No Turning Back (39 page)

The flats I was wearing had hard soles and made noise when I took a step. I pulled them off. I considered carrying them with me but knew I'd need my hands free. Cursing the fact that I'd lost my gun, I made my way down the row, the tile floor cold under my bare feet.

It had gone quiet. Goosebumps appeared on my arms and I knew what it felt like to be hunted. Coming to a break in the racks, I pressed my back up against the cold metal, taking a deep breath before I took a quick peek around the corner. Seeing no one, I quickly skittered across the open space into the safety of another row, breathing a sigh of relief when no gunshots rang out.

I was in the high four hundreds now, my eyes skimming the labels on the racks as I hurried past. Not much further. Another break in the seemingly endless maze of racks made me repeat my hesitant peek and skitter. I was a step away from the safety of another row when I heard someone shout. A quick glance to my left and I saw a man barreling toward me. Throwing caution and quiet to the wind, I took off.

Fifty feet later, I was skidding to a stop in front of rack 518. I wasted precious seconds trying to get the door open, the man rapidly running down the aisle toward me. Finally, the door opened and I quickly scanned the servers inside, stopping when I saw EVE0928. I inwardly cursed when I saw it had some sort of metal cover over the outside. Fear gave me strength and I forcefully yanked it off. Groping in my pocket, I pulled out the thumb drive, sticking it in a slot on the front just as the man reached me.

He clamped down on my shoulder and spun me around. I used the momentum to bring up my hands, still grasping the long rectangular metal cover. With a sickening crunch, it hit him on the side of the head and he staggered back. His hand dove inside his coat but I pressed my advantage, adrenaline and fear spiking in my blood. I swung again and it connected with his elbow, causing him to drop the gun he'd been holding.

Dropping the metal cover, I dove for the gun, my fingers closing around it as the man turned me over. We wrestled over it in silence, only our heavy breathing and grunts of exertion could be heard. I was determined that I was not going to let go, but his hands were like vices on my arms and hands.

I was startled when the gun went off and so was he. Our eyes met for a moment and I had just a split second of realization that I hadn't been hit before the man collapsed on top of me.

Struggling under his weight, I shoved him far enough off of me to be able to crawl out the rest of the way. Blood coated my hands and I hastily wiped them off on my jeans. Tears stung my eyes but I blinked them away. No time to fall apart right now.

A touch on my back had me spinning around and I gasped when I saw it was Kade.

"Oh my God," I stammered, shaken. "Kade, I could have killed you!" He just smirked at me.

"Not a chance, princess," he said. Glancing over my shoulder, he took in the scene. The dead guy had a pool of blood slowly spreading beneath him, and the door on rack 518 stood open. When his eyes met mine again, they examined me shrewdly.

"What did you do?" he asked, his voice hard.

"I didn't mean to kill him," I hastily explained. "We were fighting and-"

"Not that," he interrupted impatiently. "Like I care if you killed him. I meant, what did you do to the server?" His hand was tightly grasping my arm now and I winced.

"I...I thought it would be best to compromise it," I said weakly.

"Did you suddenly grow more brain cells overnight?" he snapped at me. "How the hell do you think you compromised it?" My temper flared at that.

"A friend helped," I explained curtly. "She's a computer programmer. Works for some place in Japan. She wrote a worm that uploaded into the system from the thumb drive." I didn't see any harm in telling him now that the deed was done.

"And you're just telling me this now?" he said in disbelief. I looked at him for a moment, not speaking, until realization followed by bitterness crossed his face. "You didn't trust me," he said.

I felt a pang of regret that I hadn't trusted him, but it was too late now. And the look on his face said so even if I hadn't already known.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. The hardness in his eyes didn't change though I was sure he'd heard me. He glanced down at his watch then back up at me.

"That was a bad decision."

The way he said it made my blood run cold. Then everything went dark.

I gasped in surprise. It was so black, I couldn't see anything. My eyes blinked rapidly but there was no light for them to absorb. It didn't matter if they were open or closed – it looked the same. Panic clawed at my throat and I reached out blindly toward Kade, praying he hadn't left me alone. My fingers touched nothing but air.

"Please, don't leave me," I said, my voice sounding strangled.

"I'm not going to leave you."

My knees nearly gave out in relief when I heard his voice.

"Though I probably should." He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him. I stumbled, coming up hard against his chest. I felt hands on my head and suddenly I could see again. He'd put night vision goggles on me and I saw he wore an identical pair.

"You planned this?" I breathed, still shaken.

"How did you think we were going to get out of here?" Not giving me a chance to answer, he pulled me forward and we were jogging back down the rows, hopefully headed toward the exit.

I saw a couple men as we passed, fumbling in vain in the darkness. I gave them a wide berth. We finally reached the exit and were through, moving quickly down the hall and up the stairs. I didn't breathe properly until we were outside and I was ripping the goggles off my face.

Kade had a hold of my hand and didn't release it as we ran through the adjacent parking lot to the next street over. The concrete was rough on my feet as rocks and debris cut into my skin, but I bit my lip and kept my silence.

We stopped when we reached the van, still and silently parked on the street. The side door slid open as we jogged up and climbed inside. Terrance turned from the driver's seat, a broad smile showing the vivid white of his teeth in his dark face.

"Nice work, Terrance," Kade said, and I was annoyed to realize he was barely breathing hard. I was huffing and wheezing like a water buffalo scaling Mount Everest. Kade handed Rusty the night vision goggles and I saw Branna looking Kade over as if searching for injuries.

"Yo, no problem, my man," Terrance said. "A city block power outage requested and that's what you got." He looked over at me. "And I see the girl's still alive."

"She held her own," Kade replied evenly.

Terrance grinned at me and I tentatively smiled back. He was still scary, even smiling.

Kade looked over at me as I struggled to catch my breath.

"You really need to get in better shape," he mused. I just glared at him, not wanting to waste any of my precious air on a retort.

"The money will be in your accounts by tomorrow," Kade said to them and Terrance nodded.

"Where to?" Terrance asked. Kade gave him an address. A few minutes later, we pulled up to a small, shabby motel on the outskirts of the city.

Kade reached out and grasped Terrance's hand in a firm grip. "A pleasure working with you," he said, "as always." Terrance's grin widened.

"Need transport tomorrow?" Terrance asked but Kade shook his head.

"Got it covered," he answered. "Until next time..."

Terrance grinned, giving him a two-fingered salute and Branna blew him a kiss. Rusty handed me my purse that I'd left in the van, then the door slid shut and the van rolled away into the night.

Kade started across the gravel lot toward the flashing neon sign proclaiming "Office." I hesitated, eyeing the gravel with trepidation. My feet were burning and each step was agony. The long stretch of gravel made me want to stomp my foot in frustration, except I knew it would hurt like hell.

After a few feet, Kade seemed to realize I wasn't with him and turned around.

"Are you waiting for an engraved invitation?" he asked, sarcasm thick in his voice.

I despised the fact that I'd have to betray my weakness to him and resolved that I'd cross the gravel lot come hell or high water. That resolve lasted two steps before I was immobilized, unable to take another step. My face was contorted in a grimace of pain.

"What's wrong?" Kade asked, walking quickly back to me. Glancing down, he noticed my feet. "Dammit, Kathleen!" he exclaimed. "Why the hell didn't you tell me you were barefoot? What happened to your shoes?"

I was trying to ignore the pain so it took me a second to answer. "They made noise," I explained through gritted teeth. "I took them off and left them. I'm all right." I shrugged off his concern. Nothing could be done about it now. I'd worry about it later. Right now I just wanted to get across this damn lot, find a bed and sleep for a few days, at least.

"Have I mentioned what a pain in the ass you are?" Kade said, which made me want to cross my arms and stick my tongue out at him like I was twelve. "Next time, pack sensible shoes."

"I'll make sure to remember that the next time I plan on breaking and entering," I retorted sarcastically. He ignored me. I yelped in surprise as he abruptly bent over and hoisted me in his arms.

"What are you doing?" I screeched. There was no way I was going to let him carry me like I was some helpless damsel in distress. "Put me down!" The look he gave me made me hastily shut my mouth but I still glared at him mutinously.

Kade swiftly crossed the lot and deposited me in a decrepit plastic chair outside the office door. He leaned down so his face was inches away, his eyes intent on mine.

"Stay here," he ordered. I pressed my lips together and raised my chin haughtily. For some reason, he seemed to bring out the rebellious side of me. I wasn't stupid enough to disobey him, however. The mere thought of walking made me cringe. Kade disappeared inside and came back a few minutes later.

"Not the Ritz but it'll do for tonight," he said. I shrugged, not caring where we stayed so long as I could get some sleep soon. With a sigh, I heaved myself up and had to grab on to the chair again as pain shot through me.

Kade handed me a metal key with a plastic tag attached. I took it, looking questioningly at him, before he again lifted me in his arms. My face flushed and I resolutely kept my face averted from his.

He carried me down the motel walkway, finally stopping in front of a door marked 119 - or rather, it would have said 119 if the nine wasn't hanging loosely upside down. Kade cleared his throat pointedly and I hurriedly stuck the key in the knob and unlocked the door, pushing it inward as Kade carried me inside the darkened motel room.

I grimaced, realizing what a parody this was of my childhood dream of an adoring husband carrying me across the threshold of a beautiful hotel room on our wedding night. Instead, I was being carried by a man who barely tolerated me into a motel that, I was sure, rented rooms by the hour.

He placed me on the bed, the springs complaining loudly, then flipped on the lamp by the bed before closing and bolting the door. I glanced around the room, noting the stark difference between it and the posh suite I'd been in just hours ago. Yeah, this was the type of motel suited to my sad budget. Faded carpet, cheap bedspread, cardboard-like pillows. I sighed. I understood that we needed to lie low, but maybe I could suggest a Holiday Inn or something next time as opposed to a No-Tell Motel?

Kade pulled out his cell phone and turned away as he punched in a few buttons and held it to his ear. I strained to listen when he began talking.

"Agent Donovan," he said, "It's good to talk to you again." A pause as he listened before continuing.

"Yes, it's done. I'd be interested to know what you found." He listened again, and then his gaze swung to me. I couldn't read what was in his eyes as the other man talked for a long time. Finally, Kade spoke again.

"No, that wasn't what I was expecting either," he said carefully. "But enough to shut it down, correct?" The other person must have answered in the affirmative because Kade's lips quirked upward in a smirk.

"Excellent. Good talking to you, Donovan. Give my regards to your wife." He snapped the phone shut.

"What was that all about?" I asked.

"Sometimes the FBI needs people to do their dirty work for them," he said.

I looked at him questioningly for a moment before it clicked into place. "You mean, you?" I asked. "The FBI wanted you to break into TecSol?"

"Must you act so surprised?" he asked, pretending hurt. Then he abruptly turned serious. "They needed someone to send a trace to them for the network traffic," he said. "But the FBI deliberately monitoring the servers of the company handling online election votes?" He shook his head. "Not good for publicity if they got caught."

"So they had you do it because you're off the books," I said, my tired brain trying to piece it all together. "They could trust you because you used to be one of them." Kade shrugged with false modesty.

"Blane was the one who caught on to the whole thing and brought me in," he said. "I just helped pull in the big guns to take them down." His self-satisfied smirk faltered a bit.

"What?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

"Your friend, the girl programmer," he said carefully, his brows drawing together in a frown. "The code she gave you. She told you it would compromise the system?" I nodded.

"Didn't it?" I asked, suddenly afraid of what he might say.

"It did," he said slowly, watching me, "just not in the way you probably expected."

"What do you mean?" I asked, a sense of foreboding filling me. "Just tell me."

Kade's expression turned grim. "She lied to you, Kathleen. The code you installed didn't disable the system, it just installed a secondary path for the traffic."

"A secondary path? To where?" I was struggling to understand the techno-speak.

"The data was being copied to China."