Chapter 298 Chapter 298
With an excited look, she opened the pack and pulled out her phone. “Unknown number.”
“They’ll all be unknown on those phones.” He told her and went over closer.
Nodding, she answered it, “hello?” A relieved look appeared on her face. “Jesse, I’m so happy to hear your voice. Hang on I’m going to put you on speaker.” She smiled at Deacon and held the phone in front of her.
“You two get where you were going okay?”
Giana nodded again, “yes, no problems. Is everyone else okay?”
“Calum and I are doing check-ins now. You’re still with Deacon I take it?”
“We’re together.” Deacon answered for her.
“Okay, good. So far everyone is fine.”
“How are the people we got out? Terah, is she all right now?”
“I was told they’re all doing well.”
Deacon watched her shoulders relax; she’d been worried about the ones they’d rescued? He felt a quick stab of guilt having not thought of them once. “Do we have confirmation on what happened exactly?” That he had thought about when his head wasn’t full of Giana.
“I spoke to Illias a while ago, he’s cranky and distracted,” there were voices in the background, “even though this is a secured line, I’m not to discuss it, but know that things have been discovered since our last meet.”
Deacon frowned at the phone; it was bad enough that they still wouldn’t talk about it over a secure line? “Are there new protocols?”
Giana looked up at him, a curious look on her face.
“We’re working those out now, trying to get the team back together as soon as possible so we can continue before locations are moved.”
Deacon nodded, “Are they still watching the other locations? Have there been any events to suggest that may happen?”
“A few suspicious things have occurred,” Jesse said in a level tone.
“Understood.” Deacon looked at Giana, she was watching him. He thought of her brother Walker again. “Are we clear to make any calls at this point?”
There was more talking in the background, “Brief ones, no information relayed should be fine. Don’t use email or anything else.”
“Not a problem.” For him it was true, who would he be emailing?
“We spoke to your boss earlier, she suggested we use a system you know, Deacon.”
He tilted his head and looked back at the phone. “The one we use to call in?” It was a simple system of number displacement that they used to speak numbers over the comms, in case anyone was listening. The last went first, the first number was at the end and the others were displaced according to the first number called out.
“That’s the one,” Jesse said. “I don’t get it, but Calum thought it was a good way to reach everyone when the rest of this is set up.”
“Yeah, it’s a secure way.”
“Illias will be sending out the information when ready, so keep a piece of paper handy.”
Deacon rubbed his hand over his beard. “We can do that.”
“Okay, I have one more call to make. We’ll talk to you soon.”
“Okay, Jesse,” Giana said quickly. The line went quiet. She stared at the phone for a second and then looked up at him. “It sounds serious.”
Deacon blew out a breath, “yeah, if Illias is irritated, that means someone somewhere failed at their job and information got out.”
“What is that system your team uses?” She tucked the phone back into her pack.
Deacon rolled his shoulders, trying to release some of the tension in them, he needed to go for a run soon, “Uh, it’s how we send out numbers or addresses over the comms that we don’t want others to understand.” He waved his hand around, “the numbers are all mixed up, it’s confusing to do on the fly, but no one without the key has ever figured it out.”
“The key?”
He grabbed his pack, wanting to check the battery level on the phone. Charging them would mean using the lighter in the truck. “A random number will be called out in conversation or a text of just that number.” He unzipped it, then looked down at her, “most times before we go out Wynter will give us the number.”
“You have to use this number to unscramble information you say while you’re out?”
“Something like that.”
Giana blew out a breath, “isn’t that hard to do while sneaking around doing what you do?”
Deacon smirked at her, and pulled out a small notepad from his pack, “this isn’t for writing poetry.”
She grinned. “I’ll leave the code stuff to you. I can’t even do a sudoku puzzle.
She had to stop smiling at him all the time. He cleared his throat, “how’s the battery on your phone?”
While she checked it, he paced over to the cabin and looked into the trees. Things were finally happening. That eased the tension riding his spine. Maybe he’d survive this after all. Turning, he watched her put the phone back in her pack. Another day, two tops and they’d be back on the road. He had every confidence in Illias getting this put together fast. Please be fast. If he was left here with her much longer, he was going to ruin her life and in turn his own soul. The only reason he’d climbed out of that spiral that his life had sent him on was her. She was the image he carried in his mind. The portrait of beauty and spirit kept the darkness inside him from taking over. If he claimed her, he condemned her to a life as an outcast, as someone others looked at with disdain—and that could never happen.
“Battery is fine.” She said from behind him. Right behind him, he could taste her on his tongue. He couldn’t look at her right now, not when her scent was binding itself to every inch of his body.
“I should go check—make sure we don’t have a predator on the land that’s scaring the smaller game away.”