“Do you promise, Asher? Do you promise me?” Her voice trembled.
He brought their clasped hands up to her cheek and pulled out his index finger so he could trace her trembling lower lip.
“It would take a man forever to figure you out, wouldn’t it?”
“What?” she blinked up at him. Confused.
“I promise, he’s going down.”
She gave a relieved smile. “Thank you.”
“You didn’t have to ask, Honey.”
Eden blinked slowly and then her eyes were dry. “Turn on your radio, I’m done with my meltdown. We’ve got civilians to rescue and bad guys to catch.”
Asher flipped the switch on his mic.
“Asher, you do that again, and it goes in your file.” Max was pissed off. “You got me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Suzanne is on the way with Rafa to the hospital. Raiden, Cullen, and Nic are at the opening, coming back in. The plan is back in place, Ezio is hitting the lights in two minutes. He’s going to rappel over the side of the balustrade to take the people in Señora Azua’s office by surprise. When the rest of the team comes through the blast hole, they’ll clear out the people on the lobby floor—that includes guards and civilians. You’ll join them.”
“I can help gather everybody,” Eden chimed in.
Asher and Max said ‘No’ simultaneously.
“Yes,” she ground out. She stood up from where she’d been slumped against the side of the desk. “How many stupid-ass rescue operations go FUBAR because some civilian panics and doesn’t do what they’re told? I’m thinking a whole hell of a lot. The people know me, plus I’m a woman, I can help. Trust me, you don’t know Sharon Foster, she has a hissy fit if she gets a run in her hose. The lights going out are going to send her into orbit.”
“I said no, Eden.” Asher was proud of how calm his voice was.
He watched her give him a considering look and sigh. “Fine, but if things start falling to shit, and you find out you need me with a screamy-meemy-Sharon, are you going to ask for my help?”
Asher looked up at the ceiling, then down at her determined green eyes. “I promise to adapt to changing circumstances.”
She grinned at him.
“That’s all I can ask for.”
He pulled a small flashlight out of his pack and wrapped his arm around her waist. “Let’s go.”
They were in the stairway when the lights went out and the red emergency light came on. It was dim, but Asher wasn’t surprised in the least that Eden was surefooted, even in her little kitten heels. He hadn’t even needed to tell her to put them back on, she’d known to do it as soon as he’d explained they were going to go through a hole in the gate that he’d blown through.
“My team will be coming through the gate at the northeast. They’ll let themselves in through the maintenance door at the east wall lobby, near the elevators.”
Asher continued. “Our headcount is seventeen. Ten civilians, counting you. Two Nomad Security, five bank guards, one of which is Torres. Ezio’s up on the mezzanine; he’s going to keep eyes on the people in the office and also pinpoint the whereabouts of the others on the lobby floor. That will allow Cullen, Raiden, and Nic to gather them up and take them to safety.”
“I wanna believe, please know I want to believe,” she whispered. “But I’m a cynical bitch who always plans for the worst.”
“Planning for the worst is what we do too. That’s the reason I’m not taking you directly to safety, just in case you’re right and we do need you. But I sure as hell am hoping for the best.”
He quietly opened the door to the lobby near the women’s restroom and ushered her through it.
She was silent as a mouse. He looked down. She’d taken off her shoes again. Yep, her brother trained her well.
“What happened?!” a woman was screaming in English. “Are they going to kill us?”
Asher kept his flashlight on, night vision goggles wouldn’t work since light was still coming through the windows. “To the left, we’re avoiding Suzanne’s office.” He whispered the words directly into her ear. She nodded.
“Be quiet,” another woman said in Spanish. The situation was going to hell, fast.
“What are you saying?” the woman screamed back at her in English. She had a British accent.
“I take it that’s Sharon?” Asher whispered.
Eden nodded.
“You need to calm down, Señorita.” A man entered the fray. Sharon continued to shout. Obviously, his soothing was having no effect, as she continued to yell in fear.
Asher pinpointed where the conversation was coming from—one of the cubicles near the men’s restrooms. “Ezio, do you have eyes on this?” he asked into his mic.
“Yeah, they closed the office door as soon as the lights went out. I’m looking over the balustrade and I’ve got eyes on the screamer. She’s surrounded by a suit, a guard, and another woman.”
“Ezio, how many in the office?” Asher demanded to know.
“It’s changed since my last report. Still the doughboy, then there’s Heinrich, Carlson and Kaito. The woman and Leland left as soon as the lights went out and the screaming started. The muffin man is squeezed himself under the desk, babbling in French, I think.”
“That’s Schlessinger. We’re
