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 totally think we can do this,” she says, teasing.
“Absolutely not.” I glare at her, annoyed with myself. I shouldn’t even be pretending to take this seriously.
But I can’t help myself. The longer we sit here staking the place out, the more my brain starts doing the calculations.
It’s what I’ve always done. Plan, plan, and plan, over and over again. That’s what makes me so good at my job. Where most hackers go in with vague ideas, I come up with contingencies and multiple different fallbacks in case anything goes wrong. And everything always does.
“It won’t even be that hard.” She sounds excited now, which wasn’t what I expected. “The guards might be a problem, but I’m fast. If they get anywhere near me, I’ll come running.”
“Running where? You’ll be trapped.”
“I’m flexible. I’ll find a little gap to squeeze through.” She brushes me off and talks fast. “You can monitor everything the whole time from a nearby van. I’ll wear a microphone, and you can talk me through the layout. If anything goes wrong, we’ll bail.”
“Riley.” I say it firmly this time. She’s getting on a roll, and if I don’t stop her, I’m afraid she’ll end up rushing the place right now. “We’re not doing this.”
Her expression falters. “Come on. You can’t seriously still think it’s a bad idea?”
“That’s a Mantis facility.” I pause for a moment to let that sink in. If she gets it, she doesn’t show anything but mild annoyance. “Even if we can pull it off, breaking in there is basically begging for death. One mistake, one clue that we were involved, and they’ll come down on us both like hellfire missiles.”
She shakes her head and tosses the binoculars onto the dash. “That’s a suburban cybersecurity company. I get it, they have ties with Black Mantis, but this isn’t some secure black site out in the Gobi Desert. These people are obviously complacent, but we aren’t. You’re good at your job, and I am too. We can pull this off.”
“Even if you’re right, we still can’t. I won’t take that risk.”
“Then I’ll do it without you.”
I wait for her to laugh, but she’s not kidding. “Be serious.”
“You think you can keep me locked up all day long?”
“The thought is very tempting.”
“I can get out of handcuffs.” She leans in and smiles a little. “Like I said, I’m very flexible. You can lock the doors and tie me up, but I’ll get away. There’s no cage in the world that can hold me.”
The scary thing is I completely believe her.
And I’m distracted by the thought of her tied to my bed, squirming and grunting as she tries to get free.
“Why do you have a death wish?” I ask and snatch up the binoculars. It’s 8 p.m., just in time for a guard change. She doesn’t answer as a car pulls up to the gate and a man enters a code on the pad. I try to make it out, but I can’t see from this angle. It pulls inside, parks, and a nondescript white gentleman with buzzed hair and the build of former military strides toward the building. A few minutes later, a similar-looking guard comes out, gets in another car, and leaves.
The process repeats three more times over the next ten minutes.
“I can do this,” Riley says, sounding surer of herself than ever. I have a sad, sinking feeling in my gut.
“Not without me, you can’t.”
“I’ll take my chances. I’m the one that got us into this mess.”
“Exactly, by acting impulsively. Are you really going to make it worse by doing the same thing?”
She struggles with that for a moment but ends up shaking her head. “Doesn’t matter. Either we get this key or we’re screwed anyway. I’m doing this, and I’ll probably pull it off if you help, but I’m trying either way.”
I lean back in my seat. Fuck, I admire her. I wish I didn’t. It would be easier just to drug her, put her on a plane, and fly her off to some random island where she can’t get herself into trouble. But she’s my wife now, and I genuinely like that she’s got so much spirit and strength.
“I’m going to regret this,” I say, feeling deeply, deeply unhappy.
“No, you’re not,” she says, beaming like a maniac, and throws herself across the car. I grunt in surprise as she straddles me, reaches down, and yanks on the seat adjustment knob. It slowly slides back, giving her more room.
“What are you doing?” I ask, my hands already gripping her ass.
“Being impulsive.” She leans down and kisses me.
God damn it.
I kiss her back. I can’t help myself. My hands squeeze tighter, and I’m already hard as she grinds into me. Her little whimpers and moans fuck me up beyond belief, and I really should stop this before I do something stupid.