Page 121 of The Vampire's Storm

“No problem.” Brooklyn skipped over to reception and waved at Bill and Jackson, the two front desk managers, then rejoined the others at the lifts.

“Excuse me, ma’am.” A security officer approached. One she didn’t recognize.

“She used to work here.” Darren leaned around her. “I’ll take her up to get the things she left her last month.”

The uniformed man nodded, taking note of her face. “Keep your visitor pass on you.”

“Yes sir.” She smiled, but inside she was shaking like a leaf.

She watched the man walk away and noticed a group of men in black suits standing near a corner in the lobby.

They didn’t look like visitors.

Or maybe she was just nervous.

The elevator pinged, and soon she was on her way to the tenth floor.

“Nice to see you,” Darren called out as he headed to his desk.

Brooklyn waved. “You can head off, too, if you want, Jill. I’ll just sneak into the lunchroom and search through the cupboards. If it’s not here, then I’ll head out.”

“You sure?” Jillian asked. “I still have fifteen minutes left for lunch.”

“I have to meet my mom, so I can’t stay,” Brooklyn lied. “Great to see you, though.”

“Take care.” Jillian waved goodbye, and she blew out her breath.

Then slipped into the lunchroom.

Knowing there were cameras around, Brooklyn kept up the appearance and began opening the cupboards. Taking her time, she pulled a few homeless plastic items out and studied them.

Then selected one.

When she left, she pretended to be distracted by something on her phone until someone came to the elevators.

Thank god, he was going up.

Without glancing at the buttons when she was inside the elevator, she made it look like she thought they were going down, still busy on her phone.

Ping.

“Ohhh, damn. I meant to go down.” Brooklyn sighed, annoyed with herself.

The young scientist smiled at her. “Sorry.”

She waved him off and then when the doors closed, she pushed floor fifteen.

Now, she was in hot water.

There were only two reasons to go to floor fifteen. The vampire experimentation lab—which no one knew about—or the executive suite.

She had no excuse to be on the floor and she was going off script. But Brooklyn wanted to scope out her path before heading into her hiding place for the next few hours.

Her chest tightened when the doors opened and she found herself face-to-face with two armed men in black suits, similar to those below, standing at opposite sides of the foyer.

“ID?” One of them said, stepping forward.

Shit.