Page 112 of Forging Caine

The door opened behind me, and Samantha left with Jason.

“Come with us?”

Cam-ron wrung his hands, looking around the room. Samantha was right. My priority was her safety, not his.

I hurried out the door.

Jason pointed down the hall. “You go to the staircase at the end. I’ll go down the main stairs to the security control room. The other guy will be down there putting on his radio. I’ll intercept him.”

Samantha held up her watch. “You’ll be at the door in…?”

Jason lifted his. “Seven minutes.”

She was in her element, working with him. No doubts, no time to think, just muscle memory and action. In this headspace, she could take on any danger. “We’ll slip into the stairwell and meet you down there in seven.”

Jason nodded and headed back to the main staircase, gradually shifting from sneaking to walking like one of Fiori’s trusted guards.

Our pace remained slow, ensuring we made as little noise as possible. We passed a room where a television blared, the first noise I’d heard outside of discussions in our rooms. Did the staff live here? Or were the rooms exclusively for guests?

Using the noise as a cover, I pulled closer to Samantha and spoke against her ear. “If I haven’t told you this already, I love you. And if we don’t get out of here, I’m—”

She placed her hand over my mouth. “Don’t talk like that. Run through everything in your head. Scenarios where everything goes perfectly. Scenarios where everything goes wrong. Plan how you’ll deal with each of them, so you’re not left deciding instead of acting.”

That was why this was her element. “All I’m thinking right now is that I want you in that tiny white bikini on a beach in Tahiti.”

Her shoulders bounced twice and she shook her head.

The reaction soothed the overwhelming presence of dread, which threatened to prevent me from breathing. If I was to be in mortal danger again, at least I was with her.

“I’m coming!” Rapid footfalls thundered behind us and we both spun as Cam-ron hurried to catch up.

Samantha and I both slammed our fingers against our mouths in a warning to be silent.

He froze, mouth gaping. “Oh yeah. Sorry.”

Perhaps Jason was right about the added risk of bringing him along.

Samantha muttered under her breath. “Now go over all of those plans in your head again, withthatvariable.”

Chapter 39

Antonio

Attheendofthe hallway, the landing opened to the left, where a U shaped staircase led to the ground floor. Samantha gave a sign to stop and Cam-ron jostled into me. He was a tremendous variable.

Samantha peered through the large window in front of us and snapped back, pointing downward.

I looked, spotting the security guard, and pointed to the stairs.

She nodded and we gathered at the top step. It kept us out of sight of the hallway and the guard, but we also knelt, making ourselves as small as possible.

Cam-ron asked, “What now?”

Samantha mouthed,Hold steady. Be quiet.

“What?”

She placed a finger over her mouth, eyes beginning to roll, but she pulled them back down.

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