by Black, Jenna
She put her hand to her chest as if the touch could calm her suddenly racing heart. “You scared me,” she said.
“Sorry,” he murmured, sidling up behind her and putting his arms around her waist.
Her heart thumped for a different reason as Dante’s body pressed up against hers and he nuzzled her neck. It had been a while since he’d shaved, and his whiskers scratched in a way that was surprisingly sexy. She glanced over her shoulder to reassure herself that Agnes was still asleep.
“Behave,” she told Dante breathlessly, as his lips brushed against her skin.
“Why?” he countered. “If tomorrow goes badly, we may never see each other again. You don’t suppose Nate and Bishop are ‘behaving’ in that bedroom, do you?”
Nadia had no desire to speculate about what Nate and Bishop were doing. “But they have a bedroom,” she said, though despite her halfhearted protest, she found herself leaning into his warmth and stretching her neck to give him better access. They had had so little time together, so little opportunity to explore. She’d experienced her first real kiss with Dante, and she very much wanted more. But not when they had an audience, even if that audience was currently asleep. There was no guarantee she’d stay that way. “With a door that closes.”
Dante nipped lightly on her earlobe, and her breath caught in her throat. “There is a second bedroom,” he murmured. “And its door closes, too.” She swallowed hard. “Of course, there’s no bed in it, but we can improvise.”
Nadia shivered and her skin prickled with goose bumps. It was very possible she might die tomorrow. Tonight might be the only chance she ever had.
Dante’s arms tightened around her. “I’m not trying to pressure you,” he assured her. “I just don’t want you to let Agnes get in the way of what you want. Er, if you want it, that is.”
Nadia smiled, glad to know Dante wasn’t quite as smooth and confident as he’d been making himself out to be. But at least he knew what he wanted, which was more than she could say for herself.
Actually, that wasn’t true. She knew exactly what she wanted, and it was something she didn’t have: time. Time to take things slowly and see where they led. Time to figure out just how she felt about Dante and ease into the kind of relationship she’d never allowed herself to think about having when she’d been promised to Nate. Time to make a decision based on mutual desire instead of desperation.
Dante turned her around and cupped her face in his hands. “Sorry,” he said, then pressed a light kiss to her lips. He sighed. “I’m pressuring you whether I mean to or not.”
“No—” she started, but he silenced her with another kiss.
“If suggesting tonight might be the last time we see each other isn’t pressuring you, I don’t know what is. I’m being an asshole.”
Nadia smiled up at him. He was the perfect antidote to all the pain and ugliness that surrounded her, someone strong and thoughtful and honorable. The warm glow in her chest told her she could easily find herself falling in love with him. Or maybe she’d done that already.
“I’ve known more than my fair share of assholes,” she said. “You’re not one of them.”
Dante took both her hands in his and squeezed so tight it almost hurt. “Promise me you’ll come back to me. Promise … Promise you’ll win.” His voice was choked. “You have no idea how hard it is for me not to beg you to let Nate go alone.”
“Would it make it any easier to resist if I told you nothing’s going to change my mind?”
He sighed. “I already knew that.”
“I have every intention of winning,” she told him, putting every ounce of confidence she could muster into her voice. “This is not the last time we’ll see each other. I won’t let it be.”
Dante enveloped her in a hug, and Nadia prayed with all her being that she would be able to keep her promise.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Now that Dante was in the resistance’s doghouse, he no longer had access to a car. Nate and Nadia didn’t dare take public transportation to get to the Headquarters building—way too much chance of being spotted and recognized. That left car theft as the only feasible alternative.
There were very few cars in the Basement—only the gang lords and drug kingpins could afford such an extravagance—which meant they had to obtain their vehicle from the low-rent Employee neighborhood that bordered the Basement. Nadia didn’t like that part of their plan one bit. Anyone living in that neighborhood who drove a car had either sunk his or her life savings into it or was driving a company-issued car and would have his or her pay docked if it went missing.
“We’ll just be borrowing it,” Dante assured her as he set out just before five in the morning to procure their ride. “The owner will have it back in one piece by the end of the day. And if Nate’s plan works, you’ll have enough money to more than make up for the inconvenience.”
Nadia didn’t mention that she also didn’t like the risk Dante was taking upon himself in venturing out to steal the car. However, he was the only one of the five of them who had the skills to pull it off.
“Be ready when I get back,” Dante said. “We have to move super fast.”
“Just go already,” Nate said irritably from the living room, where he’d taken to pacing like a caged animal. He didn’t like depending on Dante any more than Nadia did, only she suspected it was for different reasons.
Dante didn’t respond to Nate’s prodding, unless you could call the heady kiss he gave Nadia in farewell a response. Nate said something she was sure wasn’t complimentary under his breath.
“See you soon,” Dante said, and then he was gone.
Bishop parked himself by the window, leaning on the sill and looking out. Dante would signal with his headlights as he drove up, and Bishop would let Nate and Nadia know it was time to go. Agnes was back in her pink dress, huddled in a corner half-asleep. She had torn out a layer of petticoat from beneath the skirt and was using that petticoat as a makeshift shawl to keep her shoulders warm. The gel had not washed out of her hair as cleanly as Bishop had claimed it would, so her hair was baby-blanket blue. Nadia was desperately worried about what would happen to the girl if she and Nate failed. Dante and Bishop were both tough and strong-willed, with a heavy dose of streetsmarts to boot. They had a decent shot of protecting themselves if everything went to hell. Agnes, on the other hand, was spectacularly ill-equipped for a life on the run.
“Kurt and Dante will take care of her if need be,” Nate said practically in her ear, and Nadia jumped. She’d been so focused on Agnes she hadn’t even noticed him approaching.
Nadia slipped her hand into his and squeezed. “Let’s hope they don’t need to.” She met his eyes and saw the same combination of fear and determination that she suspected he saw in hers.
Nate resumed his pacing, and Nadia resumed her pointless worrying, until a few minutes later, when Bishop came to attention at the window.
“Showtime,” he told them, grabbing the thin sheet that he’d bundled up by his feet. The chances that anyone in Debasement would see them getting into the car, recognize them, and report them were incredibly low, but why risk it? They’d look weird running around with a sheet draped over them, but weird was better than recognized.
Nadia looked away, not wanting to intrude while Bishop gave Nate a kiss good-bye. Then Bishop helped drape the sheet over them so that it would hide their faces and as much of their bodies as they could manage, and they hurried down to the first floor to be ready when the car pulled up.
They made it into the backseat of the car without incident.
“Stay down,” Dante ordered them unnecessarily. They had already been over the plan about twenty-five times, and it involved eliminating any chance of anyone seeing and recognizing them before they reached Headquarters.
Nate squeezed himself into the tight space on the floor behind the passenger seat, while Nadia lay down on the backseat. They kept the sheet draped over them for maximum anonymity, even though it made the
air feel stuffy and close. Or maybe that was just Nadia’s nerves.
“Are we completely insane to try this?” Nate muttered as the car bumped its way over the poorly maintained streets of the Basement.
Nadia shrugged. “Maybe. But I didn’t come up with any new options overnight, and I guess you didn’t either, so we’re kinda stuck with it.”
That was the last of the conversation. The ride soon smoothed out, the car having crossed the Basement’s border.
It seemed to take forever to get to Headquarters, though Nadia supposed it wasn’t much more than twenty-five minutes with the thin traffic of early morning. She couldn’t wait to get out from under the suffocating sheet and actually do something. The worry and anticipation were surely going to drive her insane if she had to stay still any longer.
“We’re only a couple of blocks away,” Dante said, breaking the long silence. “Get ready.”
Nadia patted the pockets of her much-loathed retreat uniform, making doubly sure she had her canister of knockout gas and the small gun she’d taken from Lily within easy reach. She heard Nate similarly patting himself down, then heard a soft click, which she gathered was the sound of him turning off the safety on Fischer’s gun. He was also carrying the gun Nadia had taken from the tower guard as a backup. She closed her eyes and prayed they didn’t have to shoot people who were just trying to do their jobs. But if that was what she had to do to protect herself and her friends, she was determined to do it.
“One block,” Dante counted down. Then, several seconds later, “I’m about to pull up to the curb. There’s one guy stationed by the door, and I see another sitting at the security kiosk.”
The Chairman’s private entrance was located at the back of the building, far from the public entrance and the historic art deco lobby. If the Chairman were inside, the security presence would be more substantial and visible, although even if the entrance were unmanned, the place was the next best thing to impenetrable. It would take a rocket launcher to get through the high-tech glass doors—unless you were the Chairman Heir and had access rights.
“Are you ready?” Nate asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Nadia answered.
“Yeah. Me too.”
The car slowed, and Nadia helped Nate pull the sheet off them so they wouldn’t get tangled up in it when they tried to get out. It was still dark, but the streetlights were momentarily blinding, and Nadia had to blink a few times to clear her vision.
Then the car came to a complete stop, and Nate sprang up from the floor and opened the door.
* * *
Nate might have found the look of shock on the security guard’s face funny if his heart weren’t beating from somewhere in the vicinity of his throat. Behind him, he heard Dante gun the engine of his stolen car. Nate didn’t want the guard to pay attention to the car or try to get its license plate, so he pulled his keys out of his pocket, making it obvious he planned to enter the building with or without any assistance. He’d never had to unlock the door before—he barely showed up during working hours, much less when the building was locked up—but he knew he needed the physical key before he could trigger the retinal scanner, the fingerprint scanner, and the voice-recognition software. He would probably have looked more authoritative if he actually knew which key it was instead of shuffling through them indecisively.
The guard, looking totally flummoxed, called something over his shoulder, alerting the guy at the kiosk that something was up. Between the two of them, they would eventually scrape up the nerve to try to detain him, but right now they were both too stunned. There were three keys on his ring that Nate couldn’t identify, but before he decided which one to try first, the guard opened the door for him. Either he was being habitually polite to the Chairman Heir, or he thought it would be easier to arrest him if he let him in.
The guy at the kiosk was on the phone when Nate stepped inside, Nadia close on his heels.
“I wish to speak to my father when he gets in,” Nate told the door guard, keeping his voice calm and easy, as if nothing out of the ordinary were going on. “I’ll just go on up and wait for him in his office.”
The guard blinked, still looking confused, but the confusion gave way to determination before Nate’s eyes. The guard’s hand started moving toward his gun, but Nate pulled his own out of his pocket first. He pointed it at the door guard while angling his body so that the guy at the kiosk wouldn’t be able to see.
“No one has to get hurt here,” Nate said. “All I want to do is talk to my father. If he wants me arrested after we’ve talked, then you’ll arrest me. But right now, you’re going to walk with me to the elevator and stay between me and your friend over there.” Nate jerked his chin toward the kiosk, where the second guard was just hanging up the phone.
Nate grabbed the door guard’s arm to make sure he didn’t bolt, and Nadia relieved him of his sidearm. The second guard was leaving the kiosk, reaching for his own gun as he came toward them.
“Let’s go,” Nate said, putting his gun to the door guard’s head and jerking him toward the elevators. “And tell your friend to back off and put his gun down.”
“Give it up, Mr. Hayes,” the other guard said. He had his gun drawn, but wasn’t pointing it yet. Nate suspected the man didn’t much like the idea of pointing a gun at the Chairman Heir, wanted man or not. “There’s no way out of this.”
Nate laughed, hoping he sounded confident instead of scared. “In case you didn’t notice, I’m trying to get in, not out.” Being very careful to keep his hostage between himself and the other guard, Nate started moving toward the elevator, Nadia right behind him. “Like I told your buddy here, all I’m going to do is go up to my father’s office and wait for him. You can apprehend me afterward.”
“That’s not the way it works, son,” the other guard said, his gun finally coming up and pointing in their direction. If worse came to worst, Nate could use the door guard as a human shield, but he really hoped it wouldn’t come to that. “Put the gun down and put your hands up.”
They had reached the bank of elevators, and Nadia hit the call button. “We’re both armed, officer,” she said, holding up the massive gun she’d taken from the door guard’s holster. “And believe me, after all the crap we’ve been through, we’re both dangerous, too. Just stay back and let us go up to the Chairman’s office. As you said, we’re not getting out of here. No reason to start a shoot-out when you’ve got us surrounded.”
A couple of other security guards had emerged from other parts of the building, and Nate heard the sound of sirens approaching. It was definitely time to hurry the hell up.
The elevator dinged. Out of the corner of his eye, Nate saw Nadia turn and point the gun toward the car as the doors opened. Which was a good thing, because there were two guards inside, ready to charge out at them.
“Hold your breath, Nate,” Nadia said.
There was a hissing sound that could only be her little can of knockout gas being discharged, and then the thump of two bodies hitting the elevator floor. Nadia walked into the elevator, gingerly stepping over the limp guards, and held the door for him as he backed in. She disarmed the unconscious men, then took Nate’s keys from his pocket and inserted the appropriate one in the elevator’s control panel. Nate told her his clearance code, which she entered into the keypad, and the doors began to slide closed. Nate considered shoving the door guard out, but decided to keep his human shield instead.
The elevator rose with stomach-rolling speed. Nate wanted to take a deep breath to help calm his nerves, but the faint medicinal scent in the car suggested there might still be enough knockout gas in the air to make a deep breath inadvisable. His ears popped hard enough to hurt, and within seconds the doors opened onto the building’s top floor.
During business hours, there would be at least three security guards in the reception area alone, but not now, before dawn. Nate stepped aside so that Nadia could get out of the elevator first, holding her gun at the ready as if
she were well trained in the art of using it. Which, of course, she wasn’t, but Dante had given them both pointers on how to project an aura of competence.
Nate backed out of the car, still dragging the door guard with him. Just as the doors started to close, Nate gave the guard a hard shove back into the car. Nadia sprayed another dose of knockout gas for good measure, and by the time the car started back down, there were three unconscious guards on its floor.
Nate finally took the deep breath he’d been craving. “So far, so good,” he said, and Nadia smiled at him gamely.
“Now all we have to do is live through the hard part.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
The most secure location in the entire Paxco Headquarters Building was, naturally, the Chairman’s office. Nate let himself and Nadia in, then engaged its entire series of locks, meant only for emergencies. Two of those locks were good, old-fashioned dead bolts—locks that would still do their jobs in the event of a power outage.
The front door was the only way in, but there was a hidden emergency exit behind a decorative bookcase, filled with leather-bound antique tomes so pristine they’d probably never even been opened, much less read. There would be no getting in through that door, but Nate figured it wouldn’t hurt to check it out anyway while they were waiting for his father to arrive. He put his shoulder to the bookcase, prepared for heavy labor, but found it was on rails and slid aside with relative ease to reveal the door behind it.
“What’s that?” Nadia asked.
“It’s an emergency exit,” Nate replied as he opened the door into a small, concrete-lined stairwell. This door was fitted with even more locks than the front entrance, and was reinforced with steel. Nate didn’t know if it had once been a fire exit, or if it had been created from scratch when the Empire State Building had been gutted and repurposed as Paxco Headquarters.
He stepped out onto the landing and peeked over the edge to see the endless flights of stairs leading down. He supposed the stairs were necessary for certain kinds of emergency situations—like, say, when there was a fire or a power outage that made the elevators unusable—but it made his body ache just thinking about going down them. The office was on the 102nd floor, and that was a whole lot of stairs to descend.