Chapter 12
Reed’s blood turned to ice the moment Elena’s voice crackled through his earpiece.
“Reed, I’ve been made. They’re coming.”
He moved before she finished speaking, his body responding to years of training while his mind raced through tactical scenarios.
He’d positioned himself near the east wing entrance, close enough to provide backup if Elena needed extraction but far enough to avoid drawing suspicion.
Now that careful planning meant nothing.
She was in trouble. She was in the basement, surrounded by hostile forces, and he was three floors away.
“Walker, James—converge on the east service corridor,” Reed said quietly into his comm, weaving through the crowd of oblivious guests who were still sipping champagne and admiring artwork. “Elena’s been compromised.”
“Copy,” Walker’s voice came back immediately. “Moving now.”
“On my way,” James added. “What’s our extraction route?”
“Working on it.” Reed ducked through a service door, leaving the glittering party behind. The utilitarian hallway beyond was a stark contrast—concrete floors, exposed pipes, fluorescent lighting that buzzed overhead. “Terrel, I need eyes. Can you access their security feed?”
“Already trying,” Terrel responded from his position in the SUV outside the compound. “Their system is locked down tight, but I might be able to piggyback on their emergency protocols. Give me sixty seconds.”
Sixty seconds. In combat situations, sixty seconds was an eternity.
Reed moved quickly but carefully, his hand resting on the concealed weapon at his hip.
He’d dressed for his role as a potential buyer—expensive suit, silk tie, a watch that costed more than most cars—but underneath the civilized veneer, he was still a SEAL.
Still the man who’d spent fourteen years learning how to navigate hostile territory and bring his people home alive.
Elena. Her name pulsed through his mind with every heartbeat. Hold on. I’m coming.
He thought about the way she’d looked that morning, sitting perfectly still while he applied the prosthetics to her face. The trust in her eyes as he worked, her breath warm against his fingers. The way she’d smiled when he finished—a stranger’s smile on the face of the woman he loved.
If anything happened to her now, after everything they’d been through to find each other again...
Reed shoved the thought aside. Fear was a luxury he couldn’t afford.
“I’ve got partial access,” Terrel said, his voice cutting through Reed’s spiraling thoughts. “Basement level shows five—no, six hostiles converging on the server room. Elena’s tracker puts her inside.”
“Is she moving?”
“Negative. She’s stationary.”
Hiding. She’s hiding and waiting for extraction.
The thought brought a surge of pride mixed with terror. Elena was smart, trained, and capable of handling herself in dangerous situations. But she was also outnumbered and outgunned, trapped in an underground room with no clear exit.
“I need a route to the basement that avoids their security sweep,” Reed said.
“There’s a maintenance shaft on the north side of the building,” Terrel replied. “Access panel should be in the hallway you’re approaching. It’ll drop you into the mechanical room adjacent to the server room.”
“Copy.” Reed spotted the panel—a nondescript metal grate set into the wall at knee height. He kneeled and began working the screws loose with the multi-tool he always carried. “Walker, James—what’s your position?”
“East corridor, ground level,” Walker reported. “We’ve got two hostiles blocking the main stairwell to the basement.”
“Can you clear them quietly?”
A pause. Then Walker’s voice, grim but certain: “We can clear them.”
Reed didn’t ask for details. His brothers knew what was at stake, and they knew how to handle themselves. Whatever methods they used to remove those guards from the equation, Reed trusted their judgment.
The maintenance panel came free, revealing a dark shaft that descended into blackness. Reed pulled a compact flashlight from his pocket and swept the beam downward, mapping the handholds and calculating the drop.
Twenty feet, maybe twenty-five. Manageable.
He lowered himself into the shaft, using the metal rungs welded to the interior wall to control his descent. The air grew cooler as he went deeper, carrying the hum of machinery and the distant echo of shouting voices.
“Hostiles are getting agitated,” Terrel reported. “Looks like they’ve swept the server room and came up empty. They’re expanding their search pattern.”
She’s still hidden, Reed thought. She’s still safe.
His feet hit solid ground, and he found himself in a mechanical room filled with HVAC equipment and electrical panels. The server room should be on the other side of the east wall—he could hear the muffled sound of voices through the concrete.
“Walker, status?”
“Stairwell is clear.” Walker’s voice was flat, professional. “Two hostiles down. We’re moving to the basement level now.”
“James?”
“Right behind him. Took a graze to the shoulder, but I’m functional.”
Reed’s jaw tightened. His brother was hurt, but James was still moving, still fighting. That was all that mattered right now.
He approached the wall separating him from the server room, running his hands along the surface until he found what he was looking for—an access panel for the cable conduits that connected the mechanical systems to the servers.
It was small, barely two feet square, but Reed had squeezed through tighter spaces during his SEAL days.
“Elena,” he said quietly into his comm. “I’m adjacent to your position. East wall. Can you hear me?”
Static. Then, barely audible: “Reed?”
Relief flooded through him so intensely that his knees nearly buckled. “We get you out.”
“We need to get Webb,” she said.
“No, new plan, we'll get you out. I’m coming through the wall. East side, near the floor. Be ready to move.”
“There are guards,” Elena whispered. “They swept the room but they’re still in the corridor. I can hear them.”
“How many?”
“I counted five. Maybe six.”
Reed did the math. Six hostiles in the corridor, plus however many were still searching other parts of the basement.
Walker and James were en route, but they’d be coming from the opposite direction.
If Reed could get Elena out through the mechanical room, they might be able to avoid the main search party entirely.
“Terrel, I need a distraction,” Reed said. “Something to pull those guards away from the server room corridor.”
“On it.” Terrel’s keyboard clattered in the background. “I’m triggering a fire alarm in the east wing. That should draw some of them toward the surface.”
Seconds later, a piercing alarm began to wail somewhere above them. Reed heard shouting, the sound of running footsteps, the organized chaos of security personnel responding to a new threat.
“Two hostiles moving toward the stairs,” Terrel reported. “Four remaining in your immediate vicinity.”
Four against one. Not great odds, but Reed had faced worse.
He worked the access panel free and peered into the server room. Banks of equipment hummed in the dim emergency lighting, their indicator lights blinking in steady rhythms. He couldn’t see Elena from this angle, but he knew she was in there somewhere, pressed into the shadows, waiting for him.
“Elena, I’m coming through. Stay hidden until I give the all-clear.”
Reed squeezed through the opening, his shoulders scraping against the metal edges as he forced his body through the narrow gap. He emerged behind a server rack, taking a moment to orient himself before moving deeper into the room.
The server room was larger than he’d expected, filled with row after row of humming equipment. Perfect for hiding—but also perfect for ambush. Reed moved in a low crouch, his weapon drawn, clearing each row before advancing to the next.
“Elena,” he breathed. “Where are you?”
“Northwest corner,” came her whispered reply. “Behind the backup power units.”
Reed adjusted his course, moving silently through the maze of servers. He could hear voices in the corridor outside—guards discussing search patterns, debating whether the fire alarm was a diversion or a genuine emergency.
Keep talking, Reed thought grimly. Stay distracted.
He found her exactly where she’d said she’d be—curled into a ball behind a massive UPS unit, her Glock clutched in both hands, her eyes wide with fear and relief when she saw him.
“Reed.” His name came out as a sob, and she launched herself into his arms before he could stop her.
He caught her automatically, one arm wrapping around her waist while the other kept his weapon trained on the door.
She was trembling, her whole body shaking with the aftereffects of adrenaline and terror.
Reed held her for a moment—one precious moment when the world narrowed down to the feel of her against his chest and the rapid flutter of her heartbeat.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured against her hair. “I’ve got you.”
“The virus,” Elena gasped, pulling back just enough to meet his eyes. “It uploaded. It’s in their system. But I couldn’t figure out how to get out. Every exit was blocked, and I could hear them in the corridor, and I didn’t know if you were coming or if—”
“Hey.” Reed cupped her face in his hands, forcing her to focus on him. Even with the prosthetics distorting her features, he could see the Elena he loved underneath—terrified but determined, shaken but unbroken. “You did good. You accomplished the mission. Now we get out of here together.”
She nodded, visibly pulling herself together. The trembling subsided, and when she met his gaze again, there was steel in her eyes. “How?”
“Same way I came in. There’s an access panel on the east wall that leads to the mechanical room. From there, we can reach the maintenance shaft and exit through the north side of the building.”
“What about the guards?”