Page 61 of Baby Take Me Home

“Yes. I think so.” She paused. “Maybe it’s more of a bad feeling that something’s going to go wrong.”

I used the low, soft voice that always seemed to calm her. “That’s a perfectly normal feeling. Add two days of subsisting on pizza, coffee, and almost no sleep, and I’d be shocked if you weren’t a little freaked out.”

“Have I got this?” she said quietly.

I smiled. “You’ve got this.”

“And you’ve got me?”

“I’ve got you,” I promised. “See you in just over an hour.”

That hour seemed to stretch on for an eternity, broken up only by the announcement that the four staff members who had left were home safe and sound. At 1550, ten minutes before the article’s scheduled release, I got a text from Ashlee confirming they were completing the final formatting and were on schedule.

Samantha and I breathed a sigh of relief, but Jensen said, “Fuck me.”

“Running the plates,” Alder said as Jensen started talking to the team.

“Alpha Team, we have potential hostiles in the area. Two black SUVs, parking two blocks away from the building.”

I viewed Jensen’s screen over his shoulder. “Alder, call the FBI for backup.”

We all knew that call would reveal our unauthorized operation, but she didn’t question the order. “Roger that, Boss,” she answered.

“Penn, hostiles are exiting their vehicles,” Jensen said. “Black pants and tee shirts. No rifles. Assume pistols. Heading for the building.”

“We need to evacuate the building,” I said.

“What about publishing the article?” Samantha asked.

“Ashlee and her team will stay put,” I told the team. “But I want everyone else out so we can focus on protecting the five of them.”

“Getting into the fire alarm system as we speak,” Jensen said.

“Wait for my say-so,” I told him. “I’ll contact Ashlee first to tell them not to evacuate. Penn, her office number is 422a. Should be an interior room, no windows. How does it look?”

“Got it on the blueprints, Boss,” he said. “Confirmed, no windows. One wall backs up to the stairwell.”

“Connected to a fire door, which means reinforced steel,” I finished his thought. “Good. That’s where I’ll send them to hunker down.”

“Tactical and logistics crews are in place outside the building,” Penn reported.

I picked up my phone and pressed Ashlee’s number. While it rang, I spoke to the team. “Be prepared to breach the building on my order.”

CHAPTER 26

Ashlee

We were soclose to hitting send, I was vibrating with anticipation. My fellow writers, Magellan, Jim Dwyer, and Stacy Landau, were pacing in the space between our cubicles while Jayne sat at my temporary workstation, finishing the last of the formatting.

My cell phone rang and we all jumped. My heart dropped into my stomach. It could only be bad news. I answered after the first ring.

“TJ.”

“Get everyone into your office,” he said without preamble. “Take anything with you that you need. Laptops, phones. Grab a fire extinguisher off the wall if you can.”

“There’s a fire?” I was already motioning for everyone to collect their things. “Into my office,” I told them. “The laptop, too, Jayne. Magellan, grab that fire extinguisher.”

They were stunned into obedience.