"Look, Bridge, don't fucking touch anything. Just tell me when someone comes down this hallway."
"Yeah, yeah. Sure, which hallway?"
I was going to kill him. He was in my SUV playing around with my equipment.
That sounds dirty.
Well, it felt like a personal violation. "Tell me you're not serious."
Bridge sighed. "I'm not a moron. I also did a stint in the clandestine services. I just don't like the spy information stuff."
"Fine, just make sure the hallway's clear."
I went to the supply closet. I had walked in with my mates as usual. Had a glass of champagne. Talked to several people. Flirted, all the while winding my way around to the south hallway near the servants’ quarters where I turned on the infrared blockers that had been tucked into my tuxedo.
No one had even noticed that I was filling out my tuxedo a little more today. Although one woman had run her hand over my chest and asked me to dance, but she noticed nothing different about me.
But yeah, I looked like I'd packed on about fifteen pounds of muscle, mostly because I needed the tux to go over my other outfit. The one that was going let me steal the information, sneak it out of the party, and then return and change clothes.
I looked at my watch timer, waiting for the thirty-second countdown.
Right on cue, Bridge began the countdown, so I at least knew he was paying attention.
Ben's voice was low. "Affirmative.”
Drew chimed in. "Affirmative.”
And we were a go. Black mask on, camera's down, lights low, I had five minutes. That's all it would take. As expected, there was no one in the hallway. It was smooth, almost too smooth and easy. My mask was pulled down. If a guard should happen to not be in position and come wandering, I knew where my exits were. I just had to follow the plan.
I knew exactly where the senior Jameson's office was. All of us had spent enough time in each of these mansions owned by the older Elite members as teenagers to know our way around. So many parties, so many graduations, so many ceremonies.
With an easy decryption of the keypad located outside Jameson’s office, I located the laptop with ease. He’d also done me the favor of not shutting down or logging out. I couldn’t help but shake my head. Had they never heard of cyber security? Copying of the files was easy. Far too easy.
Paranoid, I checked the signal jammer attached to my hip. The little red light was on, so any transmitting devices in this room wouldn’t transmit. So why was I so on edge?
Three minutes. I checked the computer. The decryption was complete, and the files had been copied. Thank fucking Christ.
I pulled out the flash drive, eased out the door, and quietly closed it behind me. I was moving briskly down the hall when I heard a feminine voice. "Hey, who the hell are you?"
I froze. I knew that voice. Despite my best instincts, I turned to look over my shoulder, and even though I still had my mask on, her eyes went wide, almost as if she knew exactly who I was. I had two choices: try and talk my way out of there or run.
I chose to run.
Nyla
It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t disappointed.
Thanks to Amelia’s mother's connections, the red carpet had been rolled out for us for this birthday party of a man I didn't know. Amelia had to attend anyway, and I was her plus one. These people with the glitterati lifestyle weren’t really my speed. I’d never really understood the world Amelia came from. When I’d met her at MI5, she’d been trying to run away from her former life. But over the last three years her mother insisted on dragging her back, kicking and screaming.
I’d expected to see East Hale at this birthday party. It was the sole reason I’d come.
You wanted to see him again.
No. I wanted to talk to him about the Royal Museum of Monaco and his involvement with it.
You also wanted to take him by surprise.
Damn right I did. Somehow, he’d found the bug and what, been watching me? Spying? And why the hell did that make me flush all over instead of shiver from fear?
Because you’re fucked in the head and thinking about how he tastes and not what he’s capable of.
He might have my father fooled. Or worse, been able to pull strings to get him to back off, but I had to play nice and to be honest he was the least of my problems.
But still… disappointment. He wasn’t at the party. So I was going to have to go to his turf to talk to him. I exited the loo and accidentally turned left. When I turned around to head back to the party, I say the man dressed in all black easing out of an office.
The clue that he was up to no good was the balaclava on his head.
“Hey! Who the hell are you?”
He turned his head and gave me a glance over his shoulder. And there was something about the way he cocked his head that was smug and arrogant and somewhat amused, and my brain told myself that his lips quirked in just the kind of way that East Hale's did. And then I could see the full resemblance. Exact height, the frame, those ridiculously broad shoulders, tapering into a lean waist, long athletic legs.
Holy fucking shit.
It was East.
For a breath of a moment, we stood locked in place. Frozen. Neither of us breathing. Me in heels and my black mermaid-style cocktail dress, short in front and long in the back with a deep V. Him in the latest cat-burglar chic and
