Page 54 of No Time Off

I left the office, ducked down below the window in the gym door and headed down the hallway, my ears straining for footsteps, noise, or conversation.

I carefully approached the kitchen. I pressed myself flat against the wall when I heard people speaking softly in a language I presumed was Mandarin. Most likely someone was preparing breakfast. I needed to move quickly to plant the next bug. The longer I lingered, the more I increased my odds of discovery.

I timed my movement with the sounds I heard coming from the kitchen as I slipped past the entrance. There appeared to be a staff dining room on the left next to a staircase. Ahead, I saw an open door leading into a formal dining room. Since there seemed to be more activity happening in the house than expected, I made the executive decision to plant the second bug there instead of the conference room.

I dashed across the hall and into the dining room. The room contained a long, polished table with high-backed chairs, a giant map of the Cook Islands in a gilded frame, and a large red roaring lion statue near the window. I took the second mini recorder out of my bag, turned it on, and stuck it in the back of the lion’s mouth. That should do it. It was time to get out.

I glanced out of the door of the dining room and saw the hallway was empty. I reached into my pocket, clicking three times to indicate I was ready to exit so Lexi would take down the cameras and door alarms. The area remained quiet, so I dashed into the hallway, past the kitchen, and turned onto the hallway with the office where I’d planted the first recorder.

I’d just passed the gym door and was nearly to the exit when I heard the gym door start to open. I’d never make it out the exterior door in time without being seen, so I ducked back into the chief of staff’s office where I’d planted the first recorder to wait it out.

I stood motionless, but didn’t hear anyone challenging me or calling for help. The rain had picked up, and I hoped Manny had the foresight to protect my laptop. At least I hadn’t been spotted, though I’d had several close calls. I blew out a breath of relief and was just trying to decide if I should alert Lexi that I wasn’t out yet when a jarring squawk behind me gashed the silence.

I jolted backward, my heart hammering. Framed against the lightening sky near the window sat a bright-green bird. It was on a cageless perch. The bird had a blue head and a red beak—a parrot of some kind—tilting its head and studying me with round, beady eyes.

“Che cavolo,”I murmured in Italian—“What the hell?” That I spoke in Italian and not English indicated the unexpected noise had startled me deeply.

“Where did you come from?” I murmured to the parrot. I hadn’t heard or noticed the bird the first time around, although the room had brightened considerably in the past minutes alone. Who the hell kept a cageless bird in an office as a pet?

The parrot suddenly screeched loudly and launched itself at me, claws out, shaking its wings. I tried to grab it, but it flew too high, clearly intending to frighten rather than attack me. It continued to squawk loudly, flying like a maniac around the room.

“Shh,” I ordered, but it was too late. I heard another door open down the hall and footsteps approaching.

Cursing under my breath, I forced myself to think. I quickly locked the office door from the inside, buying myself a little more time and hoping that anyone who investigated would just shrug it off as a bothersome parrot. Someone tried the door and then went silent, surely listening. I hoped for a moment they might just leave. Then the phone in my pocket vibrated and the parrot went completely berserk, shrieking and flapping its wings. The sound was piercing, echoing off the walls.

That was the tipping point for the man at the door. He started yelling in Chinese, probably asking someone to bring a key. He either suspected someone was inside or was afraid of the mess the parrot might be making. I checked the window, but it wouldn’t budge, somehow sealed in place. There was no way I could avoid being caught. I could hear more voices coming down the hall. I had just seconds before I was discovered. I pulled out my phone and spoke in a low voice.

“I’ve been discovered,” I said, hoping Manny and Lexi could hear me over the parrot shrieking. “The two devices are planted but my position was compromised by an unexpected parrot in the office. I’m going to leave my phone on and hide it in this room so you can hear what’s going on. Don’t hang up. Take my laptop and get the hell out of here. They’ll likely do a sweep of the area as soon as they discover me.”

There was no time to say anything else. I slid my phone into an opening under the floor trim of the desk. It was impossible to see unless someone started looking on the floor with a flashlight.

I stood up, moved away from the desk, and put my hands on my head. Moments later, there was silence outside, and then I heard a key in the lock and the door swung open. The light in the room came on, and one of the guards pointed at me in shock. It didn’t take them long to respond before I was promptly staring down the muzzle of a gun.

A man growled something at me in Chinese. I didn’t need a translator to know he’d told me if I moved, I died.

My mind raced, trying to figure a way out. The mission was complete, but I was captured, stuck in an enemy stronghold with a loaded gun aimed at my skull. I wasn’t sure what would happen next.

Damn that parrot. Lexi was going to kill me if I ever got out of this alive.

TWENTY-EIGHT

Lexi

It had started to rain, and the droplets pelted the corrugated-metal roof of the farmhouse with a steady pinging, obscuring most other sounds except for the weird squawking coming from my phone and Slash cursing and saying something about a parrot. A parrot?

My fingers froze over the keyboard. I’d just taken the security cameras and the door alarms down for his exit, but something had happened.

But what? I strained to hear above the pounding of the rain. Had he escaped? Should I turn the security systems back on? I waffled, then set them to come back on in thirty seconds using a timer. Just as I finished, I abruptly lost access to the network. I didn’t even have time to troubleshoot it when my phone pinged. I opened my messages and saw Manny had texted me.

“Slash captured. I’m on the run. Don’t hang up, he left his phone on so we could monitor.”

I was about to respond when the door to the office flew open and Rangi ran in without bothering to knock. He was out of breath, his eyes wide with urgency.

“Lexi, shut everything down,” he hissed, running a hand through his wet hair. I had no idea where he’d been other than somewhere out in the rain. “Government forces are headed this way. They’re searching all the homes nearby and will be here very soon. We must get the prime minister out—now!”

“But Slash?—”

I started to protest when Rangi grabbed my arm. “Now, Lexi. There’s no time.”

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