Page 103 of The Honeymoon Hack

His eyes shifted past me to Lark, and his concern vanished. All three guards reached for their weapons simultaneously.

“No!” I screamed.

Lark shoved me hard, the semi-automatic fire erupting before I hit the ground. I clamped my hands over my ears, but I couldn’t shut out the gunfire. Sobs wracked my chest. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t look.

This isn’t real, Brie. You’re asleep next to Will. He’s holding you. You’ll wake up soon, and he’ll kiss you and?—

“Get up, girl.” Lark’s voice was barely audible over the alarm in the background and the looping automated message. When I didn’t budge, he grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet. “Move, or you join them.”

Seven people dead. Seven people who’d been alive minutes ago, and now?—

I stumbled, stepping around one body. I squeezed my eyes shut as Lark propelled me forward. I should have warned them earlier. Should have?—

Should have what, Brie? Gotten yourself killed, too? Made him fire earlier?

The checkpoint’s X-ray scanner kept running, its belt moving endlessly with no one left to monitor it. My phone should have been going through if it weren’t back in the first break room.

But no one would care anymore.

Past the X-ray, we reached the mantrap. For a split second, I considered bolting through alone. How long did it take for the outer door to cycle? Three seconds? Four? Could I make a run for it, slam my badge against the reader, and dive through before he followed?

But what if the glass isn’t bulletproof, Brie? What if he shoots through it?

I could try. Sprint for the door. Hope the timing worked. Hope the glass held. Hope, hope, hope—too many variables I couldn’t control.

So we arrived together, and Lark stepped into the chamber beside me. One more thing I should have done, crumbling to nothing.

The server room’s chill hit me as we entered, just like when I’d been here with Claire. Like the last time Will had kissed me as an act. Before he kissed me for real. I wrapped my arms around myself, though the cold was nothing compared to the ice spreading through my veins.

The cooling systems hummed around us, but the Code Silver alarm continued to shriek, and red lights strobed across everything. I’d been excited to see this place earlier today.

Was it really only today?

Focus, Brie. You know this environment. Use that.

“The Orchid 815 server is this way,” I said, guiding him along the rows. We turned at cluster seven and continued past seven, seventeen, and twenty-seven.

As we approached cluster thirty-seven, I heard rapid footfalls somewhere nearby. No doubt technicians hurrying through the server rows, heading for the closest secure location. My chest tightened. They had no idea what was happening.

Should you scream? Try to warn them?

That would be suicide. Lark would kill me and then hunt them down.

The footsteps grew closer. Three techs rounded the corner into our row. Lark shoved me to the side again, knocking me into the rack door as his gun flew up, aimed at the group.

Two of them froze. The third turned and bolted.

“Run!” Lark shouted at the remaining two. “Now!”

They didn’t need to be told twice. They practically climbed over each other to bolt in the direction they’d come.

Lark lowered his weapon. “Not a threat.”

He only killed people with weapons? My stomach flipped from nausea to a surge of hope. Maybe if I stayed useful enough…

Except you’ve watched him murder seven people.

How long would he keep me alive?