The group hurried out, made their way as a pod toward the hangar door. Once there, Caroline and Sydney climbed into one SUV, Greystone and Teddy escorted Dustin and Sonya into another, while Gabriel and Halston jumped into a third.
As Gabriel sped through the sleepy Great Falls neighborhood toward Route 7, Halston asked, “What do you think?”
“I think there’s little chance this pocket watch has a code.” Gabriel glanced over in the darkened car. “I almost threw it out.”
“What stopped you?”
“There was a photo of his family inside. Family mattered to him. Same for me.”
“So, you do have a heart,” she said as she curled her hand around his thigh.
The second she touched him, he came alive. “If I love you, I’ll do anything for you. If you’re my enemy, you’re already dead.”
In the dark vehicle, he flicked his gaze in her direction. She was waiting.
“This is it, isn’t it?” she asked.
“For the rest of our lives,” he replied. “Which—based on the situation—is ninety minutes.”
“Then, we’ll make the most of every second.”
He veered onto the parkway and hit the gas. Time was running out and he wasn’t willing to settle. Ninety minutes with Halston wasn’t enough.
“We’re just getting started, baby,” he said. “We’ll have decades more than an hour and a half.”
She shuddered out a breath. “I wish I had your confidence.”
“I’ve never lost before. I won’t lose now, not wheneverythingis on the line.”
HALSTON
Halston was a mess.Her insides were jumbled, her mouth had gone bone dry, her palms were clammy. But she steeled her spine, kept her concerns to herself, and watched as the milesticked by. She felt confident a thumb drive would have a code, but a pocket watch? That seemed unlikely.
In the hour before dawn, they made the forty-minute trip to Dupont Circle in twenty-five.
Gabriel pulled behind the hotel, parked in the loading dock. Together, they ran inside. Up the service elevator, into the lobby, then into a waiting elevator cab. She tapped her keycard for the Penthouse level, the doors closed. As it ascended, he clasped her hand.
“We’ll vacation in Italy,” he murmured. “We’ll take the family jet, spend two weeks doing whatever you want. We’ll stay at my villa—both of them—and relax, have fun. Enjoy each other’s company.”
She loved his voice. Even in the midst of chaos, his deep timbre rumbled through her like rolling summer thunder.
“I’d love that.”
The elevator doors slid open, they hurried down the hall to her suite. He tapped his keycard, the light flashed red. He tried again. No entry permitted. She tapped hers. Same problem.
Halston called the main number of the hotel.
“Good evening, no good morning—” said the hotel clerk.
“I’m in Penthouse 1119,” Halston said. “My keycard isn’t working.”
“I’ll send someone right up.”
“We’re in a rush.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The line went dead.
Gabriel pulled his pistol, aimed it at the doorknob.
