Traitorous Attraction (19 page)

“Connor, please.”

“Connor, please what?” he said, his voice raised. At least it was a hint of the emotions roiling inside him.

“Please forgive me. Please don’t let one small mistake ruin what we have.”

Connor’s eyes met hers. “You think lying to me is a small mistake? Clearly, we are not on the same page. I don’t even think we’re reading from the same book.”

* * *

Connor had left the hotel early in the morning to meet Finn. He’d said nothing to her.

Her and Connor’s final conversation the night before weighed heavy on her heart. But now wasn’t the right time to talk. Not only were she, Finn and Connor linked via their headsets and in constant communication about the jailbreak, but Kate also couldn’t afford to lose focus.

She and Connor would talk later today. Once Connor had rescued Aiden, he would see that her not telling him that information was minor. Wouldn’t he? She couldn’t think anything else or she would have a breakdown, and today she needed to concentrate and remain alert.

Ariana had spent the night in the home of an AR sympathizer and had returned to the hotel room. She wanted to be close during the jailbreak and be on hand if Kate needed anything. Finn was meeting Connor before the jailbreak to prepare.

Kate had been a bundle of nerves since Connor had left. She couldn’t eat. She was fidgety, checking her computer and waiting for the headline Botched Jailbreak to splash across the local news site. She was careful to keep track of the time, needing to be sure she completed her tasks according to the schedule they had created. Finn, Aiden and Connor were counting on her.

Kate adjusted her headset and focused. She got into the zone, listening to some music from an earbud in one ear and holding a cup of coffee. Four minutes until go time.

She needed to hack into the prison’s security system, make her changes and exit before the intrusion-detection system alerted anyone she was in. The prison security system was modern and complex. If she hadn’t gotten inside the control room during the prison riot and left behind a Trojan horse, she didn’t know if she could have gotten inside on her own in a short time frame with her limited resources.

“K, it’s F. I’m in the chopper. I’ll be in the fly zone in three and a half minutes. Copy.”

Finn checking in with her. “Copy that. I’m on it.” The prison had brought in the National Emergency Reserves, independent contractors and a slew of support staff to clean up after the riot and to prevent another. Security around the jail was tighter.

After several tense minutes of coding, Kate broke into the prison’s computer system. She submitted her request for a helicopter flyover. Helicopters were regularly flying over the jail, monitoring the grounds, and though her request was off schedule, she had spoofed the credentials to make the request appear from the warden. Unless the warden was in the room to deny he had sent the request, it should be approved in a timely manner.

Should be. No guarantees.

She waited anxiously and checked the status of her request. No change. She checked again. Nothing. Her body heated and she felt slightly dizzy. She took a deep breath. Checked the status again. Finally, the request’s status flipped to approved.

“F, you have approval,” she said, hearing the pride in her voice. So far, two hurdles down.

If everything went according to plan, Connor and Finn would be in and out with Aiden in less than five minutes.

“Thanks, K. You work miracles, girl,” Finn said. The sound of the chopper clicked through their shared headsets.

Kate monitored the air-traffic radar system surrounding the jail. She waited for Finn and Connor’s chopper to appear. When it did, she experienced both simultaneous relief and terror.

“The prison system can see you,” Kate said.

“Roger that,” Connor said.

Hearing his voice sent a shiver of sadness through her. She wished it had gone better between them the night before and that they hadn’t left the rift between them. He was the man she loved and he had said he loved her, too. They would work through these problems. They had to.

“We’re close, K. Disable the locks,” Connor said.

“Copy that. I’m on it.” Kate entered the prison locking system. It would cause havoc, but she needed to unlock the doors from the prison to the yard in cellblock 3B and temporarily shut down the air-traffic radar system.

It would allow Connor to jump from the copter on a rope, find Aiden and grab him. Finn would airlift them out. Simple plan, fraught with complications like guards with automatic weapons and violent, desperate prisoners.

This was the most time-critical portion of the mission. It would take the guards a few seconds to process that someone was dropping
out
of the copter, and if they called for assistance, Kate planned to delay their radio signal and electronic messages. Without confirmation from the radar system, the appearance and disappearance of the helicopter would cause confusion. They were hoping to use that confusion to get Aiden out before the guards started shooting at will.

Kate typed the command to unlock the doors in cellblock 3B. Her request was denied. She swore under her breath.

“What happened?” Connor asked.

“Doors aren’t open. I repeat, doors aren’t open.”

“Delay or denial?” Connor asked.

“Denial. Trying again,” Kate said.

Her fingers were already flying across the keyboard and her brain had snapped to that place of complete and total in-the-zone focus. She tried again using a different technique. Denied.

“K, give us a status,” Connor said.

“I need a few more seconds,” Kate said.

“We don’t have extra seconds to spare,” Finn said.

Kate tried again, her brain screaming for her to hurry. This time she was rewarded with a task-complete message. Relief rushed through her. “Doors are open. Make it fast.”

Flipping to another program she was using to monitor electronic transmissions, she saw a text message from the guards to the warden requesting confirmation of the appearance of the copter. Kate intercepted and delayed it. When they tried to use their radios, she jammed the signal.

“Guards are suspicious. How’s it going?” she asked, knowing her stall tactics wouldn’t buy them much time.

“Connor’s almost touching down,” Finn said.

After a couple of seconds, shouting overwhelmed their shared communication and Kate couldn’t pick Connor’s voice from others.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

No response from Connor or Finn. They might not have heard her over the noise.

Her screen flickered and changed. She moved between programs and a cold chill of fear shot down her spine. She had been booted out of the prison’s network. A connection problem? Or had someone discovered she was inside the system? She tried to get access again so she could run interference for Finn and Connor. Nothing. She was locked out.

“F, C, they know,” she shouted. “They caught my trail. I can’t help you. Do you hear me? Please acknowledge.” She was screaming and Ariana came running.

She watched Kate with quaking eyes.

“K, get out of there now. If they know you were in here, they’ll trace you,” Finn said.

Kate was already one step ahead. She powered off her computer and grabbed it. She would have left it, but she might need it. The mission was going off the skids fast.

“We’re going to the rendezvous point now,” she said to Ariana.

Ariana leaped up, keys in hand. Their things, all except the computer and phone, were loaded in the car. Priority one was getting to the rendezvous point to meet up with Connor, Finn and Aiden.

The sound of gunfire sounded through her earpiece. “F, are you hurt? Is C hurt?” Terror clutched at her chest, but she kept moving.

“The prisoners realized the locks were disabled and are streaming into the yard. I lost sight of C. I don’t know how much longer I can hold this position without getting shot out of the sky,” Finn said.

“Don’t leave without C and A. We need them.” In that moment, she and Ariana were “we.” How would she get Connor out if he were trapped in the prison?

Kate pulled open the front door of their hotel room. Marcus stood in front of her, his hand poised to knock and three armed guards behind him.

“Marcus?” Kate asked, confused about why and how he was at her hotel room. She wasn’t staying at the hotel under her State Department alias. Why the armed guards? She gestured behind the door for Ariana to run and hide.

Marcus shoved the door open wider. “Where is he?”

The other men entered the room and fanned out, searching. One grabbed Ariana as she tried to climb out the window. Ariana was on the government’s most-wanted list as a high-ranking member of the AR. Would Marcus recognize her? Ariana was traveling under an alias, but she hadn’t changed her appearance much.

Kate stared at him, hot anger coursing through her. “What are you doing? What’s going on?”

“Stop with the act, Kate. We know what you’re planning. Where’s Connor?”

How had they tied the jailbreak to her so quickly? Or had they uncovered the intention, but didn’t know when the jailbreak was taking place? If Marcus knew Connor was at the jail, he wouldn’t have questioned his whereabouts.

“I don’t know,” Kate said. “He went out for breakfast.”

Ariana was dragged next to Kate. Marcus rolled his head, his neck cracking. “You’ve made this much more difficult than it needed to be. I know who you really are. You lied to me and pretended to be my friend.”

Was Marcus working for
el presidente?
Or Sphere? Terror took hold of her. She had believed him to be an ally. “Let us go, Marcus, please. We are friends.”

Marcus shook his head. “I’ve been paid to do a job and I’m going to do it. I need to bring you in. If you tell us where Connor is, perhaps
el presidente
will spare your life.”

“He went to get breakfast,” she said. She would stick with her original lie.

Marcus shook his head. “You’re not helping yourself.”

She might not be helping herself, but she was buying Connor time.

Had Connor gotten to Aiden? She hoped Finn and Connor were hearing this conversation with Marcus and were warned that the Tumaran government and
el presidente
knew who Connor and Kate were and had made the connection to Aiden.

“What are you planning to do to him?” Kate asked.

Marcus reached to the side of her head. She flinched, thinking he was going to hit her. Instead, he ripped her comm device from her ear. He smiled, perhaps hearing Connor’s voice. “Hello, Connor. So nice to talk to you again. I have Kate here. I don’t know what you’re planning in your current position, but I’d like to make you an offer. Come to
el presidente
’s palace and turn yourself in. We can work something out so that your ladies keep their lives.” He threw the comm device to the ground and stomped on it.

Marcus clamped his hand over her arm. “Don’t think about running. Your pretty little head has a price on it and it’s a price I plan to collect.”

* * *

Finn was a good chopper pilot, but leaping out of a moving aircraft and climbing down a rope into a yard filled with angry, abused prisoners was chilling. The guards were on high alert for any signs of rioting and Connor knew they would use excessive force if the situation required it. They wouldn’t let a disturbance in the prison swell into another prison riot.

Connor and Finn had agreed that Finn would pull out and flee if his life was in danger. Finn’s time and skills could be bought, but his life was worth too much and he had no real devotion to the cause.

Connor landed in the yard, his feet hitting the ground hard. Confusion ensued. “Aiden West!”

Prisoners mobbed the helicopter and Finn pulled up out of their reach. When the guards caught on to what was happening, Finn might have to flee, leaving Connor in the prison.

He called his brother’s name and searched the sea of faces. The prisoners were taking full advantage of the open cells. The guards hadn’t descended yet to the yard. Having been inside the prison during the riot, Connor knew what to expect. He guessed the warnings would be briefer and responses faster.

Connor charged into the prison as inmates streamed out of it. The short hallway opened to rows of cells. “Aiden!”

Connor listened for his brother’s voice, his ears straining, hoping to hear the low, slow drawl that belonged to his brother. He ran past rows of cells, every step plunging him deeper into the prison and away from freedom.

“Aiden!”

When he heard his brother’s voice, Connor wasn’t sure if he had imagined it. He called his name again.

Then he saw him. His brother limped out of a cell and squinted in his direction. Aiden was dirty, his hair too long and his beard scruffy. He had never looked better. Connor ran to him. No time to talk or explain. He looped his arms under his brother’s shoulder. They needed to run and get out of the prison. Connor had already spent more time than he’d planned.

“My leg,” Aiden said, wincing.

What was wrong with his leg? “Don’t be a pansy. Ignore it. Let’s go.”

If he could charge his brother with adrenaline and fear, they could overcome anything. On the other side of the helicopter ride was medical care, food and water. Even better, on the other side was freedom and the woman who loved him.

When Kate’s face flashed to mind, Connor stamped it out. No time for distractions.

They pushed past inmates who had stepped out of their cells. Then the alarm blared. The alarm would clear up the confusion some of the guards might have had about the helicopter. The helicopter was now a target.

“Faster,” Connor said, urging his body to pick up the pace. He was half dragging Aiden, but he didn’t care. He would get his brother out even if he had to carry him.

The sound of gunfire peppered the air. If the guards were shooting at Finn, he would fly away. He wouldn’t hang around and wait to be shot down. It did them no good to all be trapped inside the prison. Over the gunfire, Connor could still hear the rhythmic tick of the chopper blades. As long as Connor could get to the chopper, hope, however slim, existed of an escape.