Chapter 19
ALEX
“Ireally don’t like this, Avs,” Alex said as he paced the floor of their living room, tightly clutching his laptop.
Each step was heavier than the last, a physical manifestation of the dread knitting his stomach. He paused, clutching his laptop so tightly his knuckles whitened. Memories of Ava just after her accident flashed before his eyes for a second until his mind replaced them with new perilous scenarios.
He shot a glance at the painting now hanging over the fireplace, giving it an eye roll.
While he loved the concept of it–two ships weathering a storm together, a worthy metaphor for his relationship with Ava–he hated the artist.
His eyes focused on the name scrawled in the bottom right corner, his nose wrinkling.
Her voice crackled in his ear through the earbud. “Which part, babe?”
“All parts, every part,” he said. “Come home. We’ll figure something else out.”
“Ace, there isn’t another way. We’ve been over and over it. Oh, except the times we were arguing about me going to Vivienne’s lunch.”
He plopped onto the couch with a heavy sigh. “Ava…”
“Alex…” she mimicked.
He pressed his lips together, aggravated with the cavalier response.
“Stop sweating the small stuff, Ace.”
His eyes widened. “Are you serious? Ava, you are about to rappel down the side of a building, break into a heavily secure office, download a file from a secure server which likely has a trigger that will set off one thousand alarm bells, and then you have to get out of there.”
“And that’s why I have you all comfy on our couch providing me with tech support to make sure I pull this off.” Two camera feeds popped up on his screen, one with an image of her face and another showing what she saw. “Hi, babe.”
He stared at her face, tracing the outline. “Hi. And aw, you called it our couch.”
Despite his trepidation, the corners of his lips turned up at the words.
Ava was showing signs of settling into their relationship, and he couldn’t be happier.
Well, he could be if they’d ever stop being in danger and needing to do desperate things to appease some ridiculous so-called ally who went by the name of Raven.
She grinned at him as she continued to ready for her mission.
“Hey, while I have you as a captive audience, let’s revisit the whole I’m going to Vivienne Bancroft’s luncheon this weekend thing, okay?”
“Let’s not,” she answered. “I really don’t want to rehash it.”
Alex launched from his seat, pacing around the floor, followed by Gizmo. “That’s fine. Just listen. Sparky, this is a terrible idea. You are walking right into the middle of the lion’s den.”
“Supposed lion’s den,” she answered. “We have no idea the Bancrofts are the terrible people Raven says they are.”
“Did she have a tattoo?” Alex asked.
“I’m going to find out when I go to her lunch.”
He clicked his tongue as he slid his eyes closed. “I walked right into that one.”
“I don’t want to tell you what to do, babe, but maybe you could focus on the task at hand. I don’t think this is going to be easy.”
“I’m focused,” he said, collapsing onto the couch again and scooping Gizmo up to sit next to him. “Gizmo doesn’t like this plan either. Just throwing it out there.”
“Did he tell you that himself?” she asked.
“He did.” Alex tapped on his keyboard, going over the plan from last night and readying to provide her with the support she needed circumventing the variety of security measures she’d face.
“I think you’d better be a little concerned that we have a talking dog, Ace.”
“She thinks she’s a real comedian, Giz,” he said to the tiny dog who cocked his head.
Alex returned his eyes to the screen, watching her securing the rope she’d use to dangle from the side of a skyscraper.
“Serious question: when did you start to doubt my abilities to perform in these types of situations?”
His shoulders slumped as he shook his head at the screen. “Never. Avs, I know you can do this. I’m not worried about your abilities. You are more than capable. I’m just…”
“Yeah?”
Alex sank his head into his hands. “I’m worried about you. And I’ve always been like this. I’ve been in love with you forever, remember?”
“I do remember. But you never really went on and on about how this is a terrible idea.”
“Not true,” Alex said with a shake of his head. “False on all counts. In our senior year, you wanted to go to that frat party at the end of the year, and I said…Avs, this is a terrible idea. And you do know what happened at that party?”
A sigh tickled his eardrum through the communication device.
“I got sucker punched,” he said.
“Yeah, but I took care of that.”
“Okay, fine,” he answered, rising to pace the floor again, “remember when I told you not to eat those jalapenos, and you did it anyway.”
“Ohh, yeah, that was a bad move on my part.”
“Uh-huh. And also…Crossbeam Chris. Remember how I said, staying with him was a terrible idea?”
“Ouch, burn. You got me on that one.” Another video feed appeared on his screen as she tapped into the security feed from the neighboring building. She waved at him before she retreated back to work to continue her preparations.
“Sorry, Sparky,” he answered with a wrinkle of his nose, “I just…I’ve always been worried about you. Now, it’s just way more worry because we suddenly find ourselves plunged into danger at every turn.”
“We kind of do, don’t we? But remember, all these things we’re doing are designed to get us out of that.”
He raised his eyes toward the ceiling. “I’m trying to remember it, but that’s really hard when you’re about to dangle from the side of a skyscraper.”
“Speaking of, I’m almost ready.
His leg started to bob up and down as he waited for her to begin her descent. Before she could, the doorbell rang. “Hold that thought, Avs. Someone’s at the door.”
He tugged the earbud from his ear, toggling on the speakers on his laptop before he left it behind, shuffling to the front door.
He swung it open, surprise etching deep lines across his forehead. “Harringtons?”
“Hi, Alex,” Julia said with a smile quickly followed with a wince. “I’m sorry, I think we’re a little early.”
“Big deal. We’re an hour early,” Sierra said from behind her. “I didn’t want to sit around and wait with Kyle bugging me every five seconds, and Daddy pacing the floor, and Julia…well, she never does anything wrong.”
“Ah, no problem,” Alex said as he stepped aside and motioned for them to enter. “Come right in.”
“Thanks,” Julia said. “I hope we’re not interrupting anything.”
Gizmo raced from the living room, barking continuously as Team Harrington, consisting of Grant, Julia, Kyle, and Sierra, slid into the foyer.
“No luggage?” Alex asked as he scooped the dog off the floor. “Shh.”
“It’s being sent from the airport,” Grant answered.
Alex shifted his weight, uncomfortable with the man’s typical alpha male behavior.
Awkward silence stretched between them until Sierra finally spoke. “Is that a chihuahua wearing a Star Wars Onesie?”
Alex grinned at her as he nodded. “Yep. This is Gizmo. He’s Ava’s.”
Julia reached out to let the dog smell her before she stroked his head. “I didn’t know she had a dog.”
“Oh, I just got him for her. It was her present for…stuff.”
Sierra wrinkled her nose at the statement before Ava’s voice filled the air. “Ace?”
Julia’s brow furrowed, as Alex skirted past them. “Sorry, we’re in the middle of a situation. Come in, make yourselves at home. Mi casa, su casa, Team Harrington.”
They followed him into the living room as he switched on the television, mirroring his screen for them to watch.
“I’m here, Sparky,” Alex said. “Ready when you are.”
Julia crossed her arms, inching closer to the television, her eyebrows knitting. “Is that…”
“Okay, here I go,” Ava answered.
The video wobbled a little before she tossed herself over the edge of the building, zipping toward the ground.
Julia whipped around to face Alex. “Did Ava just throw herself over the side of a building.”
Before Alex could answer, Ava’s voice crackled from the surround sound system. “Is that Julia?”
“Yeah. Team Harrington is in the house.”
Ava clicked her tongue, the video feed capturing her face showing her disappointment. “Oh, no. I wanted to be there when they arrived.”
“I’m sorry,” Julia said as she slid her hand into Grant’s. “We got here a little early.”
“Aw, it’s okay,” Ava said with a smile and a wave from her camera. “Well, just make yourselves at home. There are extra towels in the bathroom closet, and extra pillows, too. Oh, Alex, did you offer them something to drink?”
“I have not. I will do so as soon as I kill the security system on those windows for you.” Alex clacked on his keyboard for a minute before his finger hovered over the enter key. “On your command, Sparky.”
“Do it,” she answered.
Grant and Julia exchanged a glance as Ava proceeded to use a set of suction cups to slide a pane of glass and slip into the building, disappearing from one camera’s view.
“I’m in,” she answered. “Moving to the server room.”
“Awesome. So, can I offer you something to drink?” Alex asked.
Julia screwed up her face. “Uh, it looks like you have your hands pretty full, Alex. I think we’ll be okay for a few minutes.”
“Oh, this’ll take longer than a few minutes, so definitely ask for your snacks now.” He motioned toward the armchairs and loveseat. “And take a load off. Enjoy the show.”
“What, exactly, is Ava doing?”
“Oh, she’s grabbing a few files from an isolated, secure server to appease a…friend of ours who is supposedly helping us with this situation.”
Grant eased into an armchair, leaning forward to balance his elbows on his knees. “What exactly is the situation?”
“Good question, G-Force. Seems Avs and I have stumbled upon a little sitch of epic proportions. What started as a discrepancy in StoneCorp’s financials has bloomed into a battle with a shadowy organization whose overall goals remain a mystery, but who has managed to steal several million dollars and almost kill Ava. ”
Grant’s son, Kyle’s jaw dropped open. “Are you serious or is this some sort of code for…something else?”
“Not sure I understand where I’ve been unclear, Grantling,” Alex answered.
“I’m sorry,” Julia answered from the armchair next to Grant’s, “I think we’re just a little stunned that you said all of that so…casually.”
“Oh. Well, I guess we’re sort of used to it. I can fill you in on all the details as soon as Ava gets back.”
“Can you let us know how you expect us to help?” Grant asked, his eyes sliding sideways to the camera moving through the darkened halls.
“Yeah,” Sierra said with a bob of her head. “Because if you expect me to jump off a building, I’m out.”
“No, worries, Peak Princess, Ava is more than capable of a rappel. This request is a little more…personal in nature.”
“Aw, thanks, Ace,” Ava answered as she turned a corner. “I’m glad you believe in me.”
Alex tapped on his screen and brought up a photograph of the Bancrofts, spinning the laptop to face the others.
They peered at the picture. “Theo Bancroft? What’s this have to do with him?”
“Sad to say, it looks like your good friend Teddy may be thick as thieves with this little set up known as The Board. We were hoping you may…put in a good word to help us infiltrate Camp Bancroft and search for clues.”
Grant frowned for a moment before he nodded. “Well, I’d be happy to. Theo and I aren’t the best of friends, but we’ve done a lot of deals together. I just…can’t imagine he’d be involved in anything nefarious.”
“If he isn’t, we’d like to know and move on to the next suspect. They have a party coming up next week, a Fourth of July celebration. I thought we could all go. Maybe you could make a few…introductions as it were.” Alex eyed Grant.
Julia bobbed her head as Ava’s voice filled the room. “I’m sure Grant would be happy to.”
The man looked less than enthused but he forced out an, “Of course. However we can help.”
“Have you given any consideration to other plans?” Kyle asked. “Maybe something less technical?”
“I’m not poisoning anyone’s makeup or slashing anyone’s tires,” Alex said with a wrinkled nose just before Ava’s voice filled the room.
“I’m at the server, initiating the program now.”
Alex’s stomach twisted into a knot as he counted the seconds that it should take for his program to eat away at any security measures that would prevent her from safely accessing and downloading the file without triggering any alarms.
He held his breath until she finally said, “I’m in.”
With a relieved exhale, he shot a haughty glance at the Harringtons. “Obviously. I knew it would work the entire time.”
“Of course it would, Ace. You’re a genius.”
Heat rose into his cheeks as he beamed at his guests, his pride surging.
“But there is one problem,” she said, deflating his ego in an instant.
“What is it?” His mind shot in a thousand directions. “Second firewall? Password protection? What?”
“The file’s not here.”
Those four words left him speechless as he stared at the images filling his television. If the file wasn’t there, what were they supposed to do?