Chapter 6
AVA
Ava checked the clip of her gun before she slid it back into her weapon, her features taut as tension built within her body. If she could just make it through this recon mission, she could breathe a little easier.
Living in constant fear of your own behavior wasn’t easy. The tension from that alone was enough to drive her crazy. But they needed to know the secrets housed within the PharmaTech headquarters, and this could be their only opportunity.
Still, she’d made certain Kyle had kept close tabs on her vitals, and she’d insisted that he accompany them inside. Not just to monitor her, but in case any of the information they came across was best deciphered by a doctor.
Ava glanced at Alex, clacking away on his keyboard as usual as they sat in the back of the van, waiting for him to clear a digital path for them.
She tucked the gun into her waistband, stood, and moved to him, her hands gently massaging his shoulders. “Making headway?”
“Yep,” he answered, sighing. “Unfortunately.”
“Unfortunately?” she asked with a chuckle.
“I really don’t like this, but I know we have to do it. So, here I am, being a team player and only objecting slightly.”
She leaned forward and kissed his cheek before she slid her arms around his shoulders, hugging him from behind. “We will be in and out before you know it.”
“I hope so.” He slid his eyes sideways toward Sebastian.
Ava shot the man a warning glance as he lips parted to speak. He clamped them shut.
Kyle rose from his seat, patting Alex’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep a careful eye on her and her vitals.”
“I just hate this whole thing. Somehow these people slipped this drug to you, and now you’re raiding their offices.”
“At least we have awesome eyes in the sky who won’t let us get caught.” Ava grinned at him before planting another kiss on his cheek. “And if I’m not mistaken, you’re in, right?”
Alex heaved a sigh. “You are not mistaken. I can see all the security cameras. Just give me a second to record a loop of all the hallways empty and replace the live feed with that until you are out of there.”
“Perfect,” Ava said, her heart rate ramping up a little.
A beeping noise sounded, and Kyle pulled his phone from his pocket, swiping at the screen. “Feeling some pressure, Ava?”
“I’m excited,” she answered.
“Your vitals say stressed, but we’ll go with excited.” He shoved his phone back into his pocket.
“Okay,” Alex said, his eyebrows raising. “You’re clear. Just let me know when you get to that side door so I can cycle the alarm off and unlock it.”
“Will do, babe. See you soon.”
Ava rolled the van’s door open before Alex rolled his chair closer, grabbing her hand and pulling her into a lip lock. “Be careful, Ava.”
“Always,” she said with a smile. “I love you.
“I love you, too,” he answered.
Ava slid out of the van to the pavement, zipping her hoodie a little higher against the cool night air. Leaves on the tree above the discreet spot where they’d parked the van rustling in the breeze.
She studied the large, well-lit building across the street from them. A lone guard sat at a desk inside the lobby, staring down at something in his lap, most likely his phone.
Sebastian and Kyle joined her seconds later, eyeing their target.
“We ready?” she asked.
“Yep,” Sebastian answered. “Let’s go.”
In their dark clothing, they avoided any bright areas, slinking across the street in the shadows and skirting the corner of the building. They crept down the sidewalk toward an employee-only entrance.
Ava pressed her earpiece further into her ear. “Alex, we’re at the door.”
“Copy that. I’m unlocking it in three…”
She grabbed hold of the handle, waiting for his word to pull it open.
“Two…one…unlocked.”
Ava grabbed hold of the door and flung it open, slipping inside quickly and hurrying forward so Sebastian and Kyle could also enter.
“Did we make it?” she asked, remembering that they had only fifteen seconds to slip inside and close the door before an alarm sounded to let security know the door had been opened.
“Yep,” Alex answered. “Twelve seconds. Impressive, Sparky.”
She glanced up at one of the cameras in the hall and grinned. “Thanks, Ace. Nice to know I’ve still got it.”
“Well,” Kyle added, “we’ve still got it. We were also part of the quick there.”
Ava offered him an amused grin as they headed down the hall.
“Stairwell coming up on your left.”
“And this is on the eighth floor, right?” Ava asked as she swung it open, and they stepped inside.
Sebastian eased the door closed with a soft click as he nodded. “Yep, eighth.”
Ava stared up the many flights of stairs to the top floor. “They couldn’t have put it in the basement?”
She slid her hand around the cold metal railing and started up the stairs. The first two floors went easily, but she slowed after that. By the fourth, sweat beaded on her brow, and her heart hammered against her ribs.
It would be impossible to tell if she was about to pass out and wake up as a different person with another four flights of stairs to go.
Every step felt heavier than the last, each breath a reminder that her body wasn’t entirely her own anymore.
Would she make it to the eighth floor before her vision faded?
Or worse—what if she didn’t know when the blackout was coming, and she put them all at risk?
The thought sent a shiver down her spine.
“I really need to workout more.”
“Exercise is for the birds, Sparky. We’ll just take longer walks on the beach together.”
“Maybe you should have some stairs installed in case we ever need to find a criminal organization again,” she answered with a grin as they reached the fifth floor.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said. “And in the interest of knowledge, the guard has started his routine walk around. He usually doesn’t go to the eighth floor, so you should be all good, but he is on the move.”
“Copy that,” Ava said, puffing for breath as her knees wobbled when she reached the landing for the seventh floor.
“One more to go.” She glanced at Kyle whose chest heaved.
“Yeah, I’m feeling this,” he said breathlessly.
Sebastian bypassed them, hurrying up the last flight. “What? I run stairs.”
“I run stairs,” Alex mimicked from the van.
“I heard that,” Sebastian retorted as Ava dragged herself up the last flight to the door leading to the hallway.
“Are we clear?”
“Clear,” Alex reported. “Guard is still downstairs checking doors. No one is on the eighth.”
Sebastian opened the door, and they stepped into the hall before he eased it shut. “There should be a file room at the other end.”
Ava flicked on her flashlight to combat the darkness in the dimly lit hall, and they moved forward in search of the space.
“Here,” she said as her beam bounced off of the room number mounted on the wall next to a wide wooden door. She depressed the handle, her heart sinking. “It’s locked.”
“Uhh, like with a key?” Alex asked. “Because I’m not seeing an electronic lock on anything on the eighth floor.”
“No, with a key coded pad,” Ava answered.
“Okay, umm, give me a second here,” Alex said. “I’m going to send a program to your phone that will search for the frequency of the lock, test every available combination and then display the appropriate one. Just shift your phone in front of it.”
Ava pulled her phone from her pocket and held it in front of the lock, swiping it open, to find the program already running.
“Nice, Ace.”
“Do you see why we have you in the van behind a keyboard?” Sebastian asked.
“Look, I get that I’m a tech genius, Shadow, I just want to play tougher sometimes.”
“Yeah, well, when you’re the best hacker in the world, that’s the position you play.”
Ava shot him an annoyed glance as the last digit appeared on her phone. She typed in the code and a green light indicated success.
“We’re in,” she said as she depressed the handle and pushed into the room. Lights bloomed to life overhead as they entered. She toggled off her flashlight and stared at the rows of file cabinets.
“We need to find current projects or something similar,” Sebastian said, already hurrying down a row of cabinets.
“I’ll take the ones at the end, I guess,” Kyle said, striding toward them.
Ava ducked into a row of cabinets, scanning the titles on the drawers in search of anything relevant.
“Uhh, Sparky?”
“Yeah, Ace?”
“You may want to find those files a little faster. Apparently, the automatic lighting has trigged an alert at the guard station. He’s still wandering around, but the minute he sits down, he’s going to see it.”
“You can’t get rid of it?”
“I’m trying, but so far, no.”
“Got it,” she said, her heart hammering a little harder against her ribs as she hurried down her aisle in search of current projects.
“Current projects,” Kyle called, raising a hand in the air.
Ava abandoned her row of cabinets and joined Kyle, searching for projects staring with R. She found the drawer at the end of the row, tugging it open as Sebastian joined them.
She dug through the hanging file folders until she found a red folder titled Project Reaper. “Got it.”
“Yeah, maybe get out of there,” Alex answered. “Robocop sees the alert, and I’m pretty sure after he logs it, he’s going to be on his way up to you.”
Ava stuffed the folder into her hoodie, zipping it a little higher again to cover the folder before she straightened. “We need to go.”
“Guard’s waiting for the elevator,” Alex informed them.
Ava cursed under her breath as they headed for the door. They needed to make it down the length of the hall before the elevator doors opened to escape.
“He’s in the elevator. Avs, you’re not going to make it out of there.”
“Is there another stairwell on this side of the hall?” she asked as they stepped into the hall.
“No,” Alex answered. “And he’s on the fourth floor.”
She swore again, crossing to another door at the end of the hall with no lock. She pushed it open, finding a utility closet.
“Get in,” she said to the others. They dove into the tiny space, squashed together as they eased the door closed behind them just as the elevator announced its arrival with a chime.
“He’s on the floor,” Alex reported.
Ava’s breath caught in her throat, sweat running down her back. Her heart hammered hard.
Outside the door, a whistling approached them.
The closet door creaked slightly under the pressure of Ava’s hand, and she froze. The guard paused mid-step, his whistling cut short as he turned his head toward the sound. Every muscle in her body tensed as she held her breath, praying that he wouldn’t decide to investigate further.
The whistling resumed before the beeps of the electronic keypad broke the silence.
She squeezed her eyes closed, worry coursing through her. The last thing they needed right now was another attack, but she had every symptom of one. She couldn’t tell if it was simple stress or the onset of another blackout, but she grabbed hold of Kyle. “Doc, I’m not doing so good.”
“Ava, this is the worst possible time for you to go berserk on us,” he whispered.
“Yeah, no kidding,” she retorted. “Don’t let me do anything stupid.”
“Quiet,” Sebastian hissed as the slam of a door sounded outside.
She grasped Kyle’s arm, biting her lower lip and hoping the pain would somehow ground her.
The ding of the elevator sounded again, then nothing but quiet.
“He’s back in the elevator,” Alex reported. “Seventh floor. You’re clear, get out of there.”
Ava heaved a sigh of relief. If she could just make it to the van, she would be safe.
“Ava? You going to make it?”
“I’m going to try,” she answered, “but I would prepare plan B.”
“On it,” Alex answered as Sebastian swung the door open and tore off down the hall toward the stairwell. Ava and Kyle hurried behind him. The trip down the stairs was much easier than the one up. They hit the bottom floor with Ava puffing for breath.
The corners of her vision had started to blacken, but she shoved it aside, using the adrenaline coursing through her body to push herself down the hall.
The trio gathered at the door, pushed it open, and hurried into the night. The cool breeze sent a shiver down her spine as she hurried toward the van, using every last ounce of energy to make it.
She pulled the door open and climbed inside. A stabbing pain shot through her arm the moment she entered, following by the painful rush of cool liquid into her arm muscle.
She flicked her gaze sideways to Alex, a sad smile on her features before her eyes rolled back in her head, and she slumped to the floor.