Chapter 20
AVA
Ava adjusted the waistband on her black leggings before she tugged on her hoodie and zipped it. Her heart already thudded hard against her ribs as she considered the task that lay ahead of them.
She blew out a long breath as she flicked her green eyes to the mirror. She swallowed hard, pulling her hair back into a tight ponytail before she let her hands fall to her sides, her gaze still boring into the mirror.
As she stared at her reflection, the weight of her choices etched deep lines of worry across her forehead. It wasn’t just the danger of the mission that gnawed at her–it was the tangled web of her personal life, spun by her own decisions.
Her forehead crinkled as worries and questions roiled inside of her. Sadly, though, they didn’t center around her upcoming mission. It came from her personal life.
The tension between Alex and Chris was reaching a head. Maybe if they could make some headway with Raven things would settle down.
She leaned against the dresser, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the edge. She sucked in steadying breaths, trying to focus her mind.
A knock at her door startled her. “Avs?”
She blew out one last breath as she crossed to the door and pulled it open. “I’m ready. Are you?”
“No,” he said with a shake of his head. “Are you sure you don’t want to switch?”
“I’m sure,” she said with a nod, her features staying serious. “I really don’t think I can woo Miranda.”
Alex shot her a wry grin, his voice tinged with humor and admiration. “I don’t know, Sparky. You can be pretty persuasive.”
She finally cracked a smile. “Very funny, Ace. Is everything ready?”
“Three-D printer is crafting the bank’s key as we speak,” Alex answered, handing her a set of compact earpieces.
“I have your safe cracker here,” he said, waving a device in the air before he lifted a pair of glasses.
“And I’ve got my very sexy specs here that will transmit an image of her retina to your phone for the biometrics.
We’re set. Just…make it fast. Every second counts, and charming Miranda is not exactly my forte. ”
“Okay, then we’re set. Have you sent the message to her?”
“I sent the message, though every part of me resisted,” Alex said, his hands shaking as he pulled his phone from his pocket. “Just like you told me. Said I had maybe been hasty and wanted to talk more with her. Even typing those words seemed wrong.”
“Perfect,” Ava said. “Any response?”
“Yes, she just sent it as I knocked. She says…” He swiped into the phone. “I told you not to make that mistake when you chose her in the library.”
Alex glanced up at her, his eyes filled with panic. “Oh, no, Avs. It didn’t work.”
His feature twisted as he twisted on a heel and stalked across the room, heaving heavy breaths. “See, I can’t even woo her with this.”
Ava stepped into his path as he swiveled and strode in the opposite direction. She wrangled the phone from his tight grip. “Give me that. She’s playing with you.”
“Huh?”
“If she had no intention of meeting with you, she wouldn’t have answered. She did…she’s interested. She just…wants you to convince her.”
“You got all of that from this message?”
“Ace, she’s been spending a lot of time trying to convince you to play on her team. She has an opening—she’s not giving it up. She just wants you to think she is.” Ava’s thumbs flew across the virtual keyboard. Yes, I know that, but…things have changed for me. Can you make an exception?
“What’s changed?”
Ava offered him a dubious glance. “The Raven wants us to help take down The Board.”
“But we can’t tell her that.”
She grinned at him, his innocence warming her. “Alex, you’re so sweet. We’re not going to tell her that. Whatever you do, do not tell her that. She doesn’t need to know what’s changed. She’s going to assume your feelings have changed for me.”
“But...”
“Just pretend you’re considering what she said. Don’t give her any solid answers, keep everything vague. Things are just different, I don’t know, I’m just not sure.”
“Right. You are way better at people than I am.”
“You’ll do great, Ace. You’re brilliant, think of it like writing code.”
He screwed up his face. “Writing code makes sense because I know exactly how it will respond. Miranda is a wild card.”
“You’ll be okay,” she assured him as his phone chimed again.
They peered at the text message from Miranda. No promises. Where?
Alex grinned at her. “You did it.”
She offered him a coy grin and a wiggle of her eyebrows as she narrated her text. “Your place? I’d like it to be private.”
“Ohhh,” Alex murmured, “wow, she’s really going to expect a lot from me the way you said that. Ava, are you sure you don’t want to woo her. She may go for it with how smooth you are.”
“I don’t own StoneCorp.”
“Technically…”
“Don’t,” she said with a wag of her finger. “You’re doing this, and I’m sneaking in to find her safe.”
His phone chimed again. “We’re on,” she answered, snapping her eyes up to his, a half-smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
“Let’s go,” he said with a grin before he added, “before I change my mind.”
She chuckled, looping her arm through his as they crossed to the door, leaving the safety of her room behind.
As they descended the stairs, Chris emerged from the living room. “Going somewhere?”
“Yes,” she answered.
He eyed her up and down, sucking in a deep breath as he set his jaw. “And I’m guessing I’m not privy to the information about where you’re off to looking like you’re ready to rob a convenience store.”
“You guessed right,” Ava answered as Alex grabbed his keys, shifting his weight.
Chris scoffed as he shook his head. “Unbelievable.”
“No,” she answered, her fingers lingering on the doorknob, “what’s unbelievable is that you went to Miranda like a jealous child and told her about our marriage. We still need to talk about that, but not right now.”
“Yeah, we do. When you get a minute,” he said, the sarcasm thick in his voice.
“Stay here and try not to ruin anything,” Ava shot back, pulling the door open.
She stepped into the cool night air, fuming all over again as she strode to the car and tugging the door open. She climbed inside and clicked on her seat belt as Alex slid behind the wheel, eyeing her sideways.
She shot him a look, her eyebrows raised high. “Well, let’s go.”
“Are you sure? Chris–”
“Is not off the hook for what he did. Let’s go. We need to do this.”
“Okay,” he said with a nod and a slight smile, firing the engine.
“Drop me off a block from her place,” Ava said.”
Alex pulled onto the road, aiming for Miranda’s house. “Ava! No way.”
“Well, I’m not going to chance her seeing me in your car.”
“Yeah, but…”
“I’ll be fine, Alex. Just drop me off before her house. I’ll jog it. It’ll be fine. I won’t be long.”
Alex heaved a sigh, shaking his head. “I still don’t like this.”
“I’m not happy about you making nice with Miranda either, but we need to do this if we want to have any chance at getting information from Raven.”
“Do you think Raven knows anything, though? Maybe we jumped too quickly to do this.”
“Raven knew about what was happening at StoneCorp. Raven left a pretty elaborate message for you by hacking your system. And Raven seems to know about these blueprints. Raven seems to be in the know about a lot of things.”
Alex chewed his lower lip, turning onto Miranda’s road. “I guess. Okay, well…” He slowed the car to a stop. “See you soon?”
“Very soon,” she answered as she popped the door open.
Before she could slide out, he grabbed her wrist. “Avs…”
She waited as he stared at her, his breathing shaky. His lower lip trembled for a moment before he whispered, “Be careful.”
“You, too,” she said with a nod. She slid onto the pavement and tapped her earpiece. “Give me a signal if you need help.”
“Okay,” he answered.
She swung the door shut and stepped back onto the sidewalk, pulling her hood over her head as she watched him pull away. She shoved her hands into her pockets, shifting her weight until she couldn’t see the glow of his brake lights anymore.
“Sparky? You read me?” his voice crackled in her ear.
“Loud and clear, Ace. I’m right here with you.”
“Good,” he answered. “I’m nearly at her place. Just…don’t dally.”
“I’m not dallying,” she said with a chuckle.
“Well, you’re not running,” he shot back. “Cause you’re not breathing hard.”
“Very funny, Ace. I’ll run as soon as you’re in there.”
“Pulling into her driveway now and shutting off the engine. Hesitating with my hand on the door handle because I don’t know if I can do this.”
“You’ve got this, Ace. Take a deep breath, and just remember the mission. Be vague, no straightforward answers, stall her. Oh, and get a really good look at her eyes.”
“I’ll try,” he said as the car door clicked open, then slammed shut. “Woo, feeling nervous.”
“I’m right here with you. If you need me, I’ll be right there, okay?”
“Yeah,” he breathed out as he cleared his throat. “My knees are going to buckle.”
“Deep breath, Ace,” she said as she strode down the sidewalk. “I believe in you.”
He didn’t answer for a moment before she heard a knock on the door. “Here we go.”
The click of the door crackled in her ear as she continued closer to the house.
“Oh, uh…” Alex said.
“Hello, Alex,” Miranda answered, her voice husky.
Ava tugged her phone from her pocket, toggling into the app connected to his glasses. She clicked her tongue as she studied the image of Miranda in a slinky nightgown barely covered by a mostly open robe. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Come in,” Miranda said.
Ava rolled her eyes, shoving the phone back into her pocket as she took off in a full run toward the house. She needed to make certain Alex got out of there as quickly as possible before Miranda assaulted him.
She rounded a bend in the road, spotting Alex’s car half a block up the street.
“Can I get you a drink?” Miranda continued through her earpiece.
“Uh, no, thanks. I just…uh…you know, I wanted to talk.”