“Here we go, you son of a bitch,” I murmured.
I leaned against the headboard of the bed and used pillows to prop up my laptop. My fingers flew a thousand miles a second, digging up everything from traffic camera footage so we could see exactly what happened with the shooting last night all the way down to tracking the cartel’s footsteps. I knew Stone hated taking risks like the ones I specialized in because he did everything he could to keep us off the Fed's radars. But desperate times called for desperate measures.
I was so lost in thought that I didn’t even realize someone had brought me food until I looked up and saw the plate sitting on the bed.
“Oh, hell yeah,” I murmured.
As I set my laptop to the side and reached for the massive plate of food, I thought about Chloe. My mind wandered to her and whether or not she was still sleeping. Had she slept well? Did she suffer from nightmares, too? Had she gotten back to sleep at all after witnessing what she had last night? I shoveled food into my face, trying to push her out of my mind. The last thing I needed was a distraction while I dug up everything I could on the organization trying to eradicate us. And after I chugged back my lukewarm black coffee, I cracked my knuckles and got back to work.
But nothing could have prepared me for the treasure trove of information I stumbled upon after hacking into Carlos Banderas’ personal email.
“Holy shit,” I whispered.
I scrolled through email after email that laid out not only a plan to figure out where the hell we were, but to blow it sky-high once they found it. I found maps of areas they had charted corner to corner, and all of the red X’s on the map put them closer than I wanted them to be. My jaw hit the floor as I picked up my laptop. I rushed out the door and down the hallway to the media room where I had to plug in my laptop just to print shit off.
Then, one by one, I printed off everything I had found.
Before someone backtracked me and locked me out of the account for good.
Eight
Chloe
I slept on and off all morning. Every time my eyes opened, I was no closer to figuring out how the hell to sneak out of this place. Everyone seemed to be everywhere, with the women constantly knocking on my door and asking me if I needed anything all the way down to the guys running up and down the hallways as if the damned place were on fire. I chewed on the inside of my cheek as I paced around in the bathroom. I clasped my hands behind my back as I kept an eye on my cell phone, watching the minutes tick upward quicker than I would have liked. And once lunchtime hit, I knew I had to act.
Either that or suffer the consequences that came with not showing up to the meeting.
“Come on, you can do this,” I murmured to myself.
A raucous set of footsteps rushed by my bedroom and part of me wanted to look out into the hallway. But I didn’t want to destroy the pattern I had already established. Everyone knew that I had been in my room all morning, and if no one saw me then they’d probably keep assuming I was in there. The thought made me grin. I rushed over to my suitcase and dug around for the most unassuming set of clothes I had brought with me. I pulled out a pair of skinny jeans and a baggy purple shirt that practically fell off one of my shoulders. I searched around for my heather gray hoodie and pulled it over my head, then gathered my things. I still had no idea what the fuck I was going to do about transportation. But I knew we weren’t too far off from the highway.
And if I could get to the highway, then I could call a taxi company to come pick me up.
“All right,” I whispered as I cracked my bedroom door open, “let’s make this quick.”
I recalled the side exit that West had ushered me to the first time we snuck out, and I set my sights on that side hallway. I looked both ways before easing my bedroom door closed behind me, but I quickly heard a set of footsteps.
So, I darted into a closet and held my breath.
“Shit, shit, shit, shit,” West hissed.
I furrowed my brow at his hushed voice while his footsteps quickly passed me by. Was everything okay? Had something else happened? I shook my head as I slid out of the closet. I couldn't focus on him at that moment. All of my focus had to be on getting to this god damn meeting, otherwise I’d be arrested and thrown into prison for shit I was still trying to pay off with my services.
Just tell someone about it. I’m sure they’ll understand.
I almost barked with laughter at the hope that filled the voice in my head. I knew that was a non-starter. A place where I didn’t need to tread. I was cooped up with a fucking biker gang capable of taking people out without a second thought, and my own conscious was trying to convince me that it was okay to tell them that I was a federal informant? For all I knew, they’d turn on me with that information. They’d kick me to the curb or worse, and Lexi would get caught up in all of it in the process.
Especially since Lexi didn’t even know I was an informant for the FBI.
“Fucking hell,” I whispered.
I finally turned the corner and saw the side exit door. Relief cascaded through my muscles as I made a break for it. The door grew closer and the smile grew against my cheeks. I reached for the doorknob, ready to slam myself out and book it through the trees in order to reach the highway that much quicker.
Except as soon as I pushed out into the world, West’s voice wafted from somewhere.
“I’m telling you, Diego, I hacked their email system. I told you that all I needed was one email address. What did you think I was doing with it?”
I threw myself into a bush as footsteps started in my general direction.
