Page 49 of Marko

Forcing my thoughts back to the task at hand, I glanced at the tablet and was happy to see that the two codes were in front of me.

“Ready, honey?” I asked, and she nodded and turned towards the key panel as I called out the numbers of the first code.

My stomach churned as I watched with bated breath. There were three red lights, but almost immediately after she typed the code in, one turned green, then the other amber, and the final one remained red but started flashing.

“Sweetheart, calm down. The worst part is over. All we need to do now is input four numbers. Then you do exactly what we rehearsed, and the next park with be easy, compared to what you’ve just done. You’re exceptional, Melissa, and you’ve got this,” I said.

After a deep breath, she tried the numbers again, gasping in relief as all the lights turned green. The beams shut off, and the door clicked open with one second to spare. Fuck, that was cutting it fine.

“Five minutes starting now,” I said, and she darted into the room with a quick nod. Heart pounding, hands sweating, I prayed nothing would go wrong. This was the most vital part of our plan, and Melissa had just five minutes to execute it and return before the system reset and the beams reactivated. Failure meant serious trouble.

Ideally, both of us would have accessed the room, but traversing those beams was beyond my skill set, so I had to settle for waiting. Still, my faith in my little cat burglar’s abilities reassured me; I knew she’d get the job done. Despite my belief in her, the wait was torturous. Every second dragged on.

We had estimated the device I gave her would need about two minutes to hack into the MP’s system. My invention, a compact but powerful handheld device equipped with top-tier hacking software, was designed to complete the task swiftly. It would then take an additional couple of minutes to transfer the data to my computer back at the Estate.

While it did that, Melissa would be looking through the rest of the room, taking photos of everything else she could find to do with the MP’s illegal activities. We couldn’t steal the information, as we needed it to be found by the authorities at a later date, but we could copy it. And we needed to get enough evidence for our contacts in Interpol to get a warrant to search the property and investigate the MP.

That’s why we had to be as stealthy as possible and gather the evidence we needed while leaving no trace of actually being here. All going well, we’d be in and out and the MP would never know we’d been. That way, he wouldn’t move or destroy the evidence before the authorities could be alerted.

Checking my watch, I saw four and a half minutes had already passed. My heart threatened to burst out of my chest, it was pounding so hard. Melissa was cutting it close. With the security system about to reactivate in under 30 seconds and guards set to patrol the grounds again soon, we had to get out quickly to avoid capture.

Finally, she emerged, closing the door with ten seconds to spare. The beams stayed off as she sprinted back across the room. A quick hug was all I managed before the beams flickered back on. We grabbed our equipment and retraced our steps, as I reset the various security layers as we went.

At the exit, Melissa pushed open the door and scanned the area for safety before stepping out. The moment we were outside, I reset the security cameras to the live feed, giving us mere seconds to escape before the system kicked in.

Melissa grabbed my hand, and we dashed to the catering van just as two security guards rounded the corner. Spotting us in our all-black outfits, they shouted for us to stop.

Shit! Our original escape plan had been to hide back inside the catering truck and wait there until the event was over and Marcie drove it away. That was no longer possible.

Instead, we jumped into the front of the truck. Grabbing the set of spare keys Marcie had deliberately left inside, I stated the engine, and sped off before the guards could reach us.

Gunning it down the long driveway, I checked my side mirror in time to see a guard shouting into his radio, likely alerting the gate to our approach. Damn!

Another couple of guards stood in front of the closed gate, waving at us to stop. No chance!

“Hold on, I’m going to ram it!” I shouted, putting my foot down and pushing the van to its limit.

Fortunately, the guards decided against playing chicken with us and leapt out of the way. One guard fired at the van, but we were moving too fast; his shots mostly missed, grazing the side of the vehicle only once before we barrelled through and sped away.

Melissa screamed as we slammed into the gate, ripping it from its hinges. Thank god we’d reinforced the front of Marcie’s van when we adapted it to include the hidden compartment.

Relief washed over me as we cleared the MP’s property, but it was short-lived.

“Shit, we’re being pursued!” Melissa yelled.

Through the wing mirror, I saw one black SUV emerge from the driveway, followed by another. Hell, how did they catch up so fast?

As I floored it, I told Melissa to contact Miki. Escape plan A was a bust, so Escape Plan B was underway.

Up ahead, a tractor pulled out behind us, blocking the road. Driven by one of our guys in farmer’s attire, it crawled slowly, forcing the SUVs to slow down. I sniggered; that should hold them. Unfortunately, it didn’t. Soon, the SUVs were swerving around the tractor, cutting through hedging into a field, and then back onto the road.

Damn it! It was time to up the ante. Flooring the van, I tried to distance us from the SUVs, but losing them on these country roads wasn’t going to be easy.

“Any chance we can actually shake them?” Melissa asked, glancing back nervously.

“Not here,” I said, tightening my grip on the steering wheel. “We need a diversion.”

Melissa radioed Miki again, her voice tense. “Miki, it’s time for another diversion. We’re heading to the next point now.”

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