Page 122 of Brazen Deceits

“In the utility closet on the first floor.”

“Can you make it up to the second floor?”

“Depends. Where are the guards?”

He sighs. “Two are comatose on the floor. The last one is guarding his buddies. You should be safe.”

I slip down from my nest, shoving some cleaner back so the gap doesn’t look human-sized. “Makes me glad I ran.”

“Me too, man.”

Using my unraveling tendrils of control, I lock the utility room behind me, bolting to the stairs and up a level. Grunts and yelps echo in my earbud, but I’ve lost the capacity to worry. Forward momentum—it’s all I have left.

“Okay, now what?”

“There should be a utility room here, same as the last floor. Can you get in there?”

I sprint to the same door, just one floor up. “Yeah, but I don’t see how that’ll help,” I say, pulling out my picks and popping the lock with ease. They obviously use the same key for all the utility closets.

“Look in the back right corner,” RJ says.

So I do. And lo and behold, there’s a large-capacity air vent.

“Am I crawling through air vents like a thief in the movies tonight?”

“Yup.”

“Awesome!”

I squeeze between the shelves and start unscrewing. “How far am I going?”

“It’ll drop you in the hall just past the room the Rubens is—was—in. You’ll have to double back, but the guards shouldn’t see you.”

“Did the bad guys take the frame?”

“Luckily, they left it on the wall. It’s nice and empty for you.”

“Score!” I say, the last of the screws popping out. I can’t screw it back in behind me, but I can glue it. Kicking the screws under the shelves, I slip my super glue out of my utility belt, swiping it along the border of the vent.

Wiggling in backwards, I discover that holding the cover still long enough for it to stick in this tight space is probably going to kill me. There’s more grumpy Trips on the radio, and RJ answers him. It’s not for me, so I don’t really listen. The ceaseless ringing of an unanswered phone echoes through my metal tunnel, and it amps me higher. My whole body is quivering, for Christ’s sake. I’d jump off a building without a parachute for funsies right about now.

I hum theMission Impossibletheme to myself, RJ’s chuckle letting me know the mic is picking it up.

Finally, I move, squeezing myself backwards through the vents. “How long until the cops get here?” I ask.

RJ sighs. “Just hurry, Jay. We’ll pick you up out front.”

Chapter 56

Clara

Leaving Trips at the other end of the alley, I speed through the half dark, ignoring RJ and Jansen on the earbuds. My breath too loud, my steps too fast, a familiar ache building in my knee, I barely skid out onto the street in front of the three gorillas.

I drop my head, hopeful that with my hair down, in a dress and snow boots, the head gorilla won’t recognize me until it’s too late. I need to look like a drunk fool who escaped from a dance club.

Please don’t let him recognize me.

Gulping down air, I lean against the brick and giggle.

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