Page 14 of Escape into the Night

“Right, whatever. Stop fucking touching me.” Taz absently batted at Bella’s hand with zero conviction. “So, I traced the backdoor, followed the trackers, and then my script blew up when it found this.”

The largest screen on the wall switched to a different page and it took a moment for Luke to puzzle through what he was seeing. Realization sat sick and slimy in his gut.

“That’s the internal database,” he whispered.

“A-yup.” Taz clicked through a few more pages with a trembling hand on the mouse. “You get a gold star, Daddy.”

“This means the person is, what? Inside?” Bell squinted at the screen, equal parts confusion and annoyance.

Taz pointed to a specific line on the screen with his index finger. “Right here. Someone with a high-level clearance planted this. It's basically… imagine it like a door stopper. A smidgen of code to let someone slip in and out. It's messy, though. High-level clearance, low-level skillset.”

“Fuck,” Luke swore as his blood reached a boiling point. “Fuck! We’ve got a goddamn mole?”

Taz nodded, his eyes darting toward Luke with a beseeching expression.

“Who? How many have this level?” Bella started to pace and promptly stopped as she ran out of real estate in the closet of an office. With an aggravated huff, she perched her hands on her hips.

“It’s not a long list, but I'm not… it could be anyone. Just because someone has clearance doesn't mean they did it. Someone could have cracked in with their clearance and they wouldn't know.”

The words gave Luke pause. Far be it from the norm for Taz to be the voice of caution. “Compile the list. I don't care who is on it. I want names.”

With a squirm and a disgruntled sound, Taz yanked open a desk drawer to reveal at least six different bags of gummy candy. His lack of response rankled.

“Timothy.”

“Fuck off.”

“T,” Bella cautioned with a similarly stern voice as Luke had just used.

“Fuck. Off.” Begrudgingly, he continued in a quieter tone that held a waver of insecurity. “Let me work.”

“Baby,” Luke closed the gap between them and settled a palm on the back of Taz’ neck. “Whoever it is, whoever they are, we have to act. Consequences be damned, because the consequence of not acting is not something I want to entertain.”

Taz froze for a moment, his body buzzing with tension, before shrugging off Luke’s touch. “I fucking know that. Go away. Let me do this alone.”

“No, not alone—”

“Out!” Taz erupted. His chair flew backward and clipped Luke’s kneecaps as he abruptly stood and backed himself against the desk to glare daggers at them both. “Get out! I'm not doing this with a fucking audience! It's going to be on my head! Not yours, and not yours! Get the fuck out!”

Luke stared in utter bafflement, his jaw slack. Taz didn't just tremble or shiver—he quaked from head to toe like a caged animal ready to claw his own skin off or fight them both bloody.

“T, porfa…” Bella, the stupidly brave woman she was, stepped closer to Taz. “Talk to me.”

“Bell.” Taz’ voice cracked on the single syllable before he swallowed thickly and scrubbed the tell-tale glimmer of tears from his eyes. “Please? I'm not going to put targets on your backs.”

A chill ran down Luke’s spine as understanding bloomed. Of course Taz’ actions would throw up flags in the system. He’dseen it in action before. Every analyst at his clearance level and higher would see the same alerts, the digging and diving and snooping and ultimately, the list that resulted from it. Protest sat heavy on the tip of his tongue, but Taz held up a hand before he could get the words out.

“Just go. I'm not doing jack shit till you're out of this room and busy doing whatever the fuck else you do all day.” Taz shifted his weight back and forth between the balls of his feet. “I'm so fucking serious right now, Luke.”

“Christ, fine.” Luke scrubbed his face with his palms and took a step back. “Airdrop what you find to me directly as soon as you’re done and then get out. I'll have someone drive you home—”

“Fuck all the way off if you think I'm getting in an agent's car. I'll take my chances with the Metro.”

They had a silent battle of wills with eye contact alone, jaws tense and fists clenched in mirror before Luke surrendered with a sigh. Taz was, by far, the most stubborn man on the face of the planet.

“Wilco, Scrappy.” He slowly approached and was hit with a wave of relief as Taz abandoned his fighting stance and crashed into him with a desperate hug. “Please be careful.”

“You too.” Their embrace tightened briefly before ending. Taz glanced toward Bella with equal intensity. “Both of you.”

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