Operation: Midnight Tango (10 page)

“Swell.”

They were standing behind an outcropping of rock, and Emily was gazing down at the facility below. Zack should have been assessing the compound, but his attention was irresistibly drawn to Emily. Her face was lovely in the dim light filtering down from a crescent moon. Her cheeks were blushed with cold, and she looked excited and scared at once. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who got off on risk.

He forced himself to tear his gaze away from her and study the complex instead. There were three buildings, each a two-story brick with a sloping roof. Windows were sparse. The entrances were well lit.

“Someone is definitely concerned with security,” he said, wishing for a set of blueprints.

“How do we get in?”

“If it was daylight, we could wait for a delivery truck, overpower the driver or stow away in the truck.” He glanced over at her. “But it’s three in the morning. I doubt they’re going to be receiving many deliveries at this hour.”

“Maybe we can find a place away from those lights, cut the fence and go in that way.”

He shook his head. “Too risky.” But the mention of lights sparked another idea. “We cut the power.”

“How do you propose we do that?”

He surveyed the line of telephone poles that ran the length of the paved roadway leading to the parking lot. “See those telephone poles? They support the power lines to the entire facility. If we can down one of the poles, that should take out the power.”

“Let’s do it.” Emily started to rise, but he snagged her coat and held her back.

“The bad news is they probably have a backup generator,” he said.

“Oh.”

“The good news is it will probably take a few minutes for the backup power to kick on.”

She bit her lip. “We’ll just have to move quickly.”

Frowning because he didn’t like the enthusiasm in her voice, he turned to her—and immediately wished he hadn’t. She was looking straight at him, not the facility. She looked soft and lovely and he wanted nothing more than to sink his hands into her warmth and forget all about Lockdown, Inc. and Signal Research and Development.

“You sure you’re up to this?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “But I don’t think I have a choice.”

“You could stay here and wait for me.”

“I’ve never been very good at waiting.”

Unable to stop himself, Zack reached over and touched her cheek with the back of his hand. Her skin was cool and incredibly soft beneath his knuckles. “You keep impressing me, Emily.”

“And you’re a smooth-talking con.” She swatted his hand away.

He smiled. “Don’t let the accent fool you. There’s
nothing smooth about me. I’m as rough around the edges as a man can get. You’d be wise to remember that.”

Realizing he was letting himself get distracted, Zack moved away from her and turned his attention to the facility.

“How long will we have before backup lighting comes on?” she asked.

“If it’s a flywheel assembly, backup power will be instantaneous. If it’s diesel-powered, it will take a few minutes. With a campus this size, I’m betting the backup power generates light for only the areas vital to operation. Refrigeration. Computers. Emergency and security lighting. That sort of thing. This is graveyard shift. They’re probably working with a skeleton crew. That will be a plus.”

“How long will we have once we’re inside?”

He looked at her and found himself wishing he’d never involved her. A suicide mission wasn’t the sort of operation in which to involve a civilian. Particularly a woman he was attracted to….

“Fifteen minutes,” he said. “Twenty max. Whatever the case, we’ll need to act quickly.”

He only hoped it would be fast enough to get them out alive.

EMILY’S ENTIRE BODY WAS zinging with adrenaline as they sprinted across the snow-covered field toward the twelve-foot-high chain-link fence. Back when she’d been safely ensconced behind the rocks and hidden by darkness, breaking into Signal Re
search and Development had seemed like a good idea. Now that she and Zack were in open view, she questioned the wisdom of her decision to accompany him.

What the hell had she been
thinking?
She barely knew Zack Devlin and yet here she was risking her life. Then there was the little problem of her burgeoning attraction to him. And that blasted kiss. Well, two kisses to be exact. Maybe she had finally gone around the bend.

When they reached the fence, it took all of two seconds for Emily to see that getting onto the grounds was going to be trickier than they’d expected. A few feet away Zack was already at the fence, kneeling, opening the satchel tied to his belt.

“How are we going to get over triple strands of barbed wire and not come out of this looking like raw hamburger?”

Glancing over his shoulder, Zack pulled some type of tool from the bag.

“What is that?” she asked.

“The kind of Swiss Army knife that would get a civilian thrown into jail if he brought it to show-and-tell.” He pressed a button on the handle and a nasty-looking blade swished into view.

Emily studied the small, compact blade. “You expect a knife to cut through chain fencing?”

“This titanium blade will make short work of that fence.” Putting the blade to the first link, he went to work sawing. “Observe.”

The first wire snapped almost instantly. In two
minutes he’d snipped enough strands to create a big hole that the both of them could squeeze through. “Any questions?”

“You mean aside from the little voice inside my head asking me if I’m totally nuts?”

Grinning, he rose to his full height. “We’ve all got that little voice inside our heads, Emily. The key is learning when to listen and when to shut it out.”

“Even when it’s right?”

“Especially when it’s right.” He took her hand. “Come on.”

They squeezed through the fence. Then, using the shadows of the pines that grew along the perimeter of the property as cover, they went into a sprint. A hundred yards away she spotted the parking lot. Several cars and trucks were parked close to the main building. An asphalt driveway streaked north toward the main road where a small guard shack stood.

Zack went into the shadows and stopped twenty yards from the roadway. Emily was breathing hard and sweating. Less than a foot away, Zack was looking at her with dark, dangerous eyes.

“Did you see the snowplow next to the outbuilding?” he asked.

“I saw it. Right next to the red SUV with the dented fender.” She could hear the rumble of its engine. The smell of diesel fuel filling the air. “What are we going to do? Clear the driveway for them?”

He smiled, but it looked forced. He was obviously every bit as apprehensive about this as she
was. “We’re going to use the plow to down a telephone pole and take out the electricity.”

It was as good an idea as they were going to come up with. If they caught a break, Emily thought as they started toward the plow, they might just pull it off without getting shot.

Chapter Eight

Emily couldn’t believe she was doing this. Risking everything—her career, her reputation, her very life—on the word of a man she had every reason not to trust. Or did she?

Halfway to the snowplow, she noticed a man standing a few feet from the massive vehicle’s blade. He was facing away from them, relieving himself, of all things. Had she not been quite so terrified she might have laughed. But Emily had been in enough dangerous situations in her life to appreciate just how bad this could get.

Zack turned to her, his gaze seeking hers. He put his finger to his lips, then motioned for her to stay put. She nodded and watched as he approached the man alone, his stride confident, as if he had every right in the world to be there. Emily hoped the man wasn’t armed.

“Got a light?”

The man started, quickly shook himself, zipped and turned. He was heavyset and wearing insulated
coveralls over a hooded sweatshirt. “Who the hell are you?” he asked.

“Your replacement,” Zack said amicably.

“Replacement?”
The man made an unflattering reference to Zack’s mother. “This is a secure facility. What are you doing here?”

“I was wondering if I could borrow your snowplow for a few minutes.”

The man’s sneer disappeared. His eyes widened. Then he reached for something clipped to his belt. Zack moved so quickly, the man didn’t even see it coming. One moment he was putting his radio to his mouth, the next he was dropping like a three-hundred-pound rag doll. Zack was almost to the plow by the time the other man hit the ground.

“What did you do to him?” Emily asked.

“I taught him what happens to big-mouthed idiots when they say unflattering things about me mum.” Stepping onto the big tractor plow, he tossed her a coil of rope. “Tie him up, will you?”

Emily caught the rope with one hand. “Okay.”

Zack settled onto the seat and rammed the shifter into place. The gears ground for an instant, then the big plow jumped forward. “This shouldn’t take long.”

It wasn’t easy tying the hands of a three-hundred-pound unconscious man. It took every bit of her strength just to roll him onto his stomach. Her hands shook as she wrapped the rope around his wrists and knotted it. She’d barely finished when a crash behind her sent her a foot into the air.

She turned in time to see the plow blade crash into the telephone pole. Wood splintered. A streak of blue electricity arced through the sky. She smelled burning rubber. She watched as Zack slid from the plow and came running toward her.

“Nice job,” she said.

“Thanks.” He looked down at the man. “Let me hide porky here and we’ll be on our way.” Stooping, he picked up the man’s torso by the shoulders and began dragging him to some nearby bushes. “Best to keep him out of sight for now.” He plucked the man’s security badge from his shirt and the flashlight from his belt and stuffed both into his coat pocket. “These might come in handy.”

A giddy laugh that was part terror, part utter disbelief jammed in her throat. She couldn’t believe she was about to break into a pharmaceutical firm to look for clues in a mystery that was as unbelievable as the plot of some cheesy thriller.

Zack came up beside her then and tilted his head as if to look closely at her. A tuft of hair had fallen onto his forehead. He was looking at her intently. “You’ve got about five seconds to change your mind about this.”

She shook her head adamantly. “Let’s go find what we need to bring down those bastards at Lockdown.”

One side of his mouth curved. “That’s the spirit,” he said and took her hand. “Let’s see how good we are at breaking and entering.”

The downing of the telephone pole had taken out
all lights except for a few exterior security lights powered by the generator, which had kicked on automatically. Zack gripped her hand as he led her across the tarmac toward the rear of the main building. Two men ran out the double doors, pulling on coats and equipment. Zack hauled Emily behind a Dumpster just before they would have been spotted. Forcing her to kneel, he dropped to his knees beside her and put his arms around her only to discover that she was trembling.

Putting his mouth close to her ear, he breathed in her scent and found himself wishing he’d met her under different circumstances. “Easy,” he whispered. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

Silly words, considering.
Not to mention your track record,
a cruel little voice added.

He held Emily for a minute. Once the two men were out of earshot, he turned her to him. Her eyes were wide. Her mouth wet and full. Her nostrils flaring with every exhalation. Her face was pale, but the cold had turned her cheeks rosy. He’d never seen a more beautiful woman in his entire life.

Zack leaned forward and brushed his mouth against hers. She didn’t resist. But she didn’t kiss him back, either. Zack didn’t care. After that first dangerous contact, all he wanted was more.

Her lips were sweet and soft and wet against his. He wanted badly to deepen the kiss, but some shred of logic held him back. He pulled away, as stunned by his response to her as by the fact that he could
be so foolish as to get caught up in a kiss at a time like this.

She was looking at him as if to ask,
Why did you do that?

“Every man has his limit,” he said. “Including me.”

“I’ll try to remember that,” she said dazedly.

Taking her hand, he helped her to her feet. “Let’s go.”

Using the plow driver’s security access card, they entered the main building through the rear door. The interior was dark and smelled of floor wax, heated air and paper dust. Zack’s eyes slowly adjusted to the near total darkness. They were standing in a small nondescript foyer with a reception window, a red leather sofa and two matching chairs and a coffee table piled with magazines.

Never releasing Emily’s hand, he crossed to the only door and swiped the security badge through the reader. The lock clicked and he shoved open the door.

“Where are we going?” Emily whispered.

“Let’s see if we can find a file room or maybe some of the offices.”

“Devlin, this is such a long shot.”

“I know,” he muttered, annoyed because she was right. Because he didn’t have a better plan. Damn it. He turned to her. “If we get caught, I want you to tell them I’ve been holding you hostage.”

She stared at him, her eyes large and fragile in the dim light. “But you haven’t—”

“This is no time for loyalty to me,” he said. “These people have a lot at stake and they’re playing for keeps. If you want to live, tell them I forced you into this.”

“What about you?”

“I do this for a living, remember?” When she only continued to stare at him, he added, “I’ve got MIDNIGHT to back me. I’ll be fine.”

Still, Zack doubted either of them would survive if they were caught. And not for the first time he mentally kicked himself for involving her. “Come on,” he said. “We don’t have much time.”

A single yellow light illuminated the hall just enough for him to make out the signs on the doors. In the distance he could hear the occasional door slamming, telling him there were people in the building, moving around, probably wondering what had happened to the power. Twice he and Emily had to duck into an alcove to miss being seen. Once by a woman with a flashlight. And then by two security officers toting guns. If it hadn’t been so dark, they would have been caught red-handed….