Paired Objective: Matched Desire, Book 2 Read Online Free Page A

ahead—maybe the Allegheny Mountains. A faraway ripple of white might have been the undulating form of an alien—or it might have been a cloud. Abby preferred to believe the latter. She wished they were flying during daylight. Not so much because the aliens would be burrowed safely away from sunlight, but she wanted to see and enjoy the land below her.
    She’d been locked away for an entire month, her only exposure to nature a small patio garden in the back. Gardening that space had been a coveted job, although all the indentured servants had endeavored to sneak away there and enjoy a bit of sunlight. Especially since the senators rarely frequented that area.
    A yawn took her by surprise. She hid it behind her forearm, snuggling into the backseat and propping her chin on her knees. So these men—these Twins—were headed back to Chicago. She hoped she hadn’t screwed up whatever it was they’d come to do. On second thought, she wouldn’t have given up trashing those electronics for anything.
    Except maybe Grammie and a slice of her lemon cake.
    “Where’s my grandmother now?” she asked.
    “At the Complex,” the more serious one, Russ, answered.
    Great. She’d traded the frying pan for the fire. Or maybe the fire for the frying pan, if she were lucky.
    Those rumors about Twins having excellent night vision must have held a grain of truth, for Russ reached out and touched her knee. “Hey. The Complex isn’t run by Shadow Feds. Nobody’s manacled there. Nobody’s kept against their free will.”
    “I don’t care who runs it,” Abby said, keeping her voice even. “I want to take Grammie and head for the hills. We can live at her old house in Scar City. Things aren’t great there, but…”
    She trailed off, not missing the wince both men gave. Russ made a slight move, as if he might reach out again to comfort her. At the last second, he restrained himself. Abby wasn’t sure whether to be disappointed or relieved.
    “Scar City fell a few weeks ago,” Russ told her.
    * * * * *
    Cam resisted the urge to look over his shoulder again. He knew by her deep, steady breaths that the girl had fallen asleep, curled up in the backseat like a forlorn kitten. After she’d heard about Scar City, a good deal of her quiet defiance had simply leached away, leaving her exhausted and scared back there. Sleep was the best thing for her.
    He found her surprisingly appealing, although he’d been drawn to her since first seeing her photo. Abby hadn’t deserved a moment of imprisonment. Nor had he missed her reaction upon seeing Russ. She’d curled up in a way that protected her vital parts, as if she’d been used to regular kicks and punches.
    That kind of thing pissed him right the fuck off. He’d even modulated his usual blue language in an attempt to give her a taste of politeness he suspected she hadn’t been exposed to in… How long? How long had she been imprisoned inside the former White House? Even Patrice hadn’t known.
    Before their mission, Patrice had come to them, tears in her eyes, begging them to look for her only granddaughter. Hell, if they hadn’t agreed to do their best, he suspected she would have traveled to DC to stage a rescue of her own.
    Turbulence shook the plane lightly. Cam adjusted his course again, flying manually because he wasn’t sure how long the remaining battery was going to hold out. He’d already altered his route, fearing the Feds might be crazy enough to fly after him. Rumor had it they had a couple fixed-up F-18s under wraps. If they were arrogant enough to scramble them, Cam figured they’d make straight for Chicago in an attempt to shoot them down as soon as possible.
    So he veered southwest initially, then north again when it was clear nobody was on his tail. Now they cruised quietly at two thousand feet over rolling farmland. They weren’t over water, at least, nor dangerously near any large walled City. And every minute brought them closer to Chicago.
    They had half an