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I was almost there. I could do this. I knew I could. My hands shook as I pulled out a thumb drive and jammed it into the computer. If I could just download these files, we could get the rest of the information we needed later.

“Mara!”

“I’m not done.”

“Yes, you are,” he growled back as he took forceful steps toward me. He grabbed my wrist, but I yanked it away.

“No, I’m not!”

“You’re going to kill us both!”

“Then go! Leave me, but I’m not going until I get what I came for.”

Then all hell broke loose.

3: Mission Terminated

The blaring sound of the alarm rang throughout the entire building. Time was up, and now they knew we were here.

I looked up at him. “Go! I’ll figure my own way out.”

We glared at each other, Wes wearing his characteristic scowl that I had come to learn was his signature look. His eyes flickered as I held my breath.

“Fuck,” he spat out as he walked away from me. He marched to a bookshelf filled with files and trinkets and knocked the entire thing over.

“What the hell are you doing?”

He dragged the furniture in front of the office door. “What does it look like?” His voice came out low and gruff. There was no doubt about it, he was pissed as hell. Once he had the bookshelf in place, he took several steps away from the door and aimed his stunner.

Understanding clicked into place, and I shifted my attention back to the computer, grabbing the mouse and clicking as manyfiles as I could, dragging them to the thumb drive. I only needed one more minute.

Almost there…almost there…done!

As if on cue, the door to the office whammed loudly, causing me to jump. Then another bang, as though a battering ram was being used, the force causing the walls to rattle and the door to splinter slightly.

“Crap!” The word flew out of me. I grabbed the thumb drive and quickly tucked it into my pocket. “That’s our way out.”

“Wasour way out. We’re fucked.” Wes took measured steps backwards.

WHAM!

The door rattled.

“The vent?”

“No good.” He lifted his tab and started typing. “I’m requesting an emergency evac. But we’ve got to get out of here.” I looked around the office, but apart from the door and the air-conditioning vent, I didn’t see another way out. Wes looked around as another bang hit the door. Then his gaze stopped on the window behind us. He walked toward it and stared down before turning and grabbing the chair by the desk. “Cover your eyes.”

“What?” Before I could finish asking my question, he lifted the chair over his head and slammed it against the window, causing it to spider out with cracks and fracture lines. Then he pulled the chair back and slammed it against the window again, effectively sending shards of glass everywhere. “Oh my god! What the hell?”

He threw the chair aside and glanced out the window. “We’re going to have to jump.”

“Are you crazy?” My voice grew shrill.

“Crazy is what I was when I agreed to go on this fucking mission.” He faced the desk and grabbed the corners, shaking it forcibly, but it didn’t budge. “Give me your rope.”

Another wham sounded at the door as I uncinched my rope and handed it to him. He was nuts if he thought I was going to jump. “We’re twenty stories high. There’s no way I’m jumping out that window.”

He moved with lightning speed and precision, taking one end of the rope and tying it to the leg of the desk before he threw the rest of it out the window. “We’re not jumping. Get on my back.”