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TWENTY-SIX
Decima
“I am not sharinga 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.
