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That seemed to perk up everyone in the room. “You really think we can get them out?” Doc asked, steam curling around her face, making her gold nose ring shine.
“I do. I’ve been working all these weeks trying to break into the prison’s security system, and—Phantom, drum roll, please—I did. Well, kind of. It kicked me out almost instantaneously, but not before I was able to assign Roman and Bang Bang to the same cell. The lawyer we knew Roman would hire should have given him the salt packet, too. They know we’re coming for them.”
“Fuck yes,” Phantom said, pumping the air with a fist.
“Just because they’re bunkmates doesn’t mean they’re home free,” Mimic said, lips tight. “How are we getting them out?”
“That’s what tomorrow’s trip is for. We’re going to Georgia to meet with an old acquaintance of mine who’s much better at breaking through virtual walls than I am. I want to ask him for his help.”
“Doing what, exactly?” Mimic asked. Mustang had a hand on her neck, gently massaging, although it didn’t seem to be doing much to relieve the tension clear in her voice. Wyatt couldn’t blame her. He felt the same exact stress she had weighing down on her shoulders, and it was crushing at times.
“I want him to go in and knock down the entire security system. But beyond that, I was able to pull up some information on the prison and how it was updated five years ago to a digitized system. The cell doors can be controlled through a computer, in case of a sudden lockdown or some other kind of emergency situation. They thought it’d be a more effective and safe way of doing things since keys couldn’t be lifted and guards had a harder time getting coerced.
“But it left them wide open to someone like Theo, a man who hacked into the CIA within minutes on a drunken dare back in college. I know he’ll be able to get in and turn the system upside down.”
“So you’re going to let all those criminals loose?” Mimic didn’t seem like she was completely sold on the plan.
“Not loose out into the world, no. The lawyer is going to deliver another message to Roman and Bang Bang. They’re going to meet us in the yard while all the guards are worried about getting the general population of prisoners under control.”
“How are we getting them out of the—”
Mimic’s question was cut off by a harshly uttered “shit” at her side. She looked to Mustang, who was getting up on her feet, reading over whatever message had just dinged into her phone.
“Guys, this isn’t good. This isn’t good at fucking all.”
“What? What happened?” There was a pit forming in Wyatt’s stomach. Judging by Mustang’s blanched expression, whatever was on her phone had to be the complete opposite of “good.”
“My contact at the Pride, Alejandro—he’s dead. Fuck.” Mustang put a hand to her face, chipped black nails popping against her skin. “They just sent me this from his phone, saying that ‘our friend gave us up and that we’ll be sleeping with the sharks soon,’ and there’s a photo of Alejandro. Executed. Fuck.”
Wyatt’s shoulders started to shake, but he managed to keep his composure, straightening his back and stopping the subtle shaking. This wasn’t time to freak out. This was time to act.
“Everyone, grab whatever sensitive things you’ve got in here and meet at the car in three minutes. We need to go.”
The room burst into motion, everything shooting up and running to their rooms. Every second of the clock that ticked by put an ambush closer and closer. They were down their gunner and their leader; it wouldn’t be ideal to have a shoot-out with the Pride right then. They’d be fish in a barrel. Wyatt knew their best chance would be getting the hell out of there before any fighting started.
He ran to his room and grabbed a book bag stuffed with notebooks and papers, along with the two pages that the Pride was so desperate to find. He snatched a photo of him and Roman—the two of them smiling next to the Eiffel Tower—off the desk and pushed it into the bag. He left whatever clothes and shoes he had brought there, taking only the T-shirt and shorts on his body. He ran back into the main room, finding the rest of the crew already there.
They left together, hurrying through the underwater tunnel and past the shark tank, hugging the walls and making sure they weren’t walking into any traps. Speed was important, but so was smarts. If they could outsmart the Pride, then they could stay alive.
Ahead of them was the coral castle, and through it was the private parking lot Mustang used to store her cars. They were nearly there. Just had to hurry through the bright pink-and-blue castle, past the displays of saltwater sea life set inside the walls. The door was just ahead, right there.
