by Adams,Claire
"Yeah, but Julian could also have messed up the process if he's got someone on the inside," he said.
"That would mean that he might have also gotten someone to falsify the report," I said.
"Dammit!" Ryan cursed as he started pacing the living room. "How in the hell are we going to figure this out?"
"By getting into the lab and getting the key your father left," I said simply. "That'll give us a way into the files and then maybe we'll have a clearer understanding of what we're dealing with."
"We're going to have to find a way into the lab," he said.
"Already way ahead of you," I smiled as I pulled up the layout of the building on my computer.
"How did you get this?" he asked as he turned the screen and started studying the map.
"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you," I deadpanned. Ryan rewarded me with a laugh before he returned his attention to the screen.
"We could go up the back stairs," he murmured.
"Carrying the computer and equipment we'll need to break in up seventeen flights?" I asked.
"Yeah, what's the problem?"
"I'm not a trained Navy SEAL," I said. "That's one problem, and another is that there are cameras all over the place. We'll definitely be spotted in the stairwells."
"Then what's your plan?" he asked.
"Cooperation and virtual invisibility," I smiled as I began laying out the plan I'd come up with after Cece and I had broken into TriCorp.
When I was finished, Ryan frowned and shook his head.
"We're not getting civilians involved in this," he said. "It's way too dangerous to allow untrained people to do a job like this."
"Then what do you suggest?" I said throwing up my hands. "That we gather a batch of SEALs and go break down the doors?"
"First of all, we're not cookies," he grinned. "We're a team, and second, no, I don't think calling out the SEAL team is the first solution, but if it's necessary, then I know the guys who will help me. I'm just not sure I think your idea is safe."
"What other choice do we have?" I asked.
"At this point, not much," he admitted as he ran a hand through his hair and then rubbed his jaw thoughtfully, again distracting me from the issue at hand as my mind wandered into the fantasy of Ryan grabbing me and pushing me up against the wall as his hands, once again, roamed my body. The sound of his voice brought me back to reality, “Echo?"
"Huh?"
"I said; are you going to call down and ask Cece to come up so we can see if she is willing to do this?" he said as if speaking to a child.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll call her," I said. "Let me shower and get dressed first."
"Hurry up, then," he said impatiently. "We've got a lot of work to do and not a lot of time."
"Aye, aye captain," I said as I saluted him and headed into the bathroom.
"You need to work on your salute, sailor," he grinned. "It's pretty sloppy."
"Yeah, well, you get what you pay for," I shrugged as I closed the door and sank to the floor trying my best to resist opening it and dragging him into the shower with me.
Once under the steaming hot water, I realized that if we were going to make this mission work, I was going to have to stop myself from obsessing over Ryan. It was obvious that he wasn't actually interested in me as anything more than a babysitter for his night terrors and as the person who had a place for him to crash. I needed to stop acting like a schoolgirl with a crush and treat him the same way he treated me. I'd be professional and keep my distance from now on.
It was a nice promise, but I had no idea how I was going to keep it. However, Ryan's complete indifference seemed to be doing the job just fine.
#
Once I'd showered and slipped into the mostly clean shorts and t-shirt I'd pulled out of the laundry basket, I checked my phone and found another message from Commander Donnelly asking me to call him at my earliest convenience. I joined Ryan on the balcony, but before I could tell him about the call from the Commander, he took the conversation in another direction.
"Call Cece," he said as he tapped the screen of his phone in rapid succession.
"You bossing me around, sailor?" I teased.
"Look, we don't have a lot of time," he said. The look on his face was completely serious, and while I found it oddly arousing, I remembered my promise and dialed Cece's number.
"She can't come up here because Mando is gone, but she said the place is dead right now, so we can come down there," I said after talking with her.
"That's not the best place to talk about this stuff," he sighed. "But I guess it'll have to do."
I grabbed the laptop and we headed downstairs knowing that what we were about to do had some serious drawbacks. I tried to reassure myself that we were doing the right thing even if our methods of doing it were highly problematic.
"It's going to be okay, Echo," Ryan said as we descended to the street.
"Stop reading my mind," I scolded. I didn't like that he knew what I was thinking because it meant he knew the other things I thought about as well.
"I'm just saying, it's going to be okay," he repeated as he patted my shoulder and then left his hand resting on it for the rest of the way down. I could feel my breath coming more rapidly as the warmth of his hand radiated through my body, and it was all I could do not to stop and force him to bump into me. This promise was turning out to be way more difficult than I'd anticipated.
When we walked into Nemo's, Cece took one look at me and raised her eyebrow. I knew what that meant, so I fended her off with a pointed stare that clearly indicated she should go no further. She shrugged and led us to a table in the back corner.
Ryan explained the situation and then I explained the plan taking care to emphasize that she was in no way obligated to participate, but when I looked up and saw Cece smiling at me, I knew there was no way she was going to turn down this adventure.
"I'm in," she said. "And I've got an idea how we can get in. Let me make a call to a guy I know."
"Cece, you can't tell anybody what we're doing," I warned.
"I'm not gonna tell him a thing," she said. "I'm gonna borrow a cleaning van for the night, and in return, I'll...well...I'll take care of that."
"God, Cece," I laughed. "Don't do that!"
"What?" she said with a surprised look. "It's not like I'm gonna have sex with the guy. I'm gonna offer him top spot at next week's karaoke competition. You thought I'd have sex with him?"
"No," I said sheepishly. "I just didn't want you to compromise yourself for the mission."
"How long have you known me?" she asked. "Have I ever done anything to compromise myself?"
"Okay, this is all well and good that you're both so invested in preserving your reputations and all, but can we please get on with the plan?" Ryan said in an irritated voice as he tapped his fingers on the table.
"Chill out, man," Cece said as she pulled out her phone and began rapidly tapping on the screen. When she'd finished, she said, "I'll know in a few minutes. What's next?"
Ryan began laying out the plan, step by step, as we listened. There were still way too many wild cards, but we didn't have the luxury of time now that my programs had been discovered and disconnected.
"I'm not sure how we're going to deal with the security cameras," Ryan was saying as I rejoined the conversation. "I don't want to disable them and trigger an alarm, but we can't have those things recording our every move."
"Dude, you have got to be kidding me," Cece laughed.
"What? No, we can't be on camera," he said. "Echo can you program something to turn off the cameras or loop footage?"
"Good Lord, the two of you are so technologically adept that you have no real life skills!" Cece cried.
"Well, then tell us, oh great one, what to do," Ryan grumbled as he took another look at the map of the building and plotted distances yet again. "I mean, it's not like I'm not a highly trained member of the United States military or anything."
"With an ego to
match. Never mind, I've got this one under control," she said shaking her head as she tapped on her phone screen. She was silent for a while before she looked up and said, "We're good. We've got a van arriving at 10:30 tonight and it'll be black with a generic cleaning service logo on the side. He'd bring it earlier, but he's got a building crew using it until then."
"Perfect," I said as I examined the list and said, "Now, we either need to find the keys to the lab or I need to code a program that will bypass the security on the outer entry keypad."
"I might have a better solution for that," Ryan said. "But keep working on it just in case mine falls through."
We went to work on our individual tasks as Cece served the lunch crowd in between offering suggestions for how we could make things run more efficiently. Mando returned after the lunch rush was over wanting to know what we were doing. I shot Cece a look that told her not to tell him.
"Eh, just trying to figure out inheritance law so that Ryan can challenge his stepmother at the reading of the will," she said gently slugging her brother's shoulder. "You know, how it'll be when we battle it out over dad's non-existent estate."
"Not funny," Mando said.
"Aw, c'mon, none of this is funny, Bro," she teased. "It's just sad and sucky, so I'm trying to find something light about it."
"It's okay, Mando," Ryan said. "She's helping, seriously."
Mando skeptically looked back and forth between the two of them before walking over to me and resting his hands on my shoulders.
"And you, Echo," he said. "What about you? What is your role in all of this?"
"I'm just doing the research and feeding them the information," I said as I clicked around on a legal site not entirely sure I was choosing the right links. Fortunately he didn't look close enough to notice.
"Did you eat?" he asked as he patted my shoulder.
"Mmm, not yet," I said focusing my attention on the computer screen and as the coding formulas ran through my mind. I wasn't entirely sure that the key was something tangible inside Dr. Powell's lab. There was a part of me that wondered if it wasn't a kind of puzzle that I'd have to solve before I could decode the files, so I was trying to plan for every eventuality. It was like walking through a maze in the dark.
"I'll fix you all something," Mando said before heading back to the kitchen. I shot Cece a look and she nodded.
"Yo, Mando!" she hollered. "Do the special with carnitas! But make sure they're fresh! I don't want any of that stuff that's been sitting around all day!"
"You got it!" he yelled back.
"That'll keep him back there for a while," she grinned as she grabbed a couple of menus and went to take care of the new customers who'd walked in.
"Ryan?" I said quietly.
"Yeah," he looked up and I felt my resolve waver.
"We can do this right?"
"No doubt whatsoever," he said as he held my gaze and made my heart pound for the hundredth time in just a matter of hours. "We can do this and beat Baines."
"All right, if you're sure," I said returning to my program.
"It's all going to be just fine, Echo," Ryan said as he reached across the table and rested his hand on mine.
At that moment, I would have followed him to the ends of the earth.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Ryan
After we'd eaten, I began laying out the finer points of the break in. I knew that the likelihood of this turning violent was a remote possibility, but I didn't want to be unprepared if that's how things went down. I needed to be able to protect my partners if it came to that.
I also knew from looking at the blue prints of the TriCorp labs that it was highly likely that the labs would all have to be broken into if Echo couldn't figure out how to bypass the security codes on the doors. If there was one thing a SEAL knew, it was demolition, but I wasn't sure where I was going to find the explosives I needed in order to do the job. I knew that C-4s would be perfect because I could slip it into the small spaces under the door and do what we needed to do to open the door without causing a fire or possibly killing us all. It would be a controlled explosion, but I needed to get my hands on some of it without triggering an investigation.
"Cece, this is probably a long shot, but do you know anyone who can get their hands on some C-4?" I asked.
"Sounds familiar, but I'm not sure," she said as her phone buzzed. She looked at the screen briefly then turned back to me. "What is it?"
"Explosives," I whispered.
"Ah, okay, yeah, I think I know a guy," she smiled as she tapped away at her screen.
"Jesus! Don't fucking text that shit!" I said grabbing her arm. She wrenched it away and gave me a dirty look.
"How stupid do you think I am?" she said impatiently. "I'm talking to my van guy and making sure he'll be here on time. Then I'll call my other guy."
"Sorry," I said. "Can't be too careful, you know."
"Believe me, I know," she said rolling her eyes making me chuckle. "Anything else you need?"
"Firepower," I said quietly looking over at Echo.
"Don't look at me, I'm not hearing any of this," she said without taking her eyes off the screen. "My job is to program and get the key, you guys are the demolition experts."
"Gotcha," I said as I turned my attention back to Cece. "Can you get me a semi?"
"Just one?" she said raising an eyebrow.
"Well, we're not going to let her have one," I said tilting my head in Echo's direction.
"Good point," she nodded. "But you need back up just in case things go bad."
"Then two," I said. "And back up magazines."
"Got it," she nodded as she quickly dialed a number and said, "Broadway bodega. Twenty."
"Go with you?" I asked as my phone buzzed with an incoming call. I looked at the screen and saw it was Commander Donnelly, and remembered, too late, that I hadn't checked in with him like I'd promised. The call went to voicemail as I vowed to call him back after we'd finalized our plans.
"Nah, I got it," she shook her head. "Don't want to scare the guy off by making him think I have a boyfriend who's a badass."
"No worries there," Echo said dryly as she continued typing.
"Hey, don't disrespect me!" I said grudgingly causing her to look up and grin. I inhaled sharply as she focused her laser blue eyes on me for a few moments. For a moment, I wanted more than anything to pull her up out of her chair and kiss her so deeply that she'd simply say yes to all the rest of what was running around in my head.
"Wouldn't dream of it, SEAL," she said as she tapped one key hard and fast for a few seconds.
"Okay, I'd love to stay and break up this lover's quarrel, but I need to get over to meet my guy," Cece said as she grabbed her phone and stuffed it into her back pocket. "Be back in a flash with supplies."
"Be careful, Cece," Echo said.
"Don't stress, chica," she grinned as she headed for the door hollering, "Mando, running an errand, back in fifteen!"
I heard a shouted protest come from the kitchen, but Cece was already out the door by the time I understood what Mando had said to his sister. I looked at Echo who was frowning at her computer screen as she typed and said, "Move back upstairs to work?"
"No, I get better Wi-Fi reception down here," she replied. "I'll stay."
"Okay, I need to go up and work on mapping out the timeline so that we can go over it when Cece gets back," I said. "When she gets back, come find me so we can go over it and make sure we're all on the same page."
"Will do, boss," she said giving me a half ass salute as she kept one hand on the keyboard.
"Your salute is the sloppiest thing I've ever seen, lady," I laughed.
"So sue me once we're done," she grinned. "Or don't, I mean, you'll be a billionaire after that so you won't need my unemployment checks."
"Oh, that reminds me!" I said remembering Eva's money. I reached into my back pocket and pulled out the envelope she'd given me. "Here, take this for rent."
"Hey, I
was just kidding," she said shaking her head and waving the envelope away. "I got a pretty good severance check and I'll find another job once we've taken care of this mess."
"No, seriously," I said. "Just do me a favor and take it."
"Why? So you'll feel less guilty about commandeering my apartment and my friends?" she grinned.
"Is that what you think I'm doing?" I asked.
"Oh Ryan, I was just teasing," she said as she reached out and took the offered envelope. Her fingers brushed mine as she did and I felt myself growing stiff again. It annoyed me that she had the ability to arouse me with the slightest gesture, and that even if I wanted to do something about it, I couldn't be the asshole who tempted her to cheat on her boyfriend.
Just then, Mando came out of the kitchen and walked around the restaurant checking on customers and bringing us a huge basket of fresh tortilla chips and salsa. He leaned down and kissed Echo on the head and whispered something in her ear that made her turn around and smack his arm.
"You're impossible!" she laughed as she grabbed a chip and scooped up some salsa and shoved it in her mouth. She mumbled through a mouthful of chips and salsa, "I'm telling Cece when she gets back!"
"Go ahead and do it, chiquita bonita!" he laughed as he headed back into the kitchen ordering his team to get ready for the supper rush.
"Come find me when Cece gets back," I said as I headed for the door.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Echo
I sat at the back table working on the program for another half hour before Cece blew through the door wearing a huge smile and an enormous backpack.
"Hey, chica, where's the SEAL boy?" she called as she quickly walked toward me. She dropped her voice and said, "We need to get this out of here pronto."
"Gotcha," I said as I closed the laptop and followed her to the front door. "Ryan said to meet him upstairs as soon as you got back. He wants to go over the timeline for the plan."
Cece and I quickly climbed the stairs to my apartment, but halfway up and swore under my breath as I realized I'd left my bag under the table.