Page 49

A laugh comes out of him, and it’s official. He’s turned. He’s a bad guy and deserves jail time.

“No way,” he says, rubbing his hand down his beard. “No way is Scarlett Payne afraid of elevators.”

“I don’t like being stuck in them,” I clarify. “There’s a difference.”

And like the villain that he now is, he laughs harder.

“Okay, watch out,” he says.

“For what? You going to kick in the door or something?” I ask with an eye roll I hope he sees.

“Obviously not. I’m going to kick the door up.” He jumps, pushing open a hatch in the ceiling. He jumps a second time, both hands gripping the opening of the hatch on either side, and pulls his body through it in one swift pull-up motion. He disappears into darkness.

“Show-off,” I mutter as he climbs onto the top of the elevator. “Hey, when you get to the rooftop, can you fix one of my cameras? It’s—”

Then he does something absurd and reaches his hand down. To me.

I stand to peer through the hatch. “No way. I’ve seen Speed. And Die Hard.” I back away from him, but there’s nowhere to go. I’m literally trapped.

“You know we can’t alert anyone that we’re here,” Nathan reasons. “So get your ass up here unless you want to be stuck all night. Or start searching for a different job. You need to get eyes on what’s happening upstairs. You can’t just disappear. Neither can I.”

I’ve jumped out of helicopters, run into burning buildings, stood up to sleazy men, pretended to be a nightclub owner, a car dealer, a leg lamp, Elvis… all in the face of real danger. Now I’m being asked to trust Nathan to climb up an elevator shaft and I’m, what, afraid?

That’s exactly it.

“I’m scared,” I admit, because I’ve never had the need or desire to lie to him.

“Get up here, and I’ll send you a Christmas sweater to commemorate the occasion,” he offers.

“Don’t bother. I’ll never wear it.”

Then, on a more serious note, Nathan adds, “Hey, Scarlett, I got you, okay?”

I swallow thickly, blood pounding in my ears. I don’t know why I take his hand, but I do. Then he tugs, and there I am, on top of the elevator, sitting across from him.

“Stay close,” he says, starting to climb without me, which fuels my competitive drive.

I stretch out my arms and channel my inner Keanu Reeves. “Don’t get in my way, Lambros.”

I grip the thick cables keeping the elevator suspended and hoist myself up. I gain on Nathan and pass him. The yellow glow from the elevator casts a short distance of light into the shaft, but when we pass the higher floors, we’ll have to feel our way up.

“We have a ways to go. Pace yourself,” Nathan says.

“Mind games? Really? That’s how you’re going to try to get ahead?” I ask, keeping my breathing steady. We approach the tenth-floor doors, and I try the latch. As I do, Nathan gets ahead of me.

“Too slow,” he says. “Let’s climb to the fourteenth floor and give ourselves space from the elevator. In case it starts moving again.”

The square of light below us gets smaller as we climb higher.

“You doing okay, Payne?” Nathan asks.

Not even a little.

“Mm-hmm! The good news is the elevator will catch my body if I fall, so that’s fun.”

“Should only hurt a little.” Nathan stops where he is and makes a show of grazing his chin with his thumb.

I break into a smile and return the gesture. “Yeah, I’m okay,” I say. “Don’t need an out. Yet.”