Logan nodded. "And we've got some group, small or large--I'm guessing large--selling our secrets to the highest bidder. They're in top government positions and we know they're also in the military--at least some of them."
"The bastards who went after my sister were army," Jess confirmed. "We need to talk to Ryland Miller as soon as possible and get this information to his team."
"Whoever was talking to the senator is the one giving orders to the admiral and the general, sending our teams out on suicide runs. It has to be him. We've got his voice now. We should be able to nail the bastard," Neil said. "I'll keep working to clean it up and see if I can enhance it even more."
"And try again to get something on the background noises, see if we can maybe figure out exactly where the conversation is taking place, which building," Logan added.
Neil nodded. "I doubt I'll get too much more. It wasn't easy cleaning it and pulling up what I did get."
"Was there any more of the conversation?"
"Not that wasn't damaged beyond my abilities to recover. I can ask Flame, she's a genius with this kind of thing, but I wouldn't count on getting much more. I think the man must have been standing a distance from the recorder."
"He couldn't have known the conversation was being recorded," Logan said.
Jess snapped his fingers. "But the senator might have. Listen to the things he said. Short answers. Nothing too incriminating. He might have been the one recording it. Violet would be likely to urge him to get some insurance. I don't know how the senator got involved with them, but I'll bet he wanted out."
"Then he tries to bargain with Whitney, an exchange of information--especially if the senator's wife is targeted to be killed," Logan filled in. "Whitney didn't sell out those women, nor was the senator going to rescue them, he was trying to show Whitney what he knew, that he'd keep quiet in exchange."
"Then why did Whitney have him killed?" Neil asked.
"We don't know if he's dead."
"It was a confirmed head shot. I doubt if he survived, and if he did, he's a vegetable."
"Then Violet is going to want revenge. She can't go home to Whitney and she can't come to us. She's out there alone with everyone wanting her dead," Jess said. "So what's she going to do? She plants the recorder in Louise's office, because she's heard the rumor that I'm conducting some kind of investigation."
"We're making a big jump here," Neil said.
"Maybe," Jess agreed, "but it fits."
"Talk about a pissed-off woman," Logan said. "See, I have a point. She's a loose cannon and no one knows whose side she's going to come down on. In the meantime, everyone had better watch their backs. Now you see what I'm talking about with these women. Gun or no, she's dangerous as hell."
"At least she's got good cause, and you ought to be happy, Logan, she was protecting her man," Jess said.
"Too bad she had the wrong man. What a waste."
Jess burst out laughing. "You're such a hypocrite, Logan. You say the women shouldn't be enhanced, but if they are, you don't want to share them with anyone."
Logan shrugged. "I'm a complicated man."
"You're a nutcase."
The smile faded from Jess's face. "You're a smart nutcase, Max. Before Saber escaped, she was in Whitney's office and she found two files out. One was on the senator. She didn't talk much about it, but when I ask her tonight, I'm going to bet she'll tell me it documented treasonous acts."
"That would at least confirm our speculations."
"And there was a file on bionics. Both files were in English, typed out and left right on the desk for her to find. Whitney always, always, uses mathematical code. I asked Lily and every single time she's accessed a file on the computer it's in code."
"Which means he wanted her to see those files," Logan said.
"Exactly, but why?"
Logan studied his face. "I think you already know."
Jess was silent for a moment. "You're wrong about her."
Logan looked startled. "That was an abrupt change in subject."
"She saved Patsy's life. There was something wrong with Patsy's heart and Saber knew it. Patsy had a heart attack, Logan. She would have died without Saber. She might be able to kill with a touch, but she can give life as well. You might want to think about that. It could be your life she has to save one day."
Logan held up his hand in surrender. "I don't know why or how we circled back to this, but I'm more than willing to be wrong. I don't like risking you, but if she was mine, I'll admit, I'd risk everything for her."
"We're good then?"
"We're good." Logan shoved out of the chair and set his coffee cup aside. "I'm taking off. It's getting late and she's going to be up soon. She won't want us here."
"She doesn't like you knowing about her past," Jess conceded. "But she'll get over that."
Neil placed his mug beside the coffeepot. "I'm heading out as well. I'll get the recorder to Flame and see what she can do with it. You know we're close if you need us. Martin's taking the watch tonight. And I'd like to point out, and you can tell her, that I don't know, nor do I care, anything about her past. She's one of us."
"Thanks, Neil. I'll make her aware of that." He grinned up at Logan. "It's only Max she has to avoid. And great work, Neil. I couldn't get anything off that piece of junk."
Neil laughed. "Our strange little skills come in handy."
"Yeah, they do." Jess thought of his sister as the men went out. If Saber hadn't zapped her heart to get it going, she'd most likely be dead, or her heart irreparably damaged. Saber could do things with her talent--good things. And he had an idea that that was the reason Whitney had left that file in plain sight for Saber to read. He had a feeling convincing Saber of what needed to be done, though, was not going to be easy.
He sat for a long while observing her sleep. She was curled up like a kitten, her springy curls blue-black against the pillow, matching the color of her feathery lashes. He enjoyed seeing her in his bed. She looked a little lost without his body beside hers, but he liked that as well.
As he sat watching her sleep, his body hardened, began to make demands. He took his time divesting himself of his clothes, never taking his gaze from her slender body. She looked so right in his bed. He dropped his shirt and then struggled out of his trousers, wincing a little as his body tightened and thickened in anticipation. She looked a beautiful invitation with her hair tousled and her lips slightly parted, lying in the too-large bed.
"Stop staring at me." She didn't open her eyes.
"I want to swim."
"Go swim and leave me alone."
"I'm not supposed to swim by myself. My doctor said so."
She made a rude noise, but still kept her eyes stubbornly shut. "You swim by yourself all the time. Since when do you listen to your doctor?"
"Think how bad you'd feel if I drowned."
Her lashes fluttered. "I'm thinking I might help you drown. If you go away, I can sleep for..." She lifted her lashes a bare centimeter and peered at the clock before settling against the pillow again. "A couple more hours."
He rested his chin on his palm, elbow on the side of the bed, leaning in to put his face inches from hers. "Did you know that you're grumpy when you first wake up?"
"Just because your friends left doesn't mean you get to bother me."
He should have known she would be aware of others in the house. The knowledge just made him proud of her. He tugged on the sheet. "Swimming. Exercise. We can skinny-dip."
"You really aren't going to go away, are you?" She opened her eyes and glared, then her gaze widened and she flushed when she saw he was naked and more than alert.
He laughed at her. "Nope."