Beneath the Fallen City by Jamie A. Waters (chapter books to read to 5 year olds .TXT) 📖

An hour later, Carl walked back into the tech room. He was anxious to find out how his newest recruit was getting along. Cruncher was hunched over a monitor reviewing the security system data.

“Where’s Kayla?”

Cruncher turned to look at Carl and put a finger to his lips, motioning to him to keep his voice down. He nodded over to the corner of the room where Kayla was sitting with her head in her arms on the desk. She’d fallen asleep at the computer.

Carl’s mouth twitched in a smile. She was always so fiery and passionate. It was strange seeing her like this, and he felt as though he were witnessing some forbidden rite. Some of her dark hair had fallen over her face, accentuating the paleness of her skin. She appeared almost angelic in her repose. He knew once she was awake, though, that devilish glint would reappear in her eyes and make the current sight a dim memory.

Cruncher’s whisper cut through his musing. “That girl is freaking unbelievable. I showed her the systems, and she jumped right in. She’s got some serious tech skills. Within minutes, she ended up recalibrating the cooling system here in camp. It’s some damn nice work too. She’s got it running about thirty percent more efficiently. When she finished that, she reconfigured a bunch of our new equipment that was causing glitches.”

Carl rubbed his chin in thought. He’d known she was talented, but Cruncher didn’t hand out praise lightly. She must have really impressed him. “She’s definitely a find. Thanks for your help today, Cruncher.”

“Did you hear anything more about Ramiro?”

Carl bit back a curse, thinking about the unscrupulous trader. “Yeah, he got the notification from OmniLab about Kayla joining us. Xantham tapped into his comms and heard him yelling about it. He’s going to start targeting us, so we’re going to have to focus on security here and out in the field. I want groups of at least four people at every scavenge site until this is done. He’s getting desperate.”

Cruncher nodded and turned back to his monitor. “I’ll get started on it.”

Carl glanced at Kayla again, debating whether to disturb her. She’d been through a lot over the past few days. All things considered, she’d handled it well. He tucked her hair behind her ear, letting his fingers trail along her cheek. She didn’t stir.

Making the decision to let her sleep in her own bed, he picked up her commlink off the desk and tucked it in his pocket.

“It’s bedtime,” he whispered before scooping her out of the chair.

At the sound of his voice, she snuggled into his chest. He felt a moment of surprise at the feeling of possessiveness that coursed through him. Something about her got under his skin. Her intriguing mix of contradictions fascinated him. She seemed to have no problem going toe-to-toe with him and anyone else, but he also sensed her vulnerability below the surface.

He carried her to the crew’s quarters and gently laid her on the bed. She curled up in a ball as he pulled the blanket up over her, tucking her in. Unable to resist, he brushed a small kiss along her temple before activating the privacy setting for her personal area and leaving.

Carl headed toward his office and sat down at the desk, the movement making him realize he still had Kayla’s commlink in his pocket. Determined to give it back to her in the morning, he dropped it on the desk and pulled out his own to scroll through his messages.

In addition to his daily trader responsibilities, he still tried to maintain an active presence within the towers. It was difficult, but he was determined to eventually move up into a director position at OmniLab where he could try to make some real changes. He was the youngest trader to have ever been recruited, a fact which had earned him some notoriety.

Carl sighed and rubbed his forehead, feeling the beginning of a headache as he read through his messages. The corruption and animosity on the surface between the ruin rats and OmniLab seemed to be reaching a crescendo. The latest situation with Ramiro and Kayla seemed to reinforce his concerns. Something needed to be done before the situation deteriorated even more.

It took him almost an hour to finish corresponding with his contacts and set up necessary appointments. When he finished, he pushed away from the desk and stretched his tired muscles.

His gaze fell on Kayla’s commlink and he picked it up, considering the worn device. It was an older model, and he wondered if she’d enjoy receiving an upgrade. He still chuckled at the wonder on her face when she’d seen their newly acquired prototypes. So much for her being a hard-hearted thief.

He flipped open her commlink to get a better idea of which model style she preferred and noticed she’d been watching a video file. There was a moment of hesitation before his curiosity got the better of him and he hit the replay button.

The video had been recorded down in the ruins some time ago. It was obvious Kayla had been the one filming since she was laughing while a young man with shoulder-length brown hair tried to explain how to pick a complicated lock. Carl smiled at the sound and wondered about the identity of the young man whose eyes twinkled as he tried to keep from laughing.

“Kayla, knock it off and pay attention. We don’t have a lot of time down here. Ramiro’s going to be pissed if he catches us.”

Her teasing voice came over the audio. “I can’t help it, Pretz. You sound so serious.”

Pretz cleared his throat and tried to maintain his composure. “This is the 8600, and it’s tough as hell. When you can crack this baby in under a minute and a half, this will be worth it. Now here we— Damn you, Kayla! You look ridiculous.”

His face broke into a grin and he laughed, tossing his lockpick aside. “You’re impossible.”

With a mischievous glint in his eyes, he made a grab for the camera. There was a squeal from Kayla and more laughter as the video ended.

Carl flipped the commlink closed, a wave of mixed feelings coming over him. He’d seen a hint of Kayla’s playful side when they battled wits against each other, but there was an edge to it that wasn’t present in the video. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was a trader or if there was something else.

Veridian had mentioned the name Pretz when he was trying to talk Kayla into joining earlier. Carl rubbed his chin, recalling her agitation, but he’d assumed they were talking about another ruin rat from Leo’s camp. There were too many of them, and they were much too secretive for him to know all their names. Some memory tickled in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He frowned and headed out of his office toward the tech room.

Cruncher looked up when he entered. “You’re still up, Boss?”

Carl handed Kayla’s commlink to Cruncher. “There’s a video on her commlink she was watching right before she fell asleep. Do you know a ruin rat named Pretz? I keep thinking