Page 15 of Code Name: Admiral

Before I could respond, my earpiece crackled to life. I clicked my comms on.

“Boss,” Tank’s voice was urgent. “We’ve got movement inside. Security cameras show multiple hostiles coming up through the maintenance tunnels. They’re bypassing the lobby.”

“How many?”

“At least six that we can see. They’re moving in pairs. Professional setup.”

Alice had gone still, both guns still trained on me, but her head cocked slightly. I wondered how good her security system was, if she was getting the same feed my team was. Regardless, I reiterated Tank’s message.

“Your team has the building surrounded,” she said, not really a question.

“Yes, but if they’re coming up through maintenance tunnels?—”

“They’ll bypass most of your security.” She moved to one of the monitors, keeping a gun pointed at me while typing one-handed on a keyboard. Security videos flickered across her monitors. “There’s only one access point from B3 to this floor that isn’t alarmed. They’ll use that.”

My training kicked in. “Let me help. My team can?—”

“The same team that didn’t notice the tunnels until now?” Her fingers flew across the keys. “I have my own security measures.”

A red light began flashing silently in the corner of the room. Alice’s expression hardened as she leaned in to get a better look at the camera feed.

“They’re carrying heavy firepower,” she said. “Military grade.” She glanced at me.

Tank’s voice came through again. “Boss, they’re moving faster than we expected. Four minutes to your position, max.”

I met Alice’s eyes. “We can sort out who’s lying to whom later. Right now, we need to move. Those men aren’t here to ask questions.”

She studied me for a long moment, calculation clear in her green eyes. Finally, she ejected the clip from my gun and tossed it back to me. “Two rounds,” she said, keeping her own weapon ready. “Don’t make me regret this.”

I caught it with practiced ease. “You have an exit strategy?”

A half smile played at the corner of her mouth. “I always have an exit strategy.” She pressed something under the desk, and a panel in the wall slid open. “But first, I need to get something from my safe.”

She moved to what looked like a regular closet door and placed her hand flat against it. A hidden scanner hummed to life, and a green light washed over her palm.

“Three minutes,” Tank warned in my ear.

The door clicked open, revealing not clothes but a reinforced steel room. Alice stepped inside, still keeping me in her peripheral vision.

“Sarah gave me something,” she said, entering a complex code into a wall safe. “Said if anything happened to her…”

Her voice trailed off, and my pulse quickened. Her sister must have left contingencies, maybe even proof of her FBI work. “Alice?—”

“Save it.” The safe door swung open. She reached inside and withdrew a sealed envelope. “Two minutes to grab what we need and?—”

A dull thud reverberated through the floor, and the lights flickered once.

“They’re using the elevator shaft,” I said into my comms. “Tank, I need?—”

The power cut out completely, plunging us into darkness. Emergency lights kicked in, bathing everything in a dim red glow.

“Right on schedule,” Alice muttered, shoving the envelope into a small backpack. She pulled out what looked like NVGs—night-vision goggles—and tossed them to me. “Your team going to get in our way?”

Another thud, closer this time.

“If we’re moving, we move now,” I said, clicking my comms. “Tank, full defensive positions, but do not—repeat, do not—engage any friendlies leaving the building.”

Alice shouldered her pack, then moved to another wall panel, this one near the floor. “Hope you’re not afraid of heights, Agent Kane.”

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