Page 51 of Doyle

She looked gaunt. The two-plus months since the accident in Barcelona, the lack of sleep, still weighed in her face. And despite her ten days on the island, she hadn’t seen much of the sun, most of her surveillance happening at night.

More, she still favored her arm, holding it close to her body even now. And if she looked closely, the scrape still showed in the tender skin on her chin.

Nim’s voice interrupted: “You okay?”

“In the bathroom.” She opened the door, peeked out.No one.“Here goes nothing.” Walking up to the elevator, she pulled out the key card she’d stolen via RFID from Declan on the boat. That had been a risk—valeting the scuba equipment to the boat to get close to Declan. Stein had been carrying his own gear and hadn’t even noticed the blonde with the long hair in a baseball cap and sunglasses, wearing the Outriggers Dive Shop T-shirt. She hadn’t stayed long enough for him to put it together, however.

Nim had programmed the chip, and Emberly produced the card, andplease, please?—

The lift arrived and the doors opened.

She got in, hit the button for the bottom floor, and stripped off the server’s dress. Underneath she wore a pair of shorts and a short-sleeve dive shirt, along with a small thigh pack. This shouldn’t take long. She just needed a shot of the keypad, the bio-lock technology. If she was right, it wouldn’t be too different from the secure digital vault in Montelena. That technology used a retinal-identification scanner as well as a thumbprint and the bio code, so this would simply need the current eight-digit code along with the bio key and—mission accomplished. She’d get in, download the AI program that Declan had developed—Axiom—and deliver it to the people who could put the kibosh on his Evil Plans to Destroy the World.

Okay, that might be overstating it, but?—

Silence on the other end. As she descended, the walls thickened, and maybe cell phone reception could be affected. “Nim, you still with me?”

“Stop shouting. Yes.”

She let out a breath. “They must have an extender down here. Cut the feed.” A moment later, the doors opened to a bare room lined with concrete, with reinforced steel walls, a metal door facing the elevator.

Beneath this platform, water ran through an underground cavern, one that led all the way to the sea. And at any attempt to breach the vault, the outside channel door would close and she’d be trapped.

But if she did her work right today, it would be her escape.

She waited a moment.

“Confirmed.”

She stepped out, glancing at the cameras mounted on all four corners and above the door.

“Just get the specs and leave,” said Nim. “I don’t like this.”

Emberly stepped up to the pad and pulled out her camera. “He’s here at the party.”

“No, really?”

“Yes. I thought it might be him the other night when he stepped onto the patio, but I wasn’t sure—too dark. But it’s definitely him.”

“Did he recognize you?”

“I’m here, right? My guess is that if he recognized Phoenix, I’d be in cuffs, maybe in a locked room answering questions, or at least?—”

“He would not hurt you.”

She sent the pictures to Nim. “Coming your way. And maybe, maybe not. Depends on what he remembers.”

“Like the kiss?”

She opened up her scanner app and ran it around the edges of the door, searching for motion detection or infrared tripwires. Nothing. “I was thinking more about what happened after that—as in the explosion.”

“That wasn’t on you.”

“The part where I took his asset and left him is.”

“You had a job to do. Still do. And it’s just as important as his—more, now. You’re not protecting a terrorist inventor trying to destroy the world.”

“No radio frequency here.” She pulled out a waterproof cell-phone case. “Frankly, seeing Declan over the past few days... I don’t know, Nim. He seems... not like the guy the Swans say he is.”

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