Page 39 of Avenging Jessie
Damn. He was good at this job. She’d always known it, but it kept hitting her smack in the face. This plan was solid and could definitely work, but…
What if it didn’t? What if they both ended up trapped inside with Hastings? What if they were both killed?
The best option was for one to go in and the other to stay out here. “While this plan is solid and strategic, I have a suggestion.”
He quirked a brow. “Of course you do.”
“Hey, you’re the one who keeps insisting we’re partners. Do you want to hear it or not?”
He sat back and sighed. Motioned in a circle with his finger. “We are partners, and I welcome your input. Go ahead.”
“Since there are only two of us, and our backup is still several hours away, you and I have to be a complete team. If the other swans were here, you’d stay put and keep an eye on things via your computer. The rest of us would complete the breach, and if things went belly up, you’d be our rescue.”
He went still. “You want to go in alone.”
She nodded, hoping against hope he would see the logic in it. She was making a valid point, even if the real reason was to initiate her own plan. “If I get caught, you’re safe out here, and you can get me out. It makes more sense because we both know what the odds are of getting in and getting out unseen. If you put a cam on me, and I can get any sort of proof, though, before I get caught, you’ll be able to share it with the world. ”
His jaw ticked. He stared at the screen. For half a second, she thought he was actually considering it. “You and Hastings have too much history together. Plus, he might be screwing Brewer, and this is part of his plan. Or it could be a trap because he’s realized you were at the gala tailing him. Too many variables. I can’t in good conscience send you alone. Yes, I can manipulate a lot from out here. Still, with their security system, I need to get inside and plug into it to take control of cameras and allow you to move around without it setting off alarms and alerting the guards.”
Damn. That put a crimp in her plan.
Still…
She’d faced worse odds before when breaking into a building, and she wasn’t without her own hacking skills, even though they paled in comparison to his.
She pulled out her phone and called up Tessa’s encrypted number.
Spence’s gaze sharpened, but she typed and let him see the screen.Possible breach. Outskirts of Görlitz, Data Center North. Meet us there as soon as you can. She slid the phone back into her pocket. “Okay, that’s done. Now, give me two minutes. I need to pee before we go play Ocean’s Two.”
He rolled his eyes and looked back at his computer. “Fine. I’ll load a USB with a virus so we can play dirty and take the servers offline.”
Again, he was so damn smart. She wouldn’t have thought of that. Was she being an idiot to betray him?
The thought made her hesitate. He would never forgive her for what she was about to do.
The thought of those drones, though. Of Hastings and Brewer wrecking the world. Of innocent people being hurt or killed.
She checked her weapon. “Pop the trunk so I can grab another clip.”
His eyes swung to her, and he hesitated. Her pulse skipped. Was he reading her mind? Did he suspect what she was about to do?
But then he just gave a curt nod and hit the lever, releasing the trunk lid, before he returned to his typing.
She flung open the door before she lost her courage or let Spence’s well-thought-out plan change her mind. Her boots hit wet gravel. While in the trunk’s supplies of weapons, she did grab an extra clip for her handgun, along with the collapsible rifle, and a few clips for it, as well. Stashing it under her long coat, she closed the trunk and raced for the nearby trees.
The night air was suffocating, thick with humidity and the lingering rain. The line of conifers and pines was dense and dark, a perfect cover. If she cut the angle right, she could be inside before Spence even realized she’d gone off-script.
Because Spence’s plan might be solid.
But hers?
Her plan was already air-tight.
Sixteen
Spence
The moment Jessieslid out of the car, he knew.
