Chapter 47
ROMAN
“This would be so much easier if you let me go back to my office to get some more equipment. I’ve got so much stuff that would help.” I glanced left and right as Hana shielded the lock with her body, not showing me how she was getting inside.
I’d tried to talk her into letting me head to the office first. I also wanted to check my footage of her place and see if I could work out who’d shot at her, but she wouldn’t let me out of her sight, and I couldn't check without her finding out about the cameras I had watching every area of her life.
“I don’t need fancy equipment. I just need another set of hands,” she huffed.
I couldn’t believe I was doing any of this, and now we were here, my unease was growing. We were smack bang in the centre of the city, Hana breaking into the four-story building that looked like it was built in Victorian times, with its pitched slate roof and large bay windows.
“What even is this place?” I asked, looking around again, just as there was a click and the door opened, the alarm beeping to alert us that it was armed. She walked to the control panel on the wall and typed in a four-digit code, the noise silencing instantly.
I frowned. “You know the code? So, why do you need me?” I’d already hacked the camera feed on the front door, so no one would see us coming or be alerted that the alarm had been deactivated.
“Inside,” she whispered.
I took a couple of steps over the threshold and paused.
Hana closed the door and let out an audible sigh before adjusting the gloves she had on again.
I dragged my eyes from her to look around the place—high ceilings, hardwood floors, perfectly placed knick-knacks filled the side tables and mantlepiece I could see through the open door to the living room.
“Who lives here?” I also whispered. I presumed we were here alone, but if the last twenty-four hours had taught me anything, it was not to presume anything when it came to Hana.
“No one. It’s a safe house.”
“And you’re here for…”
She threw her finger over her shoulder at the stairs that led up to the top floors and down to what I presumed was a basement. “To get my life back.”
I shifted the heavy bag she’d asked me to bring on my shoulder, gripping my laptop firmer in my hand.
“And I’m here for?”
“I need you to help me find it because I sense this place is locked down pretty tight.”
I scrunched my brows in a silent question that she seemed to understand because she replied, “Because the owner was a paranoid fucker and this is the last place I have to look, so I know it’s not going to be easy to find.”
“Fine,” I huffed out.
She held out her hand and flicked her fingers in a back and forth motion that said ‘gimme’.
I let the bag fall from my shoulder and handed it to her, watching as she slung it over her head so it rested diagonally across her body.
Then she twitched her head to my laptop.
“Can you check out what security’s in here?
I’m thinking silent alarms, cameras, that sort of thing. ”
“Someone was that paranoid?” I asked, opening my laptop and balancing it on one arm as I typed. It wasn’t ideal, but I got the impression that Hana wanted me thinking on my toes and following her rather than taking a seat somewhere more suitable.
It didn’t take me long to find what she meant.
“Okay, so there are motion sensors and cameras in the basement, along with an electronic lock on the door. And then upstairs… is that an attic room? It looks like a similar setup.” I let out a whistle, seeing what else was hidden in this place.
“Wow, we also have shock sensors that I guess are meant to pick up footsteps from where they’re positioned, and tamper alarms on the attic door.
” I looked to Hana, who dragged her fingers over her mouth as if she was deep in thought.
“You turned off the main alarm, so where are these connected to?” I asked.
She pointed to the laptop. “That’s why you’re here, Ro. I can’t have anyone know I’m here. I need you to work your magic. You can do that, right? Find out where these alarms are linked to and deactivate them all?”
Frustration flooded my body. If I was in the office, this shit would take me minutes, but standing here with my laptop, it would take longer. I moved to the sofa, taking a seat while Hana glared at me.
“What?” I barked. “You want this done properly?”
She perched on the arm next to me, the scent of her body wash far too distracting as I tried to disarm the basement security and the most pressing problem—the shock sensors that would go off if Hana got too close.
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Can you bypass all that?”
I narrowed my gaze. “Do bears shit in the woods?”
Hana rolled her eyes. “A simple yes or no will suffice, psycho.”
“Yes.” I turned my focus to what she needed me to do, typing away furiously for a couple of minutes.
“Right, cameras set to loop so we won’t alert anyone to you being here, motion sensors disrupted, but again, no one will notice for a while, and the electronic doors are unlocked.
” I looked up at Hana, who appeared suitably impressed, her lips curled into a slight smile that lit up her eyes.
“Thank you.”
“Not that hard, was it?” I asked, a hint of sarcasm in my voice.
“What?” she replied, already turning to walk down the stairs as I scrambled to stand so I could follow.
“Asking for help.”
“Fuck off, Ro. Now, let’s go find this key.”