Page 126 of No More Spies

Damn it. Why had she listened to Lena? Lena had herbelieving the world was afraid of her, and no one was. It was kind of insultingbut also true. And a problem. “You have to leave. Zach will have more optionsif he knows you got away.”

“Why is he here?” Devi asked.

“Because he loves you,” Kala replied.

“He does no…” Devi stopped. “I have it.”

Kala steeled herself. She could see the guard on the camera.He was moving through the kitchen, but he stopped to talk to another guard. Outin the foyer, Huisman seemed to be saying something to Lena. “Ease the pinunder it and find the indentation. You need to push the pin inside and withenough force that the battery pack on the side slides out.”

“Can I pull the battery?” Devi asked.

“No. After thirty seconds the lock will shut down, and thenyou need the owner code. I’m counting on the fact that almost no oneunderstands they have to change both codes. The lock code is easy to change.The battery and manufacturer reset code can be changed, but it takes some work.So we’re hoping whoever set this up isn’t as good as McKay-Taggart guys.”

“So I push this and have thirty seconds and I can’t actuallysee the keypad since it’s on the other side.” Devi neatly summed up theproblem.

“Yes. You have to do it backward. I can visualize it. Whenthe battery pack comes out, put your finger on the bottom row, center. That’sthe zero. I’ll guide you through the rest, but you have to be careful. If youhit the wrong key, reset is bottom right, and we’ll try again. We might getthree shots at this.”

“I’ll get it right,” Devi promised. There was a slightwhirring sound. “I’m ready.”

Kala began telling her the code, though not in numbers butin key positions. All the while she watched the monitors.

That was when Lena threw her hands up and followed twoguards who Huisman had just obviously given orders to.

Cooper’s eyes had flared. Zach had gone stiff. Something waswrong.

They were coming.

“I’m sorry,” Devi said. “I must have done something wrong. Ireset the keypad.”

Kala began again, her mouth moving while her eyes watchedthe slow-rolling tragedy that was coming their way. Huisman was playinghardball, and that meant someone was going to be in pain or worse. He’dthreatened to take Carys’s fingers off one by one the last time he had the teamin this position.

“I’ve got it.” Devi stood and looked back, relief plain inher eyes. “It’s open. We did it.”

The ground shook, and there was no way to miss the sound ofglass exploding around the property. Kala shifted, trying to see the monitor,and it sent her sliding to the ground, her head slapping against the concrete.

“Hey, I got you.” Her cousin started trying to get her up.

“It won’t work,” Kala said. She needed more time, and theydidn’t have it.

“No, it won’t,” a nasty voice said. Lena stood at the top ofthe stairs. “None of this will work.”

Devi got Kala into a position where she could at least seewhat was coming for them. She could move a leg now. One. Fat lot of good thatwas going to do. And an arm. She had one leg and one arm. Lena didn’t need toknow that.

“Whatever those boys of yours are trying to do, it won’twork,” Lena said, stalking down the stairs, a gun in her hand. “Manny is toowell prepared. He has plans you can’t imagine. But for now, these nicegentlemen have orders to bring back Miss Taggart’s eyes. We’ll see if thatloosens up Captain Reed’s tongue.”

Devi had an arm around Kala, propping her up, though she washolding almost all of Kala’s weight. Thankfully Devi was a gym girl, not thatit would help her in a couple of minutes. Her muscles wouldn’t stop bullets.

“Okay, ewww,” Devi said, her nose wrinkling. “I think I willkeep my eyes, thank you. You’re weird and super gross, lady.”

She would give it to her cousin. Devi was cool underpressure. She wasn’t wilting. She also probably noticed that the guards behindLena had taken off when the explosion happened. They’d been flanking Lena buthadn’t gotten down the stairs. Now she couldn’t see them.

Lena’s expression turned to a resentful sneer. “Do you knowwhat’s gross? The amount of families your family has destroyed.”

“Lady, I don’t care,” Devi replied. “I get it. Daddy hurtyou by walking away. Get the fuck over it. Do what the rest of us do and suckit up. Find a fucking hobby. I would say get some therapy, but it obviouslydoesn’t work on you. Now are you going to put out the fire that just started orshall we all cook together?”

Kala could smell it, but she couldn’t get her head to turn.There was a fire? The monitors had fritzed out. Damn it. “He’s going to blowthe whole place. Like he did in Toronto. He knows the team is here. He’s goingto get away, and he’ll burn the house down to make sure he can.”

“Guards, take them,” Lena announced.