Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
“You’re my wife.” His face falters slightly. “I don’t want to risk you.”
He obviously doesn’t like this. I can tell he’s beginning to dig in, and if I want to get him to stop being so fucking stubborn, I need to find a way to crack through his knee-jerk defensiveness.
“You’re not risking anything. I’m risking it because I’m the one that got us into this mess. At least let me help fix things.”
“I can’t.”
“Then just stake it out with me,” I say, speaking quickly so he can’t interrupt. “We won’t go inside. We’ll keep our distance and check the place out in person, okay? If we can come up with a safe plan to get in and out, then maybe we’ll do it. But if you’re right and it’s too dangerous, I’ll let it go. Does that sound reasonable?”
His face tightens. Clearly, it sounds terrible. But he glances away, takes a breath, and nods once sharply.
“Only because you did good work picking my lock,” he says, sounding grudging. “And when you realize it’s too much, you’re going to drop this plan. Promise me right now.”
“If I can’t do it.”
“And you’ll be reasonable about your abilities.”
I get to my feet, smiling sweetly. “Nobody’s more reasonable than I am, darling.”
“I really doubt that.”
I walk around the counter and kiss his cheek. He glares at me, but I can tell he’s already softening. I pat his big, muscular chest.
“Come on, quit being so angry. We’re in this together, right? Bonnie and Clyde to the end.”
“They died in a police ambush.”
“Well, Bonnie and Clyde without the bullet holes.” I head back toward the stairs. “We should get some sleep since we have such a fun day ahead of us.”
“I already regret agreeing to this.”
Chapter 22
Alexan
The home base for AST looks like any suburban office park at night. The building is squat and beige with an ugly brown roof. A few sedans line the spots out front, though the place is mostly empty after hours. Streetlights nearby flicker, and at least one is completely out.
“Those papers weren’t kidding about the fence,” Riley murmurs, staring through a pair of binoculars. I’m too busy watching her to notice anything else. The curve of her jaw. Her determined stare.
She’s beautiful.
“See? Too dangerous,” I tell her. “Let’s get going.”
She puts a hand on my leg and pats gently. “Easy, boy.”
I sit back, annoyed that I’m going through this show. There’s no way in hell I’m going to let her break in there, but I can tell she’ll never drop it without at least a little good faith sign that I believe she could.
And honestly, from what I’ve seen, she really might be able to pull it off.
Taking down the security system wouldn’t be difficult. I’ve been teasing at the edges of the AST network since Mantis hired me, and I found at least a dozen ways inside. Iron Head is good, but I’ve always been better. There’s no doubt in my mind that if she can pull off the physical bits, I can make sure the digital side is taken care of.
Without cameras, it would be a matter of avoiding the guards. Daron gave us a rough idea of their rotation schedule, and with a little more surveillance, we could get that nailed down. She’d cut a gap in the fence or scrape over the top, pick a lock, creep to Fong’s office, find the key—
But no, fucking no. This isn’t happening.
I can’t even indulge the possibility.
“Look, over there.” She hands me the binoculars and points toward the western corner. “The fence is growing up against those trees. See that? I bet I could climb that branch, put a blanket over the barbed wire, and get over pretty easily that way.”
I grunt softly. She’s actually right about that. There’s more than one decent-sized branch protruding close to the fence’s top.
“You’d be exposed, and who knows if that branch can hold your weight.”
“It definitely can.” She grabs the binoculars back. “It wouldn’t even be that hard.”
“Riley—”
“I read the file. It says the guards change over at 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. every day. We’d sneak through in the middle of the night, say sometime around 3 a.m. or 4 a.m., when they’re at their most tired.”
“It’s just not possible.”
“The doors all have pretty standard locks. I can see them from here. I can pick something like that in ten seconds pretty easily. Once I’m inside—”
“You’re not going inside.”
“—I’d just have to get to the office, which isn’t far from the eastern side entrance. Then I’d just have to find the key. I think that’s the hardest part.”
I frown slightly to myself. “It’d be on his computer. All you’d have to do is find a laptop or a desktop that isn’t connected to the internet and plug in a little USB drive. I’d write a program—” But I stop myself when I realize she’s grinning at me.