Page 77 of Own

GRACE

Somewhere between leaving the SUV and shimmying over the wall with Bones, I had a moment ofwhat the fuck am I doing?He didn’t use rope to go up, instead, he did this running leap that had him at the top in nothing.

After a sweep of the area, he reached out a hand. “Jump,” he said almost too softly to hear. I probably wouldn’t have heard it if not for the comms.

Right. This was the part of the roller coaster ride ticking its way to the top before the sickening drop happened. The moment when all your life choices flashed before your eyes and you wondered, why the hell did you eat those nachos before you got in line.

Swallowing my objections, I dashed forward and put a foot on the wall as I jumped. My palm slapped against his and he hauled me up like I weighed nothing. At the top of the wall, he dropped to the other side. I rolled right after him and he caught me before he set me on my feet.

The whole thing took less than a minute. Bones led the way between the lights casting their eerie spots up on the compound’s perimeter as well as the walls of what looked moreand more like an actual fortress the closer we came to it. He moved like a shadow, only taking my hand twice.

The first time was when we had to press against a jut in the wall to let a sweep of light pass by. The second time when he opened a door that I couldn’t evenseeand let us into a pitch black—somewhere.

The door clicked shut behind us. The sound seemed incredibly loud in the silence swallowing us. He moved my hand to his belt, then curled my fingers over it. Hold onto him there. Understood. I tugged once in acknowledgement.

No guards. No footsteps. Nothing. Our boots didn’t scuff or squeak as he walked forward. My eyes had to have adjusted because ahead, I could just make out a faint grayish seam in the darkness. It grew brighter as we got closer, then Bones eased us around the corner into a hall illuminated with ancient fluorescents that had not quite burnt out.

“Bravo team inside,” Bones said softly. “Moving to north wing.” He glanced back at me once and I nodded. He hadn’t said let go of his belt, so I kept my hand locked on.

We were close. Too close. Not close enough. Still, when he moved, I moved. When he stopped, so did I.

“Copy that.” Alphabet’s calm voice in my ears helped to soothe my jangling nerves. Like Bones, he projected nothing but confidence. “I’ve got eyes on thermals. Two guards in the next hall, staggered pace. You’ve got a twenty-second window before shift change.”

We moved.

The hall grew progressively brighter until we reached a new door.

“Door locks cycling,” Alphabet warned. “You’re clear to enter in five, four, three, two…” On the one he didn’t say, Bones opened the door. We were in a proper hallway for a home. Thick rugs muffled our passage and the lights were still on low here.The pools of golden light were ideal to let you see where you were going without keeping anyone awake.

Bones tapped my hand on his belt and I unpeeled my grip. He pointed to my taser, then held up two fingers and pointed behind him.

Stay close, no more than two steps behind him and get out the taser. At least, that was my rough translation. Once I had the taser in hand, Bones took the lead again. He made his way through the hall like he’d been here before, slipping into another alcove and up stairs that were hidden by a wall.

I’d reviewed the plans too, so some of this was familiar, but I didn’t have it memorized. At the top of the stairs, he slid out, doing a full sweep before beckoning me out. He moved like a wraith, fluid, efficient, and deadly.

“Alpha team to vault hallway,” Lunchbox’s damn near gleeful tone gave me a jolt. It was only loud in my ear because of the comms. “There’s a pressure trigger on the panel and Voodoo’s throwing glares. It’s hot.”

“Because you’re humming while disarming explosives.” Voodoo’s irritation didn’t sounddeepbut it was real.

“I’m humming because I love my job.”

It was impossible to not smile at how irreverent and upbeat Lunchbox sounded. Yes, this was serious and we all had very specific jobs to do, but the borderline giddiness threw me back to him and Alphabet debating throwing a molotov cocktail out the window at the car pursuing us.

They were just—cheerful.

Movement ahead of us wiped away my smile. A guard stepped around the corner. Bones raised his gun and fired, two rounds. The suppressor didn’t rob the weapon of all sound, but it didn’t blow out my ears.

I fired the taser at the second guard who had a hand up toward his comm. The dual wires snapped out as the prongsattached and the charge took the man down. As soon as he was down, Bones pointed to the door ahead of us on the left. After loading a new cartridge in the taser so it would be ready to fire again, I hurried to open the door.

The room itself seemed mostly empty. There were some boxes, and tables stacked up, but that was it. Storage maybe.

Bones dragged the guy he shot in by the collar. He retrieved the second, then slit his throat once they were in the room. Quick. Brutal.

My hands were shaking but I flexed my fingers and my grip to fight the reaction. My pulse was steadier than it had been outside, but it was still accelerating. Bones patted the men down while I kept watch from the door.

“You okay?” He added some items to one of his many pouches.

“I’m not fragile,” I whispered back. I wasn’t going to fall apart. At least, not while we were in here. Maybe I would when this was over, but I was allowed to freak out then.

---