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Scarface scowls. “I won’t betray the Tulip Broker.” His hand dips behind his back, and the moment I see a peek of black reminiscent of a gun, I don’t hesitate. I can’t. Nobody’s life is worth me losing Jasper.
It’s as easy as breathing. I pull the trigger. Deadman’s switch be damned.
Chapter 22
Raven
Jasper lunges into action, running toward Scarface. His hands fumble, trying his best to grab the switch and keep pressure on the button, but my shot wasn’t immediately lethal. The man rips his hand out of reach and drops the trigger.
A hissing sound comes from the far side of the room, drawing my attention. The woman inside the enclosure stares at the wall behind her, then turns panicked eyes on me. She bangs on the thick glass and points to the computer that Scarface was sitting at. It’s similar to what Cole had at his house in D.C.
Monitors hang on the wall with a dizzying array of information. Cole should be the one here, not me. I don’t know the first thing about what I’m looking at. Glancing at the woman again, I find she’s trying to say something. Her mouth is moving, but I can’t hear a sound. Whatever the enclosure is made out of, it dims the sound too much to be intelligible.
Turning to Jasper, I find him pushing himself to his feet, one of his knives sticking out of the side of Scarface. He grasps the handle and yanks it out, blood arching in a spray with the movement. He swipes the blade across the dead man’s shirt and returns it to its holster. He does it all so fast and effectively that it almost happens in the blink of an eye.
“Jasper!” I call, urgency building in me with every second that passes. I immediately have his undivided attention. Pointing to the woman, I say, “We need to figure out what she’s saying.”
He crosses the space, and I go back to studying the screens. On the third one, I find a countdown timer. It seems it started at five and we’re now closer to four minutes than I’d like. The sound hasn’t stopped since the deadman’s switch was released.
“She says to—” he continues on to share the instructions. I follow each one as quickly as I can, but as the air is continuously sucked out of her room, her words become slower. My glances find her sucking in air harder and harder until she’s conveying the code I’m typing to Jasper with her fingers.
The only hope she has to avoid suffocating is if I type in the code correctly. My palms are sweaty and I can’t help but wonder why I care so much about her.
“Enter. Hit enter,” Jasper says. He seems to have caught on to my urgency to help her too.
“Are you sure?” A heavy weight sits in my stomach. “Should I read it back? Make sure I didn’t make a mistake?”
“There isn’t time. Just do it.”
I glance at the countdown. There’s still a minute left, but the woman isn’t getting enough oxygen as it is. No need to risk it. My finger slightly slips as I press the button. There’s the slight tink of the key depressing and the screen starts spewing numbers.
Fuck. Did I do it wrong?
“Raven?” Cole’s frantic call draws my attention from the screen. I watch him run into the room, the doorway staying empty behind him, making me think Vander remained behind to ensure TB doesn’t slip free.
I don’t waste time with calming him. Instead, I point to the computer. He glances at it but his eyes come back to me right away, like he doesn’t want to be distracted. But something he saw must have clicked after the fact because he does a second take.
In the blink of an eye, he’s sitting in the chair I never took the time to bother with and his fingers fly over the keyboard unlike anything I’d ever be able to replicate. The man processes information faster than anyone else I know.
It feels like a lifetime passes as I watch Cole before the sucking sound cuts off.
“Cole, we need this door open now,” Jasper shouts. He draws his gun and aims at the far edge of the enclosure. The bullet hits, but it does nothing. Fucking bulletproof.
The woman passed out. She’s a pile on the floor like dirty laundry kicked in the corner. We need to get her out.
“I’ve almost got it,” Cole murmurs. A few seconds later, the door to the enclosure pops open with a click, and Jasper rushes in. He picks the woman up and rushes back out, giving her access to an area with more oxygen.
I shouldn’t, but I can’t fucking help the murderous jealousy coursing through me. I want to stab the woman because Jasper is helping her. She can’t help the situation; she’s passed out, for fuck’s sake. And the worst part is that I still have the burning desire to help her at the same time. This is bullshit.
A few short steps and I’m next to Jasper before I even think about it, shoving him away from the woman and a knife in my hand. He eyes it carefully and gives me that sexy dimple.
“Problem, Little Bird?” He watches me, waiting for an answer that I don’t want to give.
“Drop it, J,” I say with a roll of my eyes as I divert my attention to the woman. Leaning close, I catch the slight rising of her chest as she breathes. Well, at least she doesn’t need mouth to mouth.
For the first time, I take in her features. She seems oddly familiar. Short brown hair, full lips, beautiful bone structure.
“I found the access point to the safe house, but I haven’t found a way in yet,” Cole comments, cutting off my thoughts on where I’ve seen the woman before.
