Page 31 of Lethal Sins

Bridger watched him quietly. “I can take out two, starting with the security guard. You good hitting the third? I’ll assume your skills are up to speed?”

“Copy that.” He’d pored over the team’s bios a zillion times. Only Mason and Graham were better shots.

Bridger’s gaze rested on Paige before he stared back at Cody. “They better be.”

Cody stared back, letting his determination shine through. “There won’t be a problem.”

“Good to know.” Bridger grinned, a harsh unfriendly expression. “I don’t want to have to take you down again.”

Across the antique rug, Tai and Paige huddled over a collection of sleek, black devices. Their hushed voices carried snippets of technical jargon as they prepped the team’s comlinks, including one for Cody. The thought of being connected to their encrypted channel sent a conflicting surge of belonging and guilt through him.

No sense getting used to having a team. No matter how much he might wish things would be different, succeed or fail, this mission was a one-off.

He’d help them neutralize the Consortium’s virus, bring Jason Reilly back into the fold, and disappear. He had faith that Paige and her team would put serious dents in the Consortium’s ability to do business, but not even the Redemption Inc. crew could kill it.

Certainly not before the Consortium made him pay for his betrayal. Nope. After this mission, he disappeared. Permanently.

The scent of old leather and polished wood mingled with the faint odor of ozone from the electronic equipment. He inhaled deeply, trying to center himself. His gaze kept drifting back to Paige, noting the determined set of her jaw, the intensity in her eyes.

Suddenly, her hands stilled. Her head snapped up, eyes wide with realization. “This isn’t going to work. The Consortium knows you’re on the run. They’ll have disabled your access codes.”

But he didn’t need his old access codes. What he had was better. Foolproof.

And he couldn’t explain that to the team. Not the whole story, anyway. If he doled out the info bit by bit, need-to-know only, he’d get through this without having to reveal everything.

“I’m counting on it,” he replied, his voice low and steady despite the rapid beating of his heart. “I’ve got a backdoor.” He elaborated, choosing each word carefully. “A borrowed identity they won’t know to look for.” The words hung in the air, heavy with implication.

He went back to packing mission bags, his hands moving mechanically, loading duffels with an assortment of high-tech gadgetry designed to blind security cameras and silence alarms. The soft clink of metal on metal provided a rhythmic backdrop to the hushed planning session. His eyes, however, kept drifting towards Paige.

Age had only added to her beauty. The years had sanded off her rough edges, leaving behind a woman of wisdom and maturity that was utterly entrancing. A woman who still hated him. The thought sent a pang through his chest, sharp enough to make him fumble a delicate piece of equipment.

Graham shot him a questioning look. Cody shook his head, forcing himself to refocus on the task at hand.

The easy banter between Paige’s team members washed over him, a tantalizing taste of camaraderie he knew he could never truly be part of.

Fenn’s gravelly voice cut through his melancholy musings. “Hey, slick. We need more of those signal jammers.”

Cody nodded, reaching for another box.

Across the room, Bridger and Kate huddled over a tablet, discussing team roles.

Cody inched closer. “There’s something else you need to know.”

All eyes turned to him, the sudden silence oppressive. “From the moment we get past the first lock, we’ll have five minutes to make it into the lab itself. If we don’t ...” He let the implication hang in the air.

“The whole complex automatically shuts down,” Paige guessed.

Cody nodded, unable to look away from her piercing gaze. He wished he could tell her everything—about the Consortium, about the network of billionaires pulling strings from the shadows, about how, even if they succeeded today, it would never truly be over. But he couldn’t. Some truths were too dangerous, even for her.

Instead, he turned back to the equipment, his movements precise and controlled. Five minutes to save the world. It would have to be enough.

Once they’d checked and rechecked their gear, Bridger clapped his hands. “Alright, people. Let’s run through this one more time.”

Fenn adjusted a pair of thick-rimmed glasses, adopting a nasal tone. “Right, so I’m Arnie Weiss, master plumber extraordinaire, here to fix the toilet in the East Wing.”

Kate snorted, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “And I’m your long-suffering apprentice, Molly.”

“Don’t forget the ‘eau de sewage’ perfume,” Graham chimed in, waving a small vial of foul-smelling liquid. The team collectively recoiled, noses wrinkling in disgust.

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