walking over, he placed his hand on her shoulder. "Thanks for this, Wendy, and remember, stay at your desk."
Without another word, he crossed the room and left his office. She sank down into his chair and placed her head in her hands. She needed a reality check and she needed it right now.
His homosexuality didn't matter to her one bit. She had many gay friends in the Space Adventures club. She'd even gone to a gay wedding the year before where they'd all wore costumes, including one of the grooms.
Draco and Ace had to be the most beautiful gay couple in the whole world and how
completely terrible they had to hide their love for one another. No wonder Ace avoided the office. Draco was living this very public life where he pretended to date women. It must be murder for them to keep up the duel life in addition to having to hide where they lived from the public.
She resolved then and there to always be as quietly supportive as she could be about their relationship. From this moment on, Draco would know whatever he needed outside of work to make things easier he would have it. That is, of course, after they dealt with the Organization, who had probably tried to kill them the day before and now, it turned out, had murdered Draco's former Handler.
Forcing the melancholy away, she made herself instead focus on how completely wonderful it must be for Draco to come home at night to Ace, who would understand him as no one else could. Two Guardians who had the same pressures, who could 'get' the other one's needs and
stresses. Another Guardians to hold, while you slept...
Sighing—she promised herself for the last time—she picked up the phone to dial Ace's cell.
As Draco had predicted, the other man didn't answer the phone. She hung up and located Draco's home number on his computer. No one else had the number, but Draco had told her it was stored on his computer in the event of an emergency. She knew how to access it.
She dialed the number and waited.
After two rings, Ace answered. "It's fucking bad enough I have to be up half the night because you're jacking off and I have to hear it, now you can't even let me get any goddamn sleep?"
She was silent. Heavens, she needed to say something. "Oh, god."
"Shit." She heard some fiddling around in the background, presumably Ace getting up.
"Wendy, is that you? Shit. Why are you calling the home line from Draco's desk?"
"There's an emergency." She tried not to croak.
"Is he dead?" There was no mistaking the change in Ace's tone. He'd gone from annoyed to scared shitless in a heartbeat.
"No." Wendy proceeded to tell him everything happening. "He wants you to get up and come over here."
"On my way. Hell, for a second there, I thought we'd lost him. I couldn't think of another emergency that would have put you at his desk." He laughed, a hard cold sound that wasn't mirthful, but almost sounded like sheer relief.
"I'm sorry, I would have started by telling you he was fine but you startled me with your greeting."
"Yeah, about that. Look..."
Just then the building began to shake. Wendy grabbed the desk. "Oh my god, Ace, the building. The whole building, it's shaking."
"What?”
“Earthquake."
"We're not having an earthquake. It's not shaking here."
Terror-stricken, Wendy watched the side of the building crumble to pieces as a giant claw broke through the bricks and mortar. She bellowed with horror.
Ace screamed into the phone. "What's going on? Talk to me, Warner!"
The machine that had pulled the building apart now moved toward her. The giant claw looked like some kind of deranged cat paw as it entered through the gaping hole in the side of the building. Its focus was clear—it wanted her.
"Oh my god, Ace. It's coming for me. A giant claw."
"Warner, drop the phone and run. Run, Wendy."
Leaping up, she ran for Draco’s door. She didn't make it halfway across the office when the claw grabbed her. Shrieking, she jostled and bounced as it pulled her from the building and paused, twenty stories in the air.
She clung onto the unknown machine, cursing herself for looking down. Was it going to drop her? She closed her eyes and prayed it wouldn't, then remembered Carl's beheading and decided it might be preferable to fall to the ground.
Chapter Six
Draco stood in front of the giant view screen Ace had installed in the vault the year b
efore.
Behind him, Colt, Mandala, and Zee watched the video Draco had seen four times and which was now permanently seared into his memory like an infected wound. He turned around to regard his team of heroes, glad to see they were just as upset as he had been the first time he watched it. If they'd been blasé, he would know things had gone terribly wrong at Powers, Inc.
"This can't be allowed to stand," Zee shouted and Draco couldn't blame her. She was, out of all of his employees, the most vocal about her needs and wants. Standing almost six foot four inches tall, she looked straight in his eyes. Her skin, the color of desert sand, spoke of a Middle Eastern heritage, although if asked what she called herself, she'd answer an 'American mutt' and refused to elaborate.
"I agree." He nodded as he looked around the room, making eye contact with all of them.
They were still waiting on the other twenty-four Guardians to arrive—he hoped Wendy had called them— including Ace, who was, not surprisingly, taking his sweet time.
Every Guardians in his employ knew the code to get into the vault. It was a closely guarded secret. Most of the administrative staff in the building didn't even know there was a vault, except the Handlers, and it was in their mandatory contracts they should never disclose the location. The Handlers, however, didn't know how to gain entrance.
"I don't know if all the Handlers are in danger or just mine. You'll note that the writing at the end of the thing claims my weakness is my attachment to my employees. It may be they have weaknesses set up for all of us or maybe they're just after me."
Colt swore. "If they come after you, they come after all of us. I'm not going to let them come after Wendy, even if she's not mine anymore since you stole her from me."
The last part was spoken without a hint of amusement. The hero had never quite forgiven Draco for poaching Wendy when he needed an experienced, competent Handler to replace his former one. The fact she applied for the job didn't seem to matter one bit to Colt. Like Draco, Colt knew she was irreplaceable.
"New Handler not working out?"
"Sharon?" Colt shrugged. "She's fine, but she's not Wendy. She doesn't anticipate what I need before I need it."
That was a good way to put what it was Wendy did. He very rarely had to ask for anything.
Chewing on his lip, he looked at his watch and hoped Ace wasn't giving her a hard time about coming in.
Above his head, he heard shouts and screams.
"What the hell?" Zee looked upward as they all stared in confusion.
Mandala, the quietest of all his Guardians, looked at Draco questioningly, his black eyes giving away no emotion. He was impossible to read. "What’s going on?"
Whirling around, Draco looked at the monitors. "Nothing is showing up." A sick feeling started in his stomach. What the hell could have made the monitors turn off?
"Get the fucking door open!"
Zee and Colt ran forward, each punching in their codes. The door, slow because of its heavy weight, had never seemed more frustrating to him. He fisted his hands at his side. He'd left Wendy alone up there. Powers, Inc. had been built to withstand bombs. It would take a lot to make the system shut down. Whatever was happening, she had to be terrified.
Finally, the door swung open and he ran, pushing past the others. He flew outward into the hallway leading to the elevator. For at least a few seconds, he would have to make do with the elevator. It was the only way in and out of the secret vault.
Pressing the button, he and the others moved inside. The elevator started its fast ascent toward the main building.
"Screw this." Leaping upward, he plowed through the ceiling of the elevator. He'd probably regret making the hole later, but for now, only one thing was on his mind. He needed to see Wendy.
Reaching the lobby, he kicked the doors that blocked the entrance to the elevator shaft unless the elevator was present. It gave way immediately and he touched down on the ground floor.
A chaotic scene lay before him. People shouted. One woman he knew as a clerical worker from Colt's floor grabbed his arms and shouted something he couldn't make out. Using his super eyesight, he zoomed in on the source of the problem.
From his vantage point, he could see outside. The western wall of the lobby was missing. It had crumbled to the street outside. If the entire wall of the building was missing, then twenty
floors of offices, plus an impressive roofline, were exposed to the outside world. On the street, a giant machine stepped on top of another building in its path. It looked like something out of a comic book. A giant cat on two feet with gigantic claws maneuvered away after having destroyed the place he and Ace had built from scratch.
"Ah...hell, no." Running as fast as he could, he exited the lobby and reached the building next door. Flying upward, he landed on the roof of the other building ad looked up at the groaning piece of machinery.
Above him, he heard Ace yell. Leaning back, he looked toward the top of the cat, which had to be at least as tall as Powers, Inc. Ace was shouting to someone trapped in the cat's grip. Using his super sight, he zoomed in and gasped. Wendy.
Draco leapt into the air, ascending quickly until he floated next to Ace, who had grasped onto the head of the Cat machine. "What the hell is this thing?"
Ace shook his head. "No frickin’ idea. I've tried 'talking' to it and as far as I can tell, it's remote controlled."
"It's destroying everything in its path." If they didn't find a way to stop it soon it was going to cause a disaster of epic proportions. "I can bring it down."
"I could too, but I'm afraid if either one of us do that, it's going to drop or squeeze its unwilling passenger to death." Ace nodded toward Wendy.
Zee and Colt flew to join them.
"I'm having Mandala clear the buildings. Some of the other Guardians are arriving. They're controlling the chaos," Colt said.
Draco had forced himself not to look at Wendy. As soon as he saw her up close, he knew what would happen. If she even looked moderately upset, it would be his undoing. Forget decorum, forget plotting, he'd break the thing off piece by piece to free her and screw any bystanders below. So he didn't look. He kept his gaze entirely on Ace.
"We need to maneuver him to the river. We can take him down over the Hudson."
Ace groaned. "Maybe I can interrupt the satellite signal that lets whoever built this monstrosity control it."
"Are you saying this thing is equivalent to a giant, remote control car?"
"Exactly. The only difference, instead of it breaking someone's lamp, it's destroying New York City."
"You will have one job when this is over and that will be to figure out who built this. Do you understand?"
Ace had the audacity to laugh. "And what will you be doing while I involve myself in this?"
"You mean besides figuring out a payment plan with the city to pay for the damage they are bound to see as my fault even though I had nothing to do with this?"
"Yes." Ace nodded, flying to the left to land on the cat's left ear. "Besides that. And before you get worked up, I'm sure all of these buildings are insured."
The cat swung at them with its free paw. They all pulled back, hovering in the air out of reach, except for Ace, who was still positioned on its ear.
"They don't make insurance to cover this kind of disaster."
"They should."
"You never answered my question." Ace ducked under the swinging cat paw. "What will you be doing?"
"Protecting Wendy."
And then he looked at her. He had to. She clung for dear life to the fingers of the claw wrapped around her. He wanted to laugh from the relief he felt at seeing her conscious and alive.
Raising one arm, she waved.
Such a simple, innocent gesture, as if they were out for a drive, instead of barreling down the streets of Manhattan onboard a mechanical cat that had destroyed his building and kidnapped her.
Unable to stop himself, he flew over to her. She looked up at him. Tears stained her face, altho
ugh he didn't see any at the moment. She must have gotten all of her crying done, which was a relief since before today he'd never seen Wendy cry and he wasn't sure he could handle it again, especially now.
"Didn't I tell you to stay at your desk?"
Her eyes brightened at his joke. "I thought you weren't going to acknowledge me over here."
"I just wanted to work some things out with Ace. A plan, so to speak.”
“And what did the two of you decide?"
"We're going to drive the thing to the river before we take it down. That way if it falls apart, it doesn't fall on anyone."
She sniffed. "How are you going to get it past the West Side Highway without squishing any
cars?"
He shrugged. Zee would handle that kind of detail. It's what he paid the other Guardians for in this kind of situation. "I promise it's being handled. You don't have to do anything but enjoy the view."
"Enjoy the view?" She screamed, and he knew the sound well. It was the noise of the proverbial straw breaking the camel's back. Wendy Warner had just reached her limit and he had made a bad joke. "No. I'm not staying in here until we get to the river."
She started squirming. First her upper body and he could see through the spaces between the Cat's fingers that she was flailing her legs around too.
"Wendy, what are you doing?”
“I'm getting out."
"You're twenty stories high."
She paused for a second. "You can catch me."
He raised an eyebrow, liking the way the wind at this height played with her brown hair.
"What if I miss?"
"Are you trying to be funny?"
He was, but for some reason, she wasn't laughing, not even a little.
"If you're concerned about your reflexes, I'll make you a doctor's appointment and ask Zee or Ace to catch me."
"No, I'll do it, but I really think you should wait until we reach the river. It's not like it's hurting you."
"How would you know? Are you lodged between two metal fingers?”
“Well, no, but—"
"Then don't presume to know what does or does not hurt me."
Wow, Wendy had never shown him her backbone before. Of course, these weren't exactly business conditions, and they'd never really associated outside of work.