Page 66 of The Honeymoon Hack

Even if she was fighting it with everything she had.

Back in our room, I watched her as she gathered her things for the day. The brief camaraderie from our bike ride had helped, and she met my eyes more often, closing some of the distance she’d established since our kiss on the beach.

Once we were changed into our jeans and Mnemis polo shirts, we made our way through the corridors to the data center’s security checkpoint.

Claire chatted with one of the hardware techs near the scanner. She nodded a greeting. “Morning.”

“Morning.” I scanned my badge at the checkpoint. The system beeped its approval, the light flashing green. I placed my electronics and a protein bar I’d grabbed from the cafeteria onto the X-ray scanner’s conveyor belt, going through the motions of the daily security routine.

Brie followed behind me. “Shit!”

“What?” I asked, turning to look at her.

She held up her lanyard, showing me the empty clip. No ID badge hanging from it.

Her eyes widened with manufactured alarm. “My ID card. I must have lost it somewhere.”

I frowned, examining her lanyard. “Did it fall off?”

“I had it this morning.” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder, a note of frustration entering her voice. “We went up to Little Haven. I had it then. I definitely had it when we came back; otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to get through security. Did I have it in our room?”

I shook my head. “I think I swiped for our door.”

“Dammit.”

Claire stepped closer, frowning. “That’s the fifth clip I’ve seen fail this year.” She motioned to one of the guards. “Roger, can you locate Brie Stone’s badge?”

The guard tapped at a control panel that faced away from us. After a moment, he looked up. “Residential sector, room R-17.”

“Your quarters,” Claire confirmed. “Must have fallen off there.”

Brie exhaled shakily, playing her part perfectly. “I’ll go back and get it.”

I checked my watch. “I’m going to be late for Ronnie.”

“Go ahead.” She waved me toward the full-body scanner. “I’ll see you later.”

I pressed a quick kiss to her temple before I could think better of it. The tiny smile she gave me in return. Genuine? Or cover story? I said, “See you at lunch?”

“Maybe.” She knew as well as I did it wouldn’t happen. With our shift lasting from noon until eight at night, lunchtime became four p.m. And by then, Brie would be far too busy for me.

“After your shift, stop by the main security desk,” Claire called after Brie. “They’ll set you up with a new lanyard. Those clips are a disaster waiting to happen.”

A disaster?

More like a successful step in our plan.

Chapter 26

Brie

I slidinto a chair at Davy’s, balancing a bowl of tomato soup I had no intention of eating on my cafeteria tray. Around me, employees stared at phones and tablets, as oblivious to the outside world as I needed them to be.

My mid-shift break gave me a half-hour window to complete everything.

It was a quarter to four. I had fifteen minutes to get to Scarlett. My hands trembled slightly. No matter what Will said, this was our best chance, and there wouldn’t be any second chances.

You can do this, Brie.