Is this destiny?

Sarah blinked her eyes open and frowned at all the text that was flowing rapidly in front of her eyes. She closed her eyes and tried to make sense of what she is seeing, and it took her a few seconds to realize that this is coming from Eve. It's an information dump that happens after a successful connection and considering that Sarah was off the grid for a while, there is quite a bit of things Eve stored and Sarah's Eve-lens was catching up.

Sarah remembered that Felix told her they might break through the signal-jamming from the Voronin family after some time because he is working on it. And they might establish a successful connection if the setting of jammers changes or (of course) if she is out of range of jammers. She wondered, which one is it? And more importantly… where is she?

Sarah moved her fingers and stopped the data that was showing on her lens. It might take a while to finish on its own and it's making her dizzy… not to mention that Sarah has more pressing things to worry about.

Sarah opened her eyes and looked at the unfamiliar room. She is lying on the bed, wearing the same clothes she did before. The bed has a soft mattress and luxurious pillows and comforters. On the side, there is a sofa with two matching chairs, upholstered in dark red with golden trimming all around. The coffee table has a black marble top and legs that are matching with the rest of the furniture. There are three doors, and Sarah assumes that one is a bathroom, one closet, and the exit. She peered through the large window that is pointing at the darkness with some lights scattered that don't mean anything to Sarah.

Sarah had no idea where she is, but she knew that this is definitely not a modest-looking room that she shares with Aiden.

Anxiety swelled inside Sarah as she remembered… Aiden answered the door and there was a sound like electrical discharge and several people stormed the room… Aiden falling down, and Sarah rushing toward him, and… then everything turned dark.

Sarah spotted on the table next to the bed two familiar boxes and she knew… "Maksim…", Sarah grumbled.

She felt like ripping him into pieces, but first, she needs to find out if Aiden is OK.

The electrical sound was like a stun-gun, but she does not remember more than that.

Sarah sat on the bed and reached for her ear stud. She paused halfway when she remembered that there are probably cameras recording her and because she moved, she does not have a lot of time before someone comes to greet her.

Sarah moved her fingers swiftly to connect her Eve-lens to Aiden's so that they can share his vision, but the only thing she saw was darkness.

However, the successful connection told her that they are not far apart, and based on the vitals, he is asleep.

She exhaled in relief. He is alive. But that does not mean he is OK. He would not sleep, not with them being apart, so something is wrong.

In the next moment, Sarah frowned. If their devices can connect to Eve, then that does not mean they are close to each other because Eve will use other devices to boost the signal.

Sarah's fingers moved swiftly, and she was relieved when she got the information that Eve can't connect directly to Aiden's lens. That means they are nearby, but… if she can connect to Eve and Aiden can't, she is either out of the range of jammers or the jammers in her vicinity have different settings.

Next, Sarah confirmed that Aiden is about 500m to the North-West from her and that does not mean much because she has no idea where she is or if he is still in their room. If he is in their room, that means she is closer to the core of the base, probably in the middle circle.

Sarah checked the time and saw that she was out for about twenty minutes. Again, that is fairly useless information.

What else can she do? Sarah internally facepalmed and got her lens to check the neighboring wi-fi networks and she confirmed that she has a strong signal to the network of the Voronin family, the same one the guards told them to use freely. Finally something useful! She is still inside the base!

Sarah got an idea and she instructed Eve to use Sarah's devices as a connecting point and to infiltrate the network of the Voronin family.

The idea is simple: plant within the Voronin servers pieces of code that will mess up their jammers and allow Eve to enter... and they will take it from there. Sarah knows that she already has code ready; she wrote several versions after the incident with Shadow Ravens when Michael and Oni were captured and Sarah and Aiden went inside blindly, and that will work perfectly for this occasion. 

Sarah's next step was that when Eve gets access to the Voronin network, she connects to the cameras in the base in order to locate Aiden but before she could do so, she was interrupted. 

Sarah's head snapped toward the door when it opened.

"You are awake, Divna. It is always nice to see you.", Maksim greeted her with a big smile on his face.

Sarah swallowed back the curses that were threatening to come out of her mouth. No matter how angry she is, she can't act recklessly without understanding her situation.

"You don't look pleased to see me.", Maksim said. "I was looking forward to our dinner."

"Do you usually kidnap your dates or am I an exception?"

Maksim pursed his lips. "I must say that you are an exception. Women usually come to me willingly."

Sarah sneered. "I don't feel honored."

"You didn't leave me any choice, Divna. I don't like being stood out and I knew that my offer is something you can't refuse. I would usually use flowers and chocolates, maybe with some romantic music, but there was no time for that." He spoke cheerfully like he is discussing how pleasant the weather is.

Maksim gestured toward the boxes. "Why don't you dress up? I got them for you."

Sarah looked at the boxes and then at Maksim impassively.

His hair is neatly combed and even from three steps away she could get a faint scent of his masculine perfume. Maksim's features are handsome, and his smile is charming, but all that was spoiled by the whole kidnapping and forcing-a-date thing. Only now Sarah noticed that he is wearing a light-blue silk shirt, black dress pants, and shiny leather shoes. He is definitely dressed for a fancy date, but that does not mean that Sarah will go with his plan.

"No, thanks. I am fine like this."

Maksim eyed Sarah. "Yes, you are fine in anything."

His smile didn't falter as he gestured toward the door: "If you come this way… please."

Sarah knew that his 'please' is an order. And at this point, she had to collaborate. Eve still didn't finish her infiltration and Sarah has no idea what is going on with Aiden. If Maksim is holding Aiden imprisoned, Sarah can't act rashly. Now she regrets staying. They were supposed to leave while they had the chance. But how was she to know that Maksim would kidnap her and do who knows what to Aiden?

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