Page 4 of Jude

“The squad is under attack.”

“Where are they?”

He hesitated. Heath had warned him so many times not to trust Octavia. They didn’t know her. She could be anyone. But he did trust her.

“Alpha zone seven,” said Jude. “There’s a new bunker we’re investigating in the north quadrant.”

“Patch me into your visuals.”

Jude’s fingers hovered over the keys. Once he did this, she’d have access to his systems.

“Trust me. I won’t let you down.” Her warm-honeyed tone reassured him.

He punched in the access commands and hit the send button. “I know. You’ve always had our backs.”

“Give me a moment; I’m not too far from that zone. My signal will be strong.”

What could she do? She wasn’t close enough to go in laser guns blazing and take out the Dinnorms.

“I’ve got them.”

Jude sucked in a breath. “How can you see them?”

“I know a few things about wireless mesh nets and mobile site links.”

Jude’s eyebrows flashed up. This woman was incredible. “What can you see?”

“There’s a squad of four.”

“That’s right.”

“There are six creatures pursuing them.”

“I’m using a mobile multi-channel microwave signal radio relay to communicate with them,” said Jude. “If I give you the frequency, can you get through and tell them the location of the Dinnorms? I can’t get a live feed from this far away.”

“That won’t be a problem.”

Damn, she was good. “I’ll send it to your usual message box?”

Jude and Octavia had shared messages via a secure messaging port for months. It began with a few simple comments on the music they liked, but had grown. Before long, he was sharing his deepest secrets and wishes with this woman. She’d been the same. It had made him fall for her hard.

“Do it.” Octavia’s voice rose in pitch. “The creatures are almost on your squad.”

Jude keyed in the information and sent it through. He gritted his teeth, frustrated he could do so little to help Tobias and the others.

“It’s here.” She was silent for a moment. “I think we’re connected.”

“It’s Tobias in there,” said Jude. He’d told Octavia all about his five brothers and sister. She’d know how important this was to him.

There was a yell over the comms link. “What the fuck’s going on?” said Tobias.

“I’ve got you an extra pair of eyes,” said Jude. “Tobias, I’d like you to meet Octavia.”

***

SWEAT SLID DOWN THEside of Octavia’s face. She’d never done this before, being so blatant in reaching out to Jude. Now she was in the middle of a fight, trying to keep one of Jude’s brothers alive.

She hunched over her keyboard. It nestled in between her single cot and the bowl she used to wash in. Her communications equipment might be advanced, but everything else in her converted van was as basic as hell.