“I AM NOT SHARING a bed with Blaze,” Garrison said, pointing to the bed where Blaze lay sprawled, laptop on his chest and three pillows propping up his head. He tipped his head to the side, a sly glint coming into his eyes. “I’ll share with Dess.”
Julius shot him an unamused look. “This is not the topic we need to be discussing right now, but I’ll remind you that if all goes well, none of us will be spending the night here.”
“I just figured I should make my position clear now, just in case,” the younger man muttered, and reached toward the array of weapons we’d all been assembling our arsenals from.
I fixed a few more tactical items to my belt and added another holster under my arm. We were loading ourselves down with even more equipment than when we’d taken on the Funhouse, but for good reason. We had to navigate the entire four-story building and eliminate any guards who got in our way… without actually eliminating them. Julius didn’t feel right about mowing down random people who were simply doing their jobs working for the government, and I was inclined to agree.
The computers that would allow us to run the analysis on the DNA sequence now stored on a flash drive stood in the very center of the building’s top floor, because of course they did. Each stage of our entry would have different difficulties. Some of them we’d need to handle on our own, and others Blaze would be talking us through from the hotel a mile from the facility, over the headsets we’d all put on.
“Remember,” Blaze said for the dozenth or so time as he tapped at his keyboard, “don’t split up. I don’t have access to the cameras inside that place, and it’ll be almost impossible for me to help two of you with two different problems at once.”
“We promise if we split up, we won’t get into any trouble,” Garrison shot back.
Blaze glowered at him. I knew how nervous he was about having us go in alone while he was blind to what was happening, relying on only the bits of data he’d been able to dig up on the facility’s layout, GPS trackers clipped to our belts, and our reports through our headsets. He’d told us everything he could to prepare us until Julius had finally—gruffly but gently—informed him that at the rate he was going, we’d mess up because we had too much information stuffed into our heads.
“We’re in good hands with you here guiding us,” I said, adjusting my bulletproof vest to make sure it was perfectly positioned and then going over to the side of the bed. I tucked the stuffed tiger I’d brought along—“For luck,” I’d told the guys—closer to his side. If it’d come from my former family, maybe in some weird way, it’d help us take the final steps to getting me back to that family.
“And we’ve been through a hell of a lot of other difficult missions,” I added. “You don’t really think the Ghost would fail even at a challenge like this, do you?”
Blaze opened his mouth and paused, probably torn between protesting and not wanting to diminish my past accomplishments. Before he could decide which to go with, I bent down and pressed my lips to his. He settled on a pleased hum as he leaned into the kiss.
“We’ll be fine,” I repeated, pressing a finger to his mouth as I pulled away. “Trust me.”
He kissed my finger gently, grabbing my hand and flipping until the palm faced upright. He kissed the palm too before exhaling a long breath. “Just be careful,” he insisted as I pulled away.
“I don’t think any of us wants to be in more danger than we have to be. And I know how prepared you are. We’ve got this.”
I wished I felt as confident as I managed to sound, but at least my words seemed to reassure Blaze. He nodded and gave us a little wave as we headed out the door.
We marched to the elevator in a formation that’d come instinctively: Garrison and Julius in the lead with me in the middle and Talon bringing up the rear. Blaze should have been walking next to the cool-headed killer, but I didn’t let myself dwell on that.
His injuries were healing. He’d managed to walk a few steps to grab a glass of water and a snack today. Soon he’d be back to his former energetic self.
As the elevator door stood closed, Garrison raised his eyebrows at me. “Why does Blaze get a kiss? He’s the one lounging around on a bed while the rest of us do the hard work.”
His tone was grumbly but with a playful note underneath. I rolled my eyes at him. “If you want something, there are nicer ways to ask.”
Heat flared in his eyes. “Oh, I could come up with something very nice if we had a little more time.”
“I’m sure you could.” I stepped closer to him and gave him a quick kiss, one he turned hot and firm with a hand on my waist. Not wanting to leave anyone out, I turned to Julius and reached up to touch the massive man’s cheek. He smiled, his dark eyes smoldering, and met my kiss for him with equal enthusiasm.
Talon touched my back before I’d even turned to him. He pulled me around and kissed me so soundly my panties were damp by the time he let me go.
“There,” I said, folding my arms around my chest. “That evens things out.” The desire now tingling through me wanted more, but my nerves were too keyed up by the mission ahead to give in. We had a lot of work to do, and any distraction could get us killed.
The easiest part of the job was getting to the facility. Beyond that, there was nothing easy about it. It was late enough that not even the hardest working lab technicians would remain, but security was tight and difficult to infiltrate at any time. From rotations on the perimeter to interior security, we’d detected no gaps in coverage. On top of that, Blaze had determined that the building held alarm systems that were sensitive to noise and probably the wrong sorts of pressure as well, although he couldn’t figure out the specifics without going in.
“I see you’re just outside,” he said through our headsets as we crouched in the shadow of a nearby art installation, his normally easygoing voice terse with the tension. I could imagine him watching us as little blips on his laptop screen.
“Ready to move,” Julius confirmed. In the glow of the security lamps that cut through the night, the building before us looked like a plain block of concrete, nothing high tech about it. I’d bet no one passing by gave it a second glance. But apparently the windows dotting the cement exterior were only for show. There wasn’t any real way to look inside from out here.
Blaze spoke with total efficiency. “There are four guards on constant rotation around the entrance, as I expected. You have about a minute between them, and the fourth one is checking in with the supervisor every twelve minutes like clockwork.”
“He’s the one we need to avoid,” Julius said, his whisper coming through my headset clearly.
“Exactly. You can’t be seen by the fourth security guard, and he can’t suspect that anything’s wrong, or a ton of backup will come down on you. Don’t make a noise knocking out the other three and get them out of sight, and he won’t have any idea something’s wrong until the guard rotation in an hour.”
I eyed the entrance, which a man was striding by right now. “Which one is off-limits?”
“He’s the lead, so he should have a golden patch on his left sleeve,” Blaze instructed.
Thirty seconds later, another man rounded the corner, a rifle in his hands. I spotted the gold patch immediately. He surveyed the entire area with a keen eye. We’d definitely need to be extra careful with leaving evidence, as this man would spot any discrepancies.
“When he passes, you have four minutes max to deal with the other guards and get inside the door.” Blaze’s voice became even harder as he gave careful instructions. “Dess, I showed you how to use the keypad cracker. The rest of you, work to disable the guards and hide the bodies. Hide them well.”
Four minutes. I could do this in four minutes. When I’d practiced with the cracker on various doors around the city for practice, it’d never taken more than a minute to find the right combination. But Blaze had warned me that this one would likely take longer, and we didn’t want to cut it too close. I only had one shot. If I pulled it off before it was done decrypting, it could set off the alarms in the building.
The second the lead guard turned the corner out of view, the next guard had come into sight. Julius leapt forward silently, capturing the weapon first, then muffling the man’s gasp and knocking him out with a jab of a syringe. Maybe the same stuff the crew had used on me when they’d first taken me home. He pulled the man toward the sculpture where he’d restrain and more carefully hide him, and Talon moved forward to deal with the next guard.
The second the guard was unconscious, I bolted toward the metal front door, yanking the keypad cracker from its spot on my belt. With a glance at the lock, I stuck the device to the base of it and pressed the necessary buttons. It flashed, and the orange light began blinking, showing that it was scanning for possible combinations.
I looked toward where the rest of the crew stood by the modern sculpture, waiting for the next man on duty to come into sight. The seconds slipped by, and the steady rhythm of guard’s footsteps reached my ears.
The lock cracker was still blinking. I tried to tune out the anxious twisting of my stomach. “What are we doing the second we get inside?” I whispered into my mic as I heard the faint scuffling of Talon effectively incapacitating the other guard.
“Go directly to the right, staying as close to the wall as you can and then keep going in that direction until you reach the stairwell door,” Blaze replied in my ear. “The automatic lights will alert security if you go forward. You’ll need to get to the employee’s stairwell at the side of the building.”
“Got it,” I whispered. One more guard left. Well, that and the damned tracker. I stared at it, willing it to switch to green, but it just kept blinking that orange dot at me.
Julius had gotten into place to take down the third guard. Talon was still concealing the second. Garrison slunk over to stand at my shoulder like a guard dog, ready to bolt inside with the rest of us the second we could.
“We have time,” he murmured into my ear, taking in my stance.
But we didn’t. If this stupid box of circuitry didn’t perform fast enough, the entire mission would be a bust before it’d even started.
The third guard’s footfalls sounded. Julius was on him in an instant. Talon joined us at the door, Julius following seconds later. The fucking light was still orange.
“Blaze,” I hissed. “It’s almost time for the lead guard, and the cracker hasn’t—”
The light blinked green, and the lock clicked open. At the same moment, I heard the lead guard approaching. He hadn’t turned the corner yet, but we had the space of a few heartbeats to get out of sight.
I yanked the device from the door, shoved it open, and flung myself inside and to the right, just as Blaze had said. The others had heard his instructions too. We all flattened ourselves against the wall in the sudden, thicker darkness that had no streetlamp glow tempering it.
The door shut with a faint tap. I held my breath, braced for thudding footsteps and an angry shout.
Nothing came. More seconds ticked by with the pounding of my heart. The lead guard must have walked right by with no inkling that anything was wrong.
Next to me, Garrison gave me a gentle nudge. I nodded even though he couldn’t see me and started sidling on down the righthand hall.
I couldn’t make out any of the technology that made this place so special in the pitch black we’d found ourselves in, but I could hear it. An electronic hum droned through the air as if from all around us. It sent a shiver down my spine.
The seemingly endless corridor finally brought us to a push-style door. A dim light on the other side showed a narrow stairwell.
“We’ve reached the stairs,” Julius murmured to Blaze under his breath.
I could almost hear Blaze nod. “Go up. There aren’t many other guards until you get to the top floor, and the ones who are on the lower floors aren’t likely to be on the stairs. If you do run into anyone… you know how to handle them.”
Julius had another syringe ready in his hand. Garrison brandished a stun gun. I flexed my fingers, mentally rehearsing the move Noelle had taught me that could briefly knock out a man if you applied the right amount of pressure on just the right spot by his neck.
We slipped up the stairs one after the other, giving the doors we passed on the second and third floor a cautious glance before hurrying by. Several steps down from the fourth landing, we paused again.
“We’re just about at the top,” Julius reported quietly. “What are we facing up here?”
“I couldn’t find out all that much specific detail, unfortunately,” Blaze said. “But since the control room is up there, it’s where the most security presence is concentrated. Avoid any loud sounds and try not to touch anything I don’t tell you to. The control center is in the middle of that floor, with data banks all around it. Make your way to it as quickly as you can, and any guards you need to deal with, do your best to keep them out of sight afterward.”
That sounded a whole lot easier said than done. I dragged in a breath and glanced at the others. They all nodded.
“I’ll stay in the lead,” I murmured, and darted to the door.
I edged it open just a smidge, enough to spot a row of machines on the other side that stretched to the high ceiling and flickered with a multitude of tiny lights—and two guards waiting in the hall just a foot from where I was standing. I held up two fingers to the men and then leapt forward.
I threw myself at the man farther away so the guys could tackle the closer one. One hand clamped around his mouth. The other dug into his flesh where I would find just the right nerve.
I squeezed hard, flinging a leg around his to bring him to the ground so he couldn’t buck me off him. A second later, he slumped over.
Talon was already on the second guard with a needle, and Julius gave mine the same treatment, since the effect I’d produced would be short-lived on its own. After a moment’s silent debate, we dragged them into the corner of the stairwell, figuring that was the safest place for them.
“There’s a pattern marked on the floor farther down the hall,” Garrison murmured, and eased a little closer to describe it to Blaze in more detail.
The hacker hummed. “That’ll be one of those touch-sensitive alarms. That’s got to be the way to the control center. But you’ll have to disable it to get past it.”
“And how do we do that?” I asked.
“Look around. There should be a small utility room to your left. The wiring will probably run through there.”
I spotted a discreet doorway past another row of humming, flickering computer units and hustled over. “I found it.”
“Good, go inside, and I’ll direct you. We have to be careful not to cut the wires for the wrong devices, or it’ll trigger an alarm. We can’t afford that.”
No kidding. I reached the utility room, unlocked it with some jabs and twists of my lock picks, and slipped inside. The others crammed into the small space after me to avoid being seen. Garrison glanced around.
“We could chuck a few bodies in here too,” he remarked.
“Not right now,” I muttered, and stared at the mess of cables that covered the wall in front of me. “Blaze, I’m going to need some serious guidance.”
“Okay. You want to find a cable labeled 4J. A place on this level, they’ve got to be up to code. Do you see it?”
I scanned the cables in the thin light and caught sight of it partway down the wall. “Here. I cut that one?”
“Not so fast! There’ll be a dual trigger. If either of them shuts down without the other, we’re screwed.”
My heart started thumping faster again. “What’s the other one?”
“Usually it’d be a switch… They like to use blue ones for this type of system. Do you see any blue switches?”
I did, but there was a slight problem. “Five of them.”
Blaze muttered a curse under his breath. “Okay… They would have it lower than the cable’s entry point, and to the left—no, no, to the right. Lower and to the right.”
There was only one blue switch that met that description. I rested my fingers on it. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Cut the wire and flick the switch at the exact same time.”
I pulled a knife from my belt and braced it against the cable. My fingers curled around the switch. Then, in unison, I jerked both hands into action.
The cable split. The switch dropped. My jaw clenched, but no blare of alarms filled the building.
“Did it work?” Blaze asked in my ear.
I exhaled shakily. “I don’t like that you’re asking me that. It seems like it. Let’s check the hall.”
I’d just said that when Julius and Talon leapt out ahead of us. I understood why a few seconds later when they dragged two more unconscious guards past me into the stairwell. We were certainly leaving a trail of bodies behind us, if not in the typical way.
“The pattern on the floor has vanished,” Garrison reported.
Blaze let out a little cheer. “You’re good to go then. Well, as far as that’s concerned anyway. Still proceed with extreme caution, watching for a set of glass double doors to your right that’ll lead into the control room. If you’re quick, maybe you can make it there before any more patrols reach that part of their circuit.”
We weren’t quite that lucky. I’d just spotted the double doors between two stretches of looming data storage units when another two guards rounded a corner up ahead. Apparently on this floor they worked in pairs.
Julius dashed forward with a speed I wouldn’t have expected from such a massive man if I hadn’t seen him in action before. He mashed their faces together, muffling their shouts of alarm against each other’s flesh as Talon and Garrison dove in with syringes.
We dragged the limp bodies into the control room with us and then paused to stare at the array around us. It looked like something Blaze would have wet dreams about. Screens and computer towers filled every inch of the walls. Beneath one cluster of monitors sprawled a vast black keyboard with five times as many keys as usual. Or, well, when I got closer I saw that many of them were actually round buttons or rectangular switches.
“We’re in,” I said. “Here goes nothing.”
Blaze had already gone over this final part of the plan in detail, because he’d mostly been able to predict what to expect ahead of time. He’d also warned us that the control room was probably checked by guards at least every ten minutes. We had to work fast.
I pulled the flash drive that Blaze had given me from the secure pocket where I’d kept it. Garrison motioned to a port that would accept it on the base of the keyboard. I jabbed it in and tapped the power button. A few of the screens blinked on immediately.
“The drive is in,” I whispered.
“Good. Is it already working on the password?”
“Looks like it.” Blaze had set up the drive to run its sequence of operations automatically on contact. A window had appeared on the main screen, letters and numbers whipping by too quickly for me to make out more than a blur. Abruptly, that screen vanished, and a spread of icons appeared. A program opened as if of its own accord.
“I think it’s starting the search now,” I said.
“Good.” Blaze’s relief rang through his voice. “It’ll take a couple of minutes to get through all that data, but it’s got to be one of the most advanced systems in the world. This laptop of mine would take a hundred times that long.” He chuckled.
I leaned against the nearest console and inhaled deeply. “I think we did it.”
Julius shot me a crooked smile. “Let’s not get cocky. We’ve still got to get out of here.”
The computer next to me whirred faintly, and a spiral of DNA showed on the screen. My pulse hitched. “I think it found a match.”
“Perfect. It’ll be downloading onto the drive now. Wait until the screen stops showing any activity, then grab the drive and get moving.”
Abruptly, a beep emanated from the console where I’d inserted the drive. I frowned. “Is it supposed to beep when it’s done?”
“What? I wouldn’t think so, but—’
I missed whatever else Blaze said when the screen flared all at once with blinking red letters. UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS. I jerked back, just as the blare of a siren screeched through the room.
