Arianna

“Hmm,” she said softly to herself, careful to keep the noise down.

Her fingers flew across the keypad, trying to unlock the system, to see if she could figure anything out and search for more details. Anything would really be a head start. It would give her something to go on. Something that she could go to Ajax with and be like, “See!” to show him why he should have kept her on the case.

Arianna had been furious that morning at the blatant dismissal from Ajax. Oh, she understood what he was getting at just fine, but that didn’t mean she had to like it. If she chose to put herself in harm’s way, then so be it. After a long time of living with the threat of being shot just because of where she lived, of people breaking down the door in the middle of the night, she wasn’t afraid of some government organization that thought it was above the law.

“You have got to be kidding me.” She bashed her fist gently off the terminal as yet another attempt was rejected.

“You know, if you wanted to remain undetected, you really should stay quieter.”

Arianna spun at the voice, her heart jumping into her throat as she fought down the urge to yelp at the unexpected noise.

“Took you long enough,” she snapped as Ajax walked into the room.

His jaw dropped. “What?”

“I’ve been here for half an hour trying to work this out. Where the hell have you been?”

The big shifter stared at her, astonished.

“I...” he stopped, looking back from the way he had come, to her, and then back and forth again. “Are you serious? What the hell, Ari? I asked you to stay away from this,” he hissed.

“You what?” she snarled back, still keeping her voice quiet. “You did not ask anything. You ordered me around as if I were subordinate to you or something. Don’t twist the truth on me, mister!”

He threw his hands up. “Bad choice of words, sorry. But still, you shouldn’t be here. You need to go, now! Before someone catches you.”

She turned away, fiddling with the terminal some more. “And what are you going to do?” she asked. “Stay here until someone finds you?”

He frowned. “No, I’m going to look for information.”

The terminal beeped, showing up red lettering that read Password Incorrect yet again.

“Well good luck,” she said angrily. “This place may be deserted, but it’s certainly locked down.”

She stood aside as Ajax stepped up to the computer terminal, looking the room over once again.

Three terminals sat side by side down the length of the room, all facing away from the door, aimed at a bank of four screens that occupied the far wall. For the moment, they were all off, as were two of the computers.

“I spent half an hour snooping around inside of here, and this was the only room in this building with any equipment in it,” she said as Ajax’s first attempt was also rejected. Like her, he was just guessing random words.

“What about the other building?” he asked, trying another word.

“Didn’t get there yet,” she replied.

“And the door?” he prompted. “That was you as well, right?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I learned how to break non-electronic locks a long time ago,” she admitted.

A look of approval quickly flashed across Ajax’s face before he hid it behind the stony mask he had been wearing ever since he entered the room.

“This still doesn’t make any sense,” he said, waving his hand around the room in frustration as the computer still refused any password. “You didn’t see anyone, right?”

“Right,” she confirmed.

“What about surveillance cameras?”

Arianna shook her head. “No, nothing. The place literally looks deserted. If it weren’t so clean and rather new, I wouldn’t believe that it had ever been used.”

Ajax nodded. “Exactly. So why is it here then?”

Before she could reply, the screens on the wall flashed to life. Behind them, a thick steel panel slid quickly into place in front of the door. Ajax rushed over, trying to find purchase to force it back open. She watched worriedly as he failed, the steel sliding from inside the wall on one side into the wall on the other. It was completely smooth.

“Not good,” he said, looking around for any sort of exit. “Ventilation grates! Find them!”

She didn’t argue with him this time, but a quick search showed that the vents were perhaps six inches across. Far too small for either of them to ever escape through.

The screens showed a panoramic view of the outside of the building. They could see the empty big rig, which now rumbled to life. The vague outline of someone sitting in the driver’s seat was visible to them.

“What the fuck,” Ajax cursed, banging on the door.

A speaker in the ceiling, unnoticed before then, crackled to life.

“Hello.” The voice was crisp and clear, obviously modulated by a program to prevent them from recognizing it in the future. “Welcome to Coleforn Shipyard. Thank you for coming, and we appreciate your stay.”

“It’s been pleasant,” Ajax snapped sarcastically. “However, we seem to have left our food at home. If you don’t mind, we’ll just be going now. I’m kind of hungry.”

The voice chuckled deeply. “Don’t worry, we’ll feed you once we arrive at our destination.”

“What?” she asked, looking around. “Where do you think we’re going? We’re in a building, in case you didn’t notice.”

“Are you?” the voice asked calmly.

On the screens, the sliding crane began to move along its rails closer to the building. The view abruptly switched to one from the other building. They watched as the crane descended. Two men appeared on the roof, and they grabbed the big hooks descending from the crane boom, and attached them to something on the roof of the building that was out of sight of the pair.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Ajax muttered.

One of the men on the roof signaled to the crane operator, and the wire retracted until the hooks went tight. She looked up at the roof. They had heard and felt the boom as the room shook slightly.

“Not good,” she echoed. “Not good at all.”

Then, as they watched in horror, the entire section of the building they were in lifted away. She reached out instinctively for Ajax as the room spun freely. He steadied himself against her, his thick legs keeping them planted to the spot.

“This room is a trap,” she breathed. “It’s a fucking disguised cargo container,” she said, disgusted with herself for falling for it so easily.

“Try your cell,” Ajax said quickly.

“I left it at home, like I did everything else.” She couldn’t help but laugh. “In case something very much like this happened.”

Ajax smiled ruefully. “Well, seems like we both pulled a smart-dumb move then,” he replied. Apparently he had done the same thing. “I guess we’re stuck for now.”

She shrugged, then jumped as the speaker crackled to life once more.

“Very good,” the voice said as the container settled smoothly onto the big rig. “Now, please enjoy the ride.”

The speaker went dead at the same moment the screens and lighting all shut off, sending the room into darkness.

“A ride he calls it,” she muttered, nervously edging herself toward the last place Ajax had been before the light was extinguished.

“I have a really bad feeling about this,” he replied from much closer than she had expected.

“What do we do?” she asked, her outstretched hand making contact with his stomach.

“I’m not sure yet,” he replied gently, his warm hand wrapping around hers.

There was a brief moment of hesitation, before he tugged gently on her arm, pulling her in close to him. Ari didn’t fight it, letting herself go along with the motion. His other arm draped itself around her back, holding her firmly to him. She trembled at the burst of warmth that reached out from his skin to encompass her, surrounding her in a glow so vibrant she would have sworn it should be visible.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered into the pitch-black air.

“For what?”

His voice was so deep, she could feel the basso vibrate against her skin.

“Dragging you along with me into this,” she replied.

Ajax’s body began to shake, startling her into taking a step backward. It wasn’t until the first snort escaped that she realized he was laughing.

“What the hell is so funny?” she demanded.

Finally Ajax broke down into loud laughter that filled the room. Ari felt herself smiling, though she didn’t have the first clue why.

“I was going to tell you the exact same thing,” he finally managed to get out. “But apparently I’m the liability, not you. Damn you’re strong, woman,” he finished, his breathing suddenly returning to normal. She felt him stand back up as his hands ran up her shoulder, finding her jaw. “Come here,” he all but commanded.

“Okay,” she managed to force out, falling into his arms. Ari couldn’t see what was going on, but she knew a “moment” when it happened. Tilting her head to the side, she kissed him. Or was kissed by him. Frankly, she couldn’t have cared less on who was doing the kissing, because the moment his lips met hers fire exploded across her body, starting from her mouth and rippling out through the rest of her body like a wave of rushing lava.

“Wow,” Ajax said softly as they broke apart for air.

“Wow what?” she echoed, feeling her heart hammering against her ribcage, desperately trying to break free.

“You,” he gasped, the only word he got out before she pulled his head back down to her. Their foreheads crashed together slightly because of the dark, but she didn’t care, and neither did he. She just wanted more.

“Me?” she asked as they spun around, so that he could sit her up on one of the desks.

“Yes.”

The single word was spoken with an animalistic, carnal growl to it that Arianna couldn’t help but respond to. Despite the fact that they were trapped by an unknown enemy and being shipped to who-knew-where did not matter one single iota at that moment in time. All that occupied her mind was the tall, hunky shifter who had somehow taken an interest in her, the bookworm with thick thighs and big glasses.

Glasses which were likely fogged to all hell as she embraced Ajax and kissed him again in the dark. They may have been on their way to meet their maker, but at least she would go with a smile on her lips.