The Ark

20.

Delta paced up and down in front of me, the crazy holo over her desk casting a bright halo around her as it cycled through surveillance footage. "What was his name again? Zack?"

"Zaphron." I said with a sigh, rubbing at the pain relief patch on my neck. How had he known we were there?

Delta muttered his name to herself, drumming the tips of her fingers on her lips. "And you say there's a small team of them in the American Territory?"

I nodded. "A pretty dysfunctional one."

She raised an eyebrow, swiping at her interface. "They seem to be functioning well enough." She brought up a single surveillance feed from a rooftop in the city and pointed to it. "He's been wiped from all camera feeds—so there's no way of knowing where he went."

"Jax," I muttered under my breath, wanting to smack my face into my palm.

Delta didn't seem to hear me. Her eyes were fixed on the empty rooftop, almost staring through it. She looked as though she was somewhere else entirely.

"You're sure it was him?" she asked, the troubled undercurrent in her question making me wish I wasn't so certain that it had been.

"I'm sure."

She sank into her swivel chair, her fingers tracing the bruises around her neck as she blew out a tense breath. "I just hope he's not tracking us."

"Could he do that?" I asked, my voice coming out reedy. Seeing her so uncharacteristically on edge made my stomach twist. "Do you think he was our tail earlier tonight too?"

"It might have been him." She paused, glancing around her hideout. "But he wouldn't have been able to track us back to here. I've got scrambling measures in place to keep this location hidden. If we leave though—" she broke off, biting her lip. "If he planted a tracker on you, it would work once we left the range of the scrambler."

My heart hiccupped in my chest as I thought about her words. I reached into my pocket and retrieved the car-unlocking device I had accidentally stolen from Zaphron—or at least I thought I'd stolen it. Maybe he had planned for me to have it all along.

"Ah shitting hell," Delta said throwing her hands up as she caught sight of it. "Why didn't I think of that?" She rose from her chair and snatched it out of my hand.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think—" My apology was cut short by a thud as Delta used the butt of her gun to crush the device. Little pieces of wiring and plastic popped out of it like guts from a bug.

"Don't worry about it." She waved her hand at me, her usual dismissive self returning as she swept away the remains of the device. "Want to see what we got from ZenTech?"

I nodded and watched as she connected her interface to the tablet I had used at the EA's desk. Endless lists of data sprang to life on the holo and Delta began sorting them into separate windows.