Page 17 of Atone in Darkness
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Chase kept a wary eye on Marisol as they walked down the hall, not yet sure she wouldn’t ultimately betray him. He automatically positioned himself half a step behind her to look more like he was escorting her and not necessarily to someplace she actually wanted to go. Marisol looked worried enough to give credence to that idea.
Fortunately, so far they pretty much had the halls to themselves,but that wouldn’t last. It was tempting to hurry their pace, which would only draw unwanted attention if they did cross paths with any of the other guards.
“My place is just ahead.”
She murmured the words without looking back in his direction. He took that as a sign she was aware of the image he was trying to project and that they needed to act the part. Upon reaching the entrance to her quarters,she quickly keyed in the security code. Chase hovered close by to memorize the number sequence while she hit the keys.
They both released a deep breath after they crossed the threshold and the door slid shut behind them. At best, this wasonly a momentary respite from the danger that surrounded them, but he’d take it.
“Gather up anything you think might be useful when we get out of here.”
After she set her computer case down on the coffee table, he leaned in close to whisper, “Are your quarters bugged?”
“No way to know for sure. I haven’t seen any cameras, but there could be microphones. Considering you’re the only person I’ve ever invited in, they wouldn’t have heard much.” Then she quietly asked, “Do you really think we stand a chance of escaping?” Her chin took on a stubborntilt. “And don’t bother lying. I’ll know.”
“The odds aren’t great, but giving up isn’t an option. If we stay, we die.”
He expected her to deny his assessment of the situation, but it appeared she was made of stronger stuff. “Okay, then. I’ll change clothes and grab a few things.”
He stopped her before she could disappear into the other room. “Is there any chance I can access the Internet withyour laptop?”
Once again, she hesitated. “Maybe, but be quick about it. They limit my access to uploading my reports. If they notice unusual activity, they may come running.”
He’d been afraid of that. “How quick do I need to be?”
“Depends on how good they are. Considering what this operation has to be costing, I wouldn’t bet our lives on them not having top-quality techs on salary. I’m guessingminutes at most.”
“Log in, and I’ll take it from there. I’ll be contacting a secure site, one I know for damn sure they won’t be able tohack. They’re not the only ones with top-notch computer people.”
She booted up the computer and keyed in her ID and password. “I won’t be long.”
He nodded as he accessed his account through the Paladins’ secure server and typed in his direct boss’s e-mailaddress. Jarvis Donahue wasn’t only the top dog at the installation that served as Chase’s home base, he was also his brother-in-law. Who else should he include in the message? His friend Jake, a computer whiz. He also added Devlin Bane, the top Paladin in the Seattle area.
Those three should be enough. They would call in the troops and coordinate the search to find him. He gave them a briefsummary of the situation. He also warned them the installation was heavily armed, but he was doing his best to escape on his own. At the last second, he added he’d seen mountains in the distance. That might not narrow their search much, but it was a start. After sending the encrypted message, he shut the computer down and crossed his fingers that he’d made the right decision to reach out to his friends.
He’d had plenty of time to think about his situation. The implications of the day he’d been kidnapped remained all too clear. No one outside of the organization had known where he was headed and how he planned to get there. While he’d love to find out that he was wrong, his gut insisted he’d been betrayed to the enemy by a person who had access to the Paladins’ secure server. If true, Chase hadjust alerted that same enemy he was on the move.
Marisol rejoined him in the small living room, a backpack slung over her shoulder. “All I had for food was some bottledwater and a box of granola bars. I stuck in a few personal items, a small first aid kit, and the disposable lighters I brought from the lab.”
“Sounds good. Before we head out, where do you think we should toss our firebombs tobe the most effective?”
She bit her lower lip as she gave the matter some thought. “In here wouldn’t be a bad idea. It’s unlikely anyone would notice until the fire gets bad enough to set off the alarms.”
Then she pointed at the sprinkler in the ceiling overhead. “That’s a problem, though. It could smother the flames too quickly.”
“Good thinking.”
He immediately dragged the coffee table overto the center of the room and climbed up to see if he could figure out how to disable the sprinkler head. Frustrated, he looked around the room for any ideas. “Do you have any sheets of plastic? Something we could use to block the spray from hitting the fire once we start it? And some duct tape?”
She disappeared into the other room and returned in a flash with a shower curtain and a roll of surgicaltape. Holding the items up for his inspection, she asked, “Will these work?”
“We’ll make them work.”
He shoved the small sofa as far from the sprinkler head as he could and then taped the shower curtain to the ceiling to provide at least some meager protection. “It won’t hold for long, but hopefully it will let the fire get big enough to make evacuation necessary. Do you know of a place we canhide closer to the entrance until that happens?”
“Yes, there’s a storage room right down the hall. That will give us a straight shot to the front door.”
