Page 40 of Office Affairs

I blew out a breath. Okay. At best, I had two tries left before the whole thing locked me out. Thankfully this punk didn’t seem to think they needed to set the system up with a single failure system that would shut down after one wrong try. Amateur.

I set my fingers on the keyboard a second time.

An alarm screamed overhead, a red light whirling beneath the closed door. Shit. Fire alarm. I’d gone through enough fire drills to recognize the situation. My throat tightened. Just a drill or a real fire? I eyed the computer and chewed my cheek. Risk it or get out?

Fuck it. I typed in another favorite among hackers and hit return.

Wrong again.

“Shit. You little prick.” I smacked both palms over the shelf. “You’re not smarter than me. I won’t let you win.” One more try. I pulled in a deep breath of clean but musty air. No smoke. The thought sent a surge of relief through me. “Come on, Sabrina. Think. What would this asshole use?” There were a million possibilities. Who was the person targeting? If they wanted to take Chase down, the password could relate to that. Or if they were smart, it would be a completely random string of numbers, letters, and symbols that they’d memorized or written down. I knew better than to waste time looking for the code. They wouldn’t leave it here. My half brother taught me that. One of the few useful things he’d ever done.

I shoved away from the computer. I couldn’t risk getting locked out. “I’ll be back.” I pointed at the screen. “You can’t beat me.” I knew where they hid. Now all I had to do was figure out what they wanted. Then I’d come back, or tell Chase and let him figure it out. He was the one with the innovative apps.

I left the room, closing and locking the door behind me, and headed to the stairwell. My pulse sped up when the door refused to open. I yanked on it again, shouting, “Hey. This isn’t supposed to be locked.”

21

RUSELL

Hell no. Lights flashed, the luminescent glow ricocheting around Chase’s office in a hellish nightmare of memory. My fists tightened and I sucked in a breath through clenched teeth.

“I’m sorry, gentlemen. That’s the fire alarm.” I stood and motioned them—Chase and Garrett included—toward the door. “Mandatory evacuation.” Thank fuck. I’d never been closer to losing my temper than when this trio of asshats sauntered into Chase’s office like they owned the fucking building. The punk ass kids couldn’t be over twenty-seven, and every one of them wore a sneer that I loathed.

“I’m sure it’s fine.” The tallest one waved a hand like imminent death by fire was an everyday occurrence, and he couldn’t be bothered to burn to death.

“Company policy.” I was one breath away from pulling a Garrett and hauling the skinny punk down the stairs by force when one of his buddies leaned in and whispered something in his ear. I grabbed Chase by the arm, keeping my focus on the boys attempting to shoehorn their way into our company with their daddy’s money and no business sense or etiquette. “I’m going for Sabrina.”

His jaw worked but he nodded and jerked his head toward the stairs. “Go.”

“I’ll send everyone down.” It was the best I could offer as I left him and Garrett with the boys and jogged ahead of them. The words were barely out of my mouth when the stairwell door closed behind me with an echoing bang. The siren continued to bellow, the tone muted in the concrete and metal hole. I gripped the rail and peered over the edge. People scuttled down the steps, their fear palpable in the enclosed space. I pushed back and rushed down the steps.

A woman turned the corner and skidded to a stop in front of me. “What’s happening?” Her wide eyes and bobbing throat showcased her fear. She gripped my lapels and hung on with a death grip. “We’re trapped.” Her howl sent a spike of fear deep into my heart.

“We’re not trapped. You need to go down, not up. Everyone is supposed to meet in the parking lot.” I hooked her elbow in an easy grip and turned her around. “This way.” She followed me, her cries escalating until I gritted my teeth to keep from telling her to shut the fuck up. The instant I caught up with another woman going down, I pried her fingers from my arm and pushed her toward the woman I recognized. “Laura, can you help her?” I didn’t wait for her response but ducked around them and continued on my way.

Sabrina could already be out of the building by now. We’d left her on the fourth floor. I swallowed the fear causing my entire body to clench and regulated my breaths. The clean air and lack of smoke gave me hope that the alarm was false, but I wasn’t leaving anything to chance. Questions swirled in a constant loop as I continued my downward spiral. Myriad steps created a deep thrumming rhythm as the employees escaped.

I stopped at the fourth floor and shoved open the door. “Sabrina?” My voice echoed down the long hallway, my heart lodged in my throat when no one answered. Of course she didn’t answer. She would have gone straight to the stairwell when the alarms started. “She’s outside.” I breathed slowly through my nose and double-checked the door to the storage room. Locked. She’d gotten out. Relief whooshed through me so fast it left me lightheaded, and I palmed the wall until I’d regained my balance. More people cluttered the stairwell when I reentered. Several shouted questions at me, most a similar rendition of the same thing. They all wanted to know what happened. Was the building on fire?

“I don’t know. I need everyone to stay calm and continue going down in an orderly fashion.” I maintained a calm expression even though my entire body felt like it was being eaten alive from the inside as worry for Sabrina gnawed at me. I smiled and patted shoulders in passing. “I’m going to find out what’s going on. Keep moving. You’re almost there.”

A flash of dark brown hair on the opposite side of the stairwell sent my heart into my throat, but when I turned to look, I found one of the women from marketing staring up at me. Fuck. Where was Sabrina? Panic threatened to obliterate my ability to think. I’d never felt this much emotion before. What was wrong with me?

Between clattering steps and the ring of fear raising people’s voices, a different sound roared in my head. I had to find Sabrina and make sure she was safe. The thought of leaving without her threatened to curl me into a ball and leave me for dead. The lower we traveled, the tighter the tension in my gut. Still no smoke. No sign of fire anywhere.

We all stumbled out into the main lobby. Several men laughed and tried to play it off like they’d never been worried. They stopped to look around, hands on their hips and wide smiles unable to hide the fear in their eyes.

“Everyone outside. Across the road to the secondary parking lot.” I motioned them forward with a flick of my fingers. “Come on. Keep it moving. Clear the building for the firefighters.” I heard them behind me, the chatter of voices over radios and the deep thrum of sirens and hoses being attached to fire hydrants. I’d heard the sound once before, and a deeply implanted memory shivered up my spine. I hated fire. Hated it. I stood with my back to the glass and hustled people outside, all while scouring faces for that one beautiful visage that made my days worth waking up for. I was falling in love with her. I’d suspected it for a while, but today cinched the deal. The thought of living without her … I bit down on my tongue to keep from bellowing her name with the mayhem and madness roiling through me.

Once the lobby emptied, I backtracked to the second stairwell. The building housed three in case of emergencies like this. Sabrina could have been on any one of them. I peered upward. “Anyone in here?”

“Russell?” Sabrina’s voice bounced toward me, the relief of hearing her weakened my knees.

I grabbed the rail and forced my feet to carry me upward. “I’m here. I’m coming up.” I caught up with her on the second floor. “What are you doing here? You should have been on stairwell one.”

“I couldn’t get the door open.” Cheeks flushed, she continued her downward trek. “I had to go all the way around to the other side of the building to find an open door. Which led me here.”

“What do you mean the door wouldn’t open?” I almost reached out to stop her, but we needed to get out of the building. I needed Sabrina safe.

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