Page 28 of Jude

She grinned and ducked her head. “This is the sub channel I found.” Octavia gestured to the screen, where a series of jagged lines flashed up and down. “Do you see, it’s hidden under the main network? There’s only a slight difference in frequency. You would skip it if you were searching for a specific channel.”

“They are clever,” muttered Jude.

“They are. And it’s active.”

Jude plugged in an earbud and listened. He hit record so they’d capture the message. “Do you know what their current frequency hopping pattern is?”

“No. It changed a day ago. I haven’t been able to keep track of them. We’ll have to figure it out now. Then we can follow them for the next five days until it changes again.”

“That should be all we need. If we can get a few hours of solid chatter from this channel, we can decode the message.”

Octavia’s fingers flew across the keyboard. “I’m activating tracking.”

Jude was impressed to see how efficient she was. She was focused on the screen, scanning multiple frequencies. “Log the first pattern tag as soon as you’re locked on.”

She nodded. “I’m way ahead of you.”

For the next hour, they worked side by side, frequency hopping, searching and tagging whenever they found a link in the chain.

It felt good to be working with someone so proficient. Someone who got him and the way he saw patterns and links in networks.

“Dammit!” Octavia thumped her hand on the desk and pushed her sleeves up.

“What is it?”

“I lost part of the message,” said Octavia. “Those sneaky bastards jumped early.”

“They can’t have changed the frequency pattern so quickly.”

“They can do whatever the hell they like.” Octavia flipped her cap back and grumbled under her breath as she stared at the screen.

“It’s a good start,” said Jude. “We’ve picked up several messages.”

“Not a complete one,” said Octavia. “That’s what we need.”

Jude reached over but then hesitated. Octavia had made it clear she wasn’t crazy keen on being touched. He dropped his hand, stood, and went to check the monitors on the other side of the room.

Octavia yawned and tipped her head back. As she did so, the blonde hair that was tucked into her scarf slid out.

Jude turned and his eyes widened as he saw the scars crossing Octavia’s cheek. There were three long jagged red lines tracking from her high cheekbone down to her jaw line. The flesh looked tender and sore.

Her head suddenly shot up as she scrabbled with her hair, turning toward him as she did so.

Their gazes met. Jude saw blind panic on her face.

***

OCTAVIA SAW THE HORRORwritten all over Jude’s face as she hid the scars with her hair and hands. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest, and color flared on her cheeks.

Jude blinked and shook his head. “It’s okay.”

Octavia jumped to her feet, her stomach flipping over. “I need to leave. It’s time I got some rest.”

“Wait!” Jude caught hold of her arm. “Really, it’s fine. You don’t have to hide anything, not from me.”

Octavia blinked away angry tears. She had been meaning to tell Jude about her scars. She’d been weak and vain by not showing them to him, putting it off, and not wanting to see his expression. This expression. The pity and sadness and discomfort her disfigurement always caused.

“Can I see?” His hand hovered an inch over her cheek, where her fingers masked the scars.