Rule Breaker (Breeds 20)

The breath seemed to become trapped in her chest, threatening to smother her as Gypsy suddenly knew exactly where they were.

“No,” she whispered, the knowledge that her mother must have done something incredibly stupid again blaring out at her senses, screaming at her to do something, to protect them. “Oh God, no.”

Before the words were past her lips she turned, threw open the door as she ignored her sister’s startled cry and began racing down the hall, heading for Jonas’s suite.

Rule had been called away, the summons evidently imperative enough that he had left a confrontation she knew he’d had no intention of breaking off. He’d been enraged with her, and intent on convincing her of something she knew wasn’t true when he’d been called away. At the same time her parents should have been knocking at the door of Rule’s suite.

Rounding the corner, she nearly barreled into Loki, surprising the Coyote who had obviously been rushing through the hall himself in the direction of Rule’s suite. He reached out for her, his expression startled, and the knowledge that flashed across his face caused her to duck, executing a slide that kept her well out of his reach before she shot back to her feet and sprinted to the end of the next hall.

“Gypsy, no. Wait,” he called out, anger vibrating in his voice as she heard Kandy call out his name in confusion.

Adrenaline was racing through her now, dread a close companion as she whipped around the next corner, racing full stride for the Breeds now blocking Jonas’s door.

She came to a hard stop, realizing that the seven Breed males had no intention of moving as they had previously whenever she arrived.

“Get out my way, Flint,” she ordered the one she knew best, glaring into his dark eyes as he watched her grimly.

“I can’t do that, Gypsy.” He shook his head, his expression never softening as he kept a careful eye on her. “Just be patient . . .”

“Patient?” she cried out, enraged now, knowing she didn’t have time to be patient. “Get the hell out of my way before I move you myself.”

How she was going to accomplish that one, she had no idea, but she knew she would sure as hell try if he didn’t let her through.

...

The nano-nit technology was ingenious, Rule thought as he surveyed the device the McQuades had attempted to bring in, inspecting it from beneath the microscope set within a secure, impenetrable shell just for such dangerous electronics or minute robotic devices.

The nano-nit was attached to a microscopic line leading to a nano-reader pad inside the shell. Access to the technology was through a set of ports protected by sealed latex that adhered to the user’s hands as they entered and ensured that an air-free, no-exit environment surrounded the nit and the reader.

“Storage capacity exceeds previous known standards,” he murmured as he finally managed to crack the encryption set on the nano-nit’s technology. That security wasn’t really strong. The nit could bypass almost all known security measures, but it couldn’t prevent access to its own programming. “Programming consists of activation upon a remote signal, whereby it would detach from the host device and make its way to the nearest electrical source before boring inside and making its way to the designated receiver signal to begin storing audio and video. In twelve hours it would then travel along the electrical current to the next floor, to the nearest device capable of transmitting, including satellite or the lesser used cellular phones.”

Straightening from the microscope’s electronic eye, he faced Jonas; Lawe; the Prime Alpha of packs and prides, Callan Lyons; the Lupine of the Wolf packs, Wolfe Gunnar; and the Coye of the Coyote packs, Del Rey Delgado, as well as one of the strongest pack leaders, Dash Sinclair, who had arrived late the night before for meetings scheduled that week concerning the new Bureau division in Window Rock.

The presence of the Breed hierarchy wasn’t a good sign for the McQuades, who were still being held in a secure room lacking any electronics, digital or otherwise, or electrical access. Blackout, as it was referred to, was standard in all hotel conference rooms since news of the nano-nit had been announced several years before.

So far, there was no encryption or security that had been invented that could keep even the weakest nano-nit from accessing secured files or even network systems. If the nit managed to get in place, then the system was completely compromised with no way to destroy or even track the tiny bot once it was inside.

Only the director’s paranoia and his habit of placing the strongest audio and video detecting technology in place outside secured areas had allowed the nit to be found.

For all its advanced ability to access a system, the nit was weakened by the fact that it could only be attached to certain devices. The simpler the device, the easier it was for the nit to detach and obey its programming without becoming confused by the programming already in place in the host device it rode in on. The only way to find the nano-nit was to detect the host; then, by using the digital microscope and attaching a nano-reader, it could be detected. The expense in technology and manpower to scan each and every device that could be used to host the nano would be astronomical for most companies.

Thankfully, the Breeds were a hell of a lot more experienced than any company and had a nearly unlimited source of ready, expert manpower.

Each and every Breed was taught nano-technology before they reached their teens. Council minds had created it, and now the Breeds were working to make it obsolete.

Jonas had gone primal upon the realization of what the McQuades had attempted to bring into his suite. His claws had yet to retract from beneath his fingernails; the tips of the razor-sharp bonelike extensions were still bloodied from having broken through the thin flesh that healed rapidly once they retracted.

The silver of his eyes swirled and massed like living mercury while the pupil seemed to almost blend in with the color of his eyes. Eyes that bored into Rule’s demandingly, refusing to allow him to back down from the confrontation they both knew was coming.

A confrontation with not just the Breed who had stood at his back no matter the battle, but also the mate Rule refused to turn his back on.

“I won’t let this pass,” Jonas stated; the message he was sending Rule was clear. Gypsy’s parents would be charged with Breed Law. “They will be punished for attempting to betray the people that they’re well aware saved their daughter from a fate no child should have to suffer. Every Breed in the area has known she has personal favor with me for the past nine years, and they’ve treated her accordingly. Protected her accordingly. This act by them was unconscionable.”

And that would destroy Gypsy in ways Rule knew she would never recover from.

“Gypsy’s suffered enough, Jonas,” he stated quietly, knowing there wasn’t a chance in hell that the argument was going to hold any weight with the other Breed.

For once, his animalistic instincts were holding back, poised just as the man was, and waiting to see the danger his mate faced rather than letting rage overshadow what logic might be able to save.