Wiped Read Free Page B

time been a dream.
    If I was having troubles with all of this, I knew Lena was drowning. But my Elite kept her head above water; the only way she knew how. By being Elite.
    “We still have to go forward with the plan,” I added. Wanting desperately to qualify that statement with something along the lines of “the agreed plan” or “the plan we all were in on” as opposed to Lena’s fucked-in-the-head plan that had brought us here.
    But knowing Lena had fucked up and treating her as though she had were two totally different things. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t add more guilt on top of the shit-pile she was already labouring under. I couldn’t watch that Elite armour get crushed. I might hate it at times, but she needed it. To get through what had to be done now, Lena needed to be Elite.
    “But while we’re waiting to do all of that, I think we should get the lay of the land in Lunnon.”
    Lena turned her head to look at me. Stunning blue met my gaze; held me trapped; the promise of a morning sky.
    “Why?” she asked, but the question was a cover. Of course we’d get a lay of the land. Of course we’d use the time it took to establish and secure a base to assess what other challenges were out there. How many more survivors were armed and on Lunnon’s street? Lena knew this as well as the rest of us did.
    No, the question hid so much more than just that single word.
    I reached forward and tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. No longer white and black. No longer shocking white alone. A more natural colour seen on the streets of Hammurg. My zebra blending in, like she’d always been so good at doing.
    I cupped her cheek, leaned forward in my seat and rested my forehead against hers, nose to nose, hot breaths mixing. I breathed her in. My fingers finding her nape, automatically wrapping around stands of her hair there. I anchored myself, while I held her in place, stopped her from flying away. Stopped her from flying away from me.
    My eyelids lifted and blue met blue. So beautiful. So breathtaking. So fragile.
    My thumb started rubbing gentle circles on her skin.
    “I don’t trust Calvin.” She stiffened, went to move away. “Hear me out, baby,” I insisted, tightening my hold on her neck. “But that’s because I have an issue with artificially intelligent computers and their penchant for world domination.” Her lips twitched, but sadness filled those deep pools of aquamarine. “I understand, on a purely intellectual level, that there is a place and time to use that sentient mind of his to our advantage. But I will never trust it. Not completely.
    “But here’s the thing. I trust you.”
    Her eyes closed and I watched stunned as a trickle of a tear worked its way out from beneath long lashes. I swallowed thickly, licked my lips, and took a breath of much needed air.
    “I don’t know what happened today,” I whispered. “I don’t know if it was an intentional error on Calvin’s part, something calculated and cunning beyond what we can comprehend. Or whether there’s more going on here and Calvin just doesn’t have the necessary input to extrapolate the answers. I just don’t know.
    “But I’m willing to concede that it could be the latter. That Calvin is on our side and the fuck-up” - she flinched, I knew she would, I held on tighter - “was a combination of errors, unforeseen, unexpected, and just plain unlucky. And if it is all of that, and if you think it’s worth investigating, then we use the time we’ve got while Cal and his soldiers secure the base here to find out what we can about these Lunnoners.”
    I let a long breath of air out, my thumb stroking, my heart beating a little too fast. It always beat a little too fast around Lena. But if Lena was hurt or in pain, any sort of agony at all, my heart damn near burst out of my chest in sympathy.
    I wanted to ask. Hell it was constantly on replay inside my head. Why had she left me out of the plan? Had I known about