Fireworks: A Bucky Barnes Romance

Chapter 9

Bucky gently put Sarah down, feeling a stiffness in his muscles.

You have been a problem, Sandhurst spoke in his head. I didn't know you were in a relationship with Ms. Wilson. That was my fault, I admit. Insufficient exception handling.

Bucky gripped the disc with his metal fingers. He would crush flesh and bone before letting someone have control of his mind.

The first few minutes are the hardest. Controlling the Winter Soldier is a challenge I've wanted to try. But your mind is already broken, isn't it?

Bucky's hand tremored. "What was the play?" he asked through numb lips. Keep the idiot talking. "Everyone knows Sam's compromised. Nobody trusts me anyway. Not too stealthy of you."

Sandhurst narrowed his eyes. Bucky's fingers tremored again, a shiver that ran up his arm.

"With Wilson," Sandhurst said, "it's personal. How do you think Karli Morgenthau stayed off the grid? How did she cover her tracks? Keep her face off surveillance a thousand times? I did it."

"Sam didn't... kill her."

"He weakened her. Made her doubt. He ended the Flag Smashers; he renewed hope in this country. Countries, greed, borders, I could make it all so much more efficient. Karli didn't understand, but I was going to ride her vision to success."

"So... you want to do what? Control Sam? Control the president? Won't work."

He gave a gruesome, secret smile. Won't it?

Bucky felt sweat soaking his shirt. He willed his fingers to crush the disc, but Sandhurst's force was there. His hand hovered, his fingers quivering.

Sandhurst wasn't strong enough to move his hand away yet; Bucky wasn't strong enough to completely throw him off.

Darcy met his eyes. She shifted her gaze deliberately to a cloth pouch dangling from Sandhurst's belt. It contained more discs.

She shifted her eyes to and fro.

Yes, Bucky got the message. She needed one of those discs in her machine to stop Sandhurst's transmission and free the others.

Unfortunately, he was so far from being able to lunge and get one, they might as well have been on the other side of the stadium.

This was very bad.

When Sarah began to come around—was that twice in one day?—she was crumpled on the floor. She felt Bucky's foot under her back.

Ugh. Her head throbbed, her arm hurt. Her body might burn through anesthetic quickly, but it made her feel like dirt.

She remembered why he'd done it. He was protecting her from Sandhurst, but still...

Sarah realized belatedly that Sandhurst was talking, and it wasn't in her head. He was right there in the room with them.

"Wilson is going to die today," he said. "No help for it, part of the plan. You, however," he grunted. "If I can get solid control, you would be very helpful to keep on staff. Every programmer needs to co-opt the occasional subroutine from a competitor. And what are you, if not free code, free for the taker? Your brain has been used and passed around like a whore, what makes you think you can keep me out?"

Sarah burned in anger. She risked a peek. She was at Bucky's feet; Sandhurst was across the room.

It would only be seconds before Sandhurst realized she was awake.

She thought of Bucky catching her before she fell. She thought of him protecting Sam's back on countless missions. Of him playing basketball in the driveway with Cass and AJ. He was part of her family and she would not let him go down this way.