Chapter 13 #2
“Go back to sleep, Chels,” he ordered in that way that told her he was up to something and trying to protect her from it.
“Nuh-uh,” she said quickly. “We’re a team for as long as we’re here, whatever you have planned, I want in.”
Crying yesterday in Dr. Gant’s office because she craved every single thing he’d mentioned with Josiah and yet knew she was never going to get had been silly.
There were bigger problems right now, more important issues to deal with than her not getting the fairytale ending with the man of her dreams.
Lives depended on them pulling this off, so she had to stay on target.
Which was exactly why she wanted in on whatever he was up to.
“This is too dangerous. I want you to stay in bed, try to get some sleep.”
“I'm supposed to look like I'm not getting enough sleep,” she reminded him. “And this whole thing is dangerous. We’re safer if we stick together.”
“Not for this.”
“What exactly is this?”
When he didn't answer, merely tucked the covers back up around her and reached for his pants, she realized what he intended to do.
“You're going snooping,” she accused. Given they knew cameras were dotted throughout the mansion, that was more than just dangerous, it was pretty close to suicidal.
“And you're going back to sleep.”
“I wasn't sleeping, I was tossing and turning, and at best fitfully dozing,” she informed him as she threw back the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
“I’ll take fitfully dozing over this,” Josiah snarled, but she knew it wasn't from anger, he was just afraid for her.
“We go together or I go on my own,” she informed him, hurrying to the closet to grab some clothes.
“Chelsea.” Josiah huffed in annoyance.
“Josiah.” She huffed right back at him, and she was pretty sure she saw one side of his mouth curve up into the smallest of smiles. “We have free run of the house, we can pretend we just got lost if we get caught.”
“Given who we are, they’re not going to believe that.”
“Then we make them believe it. We’ll pretend we were looking for a doctor because I wasn't feeling well.”
“No.”
Rolling her eyes at him, she crossed the room, clothes in hand, to stand before him. “I’ll sell it enough that we have a reasonable explanation for being there without making it so I’m so sick I need tests. Besides, there’s a simple way to not have to worry about any of that.”
“Yeah?”
“We don’t get caught.” Laughing mostly to ease the tension in the room, not really because she thought her joke was funny, Chelsea quickly got dressed.
While he didn't say another word about it, she knew he wasn't pleased to have her with him as they both slipped out of the room and into the quiet hall. They hadn't had much of a chance to look around yet, but they knew the basic overview of the mansion’s layout.
The ground floor was the common areas, living spaces, libraries, media rooms, the kitchen, games room, and spa rooms. The second floor, which is where they were right now, was the rooms used by the paying guests who were here to receive their illegally bought black-market organs.
The third floor was where all the medical suites and offices were, they’d only been up there to Dr. Gant’s office.
“Where are we going first?” she whispered as they walked down the hall.
“Third floor. Best chance at finding anything.”
She agreed. There would be no need to have any sensitive documentation lying around in the areas used by the people who were paying you for organs.
Later, they would try to strike up conversations with as many of the guests as possible, hoping that someone would have spotted Desiree Tilly, but after midnight, most people would be in bed.
No one stopped them as they wound their way through the quiet halls, and although she tried to spot the cameras she knew had to be there, she couldn’t see any of them.
“You sure there are cameras?” she asked quietly.
“Positive.”
“Aren't they going to see us then? Or are you hoping no one is monitoring the cameras this late?”
“They won't see us.”
Josiah said it so confidently that she paused, wondering what trick he had up his sleeve. “How do you know?”
“Because I disrupted their Wi-Fi. I suspect no one is watching them right now, and by the time they check in tomorrow, if they even notice that the cameras were down for a couple of hours overnight, it’ll be too late to do anything about it.
We’re not going to take anything or disrupt anything, we’re not going into any of the rooms up there where we know they’re keeping their prisoners.
No one will be able to say they saw us, even if they do suspect us. ”
“I don’t think they do. I think they buy I'm dying, and they think you're some sort of psychotic, dangerous, almost animal-like man waiting for a chance to rip them to pieces if they don’t save me.”
“They’re not wrong,” Josiah muttered, and despite her fear of getting caught, heat flushed through her body.
Maybe she shouldn’t love Josiah’s possessiveness so much, but she did.
It gave her hope.
“When you say things like that, it’s really hard not to kiss you,” Chelsea murmured, finding her body drifting closer to Josiah’s without any conscious thought on her part.
Instead of answering, he merely dipped his head and feathered his lips across hers, then abruptly straightened, grabbed her hand, and started walking again.
Talk about giving her whiplash.
Sometimes Josiah was so protective that she would have sworn he must truly care about her, then he did sweet things like kiss her or hold her.
But he never said anything about wanting more, about having feelings for her, about seeing her as a life partner and not just for the duration of this operation.
Reaching the stairs, they found no one guarding them, so they hurried right up them and headed for the room near the top that was Dr. Gant’s office.
Chelsea really wanted to keep heading down the halls, find the poor people trapped in the rooms up there, and assure them that they just had to hold on a little longer and then they’d be going home.
But they couldn’t do that.
Couldn’t risk getting caught or chance anyone letting their plans slip too early.
Josiah picked the lock to Dr. Gant’s office in about three seconds flat, and they both slipped inside. They didn't turn on the light, but Josiah had a tiny penlight with him that he used to light the way and hurry over to the desk.
“I'm guessing you have a specific plan on being in here?” she asked, staying closer to the door.
“Plant a virus on his computer, we need access to his contacts,” Josiah said, already booting up the computer on the desk.
“How long will it take?” They had no idea if this floor was patrolled, and if it was, then how regularly.
“Less than a minute. Which is why you could have easily waited in bed for me.”
“And miss out on all this fun?” she teased, making him huff, a sound that could have been a chuckle or just an expression of annoyance, she wasn't sure which.
Just as Josiah was pocketing the small USB and shutting off the computer, Chelsea’s head whipped around. That sounded like …
“Footsteps,” she said, spinning to face Josiah. Whoever was out there might not open the door to check the room, but then again, maybe they would.
“Hide,” he said.
“Where?” The only place in the office where they could possibly hide was under the desk, and that was like the equivalent of hiding under the bed, it would be the first place anyone looked for them.
He didn't argue with her, just rounded the desk, grabbed her hand, and pulled her back with him, shoving her down and under the heavy wooden desktop, then joined her.
They huddled together, and Chelsea held her breath, praying whoever was out there just kept on walking by. But then she heard the door handle rattle. A moment later, the door swung open and light swept across the room.