Page 49 of Remington’s Mate

“Let’s not blow the operation over this,” he said finally. “If either Colt or I come in on Jaeda’s side and get across Sutcliffe, it’s over. From what she said, he doesn’t know she’s working against him. He’s just pissed she stood up to him.”

“Good enough,” Brandon said. “We should be able to handle this, even if we have to extract her. We’ll try to keep you out of sight.”

Kitty was already checking weapons, making sure they were loaded and ready to go. He noticed she was sticking with tranquilizer guns. Probably best—they didn’t want to go murdering security guards in an office building.

She asked him, “Do you have eyes on the situation?”

Building security came up on the screen. Remy paged through the different feeds while Brandon drove as fast as he could without risking getting stopped.

“Okay, I’ve got Jaeda. She’s in the office, alone.”

“Any sign of Sutcliffe?”

He checked the hallways on her floor, then the elevators. Nothing so far. Then the parking garage. Fuck. “No. But his car is still there. Let me check the lobby and the security office.”

The security office was a no-go—no one there. There was just the regular night guard at the main security desk in the lobby. But the other lobby cameras… “Bingo,” Remy said. “He’s at the elevators, and he’s talking to Smith and Jones. Damn,” he added, looking at the body language. “He’s pointing upstairs. And he’s pissed.”

“Tell her to come down,” Kitty said. “Once they’re in that elevator, she can take another one down to the lobby.”

“Can’t,” Remy said. “At night they lock down all the elevators except one.”

“Stairs?” Brandon said.

“Too vulnerable,” said Kitty. “They can box her in.”

“Roof,” Remy said. “I’ll fly her out. Kitty, text her.” She got on her phone and started texting.

“What if someone sees you grab her from up there?” Squatch rumbled.

Remy shrugged. “Even if they told people, who’d believe them?”

“Almost there,” Brandon said. They quickly talked through their plan as he parked around the corner from the main entrance, out of sight of the security cameras.

On Remy’s screen, he saw the elevator doors open in the lobby. Smith put his hand on one side to keep them from closing again while he talked to Sutcliffe.

“Damn,” Kitty said. “My text won’t go through. Do they have jammers?”

“Apparently.” Remy swore. “I’ll try to deactivate them.”

“No time,” Brandon said. “We’ll call her office phone from the security desk. Go.”

Remy gave him Jaeda’s office extension and shut the laptop, and began shimmying out of his clothes.

Brandon and Kitty raced inside the building and up to the security desk, where the guard sat idly watching a small TV. He looked up, startled.

“Help us!” Kitty said, looking over her shoulder like she was scared. “Lock the doors! He’s after us!”

“Hey now, what are you talking about?” The security guard stood up. “Who’s after you!”

“Call 911,” Brandon said, trying to look as scared as Kitty. “It’s—I don’t know. A monster!”

“Are you kids drunk?”

“No, he’s out there!” Kitty said. “We have to hide!”

She made a break for the elevators. Smith, Jones and Sutcliffe were gone; the elevator showed as being on the second floor, heading up to the fourteenth floor where Jaeda waited.

The security guard came out from behind his desk and intercepted Kitty, grabbing her arm. “Hey there, wait a minute. No unauthorized personnel inside the building.”