“Darby’s computer. Nice,” he said, closing the door and locking it, then walking around the desk to stand beside her. In his earpiece, Caleb murmured there were now two guards stationed at the bottom of the steps on the second-floor landing. “Let’s hope he left something incriminating on there.”
Misty rested her hands on the keyboard. “Actually, it’s a wireless access point to the server, so it’s even better. As for him leaving something incriminating on it, I’ve learned people put far more of their lives into the digital realm than they ever realize. Even people like Darby, who are obviously extremely careful not to make mistakes. All I have to do is find it.”
Jake hoped she was right. “What can I do to help?”
“Watch my back while I’m inside,” she said, her voice distracted, like she was already lost in a world of her own. “A system like this is going to have a lot of security firewalls in place to keep me out. Once I’m in there, I’ll be pretty much out of it, so if anyone comes in here, I’ll be completely defenseless.”
That sounded scary as hell.
“I got you covered,” Jake assured her.
He would have asked her if there was anything he needed to know—like how long it would take her or what to do if there was an emergency—but before he could, Misty went still and her lavender eyes went completely white.
Okay, that’s not creepy at all.
He stood there, not sure if he should stay close or give her space. After a moment, he decided to search the rest of the office. More to give himself something to do than because he thought he’d find anything.
While he rifled through the drawers of Darby’s desk, he kept part of his attention focused on Misty, in case something went wrong, and the other part on the bud in his ear. Caleb occasionally gave him an update on the status of the guards downstairs, while Forrest checked in once to let them know everything was quiet outside, where he and Harley were stationed. The majority of the stuff on the radio was Jes talking with Darby.
While their conversation mostly revolved around the art in his private gallery, it didn’t take long for Jake to figure out Darby was trying to talk her—or more precisely Rose—into his bed. Based on the things he said, it was someplace the woman had been before—many times. For some reason, the idea of Darby trying to get Jes into his bed—even if he thought she was someone else—bothered the hell out of him. Actually, it did more than bother him. It made his gums ache as his fangs fought to slide out.
Jake was so busy trying to understand why he’d react like that about a woman he’d known for a few days—one who was clearly disgusted by his very existence—he didn’t even realize what Caleb was saying over the radio until he picked up the smell of the three men approaching from the end of the hallway.
“Jake! Do you copy?” Caleb’s voice was urgent in his ear. “Three of Darby’s guards headed upstairs and are coming your way. You need to make yourselves scarce.”
Shit.
Jake threw a quick glance at Misty, praying she’d heard Caleb’s warning and had hopped out of the computer, but no such luck. Her eyes were still milk white, her body in the exact same position it had been in for the past fifteen minutes.
He darted over to the door, listening for a moment to confirm the men were definitely coming toward them. They were halfway down the hall, going room to room, conducting a slow security sweep. Jake silently cursed again, more colorfully this time, then hurried back over to Misty. He put a hand on her shoulder, gently giving it a shake. She wasn’t as stiff as he thought she’d be. In fact, she was so relaxed she almost fell over and he had to catch her.
“Misty, we have to get out of here,” he said. “Company’s coming and we can’t be here when it arrives.”
Jake heard Jes’s voice stutter a little in his earpiece. She’d obviously been listening in on what was happening as she continued to keep Darby occupied.
Out in the hall, the men were getting closer by the second.
Jake shook Misty again, a little harder this time, and leaned in close to hiss in her ear. “Dammit, Misty, wake up. We have about thirty seconds until those men get here, and then the shit is going to hit the fan.”
“That’s not going to work,” Forrest said over the radio. “Misty can’t hear you when she’s deep in a computer like that. You’re going to have to wait until she comes out of it on her own.”
Effing great.
“We don’t have time to wait for her to come out on her own,” he growled. “I have no problem taking care of those three guards when they come in here, but there’s almost certainly going to be some shooting, and Misty is positioned right in front of the door like a sitting duck. Can’t I just…I don’t know…yank her away from the computer? Disconnect her?”
“No!” Forrest almost shouted, his voice on the verge of what sounded like terror. “If you do that, you could trap her mind inside the computer with no way to get back. It’d be worse than killing her.”
You’ve got to be kidding me.That sounded like something out of a screwed-up sci-fi movie.
“Then what the hell can I do?” he demanded, glancing at the door. The footsteps outside were getting closer.
“Delay the guards and give her more time,” Forrest said. “She has to come out of the computer on her own.”
Jake clenched his jaw, a rumbling growl building deep in his chest as he looked at Misty’s defenseless form. “Caleb, I’m going to need a distraction—a big-ass one. Because when shit starts getting loud up here, I want the rest of Darby’s guards heading in another direction.”
“You have anything particular in mind?” Caleb asked casually, as if they had all the frigging time in the world.
Jake growled again.Seriously?Did the omega need to be told how to do everything or was he simply screwing with his pack’s alpha?
