Chapter 37
Chapter
Thirty-Seven
NATHAN
Our entry into his office required less planning than our previous exploit.
Mainly because this one was all about timing.
Claire had done the hard part for us, drawing him out, letting herself be seen and be caught.
All we had to do was be in the right place at the right time.
The car ride over had been quiet. Thea sat beside me, fingers drumming against her knee, eyes locked on the streetlights passing by in a blur.
Fletcher was driving and Dylan was in the passenger seat.
We were able to secure a city taxi as our entry and exit this time by whatever magic Dyer had worked, so we would be much more discreet.
Neither of us spoke much, but words would have been useless anyway.
Every second was already mapped in our heads, rehearsed hundreds of times over.
“You think she’s okay?” Thea’s voice cuts through the silence, laced with tension.
I glance at her, reading the anxiety in her posture, feeling the distance that has been inadvertently placed between us the last several days.
“She’s fine. She knows what she’s doing.
” But even I don’t believe myself as I say the words.
It’s not that I think she’s incompetent.
It’s that I know better than to underestimate men like Harrison Clark.
“She’s bait. And he doesn’t know it yet. That’s why this works.”
Her brow furrows. “I just hate leaving her in there, even for a minute.” I know how she feels, because she’s feeling how I did when we were captured and had to listen to her screams through the doorway.
It’d been longer than a minute since Harrison had entered his office with Claire, but we’re barely approaching the hour mark now, which means we’re right on time with what we planned.
It’s after closing time at the mayor’s office, but it only takes a brief moment to incapacitate the security guard at the front to gain entry.
We monitored this location as one of the possible ones he would take Claire to, and I have to admit, it’s clever.
He’s hiding an illicit operation in one of the least likely spots anyone would expect him to do it.
“She’s not alone,” I remind Thea as we slip inside.
Dylan and Fletcher enter behind us, heading to the security room to disable the rest of the system and any cameras that others might have an eye on.
If Harrison is willing to bring Claire here, his men have to know about it, too.
When Dylan and Fletcher re-emerge, we rush to the stairs and head up to the fourth floor.
The building itself isn’t large, but by the time we reach the last stretch of hallway, it’s like all life has been sucked out from the air around us.
The door to Harrison’s office looms ahead and we can make out the faint sound of electronics humming inside along with conversation.
I don’t usually believe in luck, but right now I’m feeling pretty damn lucky that timing has been on our side.
If there’s conversation, that means Claire’s alive. “Ready?” I whisper.
Thea, Dylan, and Fletcher all dip their heads once.
I count under my breath, three seconds, and then push the door open.
But the scene before me is very different from the one I had just imagined in my head seconds ago.
Harrison is leaned over his computer, clicking through files, seemingly unaware of our presence even though Claire clocked us the moment we walked in.
Thea and Dylan are already beside her while Fletcher and I have our weapons aimed at Harrison.
“What…what is this?” Whatever smirk he was wearing just a moment ago vanishes, replaced by confusion, and then thinly veiled panic.