3013: CLAIMED by Laurie Roma

been trying to figure out who would be involved in this, but I just don’t know of anyone who would do such a thing.”
    “It’s not your fault, Serra,” Archer said, putting his hand on her arm. “There is no way you could have known this was happening.”
    “Someone who is willing to sell our tech on the black market would be good with hiding their identity,” Dom added, darkly. “He or she wouldn’t give a shit—sorry, I mean they wouldn’t care what rules they had to break to get the deal done.”
    Jax filled her cup with more steaming coffee. “Don’t worry. You’re clear of this, sweetheart. We’ll catch whoever is behind this, and make sure they pay.” He turned to Dom. “You guys have eyes on Serra’s other guards and her mother?”
    “We do.”
    “Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I don’t think my mother had anything to do with this. That’s not emotion talking. She just isn’t capable.” She laid out her reasoning for them, and got a nod from Arik.
    “I agree. From your memories of your mother, she does not seem a likely suspect. She is more than capable of doing all kinds of immoral activities to ensure she is able to live in the style of which she has become accustomed. However, her time is spent on selfish endeavors that would not allow her to put something like this together.”
    “You may be right, but we still have to keep her under surveillance until we figure out who is controlling the sale. She could be working with someone,” Archer ordered, then winced as he looked back at Serra. “Sorry, hummingbird.”
    “It’s all right. Nothing she does would surprise me now.”
    He lifted her hand to press a kiss to her palm before addressing the rest of the table. “But the question is, are they after the finalized schematics or the actual prototype for the stealth tech?”
    “The prototype is being tested on the base right outside of Light City. Serra wouldn’t be authorized to take it off the premises,” Jax replied. “But what I don’t get is if someone had a backdoor into her data unit, why not just steal the specs before now? Why wait?”
    “Because they couldn’t,” Serra said softly. “All of my notes and schematics are in code.”
    “Explain,” Jax demanded.
    She shot him a frown at his barked command. “When I’m working on an experiment, it is easier for me to work in a sort of shorthand. It allows me to recalculate without backtracking as much. I started using it when I was a teenager, since I was tired of the older scientists stealing my work.”
    “Did that happen often? People stealing your work?” Archer asked, sounding outraged.
    She nibbled at her lip before answering. “Yes and no. When I was young, many of my instructors would study my work to try and disprove it. Sometimes they ended up using it as a springboard for something they were working on, while other times I was put on a team to help with something they were stuck on.”
    “That must have been frustrating for you,” Arik said with a kind smile. “Being more intelligent than your trainers would not have made for a comfortable work environment.”
    “It wasn’t. It didn’t bother me that I didn’t get credit for what I helped them with, but I had my own projects I wanted to work on. And when I refused to do their work because I wanted to work on my own, it was difficult, but I got clearance so there was nothing they could do.” Her eyes widened as she looked at her bonded. “Did you—”
    “We can’t take credit for that one,” Archer said around a mouthful of food. “Regent Spartan took care of that for you.”
    She smiled at them, knowing the regent would have never thought to do it if her men hadn’t asked. “What was I saying? Oh, yes. Once I began working on my own projects I just adapted the code since it’s what I’m used to. The only other person that can understand it is my main assistant. It took him years to learn it, and he still has issues at