Chapter 14
AVA
Ava’s heart hammered against her ribs as she stormed her way toward the door, dragging Chris behind her.
She hoped they’d escape into the bright sunshine beyond without any further issues.
If anyone discovered the mess they’d left behind in the server room, they may not make it out of VoltTech unscathed.
But even if she cleared the door, would Alex and Kyle? She hoped their escape would be somewhat easier, but she wasn’t certain Vanessa McGee would let them get away that easily.
She wanted to stop at the door and make sure they were coming, but she dared not. One false move on her part could ruin everything.
So, going against every protective instinct she had, she pushed through the door into the warmth.
Chris hurried after her, his features taut. “You want to tell me what the hell just happened?”
“I had to improvise after I ran into a little situation.” She twisted toward him as she raced across the parking lot toward his car. “Sorry about any problems that will cause with Devon.”
“Hey, Ava, just a second,” Chris said, grabbing her wrist.
“We don’t have a second. We need to get out of here right now.”
The urgency in her voice made Chris hesitate, his brow furrowing as he looked at her.
She could see the questions swirling in his eyes, but there was no time for explanations. “Chris, we don’t have time for this.”
His hesitation lingered for a fraction too long before he finally yanked his keys from his pocket.
Ava exhaled sharply, but her relief was fleeting—they still had to make it past the guards.
Ava glanced back at the building, her heart plummeting as Alex and Kyle were nowhere in sight.
Every second felt like a lead weight in her chest, dragging her deeper into panic.
What if they didn’t make it out? What if Vanessa had caught them?
She forced herself to turn away, swallowing her fear—if she hesitated now, it could all be for nothing.
With her stomach clenched, she slipped into Chris’s car, buckling in as he fired the engine.
“I really can’t wait to hear this story,” Chris said as he slid out of the parking space and headed for the exit.
Ava twisted in her seat, relief washing over her as she spotted Alex and Kyle emerge from the building and climb into his car. “Whew.”
“What?” Chris asked, slowing as he approached the guard booth.
“Alex and Kyle made it out, too.”
Alex’s car lurched forward, snaking around the row and coming to a stop behind them as the guard waved Chris forward.
Chris lifted his foot off the brake, letting the car roll forward as the gate squeaked open. “IS there some reason they wouldn’t have? What were they doing there anyway?”
“Alex stumbled on a specific project at VoltTech. He sent an email to one of the project’s main programmers, acting interested in her.”
“Are you serious?” Chris’s features twisted with amusement as he shot her a sideways glance. “I’m surprised he’s still alive. Or is that because you finally came to your senses?”
“Stop saying that. I didn’t have a lapse of judgement or whatever you want to call it, Chris. In fact, if I did, it was when–”
“Don’t say when we dated. We were happy, Ava. He ruined it.”
“Alex did not ruin it,” Ava countered with a shake of her head as her stomach finally settled. VoltTech became a memory that grew smaller with every mile that passed.
“He did. I mean, seriously think about this, Ava. We’d be married right now if he wasn’t around.”
“We wouldn’t be,” she said with a shake of her head. “We hadn’t even picked a date yet.”
“Okay, fine, we’d be planning our wedding. Instead, now we’re…barely speaking, and you’re married to someone else.”
“Which is for the best,” she shot back as she let her forehead fall into her palm.
Chris scoffed, shaking his head. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am.”
“Well, I guess it’s for the best for you. You’re hitched to a billionaire. Everything worked out for you.”
Ava snapped her gaze to Chris. “You can’t be serious. Do you really think I’m with Alex for the money? Because that makes no sense.”
“Uhh, I mean, I think it does make some sense,” Chris said, easing the car to a stop at a red light.
“If I wanted Alex for his money, I would have just used my wife status when he skyrocketed into fame with StoneCorp. Clearly, it wasn’t about the money for me. And that’s exactly why it’s for the best that we didn’t get further into the wedding planning or worse, actually gotten married.”
“Still not seeing it.” He tromped on the accelerator, the tires screeching a little as they peeled out from the lonely light.
“Chris, a piece of my heart always belonged to Alex. And no matter what, you never really would have had all of my love. Doesn’t that bother you?”
“It bothers me that you did love me.”
“I thought I did. But the truth is I love Alex, and I have for a long, long time. And it was in no way fair how this happened, but it would have been way worse for it to happen just before our wedding or after.”
“Well, you would have been a bigamist after,” Chris muttered.
“That’s not helpful. Look, for the zillionth time, I’m really, really sorry. But you can’t keep hoping I’m going to change my mind. It’s just not going to happen.”
Chris didn’t answer.
Ava licked her lips, changing the subject. “Anyway, Alex was there with a woman named Vanessa who he told he was interested in professionally. But it was clear that she wanted more. He used that to his advantage to get into VoltTech.”
“And you were afraid he’d ditch you, huh?” Chris retorted.
“No, I was not. I trust Alex. But…I snagged Devon’s badge and used it to get into their secure server room. Alex and Kyle escaped from Vanessa and crawled through the ventilation system to meet me there.”
Chris screwed up his face, snapping his gaze to Ava. “What? Are you serious?”
“Yes. I…managed to bypass the guards with the fake badge, and while I was in the server room trying to figure out a way to get the files we needed, Alex and Kyle literally dropped in.”
Chris slid his eyes closed for a moment, his nostrils flaring. “And did you get the files?”
“We did,” she verified. “They’re downloading right now. Which was why I wanted to get out of there. If any of them figure out what we did…” She heaved a sigh, rubbing her forehead.
“Yeah, I get it. Well, suffice it to say, I’ll never do business with Devon again, most likely.”
Ava bit into her lower lip, guilt roiling through her. She knew his decision to get involved with The Board was his own choice, but she couldn’t help but feel responsible for the direction his life had taken.
“Look, I’ll make it up to you somehow.”
“How?” Chris shot back.
“I don’t know. I’ll write Devon a letter and tell him you weren’t involved in any of it. Although, if we get the files we need to take down The Board, Devon may be out of a job anyway.”
Chris heaved a sigh, shaking his head. “I just can’t believe this is even happening. It wasn’t that long ago that I had a normal life. I was an up-and-coming architect. I was engaged to a beautiful woman.”
Ava scoffed as she slouched in her seat.
“Well, I’m sorry, Ava, but it still stings.”
She slid her eyes closed, a pressure building at her temples. Her phone rang, pulling her back to reality. She dug into her purse, grabbing the phone from within. “Shadow, what’s up?”
“We’ve got a major problem,” he answered.
Her heart skipped a beat, her fingers tightening on the phone. “What?”
“Somehow this transfer has activated some pieces of this program,” Sebastian answered, his voice shaky. “It’s creating some sort of build-up at the Farlow facility.”
Her stomach clenched as she pulled the phone from her ear, toggling on the speaker as she pulled up her map. “Send me the location.”
“I’m texting it to you now. How close are you?”
“Fifteen minutes out,” she answered as she pasted the address he’d sent into the map. “We’re going straight there. Have you talked to Alex?”
“He isn’t answering his phone.”
Ava froze, her chest constricting. Why wasn’t Alex answering his phone? “All right. I’ll give him a call, too. We’ll go straight to the site in case we can do something locally.”
She ended the call, her hands trembling as she toggled into Alex’s contact information and pressed the call button. “Come on, come on,” she murmured.
His voicemail sounded in her ear, and she growled as she cut off the call. “No answer.”
“Golden boy’s not around, huh?” Chris asked as he followed the directions on Ava’s phone, turning at the next light.
“Please keep your opinions to yourself,” she answered. “We have bigger problems on our hands.”
“Mind filling me in?”
“Somehow pieces of Project Eclipse were activated. There’s some sort of build-up happening at the Farlow facility.”
Chris made another turn, glancing at her. “And we’re supposed to do what, exactly?”
Ava lifted a shoulder. “Maybe nothing. But someone should probably be on site just in case.”
“Fine,” Chris grumbled as he continued to follow the directions.
Ava’s foot tapped a frenetic rhythm against the floor mat as they closed in on the facility. She tried Alex’s phone again, but he still didn’t answer.
“Still nothing from Alex?” Chris asked.
She didn’t miss the use of her husband’s name instead of a derogatory nickname. At least Chris had dialed it back given the serious nature of the situation.
As they approached the power facility, the sound of alarm klaxons cut through the air.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Ava said, leaning forward to study the building.
“Nope. Should we be getting this close?”
“Stop here,” she told him, unbuckling her seat belt and kicking open the door before his tires quit moving.
“Hey, Ava!” Chris called as she slammed the door shut and headed toward the fence surrounding the facility.
“Stay in the car, Chris,” she told him over her shoulder before continuing toward the gate.
Despite her order, Chris jogged toward her, closing the gap. “No, I’m not staying in the car. There’s obviously some problem here, and I’m not going to let you walk in there alone.”
“Ma’am,” the guard said as he stepped out of the booth, “this is a secure facility—”
“That’s currently facing a major problem, am I right?” she interrupted, digging her fake badge from her purse and flashing it at him. “I’m Agent Rebecca Myles, Department of Homeland Security. Unless you want this place to go up in flames, I suggest you open the gates and let us in.”
“Uhh…” the guard said, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “I’m not certain. Protocol dictates–”
“Protocol is going to get this place blown up, and you right along with it.” Ava crossed her arms, her eyebrows raising high. “I don’t think now is the time to play by the rules.”
The man hesitated, licking his lips as he glanced over his shoulder before he nodded and hurried back to the guard booth to open the gate.
It buzzed before it started to roll open. Ava crossed to the slim opening, squeezing through it before she raced to the building, bursting inside.
Her eyes went wide as she spotted people racing back and forth, shouting instructions. The monitoring equipment told a grim tale, most of the gauges showing readings in the red.
“Hey, who let you in here?” a man asked.
“Rebecca Myles, Homeland Security. What’s the problem?”
“DHS?” The man’s forehead creased.
“Yes, DHS. This is a matter of national security. This facility is vital to the east coast power grid. Now, what is the situation?”
The man shook his head. “We’re trying everything we can to offset this, but there’s a power build-up here, and we can’t disperse it. If we can’t get this under control soon, this entire place is going to blow.”
Ava swallowed hard, realizing not only the immediate danger, but also the long-term effects. If this facility was destroyed, it would take out power to a massive chunk of the east coast.
They had to stop this. The question was: how?