Page 96 of Girl Lost
As Summer led Trinity into the bathroom, Luna turned back to Corbin. “I thought we were in this together. Partners?”
“We are.” He pulled her close, his arms encircling her waist, the warmth of her body a comfort against his aching ribs. “This isn’t the same, Luna. I love you. Always have. Always will.” He tilted her chin, his lips brushing against hers. “And I just found my daughter. I’m not going to make the same mistakes again. Not this time. I promise.”
She yielded to his kiss. Soft, hesitant at first, then responding with a fierceness that made his head spin. The taste of her, familiar and intoxicating, a reminder of all they’d lost, all they could still have.
They broke apart, the girls’ chatter in the bathroom a reminder of the danger that still lurked.
“What about the data vault?” Luna asked. “How are you going to get in?”
“I’ll figure it out.” He stroked her cheek, his thumb tracing the curve of her jaw. “And then I’ll be right behind you.”
The bathroom door opened, and Summer emerged, her arm around Trinity, who was dressed in a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt, her face pale but determined.
“Okay, here’s the deal.” Summer pointed to a spot on her tablet’s map of the facility. “If the data vault is where I think it is, then it’s on the sub-level, two floors down. You’ll need a key card or maybe a six-digit code to get in.”
“And how do we get those?” Corbin asked.
“We improvise.” Summer’s lips curved in a smile as she handed him the tiny Flipper device and explained how to use it. “Keep pressing this button until the unit finds the frequency and the door unlocks. I’ve managed to disable the alarm so you won’t trip it again,” she said. “But it won’t last. Maybe ten minutes, tops.”
Corbin looked at Luna. He knew, without a doubt, that she could handle this. She was the strongest woman he knew.
He kissed her, a quick, hard press of his lips against hers. “Be careful.”
“Always am.” She smiled, a flash of her old fire.
“Let’s go, Trinity.” Luna placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder, her gaze meeting Corbin’s. “We’ll find Stryker and get you home.”
He watched Luna lead Trinity into the hall, Summer following close behind. He didn’t want to let them out of his sight, but he knew he had to trust them. He had to trust himself.
Summer ran back. “Wait! I almost forgot.” She reached into herpocket and pulled out a small flash drive. “Here. Take this.” She pressed it into his palm. “It’s loaded with a program that’ll clone any hard drive. It’ll take three minutes.”
“Three minutes,” he repeated, his mind calculating the odds, the risks.
“You’ll be careful, right?” She looked up at him, eyes searching his, as if trying to gauge whether she could trust him. “I just met you, and I don’t want to lose you. I want to get to know my ... my father.”
He swallowed the lump in his throat.Father. The word sounded foreign but right. He forced a calmness he didn’t feel, trying to calm the rush of emotions.
“I’m not going anywhere, Summer. Not without you.” He guided her chin up, his gaze meeting hers as he did. “I don’t know what happens next, but I’m here. To help you. To make sure you’re safe. And maybe ... maybe we’ll have time to get to know each other.”
Her eyes flickered with something. Hope, fear, or both. Then she was gone, running down the corridor.
The flash drive was cool against his palm for a fleeting moment before he shoved it into his pocket and took off in the opposite direction.
The clock was ticking.
Ten minutes before the alarm would be tripped.
Three minutes to clone the hard drive.
33
LUNA HURRIED DOWNthe corridor,each step a reminder ofTrinity’s fragile heart,the borrowed time ticking away withevery beat. Summer led the way,clutching the tablet asshe navigated the labyrinthine corridors.
Summer. Her daughter. The daughter she had yearned for all those years. The missing piece, found in the most unexpected way. Now she was leading them toward freedom. It was almost too much to comprehend.
And Trinity—who somehow felt like her daughter too, no matter what her DNA said—was teetering on the edge of collapse. The withdrawals too much for her young body.
And a bioengineered time bomb ticking away in her chest.
