Page 85 of Death Wish

“Get out and leave me alone.” She turned back to her keyboard, ignoring the other two men until they left the room.

As soon as the door locked behind them, Simone sprang to her feet and ran to Jesse. “Hey, you still with me?”

He nodded before another spasm racked his body. When it subsided, he said hoarsely, “Go.”

She pressed a kiss to his mouth and dashed back to the bank of computer screens, dropped into her chair, and resumed her task.

Every 30 minutes, she checked on him, gave him water, then returned to her work. Her fingers flew over the keyboard so fast Jesse was amazed the thing didn’t catch fire.

At one point, she shoved her hands through her hair and growled.

“What’s wrong?”

“At this moment, I hate Beckett with a fiery passion.”

“Can you fix it?”

She blew out a breath. “Yeah, I can. I could work faster with food and a supply of caffeine.”

“No guarantee they’ll feed you.”

“Us.” She turned to him. “They better feed us if they want this program fixed by the deadline.”

Who was pulling the strings on this? Maybe Daley, but based on his inability to understand the program Beckett had created, Jesse doubted he was the decision maker. He was greedy enough to force another programmer to do what he couldn’t and take credit for the work.

The more Jesse thought about it, the more certain he felt that he’d stumbled upon the truth. If Daley wasn’t the decision maker behind the program, then who was?

As he pondered the question, he monitored the clock. Fifteen minutes before Daley and his cronies returned for another round of torture to pressure Simone. If they weren’t careful, one of two things would happen. She would crack under the pressure or she’d rebel and refuse to work at all unless Daley backed off on torturing Jesse.

The latter possibility concerned him the most. Daley was worried. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be pressuring Simone so hard to finish the job unless he had someone else pressuring him. If she rebelled, Jesse feared Daley would resort to drastic measures to force her cooperation.

Suddenly, Simone shoved back from the desk and did a little victory dance. “Yes!”

“Finished?”

“Ha. I wish. However, I figured out Beckett’s pattern, and I’m halfway through this maze. Another two hours and I should have cleared out all the traps Beckett set. After that, I’ll have to run the program to see if it works.”

“And if it does?”

She sobered. “Then the genuine work begins. Adding my special touches. I never let a program leave my hands without a little something with pizazz.”

He smiled, understanding that she planned to set her own traps for Daley. “Good for you.” Jesse glanced at the clock. “Ten more minutes.”

Simone kissed him before massaging his shoulder joints, then moving down to his elbows and what she could reach of his wrists.

“Thanks, sweetheart.”

“Hang in there for me. It won’t be long now.”

Amazing. Here she was trying to comfort him when she was the one who had so much riding on her skills.

She leaned down and hugged him from behind, her mouth against his ear. “Zane said five more hours.”

“Time it so your work conclusion coincides with the breach of the compound.”

Daley and his cronies unlocked the door again and strode inside. The boss scowled at Simone. “Why are you away from your station? Get back to work.”

“Not happening without lunch and caffeine.”

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