Page 52 of Baby Take Me Home

Luka grinned again, but this time he bared his teeth and didn’t bother to pretend to look friendly. “I’m sorry, but I must insist.” He glanced at one of his men and inclined his head.

The man pushed the room door wider and walked past me, directly to the bathroom.

“Stop! That’s rude. TJ is...”

The man stepped into the bathroom, turned off the shower, and returned. “Empty.”

I turned toward Luka, who was glowering. “I can explain,” I said.

“Mr. Russo’s absence or your lying about it?” Luka asked.

“Both,” I said. “When the lights went out, he got concerned and wanted to check things out for himself. He was in the military, and he still has that protective instinct.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow. “And you lied because...?”

“Because you’d just said we should stay put, and I just...” I shrugged. “I was worried you would be upset, I guess.”

“That all sounds very reasonable. Let’s check on Mr. Russo, shall we, and make sure he didn’t run into any problems in the dark.” Luka held out his arm to me. Behind him, his two henchmen stared at me, waiting.

I smiled weakly and placed my hand on his arm. He placed his hand over mine and yanked me out of the room. With one of his men leading us and the other one following, he marched me down the hallway, toward TJ and the possible end of our last-hope plan.

* * *

TJ

“Boss,we have a problem and you need to get out of there now,” Penn said in my ear.

I scowled. “Guards on their way?”

“Two of them with Kovac,” Penn said. “And Ashlee. They barged into the room and they know you’re not with her.”

“Fuck me,” I muttered. “Is she okay?” There was one thing that could make me abandon this op, and protecting Ashlee was it.

“She’s fine, but they’re moving fast,” Alder said. “About a minute out from your location.”

“Pulling the plug, Jensen,” I said as I removed the clear disc from the hard drive.

I placed the device back in the safe, covered it with the papers I’d removed, and closed the safe. The red lights re-engaged. I closed the closet door, glanced around the room to make sure everything appeared untouched, and stepped back out into the dark hallway. When the office door closed behind me, that security panel re-engaged as well.

I intentionally left on my gloves but pressed each clear disk I’d used to read Kovac’s hard drives to the inside waistband of my pants. I pulled a new-generation plastic decoder out of my pocket. It would open 90 percent of electronic door locks, but not Kovac’s, which was also intentional. Our cover was blown. The only thing we could do now was make it appear I’d used Ashlee to get into Kovac’s house, then had failed at my mission once inside.

“Mr. Russo,” Kovac called as soon as the entourage entered the hallway. “What an interesting place to find you.”

I slipped the useless device into my pocket as I stepped sideways, closer to the window at the end of the hall. I edged off my gloves and left them in my pants pockets to be discovered, then clasped my hands behind my back.

“Mr. Kovac. And Ashlee?” I let some of the concern I felt creep into my voice. She was unharmed, but understandably unhappy. She must also be terrified, but she was hiding it well.

I stepped toward her. Kovac blocked me and shoved me backward by my shoulders. Ashlee angled between him and me and one of his goons moved to stand beside me.

“There’s no need for that,” she said. “All of this is ridiculous. I told you, he wanted to check the house, make sure nothing was wrong.”

I put my arm around her shoulders. “Exactly.”

Kovac nodded to the goon closest to me. The man stepped between Ashlee and me and patted me down. He pulled the decoder and the nitrile gloves out of my pockets.

I glanced sheepishly at Ashlee. We’d practiced this scenario. Kessler and Li had insisted, and I had listened because it was their job to use their tactical experience to anticipate and prepare for all potential shitshows in the field.

Ashlee didn’t immediately respond to the revelation of evidence that I’d been trying to break into Kovac’s locked office. She looked distracted. I hoped Kessler was talking in her ear, reminding her of the rehearsed script.