The Operator

“Oh, hey. Thanks,” Peri said as Harmony handed it to her, then shocked herself when she looked up from tucking it away to find Jack standing right next to Harmony, both of them slick and professional.

“Hell, I was impressed she got down here, but getting you a knife? Ballsy,” Jack said approvingly. “I’m definitely starting to like this woman.”

Me too, Peri thought. “You want to tie him up?” Peri asked, ignoring Jack as she opened drawers to search for plastic wrist ties.

Harmony checked her watch and peered past the door to the hall. “Don’t bother. If we’re not out in three minutes, it won’t matter if he’s tied or not. Stay three feet behind or right at my elbow. We’re going to be on camera for eight seconds in the lobby, but I’ve got a little diversion.”

Jack cracked his knuckles as a distant hooting began. On the guard panel, a light flashed.

“And there it is.” Harmony swore softly. “It’s early. Can you run?”

“Yep.” Peri shoved a wad of wrist ties into her pocket, shut the drawer, and jogged after Harmony, the woman already in the outer hall. A smear of blood on the floor caught her eye, and she gave it a wide berth. “Is that going to be a problem?”

“No.” It was curt, and Peri watched Harmony massage her hand in memory. “Up the stairs. Elevators are traps.”

Peri was last into the stairwell, and Harmony grunted in impatience when Peri stopped to zip-strip the handle closed. They took the stairs fast, feet shushing on the tile. It felt good to be moving, and a faint, acidic scent tickled her nose.

“Why didn’t you draft to get away? In the lobby,” Harmony said, surprising her. “No one would have known you did. Or did you and I shut your ass down twice?”

Peri slowed, wary as Jack ran up the stairs ahead of them. “No, just once,” she said, then jerked Harmony to a halt when Jack waved for them to stop and continued upstairs. “I don’t like working alone, and you deserve the chance to bring in the bastard who killed your team.” Peri looked at her, taking her eyes off the upper door leading to the lobby. “He did, didn’t he. I’m sorry.” She wouldn’t say I told you so, but she had.

A myriad of emotions passed over Harmony’s face until she forced her features to a blank nothing. “Thank you.”

Peri turned away, seeing Jack at an upper door, peeking through the tiny window. “Besides, I don’t trust anyone but you right now. Hang on. My spider sense is tingling,” she said.

“Babe!” Jack hissed, gesturing for them to stay hidden as the screech of an opening door serrated the quiet.

Pulse fast, Peri pulled Harmony deeper into the shadows as a clatter of feet and masculine excitement spilled into the stairwell. They were going up, though, and Harmony’s eyes widened.

“That’s the lobby door. We would have been right there,” the woman whispered, and Peri’s shoulders drooped when Jack waved them forward. “How did you know they were going to be there?” Her eyes widened. “Are we in a draft? Are you going to forget? Should I tell you what just happened?”

“No. I, ah, must have heard them coming,” Peri said, not knowing what to make of Harmony’s innocent enthusiasm. Grimacing, she cautiously started up the stairs again. “You’re really good. Who taught you hand-to-hand?”

“No one special, but my brother taught me how to be smart in a fight, and that’s the most important thing. How about you?”

Peri couldn’t help her faint smile. “I got my basics from an old guy named Cavana. I was, like, twelve.”

Wary from the near miss, Harmony slipped up the stairs beside her. “Tall? Little goatee, liked to crack his knuckles?”

Peri looked askance at her. “You know him?”

Shaking her head, Harmony looked out into the lobby through a crack in the door. “I saw him do a demonstration once. You got to work with him? He’s good.”

“You’re better,” Peri said sourly, rubbing the back of her head.

Harmony shrugged. “Like I said, I had one dumb-ass older brother.”

“Oh, good God!” Jack complained. “Are you women done fluffing your respective egos? It’s like you’re shoe shopping or something.”

Peri frowned, that rank smell worsening as the propellanttainted air tried to find escape through the stairwell. Harmony tensed, pointing as the guy at the front desk left his station, arms across his chest as he stood at the edge of his domain and watched the three men they’d seen on the stairs jog down the hall with two fire extinguishers. “You set a fire?”

“No. I overcooked a plastic plate in the break room microwave.”

Jack snickered, and Harmony edged the door open. “Okay,” she whispered, eyes alight as they found the door guard. “Black SUV at the curb. I’m driving. Key is on the dash.”

Head beside Harmony’s, Peri looked at the huge vehicle waiting in the early-morning light. It would be easy to spot and even easier to stop with the right computer. “How long has it been since you updated your car’s antitheft software?”

“It’s Steiner’s. He had it modified,” she said, beaming as she patted her sidearm, then handed her a building key. “I’ve got Steiner’s building card as well. That’s what took so long.”

“Sweet!” Maybe they had a chance after all.

Behind her, Jack rolled his eyes. “After you,” Peri said to cover her embarrassment, and the taller woman eased the door wider and slipped out, holding it until Peri edged through and quietly shut it. Peri’s first anchor had been a woman. She’d forgotten how easy it was to work with someone who wasn’t distracted by a body full of testosterone, the subliminal text of casual conversation easing the task at hand.