Page 72 of No Time Off

I suddenly heard shuffling and footsteps behind me. I slid into the small indentation of the closed door to the room next to me. I sucked in my breath, pressing myself as tightly as I could against the door, the coffee cup digging into my stomach. The kitchen manager left her office and strode left into the kitchen without even glancing my way. Maybe she smelled the coffee.

“Crap,” I whispered. I waited another two full minutes, frozen in the doorway, until the manager strode back into the office. Indeed, she was carrying a mug of coffee.

I exhaled softly. That was way too close. I couldn’t wait any longer. The plan needed to go into action now.

I summoned my courage and then walked out into the open and down the hall toward the guard. I was carrying the cup and saucer in one hand, and the other was slightly behind my back. Luckily, the darkened hallway helped with my deception.

“Excuse me?” I called out softly as I got closer. I tried using the best imitation of a New Zealand accent I could manage. It sounded horrible to my ears, but I hoped the Chinese guard wouldn’t be able to tell. “The woman there”—I pointed back to the kitchen manager’s office—“said I should bring you coffee.”

The guard turned toward me, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. I noticed the gun in his holster. At least he hadn’t drawn it.

He grunted and reached out to take the coffee. As his hands touched the saucer, I pushed the Taser forward and got him right in the gut. I held it firm as he dropped to the floor, shaking and grunting. The cup and saucer fell to the carpet and broke, but the carpet masked the sound.

I kept my finger on the Taser button and reached down and removed the gun from his holster. He was twitching on the ground, but not making any vocalizations. I stomped on the cigarette that had fallen and turned to face the door he was guarding. It was a heavy steel door with an electronic keypad.

I tried the handle, but it was locked. “Slash,” I whispered as loudly as I dared, leaning close to the door. “Slash, are you in there? Slash?”

For several agonizing seconds, I heard nothing. Then, faintly, I heard a voice on the other side. “Lexi? Is that you?”

Relief flooded me. “Yes, it’s me. I’m trying to get you out of here. I don’t have the code, though. What do I do?”

Slash spoke again, low and urgent. “Do you see a small sensor panel near the top of the door?”

I looked up. “Yes, I see it.”

“I watched them punch in the code—once. I couldn’t see the last number, but the first ones are three, three, seven, four, and I don’t know the final one. You’ll have to try them all.”

“Got it.” My hands shook as I tapped the keypad with the first code, adding a one at the end. My breath hitched when the red light blinked. I tried again and again until I reached the number six. Suddenly the keypad chirped, and the door clicked open.

Slash flung it open with his shoulder and stepped into me. I threw my arms around him, realizing he wore no shirt and his hands were tied behind his back. It didn’t matter, because I was so relieved to see him, I couldn’t breathe.

“You came,” he murmured.

“Of course I came,” I whispered heatedly. “But I freaking told you so. You got caught.”

“At no fault of my own,” he whispered back. “I never expected there to be a deranged bird planted in the office as some kind of biological alarm.”

“I’m still right.”

“You are,” he murmured, but he didn’t sound upset, only relieved. “Come on, we have to move now,cara.”

He glanced at the guard on the ground and then the Taser in my hand. “Good thinking, but you better activate it again,” he said.

The guard had started to sit up. I’d taken my finger off the button in my excitement at seeing Slash. He was opening his mouth to holler when I zapped him again. He went down like he’d been shot.

“Get his knife and free my hands.” Slash motioned toward a knife resting in a sheath on the guard’s left hip. I grabbed it and quickly sawed through the plastic ties.

Once I freed him, he flexed his arms for a second before grabbing the guard’s gun and then my Taser. The five-minute duration on the Taser was ending, and we were going to have to do something with the guard. Slash turned off the Taser, but before the guard could recover, he reversed the gun and delivered a hard blow to the guard’s head. The crack was audible down the hall, and I worried the kitchen manager might check. I watched for her as Slash dragged the guard into the cell, but she never appeared. Slash closed the door and locked him in.

I stripped off my top white jacket and handed it to him.

“You’re wearing two jackets,” he said, observing me. “Smart.”

“I thought that’s why you love me,” I whispered.

“It’s a definitely a turn-on.”

I didn’t have to explain the plan to him. He slipped on the jacket, hiding the gun and knife beneath the jacket and handing me back the Taser. I gave him the extra hat and he pulled the brim low over his head.

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