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This has to work.
“Did you get in yet?” My question sounded a lot like a snarl. Patience was not one of my best attributes. Cole glanced over at me and pointed at the screen of his laptop.
“As soon as that bar reaches one hundred percent, I’ll tell ya.”
I reached up and scratched at the back of my neck. Frank was twirling his gun around, which made me a little nervous. I didn’t like him and was already regretting having him here. He was good, though. I couldn’t begrudge him that.
Nearly three years I’d been planning this. Cole had been with me since the beginning, Frank only more recently. Three years since my life was turned upside down with a single phone call. I went from upscale businessman to ruthless, outside-the-law avenger six months later all because of the fucker on the thirtieth floor and his depraved sideline business.
I started pacing, and Cole glared at me out of the corner of his eye. I tried to relax a little, but this endeavor had just been too long in the making. My head could just barely wrap around the fact that the day was finally here. This was it—my single best shot at bringing Mr. Alexander Kender down. We’d checked everywhere else. The only place we hadn’t been able to search was his actual personal laptop in his office. He carried the damn thing with him everywhere, rarely ever leaving it unattended except when he went to a particular board meeting on Tuesdays.
Tuesday. Today. The meeting would begin four minutes from now. If he stuck to his regular routine, he’d be carrying his cup of chai tea to the meeting room right now.
“And three…two…one…”
The blaring alarm rang out all around us.
“Let’s go,” I said. Frank twisted the key to the elevator, and we all started on our way up from the parking garage. Cole pulled the ear buds out of his ears and stood, holding his own laptop precariously balanced on one arm. It was the longest fucking elevator ride in the history of elevator rides.
Frank had his gun grasped in both hands, pointed directly at the elevator doors. I held mine loosely in my hand, the weight of it bothering me. I narrowed my eyes at my overzealous bodyguard.
“Frank, this is a data capture,” I reminded him. “No shooting, no hostages, no collateral damage. Remember?”
“Sure, boss,” he said with a completely unconvincing grin.
I shook my head and growled incomprehensively. I had to get rid of this guy when this was all over. He was beyond a loose cannon. He was a menace.
The elevator doors opened, and there was no one in sight, thankfully. I tucked my gun back into the waistband of my trousers. It was uncomfortable but still handy. The door to the stairs was open as well as the door to the inner office. We waltzed in like we owned the place. For the next half hour, we would.
The inner office was large and expensively decorated with black leather furniture, original artwork, and a huge bookcase with a bunch of first editions the bastard had probably never read. I cringed a little because the whole place wasn’t unlike my own office had been back in the day. Cole walked through the door and around me, heading straight for the filing cabinet. I told Frank to stay outside and watch for anyone who might have either ignored the fire alarm or come back inside.
Stepping around to the other side of the huge mahogany desk, I took off my jacket and draped it over the back of the leather office chair. The laptop was sitting right there in plain view. The only question remained: Was the data on the hard drive or hidden within the network?
“It’s locked,” Cole said. I jerked my head to one side, indicating he should step away. I pulled the gun from my waistband and shot the lock on the cabinet twice. Cole reached over and yanked at the cabinet door again, but it didn’t budge. I walked over and pushed against Cole’s shoulder until he moved away. Then I leaned back and kicked the whole cabinet to the ground. The top drawer wrenched and bent and started spilling its contents on the ground. Cole laughed, and I went back to Mr. Kender’s laptop computer.
Twenty minutes later, I was ready to rip someone’s head off, probably whoever got closest to me. Cole hadn’t gotten anywhere with the passwords, and he was supposed to be the fucking expert. I yelled at him, and he stood up and pointed to the little machine, telling me to try it for myself. I sent him back to look through the paper files though I knew there wouldn’t be anything there. My hands grasped my hair, pulling it a little and making me flinch at the pain. It didn’t help.
The door opened, and I glanced up to see Frank walking back into the office. My first thought was to tell him to do what he was fucking told before I put a bullet in his skull, but that was before I saw the brunette in high heels.
Silky dark hair was running down her back and just begging to be wrapped around my wrist while my cock reached for the back of her throat. I saw wide dark eyes that would look so good as she stared up at me with need and adoration while I plowed into her over and over again. She had beautiful, flawless, cream-colored skin over her cheeks, her neck hidden by a bright red scarf and white button-down blouse, buttoned up way too high up for my tastes, for I could see nothing of the skin of her throat. Skin I wanted to taste, lick, and suck on until I left my mark on her, claiming her as mine. Softly rounded hips were covered by a sleek skirt that dropped to just above her knees, but it was her legs and the fucking red high heels covering her feet that made my cock jump up and take serious notice.
Red high heels.
Holy shit.
Little bitty thin straps wrapped around her ankles made me want to find some kind of matching set for her wrists and spread her out on a four-poster bed in a hotel room, secured tightly so I could do whatever the hell I wanted while she begged and moaned and writhed underneath me.
Get a grip, Lebourn.
“What the hell is this?” I asked.
“Hostage.” Frank grinned, and I wanted to rip the lips right off of his face.
“I told you before,” I said with a snarl. “No hostages. Why the fuck do you think we had them evacuate the damn building?”
“Relax, Adam,” Cole smiled. “Frank is just doing his duty.”
Leave it to him to try and diffuse the situation and totally fail. I flexed my hands a couple of times and took a long, deep breath. I looked her over again, and I was just as impressed…and a little bit harder…as I had been the first time.
