Page 35

CHAPTER

THIRTY

ASHER

T he Amira Gorsky file still lay open on the desk.

Karlin was staring at it, stuck in place as the sound of jingling keys continued.

Asher swore. They should have photocopied it right away, but now it was too late. He scooped up the documents and opened the filing cabinet, shoving it into what he prayed was the proper place he’d found it in.

“Come on,” he said, gesturing toward the en suite bathroom. “Even if that’s the cleaning lady, we can’t be caught here.”

All at once, Karlin sprung into action, but to his surprise, she didn’t follow him. First, she yanked open the filing cabinet drawer and took the file.

“I’ll explain later,” she said, rushing over to the bathroom. “Just trust me.”

He didn’t have a choice. He could hear footsteps coming from somewhere near Bajwa’s secretary’s desk.

Unlike in the main office, there was one window near the bathroom ceiling that actually opened. He knelt down near the wall, placing his hands into a cradle position. “You first. Hurry.”

Karlin shut the bathroom door quietly behind her and placed a foot into his hands. “Don’t you dare drop me,” she ordered. “I hate heights.”

“We’re on the first floor!”

“Still!”

He chuckled as she put her weight against his hands. It was easy to forget that not everyone was like him and his brothers. Jumping from this kind of window was child’s play in his world.

She wobbled as he boosted her, but offered no further complaint. With some effort, she managed to shove the window open, just in time for him to hear someone entering Bajwa’s inner office behind them.

Karlin looked out the window, and then back down at him, her eyes wide. He knew from experience that it looked a lot higher than it was, but it didn’t matter. There was no option B.

He held her gaze and smiled up at her.

“Have faith.”

Finally, she jumped. And taking hold of the windowsill, he pulled himself up and through, just seconds behind her.

KARLIN

“If someone goes into that bathroom, they might notice the open window and take a look outside, but I didn’t see any cameras except for the ones in the parking lot,” Axel explained as he pulled Karlin around the corner of the building. “I think we might have actually pulled this off.”

His eyes were actually shining.

He looked like he was having the time of his life.

Karlin, meanwhile, felt like she was going to throw up. Or, at the very least, find the nearest ravine and toss the file folder she was holding into it.

She nodded mutely, pulling her arms around herself as a rush of wind sent a chill running through her. The sun was lower in the sky now, and it would only get colder with each passing minute.

“You okay?” Axel asked, pausing and resting his back against the brick wall.

“I’m fine,” she said, drawing in a heaving breath, only just then realizing how exhausted she was. “You?”

“Oh, I’m great,” Axel beamed. “I was just thinking about how, for once, I’m so thankful to be the scrawny one of the family.”

“You know, I was kidding when I said you looked like a string bean,” she admitted.

“I know, I know–by the standards of the general population, I’m totally buff,” he said, his voice serious. “But my twin brother is the size of this wall. And the rest of them are somewhere in the middle of the string bean and wall continuum.”

It felt good to laugh, even a little. “As much as I’d love to keep discussing this, we do need to get out of here.”

“Lead the way,” Axel announced, pushing himself off the wall and following her toward the dusty pickup.

“But I’m really curious why you risked taking that file.

I was thinking we have enough now to string together a warrant, especially if you’re willing to talk about the pressures you faced when you started the job. ”

Karlin didn’t answer for several seconds as they shuffled across the parking lot.

One of her colleagues, a younger scientist she didn’t know by name who had just started working in the lab a few weeks ago, crossed their path and smiled.

“Hey, Ms. McKenna,” he said, raising a hand in a salute.

“I’ve got overnight lab duty tonight. Paying my dues. ”

“You got this, newbie!” she offered, unsure what else to say. She sounded cringe, but whatever. At least the man would have no idea that Axel was out of place here.

Finally, they reached the vehicle. This time, Karlin took the wheel, and as they began the drive back to the retreat site, they both kept a look out for Bajwa and the others returning from their hike.

If they saw anybody, Axel would have to drop to the floor, and that was about as far as their contingency plans went.

“So, the file?” Axel prompted as soon as they’d reached a relatively less treacherous part of the road.

“Senera lied to the courts after Amira died,” she said. “They claimed that a lightning strike took out their servers and caused a huge data crash, which happened to erase much of their trial data.”

Axel snorted. “The courts bought that?”

Karlin nodded. “I always suspected they were lying, though. I was sure they had some evidence against me somewhere. An insurance policy, in case they ever ended up in a tight situation. I’d also suspected that Bajwa knew about it, based on some little comments he’s made in the past. I’ve just been proven right. ”

“It’s just nasty enough for me to believe that Senera would do it,” Axel said, his jaw tightening.

“Take a new hire, fresh out of college, put her on the hook for a risky trial…The good news is that I think a decent judge would be able to see through it. Remember, they wouldn’t have wanted to fake the server crash if they thought it would be an easy slam dunk to pin it all on you. ”

Karlin shook her head. “I mean, sure, the best thing for them was just to keep me around and keep me quiet. But once we start threatening them legally, it’s ultimately my word against theirs.

And we don’t even know everything that’s in that file yet.

For all we know, they embellished the details to make me sound even worse.

So, yeah, that’s why I took it. Whether they have another copy or not, I’m not sitting around waiting for the trap to close. I’m getting ahead of it.”

She realized that she was gripping the wheel tight enough to turn her knuckles white.

Axel leaned a little closer, resting a hand on her shoulder, but even his touch wasn’t enough to soothe her anxiety. She felt like every nerve in her body was humming, poised for action, though she had no clue what to actually do next.

“Karlin, you realize that you can turn around,” he said. “You can just turn around, right now. We don’t need to go back.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Not an option.”

“Even just based on what you’ve told me, we have enough to get the local authorities involved,” Axel argued.

“Look, we have this police liaison back in San Antonio, Allie? She’s great.

She’ll know someone here, or Gabe will, or we’ll find one of our contacts who does.

They’ll know how to handle the next steps. You’re not facing this alone.”

Karlin said nothing, considering his proposal as she navigated around several sharp turns.

So far, there’d been no sign of any other vehicles, and though it was getting colder, sunset was still a few hours away.

She was confident that her plan had worked and that they would beat the others back to the site before anyone realized they had ever left.

“We can’t leave tonight,” she said firmly. “I mean, you can if you want, but I’m not abandoning my patients. I’m going to observe their DX8 doses and make sure everyone is okay.”

“If you think I’m leaving you, you’re insane,” Axel announced. “But tomorrow, however we make our escape, we need to leave. This is getting too big for the two of us to handle on our own.”

Karlin nodded, risking a quick glance in his direction.

“Thank you for standing by me,” she said.

“You’re stuck with me now,” Axel said firmly, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze that sent a ripple of heat down her spine. “I’m not going anywhere unless you want me to.”

She swallowed hard, not trusting herself to respond to the implications that his words held. Part of her was terrified to believe that he meant them. A bigger part was terrified that he didn’t.

But she couldn’t think about her heart right now.

Tomorrow, things were going to be set into motion that she couldn’t undo.

Her life was going to change, for better or for worse.

God, please help me , she prayed silently, trying her best to focus on keeping the truck safely on the road. Help guide me through whatever comes next.