Chapter 31
Kane’s hand glided down my arm, a sensuous caress that followed my wrist under the pillow to close around my hand and the phone.
Nuzzling kisses along my shoulder, he positioned his head beside mine. I took his cue and lifted the edge of the pillow just enough so we could both see underneath, my heart contracting with guilt.
This was the part where he realized I’d used him…
At the sight of the recording app, he dropped another soft kiss on my shoulder, then nudged me with his chin.
Emboldened by what I hoped was acceptance, I cued my alarm clock app and set it to two AM.
Kane’s hand patted mine under the pillow, then deactivated the alarm.
“Go to sleep,” he said softly.
He rolled off me and sat up to remove the spent condom, then reclined on one elbow watching me with that small smile again.
My muscles slack, my face half-buried in the pillow, I blinked an eyelid that felt as though it weighed ten pounds.
“This bed is eating me alive,” I mumbled. “I can’t move.”
Kane chuckled. “You don’t have to.”
Rolling me from one side to the other, he freed the covers, then lay down and pulled them over both of us. He tucked me against him with my head pillowed by the sweet spot between his chest and shoulder, and when we were settled he stroked the tangled hair away from my face and dropped a kiss on my forehead. “Good night.”
Fighting the urge to give in, I widened my eyes at him. He gave me the tiniest of nods in return. “Go to sleep.”
A leaden blanket of exhaustion weighed me down.
Kane would look after me. He would wake me when it was time.
I struggled against the seductive comfort.
Too many unanswered questions. Why was he was here? What was his agenda? Who was listening to the bug that he wouldn’t let me destroy?
I shouldn’t count on him…
A warm hand caressed my shoulder and I purred with satisfaction, caught between a delightful dream and a sense of nervous urgency I couldn’t define.
Shit!
My eyelids popped open, encountering blackness. I tensed, swivelling my head to take in my surroundings. Was I imprisoned?
The hand tightened on my shoulder and a black-on-black silhouette loomed closer. The sandpaper of Kane’s five o’clock shadow brushed my chin as he pressed a kiss to my lips.
Letting out a breath of relief, I collapsed back onto the pillow. The glow of the clock radio provided the only illumination in the room. Two AM.
Kane must have stayed awake all this time, watching over me and soothing my nightmares before they began. My heart warmed.
I pulled him closer and kissed him deeply, then took his hand and placed it over my lips. I felt his nod in the darkness.
Hoping the network key in my bra was still close enough to function, I closed my eyes and visualized the network.
The white void popped into existence around me, and I squared my invisible shoulders.
I could do this.
All I had to do was knock out their security server…
No; wait a minute.
Knocking it out entirely would alert them that something was wrong. I could do better than that.
With a surge of gratitude for the few hours of sleep that had cleared my head, I floated through their firewall and hovered over the currents of data streaming to the security server.
What if that data went in a circle instead?
I insinuated myself into the flow, gradually altering it and testing the results.
Yes.
A few more circles; a couple of pinches in the data stream to divert power from the electronic locks…
I eased back and regarded my handiwork with satisfaction. All locks between the guesthouse and server room were temporarily disabled, and for the next twenty minutes the cameras between the guesthouse and the server room would display a continuous loop. I could travel unseen.
Now I only had to avoid the guards in person.
After one last check of the system, I turned reluctantly back toward the portal.
Gritting my virtual teeth, I stepped out into pain.
Kane was ready for me with another vicious display of verbal dominance. I fought the agony in my head and the red-hot need to lash out at him while I choked out the degrading apologies. At last the pain diminished to a bearable level and I went limp in his arms.
But only for a few moments.
Pushing myself up on one elbow, I broke his embrace to lean down and kiss him. “Fuck me again,” I growled. “Fuck me hard. Fuck me ‘til I scream.”
His hand clenched on the back of my neck, dragging me down into a ravenous kiss. Concealed by the fall of my hair, I tapped his cheek once. Pay attention.
He growled and pulled me closer but his lips stilled, his body tensing to alertness under me.
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap…
I raised the count to twenty, hoping he’d understand.
Twenty minutes for me to get to the server room and return.
I pressed my phone into his hand and drew back, making little moans of simulated pleasure. He replied with a harsh breath that was almost a groan, a sound so sexy I nearly jumped back into bed and abandoned my mission altogether.
Instead I yanked on my clothes, hoping their rustle would sound like action under the bedsheets.
Kane must have been thinking along the same lines. Rhythmic rustling came from the direction of the bed, like a couple beginning to make love.
Or like a man unhurriedly pleasuring himself.
Lust punched me low in the belly and I sucked in a breath, imagining Kane’s big hand wrapped around his thick luscious…
I swallowed hard and made for the door.
When Kane cued the recording and our first moans and gasps of passion began, I slipped into the hallway with my heart beating fast.
If I was wrong about the video surveillance, that brief sliver of light as I stepped outside had just blown our cover.
Sending a heartfelt prayer skyward, I hurried for the exit.
Only a few paces later a surge of adrenaline stopped me dead as I recognized the giant gap in my planning.
How the hell was I going to get past the doorman?
My feet went into motion again. Don’t stand around; somebody might come along.
I strode purposefully down the hall, my mind hurtling through possibilities.
There were three other exits but they were all marked with signs saying ‘Fire Exit Only – Alarm Will Sound’. And I hadn’t disabled the fire alarms, dammit.
My decisive strides carried me to the end of the hallway far too quickly. Still devoid of ideas, I stared in despair at the cardkey lock on the service door.
Why hadn’t I asked Reggie Chow if he had anything to crack a cardkey lock? Or I could have asked Holt Of The Magic Bump Keys. Or hell, I could have asked at Stores.
But no, I hadn’t thought that far ahead…
…Hang on.
I stared at the cardkey reader.
Its light was green.
Thank God. I hadn’t realized the service corridor locks were controlled by the same circuit as the locks I’d disabled between the guesthouse and the server room.
Sometimes you win.
I stepped through the door praying that none of Harchman’s staff were lurking on the other side.
My prayer was answered. On my left was an unoccupied alcove containing lockers, shelves of linens and housekeeping items, and a laundry cart. On my right, a long straight corridor stretched in the direction of the main house.
Hard to get lost.
Easy to get spotted.
Dammit.
Ducking into the alcove, I rapidly inventoried the contents of the lockers, finding nothing but a couple of abandoned uniforms.
Next I rooted squeamishly through the laundry cart, trying not to think about the things people did in their hotel beds and showers; but unless I wanted to construct a slightly soiled toga there were no options for disguise available in there.
Reluctantly turning back to the uniforms, I hissed out a breath. Better to wear the livery than my own clothes. Even if a uniform didn’t fit, its colours would make me unremarkable if somebody glimpsed me at a distance.
I whisked Chow’s pen-weapon and Spider’s USB stick out of my purse, then appropriated a clean sheet from the housekeeping shelf and dropped it on top of the laundry cart. Skinning out of my pants and blouse, I laid my purse on the sheet along with my clothes and rolled the whole thing into a bundle.
The first uniform was impossible. The pants stuck at my hips, and when I fastened the jacket it cut off the circulation in my arms and gaped in ugly scallops that revealed my bright red bra and pasty white belly between the straining buttons.
The other uniform apparently belonged to a descendent of André the Giant. What the hell; did Harchman hire only circus freaks? Where were the uniforms belonging to all the normal-sized staff I’d seen around here?
Even at my 5’-10” height, the pants came nearly to my armpits. I folded the waistband over and over to bring it down to my waist, then rolled up the pant legs and submerged myself in the huge jacket.
A glance in the locker room mirror made me stifle a groan. Even at a distance it just wouldn’t work. I looked like an ill-dressed marshmallow, and the pants wouldn’t stay up despite the extra bulk of the rolled waistband. If I had to run I’d trip and break my damn leg.
And time was ticking away. A glance at my watch clenched my teeth. Seventeen minutes.
I flung off the oversized clothing and added my ankle holsters and their contents to the bedsheet before turning back to the tiny uniform. With some profanity-laden squirming and struggling I managed to work the pants up over my hips. Buttoning them was out of the question and the zipper stuck halfway up, but at least my ass was covered. Three inches of bare ankle stuck out the bottom of the skin-tight legs. With a few stiff contortions hampered by the tourniquet pants, I managed to get my shoes back on.
Coiling my hair into a quick French twist, I anchored it in place with Chow’s pen and a couple of ballpoints from the supply shelves. The jacket was next. Fortunately it was long enough to cover most of the gaping front of the pants, but the too-tight sleeves ended two inches above my wristbone and hampered my arm movement. I crammed the USB stick into one of the pockets, creating an ugly bulge.
Fifteen minutes.
Go.
Wincing as the jacket sleeves bit into my arms, I seized the handle of the laundry cart and wheeled it down the corridor as fast as I could go without actually breaking into a run.
The corridor branched approximately where I thought the turnoff to the concierge’s station should be, and I veered left toward the main house and hurried on.
Fourteen minutes. Almost there.
The passageway turned a few yards farther on, and I hustled around the corner only to stop dead, my heart banging my ribcage.
I was only a few feet away from an employee lounge. A liveried man sat at one of the tables, his forehead already creasing into a frown as he looked me up and down.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he demanded. He hooked a thumb toward the guesthouse. “Housekeeping is back that way.” His eyes narrowed. “Hang on, you don’t even work here. I never forget a face.”
Shit!
Why hadn’t I worn my regular clothes and brazened it out aboveground where everybody knew I was an invited guest? If I got caught down here, they’d know I was up to no good.
Stupid, stupid…
His frown deepened and he reached for his phone.
“Um… I’m new,” I stammered frantically.
Think, think!
“You’re right,” I went on. “I don’t know what I’m doing. But they told me to come here. With this.” I nodded at the laundry cart, hoping he couldn’t see my hands shaking. And hoping he wouldn’t ask who ‘they’ were. “At least I think this is where they wanted me,” I added uncertainly. “Maybe I got it wrong. I’ll go back…” I took a few backward steps.
“Hold on there.” He was on his feet now.
Dammit, that must have been his spare uniform back there in the locker. At least seven feet all, he towered over me with his shaved head only inches from the low ceiling and his huge shoulders causing a near-total eclipse.
He was too close. Could I get to my gun inside the rolled-up sheet?
Should I even try?
“I’m sorry,” I squeaked. “I’ll just go.”
A hand the size of a baseball mitt clamped onto my wrist. “No.”