As they filed toward the door, Raze put a hand on his shoulder. Venom met his best friend’s intense stare. “What?”
“Ven, you’re technically still on honeymoon leave. It’s well within your rights to call off on this one and stay behind. None of us would consider you dishonorable for choosing to stay with Dizzy.”
“I know you wouldn’t—but I would.” Venom clapped Raze on the back. “This is my job. She understands that.” He inclined his head toward the door. “Let’s go. We have fuel rods to recover and Splinters to kill.”
On the deployment deck, Risk waited with one of his injection guns. They all groaned but dutifully rolled up their sleeves and bared their necks. The pressurized guns injected anti-radiation pellets under their skin. Venom winced as the painful little bastards were thrust into him.
“You’ve got about seventy-two hours of protection under low-dose exposure,” Risk reminded them. “Make sure your meters are calibrated, Cipher.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Cipher muttered. “It’s my balls on the line.”
Venom snorted at Cipher’s colorful response. Risk clapped him on the back. “Good luck, Ven.”
Certain that Risk would remain onboard the Valiant even if further units were deployed, Venom asked, “Will you look in on Dizzy for me? She trusts you and enjoys your company.”
“Yes. Of course. I’ll look after her exactly as you would.”
Venom’s mouth slanted. “Well—maybe not exactly as I would.”
Risk chuckled. “Obviously.”
Moments later, as Venom buckled into his seat aboard the waiting strike ship, he touched his mouth. His gloved fingers grazed the still-buzzing spot where Dizzy had kissed him after declaring her love. For the first time in his life, he had a reason greater than the bonds he shared with his teammates to keep him alive.
Come hell or high water, he was going home to Dizzy.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Refusing to dwell on everything that could go wrong with Venom’s mission, Dizzy stripped out of the sexy outfit, removed her makeup and stepped into a warm shower. Keeping an eye on the digital display that logged their daily water ration, she made sure it was a short one. Wrapped in a towel, she brushed her teeth and rubbed on some lotion to guard against the dryness of the air onboard the Valiant.
Rather than her usual nightgown, Dizzy opted to pull on one of Venom’s undershirts. With her short stature, it fit her like a nightdress anyway. Certain sleep would evade her without his heavy arms wrapped around her, Dizzy decided to read on the living room couch until exhaustion gripped her.
But as she stepped out of their bedroom into the main living area of their home, Dizzy spotted a strange figure out of the corner of her eye—and freaked the fuck out.
Her shrill shriek of terror startled the man hovering near the entryway. She realized he was going through her purse. He snapped upright and ate up the floor between them with powerful strides. When he stepped out of the shadows, Dizzy recognized him as Torment, the Shadow Force interrogator.
“Stay back!” She jumped out of the way and put a chair between them. “If you touch me—”
“You’ll do what?” Smugly amused, Torment crossed his arms. “You realize I’m about twice as tall as you and three times as heavy, right?”
She swallowed hard. Oh she realized her limitations, all right. “What do you want?”
“Not what you’re thinking,” he said with clear annoyance. “I’ve never forced myself on a woman in my life. Don’t insult me by questioning my honor.”
“Honor, huh? How honorable is it for a man to break into someone’s home?”
“I didn’t break in. I have the codes to every door on this ship.”
“That’s your comeback?”
“It’s the defense I’ll use when Venom files a complaint against me when he returns.” Torment’s harsh expression softened a bit. “He will return, in a little bit. Venom is among the most tenacious soldiers I’ve ever met.”
His reassurance eased her fear some. “Why are you here?”
“A few days ago, Terror gave you a letter from the man you think is your father.”
“He is my father.”
“I’m not here to argue about your DNA. I need to know what was in that letter.”
She suspiciously narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
Torment studied her for an unnervingly long moment. “Would you like to meet your real father?”
“What?” she asked, taken aback. “What do you mean? How?”
“His flagship was rerouted here for his safety after the Splinter attack on the Night Bird. He’s currently in the war room. I’ll take you to him and let him tell you the truth.” Torment took a step toward her. His cold, unfeeling eyes made chills race along her spine. “It’s time someone finally told you who you really are—and what your mother was.”
A shuddery, trembling sensation gripped her belly. What my mother really was? Who I really am?
Dizzy recognized that this was one of those moments in her life where everything was going to change. Torment’s intriguing but potentially dangerous offer promised answers that she desperately wanted.
“I need to change.”
He nodded. “Hurry.”
Dizzy rushed into the bedroom and quickly got dressed. She picked up the corner of the mattress and retrieved the still-sealed envelope she had stuffed under there for safekeeping. She hadn’t yet worked up the courage to read what her dad had written to her out of fear that it might be a final goodbye—a goodbye she wasn’t willing to concede.
Out in the living room, Torment zeroed in on the envelope. She gripped it tightly against her chest. “You take me to my biological father first. Then you get the envelope.”
Even as she spoke, Dizzy recognized that Torment could take the envelope from her without much of a fight. Proving that he was an honorable man, he nodded. “Fair enough.”
They left the apartment and stepped into the elevator. She noticed that certain sections of ship on the navigational screen were blinking orange. He must have seen her curious gaze as he scanned his wrist and gained access to an unblocked screen. “We’re in lockdown. Only authorized personnel are allowed to move about the ship until the admiral lifts the orders.”
The serious, no-nonsense set to his jaw discouraged her from asking the myriad questions burning the tip of her tongue. Where Venom would have been only too happy to tell her everything she needed to know about lockdown procedures, Dizzy sensed that Torment wasn’t about to indulge her curiosity.
After switching elevators and bypassing four different security checkpoints, they reached a heavily guarded entrance. One of the soldiers guarding the door stepped forward to frisk her but Torment blocked him. He shot the man a withering look. “Don’t touch Venom’s bride.”
The soldier paled and cleared the path to the double doors. “You can go into the war room, sir.”
The doors hissed and separated. Despite his intimidating presence, Dizzy stayed close to Torment. This was clearly an area where a woman like her had no business intruding and she didn’t want anyone to think she was snooping.
They progressed down a dark hall to a massive dimly lit room filled with computer equipment. The three-story-high walls were covered in screens that projected all sorts of data—radar images, troop and aircraft movement, radio traffic and more. Her gaze drifted to the live feeds from the rescue mission currently being mounted for the crew of the Night Bird who were floating in pods.
“What the hell is that woman doing in here?”
It was a voice she had only heard once before—at the wives’ meeting—that drew Dizzy’s stunned attention. Orion, the harried admiral and commander of the Valiant, glared from his perch atop a raised balcony overlooking the war room. A moment later, General Vicious approached the railing, glanced down at her and frowned.
But it was the third face that appeared between the two men that almost sent Dizzy into a full swoon. Torment steadied her with a hand pressed between her shoulder blades. Her knees knocked as she stared into the eyes of the man she had last seen arguing with her mother on that fateful morning of the embassy explosion. He had aged since that day but those brilliantly blue eyes looked exactly the same.
The man who Dizzy was now certain was her biological father finally spoke. “Bring her to me, Torment.”
Both the admiral and the general glanced at the man between them with confusion but neither questioned his order. It occurred to her then that this man—her father—outranked both of them.
Up on the raised platform, Torment stood behind her, preventing her from fleeing down the short flight of stairs. Orion flicked his fingers and sent the lingering support staff back down to the main floor. Dizzy engaged in a staring match with her father. She counted the five stars on his uniform and realized he was one of the highest-ranking generals in the entire Harcos military.
“Thorn?” Vicious carefully questioned his superior. “How do you know Venom’s bride?”
Thorn? Of course, she thought sadly. Briarlina. Thorn and Lina. It had been right there in front of her the entire time.
Her father closed the distance between them. His eyes reflected the strangest mix of sadness and happiness. When he reached out to stroke her cheek, Dizzy held still and allowed him the small intimacy. “She is my daughter.”