Ellie reached out and punched Connor in the arm. “Knock it off.”
Deke sighed. “Is it clear and concise?”
“Yep,” Connor said, handing the laptop back. “We’ll have to find another reason to shoot him.”
The casual banter was going to kill her. This was beyond insane. They were headed toward a nuclear power plant that was probably about to be bombed. She shivered, and Hugh drew her closer. There were so many words she’d never gotten to say to him. She lifted her head, and he quickly kissed her.
“It’s going to be okay. I promise,” he whispered.
She nodded, even though he couldn’t make that promise. Nobody could anymore.
They reached the security gate and passed through. Nobody was there.
“This isn’t good,” Connor muttered. He glanced over his shoulder. “We’re gonna need those plans to shut down these types of places for a while. Well, after we deal with today’s threat.”
Hugh stiffened against Ellie. “It’s not that easy.”
Of course it wasn’t.
Deke pulled into a parking spot. “Guns off safety.” He jumped out of the SUV and strode for the door.
Ellie’s shoulders relaxed a tiny bit upon seeing a guard at the front door. A young, sweating guard.
Deke eyed the kid and handed over his credentials. “This your post?”
The kid looked at the badge and shook his head, handing it over. His brown security uniform was stained, and his brown eyes earnest. “No, sir. I usually patrol the back fence. But I called in about an hour ago, and nobody was here, so I figured I’d better watch the door.”
Deke clapped him on the back. “Smart man. Just do your job.” He motioned for the rest of the group to follow. “Anybody could’ve gotten in during the last hour. Hugh? What’s the plan?” He kept moving at a quick clip.
Hugh kept Ellie to his left. “I’ll take Ellie to the computer room and do a quick scan of the security recordings. See if anybody looks suspicious. Deke, you go check out the waste pools.”
“Copy that,” Deke said, veering left. “What am I looking for?”
“A bomb,” Hugh said tersely. “Anything that shouldn’t be there.”
Deke started jogging and yelled back. “Everyone keep your phones close.”
Hugh nodded, hustling Ellie toward the control room. “Connor? Remember where the cooling system is?” he asked.
“Affirmative,” Connor said.
“Go look for explosives there,” Hugh said. “I’ll be along after I check out the security.”
Connor took a sharp right turn down a cement hallway.
Sweat trickled down Ellie’s back, even though it wasn’t hot. “I can’t believe this,” she muttered.
“Ditto.” Hugh yanked open the heavy door to the computer room.
Ellie’s heart hitched. The room was completely empty. “We’re losing to Scorpius,” she whispered.
“Right. That’s okay. We’ll deal with that later.” He motioned her toward the main area. “We have to bring up the security feed. Right now, let’s deal with this threat.”
“Good plan,” said a voice across the room. Yusef Masih rose from behind a cabinet, gun out and pointed at them. “It will be a pleasure to kill you today.”
Ellie dropped her laptop.
Hugh froze and then crossed in front of her. “Run, Ellie. Get help.”
