“What are you doing? We can just check downstairs,” Copper grumbles.
“No point going all the way down if we don’t have to.” He looms over the directory, scanning the list with his finger until a screeching electronic caterwaul fills the corridor. He reaches into his jacket and pulls his phone out of an inside pocket. The wink and grin he gives me, has me rushing to turn away. As soon as my head ducks, he flicks the screen and reads whatever message just landed.
“Scratch that. There’s a car pulling around to the side exit.”
“She’s leaving? Wait, is it our guys jumping the gun or a legit tip?” Scar shoves Copper inside the car and pushes the G button. The car drops into motion.
“Legit tip. This says she’s not outside yet, but I guess we know where she’s heading.”
Second Floor.Almost there.
“Fuck. We’ll not get there in time.” Copper paces back and forth.
First Floor.
“Worth a try. Even if we get a look at her, we’ll know who we’re after next time we get a call.”
The doors open onto the ground level. Both men hustle to exit. Scar points left. They turn in that direction and disappear. The door-closing sound rings, but I don’t relax. I can’t. I catch Scar’s words before the doors close.
“If that bastard Gresh gets the bonus before I do, I’m fucking her first just to piss him off.”
The doors close. My back hits the wall. I breathe, but I want to scream. Is it bad luck that they got on my elevator or good luck that they didn’t recognise me? Am I cursed or blessed? Truth is, it’s probably neither. I’m just delaying the inevitable.
The parking lot rises to meet me finally. A nineteen-floor ride felt like it took a year off my life and not mere minutes. The elevator doors slide wide. I sag as Aiden’s grinning face meets me on the other side. Just as he promised, he’s waiting right at the door for me.
His grin fades fast. “What the fuck happened?”
“Nothing. I’m okay.”
“Not buying it, Tiger. You just looked at me like I saved the day.”
“You have. Franz’s men are here. I just had a nice elevator ride with a couple of his goons.”
“Fuck! I should have come up to get you.”
His hands grasp my arms as he runs an assessing gaze over me. When he spins me to check my back, I relent. “I’m fine. They seem to have limited information about me. They were looking for a blonde.”
“I guess we’re lucky they haven’t discovered the existence of hair dye, huh?”
“Tell me about it. Uh…Aiden…do we have a car meeting us at the side exit?”
“How did you know about that?”
“Because someone just tipped them off via text.”
“Fuck!” Aiden pulls out his phone. “Cas! Get Ashlyn to the car as fast as you can. They’ve taken the bait. Lead them around town but watch out for yourselves. I wouldn’t put it past them to arrange a roadblock. Avoid the Vale.”
“Ashlyn?”
“Our decoy. She’s one of us and was the closest in height and hair colouring to be your decoy. She’s how we cleared the Vale long enough to get you out of Charlie’s the other night.”
“You’ve put another woman in danger? For me?”
“She’s fully trained, fully armed, and has an entire team of brutal assholes wrapped around her. She’ll be fine.”
Only I wasn’t so sure about that. Not after hearing those guysin the elevator. Still, I have to trust that Aiden and his team are good at what they do, or all of this is for nothing.
“And your team is all part of this UACT thing?”
